I was talking to a Time Traders Club member recently about telesummits. She is a really talented virtual assistant who wanted to participate in a telesummit not only to grow her list, but to learn the ropes so that she could help her clients with that type of event in the future.

Smart cookie!

And, she had people e-mailing her every day. The typical scenario, would go something like this.

Original E-mail: “We would LOVE to have you on our telesummit”
She would e-mail back: Yes, of course.

Response: Let’s have a phone conversation to discuss logistics.

So then on the phone. The person describes the event (sounds great!), the promotional requirement (do-able) and then asks the BIG question. So, how big is your list?

Her response: Ummm…. 1,150

Their response: I’m sorry, I love what you are doing, but my coach says I can only take people with at least 5,000 on their list.

The conversation ends and both parties feel bad. What a waste of time!

I could argue that smaller lists are more responsive (they are!) or that my smaller list out-performs big lists all the time as far as numbers of sign ups…

But instead, I’m going to tell you how to start getting those telesummit and speaking gigs even if your list is tiny.

One of my favorite clients is Michele Scism. Michele now has a list in the tens of thousands, but it wasn’t always that way. She started, like we all do, with zero. When I started working with her she had a few thousand. Yet, she built half million dollar a year business almost completely on speaking, right from the start.

She agreed to write a solo biz hack for us on exactly how she got those first speaking gigs, when her list was small, just like yours. You can grab the hack with all 5 hints here.

Here’s one hint to get you started. Think about podcasts. Podcast owners owners are always looking for guests, and they generally don’t ask about your list size. They are more interested in the story you have to tell. You can grow your list by appearing on podcasts and offering an interesting freebie.

Here’s what to type into google to find podcasts in your niche:

[Your-Topic] inurl:/podcast/
[Your-Topic] inurl:category/podcast/
[Your-Topic] inurl:/podcasts/
[Your-Topic] inurl:category/podcasts/
[Your-Topic] intitle:podcast
[Your-Topic] intitle:podcasts

You’ll end up with a nice list of podcasts to contact. Make a point of reaching out to a few a day and before long, your calendar will be full and your list will be growing.

Michele gave some other great hints in the solo biz hack. You can grab the hack with all 5 hints here.

Let’ me know how this goes for you and when you get your first bookings. I love listening to podcasts!