Overcoming Author and Speaker Mistakes: Insights from Bret Ridgway on Getting Comfortable on Stage

Episode page with links, transcript, and more

My guest for Episode #203 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Bret Ridgway. He is a 25 year veteran of the speaking industry and brings a unique perspective handling the back of the room sales table at 150+ conferences, providing fulfillment services for some of the biggest names in the industry and speaking on many stages himself. He's also the host of the Spotlight on Speaking podcast.

He's the author of eight books focused on speakers, authors, information marketers and event promoters, including:

— 50 Biggest Mistakes I See Information Marketers Make

— Mistakes Authors Make

— 50 Biggest Website Mistakes

His latest book is How to Build a Profitable Speaking Business.

In this episode, Bret shares his favorite mistake story about not having the confidence in himself to get out from behind the scenes — helping authors and speakers — to get up on stage to share what he knows in a way that helps others. How did he discover this pattern? How did he take action and what adjustments did he make? We also discuss some of the biggest mistakes that speakers and authors make. And why write books about mistakes? How does that help others?

Questions and Topics:

• Working “the back of the room” to help other speaker / authors
• Writing and speaking fear — having the fear of sharing ideas in both ways?
• Taking baby steps to get started? Forced into it
• Fear – content-related or presence related?
• Not beating yourself up? Gotten better about that?
• Why write books about mistakes?
• Are some of the same mistakes being made now by information marketers?
• Doing a book as digital only – mistake?
• Mistake to not have an audiobook?
• Mistake to not do a paperback / Kindle?
• Book as a marketing tool – lead generator
• Working with publishers vs. “self publishing”?
• Some of the worst speaker mistakes?

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