#Smallbizchat Podcast LIVE is a monthly video interview show where small business owners can get answers to their questions.

The focus of #Smallbizchat is to end small business failure by helping participants succeed as your own boss.

Please join us live every third Wednesday of the month from 8-9 pm ET Live on my SmallBizLady Facebook Page, YouTube Channel and LIVE on Twitter. 

How to Build a Business that Generates Income for a Lifetime

Donna Maria was content with her great job as a Washington, DC attorney — until she wasn’t. After working on someone else’s terms for a decade, she knew it was time to create a way to make a living on her own terms. So, 22 years ago, she quit her job and launched the Indie Business Network, a coaching, mentoring, and training company serving American Maker Entrepreneurs. Today, she mentors entrepreneurs, teaching and training them on how to design solid business platforms that create happiness and success, and which can generate income for life. For more information https://www.lifestyleceo.com

SmallBizLady: What are the first things you need in order to build a business that generates income for a lifetime?

Donna Maria: The first thing you need to build a business that generates income for a lifetime is a long-term vision of a business model that is designed specifically to produce income over time, and not in short-term bursts. The next thing is a business model that is sustainable without you at the helm. Your business will only grow as much as you do, so if there is an end to the amount of income you can personally generate, there is also an end to the amount of time the business can generate income.

SmallBizLady: What specific type of model do you recommend?

Donna Maria: I recommend a business that includes three components: (1) recurring revenue and/or subscription income (these terms are generally interchangeable); (2) technological systems that can be programmed and repeated over time; and (3) a solid core product and/or service that can naturally expand to offering new products to the same target audience, or offering the core product and/or service to different target audiences.

With recurring revenue, technology, and the ability to expand core offerings and/or audiences, a business can last a lifetime and beyond!

SmallBizLady: I often hear you describe yourself as a “Lifestyle CEO.” What do you mean by that, and how does it fit into the idea of creating income for life?

Donna Maria: A Lifestyle CEO is a person who manages a business not just for short-term financial gain, but because it leads to long-term enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose. A Lifestyle CEO is concerned with income, of course, but she is more concerned with the notion of building income around the lifestyle she wants to live long-term — not just for the next few years. A Lifestyle CEO purposefully and intentionally designs a business around the 7 core values of a Lifestyle CEO: freedom, flexibility, fun, family, fitness, finances, focus. A Lifestyle CEO places equal value on each of these core values, and builds a lifestyle that honors them, and a business that complements them.

How to Grow Your Business Through Speaking

Misty Megia is a business strategist and speaker coach. She has over 20 years experience in market strategy, project management, public speaking, corporate branding, and channel marketing.  Misty is the Founder of Misty Megia, LLC where she works as a creative director for executive speakers from ideation of a high stakes presentation to delivery, helping them inspire audiences from boardroom to keynote stage.  In addition, Misty is a performer, director, and choreographer in professional theatre with 100+ productions in her background. For more information www.mistymegia.com

SmallBizLady: How do you get over the fear of speaking if you are introverted?​

Misty Megia: It’s not about getting over fear it’s about channeling fear and preparing enough that you are more excited than afraid. Fear and excitement are both registered in our bodies the same way. And the language we tell ourselves matters. But in a moment of fear, we can just say I’m excited and it switches automatically. We have to have strategies to adjust real time. It’s the pre-presentation rituals we need to create to channel our mind from the I’m so nervous to I’m excited. The three things you need are MPR. Mantra, Physical activity, and Rituals that trigger the mind from the fight or flight syndrome to the we are fine moment.

SmallBizLady: How do you get yourself booked​ for your first speaking gigs?

Misty Megia: There are so many opportunities for speakers to get their message out there and create their own space or event to share their expertise. Every social platform has a video component, webinars, virtual events. If you aren’t getting booked create your own opportunities don’t wait for someone else!

If you are wanting to speak at a specific event there are a lot of things, you need to have in place. You should have a topic an audience needs, that solves a problem the producer of the event knows will resonate with their audience. 

I hire or recommend a lot of speakers for events. Here’s what I would need to see if I felt like your topic, was the right fit. I would want to see if you have a speaker reel that shows me your presenting ability, I look at your social profiles to see if you were a known expert, and I would see if you wrote a book on the subject matter. All of these things are credibility markers for me. I know if I take a risk on someone that it had to be a vetted calculated risk. But I also love bringing new faces to the table. 

SmallBizLady: What are the best ways to get practice before you pitch for a high-profile speaking opportunity?

Misty Megia: Before pitching for a high-profile speaking opportunity, I am in massive research mode. I love to find out everything possible about their audience demographics, challenges, goals, day in the life of. This helps me tailor my presentation to resonate with the audience. Then I work on the overall flow of the content, the visual components and lastly work to create that epic opener to hook them in within the first 7 seconds. Then I pivot to practicing, out loud in an environment as close to the real event as possible. I even have done my presentation for peers and family before. I had one really high stakes keynote, and I think I did my presentation for our PR team, the team I lead, and one of my friends who was an executive at a similar company. By the time I took the stage I knew the intention behind each area and had uncovered the ideal experience I wanted to take the audience through.

How to Actually Make the Changes You Already Know You Need to Make

Small business expert Barry Moltz gets companies unstuck. He is the author of 7 business books, a family business advisor, and an M&A consultant.  His latest book is Change Masters, How to Actually Make the Change You Already Know You Need to Make. Barry also hosts “The Small Business Radio Show” on AM820 In Chicago. For more information: www.Barrymoltz.com

SmallBizLady: Why do people get stuck? 

Barry Moltz: Their brain is a pattern making machine. It’s easier for it to keep them doing what they are doing than change it

SmallBizLady: When do people change? 

Barry Moltz: When there is so much pain that they are willing to change

SmallBizLady: What are the steps to make a change? 

Barry Moltz: I created a 20-step process that starts with identifying the change you want to make and why.

Did you find these interviews helpful? Please tell me how they helped and then share them.

Would you like to be a guest on #Smallbizchat Live?If you are a small business owner, author, or subject matter expert, we’d love to have you appear as a guest on #Smallbizchat LIVE. Submit you’re a specific topic, name, headshot, Twitter/IG handle, mini bio, website, topic and 3 questions and answers in paragraph form to demonstrate your expertise. To submit your materials to be a guest on #Smallbizchat click here.