Jackie Lapin is the Founder of SpeakerTunity®, The Speaker & Leader Resource Company and Conscious Media Relations Podcast/Radio Tour
Years in Business 40+
COMPANY/Organizations:
- SpeakerTunity®, The Speaker & Leader Resource Company
- Conscious Media Relations’ Podcast/Radio Tour
Please tell us what being a business owner means to you and why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?
I was born with the entrepreneur gene! My father showed me the possibilities that awaited if you took your fate in your own hands. I have only worked for others four years in my long life. Let’s just say I chafe at taking directions from others or being confined in a corporate space. I have always had a need to call my own shots. I started life as one of the first women sportswriters in America… a dream I had at 11 and fulfilled by writing or working for the Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post before I was 22. I went on to have one of the largest sports/special events companies on the continent for 20 years with a world-class client list.
After writing two award-winning personal growth books in my spare time, I realized my heart lay with the people who were making the world a better place, so I changed directions, rebranded to Conscious Media Relations and focused on doing radio/podcast tours for leaders and authors that reach 9000 shows (with a minimum 30 guaranteed.)
About 5 years ago, some of them asked if I could book them for speaking engagements and I said, “No, but I know where they are, why don’t I just tell you!” And that was how SpeakerTunity®, The Speaker & Leader Resource Company. Today we support leaders all across North America that want to get booked for live and virtual speaking, conferences, radio shows, podcasts, virtual summits, TEDx events and virtual networking. We call ourselves The Ultimate Speaker Toolbox, one-stop-shopping for the leader who needs to get in front of an audience to grow a business and fill a client list.
What or who has been your greatest influence in business and why?
That’s a tough question…certainly, my father installed in me a sense of integrity and a commitment to create a win/win for everyone. But I have had an endless number of mentors who both supported my learning in terms of business and in my striving to become a more conscious human being in and out of the office. Learning comes from so many sources and I always stay open to it.
What would you say is your greatest professional accomplishment to date?
You mean besides being on national television at 20 for breaking the press box gender barrier in Detroit’s Tiger Stadium! LOL!
I’d really say it’s being a serial pioneer and building successive sustainable businesses by following the breadcrumbs that the Universe has provided. I listen to the nudges that tell me there is a need in the market –and then focus on building what is being called for. It’s why we created SpeakerTunity®–Nobody was supporting the speaker/leader who needed more stages and wasn’t a keynote speaker that gets thousands per appearance as a professional speaker. There was a huge underserved market!
What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our readers?
To be conscious of others’ feelings, put yourself in their shoes when dealing with your team. I learned to be kinder and more compassionate. I am no less demanding of what I want and need– I just don’t demand. Instead, I just create the environment where my team is so devoted to me because of the way I treat them, that they double their efforts to give me what I want.
What have been the most effective marketing initiatives or programs you have used to promote your business?
Hands down at SpeakerTunity® it’s been our one-month free campaign that gives people 240 free leads combined in our four subscription services: SpeakerTunity Speaker Leads®, SpeakerTunity Radio/Podcast Insider®, SpeakerTunity Virtual Summits® and SpeakerTunity Radio/Podcast Insider for BUSINESS®! You can check it out yourself at www.SpeakerTunity.com/trials . We have in the range of 500 subscribers and probably 33 percent or more have come from that promotion.
We’re very excited and hope to gravitate many of them to our new SpeakerTunity Members Only® membership program, where we combine many of our resources in one monthly package, including Tier 3, which we include 3 of our 75 Regional Speaker Lead Directories and 3 of our 60 Niche Specialty Speaker Lead Directories.
What one thing have you learned as a small business owner that has served you well over the years?
Hire really good people; give them strong, detailed direction; make yourself available if they need guidance; hold regular check ins; have them do a cheat sheet that provides you a capsule view of results so you can easily see where you might want to course-correct—and let them run. They might well exceed what you even intended. But the opposite is true..get rid of the bad apples quick so they don’t poison the well. You need every link in the chain to be strong.
Even though many of my team are remote, I love to get them together at least virtually on occasion for morale building. And my team leader in the Philippines takes our team there on a beach day to keep them motivated!
Are there any resources or tools you’d like to share with other small business owners that have helped you run your business?
I finally gave in and got a calendar link and it changed my life. But here’s a little trick, use a bit.ly link to rename your calendar link or your zoom link, so they are really easy to remember. My calendar link is www.schedule.jackielapin.com and my zoom is something like www.zoom.speakertunity.com .) Then if I’m on a phone with someone and I want to switch them to a zoom conversation, I don’t have to schedule it. I just tell them to go to the zoom link. (Note, you have to own the domain to do this. You’re driving them to a renamed version of your permanent zoom room ID.)
Do you have any new projects coming up?
Yes! This year we are launching our Conference Connection service with 1500 conferences that you can pick from and submit yourself to as a speaker. It includes access to our Speaker Resource Collective with all the experts to support your success and your very own Speaker Showcase on our website. These three services are available to all levels of our new SpeakerTunity Members Only membership program. And then in mid-year watch for our TEDx Training Program: Insider Secrets You Must Know to Get Booked on a TEDx Stage!
What do you do for fun/relaxation?
I have what I can Sacred Sundays…sitting in my backyard, reading an historic novel or biography, listening to my waterfalls, and smelling some of my 300 roses! And then I try to escape to some new locale at least once a year to travel in the US or Internationally.
What is Number One Business Goal you plan to accomplish over the next year?
Make SpeakerTunity® a household name among leaders and grow our community, our members, and our partners into the millions. We partner with many organizations who serve leaders, experts, coaches, authors, and entrepreneurs to integrate our resources into their companies, coaching programs, or organizations so they can help their clients gain increased visibility with less effort. Our selling point is that we save leaders all the research time and effort to get on stages faster!
You want to write a book on …
Been there, done that! But I have lots of people urging me to write a biography and speak to what it’s been like to create the legacy of a life like mine, as an inspiration for women—and, of course, spill all the juicy stories about the celebrities I worked with during my years in PR!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Don’t hide your light under a bushel, as they say. If you have something to offer, take the plunge and begin serving your constituency…find them on stages. And if stage fright is holding you back, remember the audience could not care less about you..they aren’t judging…they only care that you have the wisdom to change their lives. So approach the stage knowing you are in service to them and their needs — and your butterflies will evaporate!
What’s the best way for the readers of WE Magazine for Women to connect with you?
You can contact me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackielapin) and Facebook Messenger (https://www.facebook.com/jackielapin ). I or my SpeakerTunity Director of Speaker Relations Kelley O’Hara would be delighted to have a discovery meeting with you to see which of our resources would serve you best. Or feel free to explore on your own: www.SpeakerTunity.com
Also, keep us in mind if you are launching a new book. Our Conscious Media Relations Podcast/Radio Tour is a great way to get your book off the ground! Or revitalize an old one! There are 80 amazing testimonials here www.ConsciousMediaRelations.com !
We are here in service to you and the mission you bring to the world. We’d love to support you!
