Building Your Speaking Platform as an Author (Even If You’re an Introvert!) with Tiffany Hawk: Podcast Ep. 407

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Carol Cox:
If you’re an author who wants to build your speaking platform even, or especially if you’re an introvert or you’re a speaker who knows that you want to write a book, you’re going to love. My conversation with Tiffany Hawk on this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office, and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Before we get into today’s episode, I want to let you know about our brand new in-person speaking workshop we’re holding in Orlando, Florida on October 10th, 2020 2024. Early bird pricing is on right now. If you want to ten x your speaking skills, both your storytelling and your delivery, this event is exactly the one you’ve been waiting for. If you want to learn how to lessen those butterflies, those nerves that sometimes get the best of you before a speaking engagement. If you want to learn how to speak comfortably without notes and without a script, if you want to develop your storytelling skills so that you can tell stories in a compelling way to your audiences, as well as know how to activate your storytelling with body movement, strategic pausing, and vocal variation in your delivery. And if you want to boost your confidence and your stage presence, this is what you’re going to do. At our full day in-person workshop, you’ll get personalized hands on coaching instruction and feedback.

Carol Cox:
You’ll get to practice on our stage. We’re going to help you develop your key stories in your talk segments and then of course, give you feedback as you’re practicing them in a supportive environment with other women entrepreneurs and leaders. You also get professional photography of you speaking that you can use on your website and on your social media. Get all of the details and register today as speaking your brand.com/workshop. Again, that’s speaking your brand.com/workshop. Now let’s get on with the show. Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host Carol Cox. Today we have back Tiffany Hawk who is my book coach. But not just my book coach. She’s an amazing book coach to many, many other people out there who are working on developing their book idea, but even more importantly, developing their book proposal, which they’re then going to use to find the perfect agent for them so that they can get a publisher and put their book out into the world. We’re going to talk today about how to know what is a great idea for a book how to Build Your Platform as an author, especially your speaking platform. If you are a speaker. How to go about building authority for yourself as an author, especially when you’re doing that all important book proposal. But we’re going to start out talking about Tiffany’s journey from maybe we could call it a reluctancy, to call herself a speaker, to now getting feedback from the speaking engagements that she’s been doing this year as an energetic and charismatic speaker. Tiffany, welcome back to the podcast.

Tiffany Hawk:
Thank you. Carol. Yes, definitely reluctant speaker for sure.

Carol Cox:
Well, I was so honored to have you attend our client retreat that we held earlier this year in February in Orlando, Florida. You flew in to that and we had ten women together for three days, where we did coaching and practicing on our stage. And then we did filming on the third stage, and we had known each other for a few years. I had hired you to help me work on my book idea. I’m in your book proposal group program right now, which is fantastic. I can’t recommend it enough. And then you decided to come to this in-person retreat, even though you have told me that you’re not a speaker. So why did you decide to come?

Tiffany Hawk:
Oh my gosh. Yeah, this is so funny to me because you come to me, Carol. Like I’m not a writer. Even though you’re writing these amazing speeches and you have all of the storytelling skills. And then I’ve been teaching for years, but I come to you like I am not a speaker, and I would still almost say that it’s really hard to kind of embrace that. But part of why mostly it was just really intuitive. I had this feeling like I need to go to Carol’s retreat eventually. Like when I have, you know, I wanted to be in person more. That was a big part of it. And then we were emailing and I said something about like, next year I’ll do that because I don’t have a talk prepared. And then you convince me, no, you can come here without your talk prepared. You only need a few segments. And I just instantly said, okay, I’m doing it. And it was just a complete moment of intuition. I had no idea what I was going to talk about, what I was getting myself into, but I just pulled the trigger and signed up. And it was, you say, ten women. It was ten amazing women. Like, I could not believe the strength of this group and the warmth.

Tiffany Hawk:
And it was it was just really, really incredible. But I keep telling people, you hear me say this because you’re in my class and I’m not going to sound like you paid me or something, but it was truly a life changing retreat for me because, you know, I think in a number of ways because it even helped my writing, because I think if there’s something that you’re afraid to say or you’re afraid to say in front of a big enough audience, that’s going to show up on the page, and it’s going to show up in other parts of your life. So going there, I was just kind of hoping, like anyone, like a couple going to therapy or something for some tips and tricks and maybe you know, a little bit of footage or something. But being in that group and getting up on the stage over and over and over and getting comfortable with that warm audience, learning how to kind of command the stage and use body language like deliberately, instead of either just standing there behind the podium like I probably would normally do, or, you know, just kind of frantically pacing or using my hands, not deliberately getting comfortable with that. It was so much more natural than I thought it would be.

Tiffany Hawk:
And then I don’t know how one weekend could do this, but I left there with so much more comfort and so much more confidence, because before that, I mean, I was like heart pounding in my chest, in my ears, not able to think. So. All the stuff that I would want to say, the people wanted to hear from me until I got comfortable with that group, like if it was a group of students, I just would lose track of what I was thinking and magically like once you have that comfort in yourself and your strength, I’m not going to say I don’t get nervous. I definitely still do, but not to the point where I can’t think and I can’t impart my message. So for a book person who’s we consider ourselves very introverted. I really, really recommend doing something like that. I mean, you guys put us through all that improv too, which, my God, there is nothing a book person would hate more than doing the improv. And I was terrible at that. But I mean, legitimately, I’m not putting myself down like that was ridiculous. Some people were just like, so great at it. Um, but all of that just doing it, you know, like anything, you get comfortable by doing it.

Carol Cox:
Well, Tiffany, I am I’m so glad to hear this. And you were so naturally funny in the stories that you told as part of the talk segments that you were working on at the retreat. Like, you have this natural sense of humor that really came across. And of course, you’re great at storytelling because that’s what you do in your writing as well. And, you know, thinking about being an introvert. And I know we’ve talked about this, uh, you know, in your book proposal Group program is that many authors, because we probably like to read, consider ourselves to be introverts. I consider myself to be an introvert. Yes, I really do. And so and so for me, it’s like I, you know, I enjoy speaking because it’s a way for me to share a message with more people, but it’s almost like it’s also a way for me to have a role at an event where I don’t feel like I’m just kind of like, I don’t know, what am I doing here? Who am I supposed to talk to? What am I supposed to do? Like, it gives me a place and a role as an introvert that makes me feel so much better. But then the other thing is about improv. So I’m terrible at improv, right? I’m a reader. I’m an introvert, I totally relate, but this is why I do it. I force myself to do it, and I force you all to do it because it makes such a difference in that. All right, so, Tiffany, you came to the retreat in February, and then you had a pretty high profile workshop that you were facilitating not long after that, a couple of months after that, and you gave you sent me some of the feedback that you got from the attendees of that workshop, and you were very pleasantly surprised about some of that feedback. And but I was not. I knew that that’s probably I wouldn’t be surprised.

Tiffany Hawk:
I was shocked, it was literally I think it was three weeks later, something like that. It was it was I think it was still in February, if I’d have to look back and check. But it was very, very shortly after that and I really enjoyed it. Like, I’m not going to lie, I left the retreat. Most of the women there left being like, I want to do this for the rest of my life. I love speaking and I left going, well, that was great. That was life changing and I never want to do that again. I just, you know, I was just so nervous up on stage. But then I took that. So I was teaching at Stanford. So I went there and I was with people who were there to hear what I had to say. So it was like a different kind of audience that was really interested in books, and I had that comfort walking around and talking whatever, and I was shocked by the feedback. I was hoping to hold my own, and that was part of why I was glad I had the retreat first. But people’s reviews were like anonymous reviews, and they were saying I was a gifted speaker and charismatic, and I’m like, okay, I have never heard that before in my life. So it was pretty cool to tap into just figuring out what makes you what your strengths are and how to how to use that in a way that’s comfortable for you, rather than trying to be the way someone else might. And it also didn’t require me to be totally rehearsed, which, you know, I still I don’t think I would be as good at the big 20 minute Ted talk. I think I would really need to work up to getting comfortable to something that was that long, but it was somewhat more conversational where I would be talking for a while, and then people would be asking questions and back and forth and be able to really get the audience engaged. So yeah, thank you for that.

Carol Cox:
Okay well. Challenge accepted. We’ll get you there to.

Tiffany Hawk:
Oh, maybe. No, no. Yeah, we will, we will, we will believe it. I’m getting more and more comfortable all the time, so thank you. Yeah. We’ll get there.

Carol Cox:
All right Tiffany. So thinking thinking about leveraging our strengths and kind of in, you know amplifying what we’re already good at. And a lot of that has to do with our communication style but also our voice. So not just not I don’t mean our physical voice, but our voice in the sense of our perspective, our angle, what we want to say on our topic. So let’s talk about what makes a good idea for a book, because obviously books and speaking go very well together. And so but obviously with the signature talk or a keynote or even a Ted talk, it’s short, right? Ten minutes, maybe 45 minutes, maybe an hour. There’s only so many words you can fit in that. But a book 200 pages, 250, 300 pages, it’s a lot. It’s a lot more than a talk. So how do you know what is a big enough idea and a good idea for a book.

Tiffany Hawk:
Oh yeah, that’s such a good question. And I actually want to back up from the idea for a second, um, because, well, some of the reasons that or some of the questions that a publisher is going to ask you or a literary agent are going to be, why this book? Why you and why now? And so that’s something I do want to come back to. But I think before we even get there into that specific idea and how to market it, there’s another why that Simon Sinek kind of why that’s way more important. And that’s your intention, your reason for writing this book. Because especially when I’m talking to entrepreneurs, a lot of people come to it, um, like, I want to write a book and I don’t know if I should. And so if their reason is because they can’t stop talking about this topic, it’s so important to them. They find it meaningful. There’s an audience they can help. We can take that all the way to the bookstore. But if they’re like, well, I should do this. People are telling me this is a good way to market my business or you know, it’s time. And I don’t feel like, you know, I’m a real thought leader until I have a book. That is not a good reason to write a book yet at least should is the worst reason to write a book.

Tiffany Hawk:
And I have actually done that. So personal experience with that not working out. Um, but once you have that reason that’s bigger than that, because you are going to be spending maybe two years working on this, even if you like, if you’ve already got your book today and you get a literary agent tomorrow and they magically are able to sell it three days later, the book isn’t going to hit the shelves for probably 18 months at least. So this is something you’re going to be living with in terms of the writing and the editing and then the promoting for years. So you really, really do have to care about it. The second thing is that’s what’s going to help make the book stand out, because, okay, so we had talked about this, someone we both know had come to me wanting to write a book and had two different ideas, both of which were cool. One I was more drawn to, but she wanted to hire me to help her with the first one that she was determined to do because she could write it in her sleep that like, let’s just knock it out and get it out of the way. And I didn’t work with her because I was like, if you’re if you can write this in your sleep, you’re going to put your reader to sleep. So having that thing that you can really put your enthusiasm behind is going to matter to the reader.

Tiffany Hawk:
So then we want to look at, okay, how do we make this idea something that’s, you know, I don’t say worthy of a book in terms like you’re worthy of saying what you need to say, but fitted for a book. So one of the things that you really want to do to explain to an agent or publisher why this book, their first why, is to really start to understand the market, look at what are the other books on your topic so that then you can start to, you know, first understand the industry and what’s out there, but start to notice what makes you different and what makes you stand out. Now, of course, it’s completely normal. The first thing you’re going to do is freak out and go, oh my gosh, it’s already all been said before. And that it’s like major imposter syndrome because this is their idea that’s been distilled for years with the help of their publisher and all the publicity and everything. So you don’t compare your first draft to their published book that’s already out there, but start to notice, like the tone, the audience, their take. What can you add to this conversation? What do you have that’s different? That might be that you’re taking a familiar topic and bringing it to a brand new audience that’s been overlooked.

Tiffany Hawk:
Or maybe it’s a topic that’s been written about very, you know, dense and academic in terms of tone and content, and you can make it accessible or funny, or maybe you’re tackling something that everybody kind of knows the same advice, and you want to turn it on your head and, you know, think of it from a completely different way. Either the problem or the solution is different than what we’re thinking of. That’s actually a really great, great topic for a book is when you can make it counterintuitive like that. And then, like you said, it has to be big enough and broad enough for an entire book. You might be able to figure that out by if you give a 20 minute talk and you’re that you’ve exhausted everything you have to say, well, it’s not quite there yet. You’re going to have to kind of keep developing your material because it’s going to take hours and hours and hours for someone to read a book, as opposed to 20 minutes. You might start with an article and see how that’s received. And that also can help build your platform. Um, so then you also want to be able to say why now? Like, why is this important to people now? How is this different? How is it fresh? How is it moving the conversation from where it is now forward?

Carol Cox:
Okay.

Tiffany Hawk:
Winded answers.

Carol Cox:
No, this is this was so helpful. So I have lots of questions and I know the listeners are taking notes on this. So you mentioned about if you feel like you can write your book in your sleep, it’s probably not the right book to write because you may put your reader to sleep. So here’s what comes to mind. And please, I would love to hear your thoughts on this or to change, change, or correct what I’m saying. So it sounds to me like, you know, you you’re going to have a premise for your book idea. It could be based on speaking engagements that you’ve been doing or some or the work that you’ve been doing in your business or career. So you have this sense of what your idea is. Maybe it’s counterintuitive, like you said, maybe it’s to a different audience that hasn’t been served with this similar message before. It sounds to me, though, that if you in your your own mind, already know all the answers that you would put in the book, maybe there’s not enough in there to spark your curiosity as the writer.

Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah.

Carol Cox:
To like to dig almost deeper into yourself, to find more like to write, to find those deeper nuggets to put into the book. Because if if I feel like I could just write the book in my sleep, then I don’t know. I guess I feel like maybe it’s too superficial.

Tiffany Hawk:
Possibly. I mean, yeah, I think that’s really, really interesting. I do think, though, that sometimes you might feel like you know your topic, but at least you’re excited and you know that you don’t know what it is, but you know that there’s more. There’s something more that you’re going to have to delve into because, you know, people don’t want to only hear your perspective. Even if it’s a memoir, you’re probably going to be doing some research to be able to add context about the time you’re writing about. You’re going to have to go back and look at things. So there’s probably going to be some research involved and also some if you, you know where you’re going with it. But right now it’s only somewhat of a vague idea as you work on each piece of your proposal or as you start writing the book, things are going to come up. And almost always with a project this long, you’re going to reach a point where you go, oh my God, I can’t do this. I don’t know what I’m doing. This is so complicated. As soon as I start to talk about this, it brings up that, and I don’t know where to go. That’s a good thing. It it won’t feel like it. It’ll feel horrible and terrible and you’ll want to give up. But as long as you know not to give up because that’s part of it, you actually start rethinking your material. And as you’re writing your book, you’re developing your thought leadership. You’re further developing that message, and it’s usually going to change, and you’re going to have to go back and start to revise what you’ve already written or what your plan was, and that’s when you know you’re really digging into something special. Because, yeah, it’s not just you’re exactly right, Carol. Because if you’re if you know everything that’s in there, you’re saying stuff that’s been said before. So if there’s no element of surprise for you, it’s probably not that original. It’s something that at the very least, you’ve been saying over and over. So that means other people probably have as well.

Carol Cox:
Oh, that is so good. That’s like a juicy little nugget right there, you know.

Tiffany Hawk:
Cool. Well, you know, and I was actually speaking this last weekend. And because I get to do it again and again now that I’ve had your help, but I was on a panel with a couple of other authors, and one of them really brought up a great point, and that we all had agreed people were asking about like how to start, and sometimes it’s just a matter of starting. It doesn’t matter what, it doesn’t matter if it’s terrible, but you just need to start with some kind of material, no matter how bad it is, because it’s a lot easier to revise and to rewrite than it is to just come up with that initial thing. But one of the authors who’s incredibly, incredibly well known was saying that he just knows going into that first chapter, those first things he writes 100% of the time in all of his books, ends up being completely different. By the time he reaches the end of the book, he’s so much better understands what he’s saying that that first chapter is always going to get revised. So you really don’t want to have pressure on that first chapter, because you just one need to get on the page so you can work with it. And then two, as you keep going, even the proposal process, even when you haven’t written the whole book, you’re going to understand it so much better. As you go through each piece, you’re going to go back to the beginning again. And knowing that, I think can be freeing.

Carol Cox:
Yes, that really helps a lot. Tiffany. Yeah, knowing that whatever you’re putting down on the page is certainly not in its final form. Eventually we’ll get to a final form and we have to be willing to let it go at that point. Yeah, and not like the perfectionism, uh, paralyze us too much, but I that is so helpful to think. Okay, remind yourself as you’re writing, like, where you’re going to come back and edit this. You don’t need to do it right now. It will. It will happen. So don’t feel like it has to be perfect coming out. And I’m giving myself this my own advice.

Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah. Knowing it’s going to change.

Tiffany Hawk:
I think very rarely, but occasionally someone knows exactly what the start of their book is, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction or anything. It’s exactly right in the first chapter because they just know that scene. That was the whole kernel of the book, their whole wire intention. But most of the time, what you if you were to start out and then just polish it and never change the first chapter, you probably didn’t grow and develop that idea very much as you were writing it. So maybe that’s more often than not a sign that you didn’t. You didn’t go deep enough. You didn’t push yourself hard enough. Something I’ve been telling you, actually, like yours is great, and there are parts where you are going back to relying on that expert thing. So I’m saying, Carol, we need to make this more Carol. We need to push, make it bolder, make it more. You know? Anyway, I’m sorry. I’m, like, calling you out on your own podcast.

Carol Cox:
I. This is why I do this publicly. Because I have to be called out and I have to be reminded. And this is why I work with you, Tiffany. Because to remind me of this and, you know, and you mentioned about coming back to the opening of the book. And I think about when we work with our clients on their talks, we do the opening last. Yeah. Because I don’t know, at the beginning of our work together what that opening is going to be for them. I have to fill out all the rest of the talk on the board and figure out, okay, now what’s going to be interesting for the audience to bring them in based on everything else we’ve just laid out. So it’s the same process?

Tiffany Hawk:
Yes. And unfortunately, at least when you’re working on a book proposal, you’re usually at least going to start trying to write that first chapter. But hopefully when you come back to it after writing, you know the rest of it anyway.

Carol Cox:
Well, let’s talk about how authors and speakers can build their platform. So I know that, Tiffany, obviously you work with a lot of authors and not that many some of them have done speaking before or have their own podcast or have I’ve been doing podcast interviews and they’ve been building their platform that way. I know a lot of the authors that you work with have not been doing much speaking. What do you recommend as far as what are agents and and editors and potentially publishers? What are they looking for? But even just for authors who know that when their book comes out, maybe they’re going to do self-publishing or hybrid publishing, that they still want to go to bookstores and talk about what they’re doing, or they still want to get exposure for their book.

Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah. And I think that’s actually an important distinction that you make or not distinction, but an important topic that you bring up the self-publishing versus traditional publishing. I think they can both be really, really great. But where I worry about self-publishing is when people bypass traditional publishing because they think self-publishing is going to be easier, and they just kind of put their book out there. So if we look at this as the reason that publishers want certain things from you, like that idea that’s adding to the conversation and is fresh and new, and that you have an audience, which I am going to come back to your question, but I wanted to address the self-publishing. If you aren’t able to speak to those things there, they want those because that’s how they’re going to reach readers. So if you don’t put the thought and the effort into how you might be attractive to a traditional publisher, you’re probably not going to be attractive to readers either, because you haven’t clarified your idea. You haven’t built your way to reach an audience. So platform is something writers get really, really worried about because again, we’re shy, you know, book people that aren’t necessarily putting ourselves out there, but it is important. The biggest misconception, I think, that I hear over and over and over is that authors assume it has to be social media, and they have to have, you know, 6 million followers on Instagram or TikTok or whatever it might be.

Tiffany Hawk:
100% does not have to be social media. If you are good at that, that can be great. But in most agents are telling me it’s actually the least effective and the one that takes the most work. So you definitely don’t have to go there. There’s other really, really more um, potentially authoritative and faster ways to build an audience. But you do need to have a way that people are going to hear about your book. So some of those are writing articles for publications, either well-known publications or those that are directly related to your audience, even if it’s a little bit smaller. But it’s the people you’re trying to reach are reading that. Um, podcasting can be great networking and getting blurbs from people in your industry. Those are all great speaking is at least it’s probably tied for one and two with with articles for me. But, um, it’s one of the best ways to build a platform because you’re getting in front of your audience, you’re working that material with them, so you’re understanding it and you’re vetted. It’s showing authority, that and credibility. So the two things that publishers are looking for with when we talk about platform one is that you have the credibility that people are going to want to read this book from your perspective. And then two is that ability to reach an audience. So speaking is doing both of those things.

Tiffany Hawk:
You’re going to be showing, um, that you’ve been chosen to speak at this organization. So you’re kind of vetted as an authority. You are interacting with your material and your profession, especially if it’s non-fiction. You’re able to develop your material that way. And then the other thing, you’re able to stand out from other writers because this is like clear, clear, um, sign that you know how to and are willing to get out there in a way that so many shy authors aren’t. So it’s a wonderful, wonderful way to do that. Plus, they know that then you’ll be able to sell books at your speaking engagements later. So that doesn’t mean you have to be this huge speaker, and you’ve been all over the place and you’ve been speaking to thousands, or you have, you know, a million views of your Ted talk. Like, I know you have clients who have done, which is just awesome. But even if it’s smaller, if you can show a few events, especially if they are directly getting you in front of your audience and people that are interested. And then you can say, okay, I’ve spoken at these three or whatever places, and here’s the other places I plan to pitch. And here’s my, you know, speaker bio. That’s going to go a long way to show that credibility and that you’re going to be putting yourself out there and that you know where to find your audience.

Carol Cox:
And I can imagine with the agents and the publishers that they’re also seeing that you as an author, you’re putting the work in to build those relationships. And so then they can they can reassure themselves, okay, this person is going to be willing to go out there and speak because he or she has already been doing it.

Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah, yeah, to publicize the book, but also that it’s really hard to write a book for an industry that you’re not interacting in. Like, who’s going to want to hear from you if you’re not part of it? So speaking is a really great way to be part of it. It’s not the only way by any means, but it’s an excellent way to do it and it builds your network as well. Like you said, when you’re there.

Carol Cox:
Well, thinking about it from the speaker point of view. So for those of you listening who are doing speaking but don’t yet have a book and you are thinking about having a book. I can say from looking at clients that we’ve had that clients who already have books get more speaking invitations.

Tiffany Hawk:
Oh for sure.

Carol Cox:
Because they already have this body of work that’s out there, and it gives them a lot of authority and credibility built in, especially if it’s related to a specific industry that they’re in and they have a book. And then I see them. They get speaking invitations all around the world for that industry, because the book gives them that additional leg up. And I know that also, for a lot of the clients that we have who have books, they can do, uh, like negotiations for their speaking fees, because a lot of times maybe they’ll have a certain speaking fee, but that particular conference or company or group doesn’t have quite the budget for that. But they do have a line item in their budget for books. So then they’ll say, okay, we’ll buy 100 books or 200 books for the event, and then and then and then pay you X number of dollars for your speaking fee.

Tiffany Hawk:
Oh, that’s a tidbit I didn’t even know. Like, I know how well they go together and that they feed each other and that people are often selling hundreds of books. I had a client go and sell like 400 books at two different events, one after the other, because it was a really good book. That’s the key. It wasn’t just that he was there and he had one, but I didn’t think about that being something that the conference itself might purchase. Yeah, that’s a great tip. Yes. You learn something every day when you interact in a different profession.

Carol Cox:
Yeah so books and speaking go very well together. And so Tiffany, let’s talk a little bit about some of the ways that we are collaborating coming up because I think listeners will be excited about this. So on October 1st, 2024. So coming up not too far from now, we are doing a joint online workshop. So it’s going to be live. Both myself and Tiffany will be there and we’re going to lead you through that. How to build your platform your speaking platform as an author. So if you are kind of that bookworm introverted person like we are, how to get started as a speaker, how to find some speaking engagements, how to put together a talk based on your book idea based on the book that you have. So how to build your speaking platform. And then if you’re a speaker and you haven’t yet published a book, or you’re working on a book proposal, or you want to work on a book proposal with Tiffany during that workshop, we’re going to help you think about how to build your authority for your book proposal and then your eventual book as a speaker. So information about that is coming out.

Carol Cox:
So stay tuned for that. Get on one of our email lists or both of our email lists, and I’ll make sure to put links in the show notes so that you can do that. I know, Tiffany, you also have a resource for the listeners, which we’re going to share here in just a moment. The other thing that Tiffany are going to be doing is in the spring, we are very excited about this, and we are just working on the details right now. We are going to be doing a joint in-person writing and speaking retreat. So if you know you want to have a place that you can go to to kind of get away from your regular environment and have that time and space with Tiffany’s guidance to work on your book idea, to work on sections of your book, you’re going to have an opportunity to do that, as well as an opportunity to get feedback and guidance and exercises, maybe some improv and dance parties as well to hone your speaking skills. I know now this everyone’s like, nope, not going to do it.

Carol Cox:
But trust me, I know, know know you will.

Carol Cox:
Love it so much no matter how introverted you are. I promise you you will love it and it really will help you to develop not only those speaking skills, but I think it’s that inner confidence which, even if you decide you don’t want to like go on a speaking circuit for your book or what have you, I feel like you’ll feel more confident putting those query letters out there to find agents, because all of a sudden you’re going to feel more comfortable in literally in your own body, in your own skin and understanding your message and what makes you unique so much better.

Tiffany Hawk:
Oh, 100% I, I can attest to that because the confidence that I’ve gained as a speaker, when it was something I was shying away from, now it’s just it’s that using your voice again, when you find different ways to use your voice, it shows up in the other places. And I think that could help for speakers too. Not telling themselves, oh, I can’t write, you know.

Carol Cox:
Yes. Yeah, it all goes, it all goes together. And just like with anything that we do in our businesses and our careers, we have to hone those skills. They’re not innate. I didn’t come out of the womb as a speaker. Tiffany did not come out of the womb as a writer. We developed these skills over time. We had this innate interest in it, so we wanted to develop it. And so we kept doing the reps. But now, if you want to develop, another side of it is putting the reps in and having that guidance along the way. All right, Tiffany, so you have a resource for the listeners about helping them figure out how good their book idea is, what is? Where is the best place to get that resource?

Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah, if they go to Tiffany Hawk Comm. So it’s h.a.w.k. Tiffany.com/idea. I have a workbook to kind of work through. Is this book, um, is this book idea good. And what do I need to do next if I discover that it is at the end of it?

Carol Cox:
Okay, great. And so by doing that.

Tiffany Hawk:
Come by my class or something like that. It’s like a few different options for different levels of where you fall out there.

Carol Cox:
Well, even if it is come by, come by your class or go into your group program, I highly recommend that. So if they do that, they’ll get on your email list as well, correct?

Tiffany Hawk:
Yes.

Carol Cox:
Yes, okay. So go do that Tiffany Hawk comm slash idea to get that resource. And then also get on Tiffany’s email list so that you’ll hear about our online workshop this fall and the in-person retreat in the spring. You could also come to speaking your brand.com/quiz to take our speaker archetype quiz. It’s fun. You’ll think you’ll discover what your natural communication strengths are and how to add to them. So if you do that speaking your Brand.com slash quiz, you’ll also get on my email list. So then you’ll get notified about these upcoming collaborations as well. All right, Tiffany, thank you again for coming back on the Speaking Your Brand podcast. It was so fun to talk with you, and I always appreciate all of your wisdom and your insights, and I can’t wait to do more and to have you we’ll have you back on the podcast. I know sometime soon to talk about more of what you’ve been doing.

Tiffany Hawk:
Great. Thank you. It’s been fun being here. I always love connecting.

Carol Cox:
Thanks again to Tiffany for coming on the podcast. Make sure to check out all the links for the different things that we talked about in the show notes. You can find those show notes as speaking your brand.com/407. Until next time, thanks for listening.

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