Kristin Adkins 00:00:00  I see the most authentic people are going to be the most successful. People want the authenticity, and I think that is going to be the biggest thing, especially with AI and where technology is rapidly growing. I think just being totally you is going to be the differentiator.

Chloe Dechow 00:00:21  Hi, I’m Chloe Dechow and with more than a decade of experience working with thought leaders, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of conviction combined with purpose driven entrepreneurship. This podcast shows you how to authentically bring together leadership, equity, and marketing to build your authority so that you can grow your impact and scale your business. This is a space for elevating women’s voices and redefining what it means to be a thought leader. Together, we’ll unlock the potential of our bright voices and create a ripple effect of change that resonates far beyond the realms of business. This is the Bright Voices in Business podcast. Now let’s dive into today’s episode. 

Welcome back to the Bright Voices in Business podcast. Today I have a guest who I met through Kiley Peters, who I know you will hear that name a couple times in this podcast.

Chloe Dechow 00:01:21  She was episode number two. You need to give a damn. So if you’re curious more about Kylie and what she does, you can check that out on the podcast. Today I have Kristin Adkins with me. Thank you so much, Kristin for joining me. I’m super excited to have you here.

Kristin Adkins 00:01:38  Yeah, I’m so excited to be here.

Chloe Dechow 00:01:40  And Kristin is the founder of Crash Design Co. Kristin has a mission to empower professional speakers with a compelling online presence to help amplify their voices and ideas that really deserve to be heard. She has award winning website design work and has propelled her clients to notable success, including transitioning them to full time speaking careers, publishing books, and achieving remarkable financial milestones. As a thought leader, I thought Kristin was a perfect person to bring on. For those who are looking to build a speaking career as a thought leader, and what she does is create some really amazing websites, and I believe this episode’s going to be really tangible and actionable for you to be able to implement some pieces of your marketing that are really important.

Chloe Dechow 00:02:30  And I know the website is a huge cornerstone piece. So thanks, Kristin for joining me. I’m excited to dig in.

Kristin Adkins 00:02:36  Absolutely. Let’s do this.

Chloe Dechow 00:02:37  Yeah. So before we dive into more of like the practical, tangible pieces of web design, as well as kind of why this is important, can you share a little bit about your journey into becoming a web designer specifically for speakers? Because I have met a lot of web designers, and I have not met a single one that focuses solely on people with speaking careers, and I think that’s really neat. So how did you get to where you are today?

Kristin Adkins 00:03:03  Yeah, so my story kind of jumps around a little bit. But how I got here, is it honestly all started with Myspace? I was obsessed with it growing up. I thought it was so fun to like change around your template and all of your stuff to make it look cool. And when I was playing around with that, I kind of accidentally taught myself coding. And so through that, I ended up going to college for web media.

Kristin Adkins 00:03:27  And there I was, part of a group that did sales and marketing. We did like competitions and stuff like that, and it was really fun. Well, after I graduated, I wasn’t sure that web design was going to be the thing just because it was just so technical and it like I didn’t have the opportunity to work with people so much. And so I went into more of a consultant role, as well as web design and graphic design for that business organization’s headquarters. I was there for almost eight years. I got to travel around, and how this all comes back to it is one of the things that we would do throughout the year were conferences and conventions, and I got to be the host of our speakers. So once they flew in, I got to hang out with them, walk them through the space, make sure their tech worked, all that stuff. And I just became like, really fascinated with people that did this, like traveled and did all that and got away from their family just to make a difference in the world.

Kristin Adkins 00:04:20  And I was like inspired by that. So then when I finally was like, I need to become an entrepreneur, that was obviously just one of those things that I always wanted to do. I thought about, you know, who would my market be? And I was like, who are my favorite people I’ve ever worked with? It always came back to those speakers because they ended up being mentors to me, and I feel like I kind of got like this, like VIP, like connection with them through all the hosting part of it. And so combining the, the web design and then who I wanted to work with was speakers and it just is like really evolved into something great because I’ve been able to work with amazing people, from former professional athletes to authors to international speakers, and it’s just been such a cool ride.

Chloe Dechow 00:05:02  That’s super awesome. And I would be completely remiss to not comment on the Myspace beginnings of this, because I remember, yes, that was like my intro to HTML at the time.

Chloe Dechow 00:05:15  I loved coding the website. Like I didn’t know it was really coding at the time, I’m pretty sure. But and having my intro music and all those other things and I could not do that today. I’d be like, what? but it’s.

Kristin Adkins 00:05:28  Literally the reason I have this whole career, which is so funny to look back on.

Chloe Dechow 00:05:31  I love that origin story. It’s very, very relatable. Yeah. So you get to work with speakers, athletes. It sounds like like people who are doing some really cool, amazing things. Can you tell me a little bit about why a speaker like, say, somebody who is an entrepreneur and they’re a speaker, like why a speaker would need a separate or a different website compared to their business, because I think often that kind of becomes like the thing that they jump to is like, oh, I’ll just add a page on my website, which I’m sure functions great, but I’m curious what your perspective is on having kind of a separate entity, so to speak, to our online presence, so to speak, around there, speaking.

Kristin Adkins 00:06:11  I think the most important part of that is that generally your audiences are going to be different, so just adding another page to the same website could actually do more harm than good. It might like confuse somebody of what is this person trying to be a speaker? Or are they here to work with me one on one? Or you know, some of those things and they can totally combine. But personally, I think that having that personal brand of a speaker is really important. Someone’s going to hire the name, right? So someone would hire Kristin Adkins. They’re not going to hire Crash Design Co for speaking. So having those two separate is just going to be helpful for your audience. And then you also can like have fun and word things differently because you’re going to be talking to a meeting planner or someone like that. That’s going to be bringing you in as a speaker, and not maybe a person that you might call a client. So that I think is really important part of that.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:04  Yeah, I’m hearing kind of two elements.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:05  One is speaking of more of a personal brand versus a business brand. Yeah. And then also like maybe the audience that’s in the crowd that you’re speaking to might be your clientele. There might be some overlap there, but the people who are actually going to book you as a speaker is a different audience. Yeah.

Kristin Adkins 00:07:22  And that’s like just that funnel. But like you have to kind of address both layers of that because one could lead to the other, but they’re not going to be the same buyer in the decisions. Yeah.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:32  The decision maker from a purchasing standpoint. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. That’s super helpful. I was I kind of figured that’s what you would say. But I was curious where your head would be on that. So can you share a little bit about why web design in particular is really important for thought leadership? I can come with my marketing background and answer this question from my perspective, but I want to hear from your perspective like, what is super important about having a website, really at the end of the day?

Kristin Adkins 00:07:59  Yeah.

Kristin Adkins 00:07:59  Okay. So I’m going to answer this by telling you just which was kind of like my lightbulb moment of why I should be going into this career. So it was when I was in my past job and I was there. I was, you know, hosting the people that were speaking and all that. Well, someone had gotten my name and messaged me on LinkedIn and was like, hey, I think I’d be a great speaker for your next convention. Are you a decision maker? Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh, well, tell me more about yourself, about what you speak about. I’m just one part of the decision making board. But I’ll, you know, I bring we all bring ideas to the table. And he was talking to me and it was like he checked every box. He was perfect for our group. I was I dead set on it. And then what I did was the next convention planning meeting. I walked in and I was like, you guys, I have this great speaker.

Kristin Adkins 00:08:47  This is their name, and no one else heard any any word I said after that, because all of them were doing exactly what you would think they were doing. They just started googling his name. I said his name. They weren’t listening to me. They were looking at what he had. And his website honestly looked more like an obituary than it did a marketing piece, and we ended up not ever booking him. Even if he had me, who was like a fan of him, I was I was advocating for him. At the end of the day, he didn’t give off a professional enough look for our board members to say yes, we want this person to represent our group. So it’s really like a website is just definitely, like you said, like a cornerstone piece. I feel like it’s almost at the end of the funnel for a lot of people, because you might connect with people on social media, they might find you on social media. But at the end of the day, if they’re coming to contact you or book you, for my speakers at least, the website is usually that last thing that’s going to push them over the edge of yes, I want to hire this person.

Kristin Adkins 00:09:45  And for that guy, it unfortunately was a no. We don’t want to hire this person. And it was because of their website.

Chloe Dechow 00:09:52  Yeah, to have all the right things and then the website be the reason you don’t get the speaking gig.

Kristin Adkins 00:09:59  I still think he’d be great for that group too.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:01  Yeah, I’m still advocating for him, I still will. Well, it sounds like he needs to hire you.

Kristin Adkins 00:10:08  He did get a new website, like a couple years after. It’s still not up there, but like, one day he’s on my, like, VIP list for sure.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:15  Nice, nice. Yeah, I think I.

Kristin Adkins 00:10:17  Owe him at this.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:18  Point. Yeah, you can send him this podcast up, right. Hey. Nudge nudge. Okay, so we’ve been talking about the website is really a cornerstone piece. I view it as like the central place that all your things are at that are needed. So I’m curious, like what is important in a website that’s targeting, you know, people who make decisions for speaking gigs, what needs to be included? It’s not a business website in the same sense, right? So we don’t need all the the branding and business information, but we do need other things.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:50  And so what is like absolutely critical to be on that website.

Kristin Adkins 00:10:54  Yeah, the most important thing is remembering who you’re talking to. And it is those meeting planners. It’s those people that are bringing you to the stage. It’s not the people that are sitting in the seats while you’re on stage. I know we’ve covered that, and I’ll probably say it ten more times before we get off this call. But the other things that your website should have is definitely proof that you speak. I think a lot of people say they’re a speaker because they want to be a speaker, and that’s great, but having proof that you’re doing it. So pictures of you on stage, a videos of you doing your thing and having the energy and all of that is going to be really critical to a decision maker. They want to see those things and like visuals in general. So like good photography, not just like photos of you sitting at your office or anything like that, like action photos are really good for speakers because at the end of the day, we want our person looking at this website, visualizing working with you, right? So like show them what it’s like to work with you, show them what an audience reaction looks like.

Kristin Adkins 00:11:53  And so that would go down to photos, but then also testimonials reviews. And then you can go further with the social proof with like statistics and then also your past audiences, because past audience is actually very important. The logos that you put on there because they should be aspirational, right? So if you are wanting to get into the college space and you’ve spoken to a couple of colleges, maybe some high schools, some elementary schools, you want to highlight the college ones way more and often than the elementary schools. So it’s just showing you that, like, these are the people that I want to work with. So I think that was a kind of the common things that you definitely want to see. But then when it comes to content, talking about what the transformation is that you make from this stage is really, really important and not just making a website that’s a glorified resume. I think a lot of the people that come to me, their websites are currently just resumes. It’s just their accomplishments, their achievements, everything that they’ve done.

Kristin Adkins 00:12:49  And nowhere do I see an audience member saying, this person changed my life. Six months later, I’m already doing this, this and this. And that’s all because of the speaker. Like that is what I would put big and bold on the website over. Oh, I’ve been doing this for 15 years, like stuff like that. So be really mindful of your meeting planner if you can. Honestly, like maybe a little bonus tip here is to interview a couple meeting planners. They’ll tell you what they’re looking for. And for me being one in my past life, that’s what I look for whenever I create websites is like, would I hire this person and am I talking to my former self?

Chloe Dechow 00:13:25  Yeah, I’m a huge fan of market research, so love that you put a plug in there for that. So it sounds like really getting clear on making sure that your messaging to the right audience, which I’m sure it can be really challenging when you’re so used to messaging to a different audience, but keeping your new audience, so to speak, front and center, and then having social proof.

Chloe Dechow 00:13:45  I love those action oriented photos, like helping them actually visualize you on their stage, I think is really, really smart. When somebody is new and starting out and maybe they’ve only done a few things or have a few of these assets, like how would you work with them to help them build this website in a way that’s going to help them get more of those, you know, aspirational gigs that they’re looking for. Yeah, I feel.

Kristin Adkins 00:14:09  Like sometimes I’m somewhat of a consultant to speakers at like a business consultant because I’m like, here’s what I want on this website. Go get it type of thing. And so if somebody can host a small workshop with even their friends, that’s really helpful. But getting social proof is so key. So like having somebody take a couple photos of you on stage, or if you don’t have that ability right now or you don’t have like that outlet, like in person, start doing podcasts like this, start, you know, recording yourself in front of the camera.

Kristin Adkins 00:14:38  And then you have these screenshots, you have videos, I can edit those and cut those together so that it looks, you know, it’s showing off that you have experience and that you are talking. Like, whenever I was hiring someone, I wanted to see their cadence. I wanted to know what they spoke like their energy. I wanted all of that. So what I try to do for clients that haven’t done so much is just find their way to do that, so that we can prove it. You don’t have to have spoken to a room of 2000 people in order to get booked. It’s just you don’t have to. You just need to start small. And maybe that might mean speaking for free or very minimal or in exchange for something, but just getting that experience is going to be so much more helpful when it comes to a speaker’s website instead of I mean, and not instead of, but on top of like, good brand photos and all of that, because we are going to look at things and we all judge, right? Like if it’s professionally done, we all kind of feel a little bit like we can trust that person more than if they’re taking selfies and saying they’re a speaker.

Chloe Dechow 00:15:38  Yes. Yeah, definitely. Visuals are so important and I think it can be at the bottom of the list sometimes for for marketing.

Kristin Adkins 00:15:47  That’s like the big thing I always think of. But then I think you can also kind of offset lack of experience with being prepared and so on your website. If you are clearly talking about your keynote that you have, what are the learning outcomes? What’s the description? You know, what are the different benefits that someone’s going to get while listening to this? Having all of that is much better than just saying I speak about leadership. So there are ways with content that you can definitely get over that as well.

Chloe Dechow 00:16:16  Yeah, I think these are a really great practical tips of just building that portfolio, so to speak, of your speaking and your asset library. It brought me back to you. A client that I coach to was starting to do more speaking, and she started at like the local Rotary Club. You know, I think we often and I’ve shared this on the podcast many times, but we often go like, oh, it’s got to be all or nothing, right? But the reality is, is that the people who are doing the all, so to speak, they started small, they started the local library.

Chloe Dechow 00:16:46  You know, I have another client of mine who does speaking gigs at the local library that she lives at. You know, like starting small. And then that gives you little pieces to kind of build upon, to have these assets that you’re really looking for. And I also love the mention of online. Right. We have people who come on for guest web. So much of business has run online now. Having guest webinar speakers, for example, is a great way to build some of that speaking collateral, so to speak as well.

Kristin Adkins 00:17:13  Yeah, and I have clients that started their speaking business through like at the beginning of the pandemic. And so there weren’t in-person things, but they did. They did their work, and they’re on podcasts all the time. They’re on medias. They started a YouTube channel. Like, there’s so many ways to get that experience. And then you can, in turn, show that off on your website to show that credibility and proof.

Chloe Dechow 00:17:34  It’s such a good reminder to.

Kristin Adkins 00:17:36  Do the thing.

Chloe Dechow 00:17:37  Do the thing, do the baby steps that will lead to where you want to go. So I know storytelling is a huge part of speaking. We love stories as humans and that really draws us in. I mean even the story of your Myspace beginnings, right? I mean that really draws people in and helps people connect. So how can somebody be a storyteller for their speaking website? Like what would help bring that out in the content that they put together?

Kristin Adkins 00:18:04  Yeah, okay. That is a really good question. I think a lot of it comes into talking about the outcomes that you bring to your audience. And then in about page is so key for a speaker. You can then tell your story in a way where it really relates to, hey, I used to be like that person that’s in your audience. And then sharing those stories is definitely important. And I think you’re about page is where that’s going to be for sure. Because yeah, I mean just like telling your story, but then bringing it back around and copywriters will be really good at this, but then bringing it around and saying, okay, now this is what, you know, your people can gain from that.

Kristin Adkins 00:18:40  So storytelling is key. It’s really important for sure.

Chloe Dechow 00:18:44  Yeah. Yeah. So focusing on your story is important. But then how does your story help the people who would be listening to you speak? Yeah.

Kristin Adkins 00:18:52  On your main pages the audience’s story is way more important. And the story that you can, you know, draw up for them, right? So like right now your audience may be doing this, this, this, but they could be doing all of these things like that’s a form of storytelling and it more like imagination. And then that’s going to be something that can really help you as a speaker. Book more gigs and connect with your audience.

Chloe Dechow 00:19:13  Yeah, makes sense to me for sure. So let’s talk a little bit about some common mistakes that people make when they go to create their own. Or maybe work with a designer that’s not familiar with speaking as much what common mistakes they make. So I heard earlier, it’s an online resume is one of the the first mistakes they make. It kind of cracked me up because it reminded me of when somebody is an employee and they’re a really great individual contributor, but they want a manager role.

Chloe Dechow 00:19:43  And as a manager, you have to be able to show that you can manage people. And people are not just the things you do, that people are complex and there’s a lot of variables in people management, and you have to be able to show not just that you know how to do the thing, but that you know how to teach the thing. And so that kind of reminded me of speaking is like speaking cool. If you’ve gone through this and you have this experience, but can you actually move people with your words? Can you actually get them to take action? Can you actually have them pay attention to you and teach them something? Right. So I was kind of drawing that parallel between the speaker and a manager, so to speak. So outside of not having just your resume, what are other mistakes that you’re coming across when somebody comes to work with you, what kind of mistakes are they typically making?

Kristin Adkins 00:20:32  Yeah, I think the big thing and kind of all encompassing is that they haven’t put themselves in the shoes of the person hiring them, and not to just reiterate everything that we said.

Kristin Adkins 00:20:43  But to go further is think about what a meeting planner is doing on the website and how they’re feeling. You know, they’re feeling frustrated with their people in some way, usually if they’re coming to hire you. But then also think about the actual steps, like not even about the people. Think about the actual steps that it goes into hiring you as a speaker. So someone gets to your website, let’s say they fill out a contact form. And what a little note says thank you for your submission. Well, you’ll hear from us soon. Why not take the extra step and have them redirect to another page? That’s a thank you page that has you shooting a video saying, I’m so excited that you’re interested in bringing me into your audience. Here are some different ways you can get to know me, like while I get back in touch with you or something. And so putting some some videos, maybe you’re linking to your YouTube channel, your social media. Just giving them that next step is going to be just like a breath of fresh air for meeting planners, because then you’re not.

Kristin Adkins 00:21:36  You’re also not sure as a meeting planner, if your message even went through right. Like, I’ve seen so many broken websites that the contact form doesn’t go anywhere. But like if I get redirected to a page that’s saying thank you, I’m going to be in touch. So excited. Here’s these other things that you can do in the meantime. Like that is like such good customer experience. And then on that, when it comes to the actual design of the website, every single page should have a call to action at the bottom. I know it’s getting really tangible here, but every single page should have something of like, where do you go to next? My friend and I, we always joke about like the last scene and Finding Nemo, where the fish get into the water, but they’re still in the bags and they’re like, now what? Like we just say, now what? All the time. So I always, like, say that when I get to the bottom of a website and they’re not telling me what to do next, so maybe it’s contact them, maybe it’s whatever, or go to the next blog.

Kristin Adkins 00:22:24  Whatever it is, I’m just keeping someone moving and keeping that customer experience going really well. And then the last thing that I think of that is always like the wait, what moment? Whenever I talk to my speakers and I’m like, we’re going to create this page. They’re always like, oh, I didn’t know I should be doing that. But after someone books you, having a page with all of your information is so helpful. I had one speaker have this back when I was hiring speakers that I was like, I’m bringing this forward for the rest of my life like it was a media kit meeting planner page. And on it was his headshots, his stage, bio, marketing bio, all of his social media links, everything. So that like as soon as we booked him, he just sent us that link we didn’t have back and forth of, hey, we need this and everything because you know, they’re going to want to market you once you get booked by somebody like an audience. So the meeting planner is now looking to start marketing you and showing off that you’re going to be the speaker.

Kristin Adkins 00:23:17  Make that super easy for them. And you’ll also see that the quality of their posts are so much better because they’re like good photos of you and it’s it’s bios you’ve already written so that then it’s like consistent. First of all, you know, it’s accurate and then you’re going to want to reshare it because it’s like up to your standard and true to you. So that’s my big thing. Like common mistakes is we’re not thinking about these steps that a meeting planner is taking and how they might be feeling at each step.

Chloe Dechow 00:23:43  Yeah, the overarching message I’m getting is do what’s going to make the meeting planners life easier. They’re trying to do all these logistics, which, you know, bless them for doing the doing all those things. I planned one wedding in my life and I never plan on doing anything like that again.

Kristin Adkins 00:24:00  I tell my husband all the time, I’m like, I’m never getting married again.

Chloe Dechow 00:24:03  It’s just, I mean, we had a wonderful time and it was an incredible amount of work.

Chloe Dechow 00:24:08  And I’m like, I don’t know how people do this full time. Yeah, but yeah, making their lives easier and giving them some peace of mind throughout the process is really key in the whole experience. On your website.

Kristin Adkins 00:24:20  I’m gonna want to book someone that like has thought about that, right? Like not just making me look for all that information. Like if you’ve thought about some of these things, like I automatically am trusting you even more and know liking and trusting you even more.

Chloe Dechow 00:24:33  Yeah, and then that leads to referrals and being booked again in the future. Yep. Yeah. Exactly. Yes. Awesome. Those are all really good things that people can start thinking about when they’re putting together their website. Do you have a couple of examples of clients that you’d be willing to share who have just really successfully positioned themselves as an expert and leader through their website design.

Kristin Adkins 00:24:59  Yeah. Okay, so one came to mind and he is just a gem. I adore this person. So he’s the former professional football player.

Kristin Adkins 00:25:08  I talk about him all the time by social media because he’s just so great. But we work together and we were having a strategy call before I did any design. I was like, let’s just get on a zoom and really talk out what I’m going to do, what I need you to do. And while, like while he was writing his content and he was like, hey, I’m, I’m struggling with this, like, all right, let’s have a meeting. And he was just trying to talk to everybody, right? All of his pictures were for everybody. And I’m like, are you speaking to athletes, coaches, high schools? Like, who are you even speaking to based on what you’re saying? And he was like, oh, I hadn’t really thought he was like, I just wanted to have a speaking page so somebody could hire me. And I’m like, but I was like trying to give it in his terms. I’m like, but I’m not going to come to you for a pickup baseball game.

Kristin Adkins 00:25:54  I’m coming to you for a football game. And he was just like, oh. And so he like really kind of got it. And, you know, his speaking career, he was hoping to grow it. He had had some success. I’m not at all taking any credit for this. He had had some success, but it was really slow going. He was using his speaking to funnel into a small nonprofit that he had, and it’s been a little over a year now that we launched this, and he has had a $100,000 a month in speaking, his nonprofit has gone national instead of just in the state of New York. And it’s like it’s functioning how it’s supposed to. And he’s so sweet all the time. He just he always, like, sends me a note just saying like this is because I’m clear. Like I’m clear on what I’m doing. And it’s just like, that is exactly what I wanted to do. Because I knew this guy was amazing. He was so talented. He had like that influence, but his website just wasn’t showing him off.

Kristin Adkins 00:26:47  It wasn’t like giving him the spotlight that he deserved. And so now that it does, I mean, he’s just doing great things. I think he’s taking like three months off of vacation right now, like the life. So that was like my main thing, like, and he he’ll say it’s like because his website wasn’t doing it, because it was that like centerpiece that really just wasn’t displaying him correctly.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:09  Yeah, yeah. Oh, I know what it’s like to try to talk to too many audiences at once.

Kristin Adkins 00:27:13  It’s we all do it.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:15  The marketing background. I’m like, what am I saying?

Kristin Adkins 00:27:19  My first website was for a forklift repair company. Then I did two coaches and I was like, oh, I get it now. I was like, coaching. I want to go the coaching route and then it like transformed into speakers. But yeah, I tried.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:32  Yeah. So I when I first launched my business I was like, I want to help moms and I want to help new managers and I want to help women entrepreneurs.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:39  I was like, oh, this is I don’t know who to write what to. Yeah, just half the population.

Kristin Adkins 00:27:45  Just.

Chloe Dechow 00:27:45  That’s it? Yes, yes. Just have just half the population. Yes, yes. That’s challenging. And I feel like even the most veteran marketer will fall into that trap from time to time. So huge kudos to him and all that he’s achieved in the last year. That’s so amazing. And he certainly sounds like he deserves a three month vacation.

Kristin Adkins 00:28:05  He’s speaking about like mental health and athletes and all and like all of this stuff. And so it’s just like, yes, I’m just so happy that the work that I did gets to spotlight that.

Chloe Dechow 00:28:13  That’s amazing. It’s so fulfilling to have impact driven work and clients that you get to work with. So, so cool. So I’m curious if you could talk just a few minutes on where you think the industry of speaking or thought leadership is evolving with, and we don’t have to do the AI conversation. I know that’s a hot topic.

Kristin Adkins 00:28:33  Oh, that was my first thought that came to mind.

Chloe Dechow 00:28:36  We don’t have to go there unless you want to, but I’m just kind of curious what technology changing the fact that like, more businesses are online than ever before. Like where kind of do you see the future rolling out to you in the next couple of years?

Kristin Adkins 00:28:49  I see the most authentic people are going to be the most successful, especially with AI. Like I think we’ve all gone on to a GPT and been like, write me this and just to see what it comes up and it’s like, let’s delve into the world of online presence or whatever. And it’s just like, begin your journey. It’s like, no one talks like that. And so I think the people that can use AI honestly will definitely be catapulted further. But if you can use it in a way that is just like makes it authentic, I know there’s like, you know, people in the marketing space obviously usually know who like Gary Vaynerchuk is the guy is just himself like that is his brand, and people are booking him for hundreds of thousands of dollars for a speech because they want the realness.

Kristin Adkins 00:29:36  And I mean, whether you agree with him or not on things that he says are his style, but like people want the authenticity. And I think that is going to be the biggest thing, especially with AI and where technology is rapidly growing and like deep fakes and stuff like that out there. I think just being totally you is going to be the differentiator.

Chloe Dechow 00:29:56  Yeah, absolutely. You know, there’s only one you there is no way to replicate that even with technology. Yeah. And it sounds like really just being unapologetically yourself. Yeah. You know, not in like a sense of, like, if you make a mistake, you don’t apologize. Because I think that’s still important to have integrity in that. But owning who you are and letting that lead the way. Yeah.

Kristin Adkins 00:30:16  Building out that, just that personal brand. I mean, any big speaker that you think of, like they are usually actually kind of polarizing because they are so set into who they are and like they’re the most successful. So there’s got to be something that we can learn from that.

Chloe Dechow 00:30:32  Yeah, absolutely. And I also I want to do like a quick edit on the polarizing because I think sometimes when we hear polarizing we think like whoa, like crazy out there. And yes, that can be true. And sometimes it’s just like having a very unique, different opinion that makes people stop and go, wait, I never thought of it that way before. And my podcast guest, Mila miller is a great example of this. Hey Milam, shout out to you. I remember chatting with him in his earlier days of working and setting these goals of wanting to speak and wanting to write a book, and he was really concerned that his viewpoint on charisma was going to be very controversial. And I was like, okay, well, talk to me about this. Like, what is your viewpoint on charisma? And where we really netted out was that he believes that every single person has charisma, and it is a soft skill that we can develop over time. In his episode, he shares a lot of different ways that you can do this.

Chloe Dechow 00:31:27  And I was like, well, what I’m hearing, Milam, is, you know, charisma is like creativity, like everybody is creative. It’s whether or not you cultivate that skill. Yeah. Or identify as creative. Right? I was like, I don’t think that’s a controversial. It’s different. Yeah. It’s different. Right. Like you don’t hear people talk about charisma as something that everybody has, but it’s not like blow your mind like, yeah, we’re going to start a war over it kind of thing. And so I think we also can get really in our heads about like what is polarizing versus what is not either going like it’s all or nothing again, all or nothing, or we discredit our own viewpoint or our own perspective and assume that everybody else has it. And so, you know, I think finding that like middle ground is really important and totally possible. And that can lead to those like speaking opportunities where you are sharing something that is different and new and fresh, but it’s not crazy.

Chloe Dechow 00:32:27  And you’re also not underestimating your own perspective on things. So I just think that’s like, it’s so funny because I hear people like, I don’t want to, like, totally rock the boat and make everybody, you know, like, hate me or whatever. And I’m like.

Kristin Adkins 00:32:41  Well, if you’re not hurting anybody, you might just be in your head.

Chloe Dechow 00:32:45  Yes, yes, exactly. So there is a way to do it where it’s not super crazy, but it is, you know, polarizing in a different way. Like, I’m sure there are going to be people who tell Milam, like, no, charisma is absolutely something that you’re born with versus like, people think like leaders are born. They’re not made right. Like there’s always going to be controversy around something, but it doesn’t have to be this crazy thing. So but I love that. Yes, getting rooted in who you are and being unapologetic about that, it’s going to make the next generation of speakers really shine. Yeah. It’s beautiful.

Chloe Dechow 00:33:20  So as we wrap up, Kristin, I’m curious, what is kind of the key takeaway you want listeners to walk away with today? What would you love to leave them with?

Kristin Adkins 00:33:30  Yeah. So I believe everybody can be a speaker. Everybody should be sharing their thoughts and ideas in their own way where they’re comfortable. But when you want to start marketing yourself as a speaker to just confidently and like again, going back to this, confidently being yourself and then remembering that you are serving a client, remember who that client is and walk through that path with them or for them and solve every problem. And then you’ll be able to, you know, make their life easier. They’re going to want to book you. It all always comes back to me, is put yourself in the meeting planner shoes just because that is my background.

Chloe Dechow 00:34:07  Yeah. And audience is so important in marketing. I think a lot of entrepreneurs jump to the creating before they really think about who they’re creating for. And so I love that reminder because it’s easy to lose sight of that in the process, because we get excited and we want to do all the things.

Kristin Adkins 00:34:25  I am trying to teach yourself web design as you’re making your first website. So like you’ve got a lot of things on your plate that you’re like, I went to school for this. I then and then the resume comes back in.

Chloe Dechow 00:34:37  Yes, yes for sure. Awesome. Well, Kristin, if someone wants to connect with you and learn more about what you do and possibly hire you to help them with their website, where can they find you? Yeah, my.

Kristin Adkins 00:34:48  Website is Crash Design Co and if you want to follow me on social media, I’m pretty active on LinkedIn as well as Instagram. And my Instagram is Kristin. Crash design Kristin is spelled with two eyes and a K by. I believe it’s the correct way if we want to talk about polarizing things. But yeah, Kristin, crash design is a good way to kind of follow what I’m doing on Instagram. But then the website would be obviously the key thing for this web designer.

Chloe Dechow 00:35:16  That would make sense. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Kristin, for coming on, sharing your expertise and some tangible tips for people.

Chloe Dechow 00:35:26  And I’m excited to follow along and see how your speaking websites evolve as we talk about authenticity and technology. And I thank you so much for coming.

Kristin Adkins 00:35:38  Absolutely. It was fun. Thanks for having me.

Chloe Dechow 00:35:44  Thank you for joining me today. If you enjoyed this episode, invite your entrepreneur friends to tune in. Don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram at West Haven Coaching. I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and continue the conversation with you there. And before you go, be sure to download my free guide, Five Steps to Building Your Authentic Authority, which will walk you through how to grow your thought leadership in a way that’s true to who you are and what you stand for. You can find the guide at westhavencoaching.com/steps or follow the link in the show notes. Thanks again for tuning in. Together we are changing the faces and voices of thought leadership. Until next time, keep leading with authenticity and impact.