Join us in this insightful episode as Phil Better sits down with Leslie Fiorenzo, a seasoned entrepreneur and public speaker with over 30 years of experience in the corporate world. Leslie shares her journey, strategies for leveraging referral marketing, the importance of networking, and offers practical advice on overcoming the anxiety of putting oneself out there. Tune in to discover valuable tips for virtual business presentations, and hear Leslie's personal strategies for positive self-talk and maintaining agility in business.
Timestamps:
- [00:00] Introduction: Meet Leslie Fiorenzo
- [05:12] Overcoming Nervousness Before Podcast Episodes
- [10:30] The Power of Specific and Clear Networking
- [15:45] Advice to My 10-Year-Old Self: Be Tenacious
- [20:10] Transition to Working with Newly Minted Coaches
- [25:00] Virtual Business Presentations: Making Personal Connections
- [30:55] The Importance of Supportive Relationships
- [35:48] Changing Inner Self-Talk: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Strategy
- [40:15] Defining Success: The Role of Small Businesses and Solopreneurs
- [45:20] Agility in Business: Preferring Autonomy Over Bureaucracy
- [50:00] Toastmasters: Enhancing Public Speaking Skills
- [55:30] Balancing a Side Hustle with a Full-Time Job
- [01:00:45] Investing in Coaching Programs for Growth
Guest Bio:
Leslie Fiorenzo is a certified coach and professional public speaker with over three decades of experience in the corporate sector. She holds a master's degree in human resource development and specializes in leveraging referral marketing to drive business growth. Leslie is passionate about guiding newly minted coaches and entrepreneurs, helping them define success and foster supportive relationships in both their personal and professional lives.
Key Takeaways:
1. **Nervousness:** Overcoming the initial jitters before podcast episodes.
2. **Networking:** Importance of being specific and clear to leverage referral marketing successfully.
3. **Self-Talk:** Changing negative self-talk using the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde strategy.
4. **Virtual Connections:** Strategies for making personal connections in virtual business presentations.
5. **Success Definition:** Emphasizing the role of small businesses and solopreneurs in the post-pandemic world.
6. **Agility:** The importance of agility and autonomy in decision-making for rapid business adjustments.
7. **Toastmasters:** The value of joining Toastmasters to improve public speaking skills.
Resources and Links:
- Leslie Fiorenzo's Website: https://lesliefiorenzo.com/
Call to Action:
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us bring more inspiring content to you. Visit our website for more episodes and resources, and don't forget to connect with Leslie Fiorenzo for insightful coaching sessions.
Contact Information:
- **Host: Phil Better**
- Website: https://www.investinyourselfpod.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ThePodcastMogul
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepodcastmogul/
- **Guest: Leslie Fiorenzo**
- Website: https://lesliefiorenzo.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliefiorenzo/
SEO Keywords:
Digital Entrepreneur, Leslie Fiorenzo, Phil Better, referral marketing, networking events, newly minted coaches, virtual business presentations, personal connections, supportive relationships, service-first mentality, anxiety, negative self-talk, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, defining success, small businesses, solopreneurs, innovation, agility, Toastmasters, public speaking, side hustle, coaching programs, partnerships, human resource development, storytelling, client tribe, solopreneur
Welcome to invest in yourself the digital entrepreneur podcast. Join the podcast burger. Feel better as he interviews success launch. That makes your living in the digital world. Now let's join your house. Feel better. And you're special guest today on invest in yourself the digital entrepreneur podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another amazing episode of invest in yourself the digital entrepreneur podcast. I am, of course, your host with the most film better. And I am very, very happy to talk about our remarkable individual joining us. Someone who's journey embodies the spirit of relentless pursuit of excellence and mastery in the art of communication. Our guest today didn't let early setbacks deter her. Instead, they ignited a fire within her to pursue greatness in public speaking. And after narrowly missing out on the top prize in a speech contest, our guest embarked on a transformational journey that would see her emerge as a beacon of inspiration to aspiring speakers and entrepreneurs alike. Armed with her complete Toastmaster certificate, and enriched by her experience in the Michigan Speakers Association Professional Track program, I guess has holed her craft to perfection. She has grace countless stages captivated audiences of sales professionals and business owners with her insight on leveraging referral marketing to fuel business growth. But that's, that's not it. Her impact extends far beyond the stage as a seasoned coach has dedicated herself to guiding others and on their path to self discovery and success. Through her coaching practice, she empowers her clients to honor their unique voice and harness the power of storytelling to propel their business forward. What sets our guest apart is her wealth of experience gleaned from over three decades, ladies and gentlemen, in corporate environments as a human resource professional. It's this invaluable perspective that infuses her coaching and speaking gauges with depth of understanding and practical wisdom that resonates with audiences far as wide. And of course, our guest is a lifelong learner by testament of the continuing power of continual growth and development, her impressive aware of certificates and her master's degree, master's degree, ladies and gentlemen, in human resource development underscores her unwavering commitment to excellence. So dear listeners, prepare to be inspired and enlightened as we delve into the world of communication, entrepreneurship and personal develop with the one and only Leslie strap. Leslie, thank you so much for for being here. Sorry, Leslie for friends. Oh, sorry. It's okay. I thought, well, maybe you were. I wasn't done. No, I forgot to put the last. So it was Leslie strap in for exciting enter episodes. Well, Leslie, thank you so much for sitting through that flounder, the gracious introduction of you. You're grateful. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast and thrilled to be here. It's a, it's an incredible pleasure. When I received to your request to be on, I was like, yes, I need to have Leslie on. She has over experience. She's overqualified to be on this podcast. That's what I actually said. I'm like, I don't know if she's going to be feel qualified to be on this. She's overqualified, but I'm glad that you're here Leslie. Thank you. So we're going to jump straight into it. The first question right off the bat. We know you have 30 years of experience in the corporate world. What made you decide to go screw that 30 years? I want to be, I want to be an entrepreneur and to deal with the headaches of life. Well, what is it? Somebody said you have to pick your heart being an employee is hard being an entrepreneur is hard. So to be truly transparent field. This is my third attempt. I was fired from a job in the early 2000s. And at that time we had a product that was based on the greatest salesman in the world, the book by Armandino. It was a training and development product that I wanted to take to market. I was the person that was qualified. So the company that just charged me said, sure, you can have that go by. I just spent the next 10 years trying to figure that out. And wasn't very successful. So we took it had a job offer come back to me. Interestingly enough, same place that terminated me. I went back. And then in late, the late teens late 2018 19 became a certified coach, the person that I partnered with her vision was to create coaches, much like John Maxwell has certified coaches and grow her business in that way. I believe I was her first. Then the pandemic. So we that was, you know, and then I was fortunate that I was offered a job that I currently am doing. I'm doing this as a side hustle hoping in the very near future that it will be my full time endeavor. So there are times of charm, as they say, right? I think so. I know so. Third times of charm. Plus, you're just building experience and knowledge to help your clients through the life so that they don't don't have the same hiccups, if you will. That's what I think of coaches. The coach makes all the mistakes so that their clients don't have to, or at least gives them the wisdom to avoid those same mistakes. Well, hopefully I see a coach as a guide, somebody that might hold your feet to the fire. What I know to be true, Phil, is we're really good at making promises to ourselves, but then breaking those promises. And so I feel like a coach can help you keep those promises and guide you along that path to whatever success you, whatever that looks like for you, because it's different for everyone. And as you said, I think at the beginning, and maybe that was before we got on the show, but the idea that there isn't competition, because I feel like we find the right people for us. We are not right for everyone. We're not going to be a fit. And we know we couldn't serve the 8 billion people or a harmony on this planet. Just it wouldn't be possible. So what I guide my clients to do is in their story creation in the in the telling of their story, they will find their right fit client tribe, whatever you want to call that person, they'll find their followers. And that's what I'm wanting to do with my story. I love it. And it's great because you're one, you're showcasing that the world doesn't end when you reach a certain pinnacle of your life, right? Like you have 30 years, usually people go 25 years, they retire from a business and they're happy, right? You're like, no, I love working. I want to continue doing it. I want to help people. I want to share my knowledge. I want to leave a legacy, if we will, for the next generation so that these people, my knowledge just doesn't go to waste. Exactly. I read a story not too long ago, Phil, about a gentleman. I don't know his business. And he worked alongside his son. And I have a daughter, but we're not working together. Yeah, I don't know that we ever will. But anyway, he died at his desk at the age of 96. And that's what I want. Oh, yeah, dying, dying, what you, dying, doing what you love to do. And I think it's the, is the second best way to go. The first way is surrounded by loved ones. Yeah. That's, that's, that's personally how I want to go. I want to surround myself with the loved ones and pass away peacefully. And, but dying at my desk while podcasting, probably is a very close second. I'm not, I'm being totally honest here. It's probably a close second. Hopefully not on an episode so that I don't terrorize, terrorize my poor guests, but maybe afterwards that way would be great. But no, I love that. It's a great story because it's defining success in your own words, defining what you want from the world. And I want to make the biggest impact I possibly can. Now, I am not about growing a multi million dollar business. I desire to be a solopreneur that will allow me some freedom of choice, but that will still allow me to serve people in a way that makes sense for me and for them. I love it because, again, you're defining your success. Some people want that multi billion dollar business, if you will, and go, go, go with the graces of everything in this world and build that because we need, we need those. They, they do help the thing, but we also need the small solopreneurs, the small business owner to keep everything rolling around, because without these without the solopreneurs like ourselves. There wouldn't be innovation. There wouldn't be help for other people to know, like, Hey, I don't, I'm a square peg. I'm not a circle peg. I don't work in here, but oh, look, I got Leslie over here who's a square peg and she's done stuff and she's worked in this world of circles. And she's been able to help me. I'd like if that's what we need in this work. Well, it's also about agility. So I heard this story from the coach that I'm in in the program to develop my coaching business talks about the difference between a small boat with a little motor on it and how quickly that can turn compared to a big tanker, like an oil tanker, right? It's going to take three or four hours to turn that. So if you have a big organization and truly those organizations we need in the world. And for me, the ability to turn on a dime, make adjustments, quickly analyze what's working, what's not working, and then make those choices on my own without consulting without having to go through all kinds of layers. That's my jam, so to speak. That's a right one at work. I love that too. Only having only only being held accountable to yourself and the clients that you have. Those are the best type of things. It gives the freedom. Like I just finished an interview and the reason he became an entrepreneur was freedom, the financial freedom, the time freedom. But again, he was defining success in his own words. Some people want that little dingy with a little motor so that they can scoot around and stay close to the bay. And some people want that big old tanker because they want to go across the seas. I love it. We're redefining success in different terms. I believe it's supposed pandemic. I really feel opposed to the pandemic. People are changing the definition of success. And it's about what's important to the individual and their family. I love it. With you going through kind of different evolutions, if we will, of your current business. How important was it to receive that certificate from Toastmasters? Now, did you do it when you first jumped into the entrepreneur? Yes. Or was it later on? No, that's been early in my career. Someone recommended. Actually, I was working in a human resource job at a corporation and was talking to one of the consultants that our company had hired to work with the executive leadership team. And she said, you know, you really should consider there's a couple of options, but she encouraged me to do Toastmasters and I encourage anyone have after having that experience. Anyone who's looking to upgrade their skills, Toastmasters is a fabulous organization to do that. You have the opportunity every week to stand up and present. And so it builds your skill and it holds your feet to the fire. Oh, it does because everybody's there working together. So everybody's there to take their steps to nicely. And I'm guessing I've never been a part of it, but it's an organization that I highly recommend because I've had multiple Toastmasters on my podcast. And it makes the podcast way easier for me, all honesty, because you guys already know how to speak. You know, like people who do public speaking are far, not superior guests. They're, they, the ease of the conversation is, it's smoother. I find. And talking is, apparently I lost words as a podcaster, but it is something that I highly recommend to people if they do have that fear of either public speaking, or, you know, want to take their skills to the next level because it is a friendly, helpful environment. Everybody's working together. And it's also a structured program. You have a path to follow and that's what I appreciated it. And I also think that's what a coach can do for people is give you a path to follow and be a guide. That's it. It's just we're just looking for guides to help us reach it, get us through the forest of life that we're in. Or navigating the high seas going back to the dinghy, the dinghy, the anchor sale. With, with what you're doing currently, you're working, you're doing your side hustle to make it your main hustle or your main job. And I know a lot of our listeners are probably in that world where they still have their day job, their nine to five, the grinding job, if you will. How do you separate the time? How do you find that time to be able to focus in on your business to help it grow? Well, I try to do most everything. This is an exception here. I'm at my one shower, either early in the morning or after my job is finished and weekends. So I do a lot of content creation on weekends. And in the currently in the process of writing a book that I hope to soon be released. I have an appointment with my book coast to coach to review the couple of final chapters. And so that's been early mornings, writing from about five 30 to six 30 every morning on a consistent basis. I love, I love how you pointed out the consistency of this activity because that's very much needed. Like, if it's anything you're doing, you're going to have to do those consistent actions. Well, that's the challenge. And I think that's what I learned, what I've, where I failed, maybe the first time around is I wasn't very consistent in building my business and in talking to people and in networking and all the things. You know, you need to do all the actions you need to do the whole bunch. And then I'd slack off and don't hold on. And what I've learned is a little every day, just those small steps and taking consistent action, connecting with people that can help you. Again, if I had it to do over again back in 2002, 2003, I would have hired a coach. I don't know that it was such a popular thing back then. Anyway, living there. Again, hindsight's 2020 you're, you're, you're, you're, you made the fail failures, if you will, or the learning opportunities in your life so that you can help others that already realize yeah I need a coach like I can tell you what it can do without a coach. Not success. Well, very few get that. Very few. Very few. With everything that you have going on, I want to focus in on the investing in yourself because you've obviously invested a lot in yourself. We have the Toastmasters. You have the opportunities that you've talked about in your whole journey so far. One, what was the investment that you feel paid off the most? And what advice do you have for people to start that, that investing in themselves to make themselves a little bit better? Well, it's probably the program that I'm in currently, although I was in a coaching program probably 2017, 2018 when I was a leader of an organization and that was very impactful. And it got me to write my, my first book and got that out on Amazon. But now I'm really in the, at the point where I want to make a bigger impact and, again, develop this into a full time profession. So that's what it's helping me do. And they have a philosophy about partnering. And I like that idea of partnering and growing from that perspective. I love that. That's great. I love that. With, with where you are right now and with your knowledge from the past 30 years or three decades of HR. Where do you see the current business presentation coaching world moving going forward? Clearly more and more virtual and having people get a better about virtual. I'm always amazed, Phil, how many people show up that and they're reluctant to turn on their camera. How in the world am I going to get to know you as a person if I'm looking at your name or your picture on the screen? I just, I don't quite understand why people are so reluctant to, and yeah, I know you're looking at yourself all day. Most of us, right? We're spending more and more time of our day. No matter what our profession, probably not all professions, clearly not a hundred percent, but many, many people are living the virtual life in their work. And it was, it took some getting used to, but again, it's about making connections and we can do that virtually. It just takes a little bit more effort and then following up with those conversations where we used to stop by the lunchroom or by the water cooler, you know, when we, and we don't have that now necessarily. So making a point to do that, in my day job, that's one of the things that our leader does really well is making a point to make sure people connect on a personal level, that it's not just all work related. And we do as a team work very hard and get a lot accomplished, but it's also helping build those personal relationships. You mentioned at the end of the day, or at the end of life, right? It's about those relationships and those people. And clearly, we want our family around us. But I do think we also want a supportive group of coworkers or customers or employees or whatever it's more than some people that we build relationships within our work that helps us make an impact too. That's very true. It's very true. Having that support, be it your family, be it your loved ones, be it the people that you met on the everyday through clients, customers, all that. We want that a positive support. We just want that to feel, I guess, like, just support it. I think that's what everybody wants. Well, you want to be able to go to somebody and say, "Hey, I need your help. What do you think? Can we toss around either an idea or who do you know? Is there somebody you know that can help me?" And then I believe it's important to come from a place of service. So as I meet new people, whether it's a client or somebody I meet through networking, the question is always that's in the back of my mind is, "How could I help this person? How could I serve them?" And then it'll come back to me. I love that service first mentality because that's all we're here. We're here to serve and help people grow. With everything you're doing, what is an issue that you see a lot of people who come to you have? Like maybe a single one that stands out that most of the people coming to talk to you and hire you something to have or common theme? Well, common theme would be the anxiety of stepping out and putting yourself out there. Whether it's in person, an in person might be leading a meeting. It might be stepping out on stage. I've had it worked with some people that have been invited by their franchise or to come speak at the conference and they were a little, you know, and realized they couldn't say no anymore. But it's that nervousness, the anxiety, helping them rid of that. One thing I always talk to my clients about, Phil, whether it's in a single program or my group coaching is taking your inner critic and changing it into an inner champion. Because we all have this little voice in our head, or most people do, because that says you're not, who are, yes, not you, and it's not helpful. If you said the things that that little voice says to your best friend, they probably would not be your best friend anymore. So we have to change that because it stops us. It prevents us from serving the people we are meant to serve because I believe that someone was given a business idea that they were compelled to be an entrepreneur for a reason. And that's not for everyone, and not everyone has that desire. And you know what, that's okay, because we need people who are very willing to be an employee and be a good employee, no matter what level of the organization. I just can't leave the idea alone. It will, it won't let me alone. Let's put it that way. It's letting you. It's biting you like that rot while that is scary while it's just always always on you. I tried. Anyway, I think it's helping the theme, I guess you go to go back to your question, is just this underlying anxiety. So that comes, I believe, from the self talk that we have. I'm going to say it was early 80s, it might have been a little bit later, but I read a book that was very impactful on me called what to say when you talk to yourself. Dr. Shad Helmsdutter, and he studied self talk throughout his whole career, and you can find him on YouTube, you can find his books in print, but he talks about the idea of what you say and its impact on you. And so those little voices that are not helpful, we want to change those, and that's the work I helped. The first work we have to do. I love that. I love that. You already know that there's first steps going through changing the inner critic or, as you said, to the inner coach, inner supporter, inner cheerleader, whatever you want to changing it from a negative to a positive. But it's great, and it's great advice for the people listening to start, like just start changing that little voice. When it starts telling you something bad, say, nope, I call my hide. After Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, that's how I look at it, because he talked, Hyde was an evil person, right? And it's a bad voice in my head, so he was a bad man. Made it a little easier for me, because telling myself, you can't think like that, it's a tough hide. I don't need you here. You know, just throw you away, all the evil stuff in there. So yeah, that's how I did it. That's how I beat my inner critic. He's still there. Just like Dr. Jekyll had to deal with Hyde, I still have to deal with him, but at least I know how to deal. I have identified what it is. Yes, well, it is working with it over time, because again, it's not something that happens overnight, but daily practice, daily rituals, I call them to help propel yourself forward. And it's involves self talk, but when we think about before an audience, maybe you have a pre podcast ritual, something you do, I have a pre presentation ritual, something I do. And it starts way before when the event is booked, right? What will your speech be about? What will your presentation be about? But even up to the moments before you get on camera, or you step out on stage. I love it. It's true. I still get butterflies before I jump onto a podcast episode, even though I'm nearly thousand of them in. I still get terrified because I'm always wondering, "Will I ask that question that will just spark an answer that will change someone's life?" That's my big goal. I love having with this podcast. Leslie, I do have a scripted question for you. I do like getting a few questions from my audience. One of them was, "You've spoken to thousands of sales professionals and business owners about leveraging referral marketing for business growth. Can you show a specific example or a case study where a client successfully implemented that strategy and with remarkable results?" Well, it is somewhat color intuitive because the way most people approach a networking event is, or even approach their business is, "I can help everyone. I want to meet everyone. The more we can be specific, the better off we are." So, changing the language that you use to be very specific in what I call your ask. So, if I show up a networking event, I've got to show up with a couple things in mind and goal. Number one, what's my goal? Do I want to leave with two or three new connections? Do I want to be introduced to somebody? What am I doing at this event and then being specific in the request I make? So, as opposed to, I want to meet just any business owner. No, I want to meet Phil's hot dog stand because I'm making this up. I love it. I'm a huge fan of hot dogs. So, you're making my life right now that I have a hot dog stand. I'm ecstatic. But when I said anyone, any business owner, what came to your mind? Did a picture come to your head? No, there was nothing. No, but when I said hot dog stand, other than the fact you like hot dogs, did you have a picture in your head? I had a baseball cap. I was standing behind. I got a little umbrella there and I'm hocking it on Fifth Avenue. That's where my hot dogs fit that. But that's what you want to do for people. Make it easy for them to refer you by creating a picture in their head of what you're looking for. So, we'll activate their reticular activate, RAS, reticular activating system. Maybe you bought a new to you or a brand new vehicle and you drove it off the lot and all of a sudden, that's all you saw. You're driving your white Mustang and there's 65 white Mustangs and every lane and that's all you see. Well, that is your brain being connecting. Like, I've not seen this before, but now it's in front of me. So, help your referral partners, help your clients, make it easy for them, make that connection for you. I love it. It's so true and it's so simple. Like you said, it's against the grain. It's not like what everybody else thinks. They just like, I just want customers, but who is your customer? Narrowing it down when you go to a network. What is the main goal? What is the purpose of your network? Are you in this thing? Are you sharing, taking, just being a great person of support? I love it. It's great advice. We are coming up to the end of this episode. It was time flew by. Time flew by. I despise. That's the one thing I despise about podcast. They go by too fast and that's always when you're having fun. Even 500 episodes about so later. They still go by too fast. But I want to know, I have your 10-year-old self here. Leslie, she's an gorgeous girl. She has a very nice skirt on. I have to say, flowers and the pink and it's all lovely. What's one piece of advice you would love to be able to hand back to your 10-year-old self? Just be tenacious. Don't give up. Just figure it out. Try again. Where there's a will, there's a way. So just don't back off. I love it. Great piece of advice, Leslie. Leslie, I'm going to jump off the screen here. I want you to tell my audience the specific person that you want to work with. I want you to identify them. Let them know how they can connect with you so that they can take their next level in their career. That's my thing. So the specific people that I want to work with are what I call newly minted coaches. Coaches who have gone through a certification program are excited to launch but not sure how and certainly terrifying to share their message because they rather hide behind the walls of let me think about it one more time or let me just tweak this one piece of content before I put it out there because we know that will keep you stuck. So find me on my website, which I'm sure Phil will put in the show notes, but it's LeslieTheorenzo.coach and you can download my free tip sheet or you can book a call, no cost, no obligation. We'll just welcome a conversation to see if I can help and if there's a fit. I love it. Leslie, thank you so much again for coming on the podcast and sharing your story, sharing those amazing tips during the episode because it truly is Toastmasters is something that everybody should go with or speaking organization that helps that has the reputation that Toastmaster has if you don't have a Toastmasters in your area but also to describe what your success is. It's amazing. Leslie, I can't thank you enough for your invaluable knowledge. Well, it was my pleasure and appreciate being on your show. To my audience, of course, Leslie already referred to it. The show notes will have all the links to connect with her to make sure that you are able to take your business, your speaking, your presentation to the next level with this amazing coach. So I thank you very much for listening and as always, remember to invest in yourself. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]
