Storytelling that Sells: Aurora Gregory on Speaking with Impact

Welcome to the Made for More Momcast where we go from raising kids to raising the bar in business. Hi, I'm Shanemari Bennett and I transformed broken crayons into a successful seven figure brand. On this podcast get ready to be inspired by the real stories and practical how-tos from business-minded mamas who refuse to settle because we were made for more and it's time to step into it. Welcome Aurora Gregory to the Made for More Momcast today. I am so excited to be here. Congratulations, Shanem. I just know your show is just going to be just a huge gift to so many who want to build businesses. Thank you so much. This is something that's definitely been a passion project on my heart for so long and so I am so pumped that you get to be the very first person I ever get to interview. I'm excited. I didn't know I was your first. I'm super excited. Very honored. Yes, thank you. Thank you for being here. All right, so we will just jump right in and you just tell me and anyone who's listening all about yourself, anything you want to tell us about your family, what you do and we'll dive into the beautiful story that you have. Oh, that's awesome. Well, thank you. And yeah, I am a public speaking coach and I'm the creator of Speaker Brand Academy. It's a branding course for anyone who wants to get on stages knowing that visibility is what helps to grow your business. And they want to use that space behind a microphone to get connected with audiences. And so I love teaching people experts, authors, business owners, like your audience, how to get in front of those audiences and do it consistently. I actually started my business during what I call the first.com wave almost 25, almost 30 years ago. I say that was I'm like, I say that I'm like, that was a really long time ago. But it was, you know, back in the days when, you know, entrepreneurship was, you know, was different. And there weren't a lot of people who were stepping out of, you know, corporate careers like I did to, you know, run their own business. And as we said back then, do your own thing. And so it was a little bit risky. I remember getting lots of sideway looks from people who were wondering like, what are you doing? And I didn't think about it back then, but, but I guess in a lot of ways I was. And so, you know, kind of writing the wave of that, you know, that first.com era, you know, writing it all the way up and then all the way down and, you know, sticking in there with some perseverance has, you know, really shaped me in a lot of ways. You know, just knowing that, you know, we're talking with moms, I think, you know, and I think about my own mom and her particular journey. She was an immigrant to the United States. She came to the US as a young girl with her parents from Mexico. And so, you know, she was a lot of firsts in her own family. She was the first person in her family to become a US citizen. She was the first person her family to go to college. And I got to watch a lot of that growing up. So, you know, for the moms that are listening, like recognize that if, you know, doing something that seems different than maybe what your family might have thought was normal or the regular course. You know, you're making a huge impression on your kids. And so, you know, my mom passed away a number of years ago, but I don't think there's a day that goes by that I don't think about her. Not just, you know, in that warm affectionate way, but how her perseverance impacts my, I guess, perspective on persevering. When things are hard and when they're challenging, but when you believe in something and you know it's a good thing. Yeah. It's something that you want to, that you want to continue. So, I think about her a lot. And it's, she makes, she's made a huge impact on my story for sure. That's really beautiful. She definitely has her threads woven into who you are today. I hope I hope I am half the woman that she was in the life that she lived. She was, she was a pretty incredible woman. That's amazing. That's, yeah, really beautiful. Well, I didn't know that you had been in, you know, the speaking world and what you've been doing for that long. That's amazing. I first came across what like two or three years ago is when we first met each other in business. And I will never forget hearing somebody, we were at a business conference and I heard somebody speak in the conference room who you had trained and helped with this presentation. I remember that. Yes, I did know that until afterwards. And I, there is so much that I remember about what he said that day. It was so impactful. It was funny. Everything, I mean, it was an amazing presentation. So it was really cool to find out that you were behind the scenes helping coach him through all of that. Yeah, that was an incredible experience. I, the person that you're talking about has an incredible story. He's a tech expert. And so, you know, tech people tend to be very techy. And so we worked to kind of bring his story, his personal story to life and match it up with his passion for technology and brought it together in a way that made it easy for him to tell it with his heart and his passion. But also in a way that, you know, the audience could really grasp what he was wanting to share and wanting to impart about he really wanted to encourage them. Yeah, he wanted everybody to, you know, his big goal is to make sure that people are not afraid of technology. And, and I think, and I thought he did an incredible job. And he was, he was fun to, he was fun to work with still is I still get to work with him sometimes and it's a blast. That's great. I think that brings up a really good point because like for me, having been an e-commerce for eight years. If somebody was to say to me like, Oh, are you, are you ready for to be on a stage or to speak like I would, I might think like that doesn't pertain to me, but I think that's not true, right? It's so true. And, you know, your story and your family's story about, you know, how you all are kind of involved in your business is a pretty incredible one. So if no one has encouraged you to take a step towards public speaking, you absolutely should do it. And hopefully this podcast will be a first step in that direction. Yeah. I think all of our stories, you know, you may not think that your story on the surface, you know, has a lot to offer people. But when you dig a little deeper into what motivated you to start your business, what is your, you know, ultimate goal for the people that you serve, you know, we have the customers that we, you know, that we sell to and we have a goal for them. We want them to, you know, and have better lives. We want them to have family time. We want them to be able to build core memories. I know that's a big part of your business. But then underneath that, the people that are underneath that who have, who look at our lives and our stories and say, wow, that's so cool. Like, I'd love to have a bit like I've always had a business in my heart or in my mind that I wanted to start. When we stand up and tell our story or when we speak out loud, I have a dream to start a business. Well, it makes it real. Yeah, absolutely. And it's scary. Like, you know, I don't want to, you know, I want everyone to, you know, you know, to feel that like the idea of opening your mouth and putting it out into the air where other people can hear it, where you not sure what the response is going to be, you know, it could be everything from that's amazing. I think you should go for it to, well, that's nice. Yeah, that little happens. You know, our stories have a, you know, have a, you know, they have a lot of power and I don't think we should be, you know, shy. So, you know, whether one of the things that I like to tell people is that there's a microphone that's made for everybody. Not everyone is going to feel super comfortable getting onto a stage with, you know, 50, 500 eyeballs on them, and they are alone with just the microphone and some slides. Not everybody's cut for that. I think everyone should have live stage experiences, but in the digital world that we live in today, there's a microphone for everyone. If you are more comfortable having what we're doing right now, Shannon, having a conversation with someone, well, this is a stage experience. This is a podcast we're recording. We've got, you know, people that we know we're going to be listening. And you might be more comfortable doing something like this. You something like this. You can make being a podcast guest your stage strategy. Yes. And I, you know, just want to encourage everyone who just is like listening. It's like, public speaking. I don't think that's for me. It's like, there's a stage and a microphone for everybody. It's just a matter of finding the one that works for you. Yes, that's so good. That's so encouraging. I 100% believe that combining our stories with the microphone or the stage, wherever that might be. It might even start for some people just in their living room, you know. Absolutely. And that can be just as powerful because sometimes just changing one person's life with what you have to say can make all the difference for somebody, you know. It's really true. And I encourage people, you know, start to practice in little small ways. I have what I call, you know, my Starbucks method. And the Starbucks method is, you know, having thought through some of, you know, parts of your story, you know, a message that you want to try to deliver. invariably, all of us end up in line at Starbucks at some point or another. Turn around to the person behind you, strike up a conversation, and see if you can get them talking, and see if you can get them listening to you, and use that opportunity to practice your message, to practice telling a little bit of your story, and see if it peaks their interest. Did I tell it in a way that makes them go, "Oh, wow, that's really interesting." It's like, "Okay, I have a practice point, and it's great." And then if it doesn't, if that doesn't work, or if it falls kind of flat, it doesn't matter. You're about to leave Starbucks, and you're probably never going to see that person again. And you'll just be able to practice it some other time. Yeah, that's so good. Okay, so what do you have going on? You have your own podcast. You also are an author, and you're currently coaching people on speaking, right? I do have a podcast. It's called The Stage Whisper, and on there I talk about all the things that speakers need to do and need to engage in so that they can become the speakers that they really want to be. We talk about everything from stage performance to topic creation to how to engage with the vent planners, how to pitch all of those kinds of things. It's one of my favorite things to do. I've got some new episodes releasing soon. And yeah, I am actively coaching speakers right now I just got done working with a client who wanted to put a number of speakers forward for an event. So we did a whole speaker proposal campaign for them that was awesome. We should be hearing results next week. So I'm really hopeful. Once you kind of put your proposal out there in the world, you have to just wait. It's like, okay, now there's it's a little bit like sending your children off the college. It's like, okay, there's way to great. Just waiting for it. So you know, definitely doing that and working with some individual speakers to help them, you know, kind of refine their topics and get them set up to, you know, get all of their marketing materials so that they're branded well and really set to do that. And then I do that, you know, through through my course called the Speaker Brand Academy. It's an on-demand course where people can, you know, dive in at their own pace and start at the top and build their unique speaker proposition, the unique thing that you bring from a stage. And we go through all of the marketing tools that you need to build from your one sheet to your media kit, all of the topics that you need to create all the way down to even doing a online speaker performance intensive so that you can really prepare well for that time on stage. So do you have a favorite out of all those things that you do because they also end amazing? Oh my gosh, a favorite one. You know, it's probably the one-on-one work. There's nothing like working one-on-one with someone. One of the one of the people I've worked with is actually a master crafter. And she is a she is an expert in in sewing stuffed teddy bears. Wow. And yeah, I know it's so this one of the reasons I want one is incredibly unique. She's lovely, exceedingly talented as you can imagine because her teddy bears are, you know, they're made out of very fun and vibrant fabrics. They're just fun and, you know, funky and cool. There's, you know, things that you would see in some like special t-shop or something. One of the things that she does is she teaches other people how to do, how to how to sew those teddy bears as a form of self-care. And so she was someone who kind of struggled with how do I shape this as a topic because they seem like two just very random things. Even though she had some really good research that proved that, you know, crafting doing things with your hands was a great form of stress relief. Right. And so working with her and shaping her topics and then putting those together with marketing assets was like it was like a dream experience because when we finally had it all pulled together, she looked at it and she said, this is it. Like I can confidently go out there and pitch myself now because I know exactly how I this makes sense how we've shaped this. It makes sense. And I can feel like I can pitch it and explain it to people, explain how it all goes together and I can go out and make an impact. And that was that that was just one that's one of my favorite stories. Yeah. Super fulfilling, right? Incredibly. Yeah. Yeah, that's why the name of this mom cast made for more. I just feel like it resonates with so much of us, you know, like, and it means something different to every single person, you know, so what being made for more is and for that woman who I'm sure when she started crafting her teddy bears, she never thought she would be sharing it in the way that she is now. And that's through your assistance, you know, so it's incredible. And her origin story is incredible. And she didn't she started, you know, sewing teddy bears when she was 13. So there was nothing at 13 that could have, you know, given her any indication that she would someday be, you know, considered a master crafter. Let alone matching that up with a self-care message. And I think that's probably true for all of us, like my personal public speaking story started when I was 14. I was a finalist in a speech contest. Oh wow. And I still remember, I mean, it's been so many years ago, but I still remember the contest. I remember the feeling of, you know, hearing my name called when I was introduced, it was my turn and walking to the podium. I like, I remember every bit of it. And, you know, I certainly didn't think it at the time at being 14, but looking back, I can remember I can I I'm sure I was impacted by the fact that, okay, well, now it's all lies on me. Everyone is listening to me. And that's the power of the microphone, you know, when you decide to step behind that microphone in any capacity, you know, as a podcast host, like you decide to start a show or or as an actual live stage speaker, everyone focuses on you. And you have the opportunity to make an incredible impact with your story, with your message, with your knowledge. And that's a powerful thing. So, you know, for those, you know, moms who are listening who are, you might be in the throes of business building and you're thinking, okay, am I making an impact? It's like you absolutely are. And there are different avenues that you can take to make that impact even more meaningful or giving you an opportunity to, you know, to reach even more people. And you do that when you, you know, when you dive into my specialty, which is public speaking. Yeah, that's that's super cool. Even when you were telling the story, it brought up memories for me because I think we don't, I think we don't give enough credit to our personal experiences in life. And sometimes like I remember winning a coloring contest when I was in first grade. It was such a big deal. I was taken to McDonald's for pancakes. That was like being on the moon for me. That is incredible. I love that. I mean, you just, you know, it's like gosh, why don't I, you just start to connect the dots differently if you really sit down and think about it. So, yeah, it's one of a good event. Yeah, it's such a, you know, to think through your origin story. It's one of the things that, you know, that I also love to work with people on. So many of us, when, you know, some slight, someone says, well, tell me about yourself. I think of telling our story in chronological order. Right. When in reality, we need to be able to find the inflection point of our story. Like, what, what was that pivotal moment of our story that actually was the catalyst for what's, what's happening now? Yeah. So, you know, even just thinking about you, you know, I'm not sure how you tell, when someone asks like, well, you know, tell me about, tell me your story. Tell me about your business. I'm not sure where it starts. But I have a feeling it should start with, well, when I was five, I went a coloring contest. Yes, I need to reshape it now. Because you see what it does is it lights you up. Your whole face just lights up. But it causes people to lean in and say, oh, wow, that's so interesting. Tell me more about that. Because there's something about this five-year-old Shannon winning a coloring contest and going to McDonald's afterwards to celebrate. That's so cool. You just read something out in me that I haven't thought about in so long. Well, I'm so glad. Next time I hear you tell your origin story, I want to hear about the coloring contest. That's great. Do people in your family ever come to you and say, I need some speaking help or like, give me tips. Or are you like the go-to in the family for speaking? For so many things, you know, one of the things when you are, you know, a communicator. Because like, I had to give like a broader description of what I do. I'm really, I'm a professional communicator. So in addition to helping people, you know, get on stage. I'm, I'm a good writer. I'm a good storyteller. I'm a good shaper of ideas. And I'm a ruthless editor. So a lot of times I get people to asking me to edit their, their works. I go, I got to send this email to my boss. Can you take a look at this? Or I need to text this person. Can you out and it's like, sure, I'll take a look at it. And then it's like, whoosh, whoosh, it's all down. It's like, yeah, you need three sentences. That's all you need. You're like a triple threat. That's great. I do that with my husband a lot. He's, and he will, he will regularly say, I wrote this. Can you, can you take a look at it? That's always his thing. Can you have time to take a look at something? Yeah. Always, always for you. - Yes, for sure. Yeah, we need each other in that way. (laughs) - Exactly. - All right, let's see what else. So we talked about business and family. You gave us some of your favorite stories. Okay, so what would you tell another person who's listening, who's like, you know, that sounds really fascinating? I think I can, you know, come up with a good story to tell, but where should I start? How should I start? It seems a little bit impossible. What's the easiest, like the lowest hanging fruit to get your story out there, do you think? - You know, those are some great questions. I think in terms of, you know, thinking through your story, and if we think about that kind of a lowest hanging fruit, like the easiest stage opportunity, is probably going to be a podcast interview, mostly because there are so many podcasts that are looking for guests, right? And so that's what I love about the whole concept of making that a strategy. But before you can do that, you really need to think through, like, well, what is the message? What's the story that I have to tell? - Okay. - So I think most of us, and I think most women, we love to talk and we love to tell stories. So, and again, our natural inclination is to start at the beginning. And I think that's a great place to start, but then you have to examine the story, and look at it and see, well, where is the turning point? And oftentimes, that's the better place to start a story. If you think about novels that you read, you know, stories that you really love, and you open it up to the first page, it rarely starts with the character in childhood. It starts with some moment in time that the character is sitting in. And then over the course of the story, you learn more about, you might learn more about how they grew up or their relationships with their parents, but it starts at a moment in time. So as you examine your story, look for that moment in time where maybe things suddenly changed, or you came to the understanding, no, I do wanna be a business owner, or it's the moment the first time someone bought something from you and how it lit you up. Those are the places where you want to lean into because it causes other people to lean in. Right, you know, the first time someone buys something from you, you and I both know, it kinda lights something up. It's like it's very wild, it's validating, right? And it kind of crushes at least in that moment, whatever imposter syndrome might be sitting there. Because it's like, okay, I can do this. We wanna, you know, we can kind of communicate that to others. That's a great place to start and tell your story. And I try to encourage people to, you know, start in that moment and then bring people forward really quickly to where you are right now, what you're doing, how that moment is impacting this moment. What you're selling, where you're growing, who you're impacting. Those types of things are the way to describe what's happening now in a way that's a little bit more interesting. So that again, you're wanting to hook people in and then hold them so that they can hear all of the things that you have to share with them. Yes, so good. You made that sound so easy. Well, I will say this, I will say that it is not easy and it can be, you know, putting it all down on paper can be very easy. But, you know, obviously I'm a coach and I could do that with you and for you. But even if you had a good friend and you sat down with them and said, okay, I want you to listen to this, like listen to this. Tell me where the story catches your interest, catches your eye, like where does it hit your ear and you feel yourself leaning in. I want to know what that, where that is and what I'm about to tell you. And ask that friend, you know, don't ask the friend who's your constant cheerleader, which we need those friends. But we need those friends who sit down with you and tell you the truth. And you were gonna say, okay, it was right here. Like this is where it got interesting. Up until that part, it just felt like a lot of details, but here's where it got interesting. It's like, okay, that's where I need to start telling the story. - Okay, so you mentioned the friend that actually tells you the truth. So what is there something like a common, I really need to tell you the truth kind of thing when you watch people speak or watch them on a stage or a podcast and you're like, ah, they did the thing. Is there a common thing? - You know, it's so funny. I used to, people used to say to me, it's like, you know, we'd be at an edict conference event and they're all the speakers on the stage and they'd look at me and say, so do you just judge every speaker that's up there? And I used to say, oh no, but it's not true. And I'm not gonna say that I judge them, but I do make observations of people. So there's a couple of common mistakes. I would say number one is not timing your content. - Oh, okay. - And I'm rehearsing so that you know, if you're given 30 minutes, that you have 30 minutes worth of content. - Right. - Most of us are not good judges of time. If you've ever been maybe at a, you know, a mixer event or something and everyone, and the host will say, okay, why not everyone to take two minutes to introduce themselves? Most people have no frame of reference as to how long two minutes is. - Yeah, with nerves and everything else. - Exactly. So I see people not having a good command of the time and I always know it's gonna be a problem when a speaker starts out with, okay, I've got a lot to say, so we're gonna need to go fast. And I'm just like, okay, because, and usually that's the moment where I personally put my pen down. Because this speaker is about to drive the car really fast with the windows down. And when the windows are down, everybody's hair is blowing back. - That's a great analogy, yeah. - And so I really want people to time their content so that they can give a presentation that's comfortable for them. And meaningful for their audience. Think about the one thing that you want to share with them and then go deep on that one thing. Don't try to solve all their problems. Solve one of their problems. And so that's one of the big mistakes I see. The other big mistake I see is people using their slides as like a big Google doc where they cram their slides with everything they wanna say. And then they spend their presentation time essentially reading to their audience. If the audience can get what you have to share with them by reading it, you can just send them a PDF of the slides. You don't even have to get up there. - That's good. - The slides are supposed to amplify your message and guide you along. They're not supposed to be a crutch for you, which leads to kind of like the 2A, give yourself time to rehearse so that you have good command of your material. You're already an expert. You know what it is that you have to say. You know what it is that you wanna share. It's just a matter of rehearsing it so that you can say it all in the amount of time that you have in a way that impacts the audience. - That's so good. And it's so timeless. It doesn't matter if you're a teenager in high school or in your 30s or 60s. It's like what you said is true to communication across the board, I think. So, very true. - Very universal. Okay, so I'm gonna hit home on my deep point because you just mentioned that. And that's being made for more. So I just would like to know from your perspective and what you do in meeting so many amazing people and hearing their stories and shaping their stories so that they can communicate it well. What does being made for more mean to you? - You know, that's such a great question. And you know, I shared a little bit of, you know, my personal story. With my mom's family, you know, being immigrants to the United States and you know, watching my mom really just exceed, I think so many people's wildest expectations. And I think for me being made for more means living up to that legacy. I love, you know, the work that I do is important work. I think being a good communicator is exceedingly important especially in the world today. We are more tech focused than we've ever been. And so having real experiences with real people and that means real speakers, I think matters more than ever. - Yes. - And so every one of us has a story. Every one of us has an origin story. And so the fact that I get to play a role in helping people build their own legacies by supporting them in their business and coaching them as speakers means a ton to me. And it is something that, you know, I lean into in, you know, building upon the legacy of my family and, you know, hopefully leaving a legacy for my step-sons and my nieces and you know, just so many of the younger people that are coming behind me. So, you know, I lean on my faith, you know, quite a bit. Entrepreneurship is not for the week. - No, sure is it. I know, you know, it takes a lot of endurance. It takes at times a lot of courage. And sometimes both of those things are lacking. And so my faith in Christ is something that I sometimes have to look to to renew that strength and renew that endurance to keep going. So that's something. Yeah. And that's, you know, when I think about being made for more, that's what comes to mind for me is helping others live out the legacy that they're building. And in turn, that helps me live the legacy that I'm building. That's so beautiful. Laura, I love it. Yes. I'm here for it. And you are. You're helping shape other people's legacies and you're becoming a part of their story in the process. Yes. And, you know, every, every, every mom that's listening to us, like, you're going to leave a legacy regardless. We all do regardless. And if your legacy, if what's on your heart is to build a business or if you have a business that you've built and you want to somehow make it more than it is, don't, don't let fear keep you from doing that. Let that be part of your legacy. It can be. And it should be, you know, don't ignore that voice in your, in your heart and mind that's encouraging you to step out, step forward, step up. You will be amazed at what awaits you. Yes. I agree completely. So good. Thank you so much. I'm so glad that we got to chat today. I loved it. Tell everybody how they can follow you, reach you, be coached by you. The best way. So I would love for people to join me for a master class that I teach every week. It's a master class where I teach how you can take your expertise and really shape it into something that is worth being on stage. So it's a free master class. There's no charge at all for it, but I would love for people to come. It's, I'll give you the links so that you can put them in your own show notes so people can find it. But you can find it at some speakerbrandacademy.com/masterclass. It's every Monday at 11 a.m. Pacific and 2 p.m. Eastern. There's always a replay. So if you moms like can't be there live, just sign up and register. You'll be able to get a video of what that's all about. But if speaking is something that's on your heart to do, if building a speaking business is on your heart to do, I'd love to have you join me there. That's great. Thank you so much, Aurora. Thank you so much, Shannon. Congratulations again. And I know your show is just going to be a gift to so many. Thank you so much. I sure hope so. Alright, we'll talk soon. Have a great day. Thanks for listening to The Made For More Momcast, where Motherhood meets Momentum. If today's episode resonated with you, would you please be sure to just follow Leaver of You or even share with the fellow mama who's made for more too? Until next time, keep dreaming, keep doing, and remember, never to settle for less than what you're made for.