Tell Your Signature Story in a Way that Connects & Converts with Colin Boyd – EP 143

Interview with Colin Boyd

Tell Your Signature Story in a Way that Connects & Converts with Colin Boyd

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅ How to use storytelling to attract clients and supercharge your business growth.

✅ Strategies for mastering your emotional state and exuding confidence when speaking on any stage.

✅ How to transform your passion into a thriving business without burning out.

Featured on This Episode: Colin Boyd

✅ What he does: Colin Boyd is an international speaker, trainer, and coach. He’s been running his Speaking business since 2017. Originally from Australia, he moved in 2017 with his wife of 16 years, Sarah, and two little toddlers to Newport Beach, California. He primarily now runs his flagship program, Sell From Stage Academy, which helps people turn every presentation into a money-making machine. He coaches some of the biggest names in the industry, including Amy Porterfield, James Wedmore, and Carrie Green, and thousands of other speakers and coaches to sell from the stage (without being pushy and slimy). He is a CSP, Accredited ICF Coach, holds a Bachelor of Commerce and certifications in Behavioral DISC profiling and Neurolinguistic Programming.

💬 Words of wisdom: “Realizing that any sort of stage or platform I can get on is going to be a positive in terms of my business growth was a huge revelation.” – Colin Boyd

🔎 Where to find Colin Boyd: Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

Key Takeaways with Colin Boyd

• The power of masterminds in supercharging the growth of your career or business.
• Understanding the benefits of engaging storytelling for your brand.
• How Colin turned his biggest fear – public speaking – into his strongest career asset.
• Recognizing that breakthroughs happen outside your comfort zone.
• Letting of the limiting belief that you’re not ready for the big stage.
• The formula for becoming a world-class communicator at any stage.
• How to turn your public presentations into a money-making machine.

3 Questions for Powerful Storytelling with Colin Boyd

Free Strategy Session 

The Lifestyle Investor Insider

“Realizing that any sort of stage or platform I can get on is going to be a positive in terms of my business growth was a huge revelation.” - Colin Boyd Click To Tweet “If something shows up in my life and it feels outside of my comfort zone, but it's in alignment with my purpose, it showed up because I'm ready for it.” - Colin Boyd Click To Tweet

Resources

• Colin Boyd
• Colin Boyd on Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube
• Sell From Stage Academy
• Expert Edge Podcast
• Conversion Story Formula
• The Wellspring
• Pete Vargas
• Brandon Turner
• David Green
• John Maxwell
• Created Colorful
• Jones Lang LaSalle
• Hewlett Packard
• Coca-Cola
• Suncorp Insurance
• Ryan Deiss
• Ryan Levesque
• Amy Porterfield
• Jenna Kutcher
• Goal Digger Podcast

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Read the Full Transcript with Colin Boyd

Justin Donald: What’s up, Colin? So good to have you on the show.

 

Colin Boyd: Hey, it’s great to be here, Justin. I’m excited.

 

Justin Donald: Yeah, well, first of all, it’s pretty apparent you’ve got an awesome accent, so we should probably talk about how you got that, probably happens some little thing called birth and growing up in Australia. But I’d love to chat a little bit about some of your early life and why you decided to move here to the US to Newport Beach.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, yeah, I mean, it’s been a wild ride as life is sometimes. I know, for me, I’ve been married for 18 years and I remember early on in my marriage having conversation with my wife and she said, “Babe, I would love to come to the US one day.” She always just had that on her heart. She felt like God put it on her heart to do something like that with the love. And I felt, I was like, “No,” I’m not coming to the US. I love it in Australia. Australia is just a phenomenal country. It’s just a beautiful country to grow up in, to live in. I mean, I really loved it.

 

And eventually, over the period of conversations, I joined some masterminds over in the US and just got exposed to the US market, and something really rose up in me that was like, wow, if we want to do something significant, I think the US, in terms of our industry, in the personal development industry, I was like, we need to get over here. We need to get over the US. And yeah, we moved over here six years ago. And I think the highlight has been meeting you.

 

Justin Donald: Well, that is incredibly kind for you to say. I’m going to write that down.

 

Colin Boyd: That was the pinnacle.

 

Justin Donald: I want to make sure everyone heard that. That is really important. It’s also good that you said that you’ve been married for 18 years because I just want people to know you’re off the market, this wonderful accent, which tends to lure people in. I’m lured in as we’re talking right now. I’m just like, oh, I want to hang out with you more. Yeah, it is so fun hanging with you.

 

And by the way, we’ve got some back story, right? So, some of my podcast guests are people that I haven’t met or people that I don’t know super well, and some of my podcast guests are my friends. And so, you’re a dear friend, someone that, I mean, we literally talk every single week. We’re in a group. We’re in Wellspring together with Pete Vargas and many others, Brandon Turner, who I recently had on the show as well. And we just have such a fun cadence and conversation. And so, it’s been a blast this past year getting to know you and your wife and your family and doing all kinds of fun travel, adventure trips. So, it’s great.

 

Colin Boyd: It’s always fun doing business together because I feel like it can get really lonely. Every entrepreneur listening here would know that. Especially as you grow, as you start to go up the levels, it can really get lonely and it doesn’t have to be. And that’s what I’ve realized. And being involved in groups, like similar mastermind group that you run, the mastermind group that we’re in, it just makes life so much more fun. And you just get to meet more people and you actually make a lot more money, so.

 

Justin Donald: There’s no doubt. It’s a win-win, right? I mean, you’re adding value, you’re learning a ton, you’re getting exposure to all this other stuff, but then you’re around people that you want to be around. I mean, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of masterminds, peer groups, coaches, people that are playing the game of life and business and investing and wealth and entrepreneurship at the level you desire or at a higher level than what you even imagine for yourself, right? Like, that’s been the game changer for me.

 

Colin Boyd: It’s the key. It’s so often because sometimes I feel like there can be some critical mindsets around, oh, I wasted money on this program or I had a bad experience of a coaching program or a product or something. And I get that. To me, I’ve been in many programs, many masterminds, and there’s been one or two that I was like, meh, it wasn’t really that great, I didn’t really love that, or I didn’t really get what I wanted, but I always get what I needed.

 

And there was always something that came out of that, and so, for me, I would not be at the level of business that we’re at. I wouldn’t be able to even be qualified to be in the Wellspring if it wasn’t for all the other programs that I actually went through to be qualified to be at a high level like that. I wouldn’t be in the US, to be honest, if I wasn’t in a mastermind program. And so, I think you and I have just a real kind of camaraderie around growth and connection and contribution, which is really cool.

 

Justin Donald: Well, and one of the neat things about it is when you get around the right people, all it takes is one connection, one idea, one concept, one shift, one mindset tweak. I mean, that’s it, to justify whatever the price is. And some of these are very high price point. So, I love it. And you and I, we just got a chance to hang out with David Green, founder of Hobby Lobby. What an incredible man and how fun was it.

 

I mean, I talked about doing legacy planning, and my version of legacy planning was child’s play because it was nothing compared to what we talked about. I mean, he started talking about a 150-year legacy planning, or not David, someone else built that. And then so, this whole idea of multigenerational planning and all the things, the wisdom that needs to be passed down, so like wisdom, values, not just the money, more importantly, all of the other things before the money too, and the assets to make sure that people are equipped to handle them. And I thought 150-year planning was big. And then David starts talking about a thousand-year planning.

 

Colin Boyd: Dude, I still haven’t got my head around that.

 

Justin Donald: I know. I mean, it’s just incredible. I mean, what were your takeaways?

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, I mean, for me, I think it was just a real nudge for me to get really clear once again and conscious of the values of our family, the vision of our family, how we want it to be. I mean, my philosophy is I personally am not going to set the values for the next families that come out of our family. I want to give them that choice, to be honest. But for me, it was more just like how do I want to live my life with our family and start to build a culture of contribution, a culture of growth, and just continue to create a beautiful story. I feel like all of us have this baton handed to us in our life, and we get this very short time to craft the story that we’re called to craft in the bigger story. And so, it’s more being able to do that with integrity and being able to do that with the right spirit and to live how we feel called to.

 

Justin Donald: Oh, I love it. Well, I just released the David Green podcast, So, Lifestyle Investor’s got a chance to kind of check that out and kind of learn…

 

Colin Boyd: Did you just have him on the podcast?

 

Justin Donald: I did, I did.

 

Colin Boyd: That’s insane. I have to check that out.

 

Justin Donald: Yeah, that guy just thinks at a whole ‘nother level, and it is inspiring and it is humbling. And someone made the comparison of David Green being a modern-day Solomon known as the wisest man from a historical standpoint. Like, if you look at all the different accounts, Solomon was revered, not just regarded, but revered as the wisest man to ever live. And so, it’s cool seeing what many would consider like a modern-day version of that, someone very wise, someone very successful but is humble and is just so pleasant to be around and cares so much for people and for future generations. And he’s living it in his family.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, completely.

 

Justin Donald: It was cool to see his kids and his grandkids.

 

Colin Boyd: It’s so rare to see people at that level and to have that level of humility and that level of detachment from all of the things to be so focused on growth and also be not attached to any of the things. It’s fascinating.

 

Justin Donald: And it was also cool having John Maxwell there. I mean, I got a chance to hang with John Maxwell and just talk to him a bit and share with him how appreciative I am for all the content he’s put out, the books and just everything that he’s done over the years, but to see how he regards David Green was really cool. But then the flip side of seeing how David regarded John, and the two just had this mutual admiration and respect for one another is really cool. And they had never met before.

 

Colin Boyd: It’s kind of like you and me. Whenever people see you and me together, they’re just like, “Wow, Colin and Justin, that is incredible.”

 

Justin Donald: I love it. I love it. Hey, if I could be mentioned in the same sentence, let alone paragraph as you, I’m feeling like I’m doing a pretty good job. So, that’s good. Well, I’m excited about our time here. And before we get into even some of the nuts and bolts, I also should just ask for those that are listening and not watching, what color are you wearing today? You know where I’m going with this.

 

Colin Boyd: I know where you’re going. I was actually playing with my colors just before I jumped on this, mate. It’s a deep winter blue.

 

Justin Donald: A deep winter blue.

 

Colin Boyd: How about how about yourself, Justin? Are you on this journey?

 

Justin Donald: I’ve got a royal blue. I haven’t gone through it yet, but go ahead and tell our audience a little bit about what you and Sarah have done.

 

Colin Boyd: Nice. So, when we were hanging out last time, I said to Justin, I said, “I just had my color palette done.” And he’s like, “You’re what?” I was like, “My color palette.”

 

Justin Donald: I didn’t give you a hard time, to be fair.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah, yeah. You were giving me the hardest time ever for a good couple of minutes. And then my persuasive abilities were able to…

 

Justin Donald: You penetrated me.

 

Colin Boyd: Manipulate your mind around to eventually, you’re like, “Hey, do you have the details of that person who helps you to get your color palette?”

 

Justin Donald: Oh, I love it. Well, I’m excited to just see what other colors are out there that I can wear. I mean, so I’ve done this not creatively or strategically, and my favorite color is blue. So, anyone who watches anything I do, I probably have some color of blue. I wear a lot of solid colors of blue. I probably have 30 or probably over 30 different blue-colored shirts and polos.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah, well, you’ve got blue eyes. You’ve kind of, like there’s a resonance there with it, but it’d be fascinating to see what you come out. I came out as deep winter. It’s like Created Colorful was the program we used, but yeah, it was really cool. It just helps you to understand what colors to wear because I’m trying to speak to Justin’s rational mind as well because I’m like, dude, you go into a store, and so often, you just pick a few things, you’re like that looks pretty good, and then you come in and you’re like, it doesn’t look that good. And I know for me, so often I would just pick things off. And then when you know what color you are, you actually don’t waste money on the stuff that won’t look good. You’ve actually saved money on not buying the wrong things and you buy more of the right stuff, so.

 

Justin Donald: That’s right. And so, I’m looking up in my text messages, unless you know it off the top of your head what the color palette company is.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah, yeah, it’s CreatedColorful.com.

 

Justin Donald: There it is, yeah. So, check that out. We don’t get anything for you doing it. I just think it would be fun.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, no, they wouldn’t even know that we sent it. Just say Colin and Justin send this.

 

Justin Donald: And they’re going to have no clue.

 

Colin Boyd: No clue what’s going on.

 

Justin Donald: Very fine. So, let’s dive in, and just as a side note, I’m really sorry that you are deep winter. I’m hoping that I’m summer or spring or something, but with all that out of the way, I’d love to talk about your journey of becoming an entrepreneur because you worked corporate America for a bit, and I feel like it crushed you, like it crushed your spirit, and you weren’t wired for that. And you learned it. You learned it because I remember in a conversation or I remember reading this or hearing this where basically you could do it, but it just sucked the life out of you is kind of how I think it was explained. So, walk us through what that was like.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah. So, I mean, for me, coming out of college, my first job was in marketing. I actually worked for Jones Lang LaSalle in commercial real estate. But I was in the marketing team, and very quickly, I realized that I was not very good at this job. And I came in really excited, wet behind the ears, I had no idea what was going on. And I realized that I was just in this job that just wasn’t suited to my personality and was fascinating. What happened was I’m working in a job, it’s going okay, but what happened was I got asked to do a presentation for a– it was like they were doing a global conference. And I got asked as I was the young marketing guy to do a presentation on one of the projects we’re working on.

 

So, I prepared the presentation, I did it. I got off. And I remember the global marketing director came up to me after and he’s like, “Oh my gosh, Colin, that was such a great presentation. I love the way you did this, this, and this. Would you want to get involved in some of these ideas?” Then he’s starting to lean me towards getting involved in these global projects and he’s an off on the side. What he doesn’t know is I’m really bad at what I was doing. I’m actually not good at my job yet, right? I didn’t know, I was just starting out. I wasn’t good at my job.

 

But what was fascinating, my revelation was that, oh, my gosh, when you speak on a stage, you can actually create a level of influence, a level of authority, a level of trustworthiness that you can’t get through just general day-to-day stuff. And it started to make me fascinated about the idea of speaking and what actually speaking would be. And so, eventually, just before things were going to go really bad in the job, I ended up leaving it.

 

But I remember coming through that experience and just feeling very disheartened. I don’t know if anyone’s had an experience like that, where they were just like, oh, I thought that I was going to be good at that, I thought I was going to have a great experience, and it was just horrible. I remember telling myself, wow, I must be– no, I told myself that I’ve wrecked the foundation of my corporate career because I never thought I was going to be an entrepreneur. I had no intention of being an entrepreneur. And I told myself, I have wrecked the foundation of my corporate career.

 

And I remember it took many years of moving through different kind of jobs. And eventually, actually, I discovered coaching. So, I discovered life coaching. And I remember this particular life coach came up to me and we were talking about the situation and I had a lot of emotional triggers around it, like a lot of kind of emotion. I don’t know if anyone’s had experiences in their past where basically you have emotion come up as soon as something consciously or unconsciously triggers it. And I had a lot of triggers around just being in the workplace to be honest, like being in a meeting. When I got asked to speak at a meeting, I would freeze up because I remember I had so many bad situations of being in meetings.

 

And what happened was in the coaching experience, he helped me to work through some of the emotions. So, I just got fascinated with coaching, I was like, oh my gosh, what is this technology that you can move through past emotional things very quickly? And then what happened was I started getting to speaking. And so, what happened, I got my first speaking engagement as a life coach at the age of, I think I was like 28 at the time. So, I don’t know what I was life coaching, by the way, back then, like at 28.

 

My grandma said to me, she’s like, “Colin, how can you be a life coach? You know nothing about life.” And I’m like, “You’re kind of right. I really know nothing about life.” But she didn’t understand. It was about asking questions. But anyway, I spoke. What happened was I had no clients in my life coaching business. And I spoke at an event. And this event, I was petrified to speak out because you remember, I’ve had all these bad experiences in the workplace and even in meetings and I would freak out and shake and everything like that.

 

I remember my wife, you know my wife, Sarah, she’s amazing, she’s on my arm walking up the stairs. This is my first speaking engagement. And I’m really on her arm, even though she’s hanging on to mine. And the event organizer, he comes to me, he’s like, “Colin, I’m so excited you’re here. This is the biggest event we have ever had in our history. We got 137 people here live tonight.” And in my mind, this is the worst news ever, right? Because in my mind, I’m going, great, I’m just going to look like an idiot in front of more people, the biggest crowd they’ve had.

 

But what happened was I got up and I spoke, and at the end, I made an offer and I didn’t realize it, but that offer was an irresistible offer. And out of the 137 people, 125 of them gave me their details and I followed up and I ended up signing 12 full-time coaching clients from there. And then four days later, HP called me, Hewlett Packard, and asked me to speak at their next global conference, which had five-and-a-half-thousand people. That was my first paid speaking gig.

 

And I worked with HP for 10 years, traveled around the world, spoke with companies, huge companies, corporations all around the world. But really, it all led, for me, it all came from speaking, from telling my story, from sharing concepts and ideas from stage. And that’s what got me obsessed with speaking and storytelling.

 

Justin Donald: Well, I love it. I love hearing the story of how it all got started that you’re not a speaker by trade. You weren’t comfortable, you were very uncomfortable. I mean, I remember some of my first speeches and I was just so scared, so nervous. My voice would shake, my hands would shake because back, then you would hold paper and you’d speak from paper, and my pages would shake.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, absolutely. I remember happening to hold– my hand would shake so much. If I had the paper in my left hand, I would grab the paper, I would grab my hand, I’d have two hands holding the paper, trying to keep it steady, but it just kept on shaking more.

 

Justin Donald: Oh, it’s so funny, man. I got to tell you, I figured out a few hacks to it and having a bigger stack was good, having some weight to the paper, but…

 

Colin Boyd: Bring the book up.

 

Justin Donald: Yeah, right. I just remember at the beginning, it was really nerve wracking, but I’m so thankful for those skills because today, I use them all the time and I’m very comfortable and actually, not only that I’m comfortable, I enjoy it, I like it. It’s very fun. It’s very, like to me, speaking is pretty calming and it sounds odd, but when you have enough reps, that’s kind of what happens, right?

 

Colin Boyd: I agree. Well, I think a lot of the time, it’s when you focus right because what most people have is when you’re starting out, when you don’t have enough reps, it’s almost like going to the gym. When you first go to the gym, you feel really self-conscious, right? You look in at a piece of equipment and you don’t know how to use it. You get on it, and maybe it’s a back machine and you’re using it for your abs. Have you ever done that? I’ve done that before.

 

Justin Donald: I have used machines incorrectly for sure.

 

Colin Boyd: It’s a back machine and I’m trying to do an app workout on it and it’s just not working. I’m like, oh, that’s because it’s supposed to go the other way. But it’s kind of like that on stage when you first start any sort of speaking it, even if it’s a virtual speaking, like if people run webinars or they do sort of virtual meetings, it can feel so clunky at the start. But what happens is eventually, you kind of move your focus away from you and you start focusing on the audience and you start focusing on how can I genuinely contribute in a way that changes people’s lives. And when you make that shift, that focus, you move from being focused on self, which is fee driven to being focused on contribution, which is conviction and contribution driven. And when you do that, the whole energy shifts in your speaking.

 

Justin Donald: I love it. Well, it’s cool here on how you got started because people know you today as a coach of many of the biggest names in many big industries, in the influencer space, in the online space, but also then again in the corporate space because you’ve worked with Coca-Cola, you’ve worked with Suncorp, and you’ve worked with some really big companies. So, I like hearing the story of what it’s like to get started. But what’s crazy to me is that out of your very first speech, you landed HP, and that your very first paid speech was a little over 5,000 people, 5,500. I mean, that is just nuts.

 

Colin Boyd: I’m standing on the stairs of this hotel after one of those coaching sessions that I did from the speech and my mobile rings and the guy was like, “Hey, I’m calling from HP. I loved your presentation the other day. We’ve got a training day coming up. Would you be open? Would you have time in your calendar for it?” First of all, I’ve got nothing on, but I’m like, “Let me check my calendar first.” And I check my ca– I had nothing on. And I’m like, “Yeah, I can do it.” And then he was like, “How much?” And I gave him a number that my coaching industry told me, like my coach told me to say, and I think it was like $3,000. I said, “It’s $3,000.”

 

And I’m thinking, this is the biggest number ever, right? I’d never own $3,000 to do a two-hour presentation before. And they did not blink an eye. They were like, “Oh, easy.” They literally responded almost like laughing. And then at the end, that was when I asked them and I said, “Oh, I forgot to ask how many people are going to be at this presentation?” And they were like, “There will be probably five or five and a half thousand at the presentation.” I remembered dying, like just first of all, I’m thinking I can see why they didn’t blink at $3,000 because it works out to about like 60 cents a person. But second of all, I’m like 5,000, five-and-a-half-thousand people.

 

The lesson that I learned in life, Justin, was that if something shows up in your life that is in alignment with your purpose, if it shows up in your life and it isn’t in alignment with where you want to go, you are ready for it. And so, one of the beliefs that I had so often in my life, things have shown up, like big opportunities, coaching, the biggest people in the world with millions of followers, and sometimes they show up in my life. It could be a big deal or something like that. Obviously, you got to do your due diligence, but from one of my beliefs is that if something shows up in my life and it feels outside of my comfort zone, but it’s in alignment with the purpose that I feel in my life, like the direction I want to go, it showed up in my life because I’m actually ready for it.

 

Justin Donald: I like that.

 

Colin Boyd: And so, I chose that belief early on. And that belief continued to lead me to the next level and the next level because so often, people shy away. They’re like, I’m not ready for that. Like, I could have said, I’m not qualified. I haven’t been paid before. Who am I to speak to HP? I’m 28 years old. I literally look at the videos, Justin, I look like a 12-year-old. And I think the average age in the room was about 45. And I’m a 28-year-old kid speaking to five-and-a-half-thousand HP employees, which led to a 10-year contract with them, by the way. I spoke with them all around the world, all their employees. It was insane. But what’s crazy was that it started from this place of that if it showed up in my life, then I’m ready for it. And that’s a nice little belief that’s really served me and helped me.

 

Justin Donald: Oh, that’s incredible. And by the way, that to me is like a little bit of a mindset hack, which is you’re doing the pre-work, and the pre-work is you’re conditioning yourself to say whatever comes in the future, I’m ready for it, right? I mean, that’s some like mental jujitsu right there where I feel most people aren’t thinking about that, they’re not equipped for that in the moment they experience whatever they experience. But you’re giving yourself the mental reps ahead of time that now, when everything show up, I’m ready for it. I might have never done it before, but I’m ready for it.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah, I’m ready for that level, exactly. Exactly. And it takes a lot of courage to do that, to say yes to that. But the entrepreneurial journey is a journey of courage, it’s a journey of ups and downs, but saying yes and then working out how.

 

Justin Donald: Oh, it’s a powerful pre-frame. And I love that. So, one of the things that you’re world class at is using storytelling to grow your business. And that’s kind of what your flagship program and platform is, where Sell From Stage Academy is your big business and you’ve got a lot of people that have gone through, a lot of big names, but just tons of people, you help entrepreneurs share stories in a way that captures the audience’s attention and you can help them scale your business by being these effective storytellers. And I’d love to hear you talk more about that because you’re world class at it.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah, well, for me, the story, so there’s two levels that we’re referring to here. So, I really help entrepreneurs and experts, coaches, a lot of entrepreneurs to design presentations that sell their stuff. That’s the core of it. But inside that, there are a few different levers that people can pull. And I think one of the easiest the lever to pull on to start is your story. And so often, people make the mistake of thinking that the story about them getting into business, which is kind of like what you asked me at the start, you were like, “Oh, how’d you get into it?” And we started with the accent. You started me in a place that I wouldn’t normally start with, which is totally fine.

 

But it’s like so often, we get asked that question if you’re a listener and you want to be on podcast or you’re on podcast, you’re going to get asked that question. If you’re doing any presentation or even in front of a client, they’re going to ask you like, “Tell me your story. How did you get into it?” And so often, people make the mistake of thinking that that story that they’re about to share actually is about them. We think that our story is about us, but our story when it’s told right is actually about the audience.

 

And when it’s told in the right way, the audience has this embodied experience where they’re listening to your story, but they’re hearing this. And so, they have these moments of going into your story and thinking, wow, this is really a cool story. It’s an interesting story. It’s fascinating. And then they go, “Oh, but I kind of feel like that as well. And I’ve struggled with that as well. I would love to achieve that as well.”

 

And they start making this internal connection of going, wow, that’s a cool story, but it’s also, I want to hear my story. I didn’t feel any when I read your book, Justin. Hearing your story about your journey, about starting in your investing journey, and then even the foreword with Ryan Deiss, like I was reading– was it Ryan Deiss?

 

Justin Donald: Ryan Levesque.

 

Colin Boyd: Ryan Levesque. Sorry, Ryan Levesque. There’s a few Ryans in the industry. Ryan Levesque, I meant to say. Ryan Levesque’s story, and he is a digital entrepreneur similar to me, similar to you as well, right? He’s in this kind of expert space. And I’m listening to his story and I’m going, “Oh, my gosh, that’s the story I want.” And because I’m like, I run a successful business like Ryan. And I’m like, “I want to go on that investing journey.” And so, for me, that’s a classic example of when he’s telling his story, but I’m actually hearing my story.

 

And so, when you design it right, you tell your story and the audience goes, they answer three questions. This is the three questions they answer. They answer the first question of that this person understands me. So, in your story, you have to answer that first question of like, “Wow, this person really gets me. They understand what it’s like to struggle. They understand what it’s like to have a desire to do something bigger and not know how.”

 

The second question you have to answer is, this person can lead me. In other words, they’ve actually done something with their life. When I hear your story, Justin, the wealth you’ve created, the cash flow, retiring at the age of 12…

 

Justin Donald: Thank you. That’s generous.

 

Colin Boyd: Like, retiring at such a young age, and then obviously, the people who can retire basically never retire because they actually have a real desire to do something bigger as well.

 

Justin Donald: That’s right.

 

Colin Boyd: But it’s like, they can leave. They’re like, oh my gosh. They’d actually done this. And when I hear your story, when they hear my story, hopefully, they’re going to go like they’re the real deal. Actually, they live this thing. This is not just a theory or a concept. They can actually do it. And then the third question you have to answer is, is there a path that I can follow? In other words, to get the results, is there a path that I can follow? And for you, it’s yeah, you have to take on this mindset of becoming a lifestyle investor, right? It’s not when people ask you, oh, what do you do? Well, I’m a lifestyle investor. That’s an identity. For me, it’s taking on the pathway of becoming an irresistible speaker, an irresistible communicator, and using that vehicle to attract more clients and convert them into your programs and move them into your programs and make make more money, make more impact, all that sort of stuff.

 

Justin Donald: So, what are some of the shifts that you made? What are examples of– I mean, you basically pivoted from corporate America to coaching, and then from coaching into building stages, teaching people how to build their audience, grow their business via stage. What are some of the iterations that you were able to take in your storytelling process about you or your business that you saw some of the biggest leaps of growth from?

 

Colin Boyd: Who? I think, over the journey, I mean, a lot of it’s organic. And so, as much as I wish I could say, oh, it’s been this specific strategy, a lot of it is just putting one foot in front of the other. And so often, that metaphor of you, you kind of shining the light and everything’s very hazy in front of you and you can see the next few steps. And that is definitely part of the journey.

 

I would say for me, in terms of this journey, realizing that any sort of stage or platform I can get on is going to be a positive in terms of my business growth, was a huge revelation. And to be quite frank, I didn’t have that revelation until about four years ago because I didn’t start teaching entrepreneurs how to use presentations to sell until four years ago. I used to teach productivity. I used to teach personal growth, more general personal development.

 

And so, when I was speaking in corporations, I was teaching productivity, personal growth, a lot more general subjects. And then four years ago, I had an entrepreneur come to me, and she was like, “Colin, that’s all great, all your personal growth stuff and your productivity stuff.” But she’s like, “I want to know how you speak. I’ve seen you speak before and sell from the stage and you do it just so effortlessly.” She’s like, “That’s what I want to learn from you.”

 

And then, that started a revelation of, wow, this is really powerful. And then I made that red ribbon link that kind of linked through all of my journey. I was like, it’s so raw. Every time I’ve either been on a podcast like this or been on a stage or ran an event myself or ran a webinar, I’ve always seen growth in my business. And so, that was when I realized, well, that’s the thing that I want to teach and learn.

 

And I think there’s a few different elements to this. So, one element is getting on other people’s stages. And our common friend, Pete Vargas, talks about this a lot, like using podcasts. Like, for me, I’ve been on various. I was just on Amy Porterfield’s podcast, I was just on Jenna Kutcher’s podcast, the Goal Digger. They’re really big platforms. Those platforms just catapult your name, your reputation, everything, right? Everything’s amplified.

 

So, getting on other people’s stages has been huge, but also creating my own ones. And so, that could be setting it. It could be as simple as emailing my database and going, “Hey, I’m going to run a virtual meeting on this time at this day, and I’m going to discuss these three topics. Would you like to come?” And it’s going to be an intimate meeting. It’s going to be limited to 20 people or 50 people. And you just get on there, talk about a few topics, and then talk about the next steps for people who want to implement the system and something like that. It’s guaranteed to grow your business because people get the connection, they get trust, and then they get ready for the next level.

 

Justin Donald: Yeah, in one fell swoop, you’re gaining the potential for a lot of new customers, which is great. And even if it’s not an instant transaction, your name’s out there, and maybe when they hear it again a second, a third, or fourth, fifth time, they kind of come in to the door. But I think this is important for everyone to hear that it doesn’t have to be physical stages. It certainly can be. And a lot of people have that ability. But I think it’s important to note that you maybe have no experience in that space, you wouldn’t consider yourself a speaker, but the audiences you can get in front of could be just massive for your business. And so, that can be a virtual stage, that can be a podcast, that can be even just in someone else’s newsletter, right? I mean, as a step one.

 

So, I think it’s important as a business owner. And for those, maybe you’re in corporate America and you’re saying, “Hey, at some point I want to be a business owner, I want to be an investor,” using these platforms to pivot to what it is you want and if you’re where you want to be is to grow it to where you want, right?

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, it’s so true. Like, I remember for me back in the day when I used to do a lot of coaching in corporations, I’d coach a lot of executives and I just naturally went towards, “Hey, have you ever thought about speaking a little bit?” They’re working for a company, and I’m like, “Have you thought about speaking a bit? There’s a conference coming up on this topic, why don’t you pull together a case study of something that you’ve done in the company and put yourself up?” And they’re speaking, they’re like, “Why would I speak? Why would I speak at that thing? I’m doing my job.”

 

And then what would happen is we would design a presentation. They would go and speak. They’ll get off, and now, literally call me up and be like, “Colin, I just had four major job offers at the biggest companies in the world from that speaking engagement. This is crazy.” And it’s because there’s something innate about being on a stage. It naturally gives you authority. So, as soon as someone sees you speaking on a platform, they go, “That person obviously is good at what they do.”

 

Now, it’s an unconscious thing. Whether that’s true or not is a whole ‘nother thing, right? So, obviously, you do have to be good at what you do, but it’s just unconscious. People go, they’re good at what they do because they’re on a stage. They wouldn’t be on that stage if they weren’t good at what they do.

 

And then the second thing is this connection. There’s like this, you actually get to experience someone. And for me, a stage is a visual and auditory experience. Now, so for me, I really like the idea of visual and auditory because it just creates a deeper connection. And then, thirdly, you get the leverage. You get that leverage experience of one to many rather than one to one. And I love one to one. I think one to one is beautiful, especially if you’re selling higher ticket programs and stuff like that. But the one to many experience just adds so much leverage, connection, and yeah, just authority in that process.

 

Justin Donald: Yeah, I love it. One of the things that I want to do is make sure that my audience just fully understands all the ways that you may be able to help serve them in the next chapter of their business life or in the next chapter of their professional life. You’re someone that I remember when I was transforming my keynote and I was running a big event. So, there are two different times, one with my keynote and one with an event.

 

And I’ve run a ton of events. I mean, I’ve been running events in some way, shape, or form for, I don’t know, 25 years, maybe more. So, it’s not like I don’t know how to run an event, but hearing your frame that you walk through, I was like, I got to just talk to you. So, we had a call that one day where I was like, “All right, here’s what I’m thinking. Give me your thoughts on this.” And so, it was really refreshing to have your insight and kind of see your thought process around creating a good event and creating what you need from a message from stage. So, I look to you as quite an authority and the resource here. So, I’d love for you to share just how you see the ways that you can help my audience get connected and grow and take things to the next level.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah, So, there’s a few ways. So, first of all, I have a podcast similar to you, so anyone can come and listen for free. Check that out. It’s called the Expert Edge, and that’s really where I talk about growing an expert business and really growing in this expert space. And the second one is like storytelling. And I think a lot of the times, people start with that. They’re like, “Okay, how do I design this story, so I have this idea of the conversion story?” And you guys can share a link to that in the podcast notes.

 

But the conversion story formula is essentially this idea of crafting a story that doesn’t just connect with the audience but moves them into your programs or moves them into your next step. And so, storytelling is one of the first kind of easiest places to start, and then designing the whole presentation itself, which is what we talked about with you. If you’re really serious about that, we have Sell From Stage Academy, which is our full program, and it’s a signature program, shows people how to design presentations that sell from webinar and life stages. And you guys can put a link to that in the show notes as well if people want to check that out.

 

Justin Donald: Love it, yeah. So, where should people come find you?

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah. So, I think the best place, yeah, like I said, Expert Edge Podcast. If you’re a podcast listener, please, I love you to come over and connect with me there. Instagram, I’m definitely on Instagram a lot, so @colinboyd with one L, C-O-L-I-N B-O-Y-D. And then Newport Beach, if you’re ever down in Newport Beach, on the beach, I’ll probably be there walking in my boardshorts and chasing after the kids.

 

Justin Donald: I love it. I love it. Yeah. What a cool part of the country you’re in. I keep trying to recruit them to Austin, but I don’t know if he’s going to take.

 

Colin Boyd: I still haven’t been to Austin yet. Dude, I’ve got to do a trip up there.

 

Justin Donald: I know. You totally do. You need to bring your family.

 

Colin Boyd: It looks beautiful.

 

Justin Donald: And stay with us. Stay in our back house, so.

 

Colin Boyd: That’s the plan.

 

Justin Donald: We will host you.

 

Colin Boyd: You’ll have some squatters.

 

Justin Donald: Yeah, yeah. It might be hard to get you to leave. Actually, we have people that come that are like, “Hey, can we stay a little longer? We really love it here.” I just found there’s this beauty when you can host people, but you don’t have to host them inside your primary home.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, totally. Totally.

 

Justin Donald: It is so much more comfortable for all parties.

 

Colin Boyd: Energetically, there’s something about that, having that bit of space. So, I totally agree.

 

Justin Donald: So, Colin, I know you’ve got a few programs and I’d love for our audience to kind of learn what it is that you do. So, tell us a little bit about it.

 

Colin Boyd: Yeah. So, obviously, if people want to connect with me for free, they can go and connect at the Expert Edge Podcast. That’s the podcast that we run, Expert Edge. And I think when it comes  down to it, one of the first areas that people love to really discover is the story. And so, because I find that if you discover your story and I specifically what I call your conversion story, so it’s not like a regular story, it’s your conversion story. That’s the story that you connect with your audience when you tell it, but you also move them towards your program. So, if you have something that you sell, it will automatically move them towards your programs or your offers or whatever you’re selling when you tell it, your conversion story.

 

And so, if people are curious about that, they want to design that, that’s the simplest way to start. You can just go to ConversionStoryFormula.com and then you guys put the link in the show notes. But that’s a really nice way to kind of kick off and really discover your story and move towards that thing. I think that’s the easiest place to start.

 

Justin Donald: Awesome. Well, I’m excited for people to learn more about you. You’ve got my highest endorsement and I’m excited to continue to run all of our stuff through you and by you to get your insight. And I just really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing some wisdom with us here today. So, thanks, Colin.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, man, it’s been a pleasure. I hope trust has added value. And great, I’m looking forward to connecting with your audience.

 

Justin Donald: Oh, yeah. This has been just fantastic. And I do like to end every episode by asking my listeners one simple question. So, if you’re listening, if you’re watching, and this is not a question to you, Colin, you’re off the hook. This is a question for them.

 

Colin Boyd: Oh, come on, ski. Come on.

 

Justin Donald: So, you’re good. But my question is this, what’s the one thing holding you back from true financial freedom and living the life that you desire on your terms, that you learn from this episode today, something that you can take to implement and conquer this milestone in your life? I’d love to hear more about what it is, so email us, let us know. We’d love to support you, but take action today, find something that you can use to move to that life that you’ve always desired. Thanks, and we’ll catch you next week.