What to Say When You Outgrow the Business You’ve Created
Change is inevitable for business owners and speakers.
We are bound to change as we learn more about ourselves, more about our clients, and more about how we best serve.
I've seen James Wedmore evolve from being that video guy to that Business by Design guy. I've witnessed Tara McMullin, formerly Tara Gentile, not only change her name but changed from an online educator and business coach to a community builder with CoCommercial.
I was chatting with one of my clients who has grown a successful business and a huge audience over the years. She has, like, 25,000 Instagram followers and 17,000 Facebook followers and those people are actively engaged with her work and she's at a crossroads.
She hired me because the business and the brand she created for herself no longer fit who she is and she needed to change that. She needed to communicate who she actually is, create experiences for her clients that reflect the actual work she does in her business, and evolve into a new brand.
She knew she might lose some people, alienate some of those who have been hardcore fans of hers from day number one. That was a risk. She is more than willing to take the risk to show up as herself.
She asked me during one of our calls, “Do I let my people know about my evolution? That I'm no longer who I once was and that things are changing going forward?”
My answer was YES. Prepare your people, tell them about the work you're doing, and let them know who you are.
The business you built one day may no longer work for you. You changed who you are and there isn't anything wrong with that. Now it's about telling people.
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What is Changing for Me & the Rebel Speaker Podcast
This conversation made me reflect on my own business. Things have been changing for me, what I offer, and what I want for my business and life.
In fact, if you've listened to any of the past three episodes of the podcast, I've been telling you that the name of the podcast is changing soon. However, I haven't told you why. In fact, I've been shit at explaining to you my own evolution.
I know that when you pivot and change you need to bring people along on your journey and that's what I'm doing today. I am inviting you along on my journey.
When I started Communication Rebel six and a half years ago, I was a solo shop. I worked only with speakers doing keynote speech development, some delivery coaching and helping speakers prepare their speaker marketing and for a long time, I thought this was exactly what I was meant to do. Changing the world one speech at a time.
Then I started to notice how the work I was doing with my speakers impacted their entire business.
My clients could better communicate the value of their work, so they started charging more.
They got the cajones to pitch for media and podcast interviews and they started booking those interviews.
I saw the messages that they worked on in their speech sprinkled throughout their social media posts and in their marketing.
Even some of my clients used our work together to launch new products and services and I was amazed by this. I thought it was so cool that they could use our work on a speech in so many different ways.
Seeing that impact on their business. I really, really, really, really, really wanted to change my focus. I wanted to work on the messaging part of businesses because I believe that messaging is always an afterthought in business.
Until you have to sit down and write copy for your website. Write a Facebook ad, pitch a podcast or a speaking gig, and create that webinar to bring in your clients. None of the courses that teach you the how of writing copy or creating a Facebook ad or pitching for podcasts or even creating a webinar tell you about how to develop your message so you can take those courses and classes and still be stuck.
I believe your message is the heartbeat of your business.
So when I realized all of this, I felt stuck. I was at a crossroads. I was already known for this work that I do with speakers and hey, the work paid the bills. However, I knew I could be doing so much more, making a greater impact.
Making a Greater Impact with My Work
And on the podcast, I've been 100 percent transparent about my struggle. At the end of 2017, I was d-o-n-e, done talking about how to land speaking gigs, how to get paid, how to write a speech, how to market a speech. I felt like this podcast was just adding to the noise and while the content is awesome and super useful, it wasn't what I was being called to do.
This was the year that I found the courage to change course.
What gave me that courage was discovering my own message. Discovering the 3 Word Rebellion. That message was the light that is leading the way into the change that I'm making today.
Because of the 3 Word Rebellion, it is the first time that I have found myself with a vision for my business because seriously, I didn't know where I was piloting this plane until this year.
I even became an employee again. And what I mean by that is I'm an employee of my own company. Communication Rebel is now an S-Corp. She's all grown up. We've got a plan to expand and hire in the future.
The End of the Rebel Speaker. The Rise of the Rebel Rising.
I wanted to let you know what is changing and what is staying the same moving forward. So this is the last episode of the Rebel Speaker Podcast, but the podcast is not going anywhere.
Starting on September 4th, you'll see a new podcast on this exact podcast feed called Rebel Rising.
If you're a subscriber to the podcast already, there's nothing you need to do. You'll get it automatically on your phone or wherever you're listening to your podcasts. And if you're not subscribed, you should totally go subscribe NOW. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.
The reason I needed to change the name of the Rebel Speaker podcast is that I wanted my message to reach more people who want to be a catalyst for change.
Yes, that still means you as a speaker are a catalyst for change and we'll still be talking about speaking. We'll also be talking about the messy journey of becoming a thought leader, building a business, slaying the mindset demons, and so much more.
Renaming the podcast is opening me up to having more conversations with Rebel Risers, who are that next generation of thought leaders about their messy journey to impacting thousands, if not millions.
It's my intention to draw more people into this community so that you all can rise together and we can support each other along the way.
Do You Still Work with Speakers?
The biggest question I've been getting about this change in focus from Rebel Speaker to rebel rising is “Michelle, do you still work with speakers?“
And the answer is yes. I still work with speakers. I love working with speakers. Speakers have my heart and they are in my soul. It is who I am.
I will continue to work developing keynote speeches and speaker marketing for speakers, the people that I love to serve so much, and if you want to talk to me about that work, go to DrMichelleMazur.com/speak and apply for a chat.
Introducing the 3 Word Rebellion Messaging Intensive
I'm also expanding my work to messaging for change making businesses.
I believe it's your message that sets you apart. Your message is how you change the world. Your message is how you grow your business. Make more money so that you can do more good. Your message, build your platform so people start asking you to speak, to be on podcasts, and show up on tv.
I am damn good at messaging. I have a 100 percent success rate in finding a 3 Word Rebellion for my clients and personally I'm on a mission to launch a million rebellions. That's why I've launched the 3 Word Rebellion Messaging Intensive to work with more change making businesses and not just speakers. I can serve more people and do more good with my messaging work.
You can find out about that work here.
On this last episode of Rebel Speaker, I want you to know that if you're a speaker, this podcast is still for you and you have access to all 117 past episodes of this podcast to help you on your speaking journey.
And the Rebel Rising podcast is going to help you become more than just a speaker and I can't wait to tell you about that next week.
I also want to thank you for tuning in and taking this work to heart to build your own change-making empire. If you have any questions about the podcast or any changes that I'm making or even how I'm going about these changes, feel free. Send me a quick email at hello@DrMichelleMazur.com, or use the contact form on my website, which is DrMichelleMazur.com/contact and let me know.
Remember, it's okay to outgrow what you've built. It's okay to say no more to the speech you've been doing for years or to say no more to the business that you no longer love. It's okay to do something completely different.
Embrace your evolution and take your people on the journey with you. I'll see you next week on the Rebel Rising podcast.
