Katrina Owens (00:01.096)
my gosh, you guys, welcome back to another episode of Fame Ready, the podcast to show entrepreneurs that anything is possible. Yes, including fame. I'm your host, Katrina Owens, out of breath, by the way. Give me a sec. just me hyperventilating on the podcast opening. Dexter, come here. Sorry about that.

Dexter, it's allergy season for the dogs. If you have one, may know Dexter is nonstop licking and this is so bad for me because I'm actually going away for a couple days. So he is going to be in the care of Gabriel.

and no one is gonna be here to monitor his allergies, Dexter's not Gabriel's, for the next couple days. And I'm assuming I'm gonna come home to some raw paws. Now I'm coughing, my God. if you turn this on, you're like, wow, what is this?

Katrina Owens (01:11.598)
Okay, Heather, cut that out.

Katrina Owens (01:16.654)
You're just gonna have to cut out whatever you think is chaotic, too chaotic for the listeners. Dexter, come here. yeah, anyways, I'm having a coughing attack. Dexter's licking his paws. I have been getting dopamine hit after dopamine hit this morning. It's only 10 a.m. on a Monday. Dexter.

Katrina Owens (01:45.728)
Okay, Dexter's here. He's gonna sit beside me, so I'm gonna police him. Sit. It's only 10 a.m. on a Monday, and already so many things have happened. I am not really a morning person. Usually I don't get quite so much action this early, but in the past, like, I guess, hour since I've been working, I got approved on a pretty significant proposal for my business, a corporate proposal, which feels so...

freaking good. was going through a bit of a dry spell when it came to those because I had just been, you know, focusing on selling my event, building my group program. But that lead actually came through LinkedIn, which is really cool. So for all of you kind of sleeping on LinkedIn, I'm begging you to stop because I've gotten some really amazing opportunities through that platform, especially over the last couple weeks, honestly. I

Yeah, I've sold some event tickets through that. I've gotten some very cool like client leads, potential opportunities coming through that platform. And it's not like I have thousands of followers over on LinkedIn. I have about 1200. Worked very hard for that 1200. Thank you very much. And I also publish a LinkedIn newsletter every single week. I started at the beginning of the year and I said to myself, I'm going to hold myself accountable to

posting or creating this LinkedIn newsletter once a week. It goes live at 9 a.m. on Mondays. I usually write it on Sunday and I have not skipped a week, you guys, even when I've been on vacation, even when it's been a holiday, that thing has come out like clockwork. And my intent behind it was to just like use it as something that was gonna hold me accountable to at least being more active on that platform. So even if I wasn't like posting consistently,

consistently throughout the week. knew that at least I would have this editorial, I call it the editorial, this LinkedIn newsletter would come out every single week to like kind of maintain my level of activity over there. And clearly it's been working because yeah, I'm really excited about this proposal that just got approved. Yay. God, it's gonna be so good. So that just happened right.

Katrina Owens (04:09.428)
As I was sitting down to record this, the doorbell rang because it was UPS dropping off a delivery for my event. It's coming up in a few short weeks and it's something super amazing that I'm going to unbox after this. I've got a really exciting partnership call with a brand partner that I'm going to do, I guess, like after I record this episode. So there's just a lot of movement happening and...

It's actually a really nice way to feel because I did feel, I'm recording this at the beginning of October, like through September things had felt like maybe a little bit stagnant, a little bit slow. It's always a little bit interesting for me because my life does move very fast given that I'm always doing so much traveling. I am like always preparing for something. September was kind of like a breather for me, but.

what I always forget and like I try to warn myself of this, but I do forget that like when I have to sit in the slow, even if I know it's because October is going to be this really big month where I take eight flights and I'm traveling every other week and I run a bunch of major events and I hopefully win this award that I really want to. Like that's a lot of energy all in one month. And I just, you know, sometimes sitting and waiting.

for different results or like waiting for the results of something is really hard. So yeah, that's that you guys. What a fricking morning. Okay, we finally caught our breath and Dexter is finally relaxed. this poor dog and his allergies. Yeah, you look itchy.

If anyone out there has like a dog with allergies, particularly seasonal ones, because they do get bad, like they just get really bad and he can't control himself. So we've got a little bit of rawness happening. now I've got to leave him for a couple of days because I am going to a photo shoot in Madison, Wisconsin, courtesy of a Rallis magazine.

Katrina Owens (06:27.458)
Thank you to founder Nick who extended the opportunity to me to include me in the women of the year issue and yeah, is really treating me and a couple of the other women to this amazing experience in Madison, which I've never been before, but I've heard it's gorgeous this time of year. And I think it's gonna be really cool. I was actually reflecting today about how every single trip I've taken.

over the last few months has been for a speaking engagement. And it actually feels really nice to not be traveling for a speaking engagement this time because those carry a different energy. There's this like level of anticipation. And I say this knowing that in just over a week, 10 days, I will be going to Toronto to do a speaking engagement. And I just actually crafted that talk yesterday.

And now I am practicing it every single day until that gig is here. And it's a new talk. And you might be listening to this and you might think, wow, you're only giving yourself 10 days to craft this talk. That seems crazy. But what I figured I'd do today, I was up until the wee hours of the morning last night just thinking all of these different thoughts. had lots of different ideas for what I could record as today's episode.

Lots of things that I want to say. are so many things happening. It really is like a milestone time of year for me right now because it marks three years since I left my corporate career. One year since I was in a deep dark depression and decided to close my agency to focus on coaching and building a personal brand. So many milestones. And at first I was like, maybe that's interesting for me to talk about here. But what I think

might be even more interesting, just because I'm really in it right now, is this like practicing for speaking gigs conversation or preparing for speaking gigs? Because I know an episode that came out a couple of weeks ago was talking about why you shouldn't work with a speaking coach before you've got your personal brand ready. So if you didn't listen to that episode, I recommend you go back and listen to that one first, because that really is like the starting place. But what I would love to dig into today, just because

Katrina Owens (08:51.758)
Speaking gigs really are the number one thing that I help my clients with. I have clients in the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program, which is my group coaching 12 month program. can enter it any time you want to. I have clients in there that are working on going on their own global speaking tour. My one-on-one clients, a big focus is always looking for different conferences and events that they can speak at. yeah, there is just a lot.

happening in my client world as it comes to speaking. And this episode is going to come out in, I guess, November 2025. And the month of November is a great time to start getting serious about what your speaking plan is for the new year. Because contrary to what I think people either believe or how they operate, speaking gigs are not something that you can just secure last minute.

I mean, once in a while, you might score a last minute invite because someone's canceled. You know, they need you to fill in last minute and that's so great, but that's not the norm. Most speaking gigs are booked months in advance. you know, I have had, I have a speaking gig I'm doing at the end of February, 2026, and that has been in my calendar since July, 2025. Cause that's how far a lot of these events are starting to be planned.

And as I say that, I wish I would have given myself more time to plan the event that I'm currently working on. It's all kind of coming together really quickly in the final weeks, which is both beautiful and insane and terrifying all at once. But for most of us, we are going to have months of notice that we are speaking at an event, which is great. I'm going to tell you today about how you can use those months to really prepare. But

I also want you to use these very valuable last few months of 2025 to decide is this the year that you're going to speak on more stages because if it is you've got to decide that right now and you've got to start taking those action steps. if you're like here I am Katrina I'm starting from ground zero 2026 is the year that I'm speaking on stage perfect. Go back to that first

Katrina Owens (11:06.766)
I guess it's not the first episode, but it's a couple of weeks ago where I talk about why you shouldn't work with a speaking coach right away, because that's going to give you like baseline what you need for your personal brand to actually build a talk. Today, what we're going to talk about is, okay, so you've got your personal brand, you know what your positioning is, you know how you differentiate yourself in the market, you've got your messaging. And the way that we know that we have like this press ready brand is

A lot of times we'll like see opportunities kind of come to us first. So one of the great signifiers I use for all of my clients is, okay, so you have this personal brand and you've started to see opportunities come to you. So maybe there are some speaking gigs that have just kind of like come your way, magically landed in your inbox. Maybe there's some podcast interviews or people are like asking you to collaborate.

Those are all really, really good signs that you have what I like to call a press ready personal brand. So that's the thermometer. If opportunities are coming to you, then you know you are ready to start pitching yourself to opportunities. And in this case, in the case of today's episode, pitching yourself to speaking gigs. If you've organically received opportunities to speak on stage, people are starting to ask you, that is

such a beautiful sign that you are ready to kick things up a notch and start pitching bigger and bigger events and conferences and things like that. So what happens once you land those opportunities? Because I could tell you how to pitch and how to do that. There's lots of episodes, especially from the KO your brand days. You can kind of go through those previous episodes and find out how you can start getting on more stages and all of that. That part actually isn't rocket science.

And if you need support on that, that's your sign to join the Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program. Okay, I mentioned it earlier. All of the information for that is in the show notes. The price is going up in 2026. So if that's something that's on your radar right now, please make sure you're joining before 2025 is up. That's the place where I can help you get on more stages. But that conversation is so nuanced. I could stay here and talk about your personal brand, how to pitch.

Katrina Owens (13:27.53)
what to look for. But most of that, you probably are already doing, okay? Especially if you've received some opportunities to speak already. So this episode I want to make really, really clear is for the person who's maybe received a couple of speaking gigs already and wants to know, okay, now how do I kick this up a notch? And what do I actually do to prepare? Because preparing for speaking gigs is the thing we kind of like forget.

We work so hard to like land the opportunity. We send the pitches, we do the research to find the opportunities. Maybe we do the follow-ups. Maybe we're like asking some of our people in our network to like connect us to the right people. I just did that by the way. One of my good friends had posted last week that she had just spoken for a particular industry association, one that I would like love to speak for. And so I just simply sent her.

a text message that said, oh my gosh, can you connect me to your contact? Can you facilitate an introduction? Because this is an association I would also love to speak at. I just don't know who to talk to and would love a warm lead. And because this is a great friend of mine, she was like, yes, of course. And that's going to lead me to a new speaking gig that I know for sure. that's actually why I, one of the reasons why I tell people.

You don't need to hire an agency, you don't need to hire a publicist. A publicist or agency would not be able to do that kind of connecting like I just did. Okay. That connection to an incredibly massive multinational association came from two friends with a similar interest, with similar businesses who are willing to connect each other. And, you know, if I was an agency and I reached out to

my friend and I was like, hey, I have a client that would love to speak at this event. Could you connect us? That's a different vibe. Okay. When you are a friend asking a friend, that's when the magic happens. And that's why you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on an agency or publicist every month. You guys, it's just you building relationships. That is what PR is. That's what's going to get you on more stages. And once you really acknowledge that and lean into all of that.

Katrina Owens (15:47.882)
my God, you are going to get on so many stages. Okay. So let's talk about what happens once you've got the opportunity. It's in your calendar. You know what your personal brand is known for. The event coordinator likely told you generally what they would like you to speak about. And so now is a perfect time to work with a speaking coach. If you feel like that's something you want to do to take it up a notch.

That is not mandatory by the way. I'm not convinced that you need to go out and get a speaking coach for the very first speaking gig you land. I would rather you use some of your speaking gigs in the early days of your business as an opportunity to test, test messaging, test presentations, get a feel for what you actually need support with. I think a lot of the time like,

something new comes up and we automatically just want to hire someone to fix it for us or to help us through it. And I don't necessarily think like as entrepreneurs, I think that we can actually not spend so much time and money on other people helping us until we've had a chance to figure out how we feel going through a process on our own.

And that might be a bit of a bold statement. Like I'm all for like investing in your business, hiring the right people, put people in the right seats. But especially when it comes to speaking gigs, like this is a pretty low stakes situation, you guys. I didn't hire a speaking coach until I knew I was gonna get on bigger and bigger stages. So if you're someone that's like, you know, still like kind of finding your footing or speaking to audiences, maybe they're between 20 to 50 people. Like you don't need a speaking coach yet.

I want you to go through the process of putting together a presentation that feels good to you, practicing it, find your groove on how you like to practice things. And then once you have a couple experiences under your belt, that's gonna give your speaking coach so much more intel on how to actually help you because you're gonna understand like where your gaps are, what you need support with, so on and so forth. Okay, so for me, in those early days of landing speaking gigs,

Katrina Owens (18:08.566)
And I still do this, by the way. I had one core presentation that I would just continuously do over and over again. So that means the slides were built. I was doing it in online formats, like in webinars, but also in person at events and workshops. So I was delivering it in a lot of different ways. And so I could see how different information would land with audiences. I could see where questions would come up.

And that gave me an amazing opportunity to find my flow with particular content. And there were times when I would speak to like different industry associations. So I would like adjust the content so it'd feel like very hyper-specific to a particular industry. For example, last year I did it for like a interior design real estate developer event. So I really hyper-targeted the examples in that presentation to that audience.

But it was this presentation that I had given consistently month over month in different formats. So was very confident delivering it. That was back then. And then that presentation I basically gave probably for like a year. And then I started to get different feedback on it. It was like very, very tangible. And as I gave it more and more, it

Obviously it's something I still do in a more like workshop style, hands-on situation, but I knew that that type of presentation wasn't necessarily going to fly as a keynote. One thing that's been really interesting for me to experience over the last couple months, it's pretty much a split 50-50 between events that actually have like a slideshow or like not a slideshow, but like.

projectors, you can have slides and then events that prioritize the aesthetics instead. So there's actually no slides. And what's really interesting is I didn't think I was ever going to become a speaker that could speak without slides. I really didn't think so. So when I kind of kicked off my world tour of speaking earlier this year, I had put together a presentation.

Katrina Owens (20:13.89)
that actually really relied on visual aids in the presentation. So there were photos that I needed. There were, you know, just like some jokes, some diagrams, things like that. And as I practicing my presentation, I wanted to be able to like deliver it without looking at the slides. But what would end up happening is I would actually trip myself up. So I would like get into my flow of storytelling and then I would like miss a slide.

So for example, I would be practicing this presentation. I would like be using the slides. I would find my flow in delivering the content and then I would like press next. And then I realized I should have pressed next like two minutes ago because the visual aid actually fit earlier in my talk and I'd gotten so far ahead. So the slides ended up becoming an interference in what was actually really great storytelling.

So then at this very first event that I was crafting this first presentation to, I ended up finding out that there wasn't actually going to be a projector or a screen for slides at this event. And that was my permission slip to just like really let it go and master the art of storytelling with no visual aids. So I got very comfortable over the last few months delivering a keynote without any slides at all. I typically have

If there is a presentation or an event where they do have a screen, I have like an opening slide that has my title on it. And then I have like a QR code slide for the end. But in between, there's nothing. Some people don't like that, but I strongly believe, and I've gotten so many compliments on this too, like my storytelling doesn't need a visual aid.

And this isn't a knock against slides because I think there are some people that have slides that are so incredibly well done. They're visually engaging. They definitely add to the experience of the talk, but that's just not something that I need. I know that I'm an incredibly strong storyteller. It's feedback I get every single day from people in my audience. I know that my presence is enough.

Katrina Owens (22:32.938)
I started to practice without slides at all. And right now, so over the summer, over the course of three months, I essentially had three different speaking gigs in three different major cities. And I would change my talk a little bit between each one. So there were some core components that stayed the same, some different like main stories or themes that would stay relatively the same between the three, but I would change some different content pieces.

I would change up the stories and all of that. But fourth, a course of like four months, I practiced that presentation every single day. I literally had a time block in my calendar every day. I would do it full out in my bedroom, in my living room, just like delivering the presentation so I could feel like I was doing it in front of an audience and really be able to master the storytelling.

and feel comfortable delivering it. I also wanted to build up like the muscle memory of doing the presentation too. Because, and that's really, it's like a really interesting thing to mention because now, yesterday, literally just yesterday, I created the presentation for a talk I'm giving in, I guess it's, when I do that keynote, it will be two weeks from yesterday. Presentation from scratch. There are,

again, key components from like some of the talks that I gave earlier this year that are the same. as I was starting to practice it again, I could feel my muscle memory would actually remember certain lines, certain story flows. But this presentation that I'm giving is not quite double the length, but almost of the talk that I had practiced basically for four months.

The talk that I had given at these different events was like basically between 15 to 20 minutes all throughout the summer. And then now I have the opportunity. I mean, I have the stage for 50, five zero minutes. Yes, some of that is going to be question and answer, which is great, but that's still like a 35 minute, 40 minute presentation. So it's quite long in comparison to what I've done before. So I have to add quite a bit of content in.

Katrina Owens (24:55.8)
to this particular presentation. And the second part of that is this event that I'm speaking at has a very defined theme and the event coordinator really wants the core like kind of theme, raw edginess vibe that she's cultivated to be very prevalent in each and every speaker's presentation. So I've been really trying to pull in that, pull in a little bit of attitude, a little bit of storytelling. And that is what I did yesterday. I took my presentation from

weeks, I guess not even weeks, months ago now, I took it and just basically kind of like tore it apart and then started adding things in. And now I have something that I will practice off for the next two weeks. For the next two weeks, I will practice this presentation at least once every single day. Some days I'm gonna fricking hate having to do it, especially in the beginning, especially in the beginning. Right now,

I am in the place where I'm still trying to find the words. I have to hold the script in front of me as a crutch because I literally just wrote it yesterday. So there's a lot of parts that I'm not familiar with. I know that the more that I do it, it's like a muscle. And the more that I do it, the better I'm going to get. And it's going to be great. But it's me really getting comfortable doing that. And this is the part where it of sucks. But.

I get a lot of compliments as a speaker. The last event that I spoke at, people told me I was their favorite. People told me that this is what I am meant to be doing. Like I got so many incredible comments and feedback about my talk, about me as a speaker that I know what my style is. And more than that, I now know what I need to do to be able to continuously deliver on that. And it takes freaking work. Every single day, it's me dedicating an hour.

Sure, the talk's a little bit less than an hour, but I've got a time block, one hour every single day for the next two weeks to deliver this. And I've got to do it on days when, you know, tomorrow's a great example. I've got to wake up at 4 a.m. to catch a flight. can basically travel nine hours throughout the day and I'll get to my hotel. have like actually, I actually have Zoom calls, work shit. I got to do at my hotel tomorrow evening when I finally get there around five o'clock.

Katrina Owens (27:17.486)
and I still have to dedicate one hour to practicing the presentation. Like that is a lot of work and that's a commitment that it takes. So when people say that they wanna start speaking on more stages and they wanna like really go on their like world tour of speaking, I want you to be so aware of like what it actually takes once you get that speaking gig. I was actually relieved. So this event that I'm doing in two weeks, I found out over the weekend that there won't

be slides or a projector. And I was so relieved because that actually was one less thing that I had to do. I'm like, great, I don't have to make slides. Perfect. Because even if I do get someone from my team helping on the slides, I am the one that has to say what content needs to go where. And then I have to practice with the slides, which makes it even harder. So I was actually relieved. I know a lot of people might not feel that way when they find out that they don't have slides. But for me, I was like, thank God. Best news ever.

So that's great. So that's kind of what I'm looking at for the next two weeks. And people might say like only two weeks, Katrina, like that doesn't feel like enough time to practice a brand new presentation. And that thought crossed my mind as well. But honestly, the last presentation that I prepared for was the same thing. And because I have been speaking consistently and giving myself the ability to, you know, go to different events and really become a speaker and

You know, I consistently book events every single month. Like I speak on a different stage every single month. And so that gives me time to practice, but also ingrain my talk in my body. So even if there are changes, I know generally like, Hey, if all of a sudden this event was tomorrow, I know that I am a experienced enough speaker. I know what I want to say that I could probably get up on that stage and like get my way through it.

Would it be what I want it to be? Would it be my proudest gig ever? Probably not. That's where the practice comes in. But that's where my confidence is, which I think is such an amazing thing. So if you're someone who is planning to start speaking on more stages in 2026, this is something that I want you to keep in mind, OK? Because it's not just a matter of landing the opportunities.

Katrina Owens (29:42.094)
Once you land the opportunity and that's in your calendar, that is when the work begins. That is when you've got to have a presentation ready to go so you can actually practice it. If you want to be a seasoned public speaker and you want to be asked to speak over and over again, you need to do a good job. You need to have testimonials, reviews, content of you speaking. That's what's going to help you land more and more opportunities. So what that means is

you've got to make sure that that first gig you've ever done, maybe it's not the first one, maybe the very first one I've ever practiced, but those speaking gigs in the early days, you've got to take them seriously. You've got to take them seriously so you can have the content and the experience to grow from there. So that is kind of what I want you to really let sink in and resonate with you right now because I know as this...

year comes to an end, which I honestly cannot believe that 2025 is like on its way out already. It's fucking crazy, you guys. But as we close out this year, I just think it's so important to have a plan for the biggest goals that you want to go after. I know this is something that people see me talk about on social media all the time. What's your biggest goal? What's the action plan behind it? Have a plan.

execute on it and the same goes for speaking. So even if you're going to use the next two months of the year to research events that you want to speak at to pitch yourself to start filling up your calendar, it's not enough to just get the opportunities. Once those events are in the calendar, you need to start creating the work back schedule that you need to really give those opportunities the best version of you.

up on that stage, because if you do, that just means you're going to bring in more clients from the audience. You're going to bring in more speaking opportunities and you're just going to be so well on your way to making a freaking career out of public speaking. And how cool is that? Okay. That's all I wanted to share today. It's something that I've been thinking about a lot, just given that I have been on this journey and I am so excited to watch other people go through it. Like I mentioned,

Katrina Owens (31:59.65)
The Fame Ready Entrepreneur Program is my 12 month group coaching program that you can join at any time. Once you join, in for 12 months. So you get me weekly hot seat coaching calls every single week. Every week I'm dropping different podcasts, event, speaking, publication opportunities that are looking for speakers, personal brands, experts like you to feature. Those opportunities are always popping up in the group. We do monthly guest trainings with different experts who are going to help you.

really work on different parts of your personal brand. This month I have a LinkedIn expert, next month we're bringing in a messaging expert. Everyone is there to help you really craft the most famous version of your personal brand, which really means getting the tools and information and knowledge available to you and using it. So if you want to join that program before 2026 hits, now is the best time.

is going to be a Black Friday sale. There is going to be a birthday sale depending on when this comes out. So you're going to be able to jump into that program for the lowest price it will ever be ever again, because in 2026, that price is going up because honestly, the women in there just get such killer results. So we've got to recognize our value and increase it. So I hope you all have an amazing week. Please rate and review this podcast every...

where you listen to podcasts, please follow me at Katrina Owens PR on Instagram, Katrina Owens on LinkedIn. You can follow the podcast on Instagram at Get Fame Ready. And I can't wait to see you all next week. And remember, literally anything is possible, you guys. Whatever you've got in store for 2026, I know that your biggest dreams are about to come true if you take the action that you need to get there. Okay, I'll see you all next week.

Toodles!