IAM216- Business Coach and Speaker Helps Entrepreneurs Position Themselves To Be Part of The Conversation

Silva Harapetian is a media consultant, business coach, author and speaker. She has had a 20-year career as a television journalist on the front lines covering major stories for leading networks including NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX. She is a television personality and media expert who was featured in online and print magazines as well as television and radio shows, internationally and nationally including NBC’s “The Today Show” with Kathie Lee & Hoda and syndicated talk show, “The Nate Berkus Show.”

Silva Harapetian helps entrepreneurs and executives discover and craft their message and story so that they can create a deeper connection with their clients, engage them long term and increase sales.

• CEO Hack: Self-care and committing to something that feeds your soul at least an hour in a day
• CEO Nugget: Trust yourself and be yourself
• CEO Defined: Being your own leader, purpose-driven and leading by example

Website: http://silvaharapetian.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/silvaharapetian/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silvaharapetian/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/SilvaHarapetian/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Story-Brand-P-I-C-Kind/dp/1987460197

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE.

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Intro 0:02

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.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

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 Silva Harapetian of silvaharapetian.com. So it's awesome to have you on the show.

Silva Harapetian 0:37

Thank you so much. I'm so thrilled to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

I'm super psyched to have you on and what I want to do, which is read a little bit more about Silva so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Silva is a media consultant, business coach, author, and speaker. She has had a 20-year career as a television journalist on the front lines covering major stories for leading networks including NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox. She is a television personality and media expert who was featured in online and print magazines as well as television and radio shows internationally and nationally, including NBC Today Show the Kathie Lee and Hoda, and syndicated talk show The Nate Berkus Show, Silva helps entrepreneurs and executives discover and craft their message and story so that they can create a deeper connection with their clients, engage them long term and increase sales. So Silva, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

Silva Harapetian 1:29

I am ready Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:33

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was the hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business

Silva Harapetian 1:39

I have been in the media world in the media industry on various different capacities for almost 20 years, I started as an intern at KCBS in Los Angeles and work my way up the ranks in different cities in different markets and different stations, doing everything from bringing coffee to the executives to eventually producing and becoming a radio reporter. And then I became a television reporter. And I moved all over the country for the next opportunity in the next job. My dream was to always be a credible, reputable journalist that told stories that mattered on a platform that was big enough that made an impact. That was my career goal. And it wasn't an easy goal to set. It may sound like it's something that's doable for anyone who's living in the land of dreams, right in America. But for me, it was a very different path. Because I was born in Iran. I'm Armenian, we fled the country because we were Christian Armenians.

So we fled religious and political persecution, escaped to Germany lived in Germany for two years, learn the language in Germany when I was 14 years old, so already through my teenage years, and then got to the United States when I was 16 years old. So in high school at 16, learning English, learning everything about the culture, learning about just the simple things that sometimes we take for granted, like, what is student government, like, what is community service? What are extracurricular activities? And why do they matter? What is an AP class versus a regular class, what I mean is all of this stuff, I had to figure out and I had to learn on my own. And I do it very quickly because I didn't have time I was already a sophomore in high school. And, one of the things that I took very personally was my parent's sacrifice of the left everything they worked for, and everything they had in another country to give us a better opportunity and better life.

And I felt indebted to them to be successful and indebted to them to show them that their sacrifice meant something to me, I took education very seriously, I took the power of my voice very seriously. Also, the desire to be a journalist came from the fact that I grew up in Iran, where women have no voice, they're considered property, and everything is censored.

So to be in a country where you have all of these opportunities at your fingertips, I just felt like I owed it to them and every other parent that sacrifices and makes that kind of change, to maximize every opportunity that came my way, so figured out how to go to college and didn't get to the college that I really wanted to because my SATs scores were terrible, and then eventually figured out how to work at nights and go to school and community college eventually transferred and got a degree, again, with a lot of help and a lot of hard work. And once I did an internship at KCBS, I realized I really loved power and the impact of storytelling when done correctly, the Everlasting shift that it creates on a human being, and whether it's a breaking news story or a political story, or a human interest story, if it's done correctly, our job as journalists is community service and to educate and to inform and deliver facts.

And that was so incredibly powerful to me. And I saw a need in that market to use the skills from the insider perspective of being in the media and knowing what they look for, and understanding how it all works. And bridging that knowledge gap between my expertise and my knowledge of what I know from the inside and bringing it to the people that want that kind of coverage that deserve to be part of the conversation.

So that's where my business was born in. And mostly I do speaking opportunities where I teach large audiences how to do the power of the media, the power of storytelling, how to look at their business, and how to look at their organization, in order for them to be able to think the way the media thinks so that they can position themselves to have a better chance of being part of the conversation and promoting what they do and the impact that they make. So that's how my business was born. And that's how I became the CEO.

Gresham Harkless 6:07

I was gonna ask you for your secret sauce, you might have already touched on that, do you feel like that's what sets you apart and makes you unique?

Silva Harapetian 6:12

My secret sauce is my life and my history, right? So everything that I've learned is a skill from the media perspective. So anyone who's worked in media can probably give you some or all of the insight or tools that you need or perspective to get to where you want to go. But not everybody can see the story from the perspective I can see it. And that's because of my life of my background of where I come from. It's the things that I look for, it's the moments I look for, to me, the human connection is incredibly important. I think, you know, marketing is very much like music. If you do it, right? It doesn't matter what language it is, and where in the world it's played. It creates a connection, right?

So if you can figure out a way to develop a message and develop a story around your business and your product and your service that resonates in a human way, that is the most powerful marketing you will ever do. It's not about the features of your product, it's not about the benefits of your service. It's not about your credibility, it's about that human connection.

And I am able to find that nugget in everything and everyone because I did it for 20 years on television. I've covered every type of story and every type of business and every type of setting, I have a knack for that part of is skill. Part of it is instinct. Part of it is just human compassion, and being who I am. So, that's the secret sauce. And I think, if anyone is listening, as is any kind of powerful takeaway is that if you're looking to market your business, or yourself or your brand if your marketing doesn't have a heartbeat if it doesn't have the human element, that's probably where you're failing. So when you think about creating messaging, marketing, and stories, and content around what you're doing, think, ask yourself, Is this a human experience? Because essentially, your buyers aren't just behind a computer clicking yes, they're humans buying, even if it's in the digital world, they're not computers.

Gresham Harkless 8:32

I want to just switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Silva Harapetian 8:41

Yes. And it is something that I continue to work on. Because as CEOs as business owners and entrepreneurs, we are really terrible at this, because there are just not enough hours in a day, right? But my hack is self-care and preserving time in a day. And committing to it, doing something that is important to you that you love that feeds your soul that feeds your creativity that feeds you, for different types of people. It's different things for some people, it's yoga for some people, it's meditation, some people or gout, some people have a morning ritual, some people like to be organized, and some be like, whatever it is, whatever feeds your soul, whatever makes you happy, whatever you're excited about doing, then that's the thing, you should commit to at least an hour, maybe even more than a day, maybe twice a day, because I think in order to operate on a high level and be effective and efficient. You really have to be your optimum self. And in order to be your optimum self, you really do have to take care of yourself.

Gresham Harkless 9:45

Absolutely. I would definitely echo that. And I too am working on that as well because I too would be on the computer with you for hours. So I completely understand exactly what you mean. So it's important to kind of dedicate time to that and make sure that you stick to it, which is like I say putting on your own oxygen mask and making sure you keep it on. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Silva Harapetian 10:10

So I would say trust yourself and be yourself and this is through my own life and experience in working in the media for 20 years, you're under a microscope, I mean, on a daily basis. I mean, imagine some people, you know, work on a project, and they stand in front of a group and make a presentation, maybe once every two weeks, once a month, maybe never, as a journalist, as a television journalist, I was in front of a camera, whether I felt like it or not, whether I was sick or not, whether I had a bad day or not, whether I had bad hair day or not, whether I was feeling like no matter what you have to show up and you have to perform, there are no other options. So being able to flip that switch on and off was definitely something I had to learn. But in the process, there are a lot of people who have a lot to say about who you are, what you look like how you sound like, and what you didn't do, right, constantly being judged and constantly being scrutinized, right?

So that leads to you second guessing yourself, that leads to you second guessing your abilities and who you are. And that's very true in entrepreneurship as well. Because when you start something of your own, you are following your own vision, you're following what's in your own head, and you're following your own instinct and other people don't have access to that. So other people have a lot to say about it.

And we as humans, we're vulnerable, right? Like we're human. So something is going to penetrate whether it's your best friend, or your mom or your dad or your partner, or just a stranger, some things are going to sting and some things are going to get under your skin, I would say I wish I had been more of myself. And I wish I hadn't watered myself down. And I wish I hadn't second-guessed myself in the process that I was in. I'm glad that I did. Because I'm here.

So I don't regret any of that. But if I had to give anyone any advice, I'd say, believe in what you believe in trust in yourself and trust your instinct and follow yourself. Be you because there is no one else but you and it's gotten you this far, it's going to get you further and the more I work on being more of myself, the more abundant things become, the more I attract the people that I want to work with. And I know this sounds woo-woo for a lot of people, but it's true, the more of you- you are, the more you're able to share your gift, and the more you're able to share your skills, the more you're able to articulate what they are. So just get comfortable in your own skin. It's hard to do. But, do whatever you have to do set whatever environment you have to set for yourself, get whatever code you need to get to do whatever mind trick you have to do in order for you to be full of yourself and not in a negative way. But just be you.

Gresham Harkless 13:00

I absolutely love that and definitely be you because of what they say everybody else has taken. So you have to be yourself in order to kind of have that light shine. And for you to show what you're put here on this earth, I believe at least to do. So I appreciate you for doing that. Appreciate you for sharing that with us as well. And now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO or hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So if I want to ask you what does being a CEO means to you.

Silva Harapetian 13:26

It means a lot of things to me. But for me, it means living with purpose. And you have to be your own leader, right? Be your own boss in a sense, where you have to make sure you put on your oxygen mask, you have to make sure that you are yourself and that you are fully and wholeheartedly present and aligned and purpose-driven. And in order for you to make the impact that you want to make. And for those of you who are in business, we know we can't have a business without making money for you to be able to make the kind of money you want to make. For me, as long as I stay on purpose then I am in my role. The moment I get off that path or get distracted from that path, that's when things become more complicated. So for me, being a CEO is really being on purpose and leading by example.

Gresham Harkless 14:20

Absolutely. I love that definition. And that is a reminder and everything that you said is like right in alignment. So that's the part I love the most. So Silva, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I want to do is pass you the mic just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you.

Silva Harapetian 14:36

Yeah, so one of the things I want to talk about is reinvention, right? So we didn't really touch on this, but anyone who's interested can check out my YouTube page, and you can check out my website. I have reinvented myself multiple times in my life in my career and uncertainty and chaos are my best friend, right? Because that's what I grew up in. That's what I know. That's where I'm most comfortable. It's probably the reason I chose that news and Media Broadcasts because I thrived in that chaotic environment, right? And while that was my goal, and I thought that was my purpose, there came a time when I felt like my purpose was greater than what I was doing. So that's when I really invested in my business and grew the business. And last March, I decided that I wanted to leave the broadcast world.

So I jumped. I quit my job as a television reporter in Miami, and I decided to invest fully and jump fully into my business and be a full-time entrepreneur, I would love to get some love there, you can follow me on social media. So the Silva Harapetian, on all of the platforms. My website has a lot of information, and I give away a lot of content. I do free consulting for clients if you want to for 20 minutes. So if you're thinking that you might need some help, no strings attached, send me an email or give me a call. I'm here to serve. And thank you, thank you for this platform. This has been really amazing.

Gresham Harkless 16:00

Yes, this has been awesome. And I think you provided a tremendous amount of value. So I truly appreciate you. I appreciate everything that you're doing, being transparent and telling your story, and helping others to tell their story as well too. And we'll have all those links in the show notes just so that anybody can follow up with you. And again, I appreciate you tremendously and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Silva Harapetian 16:18

Thank you.

Outro 16:19

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.

[/restrict]

Full Interview