171: Pete Vargas — Leverage Public Speaking to Your Advantage
Public speaking can be a very powerful way to get your message across to a larger audience, but how can you feel more comfortable doing it? Public speaking is a big, big fear for a lot of people and today’s guest can help you connect with people from the stage.
Pete Vargas helps people grow their business with stages. He and his team have booked over 25,000 stages worldwide and in 2016, he founded Advance Your Reach, an organization looking to impact one billion people through one million stage appearances by 2027.
Pete lived with his grandmother when he was in the 6th grade due to the awful relationship he had with his father. Despite attempts at reconciliation, Pete decided to look elsewhere for role models. He looked up to inspirational heroes like Emmet Smith and David Robinson, who inspired him to become a better man.
After Pete graduated college, he ended up giving up an $80K/year career opportunity in Dallas for an $18K/year salary to become a youth pastor in his hometown instead. He decided he was going to use a wide variety of speakers, everything from athletes to CEOs, to help inspire the youth group to become a better version of themselves; the same way he was inspired by these very individuals.
Why does Pete refer to his work as ‘stages’ instead of public speaking? Pete believes there are too many war stories that come from the word ‘public speaking’ whereas stages is a much more approachable way to conquer your way into public speaking.
The reality is there are a lot of full-time speakers out there who are on the road 220 days a year, but you don’t have to be a full-time speaker living in an airplane or hotel room to get your message heard. Stages are a way to grow your business, grow your movement, or grow your non-profit.
There are 8 online stages and 8 offline stages that you can be on. When you are able to look at public speaking in a holistic way, it can completely transform your organization, your sales process, and the way you see your business… all without burning you out!
Interview Links:
My Ethics, My Codes of Life — Rachel's Challenge
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