Here’s How I Turned The Orange Beetle… Beet RED
Hello all,
With 9 days notice Alan Forrest Smith AKA, The Orange Beetle Man, asked me to speak at his Masterclass in the UK. Of course I said “no problem.” I saw it as my chance to really “show my stuff.”
The problem…
How would I pull it off?
I have a new copywriting coaching program starting soon. I have ongoing consulting and clients I’m working with. I had just agreed to work with Brian Keith Voiles on a Joint Venture and a few info. products “under construction.”
Two days later (for 7 day advanced notice) I start booking my flight. After 40 minutes with a booking agent who wasn’t fluent English — frustrating — I find a one-way flight with one ticket left on it. She decides to tell me “the details” and after 12 minutes of feeling increasingly frustrated that I would lose the one seat left, I say – Ma’am could you please book that seat?
She did — Phew — It was still there.
Next I try to book a room at the event the hotel is at — “The MacDonald Castle” — A spectacular spot and it’s totally booked.
My passport just expired so I needed to make 3 separate trips in town to get a new one… in a matter of days.
What would I talk about?
It’s Alan’s event and he’s a copywriter.
On and on the story goes…
Long story short I repositioned The Secret Six and The Power of Intimate Interviews to the Internet Marketing market as a way to create content — create product — open the door with influential people — generate traffic — etc. etc.
Yes it was a brain melt to get through. I was up until 5:45 AM putting the presentation together on Friday night and the alarm went off at 7:30… AM.
Yes with less than two hours sleep I presented to 100 savvy Internet Marketers after they had heard from people like Alan Forrest Smith, Kirt Christensen and Jerry Hart.
Pretty unnerving but…
We rocked the place.
I was on. Speaking really is my thing. It was soooo fun for me.
Oh yeah…
I had hard product created — Secret Six manual and 10 CDs.
That too was intense — the place in the UK that said it would be easy to get done was wrong — I ended up having to get the CDs made in Halifax and Fedexed “across the pond.”
David — Thank God for David – He got the box to Fedex at 5:28 and they closed at 5:30.
Then we had to pray that the box didn’t get held in customs — it didn’t and we got it just in time.
I could go on and on about why this should not have happened.
All I can say is if you want something bad enough, including your copy career…
Just do it!
The day before I spoke Alan had said that it was a great crowd just not a buying crowd.
So I was making plans to ship the materials back and market them in some other way.
Well…
We sold out and now have a “rep.” You should see what they are saying about me including Alan himself.
After I speak, Alan pulls me aside – seemed to me to be hurried — red-faced and all. I thought he was cranky because I went overtime and another speaker was waiting to go on.
What he said to me was that my positioning was brilliant and that it had been a Veeeeery long time since he had seen a presentation like that. He said it was a bit risky to bring me over but that I really, beyond any expectation he might have had… over-delivered.
He has a big project in the works and has suggested, “we do business together.”
The great news is that it was all on video.
Speaking truly is where I “get in the zone.”
I can not wait to do it again.
Oh yeah…
The guy who did the video — Alan brings him in from Arkansas — He videos for other Internet Marketing seminars.
Although he rarely does so, he asked it would be okay if he sent my video off to other Seminar hosts. “They’ll be excited to see what you’ve done,” he said. : )
It seems I just might be “on the circuit.”
I’ll give a further update real soon.
From a very excited Shaune
Comment by Kathy
October 12, 2006 @ 5:28 am
Hey Shaune! Great job…sounds like yet another example of Ready, Fire, Aim! Or I could go Nike on you (and just re-read your post and you already did!).
So it must have been quite a rush being in front of the crowd. First of all, about how many people were there? The dynamic of public speaking is so interesting. I’d love to know at what moment you knew you “had them.” Was there a particular story you told near the beginning that grabbed them or a particular tidbit or “secret” that you could give away here? In other words, at what point did you feel them begin to telegraph “this guy knows something I want to know and right now I’d rather be in this room than anywhere else!”.
Congratulations and hope you’re catching up on the shut-eye!
Kahty