134: {Interview} What to expect at Stand Up and Sell Out with Taylor Smith

Friends, you know I'm always preaching about the importance of getting in the rooms. Well THIS room is one you are going to want to be in. July 23rd- July 25th the Stand Out to Sell Out Virtual Summit is happening and it is going to be truly EPIC! If you are a female entrepreneur or even if you work in corporate and want to build your personal brand, this even is for you! Taylor has hand picked the most amazing experts and speakers for this 3 day event. And did I mention that it's FREE. I'll be there speaking on how to Leverage LinkedIn and spilling all of the LinkedIn marketing tea. But come join us! 

Link HERE to register

Thanks for listening! 

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Transcript

Caroline Pennington (00:01.196)
Welcome, Taylor.

Taylor (00:03.023)
Hi Caroline, thanks for having me on again.

Caroline Pennington (00:07.758)
So for those listening that don't know, Taylor and I met live at an event, what was it, a year, year and half ago, GDML, and we've become fast friends since. But tell us where you are now and how did you get there?

Taylor (00:15.269)
Yeah

Taylor (00:24.727)
Okay, that's like a big question. Tell me everything.

Caroline Pennington (00:28.384)
Okay, let's go through, how did you get to be a community builder, entrepreneur, mastermind, coordinator, event host? I want to hear all of it.

Taylor (00:36.517)
All the things, got it, on it, okay. Still the same big question. Okay, so I am a business marketing strategist. My areas of expertise are personal branding, community building, and digital products, and really growing a business online. So if you heard me actually on the podcast, what was that, back in January or February, Caroline, we talked about digital products.

There are so many other areas besides just courses or memberships that are ways you can monetize and grow your business online. And one of those is like building community. So connecting people not just to you, but to other people who have shared goals and interests. And this has been an interest of mine and an area that I just keep circling back to for a very long time. And a big reason for that is because I have a BA in MA in anthropology.

My first and only planned career was to be a teacher and to be in work in public education. And I became a college professor at 23 years old. And it did not take me very long to realize I was incredibly underpaid and undervalued and that really, really sucked. And so I had to get out of public education, went into corporate education for a little bit before going on and realizing that my skills were.

incredibly transferable. Like they transferred so well into entrepreneurship. So I always tell people that, if you came from like working in public service or you came from corporate, you already have, I guarantee you all the skills you need to be successful in a business because you already know project management, you already have good communication. There's so many things of value there. and so I started building businesses. I'm a four time founder and I've also pivoted a lot.

And in that process, for a long time, I was really embarrassed by that. was like, I don't want to tell people about all the businesses I own because they're going to think I'm really flaky and I can't commit to anything. And then after a while I realized, but you might be worried about your pivots, but somehow that's not affecting your bank account. People are still paying you no matter what. And the sweet spot for that, that big revelation was, because people are buying into me, my personal brand, my community, my values and what I stand for.

Taylor (02:50.723)
And so that's also what I help people on today is how do you monetize your expertise and how do you grow a strong personal brand and build community online?

Caroline Pennington (02:59.566)
Ooh, I'm so glad you brought up that pivot thing because I've pivoted several times before and to anyone listening to this podcast, the revenue is still coming in. The worst thing that's gonna happen is like, you're gonna maybe get a DM that's like, hey, I thought you were doing X. And it's just like, nope, I'm not anymore. So move on.

Taylor (03:15.086)
Yeah.

Taylor (03:19.577)
Surprise! Plot twist. Honestly, the number of people who have said that to me is probably like I could count them on one hand. It's so little, it's all in your head for the most part.

Caroline Pennington (03:27.182)
I was like

same as less than five that have done that to me. Everyone else is like, I don't care what you're doing. We just love it.

Taylor (03:36.587)
Yeah, exactly. It doesn't matter what you're doing, I just want to be a part of it. Just tell me more.

Caroline Pennington (03:43.502)
So why is building community so important? mean, you and I have both been leaders, speakers, attendees of these rooms. Why is it important to invest the time, invest the money in getting in these rooms?

Taylor (03:57.539)
Yeah, so community for me is kind of on both sides. So, or you like to think of yourself as a planet. Bear with me on this. Pretend you're planet Earth and you've got other planets around you. Someday I'm going to come up with a better analogy for this, but let's go with that when it works, okay? You have people around you who are ahead of you, who are at the same level as you, who are a few steps behind you, but are doing something different so you can still learn from them, but you can also teach them and help them as well.

We're not meant to do life or business alone. And you will actually slow your growth if you don't invest the time and money and effort into focusing on growing that ecosystem of people around you. And what it does is it builds your credibility when you're associated with other people who are successful because people like to buy from people who are winning. You learn so much, you avoid expensive mistakes and

You're in the process creating a group of people who see you and want to follow you. So then you become the leader of that community as well.

Caroline Pennington (05:06.286)
I'm glad that you said that. I literally did a podcast today, a sassy solo that came out, going off about this, that when you go into these rooms, whether or not you're speaking, a panelist, or just an attendee, have the mindset of giving. Giving the information that you have, give to a colleague or someone, girlfriend you just meet, whatever it is, skill that you have that they don't, so that you can help them, and that will go so much further than coming into a room and saying, okay, what can you do for me?

Taylor (05:34.347)
Mm-hmm. I listened to that episode by the way. It was really good one. I was like, yes Caroline give me more Because people make I just to be so fully transparent like I have a conference We hosted nearly a hundred women in our room this year. I had literally dozens probably over 30 People asked me if they could speak. I had a post that went viral. I got a hundred and fifty application almost none of those two

Two of those people bought a ticket to my event. Not a single one went and left me a podcast review. None of them, like I think I had five commenting on my social. And this is exactly what you were talking about in that episode, Caroline. You're like, if you want opportunities, you gotta lead with value and you gotta give to other people first. You can't just expect them to be like, yeah, you're an expert. Cool, I'll have you on my stage. Expertise is not enough.

Okay, that's done. I'm done raging on your podcast.

Caroline Pennington (06:35.062)
No, it was so good because for this podcast right here, I can't tell you how many DMS I get and people slide into my DMS and they're like, Hey, let me tell you how great I am. And I'm like, great. Well, I'm sure you're really cool. And you know, all the things, but like, how can you serve my audience? And I really protect all of that. tried to in this podcast as best as I can. And that's why I the podcast about it, because people come in at like, what can you do for me? When actually you need to reverse that and say, what can you do for them?

Taylor (06:45.401)
Mm-hmm.

Taylor (07:04.709)
Mm-hmm. And you brought up such a good point, and I think about that too a lot. So if you are someone who wants more speaking opportunities and just collaborations, you want to get featured somewhere, be aware that hosts, we carry a lot of responsibility for the people we're leading. Like, it's a big responsibility to lead a community and to make sure that the guests we have on and the people that we associate with are ethical and credible and responsible.

And so we're not just going to, um, you know, at the drop of a hat, just cause you told me how great you are, have you on to talk to my audience? Like you probably are great, but I need to be protective of what I built because people are looking to me and they, it's so crazy to think about, but like when I say, Hey, do this thing, use this product, people do it. And that's.

cool and terrifying because you're like, if people are actually implementing what I'm saying, I need to have so much respect and be so careful of that. And so as a host, like there's a lot of responsibility and I have to be protective of my community in that way.

Caroline Pennington (08:14.766)
appreciate you bringing that up because I'm the same way. Like anything you hear me talk about that I do or I take or I consume is stuff that I really do because I can't tell you how many emails I get a week of companies, especially AI recently companies trying to, they want to pay me to post about their company on LinkedIn and that dollar mountain goes up literally every other day. Do I take it? No. Would I get paid? Yes. But I don't want to, I don't want to like have that kind of community and

Taylor (08:29.092)
Yes.

Caroline Pennington (08:44.056)
put that out there to people that are following me.

Taylor (08:46.595)
Yeah, I mean, it's just at the end of the day, you got to make choices about who you are and act on the choices, act on your mission and your values. And even something as small as collaborations or podcast interviews all factor into that.

Caroline Pennington (09:02.378)
Okay, so let's talk about your virtual summit that's happening this month. Tell me all the things about standout and sellout.

Taylor (09:10.093)
I'm so excited. We are, this is our first big digital event. So we host, my brand is called The Power Table and we host multiple live events throughout the year, in person here in Florida. And then we have different things online throughout the year. We have a live in-person conference. I mentioned it's almost a hundred women. And then this year we're starting a brand new virtual summit, July 23rd to 25th. It's called Standout and Sellout.

And it's a free online business conference. The one you want to attend, the one you've got so much FOMO about and everyone's buying tickets and flying to, except you can do it in your pajamas at home. You can do it in your yoga pants and you don't have to put makeup on and you don't have to get on a plane. But I've brought over 45 of my incredible connections, speakers, experts in all areas of personal branding, PR, visibility.

marketing to help you position yourself and your brand in a way that doesn't play small, in a way that gets credibility and recognition and a lot more clients.

Caroline Pennington (10:18.156)
love that and can't wait. And for those of you listening, I am speaking in that series too about all things LinkedIn. And so make sure and sign up because I'm going to be spilling all the tea. Okay. So what's lighting up with some of the clients that you're working with right now?

Taylor (10:35.545)
Ooh, that's a great question. Right now, a lot of clients are getting like speaking opportunities, podcasts, like we're really focusing on that visibility and authority piece, which is very, very exciting. It's really cool to see women who are great at what they do finally, you know, turn the dial up and use their voice. And they're landing those kind of connections through exactly what we've been talking about, right? So like networking, getting in the room.

making the ask, like putting themselves out there, leading with value. And they're like, Taylor, I got a speaking gig. And I'm like, of course you did. You were leading with value. You were showing up. You were consistent. That's what makes me really excited right now.

Caroline Pennington (11:18.2)
So how can our listeners find out about the summit and connect further with you?

Taylor (11:23.011)
Yes, you can go to standoutandsellout.com. Caroline's also going to have the link in the show notes. If you want to come connect with me, my podcast is called the Power Table podcast. You can find us on Instagram at the power table.co. Or if you want to personally connect with me, I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn at Taylor Smith online.

Caroline Pennington (11:44.152)
Thanks, Taylor.

Taylor (11:45.295)
Thank you for having me.