From Google Exec to Speaker: A Story of Courage and Perseverance with Jenny Wood

The Speaker Lab Podcast

The Speaker Lab

Authors, Public Speakers, Public Speaking, How To, Marketing, Smallbusiness, Coaching, Education, Entrepreneurship, Speaking, Business, Side Gig

4.8 • 575 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“If you are thinking about doing something long term, test it internally, be an intrapreneur, right? Go create something amazing for your company and see if you enjoy doing it.”

Jenny Wood's transition from a high-flying Google executive to an influential public speaker is nothing short of inspiring. After spending eighteen years at Google, Jenny chose to follow her passion for public speaking, resulting in a story of passion, relentless improvement, and the power of authenticity. She joins us today to share her experiences, the nitty-gritty of making it as a speaker, and the wisdom she’s garnered along the way.

One crucial element of Jenny’s approach is her dedication to constantly improving her craft. By working with a keynote consultant and continuously analyzing her presentations, she shows that learning and adapting are key to success in speaking. Jenny is also candid about dealing with imposter syndrome and the challenges of leaving a secure job, demonstrating that courage is essential when facing the unknown.

Furthermore, a significant part of Jenny’s strategy has been leveraging her book, Wild Courage, as a tool to establish her voice in the market. She uses it not just as a revenue source, but as a means to spark meaningful conversations and draw connections with her audience. Understanding the business side of speaking, from setting fees to engaging with speaker bureaus, is another area where Jenny offers valuable insights.

Jenny’s journey highlights the importance of embracing one's unique voice. Her story teaches us that success is about being true to oneself, learning from failures, and continually striving for excellence. For those starting out in speaking, Jenny’s experience is a beacon, showing that with dedication and strategic planning, a fulfilling speaking career is within reach.

You’ll learn:

Jenny’s speaker pricing strategy
About Jenny’s book launch
Multiple revenue streams and book profitability
If books are necessary for personal branding
Jenny’s transition from corporate to speaking
Challenges of entrepreneurship
Overcoming fear and uncertainty
Combating imposter syndrome
And much, much more!

“There was some level of high net freedom that was appealing to me of just being on my own.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, friend, are you looking for ways to book more paid speaking gigs?
0:03.7	Well, of course you are.
0:04.4	Maybe you're just starting out as a speaker. You're trying to figure out what to prioritize in order to get booked and paid as quickly as possible. Listen, if that's you, I want you to join us for a free live training where you're going to learn how to create the number one marketing asset that you need to consistently book more paid gigs. This is a tool that one speaker on our team used to book over $36,000 in paid gigs before he even had a website.
0:27.2	This training is free.
0:28.1	It's live and we offered a few times a week so you can find a time that works best for you.
0:32.5	All you got to do is head over to thespeakerlab.com slash get booked.
0:36.3	That's all one word.
0:37.2	Thespeakelab.com slash get booked. That's all one word, the speakerlap.com slash get booked
0:39.3	and register right now. We look forward to seeing you on the live training.
1:02.1	I I do want to put myself in the upper echelon of speakers,
1:03.8	and I think with the credentials and the book,
1:05.6	I'm well positioned to do that.
1:09.0	And I got interesting advice that I semi-took,
1:12.5	but didn't totally take. Someone said to me, who I really respect in the industry, Jenny, don't underprice yourself. At $20,000, you're just a run-of-the-mill speaker,
1:21.2	like everybody else. At $60,000, you're famous, they just haven't heard of you yet.
1:41.2	Hey, what's that friend, Grant Baldwin here. Welcome back to the speaker lab podcast today,
1:46.9	joined by my friend, Miss Jenny Wood, who is in the thick of book launch mode.
1:54.6	Now, here's how podcasting works, people, is that we record and then oftentimes we're talking about things that are future tense.
1:59.8	And so most of the time we were talking about something that's happening like a month or a couple months out.
2:00.7	She's in the thick of this.
2:03.2	She's got a book coming out in literally a couple days.
2:06.2	By the time you are hearing this, the book is out.
	...

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