In this episode of Executive Connect, Melissa Aarskaug sits down with Terry Higgs, entrepreneur and founder of SpeakerRealm, to discuss how AI agents and operating systems are changing business development, personal branding, and what one person can realistically accomplish.

Terry explains how he built a system that researches speaking opportunities and podcasts, matches them against a speaker’s profile, helps prepare applications, tracks the pipeline, and reduces hours of repetitive work. But his bigger message is not about automating everything. It is about knowing what should be automated and what still requires human judgment, authenticity, and relationship-building.

The conversation also covers why customers often want outcomes rather than software, how rejection can become part of the math, the rise of the one-person business, the “proof economy,” and the importance of ethical guardrails when AI is working on your behalf.

For leaders and founders trying to increase capacity without losing what makes them credible, Terry offers a different way to think about AI: automate the pursuit, not the presence.

Chapters:

(0:25) How AI can find speaking opportunities

(1:49) Why talent needs a system

(5:15) Terry’s operating system philosophy

(9:54) Automate the pursuit, not the presence

(14:49) Inside the speaker operating system

(20:35) Building rejection into the numbers

(25:03) Customers want outcomes, not software

(28:43) Building more with a smaller team

(32:57) Understanding the proof economy

(41:02) Putting ethical guardrails around AI

Terry

(0:00) They want to automate the relationship and manually grind the logistics, which is basically backwards. (0:09) Compliance is the counterfeit of influence, and automation that takes presence gets compliance at its best. (0:18) I can’t allow the automation to supersede my presence.

Melissa

(0:25) Most speakers spend their time looking for opportunities. (0:30) Terrence Higgins built a system that looks for them and said his AI can research speaking opportunities and podcasts, determine the ones that are actually a good fit, help write the application, and move the opportunity through the process while he gets on with his business building technology and leading his church. (0:51) That rises to a much bigger question.

(0:54) What happens when AI stops being someone you occasionally use and starts becoming someone that’s part of your workforce? (1:04) Today, Terrence is going to take us inside what he calls a speaker operating system. (1:11) We’re going to talk about AI agents, business development, personal branding, the proof economy, and what one person can realistically accomplish when technology starts carrying more than the operational load.

(1:27) Welcome, Terrence.

Terry

(1:29) Good morning. (1:31) Good morning. (1:31) Thank you for having me.

(1:33) I’m excited.

Melissa

(1:34) Now, let’s start with something very unusual. (1:37) You said that your own AI can actually help you get booked on podcasts, just like the one we’re on today. (1:47) How does this happen?

Terry

(1:49) Hey, that’s the whole reason why I’m here, because my AI knows me, and guess what? (1:55) It knows you, and it brought us together. (1:58) For whatever reason, you’ve seen something in that application that we want to book this guy.

(2:06) Here’s the reality. (2:08) Most people don’t fail because they lack talent. (2:14) They fail because they lack a system.

(2:17) There are speakers and podcasters who want to grow their brand, but they cannot grow their brand because they’re too focused on trying to grow it in the wrong places when we have technology that essentially can do it for us. (2:36) I recognized that, and I built the system to accomplish it. (2:41) Essentially, I utilized AI.

(2:44) I built a company called SpeakerRealm. (2:48) SpeakerRealm initially was built to sell software. (2:51) It was built to sell the speaker the system that they need to use to get booked on podcasts, on stages, so on and so forth.

(3:02) Our company is less than a year old. (3:05) I spent the better part of six months selling subscriptions to speakers who didn’t want to use software. (3:14) They wanted outcomes.

(3:17) The system has evolved. (3:20) I said, you know what? (3:21) Let me build this in a way where all the speaker has to do is press a couple buttons rather than do all of these searches.

(3:31) Our AI essentially takes the speaker profile, analyzes the speaker profile, scans the open market for podcasts that are looking for guests, takes the podcast and the speaker, matches them, and then we utilize AI to complete the form on your website through the development of a Chrome extension. (4:00) It’s literally three buttons, and I’m booked. (4:04) I’m sitting here with you.

Melissa

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(4:18) Don’t just watch, act. (4:20) You said a really important piece of information, systems. (4:25) That is something I absolutely believe in the core of everything I am.

(4:30) The people that accomplish the most things are the people that have systems to help them. (4:36) Similar to you, I’m often asked, how do you do this and this and this? (4:39) It’s just like you said, it’s a system.

(4:43) Before I had systems, scrolling through conferences, scrolling through podcasts, scrolling through speaking opportunities, it takes a lot of time. (4:54) Time is our most valuable resource we have here on this earth. (4:59) Talk to me a little bit about how much time you were spending before on this manual process, and now how much time are you spending to find podcasts like this and other speaking opportunities?

Terry

(5:15) Well, it was a significant amount of time, because I believe in getting significant results. (5:21) That means that if I want these great results, I got to put in the work. (5:25) I really operate from a framework and a methodology that I call the realm methodology.

(5:34) It’s essentially understanding your value and understanding what your value can do in a given arena. (5:46) Just to give you a little background on myself, I’m a seasoned entrepreneur. (5:51) I have 30 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience.

(5:56) I’ve been a funeral executive, worked in the funeral industry. (6:00) I own the trucking company. (6:02) I’ve done a freight brokerage, an insurance brokerage, done a lot of different things.

(6:08) There’s one thing that I realized is that it’s all the same machine underneath. (6:15) It all requires a system. (6:17) I planted a church in a pandemic.

(6:19) I understand about building with no infrastructure, and I understand what AI gives me the ability to do that I formerly couldn’t do myself or even with a team of people. (6:33) Every industry has taught me the same lesson, but from a different angle. (6:38) Every venture runs really on four layers.

(6:42) We talk about systems like an operating system. (6:46) That’s what I do. (6:47) I specialize in operating systems.

(6:50) If you think about your computer, it’s an operating system. (6:54) It has a kernel. (6:56) That’s the identity.

(6:58) It has input and output. (7:00) That’s us. (7:00) That’s our voice.

(7:02) It has a rhythm, a repeatable process that work, period. (7:09) You press the button, and it does what you expect it to do. (7:13) We operate in the same way when we understand the system.

(7:20) The system with this methodology means that we understand what we’re authorized to carry. (7:29) Businesses don’t fail on the top layer. (7:32) They fail at the beginning layer, the identity.

(7:37) They don’t know who they are and what they’re supposed to do because they get caught up all of these other things that ultimately they do because they think it’s going to get them the expected result.

Melissa

(7:48) I always ran this programming in my brain. (7:53) I don’t know where I learned it or how I started thinking this, but it’s been in my life for 20-something years. (8:01) It’s the KISS method.

(8:03) I literally say this to myself all the time. (8:07) Keep it simple, stupid. (8:10) I literally say it to myself.

(8:12) Whatever you think about the word stupid is whatever you think about it. (8:16) But the whole point is a lot of things are already developed. (8:19) I feel like as humans, we want to be like the next Columbus scouring for the next big find.

(8:27) When everything is already here, it’s just putting it into a system. (8:32) I think a lot of times, people wrestle with this. (8:37) They wrestle with technology.

(8:39) They’re wrestling with chat GPT. (8:42) They’re asking you the question. (8:44) They’re wondering if that’s the right answer.

(8:46) They’re running these loops a lot. (8:50) But I look at AI and technology as my productivity assistant. (8:56) It’s helping me carry loads that I no longer want to carry so I can focus my best time and my best thinking on the things that move the needle and matter the most because all of us are like system overload right now in the world.

(9:14) We’re even driving and we’re distracted by signs that are TVs and our watches, our phones, our car talking to us, the lights on our car. (9:25) We’re all very overloaded right now. (9:29) I guess the question I’m looking to ask you is, is the real shift going to be AI questioning us, AI responsibility, or is it really just humans working with the AI technology right now?

(9:48) Talk to me a little bit about AI as a workforce, not just really a tool.

Terry

(9:54) That’s a really, really great question and a really great observation because ultimately what it means is that we should be automating the pursuit, not the presence. (10:07) AI is phenomenal and can do phenomenal things for the person who understands what it can do, not so much as the power of the person using it. (10:20) If I don’t think that I have the conferred authority to get AI to do what I needed to do and I’m operating within the confines of what it tells me it can do, then the outcome is going to be limited versus me understanding my power to use it.

(10:50) In other words, AI can manufacture activity, but it cannot manufacture authority. (10:58) What I’ve done is I’ve taken the understanding that the pursuit of these opportunities is simply logistics, research, matching applications, follow-up. (11:15) That’s great, that’s activity, but presence is where trust transfers and trust can’t be delegated to AI.

(11:25) Where people get it wrong is these high-level executives, they want to automate the relationship and manually grind the logistics, which is basically backwards. (11:42) Compliance is the counterfeit of influence and automation that takes presence gets compliance at its best. (11:52) I can’t allow the automation to supersede my presence.

Melissa

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(12:47) Yep, yep. (12:50) And I think it’s, you know, it’s funny. (12:53) I love that like automate the pursuit, never the presence, right?

(12:57) And I think a lot of times they’re getting that balance wrong. (13:06) And I think Jim Rohn said this, like work part-time on your passion and work, you know, until your passion is equal or greater than, you know, what you want to do with your life. (13:20) And so, you know, I have been part of this hustle culture for, I don’t know, the minute that I could walk, I was part of this hustle culture as a child.

(13:30) And I think to your point, you know, there’s a really amazing time for us in our life right now, because when we have things automated that we don’t want to do, we can make time for the things that we want to do and the passion projects that we want, but we just can’t get there either because we need a job or we have children or whatever the thing and the constraint is in our life. (13:54) Like there is a real opportunity right now for all of us to leverage technology to help us get to our passion projects much quicker, but you have to actually do the work and you have to automate it. (14:10) You have to use different tools to help you get there.

(14:16) And so let’s get inside this speaker. (14:19) I want to talk a little bit about the speaker operating system, you know, like scanning thousands of speaking opportunities, figuring out the right ones that match and then submitting a matter of a hundred of them in a matter of days, like that’s a big feat. (14:37) So walk me through what’s happening behind the scenes and, you know, what information does this system need to know about you to decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing?

Terry

(14:49) Very good. (14:50) And so let me just say, it’s been a rough road getting here to this stage. (14:56) We’re still a relatively new company bootstrap, right?

(14:59) You know, I went in my 401k and did what I had to do because I believe in myself, right? (15:05) And so I recognize that the industry, the speakers wanted to get booked, but they didn’t really know how to get booked. (15:14) Like they’re going to chat GPT, they’re going to Google saying, hey, search me a call for speakers in this area for this topic.

(15:22) And sure, in this day of technology, you could get that, right? (15:28) You might get five or 10 opportunities, but that’s not enough. (15:34) And at the end of the day, once you identify the opportunity, you still have to complete the application.

(15:40) And every application for every opportunity is different. (15:46) We found through a manual process that when you find the opportunity, then you complete the form, you have to copy and paste, or you have to type this information, you have to answer what your talk is going to be, who it’s going to identify with, all of these things. (16:07) It takes anywhere between 15 minutes to 30 minutes to complete one application.

(16:13) So what we identified was that the system was leaking, right? (16:19) And you know what happens when your faucet leaks, right? (16:23) It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you get your water bill, right?

(16:27) Because it just continues to go and go and go. (16:31) So there’s literally five stages of getting me to your podcast, right? (16:37) The first one is discovery.

(16:39) The next one is qualify. (16:41) The third one is pitch, follow up, and then track. (16:46) And it only works because the identity was settled first, right?

(16:51) The identity was the speaker profile. (16:54) The identity was your podcast. (16:56) The qualify was the matching.

(17:00) And then we have the topics, the positioning, it all feeds the machine. (17:07) And so essentially we take that process and we automate the entire process through the utilization of different APIs and different MCPs. (17:19) And I know I’m speaking a lot of technical language, but essentially we have created a gentic personality.

(17:29) His name is Sterling. (17:30) He’s a pretty good looking guy. (17:32) He is the persona, the AI workforce of Speaker Realm.

(17:39) And so now we went from literally trying to sell these application packages where you buy 50 applications per month and you do them yourself. (17:53) That means you still have to do this work, right? (17:56) You still have to complete each form.

(17:58) And that was even phenomenal, right? (18:01) That was taking speakers up a couple of notches of them not having to find them and fill them out on their own. (18:09) But with the advancements of technology and my understanding of regarding the power of AI, particularly a gentic AI, where you give the AI a job and it does it for you, I say, you know what?

(18:24) It’s time for us to go to the next level. (18:26) So now I’ve taken Sterling, created him as the persona of Speaker Realm. (18:32) And now you can call Sterling on the phone.

(18:36) You can call him on the phone and have a conversation with him and say, hey Sterling, how are you? (18:43) And guess what? (18:44) He’ll know who you are.

(18:46) He’ll call you by name saying, hey, what’s going on today? (18:50) I see this in your pipeline. (18:52) Where would you like to speak?

(18:54) How much are you charging? (18:56) What can I do for you? (18:57) So now we went from this system where we’re selling this subscription for the speaker to do it to now being able to do it through a conversation on the phone.

Melissa

(19:09) Which is amazing. (19:10) And I think the time savings of all that is one thing, but it’s also you’re finding the right fit. (19:20) So sometimes you might scroll and it might be like, eh, I can speak here.

(19:24) Eh, I could speak here, but it might not be something that lights you up. (19:27) Now you’re serving up people with the places they want to be that best make them, you know, shine and it’s best for the conferences. (19:37) It’s best for the podcast bookers.

(19:39) It’s best for everyone. (19:40) It’s a win-win for everyone. (19:43) And, you know, it’s funny because I’m, as you’re talking, I’m thinking about, you know, I’ve, I’m trying to think of how many of the speaking engagements, you know, sometimes we apply for them, but sometimes we get rejected from them.

(19:57) Maybe, um, you know, one didn’t fit. (20:01) Um, but I I’m interested to hear a little bit, um, about your acceptance rate. (20:07) I know a number that I thought was really interesting, um, about you is, is you’re operating around a 5% acceptance rate, which means that most applications still result in a no, but instead of you seeing that as a failure, you’ve built rejection into the math.

(20:28) What, talk to me a little bit about that and how does that change the way you approach each opportunity?

Terry

(20:35) You know, I learned something in the nineties when I became an insurance agent, when I took my course, uh, my study course, there’s something called the law of large numbers, right? (20:48) I’ve been in sales for 30 plus years and the large, large numbers never fails. (20:55) It’s, it’s, it’s activity breeding results, right?

(21:00) At the, at the end of the day, it’s all about statistics and data. (21:05) Even, even if a person’s not that good, even if their profile isn’t that strong, right? (21:11) It’s a numbers game.

(21:13) If I submit enough applications, I’m going to get a specific result every time. (21:19) The problem is, is that people don’t do the work. (21:24) They don’t, they don’t put in the amount of applications to get the results, right?

(21:29) Because in any other business that I’ve been in, I’ve been in sales, 5% is horrible for anything, right? (21:40) If I’m a salesperson and I’ve got a close ratio of 5%, I’m, I don’t have a job, right? (21:48) So, so 5% in this specific industry is phenomenal.

(21:55) And, and I say that with full transparency, sometimes transparency is good for the character, but bad for the reputation, but I’m going to say it anyway. (22:03) In full transparency, we just went down to four. (22:09) Like, like there, there was two days, I think last week where we dropped to three, right?

(22:16) And that’s part of the business. (22:19) So what does that mean? (22:21) That means that we need to do more applications, right?

(22:25) To get the number up. (22:27) And, and so I think it’s, it’s hard to quantify, but I think from an industry perspective, I think the acceptance rate amongst call for speakers average is probably somewhere around two to three. (22:41) So we’re, we’re performing above average right now, because here’s the thing you have to understand that call for speakers event that you’re applying for 300 other speakers are applying for.

(22:57) If it’s only one slot, do you really think you’re that good to be the, to get chosen out of 300, right? (23:07) Well, guess what? (23:09) We’re in business to tell you, you are that good, right?

(23:13) You may not be that good for that particular opportunity, but based on the numbers, we’re going to find that you are that good for a opportunity, you know? (23:24) So it’s, it’s a number, it’s a numbers game, literally. (23:28) Yeah.

Melissa

(23:29) And, you know, I think, I think about what you just said. (23:33) A lot of times people, I think of all the, as an athlete, I think of all the athletes that I love and I adore, I follow all of them knew their numbers. (23:44) All of them knew, you know, how many times they needed to practice the basket or how many times they needed to run the same play.

(23:52) They practice, practice, practice, and they know their numbers. (23:55) And so that’s a really key thing. (23:57) I think to anything in life is knowing your numbers and being okay with rejection.

(24:02) It’s funny. (24:03) I love that you said that too, because I think some of the, the best things that happened in my life are the worst things that I thought were happening to my life at that exact moment were some of the best opportunities for me to grow and advance myself and to learn what I didn’t like, what I didn’t want to do. (24:21) And it really, you know, sometimes we have to take a few steps back to take 10 steps forward.

(24:26) And so I love that you mentioned that. (24:30) So let’s talk a little bit about you a little bit more. (24:34) I love the fact that you’ve built this technology all by yourself, but you discovered that things that a lot of founders, I don’t think necessarily discover that customers don’t necessarily just want the product, the software, the thing they want the results.

(24:54) And so talk to me a little bit about that realization and how it changed the way that you thought about the you were building.

Terry

(25:03) Oh, absolutely. (25:03) Well, you know, first and foremost, you know, I have crazy faith, like what’s impossible for man is possible for God. (25:10) I literally believe I can do anything, like anything.

(25:16) And, and, and that’s, that’s the season that I’m in right now. (25:19) And anyone that, that comes into alignment with anything that I built will get that result if they believe in the product. (25:28) Right.

(25:28) So I believe that when I was selling software, when I was selling you a subscription for you to do it yourself, I still believed it. (25:37) Right. (25:37) We came into the, into the speaking industry, making a bold, disruptive statement that probably had people hating on us and not liking us and talking about us and who do they think they are?

(25:49) They don’t know anything. (25:50) They don’t have any speaking experiences that any other, but I have faith. (25:54) I believe in what God called me to do.

(25:56) I believe in what he called me to be. (25:58) And I understand my realm. (26:01) That’s why we created speaker realm so that you could understand your realm of influence, where you have control over everything, your, your speaker profile, your assets, your video, your one sheet, your reels, all of these things that speakers need to get booked.

(26:26) Right. (26:26) But here’s the thing. (26:28) Nobody wants to use software.

(26:31) Nobody wants another dashboard. (26:34) Right. (26:35) They want to be on stages.

(26:37) Right. (26:38) So I realized that as much as I think this system is great, people are not using it. (26:48) And then I also have a tendency, like a lot of founders who build applications and in the tech space, sometimes what’s easy for me is complicated for someone else.

Melissa

(27:00) Yeah.

Terry

(27:00) Right. (27:01) So, so now I’ve learned to that number one, what I built still has value, but not the way that I anticipated it to have value. (27:13) So I understand that I can use the same software that I’m selling to just give them the result with them without them having to use it.

(27:24) Yep. (27:25) Crazy. (27:26) Yeah.

Melissa

(27:27) You know, it’s, it, what’s also interesting to me is that you are building a one person empire by yourself. (27:36) And I think what’s really interesting about that is when I think of entrepreneurship, the scale was really tough and real because people needed 10 to 20 employees. (27:47) They needed multiple different people to do multiple different things and building something and scaling something.

(27:54) Now leveraging technology changes the way that, you know, we do business and, and how we call ourselves entrepreneurs. (28:03) I think I’m just now calling myself an entrepreneur and similar to you, I’ve done so many different entrepreneur things over the years, but I wouldn’t have, like, I guess I didn’t identify with the word I’m an entrepreneur because I had a W2 job. (28:20) And now that I don’t have a W2 job, like I’m fully stepping into this world of entrepreneurship.

(28:26) So does the founder of the future need to become less of a manager of people and more of a designer of systems and technology, or do you believe you still need to be both, you know, the manager of people and the designer of systems?

Terry

(28:43) You know, great question and really great observation. (28:47) And, and I can say that I am, I am a kind of a one person empire to a degree. (28:53) I have two other people that work with me to support me, right?

(29:00) Which is, which is phenomenal. (29:02) I can’t go and say how important that is, but what are they supporting me in, right? (29:09) They’re supporting, they’re supporting me in a business that would literally need 40 people to operate, right?

(29:20) Because of this governing principle, right? (29:24) We don’t automate by task list, we automate by a site, right? (29:28) So anything that isn’t uniquely yours to carry gets systematized.

(29:33) Why should I spend time doing something that’s going to take me the whole day when I can build a way or find a way to use AI to do it, right? (29:46) That, and that’s crazy thing, understanding that you, you, number one, you weren’t created to stay the same. (29:54) I’m, I was created to be better tomorrow than I am today.

(29:58) The, the, the problem is, is that I get caught up in what I’m doing today and I never finish what I’m doing today and it carries on into tomorrow and I end up staying the same, right? (30:11) Because I’ve become complacent and this is the job I have to do. (30:15) Oh, there’s no other way to do it, right?

(30:18) But we have to understand the system, right? (30:22) Everything has a system. (30:23) We have to automate first.

(30:26) The automate first is the most important layer. (30:30) It’s, it’s where all of the research and the outreach and the follow-up and the tracking goes, but it’s also where capacity dies, right? (30:38) Because sometimes we get caught up and we don’t go any further.

(30:43) And so when we utilize systems, when we systemize everything, we are essentially allowing our assignment to be governed in, in, in a way that as founders, we can jump straight to systems multiplied without having a settled vision or just scale confusion. (31:04) Yeah.

Melissa

(31:05) And it’s funny because as you’re saying that, I think founders sometimes focus on tasks they hate to do. (31:14) Like they have to do at the start of building things. (31:17) I got to do a lot of paperwork, a lot of tasks that consume time and those tasks aren’t necessarily attached or tied to revenue.

(31:25) So they get kind of stuck in this wheel of, I got to do it myself because it might be too expensive, you know, to outsource, but AI is a good candidate for helping us solve some of those, you know, tasks, those, excuse me, the administrative tasks that we have to go out and find this application for this. (31:42) Like before I’d have to go to websites and, you know, go through the state website to find the one document I need to fill it out, to submit it in. (31:50) And so I think, you know, back to your point, systems, everything needs a system and what do we want to automate and how can we build it?

(31:58) Is the tool built? (32:00) Can we use somebody else’s tool? (32:01) Do we have to spend time learning how to leverage AI or can we just use a tool like your tool?

(32:07) And so you also talk about something called the proof economy and you make the point that decisions about us are constantly being made in rooms we never enter. (32:21) Oh my gosh. (32:22) So true.

(32:22) I so, so, so agree with that. (32:25) I think people decide whether they’re going to hire you when they look at your LinkedIn or whether they book you or whether you get on boards or whether you’re on a podcast. (32:35) And I find this so funny because all of my career, I was either too young or too old or too blonde or too much lipstick, or I didn’t have this experience or I had too much experience.

(32:47) And I love that, but talk to me a little bit about what do you mean by building a proof economy around yourself?

Terry

(32:57) You know, this is critical to becoming the best version of yourself. (33:04) One of the unfortunate things that happens to people in life is that they never achieve their dreams or their goals because they become relegated to what someone told them they could do. (33:20) They become relegated to what someone told them they could accomplish.

(33:27) And here’s the thing, proof doesn’t create authority, it documents it. (33:34) Your influence was conferred before it was confirmed. (33:38) In other words, so I’m gonna go Bible for a second.

(33:42) Genesis 1, 26 and 27, it says that God made us in his image and his likeness. (33:48) He gave us dominion and authority over all the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (33:59) If you listen to that carefully, it means that your authority was already conferred to you.

(34:08) And look, whether or not you’re a Christian or not, your authority was already conferred. (34:17) There’s already been a statement made about you that this is who you are and this is who you can be. (34:25) People never become that because they feel the need to be confirmed.

(34:32) I’ll never be able, I’m not gonna be able to do this because so-and-so told me I couldn’t do this. (34:39) I’m working as a CFO when I should be the CEO. (34:43) I’m working as a janitor when I should be a manager because they think that I can just be a janitor and just because they think that, that’s what I’m gonna think.

(34:52) And that’s not how people become the best versions of themselves. (34:58) That’s not how you build proof. (35:01) Proof assets are how rooms you’ll never enter will confirm who you are, right?

(35:08) I’m seeing that right now in my life as I’m into a 10-month build of a company that’s gonna be poised to take over the industry.

Melissa

(35:18) Yep. (35:19) And you know what’s funny about that? (35:21) I love that you said that because there’s, first of all, that was, amen to that.

(35:26) I think about all the careers I’ve had and I was not a fit for any of them. (35:31) I didn’t have all the creds. (35:33) I didn’t have the experience.

(35:35) One career, I had two of the 15 things in the job description, but I applied because I believed in me to do the job and to figure it out. (35:46) And I think, I love that you said that because with the right attitude, I truly believe and the right faith, I believe that we can achieve the things we want to achieve and who we want to become. (35:59) And so I think a lot of times we wait for others, like you said, to kind of, oh, yep, she’s there and she’s made it.

(36:09) But I don’t know, maybe for you, but not for me. (36:11) I’ve never had that, oh, she’s made it. (36:13) She’s there.

(36:14) She has the proof. (36:15) I’ve had to kind of just jump in the deep end and kind of figure it out as I go. (36:21) And so for all those people that have the proof all the time, lucky them, I’m still waiting to get my social proof.

(36:30) But I want to talk a little bit more about the, I don’t know how to ask this. (36:44) I’m thinking like a lot of times AI has helped me identify some of the gaps in what I’m doing, poking holes in some of the things that I have either written for a keynote speech or maybe shouldn’t say in a room of whoever’s sitting in the room. (37:06) Talk to me a little bit, how do you make sure AI isn’t just creating more activity, but it’s actually creating evidence that you are the expert in that place that whoever’s hiring the potential speaker in?

Terry

(37:25) Really, really good question. (37:27) Because there’s something in the industry known as AI slop. (37:32) I don’t know if you’ve heard of that terminology.

(37:36) And essentially it’s AI being AI, being a non-human large language model that has a mind of its own and has a tendency to do things that you don’t ask it to do. (37:55) So if you’re going to utilize AI, it has to be utilized in an ethical manner, number one. (38:04) You have to understand, and this is what I speak on, that people jump on GPT and now they’re starting to use more advanced models like Claude and Kimmy and Perplexity and DeepSeek and all of these.

(38:20) I use them all because I cannot be effective in this space if I don’t have the versatility to know how they all work and how they all are different. (38:33) And they’re all uniquely different. (38:36) I can put a question in ChatGPT, put it in Perplexity, or put it in Kimmy, which is the Chinese counterpart to ChatGPT, not counterpart, but competitor, and get a completely different answer, right?

(38:52) Completely different. (38:54) So who makes the decision on what to use? (38:59) Is it me or is it Kimmy or is it ChatGPT?

(39:03) I don’t know. (39:04) Well, I know it’s me. (39:07) I make the decision, right?

(39:09) And so this is what people have to understand is that just because it gives you an answer, it doesn’t mean it’s the right answer.

Melissa

(39:18) Today’s episode is brought to you by Renaissance, redefining success for modern Mavericks, a book I co-authored with Michelle Kine. (39:28) It’s a straightforward guide through reinvention, leadership, and building real freedom. (39:34) Inside, you’ll find practical frameworks, the Maverick test, and stories that help you take action today.

(39:41) Pick it up at executiveconnectexperience.com forward slash Maverick. (39:47) Use the code EXEC for 10% off. (39:53) Yeah, and I think that’s what’s going to separate, you know, leveraging an AI tool and getting a prompt is easy, right?

(40:01) It takes seconds. (40:02) But knowing the information that is given to you, if it’s correct or not, is where the real expertise lies. (40:11) And that’s going to separate the people that actually know about whatever they’re delivering or whatever their knowledge set is from the people that don’t.

(40:21) I’ve been on panels or in speaking engagements where I knew the material and the person talking, I could tell that they were working off a script that was either AI generated or if there were things in there that were hallucinated. (40:35) And I could see it. (40:37) And so let’s take this from another lens of like the risks of building AI workers without kind of that human touch.

(40:51) Talk to me a little bit about how you put guardrails on the output that you’re given from your different tools that you use.

Terry

(41:02) Sure. (41:02) It was really non-negotiable. (41:05) And let me tell you why.

(41:08) Event organizers, event planners, they’re looking for a specific type of speaker. (41:17) They’re looking for authenticity, right? (41:21) They’re looking for someone that can come in and move the room, motivate their employees, change the atmosphere of their company, the trajectory.

(41:32) How can they entrust that to AI? (41:37) Because AI could take any person who’s an ordinary Tom, Dick, or Harry, create something that’s not real. (41:47) And if they bring that person in, they get this persona that wasn’t actually who they thought it was going to be.

(41:57) So it goes back to the human component of ethical usage of AI. (42:06) From a corporate perspective, I have the responsibility to ensure that that is the number one priority in everything we do. (42:21) Because I have speakers that are paying us to get a specific result.

(42:25) And if we deliver that result under false premises, then we haven’t lived up to who we say we are and what we say we do. (42:37) So more and more organizations are putting in their applications. (42:45) We do not accept AI submissions.

(42:50) In other words, we don’t want your AI slot. (42:54) If it’s not you, if it’s not authentic, if it’s not real, we don’t want it. (43:01) But from my perspective, AI is still effective in getting you to a table that you never would have gotten to if you had to do it manually.

(43:12) So it’s still about the system getting you there, but in an ethical way. (43:19) So we put guardrails in place that do just that. (43:24) So when we match your application to a speaking opportunity and we merge those two together, there’s a percentage assigned to that.

(43:39) 70%, 60%. (43:41) Our threshold is 70. (43:43) We don’t go below 70.

(43:46) Sometimes we do change the system to go below 70 when we’re not getting enough results. (43:54) Because again, we’re playing a numbers game also. (43:58) But what happens once that match happens, you get a message showing what that match looks like, showing the event, showing what your application, and by the way, your application has been prepared based on your profile and their event.

(44:21) So they’re merged together. (44:24) But that doesn’t mean it’s right. (44:27) So you then have the opportunity to review that.

(44:31) You review that. (44:32) You say, oh, this isn’t right. (44:34) I don’t like this.

(44:35) You can change this, so on and so forth. (44:37) Once you change it, you save it and approve it. (44:41) It goes to our team, and then we approve it.

(44:47) We have to look at it. (44:49) So essentially, it’s not AI submitting your application, it’s AI being part of the systematic process to get you applications. (44:59) That’s it.

Melissa

(45:01) And I love that. (45:03) So someone that’s listening and they’re currently using ChatGPT or any other AI tool to help them find speaking gigs or prompting them to search for the next gig around their industry, where should they begin? (45:21) And talking a little bit about leveraging your product, but also where should they begin?

Terry

(45:27) Well, they should begin by going over to speakerrealm.org. (45:30) I’m just kidding. (45:32) Literally, I mean, yeah, they should begin there.

(45:36) But we’re all about education. (45:40) Everyone has the same availability right now. (45:44) ChatGPT has a free plan.

(45:46) You can jump on there and go crazy until you run out of credits. (45:51) First thing you have to do, even before pursuing an opportunity, is you have to know who you are. (45:58) You have to know your identity.

(46:00) You have to know why you’re different, why an organization would want you. (46:05) You can go on and search for 35 opportunities and none of them be right for you because you’re trying to fit into what each one of them has versus understanding who you are, your value, and what you bring to the table and saying, okay, I speak on transformation. (46:26) I speak on endurance.

(46:28) I speak on resilience. (46:31) This is the talk that I have. (46:34) Now, take this information about who I am, my talk, and find me opportunities in this specific area.

(46:43) But what are people doing? (46:45) Find me an opportunity on leadership. (46:48) Everybody’s speaking on leadership, but how many people are speaking on endurance, transformation, and resilience in the same breath, right?

(46:57) So now you’ve narrowed the playing field to find an event that’s looking specifically for Melissa, right? (47:08) That’s the whole you’re being mentioned in rooms that you know not of, that you don’t even know about, basically.

Melissa

(47:15) And you know, I love that. (47:17) I think there’s an interesting layer, too. (47:20) Um, you know, one of the things I’ve talked about a few times in speaking and in this podcast is for so long, I’m like, I’m just a Swiss army knife.

(47:29) I know how to do this. (47:30) I know how to do that. (47:32) Like, I could do this.

(47:33) I could do that. (47:33) And I talked to some of my other friends who are, you know, doctors or engineers or in marketing or whatever they’re in. (47:39) I’m like, oh my gosh, you guys are so lucky.

(47:41) You know that you’re a marketer. (47:43) And they’re like, Melissa, you’re so lucky because you can do all these other things. (47:47) And the realization I’ve had that has made me a better speaker is what is the thread between all the pieces of your Swiss army and knife that’s uniquely you versus trying to look at Anthony Robbins.

(48:04) And I’m like, I’m going to be just like Anthony Robbins, or I’m going to be just like Michael Jordan, or I’m going to be just like Brene Brown or whoever the people are that you’re, you know, you’re idols instead of being uniquely them or being them be uniquely you because that’s what’s going to sell. (48:22) And it’s funny because I’ve made this mistake myself. (48:25) I’m like, oh, they want somebody that’s more like this persona.

(48:28) I’m going to be this persona. (48:30) I’m going to put on this mask. (48:32) Melissa is going to be whoever this persona is, but it’s so much harder to be somebody else than it is to just be uniquely you.

(48:42) As soon as I took these masks off, as soon as I took them off and I just was Melissa, it’s amazing the number of speaking gigs that came in because to your point, they want to hire you to do something to their teams, whatever this, the speaking session is on, but it’s, it’s, that’s what really sells is you to the rooms. (49:08) And so I want to get kind of in closing here, you’re, you’re teaching a class soon virtually. (49:16) So for people that, you know, when I had to learn how to speak, I had to go in person and it costs me airfare and hotel and travel and food.

(49:26) You’re doing this virtually. (49:28) Talk to us a little bit about your virtual event and what people are going to learn from it.

Terry

(49:34) Sure. (49:35) So, so here’s what I believe. (49:36) I believe that we weren’t created to stay the same.

(49:39) I believe that every person has potential. (49:41) I believe that there are speakers out there who are celebrity speakers who can get paid $300,000 for a speech. (49:48) And there are speakers out there who couldn’t get $3 for a speech, right?

(49:53) But, but some of those $3 speakers deserve to get $3,000. (49:57) They just don’t know it. (49:59) So, so what I have built and bringing to the industry is something for all of the above, right?

(50:06) We want to have a system where speakers who have the, the prowess and the, and the ability, but may not necessarily know it, maybe it’s uncovered, maybe it’s not discovered. (50:24) And, and we, we have a ladder to bring them from, from there all the way up to the $30,000 talks, understanding that you have to go through the process in order to get there. (50:36) And so the very first start of the process is something that I’ve developed is called the speaker collective.

(50:43) It is an opportunity for speakers who would not normally get booked for a speaking engagement, not just for them, it’s for all speakers, but it’s an opportunity for them to get booked for a virtual presentation. (51:00) And then we take that presentation and we automate the pursuit. (51:04) We, we put them on six different platforms.

(51:07) We give them the exposure and they get to kind of go through the ecosystem, the speaker realm ecosystem to become a better speaker. (51:16) They, they get Sterling, our, our, our AI workforce, they can rehearse their talk. (51:22) He’ll, he’ll give them feedback on what they need to change, just, just that and the other.

(51:28) And then they get to share this, this wonderful speaking opportunity with, with all of their friends and family. (51:34) And so essentially that’s going to be happening. (51:38) Oh my gosh.

(51:39) It’s going to be happening on October 14th is, is when the, the summit goes live, but applications are being accepted through September 18th. (51:50) So we’re looking for speakers. (51:51) We’re looking for polished speakers.

(51:54) We’re looking for maybe speakers who, who are, you know, just getting started speakers at all levels. (52:00) We’re the speaker collective.com.

Melissa

(52:02) I love it. (52:03) This is great. (52:04) This has been great.

(52:06) Get on the website, check it out, get to the event. (52:10) We all could be better speakers. (52:12) Thank you so much for being here.

(52:14) I think we talked so many different pieces. (52:17) It’s not about writing faster, speaking more, it’s about leveraging systems and technology the way you need it. (52:23) So you continue to live your best life.

(52:26) Thank you so much for being here today, Terrence. (52:29) And if you want to learn more about AI technology leadership and wealth, subscribe to executive connect podcast on YouTube or wherever you podcast. (52:40) And for everything broken down that Terrence talked about today, we will put out an executive brief newsletter that you can subscribe until next time.

(52:49) That’s the executive connect podcast.