How to Overcome Challenges With Suzanne Evans.

Welcome to Public Speaking with Peter George. I'm Peter George, public speaking trainer, speaker, and award-winning author of The Captivating Public Speaker. My guest today is Suzanne Evans, president of Driven Inc., where they use simple numbers and straight talk to help entrepreneurs start, scale, and skyrocket their businesses. Suzanne grew her company from a spare bedroom to the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest-growing small businesses — five years running. Her work blends business strategy, lifestyle, and storytelling in a way that helps good people do more good work in the world. Here's my conversation with Suzanne Evans.

Building a Business Through Speaking

Peter: You've gone from a spare bedroom to the Inc. 500 list five years in a row. How did that happen?

Suzanne: Honestly, I started the way so many people do — with job dissatisfaction. Not misery, just a desire to be more in control of my income and my direction. I got some training in life coaching, started a small business on the side while working a 60-hour-a-week day job, and within about a year, I had a six-figure business running alongside a $45,000 salary. I stayed in that day job for two more years while continuing to grow. And speaking was really my main engine of growth. We built to several hundred thousand, then to a million, and now to a multiple-million-dollar business. All from an idea started on nights and weekends — and grown primarily through getting in front of rooms.

The Power of In-Person Connection

Peter: Why do you believe speaking is such a powerful way to grow a business?

Suzanne: We live in an amazing world of technology and digital connection. You can reach thousands of people in a moment. But it's really hard to reach someone's heart the way you can when you're standing in a room with them. The best analogy I have: imagine someone says, "Have you ever wanted to see the Rolling Stones in concert?" You say you love them. They say, "I have tickets — want to go?" And you say, "No, I have the CD." Even if you have the same information, having it in person changes everything. That in-person connection just trumps everything else in business.

Even when you're speaking to hundreds of people, there's something about being in that room together that creates a one-to-one connection you can't replicate digitally. Video is great — it's the next best thing. But nothing replaces it.

The Hard Part Nobody Sees

Peter: What do people not realize when they decide they want to build a speaking career?

Suzanne: They don't want to peek behind the curtain. Speaking is getting on planes. Traveling city to city. Landing at 10:30 at night, not getting to the hotel until 12:30 because the flight was delayed, getting up and being ready to speak at 8 AM. Then driving two hours to the next city and doing it again. About 80 percent of your time goes to preparation, travel, and outreach — and maybe 20 percent is actually being on stage.

Everybody wants to speak. Nobody wants to do the work to get themselves booked. The most successful speakers aren't always the most talented — they're the ones making the most calls. That's the part no one wants to talk about.

Get Booked to Get Good

Peter: What should an up-and-coming speaker focus on first?

Suzanne: Getting booked. Because you will never get good until you get booked. Everyone wants to be great before they start booking gigs. But that's not how it works. You need a talk together — you need to know your material — but that doesn't take nearly as long as people think. What you need most is real audiences, because you will only get good by being in front of them. You'll discover what lands and what doesn't. What gets a laugh. What falls flat. What makes someone lean in and what makes them check their phone. You can tweak your content privately for years and still not have that information.

Be consistent. Book as many gigs as you can — anywhere that will have you. Build your confidence, your material, your audience interaction. You can never be excellent until you do it enough. And you'll never do it enough unless you're making calls.

You're Not a Presenter — You're a Preparer

Peter: What do you tell speakers when they've genuinely bombed on stage?

Suzanne: Beat yourself up a little. Seriously. Ask yourself honestly: was I prepared? Because here's what I believe — there's no such thing as stress. There's only lack of preparation. If you truly bomb, you weren't fully ready. That's your responsibility. Figure out how to clean up your act. I don't think I've ever bombed — not because I'm exceptional, but because I make it my job not to. Bombing isn't on the table when you've prepared the way the job demands.

I came from the Broadway theater industry, and one thing I learned there applies everywhere: if you get an amazing review, you wake up the next morning and sell tickets. If you get a horrible review, you wake up the next morning and sell tickets. Same hustle either way. Keep moving forward and try to be a little better each time.

Peter: You're not a presenter — you're a preparer.

Suzanne: Exactly. The presentation will fly because of the preparation. And here's what most people get wrong: even after you nail a talk, you have to prepare before you give it again. I've done it myself — nailed a presentation, felt great, and went into the next one undercooked because I thought I already had it down. The results are never the same. Every audience is new. Prepare like it is.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Public Speaking with Peter George. To connect with Suzanne Evans and learn more about Driven Inc., reach her team at help@driveninc.com. Are you ready to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then visit petergeorgepublicspeaking.com and let's make it happen. I'll see you next time.