Speaking With Impact: The Art Of Leading From The Stage With Stevie Johns
The stage is where impact is made, and Stevie Johns, the visionary founder of Inkwell MGMT and a key player at Cicospace, knows how to own it. Get ready for a dose of inspiration! Stevie shares her hard-earned wisdom on authenticity, building a strong brand, setting expectations, and owning the stage. From her humble beginnings as a psychology major to becoming a powerful force in the speaking industry, Stevie reveals the secrets to success. Learn how she went from a psychology major to a sought-after executive, using her experiences to build a thriving agency. Tune in as Stevie shares insights on navigating the speaking world and making a lasting impact on your audience.
Connect with Stevie: Email | LinkedIn | Instagram | Inkwell Instagram
Are you ready to elevate your leadership? Let’s talk here: http://www.renogize.com
---
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Speaking With Impact: The Art Of Leading From The Stage With Stevie Johns
Everyone, welcome to this episode of The Intentional Leader. This is the show where you hear the stories of real people just like you who have become extraordinary leaders. You'll learn valuable tips from their lives. Tips you can apply to your own life to become the best leader you were created to be. When we are intentional in our leadership, lives are changed. I'm your host, Sean Olson. I'm a business owner, author, and speaker. I'm glad to have you here.
If you would, please hit that subscribe button wherever you're tuning in, and hit that like button to help all of our algorithms. We appreciate you being a part of the show. I'm excited to have our guest. Her name is Stevie Johns. Stevie is the founder of Inkwell Management Incorporated, and she has been on an incredible personal and professional journey. Her journey is about impacting people. I'm excited to have Stevie here with us. Stevie, welcome to the show.
Thank you so much for having me.
Our pleasure. It’s good to have you here and you're coming in from the beautiful state of Florida. Stevie and I met about a month ago through a common platform and other common friends through a program with Kim Walsh Phillips and Justin Guarini. That is how we met.
Stevie’s Professional Journey
It's nice to have us get to this point and share together. Stevie we've talked about the show and I've heard a little bit about your story which is engaging. I love your passion and purpose to impact people because that is what leadership is all about. Give us a little walk through your professional journey and the leadership lessons learned along the way.
I started my professional journey in college as a Psychology major. I thought I was going to be a guidance counselor. Again, the purpose of wanting to serve others and help specifically around youth. I found myself quickly in a space of recognizing that education was such an important part of that journey. I got an awesome opportunity to work in virtual education, which back in 2004 was not the hype. It was new to the world. I quickly found myself with an opportunity to serve the chief executive officer as an executive office manager. I transitioned into that role and learned a lot about myself in the interim and quickly rose to the with her. I was with her for about fifteen years as her chief of staff.
What is the biggest leadership lesson you learned from her?
It's something I still practice today. It’s listening. She always was extremely intentional. She always said, “Listen also spells the word silent.” Being a female leader, I think there were a lot of opportunities for questions in that time frame, especially in a world of proving that virtual education truly can work. She was open to listening.
That's awesome. Continue with the story.
After being with her for fifteen years, I transitioned into finding a place. I still wanted to be in an Executive Chief of Staff role, but I wanted to gain some experience outside of education. I went to work for a marketing association in New York City as a chief of staff for a male CEO. I was from one extreme to the other. I learned a lot about myself at that time. I learned a lot about who I wanted to be, personally and professionally.
I found myself in a space about two years in where I truly wanted to dig my heels into helping individuals and organizations become the best versions of themselves. That is when I started my consultancy. It was very small. It was called Stevie Johns & Co. and I served in partnered with all walks of individuals who maybe were in a transition in their career or they were wanting to make a greater impact in their current role and the things that they were involved in. Also, in organizations, working with different department leaders on how they can best serve their teams, are their teams the right fit for what they want them to accomplish, etc. That was a great broad stroke of dipping my toes into working individually and organizationally with change.
What I love about that is you were two years there and that other chief of staff in New York City and got into your own organization. What I like is, reading between the lines of everything you're saying, you're constantly observing and watching and trying to take it in. One of the biggest mistakes people make is they go to work every day and they do the job instead of taking it all in. I love the phrase that when you're in college, you're paying to learn. When you have a job, you're getting paid to learn. You have to have that mindset. Has that growth mindset always been something that's in you? Is it something that you had to adapt and create as you were going through? Where does that come from?
I've always been a learner in that I was always wanting to be better. I was learning learning lessons daily and putting those lessons to work. I never had huge career dreams growing up. I came from a single-family home. It was me, my mom, and my twin sister. I took the full opportunity to understand the assignment. I can be better, I can do things differently, I can be my own person, and I can make an impact. To do all of those things, you have to be open-minded and learn.
I love that because you were not afraid to do that either.
It's always interesting when you maximize the time that you have in a day. You are truly being intentional about the things that you could do better. It’s not that you did something wrong, but ask yourself questions and challenge yourself like, “What could I have done better?” Having that as your tool daily as you walk through having conversations and interacting with your teams, with your family, or with your friends, I've always taken advantage of that and used that as an opportunity.
What came in of that? What were your next steps?
About 6 or 7 years into my consultancy, I received a phone call from a good friend who was on a speaking circuit. He asked if I could help him with a coaching program. I quickly jumped in. It was about a six-week project. The fun thing when you work for yourself I guess is that you can pick and choose where you want to spend your time and who you spend it with. I quickly recognized that this was cool work. I could make an impact. He asked what it would take for me to run his business.
That was my introduction to the actual speaking world. I have served other entrepreneurs, authors, and coaches in my consultancy but not at this level. I learned so much in those almost five years that I was with him. I learned so much about myself, about the industry, and truly what impact looks like. I always had a vision of what it meant to make a difference, but when you're impacting thousands of people at a time in the work that you're doing, there's pressure, but there's also a lot of excitement and fulfillment.
When you're impacting thousands of people at a time in the work that you’re doing, there's pressure, but there's also a lot of excitement and fulfillment.
That brought you to Inkwell.
Inkwell is a love of all of my professional experience brought into the same bucket. After thinking about how I could continue to do the work that I did with that speaker to the masses, I decided that I wanted to have my own agency and represent speakers who could continue to make an impact. We're at different levels of their career and were potentially working on different projects that would allow them to maximize what I could bring to the table in serving them.
I opened Inkwell on my birthday, June 4th, 2024. I did it with so much intention starting small. I wanted to build it from the foundation up. I wanted to make sure that I was being picky with how things were operating. I did this solely by myself and quickly learned that I needed others along the journey with me. I started out with three speakers. We did our official launch at the end of August and we had twelve. At the end of 2024, we will have eighteen speakers.
Challenges In The Speaking Industry
Let's dive into this for a little bit. A lot of our audience are solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, as well as professionals and officers of organizations. They thought about speaking or are trying to get into speaking. I want to start asking you about the back side of it, meaning all those event organizers who are looking for speakers. What are those unknowns for us who want to get into speaking of you've been organizers, yes, yes, yes to this, no, no, no to this? Where are their heads when they're looking for someone?
Sourcing speakers is becoming a little bit cumbersome to find the right talent to ensure that the individual they are looking for can make an impact on their audience and curate a unique experience that would serve them in a greater way. Right now, the industry is, I say this with love, saturated with speakers mainly because from a professional standpoint, a lot of professionals speak regularly in rooms to other leaders. They're part of the league and the rotaries, etc. There's a transition in what that means versus what being a speaker on the circuit could mean, which makes it overwhelming for meeting planners to identify what direction to go.
There's so much great talent out there. There are a lot of people who have put a lot of backing into research and making a stance to be credible in that specific niche. The meeting planners are in a position where they are sourcing from a huge pool of wonderful talent and it's overwhelming. Part of my dream with Inkwell was to create a unique and diverse roster from fee level, all the way to niche and level of expertise, to make it easier to provide that unique curated experience, and be able to say, “I have the right person for you.”
That makes sense. When I hear that, I'm curious about this. I know there are other speaker agencies from that context like Inkwell. Our event organizers get to a point where to minimize their potential risk, they want to go with an agency where they trust that agency, and they trust the talent that's inside of there versus, in this context, I'm not with an agency so I'm a free agent, that's out there that has more risk because there's not somebody standing behind me. Is that where a lot of your event organizations are going?
It's twofold. Anything that we can do as bureaus or agents to make the planning process and selection process easier is a huge benefit. It behooves a speaker to collaborate or partner with an agency and or a bureau to have that advocation, to have that one sole individual or organization to serve them at a level so that they are getting the consistent customer service, and the experience that they're receiving is seamless.
There is a lot of hesitation around that because speakers could naturally be concerned about committing to an agency or a bureau. I always say this is a relationship business. I look at it like a pure partnership. I want to be able to serve, I believe in you, etc., but if you're not there and you want to have diversity as a speaker of who can reach out and who you might have the opportunity to partner with from the client perspective, by all means. There's always a space in a speaker's journey to realize that I might not have the capacity right now to level up. Now is the time to partner with an agency or a bureau to do so.
You want to have an opportunity to show evolution as a speaker.
I love that.
‐‐‐
Intentional Leader Podcast listeners, thank you for tuning in. The Intentional Leader is a true thing that we believe. I run Renogize professional coaching. We want to invite you to join us for the Intentional Leader Academy. The Intentional Leader Academy is a six-month leadership development program. It is an open cohort. Many people from multiple companies come in. It is hosted in the Greater Columbus Ohio area. We have people flying from all around the United States for this.
We would encourage you to check it out for your leadership. This is not leadership 101 at the academy. This is the graduate-level leadership. You've been at it for a few years. You've had a few promotions. You have higher aspirations. From those frontline managers all the way through VPs, we have them attending the Intentional Leader Academy. Check out the QR code attached here or go to Renogize.com/academy. We'd love to have you be a part of the Intentional Leader Academy.
‐‐‐
Qualities Of A Desirable Speaker
Let's talk for a second about whether our audience wants to either fix themselves to those events or somebody like you at Inkwell Management staff. What are those have-to-haves that would grasp your attention to say, “I could add them to my roster.”
It’s a mix of things. Great question. I always share with speakers that I'm forming a relationship with vetting etc., that they need to be confident about their messaging. Having a true understanding of what it is that they want to deliver on stage, not just from a passion perspective like they're passionate about this topic but also have backing from a research study or a book. Also, what are those tangible key takeaways that are going to set you aside from another option of a speaker that is in that same niche market or niche expertise topic level as an example?
That is a good start, understanding who you want to be. What does that brand look like? As you transition to the tangible assets of marketing yourself and being marketable, those things will all come into play. You have your video assets and other resources that provide the credibility to be a thought leader in that space. You have a process in place for building those relationships, marketing yourself, and booking.
It's a long journey. There is a lot of research out there right now about the speaking business as a whole and what it truly takes to be a successful full-time speaker. There is a little bit of a misconception that I can start speaking tomorrow and make $15,000 a day, and I'm delivering impact. There's a runway to get there for sure.
As I was listening to you, another thought came to my mind. When you think about events, conferences, and things like that, there are keynotes and there's also a lot of breakouts in such. In the circle of people that I've talked to, some are parts of the National Speakers Association of their avenues. There's this argument or a conflict around whether I can do all of it. My message, whatever it is, is good for a keynote. It's good for breakouts and things like that. What's your sense around? Are they different beasts? I know we can have the content. Do we need to frame it differently? How has that played?
It's a huge benefit to be flexible in what you provide. If I am a keynote speaker speaking on burnout and a client reaches out and is interested, but they're looking for a 2 to 4-hour session, of course, I'm going to try to meet their needs and deliver on that. I have the content. I have the means to put together some workbookable conversations and activities around that conversation. At some point though as a speaker, you have to decide. Am I a keynote speaker or am I a facilitator? What happens is it takes two different brains almost to deliver at an optimum level.
Speaking of burnout, that was pure coincidence that was my example, but I do feel like it could become a question internally where you're questioning whether or not you can continue down the path of delivering and being flexible. I think there is time. You obviously in the beginning want to build out the relationship aspect and show that you're flexible and nimble and that you can deliver. You can do both but there will come a point if you're marketing yourself and partnering with the right individuals that you'll have to make a decision of which direction to go.
Speaking: In the beginning, you want to build out the relationship aspect and show that you're flexible and nimble, but there will come a point where you'll have to decide which direction to go.
I like that you're talking about the two different hats or two different minds on it because I think it is. In my sense, I facilitate workshops all the time. I'm very comfortable with that. I'm comfortable in front of the crowd. I'm comfortable with facilitation. I do breakouts on a regular basis. I want to get into that keynote realm. I feel like I have the tools to do it, but I don't know how to get there because it is a different beast.
Maybe I'm overthinking it at times, but I do think delivering that 30, 40-minute keynote that's driving people to action and helping them understand the premise of what we're trying to do is different than facilitating a workshop. I liked how you talked about the two different brains on that. If you could articulate very quickly the difference in the approach of a breakout/workshop versus a keynote. What's the mindset difference for those?
As a speaker planning for a keynote, that's their comfort zone and what they do. A lot of times, they have their foundational key topics and they customize accordingly for audience, themes, deliverables, etc. That I think for a keynote speaker is the sweet spot. They want to be able to show that they're an expert in that area but tie it into that organization in such a way that it resonates deeply with the audience.
The workshop piece and to facilitate it, takes a full mental planning stage of this is my foundational topic, which could very well be a keynote topic. They could be at a level of comfort for providing that facilitation. There's a lot more involved at that level because you might only have an audience of 15 or 20 or 50 maybe even.
I think that with the level of preparation, you have more individually captivated audience members who are going to be engaged in conversation. They're going to want to converse at a higher level than you would experience on a keynote stage. It takes a little bit more mental space in preparation for what that facilitation looks like, but I do think it's a great way for a keynote speaker, especially early on, to generate that credibility and get footage and testimonials because it is more of an intimate experience and setting.
I like that. You hit on something there at the very end of your comments about testimonials, video footage, reels, and things like that, whatever it may be. Are those have-to-haves if you want to get into this?
As a keynote speaker, yes. There are four key things that you have to have to be marketable and bookable. Those four things. I'm speaking of our tangible. Your demo reel, which starting out, could be at any level. I always tell people, “You want to have an opportunity to show an evolution as a speaker.” That first demo reel that you have isn't going to be Mack Daddy and it's not intended to be, but if you're a $5,000 speaker, it's expected that might be the case on the client side. That’s the speaker reel.
The other three things I would say are also video-based. These are what the bureaus or bigger clients would lean on. We at Cicospace, which I'll share more about Cicospace in a few, call them signature story videos. Those three videos captivate who you are at the essence, not as a speaker but as who you are and what is your story, basically building up that credibility. The second video is almost a commercial on your offerings. A lot of speakers who are starting out might be a coach or might be an entrepreneur who owns a successful business. That opportunity to film that content and provide that to a bureau or a meeting planner shows who you are at the foundation, why you're credible, and why they should nook you on their stage.
The third signature story video is the top keynote topic. Those are the topics that you're getting booked for. Even if you have three topics on your website, one of them is the most popular. Let's take an opportunity to create an asset around the why behind that topic and the impact that you make because that's truly what's going to be the piece that sets them aside from potentially another option. Those are the four video assets that, regardless of fee level, you should have starting out and investing in those pieces. It doesn't have to be a huge enhanced production, but it would be great to have that from a marketing perspective, showing your credibility and what you can bring to the stage.
Cicospace Partnership
What I like about that especially is a lot of people think if they also jump into an agency like Inkwell or something that everything is done for them. That’s not the case. You still have to do your job to put those things together and drive it. Let's jump over to Cicospace. You mentioned that. I know that's another company that you work with. What is Cicospace? What's your role with them? How does that tie in with Inkwell?
Cicospace is the premier content company for keynote speakers. If you think about all of the production pieces behind a speaker at any level, Cicospace delivers on that. Cicospace and I partnered with Inkwell in a cool way to better serve the community. Why does that make sense and why did that happen? It’s crazy how the connection even came into play.
The industry is a small world like anything else probably. You want to partner and fill your space with people who are truly making an impact and are seen as experts in the industry. It was truly a partnership of I can help Cicospace do all of these things and bring a different level of experience to better serve the speakers that Cicospace is filming or creating speaker reels for. A lot of it naturally made sense. I serve as their fractional chief of staff. I have helped them build a foundational process for scaling.
Speaking: I can be better, do things differently, be my own person, and make an impact. To do all these things, you have to be open-minded and learn.
The keynote industry is growing crazily. Knowing that and setting ourselves up for success. What do we have to have in place to meet those needs? I've been on a journey with them for several months to make that happen. I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of awesome speakers who are just starting out and trying to set them up for success, but then also speakers who have been on the circuit for years. That's cool.
Leadership Style
I want to jump back to you for a minute as a leader. The phrase “Chief of Staff” has come up numerous times in different roles. When I think about Stevie the leader, not your technical knowledge and expertise but from a leadership basis, who was Stevie the leader? What's your leadership brand that sets you apart?
I have a very interesting approach to personal success. I always tell people that I have two brains. I have the tactical side. I can knock out any sort of administrative aspect needed, but then I also have the strategy side which complements the tactical side, especially for a growing business. When I think about Stevie the leader, I think about her unique ability to have a vision for anticipation of what's needed, what's next, and how we're going to get there. I had that mindset when I first started at Florida Virtual School back in 2004. I think it has served me in so many ways.
Common Mistakes Of New SpeakersCommon Mistakes Of New Speakers
That's a unique gift and what I like about that for all leaders, the audience included here, we have to find our unique gift. It's important to look at other leaders and see what we like and not like from leaders. Emulate the good and avoid the bad, but you still have to find out who you are as a leader and that unique giftedness and special sauce. I like yours around that realm of critical thinking, strategic thinking, looking ahead, and trying to drive things. That's awesome. One last question about the industry as I was thinking about this. What is the biggest mistake speakers make when they're trying to get rolling in the industry?
It's a great question. I might not say that it's the biggest mistake, but I'm a realistic person and I like to share realistic expectations with the speakers on my roster, even speakers that I'm working with in other capacities, that we have to be realistic. We have to look at the relationship between those who are putting your contracts together, the clients who are calling, and the speaker who's delivering to truly partner and trust that things will happen in due time.
That's the hardest part to wrap your head around. Especially people in professional roles who have been speaking in a variety of capacities over the years, they are automatically under the impression that they've done it in corporate settings for all these years and now they know that they can do it and make an impact and a living on the circuit. The setting of expectations, being realistic about what that looks like. Making it so that it comes in such a way that’s natural. You're not showing desperation. It's a natural evolution.
It could take eighteen months to get your first fully desirable paid gig. I would say being realistic with expectations. Also, do not feel the threat of the industry, if you will. What comes into play with your strategy or your personal brand is there might be a lot of people who speak about burnout, but what are you going to do so that's not a threat or they're not competition? Again, being marketable and leaning into what your personal brand is, I think it's key.
Speaking: Being marketable and leaning into your personal brand is key.
Becoming Better Leaders
I love that. What I hear behind all this is that you use the word a lot early on when you are talking. It is being intentional. Nothing happens by chance. Nothing miraculously takes place because we make a decision. We have to be intentional, put in the work, drive for it, and realize it. The phrase I use all the time, I put a spiritual context to it. I'm like, “Any goal that doesn't take the power of God to accomplish a worldly goal, from a human perspective, any goal we put out there if we don't have to work hard to get there, it's not actually a goal.” It takes that work. It takes that time, and being intentional with it. Great insights. Stevie, we finish every episode with the same question because we like quick applicable tips. Stevie, what is something our audience can intentionally do today to be a better leader?
I'm going to bring it back home and finish how I started. I would say embrace the practice of listening.
Embrace the practice of listening.
Simple and powerful. I appreciate that. Stevie, it’s been great to have you on the show. Good luck with Inkwell. You're in that first year still and I know it's growing rapidly. We're excited to see what happens there and that partnership with Cicospace. Thanks for being here and have an awesome week.
Thank you so much for having me.
Important Links
Stevie Johns - LinkedIn
Inkwell Mgmt - Instagram
Stevie Johns - Instagram
