Tom Bailey 0:07
Hello and welcome to succeed through speaking the place for experts and entrepreneurs who want high value ideas to boost business results
Hello, I'm Tom Bailey. And in today's speaker stories episode, I'll be getting to know Claire Brumby, who's a keynote speaker award winning coach, best selling author, and business mentor who works with ambitious leaders and professionals looking to fulfill their potential. So Claire, hello, and a very warm welcome to today's episode.
Claire Brumby 0:45
Hi, Tom. Thank you for having me along. I'm looking forward to this conversation.
Tom Bailey 0:49
I'm looking forward to and just out of interest for everybody listening whereabouts in the world are you right now?
Claire Brumby 0:55
So I in the UK, I'm in North Lincolnshire. And so that's sort of like not too far from sort of Doncaster whole. Lincoln, that sort of area.
Tom Bailey 1:04
Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for sharing. And I also know that you're an accredited coach and NLP practitioner, and have worked for and spoken for global brands such as Amazon, and of course, pitched in front of the dragons on BBCs Dragon's Den. Yeah. So I guess as a keynote speaker, a trainer, a coach, potential Dragon Slayer, what is it about speaking or presenting or being in front of an audience that keeps you wanting more?
Claire Brumby 1:33
It's the impact, it's the impact that we can make as a speaker, to help people navigate and Fathom through where they're wanting to go, you know, I've been very lucky on my entrepreneurial journey where I've had the good fortune to bump into people along the way. So at the early start of my journey, at certain from speaking perspective, like I kind of always knew that I wanted to go down to speaking rooms. So to get me to get in front of audiences, I would go to like the my local Women's Institute and, and like little local events where I could go, that was back in my my FMCG days with a brand that I found it. So, and I realized then at that point, when I was delivering when I was speaking the impact it can make and the way you can like someone's day up and away, you can change their perspective and add extra things to them. So that's what keeps me going. Because I know the impact, you know, without fail every time I speak somewhere, so I recently spoke for Virgin Media and Kellogg's and without fail, and as I always get somebody contact me privately, and they say, thank you so much for sharing, x, y Zed, going through something at the moment. And that's really helped my perspective. And it's that it's that it's knowing the impact. And that makes me feel so privileged to be able to do this. And it just feeds you want, you know, you want to be able to do more and more and more and keep helping people.
Tom Bailey 3:01
I love that answer. I guess it's only a certain small percentage that you actually hear from, but that ripple effect could be huge. And they could go on to share that message with other people. Yeah, so I love that
Claire Brumby 3:11
I recently spoke at for university and one of the students parents got in touch and share them with the impact when they the student got home. And that was really powerful. Because that was so transformative, because I knew there and then that I had really helped a young person. And it also really helped the parent involved as well. And as a parent of three myself, you know, when your kids are happy, you're happy. So that one was really special to me to know that I'd had that impact. But like you say, the ripples you just don't know. I mean, I've been to events, again, like, you know, my early entrepreneurial days, and I've heard people say certain things, or I've had the good fortune to bump into people and they've, they've shared a little nuggets with me, and I've been able to carry them and implement and they've impacted how I operate and what I do. So I think that you'll never ever know the full impact and ripples you just won't. And it again, it's that so it's the excitement, it's the it's the knowing that you make an impact. And yeah, it's relevant.
Tom Bailey 4:13
In your mind mentioned that you always knew from the FMCG days that you wanted to be a speaker. And what about before that? So what about back in school University? How was speaking then, was it something you were nervous about? Or we always kind of naturally confident, I was
Claire Brumby 4:27
always naturally confident, you know? So when I go back to my school days of, you know, even in primary school, I was like a little bit of a performer, you know, on stage and I loved it. And then in my GCSE days I took drama as a GCSE. And then I went on to do a level but I dropped out of college and that's where my education ended. But I've always felt comfortable on stage. I've always felt comfortable speaking with people and I've always felt it's just something that I feel I Home doing it and but I think if I'm completely honest, sort of like early on in my my own career, it was probably something that I shied away from. Because I think it's one of those things that if something is natural to you, you can kind of like, overlook it or dismiss it and think, Well, no, why it's got to be hard. And you've got to do something that, you know, but And so if you've got like a natural gift or talent or calling, you sometimes overlook it, because it just becomes too easy for you. So I think it's taken me a while to to stand in those shoes.
Tom Bailey 5:32
Yeah. Understood. And what about in front of the dragons? Were there any nerves? There?
Claire Brumby 5:39
are a lot of nerves. Yeah. And until you I get nervous still to this day. But I think nerves is a good, I think it's how you channel them, isn't it? You know, nerves and excitement are on the same spectrum. So it's a case of turning that into the excitement and, and in understanding what I've just shared about the why. But yes, the Dragon's Den, so nervous, so nervous. Yeah, I mean, we were then we're in the den for just about I think, I don't know, I can't remember it was one or two hours, I get mixed up. Because such a long time ago now. But I know it was a long time. And I was very nervous. But, you know, I think once you break through something, you are forever changed as a person in that context. So I'll be honest, if I am faced with any fears, now I can have a word of myself and like conquer.
Tom Bailey 6:29
I love that. I guess, you know, there's just two camps of people that listen to this podcast as those that are naturally confident, they're already speaking and those that are petrified of the thought of it, but would love to do it one day. So I guess for either one of those camps you choose, what advice would you give to them, if they're looking to become a speaker, or build a career around becoming a professional speaker? I think
Claire Brumby 6:53
if it's something that you truly, truly want to do, don't give up, you know, you're gonna get in the knockbacks. And it's a case of start, like I say, I started when it's when it was something that I knew I wanted to do. And I wanted to hone my craft and hone my skill and really get to grips with my delivery. And also, you know what landed knickers, you're not really sure. If if what you think is going to land in your head is actually going to land with the audience. And I'm not entirely sure on the delivery of that. And so getting the practice and getting a lot of events under your belt is the way to go. There comes in, I believe that becomes a point where you know, because a lot of people in the Start can expect you to speak for free. Now, I think it's a great thing in the early days, when you build in your you know, you build in your your signature and your keynote and your skills and your confidence and things like that. But I think there comes a tipping point where it's all about self belief. I think once you've got that locked in, and you think no, actually, this is a profession for me, this is a career for me, this is a skill for me. And you realize that not everybody has got that skill, that's time for you to turn your power up and think, right, okay, this is what I'm going to do now. So it's the self belief thing. So I think it's a case of starting, if it's something you truly want to do, start with it, test it, work out how you can do it work out where you can find the audience, work out what aligns with the audience, what you can naturally deliver, and then turn turn the pressure upon yourself to make it something that is, you know, truly world class where you do go for the big bookings, and what you actually want.
Tom Bailey 8:24
Perfect, and he talks about honing your craft. And I guess one of those things that he said, was repetition just getting out there in front of audiences over and over again. Was there anything else that you did to hone your craft? Did you get a coach? Did you watch yourself back on videos? What did you do?
Claire Brumby 8:37
I did a number of things. I went to be a better speaker, which was a course run by Brad Burton, that I went to quite a few years ago. And then what I did is I watched myself back and I record myself. So I record it on my phone and play in my car and listen to myself and think about my speed. I think about where I've put emphasis on certain words, do I need to change that emphasis? What do I do, but I also have recorded myself and I've been speaking to an audience and I've seen like, because it's it's a two way street. It's not just about what I feel. It's like when I can see the expression on people's faces. And I've become really good at at digesting when I'm on stage, the feeling of the person. And that may sound a little bit strange, but it's like I can feel their emotions and I can feel what's going on for them. And so I lock that in and I remember so when I said this, I could see that they were absolutely fixed on it. So I read the room very well. Now again, that's a skill to learn where you can read it so you know what's going on for people. Do you think any
Tom Bailey 9:45
of that comes from the background with NLP?
Claire Brumby 9:49
Quite possibly because it probably coincides with me. Since I've done all my coach training and my NLP training. I've got a lot more skills in that now. I think to be honest, it It's a case, do you know what I think? To put it in a nutshell for absolutely anybody, I think it's a real case of going inside yourself. And truly understanding your values, your beliefs, what makes you tick. And I think if you remain true to them, and you stand true with those, you'll find your way. And you'll find your natural of who you are and how you deliver, and what aligns with you. And then when you're aligned, is an energy transfer, and you can't help but align with the people that you're speaking with. That takes confidence to get to that point where you're happy, confident, and this is me, this is my, this is me, you know,
Tom Bailey 10:41
yeah, that's a really good point. And I think with that alignment, a lot of speakers, aspiring speakers hold off because they haven't yet got their topic, they haven't yet got the thing to talk about. And sometimes they go searching for it, and they research and then talk about that, but they don't have that connection and alignment. So I guess how important is it choosing a topic that also aligns with your values, and
Claire Brumby 11:04
you think it's very, very important, I think is so important, because I think if you're not mean, like, say, in the early days, I literally we'll talk about my journey. But at that point, there wasn't much of a journey. Yeah, I understood I hadn't done Dragon's Den at that point, I hadn't, you know, pitch to some of the major retailers, I had an exited the brand, I hadn't written my book, I wasn't a best selling author. So I had, I have waited to be the person I am now before I started speaking, then I would have kind of wasted the 10 years of this journey, where I've learned all these skills. So I think you've got to start but you can't, I don't believe talk about something that you don't have an alignment with. I think it's a tricky, you've got to be honest and truthful with yourself, you've got to be honest and truthful with yourself to, to stand by what you want you everybody's got a passion, we're passionate about something. So I'm passionate about people really owning their own power, like standing solid in the power being true to themselves and going for what they want to achieve. And taking the blinkers off, and you know, really unleashing their internal potential, I am so passionate about that. And that's where the mindset comes in. That's where the performance comes in. That's where all these things come in. And I do pull on my backstory, you know, anything is possible, if you've got enough nerve is my keynote, and I pull on that from surviving my my life threatening episode, I'm on Dragon's Den, and all the things that I've accomplished. I'm so passionate about it. But what I'm passionate about is people not leaving the planet having not fulfilled their potential. So that's my passion. So somebody else will be passionate about something else. So it's about finding your passion, really, and body in it, and then having that confidence to go out there and spread the message. Because everybody's needs to hear whatever your message is.
Tom Bailey 12:52
Yeah, and I think, go back to the very beginning of what you what you said the beginning was, once you found that message is really making sure that the audience gets something out of its value that they can take. You can't just stand and tell your story and just, you know, get people to feel sorry for your
Claire Brumby 13:10
story. Totally that what is that it's the value, you know, what value isn't there? What are the takeaways? How for me? How, how is what I'm about to deliver, going to impact somebody's life forever? Yeah. And when I know I'm doing that, and I know I've done that, then that fills me up. Yeah.
Tom Bailey 13:30
I love that. And I think it is still topical. It's still going around. We've just had a global pandemic quite recently that shut down the speaking industry. How did you pivot during that time? And I guess, what would you take from that virtual pivot that you might want to carry on going forward?
Claire Brumby 13:47
Well, I'm a bit of a new zoom ninja, I like to think we've all becomes so delivering online. I think it really taught me the different nuances to presented online, because I've done some keynotes, you know, virtually, I think he's opened the world up. So I think no matter what the what the curveball is, there's a there's a silver lining, and it's about, you know, finding that silver lining for you. So for me, it was about being able to reach further around the world. It's about being able to, you know, not have to spend a day traveling to get somewhere so I could still have the impact that I've just spoken about. So there were lots of things there. And again, it's like I say there's there's a different nuance to presenting online, there's something different about it, the energy exchange. So it's about learning how to do that. So that's what I did. I realized, well, actually, the opportunity here is to go more global and potentially faster than it would have taken me had it not been for that and then really learn how the difference in the cameras as opposed to the room. I mean, I'll be absolutely honest. I am an in person. Yes. Yeah. I absolutely love in person far more than I think I will ever love online. But I'm pleased that I'm grateful that the blend is there.
Tom Bailey 15:04
Good. Excellent. Perfect. And I think just a couple more questions just just to round off, I guess. Something that I always like to ask is, you know what, what's next? Is there a big stage? Is there an audience size? Is there something that you really want to try and push towards over the coming years?
Claire Brumby 15:23
Oh, gosh, yes. lots lots.
Tom Bailey 15:26
Anything related to speaking or
Unknown Speaker 15:28
Yeah, yeah. Okay. So I want to write
Claire Brumby 15:32
in I am going to write another book. So that's going to be published but then in terms of speaking so the book and must speak in will, you know, dovetail together in a really nice way. My big ambition with speaking is I've yet to do an international stage in person. So I've done international online, but I you know, and I am you know, a visualization I do I do visualize on this, I can see myself getting on that plane, arrive at this gorgeous is a sunny destination and I have a stage and I'm there for three or four days, and I've got my keynote in the middle of that time. And it's a huge stage and the impact is phenomenal. And that really launches clever and very international so that is the big next dream and my book is going to coincide with that so
Tom Bailey 16:17
it's going to happen it is going to happen it I can feel it and I guess anyone listening who's an international event organizer or anybody else and what's the best way for them to reach out to you if they wanted to book you as a speaker or find out more about you Okay, so
Claire Brumby 16:33
contact me at hello at clever mb.com And check out my website clever mb.com and find me all over all the different socials which is at the clever MB
Tom Bailey 16:44
Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate you coming along and sharing such great value with our audience. You are very welcome, Tom. See you later. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
