Creating Your Speaker Website: Jessica Gruber on Building a Sticky Site and Conquering Her First Stage

Hello everybody and welcome back to My First Stage. We are here with Jessica Gruber. I'm so excited for this conversation. I have known Jessica for, I think, about a year now, and she has so much, so much, so much wisdom and so much insight that she's going to share. She is the founder of Buzzworks. It is a website development company and they make sticky websites so that your target audience will stick on your site and hang out and learn more about you. And she's also the COO of Success Champion Networking, which is how I know her. And we're so excited to have you.

So welcome, Jess.

Yeah, thank you for having me on, Sara. Excited to be here and talk about stages. Always a fun topic.

Yeah. Are you on stages often because you plan events? One of the, one of the things that you do is a Success Champion Networking. You're their COO, and every year you guys do the Badass Business Summit. So I know you have a big hand in that event. Are you on stages throughout the year a lot, or does it kind of sit with, uh, Babs for the most part?

I'm you. Well, Babs is my main stage, um, and that has grown throughout the years. Um, the first year that I was on stage for a Badass Business Summit was actually only for a minute, and I was just in the audience. And they were like, hey, get up on the stage and do 60 seconds. And most life— not life— most life-threatening thing, I think, because everyone has that fear of stages. And I know I was white-knuckling the mic and doing it, but it was a fear that I wanted to get passed, um, because I knew if I did that, it would take me to higher levels in my professional career.

So was that your first stage ever or just your first stage at Babs?

Uh, that was my first stage at Babs. Um, I don't like to talk about the real first stage because that was bad.

Oh no, now we have to hear it.

Yeah, well, it was at a fundraising event and I had donated a lot of time in helping them, um, helping them promote the event and get people there and everything. And so they gave me a 10-minute spot as a sponsor, and it was— I literally had my head down reading a script, so nervous, and I knew it was nationally live. I don't like to talk about that moment, but that was probably my first one.

Oh gosh.

Yes. So, but everyone has to rip off the Band-Aid somewhere.

And don't feel bad. Like, we've had stories on the show of like people peeing their pants on stage. So you didn't— that, that did happen.

So that did not happen. I will confirm that.

This is a safe space. We, we can talk about the hard times. It's okay. What did you know going into it? Like, I'm going to just read this, or did you revert into that because you just were scared? Like, why did it go that way?

Um, so it was funny because the couple weeks before we were going to a networking event, and this is when I first started networking, um, in a home. And the guy next to me was kind of coaching me on how to present myself and speak and everything. And so he was sitting by me and I get up to do my 30-second, 60-second pitch to the room. And I do it and I sit down and my hand is like shaking. And he turns to me and he was like, you did good. And I'll go, yeah, I have a 10-minute speech in 2 weeks. Like you could tell that he was trying to be supportive, but his face is like, you're fucked. Yep, thanks for that encouragement right there.

Oh gosh, see, I remember like I've always had anxiety and I've always hated public speaking. Like, I hated doing school presentations and everything, but I just remember sitting in class and just dreading the moment that they call my name and I have to say here. Like, that level of hate. So were you at that level, or were you a little bit like more normal?

Okay, so my intimidation from stages comes from my speaking patterns, I think. So I will— my head will freeze, I'll forget my words, I will flip things. So last year, doing a 2-hour session at the Badass Business Summit, I called my mother a cheap ass. It supposedly—

why don't I remember that?

But it did because I will flip my words around. And so I had— we were talking about jelly beans and how in Easter we would get cheap, the cheap-ass jelly beans. We wouldn't get the Jelly Bellies. Well, I flipped my words around and I said cheap-ass mother. And that's when I learned never put two things in the same sentence that I don't want to mix around.

Okay. In defense of your mother and the jelly beans, The cheap ones are really good.

I do not like the cheap ones.

I love them. I hate—

I actually do not like jelly beans that much.

Okay, that's fair. They are a very, um, love it or leave it kind of food, but I love them. The fancy ones, they have really weird flavors and you never know what you're gonna get. I like the ones that just taste like nothing.

Well, the purple one, the purple cheap ones are I was like, yeah, don't, don't put those next to me.

I know I'm getting you for every holiday from now on. I'm gonna get you— just find the world's most expensive.

Now we need to find Sara so I can just return the favor for you too.

You're welcome. No, that's— that, that is really funny. And does your mom know that you did that?

No. Okay, not at all. I'm, I'm gonna get it hidden away in the archives forever, and except for this podcast that is going to go public and live and everyone's going I'm gonna directly send her the link, so this will be fun.

Um, so that was— so your first stage went really well, clearly. And now how do you feel going on stages?

I still get nervous. Yeah, like Badass Business Summit is coming up September 17th through the 19th this year. I have 4 times that I'm, I'm on stage. One is a 2-hour session, 2 is 2 45-minute sessions, and one is being a moderator of a panel. So from going from being a girl that was shaking, handshaking on a 30-second pitch in a networking room to 4 sessions on a 3-day summit, that's a huge achievement for me. Yeah.

And What, what made you okay with that? Like, I know you, you probably— you're COO, you've got some sway, uh, you probably had to approve this decision. And why did you be willing to do that when you— when speaking is something that like scares you so much?

So, um, one, you have to surround with your people that will make you do the scary things. So last year We were sitting around the table planning and they probably had my name on there 10 times on the schedule.

Oh gosh.

And I'm like, and I'm the one that I, I won't speak up. So I'm just kind of sitting there like, and then after we get off of the meeting, I go back to Donnie, who's the CEO of Success Champions. And I go, seriously, you guys are going to put me up there that many times? Um, and he kind of chuckled and they removed my name from the schedule, but this year they put it on and I was like, okay, we're going to do this. But part of it was because I found how I like to work the stage. Um, I'm never going, I'm a very systems and processes person and I like to get people to move and activate. And I truly believe if you can bring an experience to the stage that gets people moving and doing the things. That is where the change will happen. Because think about it, experiences are embedded in us.

They are the stories that we tell to everyone and how we learn. Why did America break away and build America? Was because they weren't having a good experience. What happens when you go on stage and you change someone's experience by giving them something to actually do and experience, and that makes that switch of, okay, this is the path I need to go to be successful in what I'm doing.

So let's talk about that, because I feel like everyone is challenged with, like, we, we need the audience engagement, audience participation, and we do it in different ways. Like, just the— we ask questions, raise your hand if And I've seen people actually try to get people moving and it either goes really well or people are just kind of not into it. How do you have specific things that you have people do that they are really into it and it's fun and it's engaging and it does what you want them to do?

Yeah, it's all about asking the questions. Um, so if you can ask the questions and you can state why are we doing this? And you can step them through the process. The people that get on stage and say, okay, now go do this assignment without the background of why are we doing this assignment? Where are we going? What is the end goal of this? That's where people start to get lost on the stage. And that's where your audience starts getting lost because they're like, don't really see the clear path. And let's back this up, give them a goal that they're trying to achieve and then give them the exercises they need to have to get to that goal.

Can you— so this episode probably will go out after Babbs, so it's not a spoiler alert. What is— what do you have planned for like that, like, get moving exercise thing while you're there?

So there's several sessions. Uh, the first one is our SEN session. Um, and we're strictly looking at how do we transform their mindset from what do they need from networking to what can they build? Because once you transform their mindset of what can we build with networking, now that's when opportunity opens and that's when they start seeing How can I leverage people in this portion of my business of what I'm building? And it's not just a lead generation, lead generation activity. It's a business building activity. And so we're going to be doing things where we're breaking down what are the things that we're doing, what are the things that we need to stop doing, and what are the things we need to start doing, and then start attaching it to activities that we're actually doing in the business. And people we actually need to be in conversation with instead of starting jumping on random virtual calls and hoping it goes somewhere. So being more strategic with it.

I love that. I've definitely been on many of those random virtual calls where I'm like, this is fun. Why are we here? So having more strategy for that is definitely recommended. And So you, you help run Success Champion Networking, which is a professional networking group focused on B2B and, um, networking through other people's networks, basically growing your network by using other people's networks and introductions. And how would you recommend people use networking to get them on stages?

Oh my gosh, one of the easiest asks is podcasts. Um, and that is like my go-to if I have nothing that week. I'm like, who do you know has a podcast that talks about marketing and business development? It's exactly how I landed on this podcast here with you, Sara, was we were in a networking group and I said, hey, do you know any podcasts? And he said, have you been on stage? And I said, well, in fact, I did. Um, And so here we are today.

That's, that's true. And then what are you doing with those podcasts? Like, are you able to use podcasts as almost like a springboard to like bigger stages and like in person?

It's— yes, podcasts are social proof to the bigger stages that you do know how to speak. Um, also one of my favorite things is that it's content that you can reuse. So, um, if you get on Amazing Podcasts, they will send you the clips afterwards that you can easily plug into your social media, and it starts boosting your network not only on LinkedIn but the podcaster's network. So it's a joint effort, um, on LinkedIn to boost each other's, um, personalities and brands to kind of say, hey, here are two amazing people that have come together to share their knowledge and put it front and center for you guys to learn from.

And the, the show is my first stage, and we consider podcasts to be stages. What was your first podcast that you guested on? Did that go better than the first stage stage?

So the first podcast— and I remember your story of like you went on a podcast you didn't even know, and it was like this huge one. It was that way for me too. It was the nonprofit story. Um, they broadcast it across so many different channels. Um, it had such reach that when they launched it, I went back to my website, looked at the analytics and saw this humongous spike of traffic that was being pushed to my website.

That is the, that is definitely the goal. Yes. And that's interesting too, because was that while you were at— with like running your company Buzzworks, or were you in the nonprofit space at the time?

Uh, so there was a year during Buzzworks that I took off and only accepted nonprofit clients. Um, I needed to find the meaning in websites again and see the impact of it. And so I said— so for a year I just said I'm only taking nonprofits. Um, and during that time, that's when I got on those nonprofit shows to talk about marketing in the nonprofit segment. At the time, that was right at the beginning when I was taking on nonprofits, so it didn't actually turn into revenue because I didn't have my website positioned correctly.

It—

I was still dipping my toes in at that point, but I do think that if I had gone full into the nonprofit space and had my website aligned for the nonprofits, that some of that traffic would've converted.

That's interesting. Now, last question, last little like nugget of advice. Since you are the queen of websites and making them sticky, um, and having them be really impactful, what would you recommend speakers put on their website, whether it's like their media page or speaking page, whatever it is? Is there something that you'd recommend? They put on their site to make them more successful in landing more stages?

So I would say get super specific in who you want to speak to in the first 10 words of your website. Um, I see a lot of people that they will say, I speak to about this, but when you can say, I speak to manufacturing people about operations. Operations that instantly lets people know where you will perform best and where they can plug you into their stages to bring value to their audience.

And now I'm just getting free, free advice while we're here. Should they have a, a speaker website that's separate from their website or have a page on their website for speaking, or either or?

It depends how your business is positioned. I have some people that they have multiple companies, and I say, yes, go all in on your personal brand, and your other brands fall under it. There are some people where they lead with speaking, and that gets them consulting jobs after they speak. And if you're in that position, then lead with, I am a I'm a speaker and this is what I speak on. Here's my speaker reels, here's my topics. And oh, by the way, if you want me to bring work deeper with me, here are my packages for consulting.

I have things I need to do now. Loving the free advice.

You always get free advice too.

So for everybody listening, where can people find you, find out more about you, connect with you, see all of the stages that you're on and everything that you're doing.

Um, social medias, I'm most active on LinkedIn, so connect with me on LinkedIn. Um, websites, you can connect with me on successchampionnetworking.com and also buzzwks.com. Those will have my calendars to schedule directly with me. Um, and that's how you can get a hold of me.

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming and hanging out and for everybody listening. Hit that subscribe button so we can keep bringing you these stories of people's first and best stages, and we'll talk to you next week.