The Power of Public Speaking for Business Growth | Robert Kennedy III

Want to stop chasing one client at a time and start influencing hundreds with a single message? Public speaking may be the most overlooked growth tool in your business—and Robert Kennedy III is here to change that.

In this episode of Small Business Pivots, I sit down with Robert Kennedy III, professional speaker, coach, and Founder of Kennetik Kommunications, to talk about how small business owners can harness the power of public speaking to grow visibility, credibility, and revenue.

Robert shares how he went from unemployed—with three kids and zero speaking gigs—to building a business that trains leaders, business owners, and entrepreneurs to master their message and confidently communicate from any platform.

Inside the episode:

• How to turn public speaking anxiety into energetic delivery
• Why speaking is one of the most scalable marketing tools you’re not using
• The E.A.S.E. Framework: Energy, Ask, Story, Explain—your go-to system for crafting clear and powerful messages
• The 3 core stories every entrepreneur needs to have ready
• How video, livestreaming, and podcasts count as public speaking—and how to make them count for your business
• Why getting help before you need it is one of the smartest moves in entrepreneurship

Whether you're afraid of public speaking or ready to level up your voice, this episode will help you pivot from fear to influence. Tune in, take notes, and get ready to amplify your business.

Robert Kennedy III: Founder & CEO of Kennetik Kommunications

Website (company): https://kennetikkommunications.com/

Website (personal): https://robertkennedy3.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkennedy3/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertkennedyiii

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/robertkennedy3

 #RobertKennedyIII #KennetikKommunications #PublicSpeakingForBusiness #BusinessCommunication #SmallBusinessSuccess #SmallBusinessPivots #MichaelDMorrison #BusinessPodcast #EntrepreneurPodcast #OklahomaCity #BusinessGrowth #SpeakWithConfidence #StorytellingInBusiness #PresentationSkills #AmplifyYourVoice 

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Robert Kennedy III
• 7:42 From Teaching to Professional Speaking
• 16:25 Public Speaking for Business Growth
• 23:01 Overcoming Stage Anxiety
• 27:51 The EASE Framework for Storytelling
• 34:13 Building Your Story Arsenal
• 38:09 Practice Makes Authentic

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

All right, welcome to another Small Business, pivots, where we have the most incredible guests from around the world. But I know that only business owners can say their name and their business like the business owner can. So I always let you introduce yourself the way you like to be introduced. Tell us a little bit about yourself and where you're coming to us from.

Speaker 2: 0:20

Well, I'm coming from Bellsville, Maryland, but let's do this. I'm a professional speaker. That's one of the things that I do. We can do the introductions and the other information in just a moment, but I want you to introduce me like a speaker getting on stage. Just say, ladies and gentlemen, introducing Robert Kennedy III.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Ladies and gentlemen, introduce the most amazing, fantastic, world-renowned Robert III. I missed your last name. It's going to be fun, it's going to be fun. You put me under pressure and I got it all but one word your last name. See, that's why I let everybody introduce themselves, so I don't mess it up.

Speaker 2: 1:04

Hey, no worries man, Listen. Robert Kennedy III, rk3, that's me. I live in a town called Bellsville, maryland. My office is in Laurel, maryland, about 20, 25 minutes northeast of DC. I'm the president of Kinetic Communications, a communications training firm out here where we work with small business leaders, business owners, teaching them how to generate more income and increase their visibility through the use of communication, more confident communication, public speaking, storytelling and whatever we need to do to connect with our clients, customers and prospects.

Speaker 1: 1:39

Fantastic. Well, I know every bit of that you just said leads to sales, and that's what most business owners want is more sales. So let's introduce the show real quick and we'll be right back. Welcome to Small Business Pivots, a podcast produced for small business owners. I'm your host, michael Morrison, founder and CEO of Boss, where we make business ownership simplified for success. Our business is helping yours grow. Boss offers business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. Ownership simplifiedcom. All right, rk. The third. I know that public speaking, speaking on stage, is probably one of the most frightful things for small business owners, so let's just start there. Looking at your website, you do a lot of everything, so how did you get into this?

Speaker 2: 2:43

So there wasn't one moment. It was an evolution. I was a teacher in high school for about seven years and then I was an online faculty for university for a couple of years. I was living in the state of Massachusetts at the time, and then it came time to move and we decided we were going to move from Massachusetts to Maryland, and 10 days after I got to Maryland, I lost my job as an online faculty, and at the time I had three kids under the age of five.

Speaker 2: 3:15

Oh wow, yeah. So I did what everybody else does. I started to hop on Monster, indeed, simply Hired all of the websites and started looking for jobs. And I continued to do that and I was not getting any responses, none at all. And I would understand if I got interviews and it just didn't work out, but I wasn't getting those either. So after about five or six months, I just said, listen, I got to contribute to my family, to my household, a little bit differently, and so I started doing some contracting.

Speaker 2: 3:48

I was able to develop some online courses for a university, started doing that more, started a company doing that, and in the process of starting that company, I got asked to do some technical training. And every time I did technical training, the people said to me hey, are you a speaker, are you a motivational speaker? What else do you speak about? What else do you do? And I said what are you asking me? I didn't understand. I didn't know that people got paid for other things with regard to speaking, and so I did a little bit of research, found out that, yeah, people in fact do get paid to speak on a regular basis, and so I found the National Speakers Association I joined Toastmasters before that, but found the National Speakers Association to figure out how to do the business of speaking, and so that's how I became a speaker and I do a lot in the communication and leadership space because of that, toastmasters is brought up a lot.

Speaker 1: 4:47

In fact, I've attended Toastmasters.

Speaker 2: 4:55

But can you share that for our audience of how impactful and powerful that can be? Yeah, so Toastmasters if you go to Toastmastersorg, you can get a lot more information about what it is. But Toastmasters essentially is an organization that was created back in golly probably the 50s, 60s somewhere thereabouts and the reason that was created was because the founder had some trouble with speaking himself and decided okay, let me figure out how to do this. And so they eventually created a curriculum that people could walk through, and now there are clubs all over the world. As a matter of fact, there are competitions that they do every year, culminating in the world championship of public speaking. So Toastmasters essentially is clubs of people. Sometimes it's five, sometimes it's 10, sometimes it's 50. Clubs of people that walk through a curriculum together, practice public speaking. They give each other feedback and that could be practiced public speaking, or what we call extemporaneous or on the spot public speaking. So that's a really good way to hone your chops and just get some practice in.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Yeah, I encourage all business owners that's listening to this. That's your first action item, right? We try to bring action items for you If you're a little hesitant, maybe a slight introvert or a true introvert look at Toastmasters. I was growing up kind of the lack of self-worth, maybe a little bit, and so I wasn't outspoken at all. And so I went to Toastmasters and they completely broke me of those old habits that I had, and some of the people I know now probably wish I had some of those old habits because I speak too much but I don't say ands and ums and ums and uhs and all that good stuff. They will break you of those habits fast. So I encourage all of our listeners to do that. So you got into public speaking. I know working with business owners as a business coach speaking can make you money. So let's talk about how to storytell, how to most impact audiences and get people's attention. Where would one start?

Speaker 2: 7:07

audiences and get people's attention. Where would one start? Well, so I want to dig in just for a moment where you said speaking can help with sales, and I want to walk through why. That is because when I started my first business, how did I get, how did I get customers? How did I get clients? Well, I started to make calls, I started to send out emails, I started to send out postcards. I was in the real estate industry, I was knocking doors. I did what I needed to do in order to have conversations with people.

Speaker 2: 7:36

Now, if you have a business and you're doing that, you can feel the exhaustion. After a while you come across a little bit of fatigue. Sometimes it can be a lot to go chasing after one person, especially if you run a coaching business or something like that. You're trying to get one coaching client. You're running after one person. That can be challenging. So when business owners come to me and they say, oh my gosh, I'm so fatigued from chasing people, well I ask, what if you didn't have to chase one person at a time? What if you could have a conversation with 100, 150, 200 people at a time? They would say, yeah, that would be good.

Speaker 2: 8:17

Yes, that is called a speech, that is called a talk, that is called public speaking, and the benefit there again is, instead of one-to-one, it's one-to-many. And so when I talk about public speaking and stages, a lot of people immediately freak out and they say, oh my gosh, I'm afraid of public speaking, I can't get on stages. I say, wait a minute, we're not just talking about getting on stages and ballrooms. We may also be talking about video, because when you get on video and you're speaking, you're speaking to an audience of more than just one or two people.

Speaker 2: 8:50

And so if you're a business owner, I'm recommending a couple of things. Number one get on stages in front of people, get in boardrooms, get in front of the, in the front of the lectern at the chamber of commerce session or meeting. Stand up at a networking meeting and introduce yourself. Give your 30 second, your 60 second pitch. That that that all counts as public speaking. And if you can stand, live streaming or getting on camera or, as Michael Morrison is doing, getting on a podcast, a video podcast all of those are avenues to speak publicly, public speaking.

Speaker 1: 9:27

I remember the first time I ever set foot on a stage as an introvert, and it was when one of our marketing people were trying to take some professional pictures. Just the thought of getting on that stage, getting up there with no one in the chairs, was so intimidating. So what? What's some insider tips that you can give for people to get over that anxiety? Just to get started, cause I know that's where most people struggle.

Speaker 2: 9:54

Yeah. So I have people that come to me for public speaking coaching and one of the questions that they ask oh my gosh, robert, how do I get rid of the butterflies? Because every time I go to speak, I just it starts to well up in my belly and I just start to feel the anxiety and the nerves start coming up. And I respond I say listen, our job isn't to get rid of the butterflies, it's to help them fly in formation. What do I need to do with those? That the energy that's coming, that I feel welling up in my body? How can I, instead of telling it that it's nerves, how do I tell it that it's? Instead it's excitement and preparation. Because a science teacher background here, from a scientific perspective, the same chemicals that cause anxiety, the same chemicals that cause nerve nervousness, are the same chemicals that cause anxiety. The same chemicals that cause nervousness are the same chemicals that cause excitement, right, and so the difference is experience, prior knowledge and me telling my brain what to interpret those feelings or the secretion of those chemicals as, and so when I go to speak, as long as I've been speaking, I still have the same butterfly feelings.

Speaker 2: 11:11

But now, backstage, I'll do what Tony Robbins does. When Tony Robbins gets ready to go out on stage, there's a trampoline backstage and he jumps up and down on that trampoline because he's getting his energy. He's physiologically changing the state that he's getting his energy. You know, he's physiologically changing the state that he's in Right, and so that energy is now translated or transmitted outwards or transmitted towards my audience. So I shadow box, I do something with my energy because I'm telling my body okay, you're about to be amazing, listen, you're about to go serve the socks off of these people. You're about to do something phantasmic, something ridiculous, right, and so you've got to get into this state, into this energy space, so that what they receive from you is going to be memorable and transformational. So it's not about the nerves, it's about what you tell the nerves to do.

Speaker 1: 12:02

It's about what you tell the nerves to do. I remember in Toastmasters we're talking about stories, and at least the club that I was in the first speech that I had to get up and tell everybody was my story. I think it had to be five minutes or less. It was about me, and they always say you should know yourself well enough to talk about yourself. But even that was intimidating, and so I bring that up because even talking about ourselves can be difficult for some, talking about ourselves. But let's use some practical advice, some situations like, for instance, a networking event or maybe. How do you prepare for a keynote or what? Maybe not a keynote, but just getting up in front of people for a keynote, or what? Maybe not a keynote, but just getting up in front of people? How do you package those different stories so they're applicable to the circumstances?

Speaker 2: 12:51

I love it. So a lot of times people, they freak out a little bit about those speaking situations because they visualize themselves going up rambling, blanking and not knowing what to say next. Yes, Yep, I'm going to mess up.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Yeah. Or they go to get up there and they see this audience, the sea of eyeballs out in front of them, and the eyeballs are looking at him, like with expectation. What do I say now? Or what's this person going to share? Well, number one, the audience that you speak to, every audience is rooting for you. Every audience wants you to succeed, and so them looking at you with anticipation is not for judgment. They're looking for something exciting to happen there as well.

Speaker 2: 13:40

So we put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we try to give the kitchen sink, we try to give everything I share with public speaking clients. What is the one thing that you want your audience to remember If they could leave with nothing else? What is one takeaway that you want, even if you're telling your personal story? What is one thing that you want them to remember? I've got this framework that I share with some of my clients. It's called the EASE framework, e-a-s-e Energy ask, story, explain, deliver it forwards, create it backwards. So I'll say okay, what is one thing? If you're going to be telling a story about yourself, what is one thing that you want your audience to know? Okay, I want them to know that I'm resilient. Okay, cool. All right, what is a story in your life that would share that you're a resilient person? The time that I was riding my bicycle and I fell off. I had skinned my knee and I still got back up and started to ride my bicycle again and I fell off three more times. Okay, great story, cool. What is a question that you can ask to get them to that place? Okay, so I gave you the framework, I gave you the letters, but I didn't tell you what they meant.

Speaker 2: 14:55

Let me back up for a moment. So E-A-S-E stands for energy. Ask story, explain Energy, ask story. Explain what I wanted to explain, whether I wanted to know or what I want to explain to them. I wanted to explain to them that I'm resilient. What's the story? I'm gonna tell them a story about me falling off my bicycle.

Speaker 2: 15:13

What's a question that I can ask them? Okay, how many of you have ever experienced falling off your bicycle? How many of you have ever experienced pain? How many of you have gone through the process of learning to ride a bicycle? Cool, that's a question that I can ask. Okay, what's the energy that I want them to feel? Do I want it to be reflective? Do I want it to be exciting. What do I want? Okay, and that energy that I want may determine the question that I ask okay.

Speaker 2: 15:46

So I believe with a little bit of practice, anybody can put together that framework really quickly. As a matter of fact, I don't believe it. I've seen it. I've done it over and over again. So if I now go up there and they say, hey, tell me a story about yourself, I'm simply saying, okay, how many of you have ever ridden a bicycle before? Was it easy? Was it hard? People raise their hands Okay, cool. Well, you know what? When I was 10 years old, I was learning how to ride my bicycle and I had the same experience that most people do you get on, it's wobbly and you fall over. But this was back in the day, when parents believed that you didn't need training reels to ride a bicycle.

Speaker 1: 16:29

So I drink out of a water hose. All that, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:34

So you know, I tell the story and at the end of the story I say why am I sharing this story with you? Or what does this mean for you? Well, it means that even in situations where challenges occur, even when you skin your knee, you can get back up. And I've gotten back up again and again and again, and that's why I believe I'm successful at what I do, because of the resilience that I learned from that moment. And there's a story about me.

Speaker 1: 17:06

Yeah, that's powerful and it's interesting, it's impactful, it's relational yeah, right, because I know in sales, people buy from those they know, like and trust, and so now we have a connection, right? Yep, absolutely so in the sales process. How would one prepare a story? Because we hear this all the time the reason your content isn't being found and no one engages is because you're not telling stories, tell captivating, you know all that good stuff. So how does one prepare for their business to be impactful with their story?

Speaker 2: 17:43

So it's not just me telling my story. I'll say bluntly, your audience usually doesn't care about you. Thank you for saying that they care about themselves. Well, you know what's in it for me. They want to know how you are going to solve the issue, the challenge, the problem that is happening in their world, that they're focused on, that they're dealing with, until you so rudely interrupted their space, right? So if I am a business owner, I know that I've got a target audience of some sort. I know that I'm going to be going after a certain group of people. So my question is what are the challenges that this group of people typically has? What are the problems that they normally go through? I'll give an example.

Speaker 2: 18:33

I lived in Massachusetts and I was sitting in my living room and my doorbell rang. So I go to the door and I look out. There's a little hole, there's a little window in my door. So I look out and I see this dude in my driveway and he's got this big rectangular display board with these little square pieces on it. So I'm looking and I'm saying what's that? So I opened the door and he says hey, my name is Mark, I'm selling carpet. I got all of the different kinds of carpet here. Come on and feel the carpet I got, I got Berber, we got low pile, high pile, middle pile, gomer pile. Okay, if you've got that little reference. Okay, tells me how old you are, all right. He's like, yeah, we got all the piles, and come on and touch it.

Speaker 2: 19:13

So I'm out there and I'm touching the carpet, I'm touching, I'm saying OK, yeah, it feels cool, ok. And then after about three or four minutes of me touching the carpet and him just asking me hey, how's it feel? Hey, how does this one feel, how does that one feel? I open my door and floors and he says oh, okay. And he picks up his board and he walks down the street. So I tell the story and I'm like he did not step into my world at all. How could he have done that differently? Well, he might've come to my door and said hey, my name's Mark. I just came from across the street, judy, I met your neighbor and we were talking about her heating bill. I noticed that she had an oil tank and I noticed that you've got an oil tank out front. How are you feeling about your heating bill? He's got my attention because now I'm like dude, this stinks. I'm paying like $400 a month for my heating bill.

Speaker 2: 20:08

And I absolutely hate it, right, hate it Right. Then he can say to me well, what if I were able to show you or tell you about a way that you could save some money on your heating bill, right? So now he's actually told me a little bit of a story and I want you to get this. He's not telling me a story about when he was a kid, he's telling me the story of my neighbor. Judy Just came from across the street. He's telling me about Judy and I'm like okay, I connect with Judy. I know and like and trust Judy because Judy's my neighbor.

Speaker 2: 20:41

I know what Judy's situation is and I've got the same challenge as Judy. Oh my gosh, we got a neighborhood problem here High oil bills. So now he's like what if I were to tell you a little bit about this? You know, I noticed that you had hardwood floors, but I've got some carpet here and I've heard that or we have some statistics or we've got some stuff that says, even if you don't put carpet over your entire house, if you put it strategically in certain areas within this certain size, you're guaranteed to save about this much per year on your oil bill, right? So he's gotten into my world. He understands the challenge, he understands the problem that I have and he's used a story, he's brought something or someone in that I already know, that I like, I trust, and he's made connection and now we can have a conversation about the solution that he's offering.

Speaker 1: 21:32

How would one business owner prepare these short, medium and long stories? In other words, you're listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is produced by my company, boss. Our business is helping yours grow. Boss offers business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. Now let's get back to our special guest. How would one business owner prepare these short, medium and long stories? In other words, you mentioned something that Toastmasters helps with and I didn't do it very long, but where you're talking about always being prepared for different situations and I forget the term that you used, but it's kind of like having a script or a deck in your back pocket. Oh, we're 30 second elevator, I'll just whip out this one or this one or that one. How does one prepare? Because I'm sure you can be speaking on the spot.

Speaker 2: 22:45

Well, so that happens. It's not a magic pill that you swallow, it's not the matrix red or blue that you swallow. There's some practice, there's some stuff that you've got to do to prepare. There's a great book by a guy named Matthew Dix, called Storyworthy, and in that book he has this process that he walks through daily and he sits down at the end of the day and he says okay, what were five experiences or five things that happened to me today? He writes down five things. It doesn't matter what it is. I got some potato chips at the gas station today, okay cool. What else I walked? I ran into an old friend in the elevator, okay cool. So he writes down five things On the other side of the page. Beside each of those stories, he then writes okay, what was a lesson that I learned from that story? What is he doing? Lesson that I learned from that story? What is he doing?

Speaker 2: 23:39

He's capturing stories and he's adding lessons to those stories. He's adding points, he's adding explanations to those stories. He's making connections between life, emotions and real-time stories. What that does is it gets you in the habit of capturing stories. It gets you in the habit of capturing stories. It gets you in the habit of observing and paying attention. The more that you can do that, the easier it is going to be for you to be able to grab a story that is relatable to the people who you're talking to. So in business, there are a couple of stories that I want you to have in your back pocket all the time. Number one is your origin story. How did your business get started? Why did it get started? What does that do? It tells people the journey of where you came from. That's number one story. Second story that I want you to have is your why story. Why do you do this? Why are you passionate about this particular business thing? Why does this matter to you? Why do you get hyper? Why do you get excited when?

Speaker 2: 24:40

you start talking about this. That's your why story. The third story I want you to have is a client story. If you've walked through business or you've sold a product process program to a client and it's helped them in a certain way, what was that like for them? How did you walk through them? How did you journey with the client through that situation?

Speaker 2: 25:06

If I'm a real estate agent I want to talk to, I want to share some stories about, oh, the client, the last first time home buyer that I worked with. I want to share a story about, oh, my gosh, a client that had been burned by a bad sale or foreclosure before, but we got together and now they are in this home and they have this beautiful home for their family. Right, I want to have a client story so that people see, okay, here's how this person's vibes and here's how they work with people, here's how they connect with people and here's how. Here's why I can trust them, because they seem authentic and real and they seem like somebody I would like and maybe even have a friendship with.

Speaker 1: 25:50

No, I can trust, just can't say it enough. Well, you do. You have quite a few programs I'm seeing on your website, so can you talk us through those, because I guarantee there's a handful or a lot more that want to know how you can help them and what are these programs that you can help them with and how can they take that and grow their business?

Speaker 2: 26:15

Well, we just did a summit called the Amplify Voice and Video Summit in April, and that was about how you can use your voice and video to improve your sales, increase your visibility, and so out of that, we are doing a two-day intensive in August August 27th and 28th here in DC, where day one is going to be voice, day two is going gonna be video. So day one, we're gonna be walking through how you can pull from your experiences and create a signature talk, signature story, something that you can use on a regular basis to get on stages, to get on podcasts, to access media opportunities, to get in front of your ideal clients and know how to connect with them effectively. Then, day two, we're gonna be walking through how you can create content around that and I'm gonna be doing some interviewing and we're gonna be making sure I'm gonna share some frameworks that people can use to create content pretty quickly, easily connective, so that whenever they're on video they're not just rambling, they're sharing a journey with their, with their customers, with their prospects, that that connects with the problem that they have. So those are the. That's the biggest thing that we're doing right now, but of course we do have other courses like studio savvy, how to set up and get on camera.

Speaker 2: 27:38

We've got some stuff about how to create a talk in five minutes, and then we've got some other downloads like how to how to create hooks that grab people's attention, questions that you can ask in order to to to start out your talk in a way that engages your audience immediately. So yeah, there are a few of those there, man. So, yeah, way that engages your audience immediately. So, yeah, there are a few of those there, man. So, yeah, we'd love to help you be a voice and video superstar.

Speaker 1: 28:07

Well, I know there's a lot of people out there, and that kind of leads me to the next question, and this is kind of might be a little bit subjective, but you know, there's just some people that get on stage and you can feel the vibe right, like it's just a natural, authentic. And then somebody else gets up on stage and you're like don't do that, don't, don't. That makes me uncomfortable.

Speaker 1: 28:29

Like that's not even your personality and I don't even know you. So what? Like I said, this might be the subjective part, because some people have that natural ability, but on average, do people practice storytelling, getting on stage daily, weekly, I mean, how often or how much practice does it take to kind of get that authentic?

Speaker 2: 28:52

vibe, you got to practice as much as possible. So I read this article last week about Chris Rock. So Chris Rock, for people who don't know, is a comedian, the dude that got slapped by Will Smith.

Speaker 1: 29:08

Okay, now everybody knows who that is.

Speaker 2: 29:10

Now they know who he is. So Chris Rock is a comedian. He's been a comedian for a while and when he goes on tour I mean sells out stadiums, halls and a lot of people think just a really funny guy. Somebody asked him how does he prepare for his tours and he said well, you know, before I go on tour, I do 40 or 50 shows at some nondescript comedy clubs, just practicing and prepping material, seeing what jokes hit and what don't, what jokes don't. So if you've seen a comedian like Chris rock on TV, they're up there for 30, 40 minutes just cracking jokes and you're like whoa, they're pro at this. Yeah, at some of these small comedy clubs it's been reported by by people that were in attendance that sometimes he's got notes and notebooks and papers up there and he's kind of fumbling through those and sometimes he'll say, yeah, that one didn't work and he'll cross off a note in a notebook, right, yeah, so he's literally workshopping stuff, live, and he doesn't even care how it looks, he doesn't care whether people are.

Speaker 2: 30:19

Are you a professional? What do you mean? You got paper in your notebook and you're reading a joke out of that. What are you talking about, right? So if I want to be a top notch salesperson, if I want to be a top notch storyteller, if I want to be a top notch speaker. What is my practice regimen like?

Speaker 2: 30:38

Right, you're saying, does it have to be every day? Does it have to be every day? Does it have to be every week? Once a week? Listen, I don't know what the frequency is, because I don't know what your talent level is. I don't know what your ease of acquisition of skill set is. Whatever it is for you have, determine what it is and then have consistency with it. Right, malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hours in the book Outliers. Yeah, right, you've got to have a certain level of practice in order to achieve a certain level of not just proficiency but expertise. So, if you want to be better at closing, if you want to be better at connecting with people, if you want to be better at closing, if you want to be better at connecting with people, if you want to be better at communicating, then it takes work. You've got to practice.

Speaker 1: 31:26

Yeah, I will say, coming from the strong introvert that I had, I can still go backwards. In other words, I speak in front of people, probably not stages like you, but I do speak in front of a lot of people. No-transcript, you just have to start. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:14

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. And then do it again and again and even during COVID. For me and I haven't shared this, but I'm in agreement with you Myers-Briggs says that Robert Kennedy III is an introvert as well, right, okay. And so when I tell a lot of people, they're like no, no, I'm like listen, yeah, introvert doesn't mean I'm shy or I don't like people.

Speaker 1: 32:38

It just means that I've got a limit. I'm going to use that. I love that.

Speaker 2: 32:48

I've got a limit my people meter. When it gets to a certain place, yeah, then I've got to exit stage left, right. If I'm speaking for a workshop or if I've done a certain amount and people are, I come down and people are like, yay, let's go to happy hour. I'm like, no, I'm going to my hotel room Because I have poured out all of the energy. Introversion simply means that people drain energy from you. Extroversion is my gosh. You pull energy from people.

Speaker 2: 33:14

My wife is the total opposite of me. She is a flaming extrovert. We go to an amusement park. She wants to shut the place down. She wants to stay until the last firework has been lit and they kick you out a couple hours, three hours. I'm like, okay, let's go Right, I want to go. So you know knowing who you are is is helpful and that doesn't limit you from a speaking or getting on stages and in the pandemic man, I love the pandemic. Outside of the pain, I enjoyed being online in my office in here and just not really people around, but I was still getting in my reps because I was doing a lot of live streaming and I was going out to audiences and especially when it's live and you have that interaction with people. That's an audience and that kept me speaking in front of people. So whatever you can do to practice that and just get your reps in yeah, repetition.

Speaker 1: 34:14

Well, let's pivot. The show is called Small Business Pivot. Let's pivot a little bit to the business side. What are some things that you've learned growing your business that you think everyone should know? Maybe things not to do, or maybe things make sure you do this. It wasn't until this that the needle really moved. Or share a little bit about your business insights, yeah.

Speaker 2: 34:38

So biggest advice or biggest thing that stuck with me is get help before you think you need it. Yes, a lot of us try to build businesses on our own. Raise your hand if you're guilty. We try to build businesses on our own and we try to do all the things. And you know, I think in the beginning of most entrepreneurial journeys you are the janitor, you're the admin, you're the marketer, you're the you know, you're the operations person, you're the chief everything officer at that point, and so you get used to doing that. But at some point, if you want a sustainable business, if you want a business that grows, if you want a business that scales, if you want a business that allows you to get on vacation for a month without you know you having to freak out about the bank account, then you've got to allow other people into that space. You've got to allow and get some additional help and resources even before you think you can afford it.

Speaker 1: 35:45

Amen, my friend, amen, if people are listening to this, when it uploads originally, all of our social media content is on not being afraid to ask for help, and so we kind of share stories of small business owners, possibly because we offer business loans, also possibly not applying for a business loan because they're afraid of people seeing they might need help, right, so it holds them back. It holds their business back. So I love that you share that, because that goes right in line with what we're trying to get across currently in our social media. Anything else in your business that you would say has been impactful?

Speaker 2: 36:28

Wow. So, continuing on with the help line of thinking, strategic partnerships, right, because a lot of times, we are encouraged to view people or view other businesses as competitors, and the truth is that while our world is limited, it's still a big space and there's a lot of pie. There's a lot of pie for a lot of people. And if you are willing to say you know what, here's my zone of genius, here's my expertise, I'm good at this thing, but I know that Mike is good at this other thing, and that really fits right in with with, with, with what I do, right?

Speaker 2: 37:14

So, for example, if you make make, if your business is making pizza, but you happen to know that, um, someone makes drinks and you're like, okay, cool, I got people that need pizza, that like that, come to come to my place to get pizza, but after they eat they're a little bit thirsty. Okay, let me partner with Mike the drink guy and see if we can create a drive-through or we can create something where, okay, you buy half a pizza, you get a drink free, or you buy a drink, you get half a pizza free, or whatever it is. Look to create strategic partnerships. Partnerships, look to connect with other businesses who you might think are your competitors in a space and see what you can create together, because that power of the mastermind, the power of strategic partnership, is amazing and those were some things that I found out a little bit later than I wanted to, but it's those. Some of those moments are have really caused the growth in my business.

Speaker 1: 38:22

Awesome. Well, I know you've got a lot of people out here going. I want to learn more. Where can they find you? Is there resources out there? Where's the best social media channel to follow you and get to know you more?

Speaker 2: 38:35

Well, LinkedIn is where I land. That's where I hang out mostly. I've got other channels. I'm RobertKennedy3 on all social channels except for TikTok Real RobertKennedy3 on TikTok, because some dude took the RobertKennedy3. And he wasn't even active. I was a little bit upset. Tiktok wouldn't let me get that. But anyway I digress.

Speaker 1: 38:54

Same.

Speaker 2: 38:58

But, yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn. If you go to robertkennedy3.me, you will see links to my training site, my speaker website and some of the other programs that we have. So that's where.

Speaker 1: 39:12

That's where I can be found Fantastic, fantastic. Well, I always end with one question, and that is, if, for you this will be natural, but for many not. If you were in front of a lot of small business owners, different seasons of business, some startups, some 20 years old, different industries, what's one tip that you could say is applicable for all of them? It could be a quote or a book, or just something that you've learned.

Speaker 2: 39:39

Man. We've been talking about that the entire episode. Talk to people, get in front of a crowd. Get in front of a group of people. Stop chasing people one by one. Get in front of a group of people. Even if you work with people one by one, even if you're a coach and you're saying I just want to coach people one by one, well, talk to 50 people at the same time and tell them about the value and the benefits of coaching, or how coaching has changed the trajectory of your life and business, and some specific tips or some ideas about how they can increase the value of their life and business as well, and then invite them to have some conversations with you after that. But it's easier to do that one-to-many as opposed to doing it one-to-one, because that's a lot of gas.

Speaker 1: 40:27

Fantastic advice. Well, you've been a wealth to many and I appreciate you. Rk3. Yes, sir, I didn't forget your last name. This time Got you. Well, you have a great one and we'll see you around. Thank you, michael.

Speaker 2: 40:40

Well, you have a great one and we'll see you around.

Speaker 1: 40:41

Thank you, michael. Thank you for listening to Small Business Pivots. This podcast is created and produced by my company, boss. Our business is growing yours. Boss, offers flexible business loans with business coaching support. Apply in minutes and get approved and funded in as little as 24 to 48 hours at businessownershipsimplifiedcom. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and share it as well. If you need help growing your business, email me at michael at michaeldmorrisoncom. We'll see you next time on Small Business Pivots.