When I came to China back in 2015, I knew almost no one. It was a new start in a completely new country. I had zero network. And I didn’t speak the language.
But I wanted to make films. And earn a living doing that.
In 1 year, I went from video director for hire —> co-founder of my own video startup.
In the next 2 years, my video startup 5xed revenue from $36K to $185K.
My secret? I built my entire business on getting myself out there through speaking.
And you can too. This email will tell you how.
My Step-by-Step Speaking Strategy: Revealed
🔥 Workshops:
I wanted to get to know the market.
So I offered a workshop for anyone who wanted to create video content. It was something new to the city so it created buzz quickly. I got 20 signups within a few weeks.
🔥 Networking events:
Through my workshop students, I got to know there was a gap.
People were interested in videos but there was no community. So I hosted a few free networking events.
People started getting to know me and linking me with filmmaking.
🔥 Talks:
Now that I had people interested in me, I pitched to a few events to speak at.
I spoke at a “F*up Night”, sharing the story of my first failure. I spoke at a local designers event, talking about storytelling. I spoke at a hardware startup event, talking about how tech stories can be told on video.
Now people started getting to know more about the work that I was doing. They started referring me to anyone looking to hire a video team.
🔥 Social activation:
I created a list of super connectors. These were people who may not become my clients but could connect me with them.
I invited them to my talks and shared free tickets with them.
I started getting messages from prospective clients like: “I’m looking for someone to create videos for our company. Three different people referred me to you”.
🔥 Media Interviews:
I got the attention of a few local journalists. One wrote a story about me, which led to a few others contacting me.
I said yes to every media opportunity. Eventually I ended up on TV channels, talking about my life and work.
I was now a story. Foreign female filmmaker making her mark on the city.
I hope this shows you how you can speak to grow your business – whether it’s a B2B SaaS startup or a restaurant or anything in between.
And if you don’t yet have the best skill set to speak with high impact – I’m always here to help. Let’s talk.
PS – if you’ve done the math, you know that I 5xed the revenue, didn’t just triple it. But “quintupling” doesn’t sound as common or nice in a headline! 😆
Till we meet again, speak fearlessly!
💜 Nausheen
