Transcription
Dave Bricker (00:07)
Want to expand your speaking and storytelling skills and grow your influence business? This is Speekipedia Media, brought to you by speakipedia.com. I’m your host, Dave Bricker, bringing you straight talk and smart strategies from visionary speakers and thought leaders. Today’s guest helps people unlock potential and amplify their talent, and he does it with his unique blend of energy, expertise, and his musician’s soul.
After 20 years of experience in award-winning talent and leadership development programs, he founded his own business, Unlock and Amplify, to help develop leaders, teams, and workplace cultures that resonate and engage. He brings his creative approach to audiences across the globe as a world-class speaker, singer-songwriter, and occasional game show host. Please welcome speaker, author, and musical motivator, Rick Lozano.
Rick Lozano (01:05)
Hello everybody, hello Dave, so great to be here. Thanks for having me.
Dave Bricker (01:08)
Yeah, thanks for joining me today. So Rick, you’ve managed to accomplish something many people dream of. You’ve combined your personal passion for music with your business background. You’re not stuck in a cubicle, you’re not playing in bars until 2am. So what led you into speaking? What is your story?
Rick Lozano (01:11)
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
My story. So I can give you the factual version or the fun version, but let me just quickly give you some of the facts. I built a career in leadership and talent development, and the majority of that was working as a trainer. And so I’d been training for years and years and years, and I was always in front of audiences. And one day, a leader encouraged me to bring my guitar to work.
And that’s kind of how it happened. But that’s the boring version, Dave. And your viewers, the people listening to Speakipedia want a little bit more. So I’m gonna give you something. Here we go.
I was doing a keynote presentation in Columbia, South Carolina a while back and a gentleman came up to me after the keynote and he says, oh that was great, thank you so much for being with us. He said, let me ask you this, how do I be like you? I said, what? What do you want to be like me? What do you mean? He said, no, like how do you become a speaker? How do you do this thing?
And this might be of interest to your audience because there’s no one right way. And I told him that, I said, everyone I know who’s in this industry arrived in a different way. And so he said, okay, but what was your way? And so I told him my path and he said, cool, that’s great. You know what, Rick, you should write a song about it. And I said, oh, okay, sure. He said, no, really. Write a song about it and call it How to Be Like Me.
So I did. So this, Dave, is the step-by-step process for anyone here on Speakapedia who wants to know, this is how you become a professional speaker. Here’s how to be like, this is a total joke by the way, but here we go.
Graduate from college with a useless degree. Move to California to set yourself free. Grow your hair long and join a crappy band and that’s how you be like me. Move to Colorado with a girl who is a clown. That’s not an insult by the way, Dave. She was studying clowning in college, so it’s clown college, it’s a thing, you know. Move to Colorado with a girl who is a clown. Break up because she’s afraid to settle down.
Move back to Texas for a teaching degree and that’s how you be like me. Move back to Colorado for a woman that you’ve met. Struggle for the bills cause you don’t have a job yet. Marry then divorce. See how easy this can be? That’s how you be like me. Alright, now here’s where it gets complicated. Play, pay close attention.
Quit teaching, move to banking. Quit banking, back to teaching. Quit teaching, back to banking. Get a job, teaching banking. See how that works? Stay a corporate trainer, cause you love what you do. Work for a tech company, try something new. No more suits and ties, all my body you will see. And that’s how you be like me. Find the love of your life, get married, celebrate.
She thinks this song is stupid, but I think it’s really great. Become a singing speaker who teaches how to lead, and that’s how you be like me. One more time. That’s how you be like me. All together now, that’s how you be like me. That’s the step-by-step process, Dave. That’s how it happens.
Dave Bricker (04:44)
Ha ha ha!
I like it.
Rick Lozano (04:48)
Well, let’s check your progress. So those of you watching Speakapedia right now, A, have you dated a clown? Has that happened yet? Okay, so you’ve got some work to do. Thank you, Dave. Thank you for allowing me to share that.
Dave Bricker (05:02)
That’s wonderful and guarantees that this interview will be like no other ever. So that’s fun Thank you. Thank you for doing that but on the serious note, I mean I love the Biography song I think that’s wonderful What what was the path? I mean you’ve got the training background and all of that stuff and you
Rick Lozano (05:08)
There you go.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (05:30)
We’re asked to bring your guitar to work one day. So I’m wondering.
Rick Lozano (05:33)
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (05:35)
If you are like me, you kind of have your musical aspirations in this bucket over here and your professional aspirations in this much wealthier bucket over here because the music business is kind of tough. And at some point you said, wait a second, I can combine them like you did a moment ago. And I think a number of our listeners may be struggling with something like that.
Rick Lozano (05:41)
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dave Bricker (06:05)
Am I speaking?
Rick Lozano (06:10)
You know, I think there is a balancing act here. And the truth about it, Dave, is I can bring my guitar and I can be funny and I can play these songs, but I can’t just do that. I have to provide some sort of value or some sort of transformation to my audiences. So it’s about finding the right way to do it. And for example, I know lots of keynote speakers who have different angles, different schtick, if you will, that they bring, and that’s great.
but it can’t be just about that. There’s gotta be some other ways that you’re connecting with audiences to help them do whatever they’re trying to do. And yeah, in my particular case, it just so happened that I brought the guitar to work, but at the same time, what I was doing is I was taking those ideas that I had for my business life, and for me that was leadership and talent development, and I started speaking about that. I just happened to be using my guitar in the process, and that sort of created this domino effect where it was entertaining, but at the same time it was engaging
educational and people said you know what I want more of that and the times when I’ve aired is when I’ve gone one side or the other too far so it’s about finding that balance.
Dave Bricker (07:16)
Yeah, I love that because I know it for me.
Like I’ve used sailing as my metaphor, as my shtick, because we all have oceans to cross. We all have to deal with storms. We all have to navigate. There are so many metaphors in sailing for business and life. And you’re finding these in music and you’ve got programs called Find Your Jam, Acoustic Leadership, Amplify Your Impact. And this idea of bringing these non-business elements into the world of business
Rick Lozano (07:22)
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (07:50)
I mean, hey, are we allowed to do that?
Rick Lozano (07:53)
Well, I hope so because I’m going to do it anyway. That’s just the way I’m wired. You know, again, the answer is yes, you’re allowed to do that as long as you can find a way to help people, whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish. When I think about most organizations, we get very myopic.
We get stuck in this one way of thought, this one way of doing things, and I think it’s sometimes very helpful to get somebody from a completely different world to introduce an idea so that we can see it in a different way. And that’s what I do with the music. I say, okay, let’s think like a musician. How would musicians solve these problems? How would musicians look at creating team cultures that resonate? What can we learn from people who feel stuck? Well, let’s look at what musicians are doing. Here’s how they create. And getting that lens,
perspective gets people out of their everyday life and it says, you know what, I can do that. I have a new tool, a new perspective to use. So that’s really helpful I think for a lot of cases. But again, it’s about finding the balance.
Dave Bricker (08:54)
Absolutely love that. And so, so many people ask what we do and we say, I’m a speaker.
And they always stick this word in front of it. There’s that label. Oh, you’re a motivational speaker. There’s that M word, right? And there are some speakers who embrace that and do that well, and they tend to talk about, well, you have to love yourself and you have to think positive. And there’s sort of a few major topics, but some of them are very good. My goal is not to make fun of the motivational speakers, but…
Rick Lozano (09:09)
Yep.
Sure.
Dave Bricker (09:27)
we tend to respond like, no, I’m a business speaker. Because if we want to get hired by corporations, associations, people who actually have money to hire speakers, they’re usually looking for some sort of value they can plug into an Excel spreadsheet. And yet, you brand yourself as the musical motivator. And that suggests that many of us, myself included, may be biased about the importance of motivation. So do we have to choose
Rick Lozano (09:42)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (09:57)
between being business speakers and motivational speakers?
Rick Lozano (10:01)
No, we don’t. And I firmly believe that the best speakers are the ones who do both. They have that element of business impact, whether it be sales or culture or team development, but they’re also inspiring and motivating. And look, I think we have Chris Farley to blame. If you remember the old Saturday Night Live sketch when he said, I’m a motivational speaker living in a van down by the river. It became this sort of joke. But like you said,
It has its place. And Dave, I’m guilty. When I first got into the business, there was that, oh, you can’t call yourself a motivational speaker. You’ve gotta have a business impact. And yes, you do to a certain degree, but there’s also people who simply want to be inspired.
I was at the CSP Summit this last December. CSP, by the way, for your audience members who aren’t familiar, CSP stands for Certified Speaking Professional, and it’s the designation that you earn through the National Speakers Association. And at this summit, there’s lots of other CSPs there. And one of them, Justin Patton, said, you know what, when I think about speaking, there’s three different types of speakers. There’s educators, storytellers.
and entertainers and inspirers. And he said, you know what, there’s educators. How to do this thing that I’ve done. How to build this million dollar business, how to create a sales pipeline that’s better than ever. So they’re teaching you how to follow these steps to be successful. There’s the storytellers.
which in addition to people like you who are using stories, there’s also the people who climbed Mount Everest, they dove with great white sharks, they lost a limb, those kinds of life stories that are meaningful to people. And then he said, and then there’s you, people who entertain, motivate, and inspire. And he’s like, don’t be afraid to do that. That’s who you are.
And it’s funny because I remember Dave years ago, before I even started speaking, I remember one of my managers, when I worked in the banking world, she said, man, you should be a motivational speaker.
And every time I looked at my feedback, every keynote, every training, I saw these words inspiring, motivational, inspiring, motivational. And finally I said, you know what? I’m not running from this anymore. That’s one of the things that I do best. Why not motivate people? Why not inspire people? So do you have to be one or the other? Absolutely not.
Dave Bricker (12:25)
That’s an important message and it’s an important message for me too. Do you think it helps you from a marketing standpoint? I will talk about your website in a bit because I love your website, but you are the musical motivator. Do you think that tagline having the M word in your, in your tagline is a good business hook? Do you think that helps bring in business?
Rick Lozano (12:36)
Mm-hmm. Thank you.
I don’t know. I have been using that particular tagline for a very limited amount of time, so I have yet to road test it to its full potential, but here’s what I do know. When I was calling myself Rick Lozano, speaker, author, leadership consultant, I wasn’t getting as many calls back. So at least anecdotally, it’s starting to get somewhere, and I think the reason, Dave, is…
It’s distinguished, it’s different. And the truth of the matter is there is a ton of keynote speakers out there and they all seem and sound the same sometimes. They all do the same things, talk the same way, their websites look the same, and I’m not dissing anybody when I say that. But at least this is an opportunity to stand out. And I think anytime you can find the right balance again of how to distinguish yourself and still say, I’m providing value but I’m also different,
valuable.
Dave Bricker (13:40)
Yep, I like that.
I like that very much, that idea of using words like motivating, inspiring, because it certainly suggests outcomes for the audience. And it’s interesting, you and I have both been in the training business for a long time, and it’s always fascinated me because if you hire a keynote speaker to run their mouth for 45 minutes or an hour, I mean, you’re going to get inspired, hopefully. How much transformation do they expect to get out of that?
Rick Lozano (13:46)
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (14:11)
to a training program that costs a quarter of the price where they’re actually workshopping stuff and getting to interact directly with the speaker, questions, answers, exercises, things that you don’t usually do in a keynote. I’ve always thought that the pricing structure for training and keynoting was absolutely inverted. And yet, you know, there you go. So I think there’s something to that. Let’s…
Rick Lozano (14:15)
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Uh-huh.
Dave Bricker (14:37)
Let’s jump back to this business side because as speakers, we often get asked, what’s your topic? Let’s approach this in a better way. So what transformation do you deliver? What problems do you solve and for whom and how do audiences realize that value from your programs, that value you can plug into a spreadsheet, something in terms of time, stress, money, you get it.
Rick Lozano (14:40)
Okay.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, Dave, this is so important. And I’ve struggled with this for years. How do I communicate what I do in a way that says, yes, I’m providing value, but also distinguishes me and also makes me feel comfortable? That’s true to who I am. And so I’ve workshopped this a bunch. And I have a friend in NSA who helped me recently. We talked about it. Her name is Teresa Rose. She was really valuable in helping me think through this. And what we landed on when I’m communicating with potential clients,
I say this, I help people and organizations overcome stagnation, frustration, and resignation. And as you know, those are big issues in the world today. You name the workplace or industry, we all see these people struggling with this every single day. And so I say to people, you know what, these are the problems that I solve to help create productive and engaged cultures. And I do it in such a way that people say, you know what, I don’t need anything else.
And when I’m talking to leaders around the world, I hear the same thought. They say, well, you know what? We don’t have enough. We don’t have enough money. We don’t have enough headcount. We don’t have enough people. And look, I get it. I live in the real world too, mostly, just like you do. And I say, well, what are you doing with the talent and resources you already have? And that’s the truth of the matter, Dave. In every organization and with every individual, there’s talents and resources and skills we’re not completely utilizing.
Dave Bricker (16:11)
Hehehehehehe
Rick Lozano (16:25)
So I, in order to help people overcome stagnation, frustration, and resignation, I help them think differently about what they already have, how they can think about that work differently in order to produce new outcomes. And when people get an opportunity to sit with me and go or hear my presentations and or workshops, they learn these tools that say, you know what, that makes sense. I can do these things. I can get to that next step right now. I don’t need anything else.
Dave Bricker (16:53)
And it strikes me that, at least from a leadership perspective, where leaders are thinking, okay, I need a peg to plug into this hole to fulfill this role. I’m not worried about the people who I’ve already plugged in. I need to acquire new people. Oh, I guess I should pay a little bit of attention to keeping my existing people from leaving. But…
Rick Lozano (17:14)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (17:15)
But this idea of turning leaders into motivators, creating work cultures where people want to stay, people want to learn new skills, people feel listened to, people want to contribute more, it’s so important in the corporate world. So I think that’s a marvelous, marvelous direction to be taking. Yeah. So coming back to your website.
Rick Lozano (17:31)
Oh yeah.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you.
Dave Bricker (17:41)
Look, I ran a web design company for 22 years. I started back in 1995 when people still thought internet was a hair product. And I must say that your website, ricklizano.com
Rick Lozano (17:41)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Hahaha
Dave Bricker (17:55)
is one of the best speaker websites I’ve ever seen. The photography is top-notch, the copywriting is well done, and that’s a good compliment for me because as a copywriter and as a designer, I usually hate everybody else’s work. It just comes with being, you know, there’s a lot of circular imitation out there in the design and the writing world, and it’s been polluted even more with AI. The branding’s dialed in, and this is an important tool. Talk about how you
Rick Lozano (17:59)
Awesome.
I’m going to go ahead and close the video.
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (18:25)
organized that website, got it balanced out, and what advice can you offer to our listeners about building a speaker website, and what mistakes can they avoid?
Rick Lozano (18:35)
Yeah, well first thank you Dave. That is a huge compliment and I’m thrilled to hear it. In the last year I’ve done a lot of work on that website. The first thing that had to change, and maybe this is helpful for your audience, is I had to stop doing it myself. For many, many years I did work with a graphic designer, but I managed my website myself, and the truth is I made a mess of it. I ruined it, it was not very good, it was all over the place, and I finally said, you know what?
If I want to up level my speaking career, I need to up level every element of it.
And so I said, in this particular instance, I need to stop doing it myself and I need to pay professionals. And so I did. I hired a company that did it for me. They helped me design it in consultation with me and my branding. And we decided, OK, how can we make this come to life? And it was about finding that balance of making it about the person who’s on the website, reading the copy, while at the same time highlighting my unique approach. And so and by the way, I think that’s a mistake a lot of speakers make. They say, all right, well, I’m going to create a website.
completely look how awesome I am and oh my gosh you’re gonna love me.
And that’s great. And I want people to know that about me too, but the truth is they go to a website hoping to find something that speaks to them about themselves. How can you help them? And so I’ve been trying to craft that in just the right way. And Dave, I’m not done yet. There’s a lot of things that I think can make it even more impactful. And I’ll give you an example. I think I have too much copy right now. I think the copy is right, but I feel like it’s a little too much. So I’m gonna be working on that, but you know, yeah. In my case, I had to get out of my own way.
I had to hire professionals, let them do what they’re great at, while at the same time staying true to my unique value, my unique personality.
Dave Bricker (20:27)
Yeah, it comes back in a storytelling sense to tell your story about the audience, which doesn’t make sense at first, but…
Rick Lozano (20:33)
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (20:35)
Yeah, people want to read about the outcomes for them and then see you as a vehicle for achieving those outcomes. So good job on the website. I look forward to, and I encourage people also, something you’ve done that’s different. And I thought about it and I decided that I liked it is most people put their sizzle reel, their highlight reel right on the front page of the website. And you’ve got so much good content
Rick Lozano (20:46)
Thank you.
Dave Bricker (21:05)
of two to three minute videos on your video page. So people can find those there after they’re looking for it, but.
It’s not like you’ve got this big commercial for yourself, right, on the, in the header of the website. So, yeah, good, good job on that. And I encourage people to go to ricklazano.com and check out those videos and, and the rest of the sites. I know I’m going to be using that site for inspiration because I get into paralysis by analysis. And, you know, my site, my personal site’s getting a little bit stale. And I’ve put all my energy into speakipedia.com,
Rick Lozano (21:19)
Right?
Yeah.
Oh.
Uh-huh.
Dave Bricker (21:45)
of monumental effort.
Rick Lozano (21:48)
Yeah, I believe it. Thank you, Dave. I appreciate the compliments. It’s been a lot of hard work, but thank you.
Dave Bricker (21:52)
Yeah, I can tell, it stands out. So, many of our viewers and listeners are new to the speaking game. And they always ask this same question, how do you get over being nervous when you’re speaking in front of an audience? And we all start somewhere, right? None of us was born knowing how to speak a word. And so, have you dealt with nerves, imposter syndrome, and all that?
Rick Lozano (22:00)
Mm-hmm.
Huh? Oh, that’s such a great question. I remember, first of all, just from a presentation standpoint, I remember a coach I had once said, you know what, nerves, when you’re nervous, that’s nervous energy. What is nervous energy? Well, it’s energy that can be converted into positive energy that can help your audience. So that was one shift that helped me. But the truth, in my opinion, there’s nothing that beats putting in the reps.
You get better at speaking. You get better at overcoming your nerves by doing it and doing it.
and doing it. And Dave, I know you’ve been an active member of Toastmasters for a very long time, but that’s one resource, one mechanism for which people can go and put in the reps. The more you speak, the better you get, period. And the other part of that, from a content perspective, a lot of times nerves are created because people aren’t fully confident in their content.
When you put in the reps, when you get exposure and experience using your content, you begin to refine it. The more you refine it, the more confident you feel, the less nervous you feel, and I know that’s not the only answer, but again, putting in the reps is crucial. Now, imposter syndrome. Most of us have had it, some of us still have it, most of us deal with it at some point in our life, and look, first thing,
I think that’s a good thing. If you’re feeling a sense of imposter syndrome, that means that you are always trying to get a little bit better, and that’s okay. I think the other thing about imposter syndrome though is it comes very often from playing the comparison game. And it comes from saying, oh, well, I’ve gotta be like that person, and I’ve gotta do it like this person, and oh my God, they’re really great because they do this. The comparison game is a losing game. You’re never going to win it. Stop trying.
and stop trying to be like other people and instead embrace your unique self-step into that space that you were meant to fill. And once you do that, you begin to feel a sense of confidence. That’s at least one thought for you, Dave.
Dave Bricker (24:26)
Yeah. And I love that you brought up this comparison game, because let’s go back. We’re both guitar players, right? And the first time I heard Eddie Van Halen play Eruption, I thought, OK, it’s all over. Why do I even want to play? Or…
Rick Lozano (24:33)
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Yep, I’m done.
Dave Bricker (24:44)
Yeah, exactly. Or listen to a great West Montgomery solo or a Django Reinhardt solo. I mean, there are so many absolutely incredible players. I don’t think they stop to eat. I think they just practice 15 hours a day. I think, I think, I mean, certainly they were born by C-section so that they could get the guitar out at the same time as the baby. And you have these people out there and it’s so easy to just compare yourself to other people and say, wow, I’m, uh,
Rick Lozano (24:56)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Go, yeah.
Dave Bricker (25:14)
never gonna be that good, I should just quit. And yet, it’ll be the best you can be. I think that comparison game, like you say, is really a losing game. So thanks for bringing that one up.
Rick Lozano (25:21)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
Dave Bricker (25:29)
If you’re just tuning in, this is Speekipedia Media for aspiring and professional speakers and thought leaders who want to make more money by changing hearts, minds, and fortunes. My guest today is certified speaking professional and singer-songwriter Rick Lozano. So, Rick, you offer keynotes and workshops as many speakers do.
Rick Lozano (25:50)
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (25:52)
And I was looking through your website, you also offer your services as an MC, and that is an underappreciated speaking art form. And it’s an opportunity that isn’t on a lot of speakers’ radars. So what’s involved in being an MC? It’s just another form of speaking, right? But it’s different.
Rick Lozano (25:58)
Uh-huh.
Mm-hmm.
It’s another form of speaking, but it’s very different. I’ve been fortunate to do it several times and I love, love working as an MC. It’s so much fun and it allows you to connect with an audience and really help shape the entire outcome of the conference you might be acting as an MC for. Now, one thing that I think is important for people to understand, emceeing is a lot of work.
It is a to-
of work. You work way harder as an MC than you do in my opinion as a keynote because you’re always on and you’ve got to build really good relationships with the meeting planners, the event planners, you’ve got to build stellar relationships with the AV crew, the sound people, the people doing the video, and you are the basically the ringleader for the whole event. You’ve got to step in when speakers are going too long, you’ve got to ad lib when suddenly somebody’s
It’s a lot of work. But I think the right people, and we know, you and I both know lots of people who are fantastic at it, they bring this energy and cohesiveness that I think a lot of conferences lack. And one of the things that I do when I’m talking to event planners, if they’re hiring me for a keynote, I’ll just ask them at a certain point. Once we’ve established that I’m the right fit as a keynote, I’ll say, what are your plans for an MC? And usually, they’re one of two answers there. Either they haven’t thought about it,
which is very common, or, oh, well, we’ve got one of our people who will do it. And here’s the thing, without dismissing anyone, very often we’ve seen people who thought they had that skill set because they thought it was one specific thing, I’m gonna get on stage and I’m gonna talk and that’s all there is to it. It’s so much more than that. Again, there’s so many different pieces that you have to play, so many different roles you have to play as an MC, but oh man, when I get a chance to do it, it’s one of my favorite things ever.
Dave Bricker (28:13)
Yeah, and it’s interesting. I actually did an MC gig last week. It was at a restaurant. It was a small thing. And I haven’t done a lot of that, but someone asked me to do it. I thought, great, new experience. And it was for a Turkish event. So all of the names of the other speakers were virtually unpronounceable. I had to be very careful. And no matter how much I begged and pleaded, nobody would send me introductions for anybody.
Rick Lozano (28:18)
Oh, cool.
Hahaha
Dave Bricker (28:41)
and it was fascinating because I had to go there and really kind of wing it which was
Kind of scary, but hey, I’m up for the challenge. That’s what we do. We take the challenges and And it was just interesting and then of course They’re trying to get everybody into the dining hall for the event and people are milling around in the lobby I’m thinking how are we gonna get these people in so we can start I’m ready to go on and it’s like wait a second That’s my job. I’ve got to walk around and interrupt everybody and say hey we’re getting ready to start the event and I mean stuff that
Rick Lozano (28:49)
Yeah. Uh-huh.
Hahaha
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (29:16)
you know, I’m not really comfortable doing, but hey, I put my smile on it, did it. So yeah, it’s a good, it’s a good challenge, but it’s, it’s a lot of fun. And it’s another opportunity there. So.
Let’s talk a bit about combining speaking with musical performance, because that means traveling with a guitar and other gear, and we know that adds a layer of complexity, especially when it comes to dealing with air travel. So what experiences have you had, and what advice can you offer to speakers who travel with musical instruments, juggling axes, unicycles, magic tricks, and important props?
Rick Lozano (29:57)
Dave, this is my least favorite part of being a musician who brings their work to keynotes. You know, I mean, I love traveling.
Dave Bricker (30:06)
I was so hoping you were gonna just like, oh, it’s easy, here’s what I’ve done. Here’s me.
Rick Lozano (30:10)
No, no, not at all. I hate it. It’s a lot of pressure. I mean, you’re walking around with a $3,000 guitar sometimes. And of course, if you’re trying to put it on the overhead bin, there’s always that person who’s trying to smash their suitcase in on it. It’s not fun. Here’s what I’ve learned. The simpler you can do it, the better. So I don’t travel with this guitar anymore. I purchased a… Here, I’ll show you. It’s called… Watch this.
It’s called a Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster, and it’s an electric guitar body that sounds like an acoustic guitar, and it’s fantastic, I love it. But the reason I bought this guitar was because it was lighter, and it travels so much better than my big guitar. So I got a little more streamlined. It was lighter to carry, it was easier to pack. I upgraded my guitar case, so that was one thing. The last two years, I’ve decided
Dave Bricker (30:44)
Mm-hmm.
Rick Lozano (31:09)
Do I have to do, or I asked the question, do I have to do this at all?
And in the last couple of years, depending on the engagement and the location, I’ve been hiring backline services. So what if for people who aren’t familiar with backline services, at least in the musical world, um, you can rent gear, you can rent amplifiers and guitars. And I’m sure many of these other people, jugglers, performers, they might have those opportunities as well. So for example, every time I do a keynote in Orlando, there’s a company out there that I rent from. We’ve done it several times. I know them. I like them. They’re great people. And it just saves me the hassle.
The hassle of having to worry about getting on correctly, the hassle of having to also check a bag, because when I’m traveling with my guitar, I have to check a bag. So that’s been something that’s been really helpful. It costs a couple hundred bucks, but you know what? That peace of mind is worth it. So that’s one thought for you.
Dave Bricker (32:00)
Great, thanks for that. Let’s move on over to presentation skills because being a singer-songwriter is different from being a speaker. Being a speaker is related to being a trainer, but it’s not necessarily. We’ve all had boring teachers, right? So how did you become a confident presenter? And what advice can you share to those on that journey?
Rick Lozano (32:10)
Hehehe
Oh sure, yep.
Well, first we talked about putting in the rubs, and again, I’ll go back to that because there is no substitute for that. I’ve got some advice. I think first, for people who are newer to the speaking industry, you have to realize this is a sales gig. You have to realize that you have to be involved in sales. You can be the most amazing speaker, but if you aren’t comfortable with sales, you either learn or you get out of the business.
or you hire someone to help you, but you’ve got to have some element. Being a great speaker isn’t enough. I’ll tell you what really took my career to the next level. And this is something that I think a lot of speakers need to hear. Stop using other people’s material. Stop quoting other speakers. Stop using their intellectual property and build your own. I did it.
When I first started speaking, I would reference the Simon Sinek’s of the world and the Brene Brown’s of the world. And look, I get it, in the right time that makes sense. But every time I mentioned Simon Sinek or Angela Duckworth, it takes the focus off of my unique value and my frameworks. So several years ago, I decided, you know what? There’s certain things that happen to work for me, certain terms like acoustic leadership and find your jam and all of these other things that were unique to me. And I went all in.
on building my intellectual property. I wrote two books. I created several models that no one else is using. And when I use those words, it builds my authority. It builds my credibility. But it also provides something unique that only I can do. The same reason I play those songs, Dave, because they’re songs and stories that only I can tell, delivered only in a way that I can do it. So for newer speakers, I encourage you to really spend some time building your own intellectual property.
Dave Bricker (34:26)
and those who are listening and not watching can’t see me emphatically nodding yes. And I’ve always kept these things kind of in a junk drawer in my brain.
Rick Lozano (34:30)
Oh, no. Ha ha ha.
Dave Bricker (34:38)
and a mentor encouraged me, said, create your lexicon. Anytime you come up with a great phrase, a great idea, write it down, and I’ve got a document full of these things. And once in a while I go over, oh, I’d forgotten about that one, that’s a good one. So I have all of these little things like turn nervous into service, and get rid of your eye infection for the speakers who talk about themselves all the time. I mean, but yeah, we come up, but we come up with these things. And if you just let them,
Rick Lozano (34:57)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
That’s a great one.
Dave Bricker (35:08)
If you capture them instead of let them drift away, they come into our consciousness. Oh, that’s a cool thing. And the next day, what was that? I came up with something clever and now it’s gone. So yeah, build that database of original IP. Make your IP address home. There’s another one. I gotta go write it.
Rick Lozano (35:23)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. All right. There you go, I love that. And you know what else? You’ve got a ton. And the thing about it is, Dave, when somebody starts using your language, you know you’re onto something. That happened to me the very first time. It was so weird. I wrote the book, Acoustic Leadership. I was giving a keynote on it. And someone came up to me after the keynote and they said, well, you know, as an acoustic leader, I think, I was like.
They just called themselves an accout… they called themselves my thing. That’s that’s when you know you’re onto something.
Dave Bricker (35:56)
Yeah, and it’s interesting because we run the risk that these things get out in the world and they don’t necessarily remain attached to us. Because it’s like the starfish story by Lauren Isley. How many, I mean, how many speakers have retold that story imagining that it’s out there in the public domain and all of that. That’s a whole other topic. But, but It’s, I’m actually thinking of
Rick Lozano (36:05)
Yep, yep.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah. Hahaha.
Dave Bricker (36:26)
I don’t know how many of these things, creating a little book with a phrase on the left hand page and some sort of story about it on the right hand page, just so I could document that because the cost of trademarking all of this stuff is, even if you were to do it yourself, it works out to be like $250 a trademark if you don’t have hassles with them and it’s just like, hard to deal with.
Rick Lozano (36:34)
Mm-hmm.
This is… this is…
Sure.
Yeah, and that is true. I’ve been trademark trigger happy over the last several years and I’ve spent a lot of money I’ve also invested a lot in my particular framework So for the right things it makes sense to absolutely get those things registered in other circumstances I remember for example a Christine Cashen and you and I both know Hall of Speaker Hall of Fame speaker Christine Cashen And she’s very particular about this. She creates her own phrases similar to like the ones you had there and she’s
Dave Bricker (37:16)
Yeah, she’s brilliant.
Rick Lozano (37:18)
And she says, if I ever hear somebody else use it, it’s gone. I don’t try and trademark it. I give it up. I, if I hear anyone using that term, I move on, I let it go. So there’s an element of that that’s got to be involved as well.
Dave Bricker (37:32)
Yeah, it’s interesting. Somebody said to me once, great ideas are like buses. There’s always another one coming around the corner. So and if there’s one person who’s totally confident about her ability to generate brilliant ideas like that, that’s Christine Cashin. I look forward to having her on this show as well. So if you’re willing. Oh.
Rick Lozano (37:39)
Yeah
Yep. Oh yeah, she’s awesome.
I look forward to watching it. I always learn something from her, so absolutely.
Dave Bricker (37:59)
Yeah, absolutely. So if you’re willing, share a disaster story, a time when you bombed or things went sideways at a speaking engagement, because it’s always so much fun to look back and make fun of ourselves, right?
Rick Lozano (38:13)
Yeah, I’ve got two thoughts on that. One of them, I was giving a keynote speech in Toronto, Canada for the American Association of Tissue Banks. And you know, again, Dave, I’m a motivational speaker, right? I’m here to fire people up and you know, I’ve got this whole start that’s just high energy. And right before I go on, they decide to devote 20 minutes to a eulogy to one of the founders of the organization.
So I’m coming on, I’m sitting backstage and I’m going, oh no, there’s people crying in the audience and here I am about to be like, hey everybody. It was challenging but I think I worked it out okay. It was so funny Dave, I started that keynote with an Irish drinking song and I was like, oh gosh, this is so not the right time for an Irish drinking song but then I thought, well you know, we could look at it kind of like awake. But that wasn’t my best moment. Here’s.
Dave Bricker (39:01)
Hehehehehehe
Rick Lozano (39:11)
Another thing, and I think this might be important for people watching this or listening to Speakipedia, I remember one time I received some less than stellar feedback. Now, generally speaking, audiences respond really well to what I do, but we always, I know you know this too, we always remember the bad feedback. And years ago, I did a conference, a keynote in Ohio.
And in the session feedback form, there was all this great stuff, great stuff, great stuff, great stuff, and one that said there were some cringe-worthy moments. And oh, that one just destroyed me. I was like, no! And then I got angry. I was like, you’re wrong. And then I thought, yeah, I felt it too. And the truth of the matter, in that one circumstance, Dave, I was trying to force things in.
I was trying to force things that did not fit. And in my particular case in this one, I think I was trying to, like every section was a song title and then I would play a little snippet from the song. And you know, it made sense when I tried to do it, but I was also struggling to get it to flow right. And I said, oh, well, I’m gonna do it anyway. And for me now, when I look at the way I construct content, I think if I’m trying to force it, just throw it away, don’t use it.
If it’s not natural and organic and if it doesn’t feel good, it’s going to create cringe-worthy moments. It’s going to feel forced because it is. So if I feel that tension right now, I don’t stay there too long, I go, okay, that’s just not feeling like it’s gonna work. Let’s try something else.
Dave Bricker (40:45)
Yeah, and it’s interesting because so many times we’re working on new content. And where do we go? We go to our colleagues in the National Speakers Association and we get this really high level feedback about our pauses and our dynamics and our word choice. And it gets really deep because we’re all geeks about that kind of stuff. And then we get in front of an audience who doesn’t know anything about speaking other than how the speaker makes them feel.
Rick Lozano (40:54)
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Dave Bricker (41:12)
And if we don’t pay attention to that feedback, I always thought the World Championship of Public Speaking, they should have an audience poll instead of judges. Let the audience judge. But anyway, that’s that. But you’re talking about…
Rick Lozano (41:22)
Oh yeah.
Dave Bricker (41:31)
finding your jam, getting into your, finding the right content, getting it in the right order, eliminating the stuff that doesn’t belong, and you’ve got a new book out called Find Your Jam. Tell us about that.
Rick Lozano (41:45)
This has been a fun creation. Dave, the book is called, Find Your Jam, Create Momentum, Unlock Potential, and Rock What’s Next. And this has been years in the making. The model that I use in Find Your Jam, I’ve been using for several years now, but it never coalesced into.
the book itself until very, very recently. And the premise of the book, I’ll go back to what we talked about earlier, the premise of the book is we have everything we need right now to take and get to that very next place, to take that next step to get us right there.
And what Finder Jam introduces is a process, it’s called the Riff Model. It uses this process to help people think about, okay, how do I use what I currently have? How do I stop waiting, start creating? And in some ways, think like a musician to get your groove on, to get the ball rolling. And it’s a lot of fun. It’s got musical elements, but it’s also got anecdotes from around the world and some research on things that actually worked really well for a lot of people to help them create that momentum. So I’m looking forward to it.
Speakipedia, this episode comes out, it will be out there, so if you’re interested, go to findyourjambook.com, it’s all there.
Dave Bricker (43:00)
And I look forward to seeing it. I know you’ve worked very hard on that. So if one of our readers or if he wants to discover more about Rick Lozano, what can they do? Where can they go?
Rick Lozano (43:02)
Yeah. Thank you, Dave.
Thank you for asking, Dave. Before I tell you the answer to that, I want to A, thank you. Thank you for having me on this. And B, I would love to reinforce the power of people. You and I are both members of the National Speakers Association. That’s where we met. You and I have played guitar many, many times at the influence conferences.
And there is absolutely nothing, nothing that beats the value of building these relationships. For newer speakers, if you’re out there right now, go become a part of the National Speakers Association. That’s where your people are. And look, yeah, there’s a lot of competition out there. Everyone wants to find a way to be successful in a crowded market.
But the truth is, building these relationships will help you because what you’ll find is most people like our friend Dave Bricker are here are very generous. And Dave, you’ve helped me immensely personally. And here’s what people need to realize. When people give to other people, it creates this reciprocity. And for example, in our situation, Dave, you helped me with some of the book design. And now, because I’ve seen your work, I’m going to refer you to other people. And I’m going to refer people to come and look and listen to you at Speakipedia And I’m going to say, yeah, you need to talk to Dave Bricker.
storytelling, talk to Dave Bricker. So building those relationships is important. So thank you, Dave, for that. For more about me, you can go to ricklozano.com. That’s where all those videos you mentioned, Dave, are. There’s lots of information there. Oh, and my music. I have a couple weeks ago, I went to Nashville, recorded some new music. It’s all going to be out there on Spotify, Apple Music, and so on. So your favorite streaming service, go to Rick Lozano.
R-I-C-K-L-O-Z-A-N-O. Check it out.
Dave Bricker (44:55)
and I’ve had the opportunity to preview some of that. It’s very well done and I’m glad. It’s so important that we do our good work and serve our audiences and that we also take some time to just create our own jam for our own artistic reasons and we can share that with friends and family, we can put it out into the world or whatever, but gotta keep.
Rick Lozano (45:12)
Yep.
Dave Bricker (45:23)
creating your own ideas and making your own art happen. So, yeah. Rick, thanks so much for being my guest on Spickipedia today.
Rick Lozano (45:29)
It keeps us alive, Dave, yep.
I appreciate it. Thank you for having me, Dave.
Dave Bricker (45:39)
Alright, I’m Dave Bricker inviting you to explore the world’s most comprehensive resource for speakers and storytellers at www.speakipedia.com. If you’re watching this on social media video, please love, subscribe, and share your comments. If you’re listening to the podcast, keep your hands on the wheel, stay safe, and I’ll see you on the next episode of Speakipedia Media.
