It’s about the 10 human drives that make people
feel alive. In our society, especially in the United
States, we live in such abundance. Our basic
human needs (food, water, shelter, etc.) are met,
but people don’t feel happy. In an abundant
society, what it takes to feel alive and engaged
is different than what it takes for someone in a
developing country, for example, to feel fulfilled.
For example, the Drive for Control is the need
to feel control over our lives.
WHAT'S THE TOPIC OF
YOUR NEXT BOOK?
products online. And, frankly, there’s
a non-intelligent way. There is a strategic way to make a sale online that
serves people, excites people and generates goodwill. And there’s the way
that hammers them with promotions
and marketing, which ruins your brand.
Learning the difference between the
two was a quantum leap for me.
WHEN IT COMES TO GENERATING
MORE BUSINESS, HOW IMPORTANT
IS THE QUALITY AND EXPERIENCE
OF YOUR SPEECH?
The content and the emotion that it
generates is the most important thing,
not just in speaking but also across
every platform I use. I’ve developed five
brands that each exceeded $1 million.
That happened because the content I
was putting out there was strong. It
was strong because I refused to do what
everyone is taught to do in the industry,
which is to speak to the lowest common
denominator. I refused to dumb down
content and ideas so that everybody
could grasp them easily and walk out
with their three convenient bullet
points. I’m going to deliver content
that is above the heads of some of my
audience. It stretches their minds, their
capabilities and imaginations. Speakers
who build million-dollar empires
deliver transformative tactical training.
YOU LAUNCHED THE EXPERTS
INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION WI TH
BRIAN TRACY, CPAE, JACK CANFIELD,
CSP, CPAE, JOHN ASSARAF, ROBERT
ALLEN AND OTHERS. DOES IT
COMPETE WITH NSA?
We don’t see the EIA as competition
to NSA in any way. In fact, we say
in the EIA that if your goal is to be a
professional speaker, you’ve got to be
in NSA. Hands down.
EIA is a non-profit organization
founded by leaders of the how-to
industry. It is completely focused on
free education, generating best practices, and community for the entire
industry of self-help and advice. We
focus on all the roles that might be in
the expert’s space, such as authors,
speakers, coaches, online marketers, consultants, etc. Our mission
is to give some free advice on how
to succeed in these different areas.
People can sign up (with just a name
and email address) on our website,
agree to the code of ethics, and
that’s it! There are no dues, just
free monthly advice from the industry’s leading experts. We also hold
an annual event where everyone can
learn, network and share. There is a
conference fee, but that’s just to pay
for the event itself. It is also a zero-sales-zone event.
IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.
WHAT’S THE CATCH?
The truth is that there is no way you could
get a group of such high-caliber people
together and agree on a solitary business venture. But you absolutely could get
them together for a cause-focused venture.
We believe that the industry lacked the
platform to collaborate and share best
practices to generate new leaders. Tens of
thousands of people are coming into our
industry every year and they have nowhere
to go to get free information from some
of the best people. We also recognize that
our reputation in the world needs to be
improved. That’s the exact reason why we
need to do something that’s not for profit.
Society, in general, sees authors, speakers,
online marketers, coaches, etc. as always
pitching and selling. If we created a positive space for best practices and set some
standards, we could literally change the
face of the industry and see it as an industry that gives as much as it takes.
Sharí Alexander is the co-owner of the Expert Message Group. EMG works with speakers and authors to publish their books, craft their speeches, and build
their businesses. On the platform, she shares
her experiences as a presentation coach and
speech writer to help organizations improve
public speaking and communication skills.
