IAM720- Author Works With Businesses to Make a Difference

Sheryl Green is a professional storyteller, author, and animal-rescuing badass. Having penned three novels, she now brings her penchant for storytelling to non-fiction and content writing, working with businesses and individuals who want to position themselves as experts in their field and make a difference in their community. She leverages the power of story through speaking engagements, website content, and book coaching.

She is the author of “Surviving to Thriving: How to Overcome Setbacks and Rock Your Life,”Once Upon a Bottom Line: Harnessing the Power of Story for Sales,” and “Book Writing for Busy People,” and “Do Good to Do Better: The Small Business Guide to Growing Your Business by Helping Nonprofits.”

She also serves as the Director of Community Engagement for Hearts Alive Village and is a firm believer that everything looks better covered in pet fur.

• CEO Hack: Creating a story file
• CEO Nugget: Have boundaries with your clients/customers
• CEO Defined: Building own dream and leaving my mark on the world

Website: http://www.sherylgreenspeaks.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sherylgreenspeaks/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SherylGreenSpeaks/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherylgreenspeaks/

Book Landing pages:
www.dogoodtodobetter.com
www.onceuponabottomline.com
www.bookwritingforbusypeople.com
www.survivingtothrivingbook.com

Full Interview

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Transcription

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:30.10] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Cheryl Green of Cheryl Green Speak. Cheryl, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.29] – Sheryl Green

Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

[00:00:41.29] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. Before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Cheryl, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Cheryl is a professional storyteller, author, and animal-rescuing badass. Having penned three novels, she now brings her penchant for storytelling to nonfiction and content writing, working with businesses and individuals who want to position themselves as experts in their field and make a difference in their community.

She leverages the power of story through speaking engagements, website content, and book coaching. She is the author of Surviving to Thriving How to Overcome Setbacks and Rock Your Life. Once Upon a Bottom Line, Harnessing the Power of Story for Sales and Book Writing for Busy People, and Do Do Good to Do Better, the Small Business Guide to Growing Your Business by Helping Nonprofits. She also serves as the director of community engagement for Hearts Alive Village and is a firm believer that everything looks better covered in pet fur. Cheryl, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:39.50] – Sheryl Green

I'm ready.

[00:01:40.40] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. And who doesn't like pet fur? I imagine my dog is somewhere around me, but I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about how you got started. Could you take us through your CEO story?

[00:01:52.00] – Sheryl Green

Absolutely. Yeah. So a couple of years ago, I got laid off. I had a good job, but unfortunately, they couldn't afford me anymore. And I remember driving home from that that last day and just thinking, like, I don't ever want to feel like this again. I don't ever want to feel like somebody else has control over my life and my future. And, you know, I licked my wounds for a couple of days and then decided that I wanted to be a speaker and a writer. And I jumped in and started my own business. Thankfully, I had, you know, the six months of unemployment to give me a little bit of a cushion, and never looked back. I love it. Couldn't. It's terrifying at times, but it's worth it every day.

[00:02:38.80] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense and fortunately or unfortunately, I do know that feeling as I've been laid off as well. And I remember, as you said, that that sent chills, you know, down my spine because I had that same feeling where it was like, this feeling I don't wanna have again. And let me do what I want to do ultimately and need to do to make sure that that doesn't happen again.

[00:03:01.69] – Sheryl Green

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, like I said, it's frightening and, you know, people think, like, how can you do that? How can you not have a steady paycheck coming in? But, you know, as we're seeing, like, there isn't always a guarantee.

[00:03:16.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Even though the things that are guarantees are not guarantees at all. So a lot of times, you know, if you are great at what you do and you are willing to even focus on, you know, being great at your crafts, that's sometimes the best bet that you can make. So, truly appreciate you for doing that. So I know I touched on a little bit when I read your bio. Can you take us through exactly what you do and how you support the clients you work with?

[00:03:39.30] – Sheryl Green

Sure. So what I do is focus on sharing their story. You know, there's so many businesses out there, businesses that pretty much do the same thing. You know, quality, is probably gonna be around the same, pricing, is probably about the same. So the way to connect with your potential clients or customers is to share your story. And just like that's how you started this interview, you know, what's your background? And, so I've been doing that for a couple of years now. Sometimes it looks like content, websites, blogging, and things like that. And sometimes it looks like books. As you can tell, I kind of love writing books. And I had a bunch of people that were asking me, you know, how do you do this? How do I do this? So I started coaching them, and I started helping them create their own projects and their books. Or if they need a ghostwriter, I just do it for them. So still their content, but they don't have to sit down and write it.

[00:04:42.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. No. I love that, and I think that you know, I don't know if you would agree with this is that how important, you know, communication is. And I think as you know, I said when I read your bio, sometimes people are great at what they do, but if you can't always communicate that or let the people of the world know, it's almost like if a tree falls in a forest, does any is anybody here? It's kinda like one of those situations where you don't really have that impact because you're not able to communicate that and let people know.

[00:05:12.39] – Sheryl Green

Yeah. And I think what people don't realize is that it's really hard to tell people what you do. Mhmm. Because you're so close to it. And so you're not sure what's getting communicated to people. And I'll be perfectly honest, I need help with my own content when it comes to my, you know, my website and things like that because I'm too close. So, you know, people think, oh, writing's super easy. I'll just do it myself, but they're gonna miss something when they do that.

[00:05:43.80] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think too that I was my mind was blown where I see, like, people experts in in in certain crafts and, I think, I forgot who exactly I was, you know, paying attention to, but everyone has, like, a coach or somebody that they kind of, kinda kick things around with. Because to really be an expert and great at what you do, you kinda have to have those outside eyes, and it's only gonna make you better. So as you said, you know, being too close to it, but also giving me that opportunity to really, see, from a different vantage point exactly how that will be communicated is always a great thing to know.

[00:06:20.30] – Sheryl Green

It is. And I have to say, I started out with, you know, kinda editing books and helping people once the book was already created. And I saw a couple of projects that I thought could have been avoided. You know, this kind of mess could have been avoided if they had had the proper guidance in the beginning. And if they had had somebody looking at it and going, doesn't make sense, or you went off the rails over here. So that's kind of what I try to do be that sounding board for people and also be the second set of eyes, like you said.

[00:06:52.80] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense. So, I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for yourself or your business, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:07:02.80] – Sheryl Green

I believe that there should be a purpose behind everything you do. For me, if you haven't noticed yet, it's animal rescue. So a percentage of everything I do goes to support the rescue. And I kind of want more business owners to realize that sometimes what sets you apart is not necessarily what you do, but it's what you care about. It's that bigger why and that bigger purpose that you've got.

[00:07:32.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And it's extremely powerful and I think as you talked about, and you kinda gave me the way I organize my questions away as to why I try to, you know, hear the story in the very beginning and, you know, hear what somebody does and hear what makes them unique. Because as you said, I think when you have that opportunity to, of course, know what somebody does, you wanna know that, but you wanna know why they do it, their purpose, what really drives them, what how that aligns with their story. And when you get all of that aligned, that's when you, you know, take things to another level because you're communicating with the person that you wanna communicate with and attracting them.

[00:08:06.00] – Sheryl Green

Yeah. You stop trying to sell to their wallets, and you start trying to sell to the heart.

[00:08:12.60] – Gresham Harkless

Extremely, extremely powerful. So, I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:08:25.60] – Sheryl Green

So I'm a huge proponent of a story file. And, so first, I'll tell you where I put it, and then I'll tell you why. So I use Evernote. It's free. You can have it on your phone, or your computer. It syncs. All is wonderful in technology land.

[00:08:41.79] – Gresham Harkless

Mhmm.

[00:08:43.29] – Sheryl Green

But storytelling is so incredibly important in business, in nonprofits, whatever you happen to be involved in. And sometimes the question that I get most often is, how do I know what story to tell? So what I suggest is creating a story file and that's sitting down, you know, one day and then adding to it as you go and just thinking of all those stories that come up constantly. If you're doing the online dating thing, you'll find that you tell the same stories on every date. But you know, family reunions, when you go out with friends when you're sitting at the bar, whatever. And then those office stories too. And once you've created that story file, you can go through and you can say, like, what did I learn from this? What did I take away from it? That way when I'm just throwing something out here. You know, you need a story about good communication. You can go through that story file and you've got something already prepared. You know, you've got some idea in your head, so you're not just, like, panicking.

[00:09:50.20] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. No. I love that. And because I feel like it makes it, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, kind of like a muscle, you know, that you work out. And I think, you know, if somebody's asking, oh, you know, how do you know which story to tell? But you're constantly crafting, you get better at that, but you also get better at understanding exactly what that is communicating and what that could be, quote, unquote, used for. And when you have a lot of those and you've been practising that at your disposal, it makes it a lot more, I guess easier to communicate that and easier to have that kind of fit and flow and exactly how you want it to.

[00:10:24.00] – Sheryl Green

Yeah. It is and it also, makes you realize really the direction that storytelling should flow in because a lot of people think like, oh, I have this cool story. I'm gonna share it. Not in a business setting unless you've got a damn good reason for it.

[00:10:37.79] – Gresham Harkless

Right.

[00:10:38.70] – Sheryl Green

So this makes you go backwards, like, what's my purpose, why am I telling something, and then what will I tell?

[00:10:45.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. You get the opportunity to kinda reverse engineer that and and to get to what your goal is because I think if you keep your goal, it sounds like at the forefront, then you get to figure out how best to get to that goal in in the best way.

[00:10:56.10] – Sheryl Green

Yep. Exactly. I like how you put that reverse engineering. Yeah.

[00:10:59.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yes. That's a borrowed term for sure. And, so now I wanna ask you what I call, another one of my favorite questions, which is a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, could be around storytelling or content, but it might be something you would tell a client or maybe even your younger business self.

[00:11:17.70] – Sheryl Green

I thought long and hard about this one, have boundaries. That is what I wish I knew, you know, three-four years ago that the customer is not always right. Sometimes the customer is taking advantage of you and disrespecting what you do and how you charge for it. So, yes, have boundaries, know what those are, enforce your boundaries, and have a way to get out of that client relationship if they're not they're not respecting them. So I fired my first client about a couple of weeks ago and it felt good. Felt really good.

[00:12:00.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yes. I was actually gonna say congratulations because I think that, one of the big I think one of the biggest things that I found is that, when you either even so either somebody becomes your client or even you see that they may not be your best fit, you always want to have that opportunity to kinda, you know, generate revenue or generate those opportunities, I think that there's great power in, you know, dismissing a client or not choosing a client. After all, I believe that when you have space, or you fill that space with the wrong person, you block yourself from the exact person that is your ideal client, and it's extremely powerful to say, hey, you're not the best fit for me, and to move on. And I find that a lot of times, the best fit usually comes later on.

[00:12:46.10] – Sheryl Green

Yeah. No. I love that. And that's what I was thinking in my head is, you know, this taking up space and energy and time and it's not right. So the right one's out there.

[00:12:57.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. More power to you for doing that. It's definitely a hard thing to do, but a virtual high-five for getting that done for sure. So, now I wanted to ask you, my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Cheryl, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:13:17.00] – Sheryl Green

So for me, it means building my own dream instead of building someone else's and really leaving my mark on the world. Like I said, you know, I believe there should be a purpose behind everything you do, and starting your own business, being a CEO, allows you to tap into that purpose rather than just kind of plugging away at the daily grind for someone else's business.

[00:13:41.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I love that perspective and that definition. I love especially how everything has, you know, it comes full circle, so to speak, as you had that experience where, you know, you'll fortunately or fortunately, you were laid off, but it's led you to that opportunity to really get to to be in purpose, to get to do and create phenomenal things, then you get to do it and create it in the way that you hope to do.

[00:14:03.89] – Sheryl Green

Yep. Absolutely. It's it it has been a gift. I know it sounds funny to say, you know, but, yeah, I am grateful for it.

[00:14:11.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. I know exactly what you mean, fortunately or unfortunately. So, Cheryl, truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And, of course, how best they can get a hold of you, get a copy of all the awesome books that you're creating and all the awesome stuff that you're doing.

[00:14:31.29] – Sheryl Green

Sure. So you can reach me at Cheryl Green speaks dot com and that's Cheryl with an s. All of my books are listed there. They're also on Amazon, but this will take you direct link to them. And you can download, the first chapter on, I believe, all of the books for free. They can kinda get a taste. Not everybody likes my sense of humor. That's okay. But, you know, if you enjoy the first chapter, please keep going. You'll love it. What what to leave them with? I so I've been, I've been going with what's the guy from Price is Right?

[00:15:05.79] – Gresham Harkless

Bob Barker. Yes.

[00:15:07.50] – Sheryl Green

Yeah. So that's that's kind of been my parting message for a little while now, please spay and neuter your pets. You don't need any more in rescue. We're very busy and yes, your dog or cat is adorable, but please get them sniffed.

[00:15:22.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yes. Absolutely. And, we will have the links and information in the show notes, but I truly appreciate that message. My dog, who I rescued is somewhere around here, probably, eating a snack, her second, or third snack of the day. So I appreciate everything you're doing and for, you know, having, you know, that purpose, you know, with your business and being able to kinda speak to that and have that flow, with your business and remind us of how important that is to be our authentic selves and how that can go right in alignment with the business. So I appreciate that tremendously, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:15:58.20] – Sheryl Green

Awesome. Thank you so much.

[00:16:01.20] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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