Transcript Episode 82

Episode 82: Jasmin Haley on Building a Profitable Speaking Business

Stephanie Skryzowski:

[00:00:00] Hello. Welcome back to 100 degrees of entrepreneurship. I’m Stephanie and I’m here today with my friend, Jasmine Haley. Jasmine is awesome. First of all, you’re going to love this episode. She is a nationally awarded speaker, author, educator, and a cons. Consultant dedicated to helping audiences understand that the time is now.

If they want to make an impact and serve their communities from the heart she has spoken to and educated over 10,000 audience members since she began her career in speaking and has impacted countless others through her podcast, educational programs and consulting business. She’s a sought after speaker who.

Powerful results for our audiences and has been featured and worked with national healthcare media outlets, such as American dental hygienist association, Colgate crest, RDH magazine, and more today, Jasmine chairs are transformative message on stages and platforms around the country. Her inclusive message on burnout, becoming legacy driven and how to create presentations that reach the heart have impacted lives of our [00:01:00] audience members and transformed the professional issues coached into business growth and successful speaking careers.

Jasmine is awesome. Like I said, I met her probably two years ago now where she actually came and spoke to my team about burnout and balancing and really just like managing all the things and work and life. And so I just sort of felt in love with her style and the way she talks and, um, and her message.

And so we’ve been friends of ever since, and her business has really blown up in the last couple of years. Where she is now coaching and doing live events for other entrepreneurs, helping them bring paid, speaking gigs, um, into their business as like a, you know, really profitable revenue stream. So this woman knows what she is doing.

Um, and I just, I love everything that she brings to the table. So you’re gonna really like this conversation today because she gives us some ideas of like what we can actively do if you want to. Um, bring speaking into your business, like paid [00:02:00] speaking. Um, and she asked me some good questions and gave us some really good tips on actions that you can take right now.

And she dropped a huge bomb, like in the best way, um, a knowledge bomb, I’ll say of something that I wouldn’t have really thought of that you can do with. You know, materials, content that you have already created to add a really passive revenue stream to your business. So that was just such a great message from Jasmine.

So I will stop talking and jump right over to the interview. Now. Enjoy.

[00:00:00] Okay. Hey, Hey, thanks for having me. I’m so excited that you invited me. I’m very, very flattered also.

Yes. Yes. I’m happy to be here. I can’t wait to chat.[00:01:00] 

Yeah. So I’m a professional speaker and I am a speaker consultant, and I own a global consulting firm that helps professionals refine their presentation skills, create signature speaking programs. We help up level their marketing assets, but most importantly, we help them curate a structure. To build sustainability with speaking through their business.

So having that recurring income is a, is a big, big plus side. Once you’ve set up the structure.[00:02:00] 

Oh, my word. So back when my parents got together, Um, no, , we’re not gonna go that far back, but it’s been an interesting journey. Okay. Um, I had always had a love of fear with teeth. I had loved teeth since very, very young. I had severely crowded teeth. I would never smile. I would hide it. So that started my fascination with it.

And I decided to dedicate my career to dentistry. I went to a specialized high school that had dental assisting in there. I decided to go off to college, even though I, none of my siblings had attempted. To actually go to college. So I would be the first to attempt to go away and do that. I was a fifth of six children and I successfully did so.

And so I created a profession or career in. Specifically dentistry with the focus on public health. So I served patients living with HIV, dealing [00:03:00] with substance use disorder, working, um, extensively with the G B T Q plus population. And I eventually went into academia. And when I went into academia, what I did not realize was that I was actually in a toxic work environment.

I thought it was, this was gonna be the solution to all my roles. I would be able to. And have a schedule that would allow me to support my family, but I wind up getting extremely ill during my years at that, that organization. And I, what I didn’t realize was that it was burnout. No one talked about it at that time.

The world health organization did not even speak about it at that time. Although it had been in, in research since the 1970s, it wasn’t known. So my mother passed away unexpectedly. No warning. And that started me on this journey of really thinking about what direction I was going on in that time in my life.

I had the courage after a brief conversation with [00:04:00] someone to view entrepreneurship as a answer to me, escaping where I was at, and I took a leap of faith. Okay. I don’t recommend this. I didn’t plan for nothing but I took a leap of faith to start my business. And I had known from working in non-profit organizations and organizing their events, cuz I was organ, I was the person that would organize events, whether at my organization that I was working or for a nonprofit with, and we had to find speakers and I would see their paychecks and I would see that they were making more than what I was making in a.

Teaching. And so I knew it was an option for me, although I didn’t see black dental hygienist on the speaking circuit at all. So I didn’t take that. No, for an answer. I grew myness. I bootstrapped it in 2016, um, to an international brand in dentistry and then decided in 2020 to pivot and do more [00:05:00] consulting work and leave the healthcare industry to expand my legacy driven.

It was scary. It was scary because I had popularity in the healthcare industry. Um, I, people had known me people. I was being recognized for my work receiving awards for the work working with corporate sponsors, but I still felt like I still was working too hard to get some small measure of. And I realized that I [00:06:00] needed to branch out to a wider network of individuals because I was a square peg in the circle environment.

And did I want to fight through more barriers or did I wanna open myself up to a more expansive world? So I can’t explain to you why. other than the fact that I felt that it was God directed me in that direction. And it took a lot of mindset work to work through that because I was a complete mess. I’m not even gonna lie to you.

I was a complete mess. Stephanie met me. We’re that time. Okay. I had to read the big leap. I was, I was all over the place therapy. Y’all therapy’s good. Therapy’s a good thing to do. I had to go through that and stop making false [00:07:00] stories, my reality and choosing outcomes that I desired and move forward with deep, massive action and intention to work through, to work through that and see where I am right now on the other side.

And it’s just the beginning right now.

Yes. And before I [00:08:00] answer that question, I just want y’all listeners to know that when I decided to make my pivot, I didn’t do. You know, I didn’t do it where I just did it. Aimlessly. I went and got myself a J B, I got a J B. Okay. I knew that this pivot was gonna happen and I knew revenue would I wasn’t going to ease my way in.

I went straight, cold Turkey, and so I knew I needed a job. So I went and got a teaching job. I went back to teaching, I went back fulltime and then wound up having to leave it anyway because of the PIMS. I’m like, oh, well, I’m gonna have to figure this out because I needed to be home with my children. So the mindset work that was really critical for me was to.

Get firmly rooted and really rooted in my worthiness to understand that I, the fact that I was living and breathing, I was already worthy. And then I needed to. Build self trust, because what happened [00:09:00] was during that period of time, because I was pivot into this new industry, I was purchasing programs.

Didn’t really need, I thought I needed it because I was in, I was in the space. I’m in a new industry. I didn’t need it. So I was wasting time. I was doing things because this girl said it. To do this. And this girl said to do this and I was having these failed launches, failed ING. Okay. Everything was failing.

Okay. but then the people, the people would come to me and say, oh, Jasmine, we don’t want this offer that you have. We want you to look at. My speaker abstract. Can you tell me what I have here? If this is good for me to be able to submit. So I was getting whispers of where I needed to be, but I still ignored it.

I still decided to spend thousands of dollars and go through three launches when not, not a person bought a thing before I finally decided I’m gonna go ahead and trust that everything I threw from moving from Jamaica, Queens. To being the [00:10:00] first attend college to, to complete it from moving to a new state for me, you know, being awarded for my educational work for me, overcoming burnout, for me purchasing a home, my mother had never owned a home.

Like these things, all of these triumphs showed how resilient I was and how God had never left my side through all of those struggles. So why would I not be successful? if I’m truly surrender and align myself with where I really needed to be. That’s the mindset shift that happened last year, and then everything blew up.[00:11:00] 

I launched ugly. I put what my, what my program was going to be. And my vision, I literally wrote it out, put it on a Google doc and went online and shared it. I didn’t have a perfect sequence. I didn’t have a perfect funnel and on, and I said to myself, if I can only get one person to purchase this, I’m gonna go all in.

Woo. This is.

I’m sorry, [00:12:00] that caught me a little bit because that one person who purchased it said to me, I’ve been waiting for you Jasmine to make this. And she’s still in my program right now. She’s an alumni member, but I only had one person that joined that program and I treated it like it was a hundred people up.

And now we’re in our third reiteration of it. We’re, we’re potentially gonna be at seven. I’m still working on the last two right now. So just knowing that if you just get that one, just that one, and I know people hear that all the time, but it’s really the truth. You just need one person to get through your program, even if you did a whole bunch of launches that.

People can look at my track record. You can find, you can Google my name and see how many million different things I’ve done. until where I’ve landed right now, the key is [00:13:00] not to give up and to keep going.

It’s been a, it is she? Yes, yes. Yes. A couple of years now. Mm-hmm.[00:14:00] 

That’s a good question, Stephanie. Um,

I, you know, I think most business owners think about quitting their business. Every couple of years. and , that did run up to my mind. But if I really think about who I am internally, no, I probably would’ve tried something else. I probably would’ve tried something else, but I don’t know. I can’t really truly answer that.

I think I, I think the answer of that one person that came in was. I needed that reassurance because that individual happened to purchase. I had tried something with speaking maybe two years prior to that. And someone gave me a hard time with me charging $500. Y’all my, my program is a five figure investment.

Just want y’all know. [00:15:00] Okay. You stepping up with me and my team that pay 12 K 10 K or more. OK. So they gimme a hard time with $500. And I told myself that no one would be willing to purchase my program. They gave me a hard time for $500 and went and purchased a competitor’s program for like two to 3000.

And that hurt my ego so bad. And I made so many false stories. No one would take me seriously because I’m I’m of a certain. No one would take me seriously because I’m black. No one would take me seriously because I like to listen to nineties, hiphop and R and B, you know, whatever

whatever excuse there is. I was making it.[00:16:00] 

Yeah. So I had to go through several different ways of positioning my zone of genius and we’ve simplified it. We’ve had to simplify it because right now, Jasmine Haley is going to be a millionaire. So I needed to simplify what I was offering. My one on one, uh, work that I do is very limited. It’s very limited.

Now, now my focus is in my heart driven speaker consulting program, which is a 90 day a hybrid experience where they get a chance to work with me and my team and learn the foundational pieces necessary to, uh, create their signature programs, refine their presentation skills, and then up level their marketing assets.

And [00:17:00] we also have a V I P marketing day where we actually have people come. And we take care of their marketing assets. One of the things that is difficult for most speakers is finding the time to update their branding so that they can call in the, the organizations that they desire special well paid ones.

So my work is, is simplified. Now you read the work with me one on one, you come into my group or we help up level your marketing. And it feels good. It feels online, but it also helps people to see that at different stages of where the, where they’re at in their speaking journey, we can help, um, support them.

And of course, I’m going back to events because that was my bread and butter prior to, and so we have a workshop series that we’re running now called the legacy speaker live tour, which is absolutely. Amazing. We just did our first one [00:18:00] and it was amazing.

thank you. Thank you.

Yes, it is. It is a part of my business. It actually slowed down a lot because of the pandemic. Which most speakers would tell you they did. They they’ve done that. And because I’ve been consulting doing a lot of consulting work and I also have a family, I have children, I have a husband. My quality of life is very important.

So I haven’t been able to speak as often as I like, because I am [00:19:00] helping support others with their speaking. But recently I was able to close a licensing deal with my. So I think what most people don’t understand is that there are ways for you to still speak and train. That doesn’t mean that you have to hop on an airplane.

Um, like this week, this past week I was in Indiana speaking. I’m exhausted right now. I’m not as young as I used to be drop it down low. Right. Thank you. I can still drop it down low and pick it back up though. Stephanie. Okay.

But I, I I’m now leveraging my content in other ways, so I can create a training series and then license it out and get paid from that. I mean, it’s really liberating when, especially for us as women, cuz I feel like for us as women, we don’t talk about things like this enough. I keep I’ve been in organizations, I’ve gone to meetings and oftentimes I’m not seeing [00:20:00] women, especially underrepresented.

Okay. Minority women leveraging their intellectual property and, and making bank with it. We make it for others. We never feel like we’re quite good enough to go out there and pro it, proposition it to an organization that would be willing to pay boo cool dollars for your.

I had to educate myself. because [00:21:00] at the time when I first started speaking, that was not a language that was a part of my everyday communication. In fact, there have been plenty of times where I’ve spoken and I did not protect my intellectual property. I didn’t protect my slides. I didn’t protect. I didn’t protect, you know, recordings of me anytime anyone is using any recordings of you or your sides, or any, anything associated with your brand and what you’ve created.

There, there needs to be an agreement of how they can use that, which is licensing. And so I had to get educated by hiring amazing lawyers like Dene, Wilmington. Um, I’ve also hired a quotion no. Just to name some individuals on how to protect my IP. And when you learn how to use a heart methodology, which is my proprietary process of creating presentations, you begin to create a brand that’s highly [00:22:00] recognizable of providing quality education and training or speak.

And when you do provide that, that means that your services and your training will be in demand and organizations are willing to purchase that and actually share with their employees if it’s aligned with their particular goals. So it took me having to educate cuz there was times where I even made content.

I made content for organizations and didn’t get paid a dime.

Okay, let me just say that again. I made content y’all and then get time, because I didn’t know. So I think that’s, that’s one of the things that I’m trying, that I am working to dismantle in my programs, because the more savvy we are, the more strategic and more intentional we become, the more [00:23:00] disruption we make.

In communities. And the more impact we make, especially for us women and underrepresented women. I wanna talk to my black and brown people for them to really understand how important it is for us to own our I P and to leverage it.[00:24:00] 

Yes.

Yeah.

That you don’t have to, and it’s, it’s something that you don’t have to show up for. You record it, high quality record, and then you go, here you go. And then you rinse and repeat it. You just sell it over and over again. Like I need y’all to pump the brakes, stop what you’re doing. Stop washing the dishes, stop park the car to the side.

Okay. And soak that in. You gotta get yourself a lawyer. You’ve gotta understand how to create content. You have to understand how to package your expertise, which is my, my genius is the presentation skills and curriculum design. Like how do you take your expertise and [00:25:00] package it in a way where it can be sold?

Yeah, mm-hmm.[00:26:00] 

Yeah. So that’s an excellent question. Um, first thing that I would tackle. Is I already have specific custom things I can say to you, cuz I already looked at your page. Um but just generally for those who are listeners, I would say the first thing is to understand exactly who your target audience is like, who would best benefit from your expertise that is directly aligned with the goals that you set for yourself and your business, because sometimes what you want, what you don’t wanna do is become a corporate whole, which is someone that.

Basically speaks on itch and each and every topic there is on the, in, on the planet. Right? Just for a check, right? Or no check. Cause some of y’all are being corporate holes without getting paid to speak. So you wanna get clear on who the audience is, how does this align to your business? And [00:27:00] then what are those signature topics that you’re gonna put on rinse and repeat?

Like, what is it that you want to be known for? And you have to create programs that evoke emotion. If people are trying to go on their phone and they’re looking up Facebook, or they’re looking up the laundry list of things that they have to do, the more than likely they’re not going to try to follow you.

They’re not going to inquire of your services. So how do you get to a place of getting transformation? And that’s what my heart methodology is. How was it that I was a person from Jamaica, Queens that would go to Nebraska, Kansas. I’m thinking about like the places I never thought I would visit and have people share my message.

Very hard topics, but have people leaving, crying. Hugging me hugging each other, like, and just ready to make change in their life or in their patients lives. That is the heart methodology. Once [00:28:00] you figure that out with your signature programs, you need to then consider how are you going to then pitch them?

You start with people in your network right now. I started with people in my. and a lot of times people think, well, it’s the bigger name stages. A lot of the bigger name stages don’t pay you. If you’re not a celebrity or a big name, multi-million like someone, they like they’re yearning a lot of them don’t.

So a lot of the work starts with your own backyard. And a lot of us have context. As I started speaking, I used my contacts who was already in my organization say, Hey, I would love to speak for. And then I amplified it all over the place. I wasn’t shy about it. I’m a speaker. I said it like a new Yorker.

I’m a speaker.

okay. Yeah, [00:29:00] it did because I’m so conscious of how I am speaking. I got a little too comfortable. Um, Yeah. And pitch it, pitch it every single week. Where are you? Are you dropping seeds? Are you dropping seeds? Stephanie? Are you pitching? Yeah. you know, are you reaching out to the places that you really wanna speak?

No. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. So if you can’t, if you don’t go all in, if you don’t expand on that, it was a rhetorical question. So thank you for [00:30:00] answering. I’m not trying to guilt trip you, but , um, you, you have to start dropping those seeds. You have to make it a part of your marketing plan. It can’t be optional and you have to be willing to pitch every single week.

And get into these relationships with people who are the decision makers and who will be able to refer you to more decision makers that actually are looking to.[00:31:00] 

No, it was, it was in person. It was all in person. So this is all pre pandemic. I use the, of my network in a professional association and that’s how I started. And I would ask around sometimes I would meet because I was helping to plan. And I knew I had an inkling, I had a desire for this, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to commit to it.

So I would meet speakers and I would remember asking some of them, you know, what, what did you do a lot of times you can learn from just hearing somebody else tell their own story. And that’s what I did. I would listen to some of y’all don’t wanna take time to actually talk to somebody. You can get a lot of your answers that way.

But [00:32:00] I then invested in one speaker training program and realized that I was, that’s how I got my first international gig. That one, that one speaker program, let me know that I had a gift. I had a gift and I was like, okay. And I just.

Some of the structure necessary. And once you get the structure, you can be, you can skyrocket, but you can’t be shy. So if you follow me on social and for those who are listening, I’m always sharing. Except from when I’m on sabbatical, I’m always sharing what it is that I [00:33:00] do. When I first started speaking, I was taking pictures.

I didn’t care if it was a selfie is letting people know, Hey, I speak. and then when you give, when you serve with excellence, it, it became, I became so well known that I no longer need to apply. Speaker requests were coming to me. So I was strategic strategic on where, and I also served with excellence, but I also amplified my voice.

And what was important to.[00:34:00] 

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love that you mentioned this, um, Stephanie, because so many people who are interested in speaking, they’re so enthralled by the glitz and glamor, and this is not a glitz and glam. Yes, it feels great. I’m not like I’m not gonna take away from that. Yes. It feels amazing to speak to hundreds of people and to see them give you a standing ovation and everyone’s in all of that’s wonderful.

Right. But everyone is so fixated on, I wanna get paid 10 K, but they never ask themselves, well, how good is my program? How [00:35:00] good do I sound when I’m speaking? Or am I just putzing around the stage? Right. And not really connecting with. The the audience. Cause sometimes I’ve questioned, like how did this person make a speaking career?

This is horrible. Right. Um, you know, how well, how, how well are you delivering that service? How well is the transformation for the audience? How well have you structured your ability to create and nurture relationships before, during, and after the stage nobody’s doing that, they just I’m wanna get. I just wanna get 10,000 , but does that truly lead to wealth?

That one $10,000 gig could, or you could speak for free or you can even speak for $500 and turn that to a six figure profit for you in your business. If you know how to leverage your IP in a more strategic. That’s the part that people are [00:36:00] missing. And so you’re gonna continuously have people that are saying, oh my gosh, I just wanna get paid pen paid 10 K.

And it’s like, okay. Yeah, that’s great. It feels good. I’ve had a, a, a five figure check and it was great. I nearly passed out. Okay. Bought myself a bed. I bought a bed, a luxury bed.

So, I mean, it was great. It was wonderful, but, um, it wasn’t that one check is just one check. So how are you creating sustainability through it? How is it funneling into what you already have in your business? And it is, it is hands down. The reason why my business blew up was because of speaking, whether virtually on a podcast.

Or on the stage, it is one of the most powerful marketing tools that we have.[00:37:00] 

Mm, the back end. So Stephanie caught me when I was an utter dire mess. but [00:38:00] I’m so happy. I joined. Oh, she was so sweet. She was so sweet. She was so sweet to me. Okay. But anyway, um, I, I joined Stephanie’s program and I think that’s what really started me really looking at my numbers in a way that I was kind of scared.

I had huge money mindset trauma. Right. And it was showing up, even though I worked through all of that and, and made thousands of dollars, I didn’t wanna look at my numbers. Like it was something about that. So I needed to get. Serious about looking at, looking at that and then planning for that. I had never seen someone break down how to plan for that, like Stephanie did.

And that made me start realizing that a lot of what I was doing was not profitable. And nothing that I was doing was going to allow me the ability to take off. One of the questions that Stephanie had asked me recently was how long did it take me to [00:39:00] get here? It took several years because my business model model wasn’t set up for me to be able to sustain me and taking two months off in a year. transcript episode 82

So I structured my business in a way that one, the prices had to be. I get extreme. I got extremely strategic on, uh, when offers would be offered and how the payment plans would be handled in my business so that every single month I have recurring income coming in, even when I’m not working licensing, the IP does that.

Y’all okay. Just to let y’all know don’t sleep on that. So it was by creating that structure. I’ve planned out my entire year in advance the entire year. I know when the launch is happening. I know when my kids’ vacation is happening, you know, I know what we’re doing in our life. Do I feel like doing that?

No, I don’t. It doesn’t bring me [00:40:00] joy, but it does bring me joy. The fact that I can say I’m going on sabbatical. See y’all later. Don’t message me.

Yes. . Yeah, so I had, I had to let my clients know, let them be aware that this is when we take off and guess what? They’re cool with it. They’re still getting services. They’re still getting their services. I plan my programs and my launches around the life that I want to have. And that was pretty much it setting up the recurring payment.

Making sure I understood what, when launches would occur, what I would be selling for how much to make sure it was profitable. I got really clear on everything. And so I have, um, I was able to hire myself, pay myself, like truly [00:41:00] pay myself on payroll. Right now we’re going to be searching for a project manager next that will be my next hire.

That’s gonna be an employee, which is big, you know, it’s so big. But I also realize that for me to have a quality of life that I need for me to go out there and serve the clients, I need someone taking care of more of the backend strategic thinking for the business. So none of that happened overnight, but again, You have to set intention to causer disruption.

Right? I need to disrupt the dust bunnies up in my bake account that was having a party I needed to.[00:42:00] 

Yeah.

Yeah. And you know, I first started with CEO. I did Friday. And so I take two CEO days a week. Um, and sometimes it’s like, sometimes I work. If it, if I need to work out work. Um, recently I just blocked off all core calls on the fourth week of the month. So Monday, Friday, CEO days, fourth week of the month, no calls.transcript episode 82

[00:43:00] And so that means that when I work, I am working y’all I am showing up. I am showing up on social. I’m consistently emailing my, my, my, um, my list. And it’s because I know that I want 10 months that I wanna work. And I also want limited time every week so that I can just breathe. I’m a mental health warrior.

I deal with depression and I, and I am an introvert. I do not pull energy from being around people, even though I love speaking. And I had to be very intentional on how I set my time around my energy so I could serve at the highest level.[00:44:00] 

Yes. Yes, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. transcript episode 82

Thank you

question.

Mm Mmm. I love watching law and order or any other ratchet reality TV show. right now I’m on a star wars right now. I’m watching, I’m catching back up with star wars. So I just I’m watching OB wine Kenobi. So I go through, I like television. I like [00:45:00] shows

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Okay. Oh, it’s okay.[00:46:00] 

Yeah, so they could find me@jasminehaley.com. They can also find me on LinkedIn and IG. I hang out on Facebook as well. Same thing. Jasmine Haley.

Yeah. So we have a cohort style for our group group program and, uh, the door is just closed for our, or our next one that we’re accepting applications for is for January. And we host events throughout the year. So you could DM me, I’ll share that info. And let you know if it’s a good fit for your goals.

Thank you.[00:47:00]