Many speakers lean gradually into speaking. Still others stumble upon it unexpectedly. And still others find their passion and talent early on in life with the help of formative family members–like Shailesh Ghimire. Shailesh is our latest Student Highlight guest on The Speaker Lab podcast, and he shares his story on episode 459 with Maryalice Goldsmith, our director of student success. Today, Shailesh is a speaker, podcaster, and marketing expert with a background in physics. But years ago, he was a fourth grader preparing and delivering presentations for his dad, who loved and respected the fields of public speaking and debate. Thanks to those early years learning how to speak in front of an audience, Shailesh has never struggled with stage fright to this day.

While Shailesh’s dad helped set him on the road to public speaking, it took him some time to move beyond treating speaking like a hobby on top of his successful marketing business. But ultimately, as he attests, everybody has the same 24 hours in a day–and he refocused his time to prioritize building a speaking business. That’s where The Speaker Lab comes in! Shailesh walks Maryalice through how our program offered him structure and consistency while leaving lots of room for independent initiative and creating your own systems. For example, unlike most speakers, Shailesh relies primarily on email for lead outreach rather than phone calls. This requires a unique set of systems for getting in touch with clients and following up, as you’ll learn on the show.

Shailesh is full of enthusiasm and humor on air as well as on the stage–listen till the end to hear why he’s ready to write the “definitive book on women” after raising four daughters. He is currently working on expanding to new clientele and you’ll get to hear all about the additional hurdles and challenges that come with the scaling stage of running a speaking business.

You’ll also learn all about:

How being involved in theater helps prepare you for confidence as a speaker.
Tips and tricks for balancing speaking and parenting.
How to make traveling all the time more enjoyable.
Why you shouldn’t overcomplicate the prospecting process.
Why imposter syndrome is actually a good thing.
How to maintain energy from one speaking engagement to the next.
…and so much more!

Episode Resources:

Episode Chapters:

[00:01:51] Dad's influence at home to get public speaking practice.
[00:04:02] Discovering speaking career leads to paid gigs.
[00:09:40] Time is all about priorities and goals.
[00:14:30] Be intentional, follow instructions, use email.
[00:19:43] Surprise: Learning about presentation time requirements
[00:22:12] Last-minute panic turns into successful presentation.
[00:25:25] Big experience with dedicated, learning audience. Stay prepared.
[00:29:11] How are you focused on expanding your speaking business?
[00:33:41] Game-changing; juggling multiple businesses with purpose.
[00:34:47] Believe in your message, forget self-doubt.
[00:40:00] Legacy: emotional attachment to leaving a mark.
[00:41:23] Grateful guest expresses appreciation for podcast appearance.

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Waarom werkt niks?!

Maarten van Rossem en Tom Jessen

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