Isabelle Mercier | How To Accelerate Your Business Growth

The Publishing for Profit podcast is brought to you by Ghostwriters & Co. Earn more money by publishing better content and learn how do we increase your thought leadership so you can build your brand. Head over to ghostwritersandco.com for more information, that’s ghostwritersandco.com. And now your host, Joel, Mark Harris

Joel: Hello, and welcome to the Publishing for Profit podcast. This is your host, Joe Mark Harris. Today we interview Isabelle Mercier. She is the co-founder and CEO of LeapZone Strategies, and one of the most influential branding, marketing, and customer experience, keynote speakers. Isabel is a no-nonsense marketer and brand expert born to catapult passionate entrepreneurs and thought leaders to build businesses and brands designed to make life better.

As one of North America’s top business influencers, bestselling authors, two time TEDx speaker with 2.5 million views and a TV show host. Isabelle brings 25 years a branding, marketing and customer x-ray teas. She has worked with over 500 companies, including some influential and iconic brands, like A&W and Ruby’s footwear Earl’s restaurants, IMAX corporation, HSBC investments.

Just to name a few, Isabelle teaches us how to grow businesses and brands that are designed to thrive in any economy, including a COVID economy by breathing and remaining the first, the best and the only. This is a great interview. As a bell gives us so much information. We talk a lot about branding, about marketing.

I highly recommend that you re-listen, rewatch this, and take notes. Cause there’s so much great information. Isabelle is such an expert. You will definitely enjoy this episode so without further ado, here is Isabelle.

Isabelle, thank you so much for being on the show. I know you’re super busy, so thank you for taking the time. How are you today?

Isabelle: Hi, I’m doing fantastic and I’m honoured to be on your podcast. Anytime my friend  and I know that this podcast will be of maximum value to your community.

Joel: Well, I know having you on it will be. So I want to jump right into your company, LeapZone Strategies. Can you tell us a little bit about what you guys do, who you serve, and even, if you want to go into why you started it?

Isabelle: At LeapZone, we are three companies into one. So imagine a branding agency, a marketing agency, and a coaching agency all into one. So basically what we do at LeapZone is we look under the hood of a company.

And we look at what is working, what is not working and what needs to be tweaked and what needs to be elevated, what needs to be stopped, what needs to be innovated. In order for the company, the CEO, or the small business owner to be positioned as the first, the best or the only. So basically, we are a positioning company that helps entrepreneurs with no-nonsense tools and guidance to really help them grow their business and their brand to a whole new level of impact of influence and of profitability.

Joel: So, who do you help? Are you mainly small businesses? Cause I know you’ve worked with large companies as well. Who would you say your ideal target is?

Isabelle: Yeah, we have a few different, ideal clients. In the small business world, an ideal client for us would be different because we have different offerings.

I used to only work with large organizations, but when I went to speak on stage in small business events or social media events or stuff like that, people would say, ‘Oh my God, do you have a book?’ Do you have something we’d love to work with you? But we feel like you’re only working for large organizations.

So I created a program, a coaching program that’s called ‘Build to Rock’ and built a rock is definitely designed for solopreneurs and couplepreneurs. That are small, but wanting to grow and want to scale. So anywhere from a heart-led company, super small, even less than $50,000 a year, all the way to a $15 million companies. The sweet spot for our higher-end coaching ss for companies that are above $500,000 a year. However, we do have coaching specifically for our bill to rockers, right? Because it’s the same architecture. The same way is utilized for building a large organization or helping a larger organization. All those architecture and steps have to be established in the small organizations in order for them to grow.

So we have an array of different offerings. All the way from three, all the way to, you know, a hundred thousand dollars depending on who we work with. Right. But we do have, when you have a lot tailored for the small business and the small entrepreneur because they are the future of great brands and great companies, right?

Joel: What are some of the common challenges you see businesses come to you for and how do you help them?

Isabelle: Well, the majority of the people that come to us are either not generating what they want to generate. They’re either not as impactful as they had hoped to be. They’re not as influential as they would’ve hoped to be, or they’re just thought that their products or service was going to take off.

And it didn’t quite work that way. So what we do is we do look under the hood and we have our own methodology called the LeapZone trifecta, where we look at how is this product or business or person positioned, right. What’s the positioning? Then we look at the personality of the person, the brand, the products, the company.

And then we look at the performance, right? So positioning personality, performance, and then the performance. This is where we look at what is working well, what is not working well? What is missing in the architecture of the company? So the positioning would be a strategy. The personality would be branding and brand elevation, and then performance would be coaching. And I know that I’ve had a few companies in my career. My first company was strictly designed in branding agency. So what we took cheerer is the cosmetic side of a company, right? The look and feel of a brand. What a brand is so much more than a look and feel. And so the reason why we let go of it, we sold that company and started leads zone is because we felt that handing a cosmetic brand to a company doesn’t help them grow and scale.

It helps partly. And I don’t mean to diminish the value of an amazing cosmetic brand. Obviously, it’s important, but just that alone doesn’t five X or two X the company. So that’s why we decided to let go of that company, sell it because we thought it was going to be easier to sell and start from scratch in a new positioning versus dragging this other company that was known for a, and now we wanted it to be known from B.

Right. So that’s why we did that. We thought that. Our offerings were amazing, but they were not complete to actually really help move the needle for the companies that we’re helping. Does that make sense?

Joel: Makes perfect sense and I totally agree with you on that. It’s one thing to have like a nice polished look, but that often is not enough, especially I think in today’s world with, you know, COVID and we’re competing with, everybody in the world with technology when we were talking about zoom earlier, And it’s super easy for somebody to hire a company across the world. And you have to compete with that. So I think brand is super important. I don’t know if you want to comment on that. =

Isabelle: I do. You know, there are a lot of misconceptions about branding. A lot of people think branding is a logo. Branding is a web page or branding as a product or a service. And, and of course, all of those things are important to a brand. You know, if you don’t have a way of a visual trigger to be recognized as a brand, then. You won’t have a brand, but a brand is so much more than a logo so much more than a website.

In fact, I always talk about a website as your best spokesperson, but a spokesperson half has to know what to say and how to say it in an intelligent manner. Right? So most small business owners where they go astray. Is, they believe that by having a logo, they now have a brand, you know, it takes years to build a brand and a brand is how people feel when they buy your product or experience your service.

It’s branding is what people say. When you’re not in the room anymore, right. Once you’ve left the room, what do they say about you? So we all have a brand, no matter what, like you have your own brands within your organization. You man, I am my own brand within Liza. So we all are a brand. Whether we know it or not, the key is to be in control of that brand.

Right. So branding is about being very, very clear about what you do. How will you do it better than anyone else? Why would someone choose you over anyone else? Even if you were more expensive? And who you are best suited to serve because a lot of people, you know, they want to say, I serve the small business world.

It’s like, well, that’s 95% of all businesses on the planet. Like, that’s really why I call that speaking to the whole jungle. If you want to, if you want to work with Mayans, you’ve got to learn the lion’s language. You got to learn where the lions hang out. You’ve got to learn most. And most importantly, What is, what are the top biggest problems that lions have to continually deal with so that you can construct and offer products and services and ideas and innovation to solve the lion’s problems.

Now that doesn’t mean that if a giraffe comes along and goes, Hey, I want it. Of course, it might not say no, it’s your prerogative to go, Hey, giraffe, I can help you do. But you’re not going to invest your hard-earned money and time and energy in speaking to the whole jungle because that’s that doesn’t lead anywhere.

And most people say, well, I don’t want to cut myself too short with options. It’s the contrary. You speak to the whole jungle. Nobody listens. So I’ll give you an example. If you’re in your room at an event full of people, And you have something to offer for the Johns of the world. Let’s say, if you said, Hey everybody, Hey, everybody hates, everybody’s talking, they’re all busy talking.

And you’re like, Hey everybody, Hey, I’ve got something. I’ve got something for you. If you actually take the mic and go pay. I’m sorry to interrupt here. All the Johns in this room, please come to the stage. I’ve got something for you. All the Johns in this room, you’re going to hear a pin drop. All the Johns are going to come to the, to the stage.

And then everybody else is going to wonder what the couple isn’t not going to want in. That’s the power of understanding what you do. How you do it better than anyone else? What makes you different? What makes you the first, the best or the only, and who are your best suited to help so they can hear you.

Right. So, yeah, so that’s what, and there’s so much more to say about branding, but for now I’ll leave it there. And if you have other questions, we’ll pack them.

Joel: I know Apple is an overused example, but I just thought of Apple. When you mentioned that I thought of Apple because I think Apple products were made for a very targeted market. And then a lot of people like, Oh man, Apple is cool. Like I want in, I want that feeling of being in the club. I think that really spoke to a lot of people and that’s why Apple exploded as it did.

Isabelle: I’m just going to add something to your Apple example because I see a lot of small business owners that have 75 offerings and they’re super small. They generate less than a hundred thousand dollars a year. And then we have like the confusion of 75 different offerings. Whereas Apple doesn’t even have 75 products. Apple has very few products. And they are a multi-billion dollar company, right? So it’s not about the quantity of offers. It’s about innovation and quality.

And most importantly, what new normal is your offer creating as opposed to how many offers do I have? So,

Joel: yeah. That’s yeah. Very good point for sure.

Isabelle: so for people who

Joel: want, you know, they feel like they need to improve their brand or they need to stand out. but they feeling overwhelmed by the whole process.

What is some good starting steps to, to think about branding?

Isabelle: Well, I will tell you, this is precisely why I create a bill to rock because of all this overwhelm out there of people going, Oh my God, I not positioned. I do not know what I stand for. the best thing that describes me as I’m the best or I’m the, I offer quality.

And that’s precisely why I thought, Oh my God, these small business owners have no chance in on this planet. If they don’t actually have these. Tea ingredients in place. And so in my bill to rock program, I talk about overall, what is branding? What are the branding ingredients that you need to have way before the look and feel of your logo and all of that?

Because the information that I’m about to share here is what is forums to look and feel. And not the other way around. You could have the best looking website ever, and you’d not converting at all yet. You could have a less. Awesome looking website, but a website that actually needs to is constructed to solve problems and to communicate how they solve problems.

And they will do way better than someone who’s beautifully positioned, for example. So, but she has to really understand first and foremost, What makes you different? So if you’re a coach, there are millions of coaching coaches out there. They all can actually say that they, they can help you grow.

Everybody can actually say the same thing, right? They’re a coach. Therefore they can help you advance in your business. And it now becomes a question of price. It’s like, Oh, well, if this goat and this coach and this goat seemingly does the same thing. Do the same thing, then I’m going to go with the one that I won.

I connect most of the width and two, the one that’s less expensive. I mean, that would be a human, human habit to do right. To actually go, wow. I’ll, I’ll go with the one I communicate better with, which is good. And then I’ll go with the least expensive. Now the key is to have a process, a proprietary process.

The key is for you to be able to explain clearly to your ideal client, who’s your ideal prospect, why they should pick you as a coach. And I use coach example because everybody now, everybody in their dogs, claim to be a coach, which is nice and problematic because, you know, Well, I think it’s more problematic than anything.

However, there are some amazing coaches out there that do deserve to be seen and actually be hired, but they’re now lost in the sea of sameness. And in a sea of a whole bunch of people doing the same thing. This is why we have our lead zone trifecta. Right. We have our own framework that derives from my 30 years of experience in business of owning and operating and having helped hundreds of business owners.

So I’ve created my own methodology, my own framework. And when I explain why people choose us instead of anyone else. People understand it. I have a visual to explain it. I go through it. People go, Oh my God, you take care of. So, as I said earlier, positioning personality performance, but we then have these three pillars.

There are eight key areas for growth time management. Brand and culture strategy, technology, keeping money and KPIs. So not to name them all, but there are eight key areas for growth that we look under the hood and we help our clients with. So when we go through this trifecta, and if you, if you’re with me on a call and you now know that, and then you go to another coach or a comparison to the other coach that, you know, I have 25 years experience.

I can help you in, in moving your, your business and in growing your business. Well, which company are you going to trust more? Me, who’s actually explained to you my proprietary process proven process, and that you recognize all these areas, you recognize a problem in your company versus someone who doesn’t have that and actually says, well, you know, I’m just a bit.

I’m just an awesome coach. Well, the answer is clear, right? So the key is to have a clear expectation. And I go through that in my building rock program, as well as in the coaching that accompanies the built rock program so that no one in the service or product business anymore don’t know what makes them difference, because I’ll tell you this.

And you know, this as much as I do selling other people’s product or service is way easier than selling our own. Selling products is much easier than selling a service, let alone selling your own service. We call that a genius based business. For those of you out there who have a service business, which is called a genius, based business, you need to have a very clear genius base architecture in order for you to feel super on fire and unstoppable, to be able to actually remote and sell your heart, right.

Your own services which is the hardest business model to be in yet. It’s the most popular. And it attracts people who have no idea about business and are very, very good about, you know, baking pies. It’s you’re very good about baking pies. It doesn’t make you a good pie company owner, right? So this is why I create a built a rock is to teach small business owners in a service or product industry to really understand what it takes to build a business from their genius.

Joel: I hope my listeners and viewers are taking notes on this because you are just spewing such good information. and it’s hard to know where to go next, but I’d like to kind of take you back. You’ve, been an entrepreneur for a long time. Has that always been a passion for you? And can you tell us a little bit about how you started out?

Isabelle: Yeah. yes, I believe I am unemployable.

Joel: As most entrepreneurs are.

Isabelle: Yes. You know what? I was raised in a hairdresser salon. my mom’s a hairdresser. My dad was a radio TV talk show host. And so I was raised in a, in a TV radio station as well as a hairdresser.

Was the mom, most, a lot of people in my family are entrepreneurs. So I do have some entrepreneurship in my blood. and it started literally at the hair salon. When I helped my, I could not wait to come back from school at even a we age like seven, eight, nine years old. I couldn’t wait to come back some school to actually come and have amazing conversations with my mom’s clients.

And also do shampoos and, and help serve coffee. And so I learned about creating outstanding customer experiences from a really, really young age. And when you come from a place where customer service is high on the list, and you’ve come from an, a family of entrepreneur, then you go and experience the world.

And you’re like, What is wrong with this world? Nobody’s doing well. Like nobody’s actually wowing and delighting anybody. So I thought my world was the world and it wasn’t. So I dedicated my, the past 30 years of my life to help entrepreneurs and large organizations and CEOs, and C-suite create outstanding cultures.

So that consumers and clients can experience outstanding customer experience. Right. And so, that’s true. He kind of how it all started.

Joel: And so with brands is there a difference between a small brand and a large brand and should the owner look at brand differently or is it pretty much the same process?

Isabelle: It’s the same process absolutely. The difference between a large well-known brand and a small not known brand is usually the large well-known brand understands the value of what I’ve shared here. They don’t skip steps to just go with the visual.

They are clear about what they’re offering. What is the new normal that you want to create? Apple created a completely new normal just by going: what if one day we can hold the world in the palm of our hands? What if we could do everything from a device in our hands? Watch TV, listen to music. I mean, the Walkman is a long ways out. Lots of improvements have been done. But truly we have to have entrepreneurs that have a vision about bettering the world. How has it brought up their service and a better the world. And then it’s about not being afraid to invest, invest in time and money and invest in coaching and guidance because that’s what the big boys do.

They have people to help them. They have long, I call it long runways. The larger brands understand brand influence. They understand brand positioning and they put a lot of time, money and effort in elongating their runway, which means that they can go a lot longer without a client. And spending money.

Then you do you out there on this to be in this community, not just you, right? But so the kids, you can’t outrun them on their own runway. You have to outrun them on a different, different runway. And I have a talk called helpfulness is the new hustle where I teach about out, educating your competitors out, outwitting your competitors, right in, out, helping your clients and your prospects, where I teach ways to get your brand up in influence and up and impact without spending money at all. It’s all things that you can do without spending money, but the big brands understand that it requires money and time and energy to build something worth talking about.

Joel: It’s definitely the education piece as well, cause, A lot of young entrepreneurs don’t have the experience. They don’t have the knowledge that those bigger brands and the CEO is in the C-suites that, the hat that they have.

Isabelle: And the key here is you said education, right? And I don’t mean go to Harvard and get yourself some education. I mean, in your marketing, there is such a thing as based educational marketing. An educational-based marketing doesn’t cost anything other than your time recording a masterclass or a webinar or something. Right. But the more you’re out there talking about the problems that your ideal clients have and then talking about a solution.

The other challenge is that small business owners do is they talk about their solution too fast. You have to show me like I had a big store rooms here. And I wanted a solution for this, you know, you would have to go, is this where it hurts? And then here, does it hurt here? How about when I press harder here?

Does it hurt here? Yes, it does. You can’t just go here as a cream, right? You have to actually talk more about problems, known problems on unknown problems. For example, if you have back door back pain, chances are. It’s not the back. That’s the issue. It’s either your knees, your hips or your feet. Probably 1% chance that it’s actually your back, but most people, what did they complain about?

And they don’t say I have a back problem. I must have a foot issue. No, they go, I have back problems. So if my marketing is like, you have foot issues. If I have back problems, I’m going to go. That’s not it. I I’m looking for back solutions. So you have to lead your marketing with what your clients. Pains are, but then you have to educate them on what it actually is.

So this is the cemetery versus the root of the problem, but most people go with the root of the problem or. or a solution way too fast. I call it pain Island, Pleasure Island. Everybody wants to be on pleasure Island. You’re now on pain Island, between pain Island and Pleasure Island. There are a bunch of sharps and you’ve got no boat.

I have a boat to help you. It’s a metal boat, nonetheless. So if I actually talked to you about are you sick and tired of being on Pain Island and how much would your life be better as you are on Pleasure Island? If the pain isn’t big enough on Pain Island there is no, even though it’s $2, there’s no amount of money that people are going to invest.

If the pain is not big enough, when the pain is large enough, then it doesn’t really matter what you charge. If your solution highlights the pain, resolve the pain intelligently then no matter what you charge, people will buy. Now, I’m not saying gouge your clients. I’m saying be intelligent with how you’re pricing your offers.

However, You know, there are people who, who charge $25,000 for a strategy day and they sell, which means that there are big enough problems with big enough companies that will. Right. But if you find it in your mind and your mindset is nobody will ever buy this. If it’s more than $49, then you’re right.

You know, Henry Ford said, whether you think you are you’re right or not either way. Whether you think you can or think you can’t either way you’re right, right. It’s not this up, Isabel. It’s such a great quote. Let’s not screw this up, but, but ultimately really it’s about the level of pain.

COVID when we were talking about if I was continuing to talk about branding from COVID, people would go, it’s not really what I need. So I repositioned my offer to help them pivot and reposition themselves as the first, the best, or the only in a COVID problem time that works. That’s like: ‘Oh, that’s what I need yet I’m providing the same service.’ So it’s all in the positioning.

Joel: I think we are all stuck by these unseen things and these unseen mentalities. Is it possible to get past us and get and take your business to the next level without somebody like a coach or some external person saying, this is what I see and this is what is blocking you from reaching your goal?

Isabelle: Well, the answer is yes, but why would you? So let me explain. Can an individual take their business from here to there on their own? Yeah. You know, what it’s going to do though? It’s going to take you 15, 20 years to get somewhere where you could have gone within two years with someone who has already been there, done that.

And someone who can advise you and mainly keep you focused and mainly keep you focused on what matters right on the right priorities. Cause a lot of small business owners, we wear a lot of hats. And at some point we don’t know which hat is most profitable or which hat should we focus on. And having a third person that’s not in the forest with you, like the time to have a map to go into the forest is before you enter the forest, it’s better now, is it too late?

When you get a map while you’re in the forest? No, it’s better to have a map lost in the forest, then not having a map. So a coach and a mentor or a bill drop program, those are like GPS’s for business. And if you had a choice of, you know, going through the Amazon, with a GPS or without a GPS, can you do it without a GPS?  Would I recommend it? I don’t know because it would be much greater with the GPS.

Joel: I love your metaphor, especially all the jungle metaphors I want to switch to you’ve done a number of Ted talks. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience speaking on stage?

Isabelle: Yeah first of all, you know, landing, the Ted Talk is definitely a process in itself. It’s a lengthy process. The first Ted talk I was invited so I didn’t have to go through this whole shebang of audition. And, so I was invited in and believe it or not, I declined that invitation three years in a row because I knew how much work it goes into a TEDx.

It’s much easier to do a 90 minute actually. It’s much easier to lead a one day workshop than it is to do a 13 minute Ted talk. so, but the, the whole process access is one it’s fantastic. You know, as a seasoned speaker, I learned a lot still because it’s Ted Talk is very different than being on stage and being able to adlibe and being able to like go off script or off bullets form and just kind of tell stories because the audience is called for one, right.

It’s not the same at all. So it’s, it’s gruelling. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. I never thought I’d have to, after my first one, no, was the answer. And then my partner margarita, had something she wanted to share and said, you know, would you do it with me? And I thought I don’t think it’s permitted. I’ve never really seen a tandem Ted Talk. They’re very rare. And most of really bad, actually in doing ours, we researched many and we’ve seen a few that were just so bad. I thought we did a fairly good job. It’s actually really difficult to do. Not steal energy or visual energy while you’re not talking, but still not look like a deadbeat or not interested and then remembering where the script is that so that you can actually chime in as if this is the first time you do it and you’re winging it.

But ultimately our newest video has over a hundred thousand views. My first one has almost 3 million views. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work to prepare for a Ted Talk and it’s every bit worth it. And Ted talks are about you as you’re out there going, Oh my God,  it’s been on my bucket list to have a Ted talk.

We help people position a Ted Talk application. I am right now on the curation team for a Ted event. I have been many times on the curation team as well as on the coaching team for TEDx. And, so I can, I can actually help if you’ve got a subject. In you, however, Ted talks are not like, Oh, I have a story to tell something happened to me and I’d like to be indulgent and share to the world. It’s got to be what is a common problem worldwide. That is well-known. And what does a new spin that, or a new solution that you have that you feel could shift, could bring a shift in thinking, and to actually have it, that doc gives it. an immense amount of credibility.

I have been able to get on much larger stages as a result of having had a Ted talk. Right. So, it’s good. It’s, it’s a fantastic process and very grueling there are hundreds of hours. For a Ted talk and countless, we must have practice no less than a thousand times before we stepped on stage and actually did it for real to a point where I couldn’t hear myself telling it one more time.

Joel: So I’m going to give you a softball question. And as this does a Ted talk, help with your brand. And if so how?

Isabelle: Hundred percent. It actually brings a lot of credibility. All I have to say is I have a Ted talk with almost 3 million views and people will stop and listen to anything. I have to say. Now, at the end of the day, I utilize this, I leveraged this for good, right.

Obviously. But yes, having a Ted Talk absolutely does help. it helps your credibility. It helps with influence and it helps to create a movement. If you’re were on the on the path or your passion is to create a movement. Then obviously, having a worldwide stage is a great way to go. Now, once a Ted Talk is done, there’s still a lot of work, right?

There are three stages in my opinion. There is the stage time, which is actually in my opinion, the easiest out of the three but still very stressful. My first Ted talk was in front of 3,000 people. That’s no small audience. And then after that, then you have to promote it. You have to always like if you email me, I emailed them back in my signature.

My Ted Talk is there. It’s at the bottom of every email. It’s in my nurture campaign. It’s at every time that I go speak, I talk about my Ted talk. So it requires a lot of promotion. You don’t get the 3 million views overnight, just because, you know, It requires, intelligence smarts, and a lot of, a lot of patients.

Joel: I know my audience, you know, a lot of them do want to do a Ted Talk and they have some sort of idea, no mind, what is something that they can do to make that a reality?

Isabelle: One thing that helps a lot, and this is why I created this, this is free, is a form, a questionnaire to help people if mimics a TEDx application now understanding that every TEDx in the world isn’t a franchise.

So they’re all meant a little bit differently. However, there’s still an application process. And I happened to have spoken on two of the most gruelling and high-end TEDxes, in the world.  Which are both in Vancouver, lucky us. I’ve mimicked the application into a form that really gets you or your audience really thinking.

So these are the questions that you’ll have to answer in a plane. The more time you have to really ponder these questions and really dig deeper, then the more your application may actually end up being retained or, or given light a day. Right. So, so it’s about choosing which TEDx franchisee would like to speak at each has different themes.

Each are led differently but truly this is why I created this little, form to really help people figure out their idea because that’s the biggest thing. How many applications did I see that were very self-indulgent. You know, it was all about the story, the story of what happened negatively, positively.

And then there was no shift in thinking that X is not about, it’s not a platform to share, to share a tragic or, an amazing story unless there’s a shift in thinking and unless there’s an action step that you can actually give to people like I’ll give you an example. My Ted talk is about what you tolerate.

You worry about. So instead of focusing on diminishing worry, which everybody wants. I was able to establish that whatever you worry about, there’s a leak to something you tolerating. So if you focus on eliminating what you’re tolerating, you will automatically eliminate some of your worries. So that’s a new spin on a very common problem.

And of course, I gave some stories that help the point. So the point of the story, a tech talk is not about having a story and that’s that it’s about having an idea that is worth spreading and having a couple or one story that supports and proves it. Right. So, so, and if I can give you the link to this questionnaire, so you can put that in the show notes.

Joel: So should people start out with the message and then find a story that goes with that message or how should people actually craft their talk?

Isabelle: Yeah, it’s not about the story. It’s about the idea. So what is the problem? And this goes, what I’m about to say here for TEDx and sustain for business.

You can’t just go, ‘Oh, what am I going to offer?’ Who do I want to work with? And what are those problems? What stops them from sleeping at night? And what do I have that can actually resolve that? So TEDx is the same thing. It’s like, Hmm.

What is a problem that I think that I have a really new way of approaching that would create a shift? And then from there, you actually build your case. Right. Build your case around what stories will I utilized to prove my points. Yeah.

Joel: And then can you talk a little bit more about how you promoted your Ted talk?

Isabelle: Well, I have a whole presentation about that, actually. It’s a whole Prezi, literally. I have joint ventures. So I have people in my community that have good communities, large communities. So I connected with them and ask them to promote it. So we call that joint ventures. So I JV’d with some of my awesome influential people.

I posted my Ted Talk absolutely everywhere. I’ve created a talk specifically around my Ted Talk so that I can, when I give that talk, I actually invite people to watch the Ted before they come to the talk. It’s everywhere in our emails. it’s an art email signature. I’ve definitely emailed about it in, so what I’ve done as well is.

I deconstructed the talk and extracted a few different subjects because in one Ted talk, there’s only one subject, but there’s a couple of ways that you can connect and share that particular. With different examples. And so I created a little mini-series of videos or Facebook lives to actually go: Hey, in my Ted Talk, I talk about this.

I want to actually real, a little bit deeper around that subject. And if you haven’t watched my desktop go watch it. It’s here right on podcasts like this. Let me talk about my Ted talk now community, which I had no access to or no. knowledge of before today. Now all these people should be listened to your awesome podcasts. They’ll be aware of the tent and they’re most likely going to go if they don’t, their own Daryl. But those are some of the ways in which I promoted the Ted.

Joel: Awesome. and then, sorry, I’m jumping around a little bit. Hope that’s okay. when to prepare for your speech for should people practice and other stages, and if so, where’s a good place to practice and build up their speaking capabilities.

Isabelle: Yes. And so awesome. Awesome question, actually. The one that I was just a part of, you had to have spoken to audiences of more than a hundred to even apply. But yes, once you know, the process is you get your theme approved by the TEDx organization. Then you need to go to scripting because TEDx is, are all scripted and learned word for word. There is no room nor any time to adlib in a TEDx. So it’s scripted once your text is all approved by the actual TEDx. A team of coaches, then they start, then you start learning it and then they coach you on, gesturing.

They coach you on humour. They coach you on pacing. They coach you on voice. And there’s a lot of coaching that goes into a TEDx, not all TEDx franchises offer coaching. The two that I had been at was drooling coaching, which is good. So once you know your script it’s about practicing. We practiced it. My last one was with my partner, and we practice for no less than three times a day for three months.

And then we had people come over, we have a retreat center here, so we have a fairly big space. this was all pre COVID. and then we invited about 20 people. We did it for that small audience. We ask questions about what do you understand? Because sometimes you think that what you’re sharing people understand.

If you share a thing, they hear a, but sometimes they hear, see, and you need to know that, right? So, and then you could go to a small chambers or places, networking events where you could go, Hey, I’m going to do a TEDx. I would like to have, the floor for 15, 20 minutes. So that I can practice my TEDx and then take questions.

Yes, we do recommend that you give it if the first time you really give it for real is in front of that audience. You’re in trouble.

Joel: I’m going to ask you one last question and this is something I ask all my guests and that is, is there a book that you like to gift or one that you maybe like a favourite book that you have.

Isabelle: Yes. I have two favourite books, which I’m going to share right here. One of them is called Essentialism and that’s by Greg McCowan. You can buy that on Amazon. Greg gave me language when I read it: ‘Oh my God’, this is how I was raised. That’s the first book. The book is sitting on the fence, a journey into love. My partner Margarita wrote this book last year it became a bestseller within a week of being on Amazon. If you are a heart-centred entrepreneur and you actually want to breed, I will say breed more love into your work and into your relationship.

That book is an absolute must-read. A book is funny. It is, touching. And it is extremely helpful for anyone who’s looking to better relationships and business relationships in their lives and really operates from a standpoint of unconditional love. And so I’ll also give you those links into the show notes and that should be everybody.

Everybody should be breathing more love into the relationship, no matter what. So the book is really for every entrepreneur, it sounds like, right?

Joel: Yeah and then you have a masterclass that you wanted to share with us as well.

Isabelle: I do. Yes. The masterclass is absolutely free. It’s 90 minutes of pure gold.

It’s called get paid well for your genius. Three major warning signs that your small business might not be set up to win in today’s economy. So I will give you that link in the show notes. It’s 90 minutes of really good information. And to really help you take your business to the next level.

Joel: And where else can, if people want to connect with you? Where’s a good place for them to reach out to you?

Isabelle: Yes. Our main website is leapzonestrategies.com and then within the LeapZone ecosystem, there’s a lot of free and awesome, educational tools. For example, we have lead tools. So if you go to leapzonestrategies.com and go to the menu: lead to us.

Lots of free tutorials around how to tame your inbox, how to prioritize anything short tutorials, all delivered by me and Jim. One of the coaches here, all free. And then, of course, we’ve got our live TV episodes. Leap TV is our online, online show, an online TV show about branding and business growth. All of that is absolutely free. On our website@leavesonstrategies.com.

Joel: Yes. And I should add that the TV show is amazing. That’s so much good information there. I was watching the one on CRM, especially with it’s really good, but there’s, you know, for entrepreneurs is really golden, so I highly, highly, highly recommend you check it.

Isabelle: Well, thank you. I appreciate it. But yeah, it’s, it’s super helpful.

Joel: Well, Isabelle, thank you so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it. And enjoy the rest of your day.

Isabelle: Thank you. You too. And I look forward to connecting with your community as when I get emails. I respond.