If you're reading this it means you are a brand new member of iFind You Close.


First, I have to tell you that I so greatly appreciate you. 


The journey to creating this company has been adventurous, but it has been the most rewarding experience after deciding to join the world of entrepreneurship. There have been ups, downs, and WTF moments trying to figure out where to go and how to be useful to everyone who signs up. So again… thank you for being here.


Secondly, my job is to research and to support you with getting on stage. 


This company is ever evolving and not only am I the founder, but I am a student as well. So whatever you need to help you get on stage please do not hesitate to reach out to any of our social channels or to our email support so that we can keep growing because your feedback is necessary to everything that the team and I are doing. 


So how did I get here?


In 2012 I moved from California to Colorado to start a new life with my husband while leaving behind a 12-year career as a Computer Scientist for the US Navy. I quickly realized that my new job was not the right fit. A cringe emoji is the best way to describe my experience.


I always had a desire to launch my own business but it felt too scary and uncertain to try, but the new job not going well made the desire pop up even more. Then one day… the company decided to do $25,000 early retirement buyouts. It really was a moment of “be careful what you ask for.” 


So at 36 years old, I retired and started a money coaching business. I had gotten out of debt, just gotten married, and wanted to share the love of budgeting and money. BTW… travel is going to be a consistent theme the longer you stay around.


Well, the money coaching business went well but it wasn't very successful. 


On the outside, it looked great, but on the inside, I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Surprisingly enough the one thing that did work was getting on stage to talk about money and numbers. What I realized later on was, my researching skills were the real winner in my business.


When I was working for the Navy, whenever I got stuck, joined a project, or could not follow an extremely nerd driven technical conversation, I was always in the position of having to figure it out. This quirk sent me around the world working with different NATO groups, joint military projects and helped me to get into the Naval Postgraduate School where I earned a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering. You can guess who was the researcher on the projects.


Little did I know, researching, and stepping outside of my comfort zone, got me on a lot of stages once I started my business. Not because I am a great orator (though I am pretty good) or I make great speeches (though they are pretty good too) it was because I would sit down and find unique opportunities that could get me on stage, in front of the right people, that sounded like fun, and could fuel my need to travel.


Over time people started asking me how I was able to do this and I really did not have an answer because it just seemed easy. For the most part, what you see in iFind You Close is a glimpse into my work ethic, how I managed opportunities, and how often I sat down and just started searching the internet. Yeah, you get to see how my brain works.


So, now you may be asking (since I do all of this research)…  


  • Why you don't give us this mega list of gigs like others promise? 
  • Why don’t you promise I can make millions on stage?
  • Why not a list of only paid gigs?
  • Why only give us 5 opportunities each week?


Here is the answer. Over time, as I got more serious about speaking, I started reaching out to get help from the mentors, the gurus, and the people who were getting on stage and I realized there was a lot of smoke and mirrors going on.


Most wanted money and couldn't help or gave partial advice... especially outdated lists of events needing speakers. Sigh.


Some gave great tips on being a dynamic speaker but kept the secret to getting on stage VERY close to their chest. One mentor/coach, I worked with (yeah, I paid a lot) would only help if you followed her around the country to all of her gigs. Once you passed her test, then she gave an introduction or two. Obviously, I did not pass that test and lost respect for this prominent person.


Then there were the mega gurus who told me to sacrifice everything and used the “you don’t want to be successful” scare tactics, by saying I needed to pitch 300-500 times a week in order to reach six, seven figures. Being the observant person that I am, I realized that they even burned out from that and became online gurus. LOL. 


Don’t get me wrong, on stage, these were some of the most dynamic and jaw dropping speakers I had ever witnessed but  I also realized that the lives they lead was not the life I wanted to live.


  • Away from home 3 weeks out of the month.
  • Living contract to contract and seeing how most lost a lot of money during the pandemic.
  • Walking a thin line of health and wellness.
  • And the transactional “friendships” that were oddly based on whether you paid them for something.


Okay, disclaimer time… Of course, this is not everyone in the industry, but it was my experience after a few years.


When it came to speaking, I was still running a coaching business. I had clients to manage, along with marketing, along with sales… and all of the other things that go with running a solo business. Don’t forget the personal life, sleeping, family, travel, and all of the other fun things. I loved getting on stage, and yeah, I would love to get paid millions of dollars, but at what cost?


So I decided to become really strategic with the speaking and target what I could manage while running a business. That's why I focused on 5 events a week, because they all required hours of research, pitching, weeks of follow-up, and preparation.


I did not go for the goal of 60 speaking gigs a year, but 12-16 of the best quality gigs that would help me with my ultimate goal. Along the way I learned getting paid was something you had to negotiate and there was no magic list of people who just wanted to give you money... if it were only that easy.


I also wanted to get in the minds of event coordinators to figure out HOW they chose speakers. I became a speaker coordinator, booking speakers, for 4 years. I pitched gigs that did not pay but made money selling products from the stage. I leveraged my TEDx talks to get corporate gigs. 


I like to say I became a “unicorn.” I found places that needed my voice and that would book me over and over again. Also, it was just fun trying to figure out what would get a YES. And yeah, it needed to be fun and I needed to travel.


When you're really looking at iFind You Close, you are really looking at something designed for those trying to balance it all as a business owner, enjoying life, and seeing the value of marketing through public speaking.


So why do I do what I do?


It's because my research skills have been the one thing that has served me the best as an entrepreneur and a business owner. I love getting out there and just trying to figure out ways to support others.


What you see in iFind You Close is what I wish I had when I started. The insight others would not share, gigs to review, how event hosts think, and pulling back the curtain on what speakers are actually doing to get on stage. 


I went and got the experience of booking speakers, managing speakers, researching what topics get booked the most. Getting on stage, in front of small groups to large audiences, emceeing to landing a television gig. I wanted to tackle every viewpoint to discover, and pass on, what works to help the coaches, consultants, content creators market their brand on stage. 


And I hope you see that in the work my team and I deliver to you each week.


Cheers,

Phylecia