How to Become a Business Leader in Your Community by Following 3 Easy Steps

The local university is holding a conference on a subject that has to do with your industry.Do they contact you to be a guest speaker or expert panel guest?If the answer to this question is not a resounding yes, then you have work to do.Establishing yourself in the community as a business leader is worth it’s weight in gold, but not many entrepreneurs know how to climb the community ladder to become recognized.No matter what type of industry you are in, the value of being the go to person will land you more leads, which will lead to more business, which will lead to more profit.As a big supporter of Green businesses, it has been an honor to travel and speak at the Green Festival all around the United States. America’s largest and longest-running sustainability and green living event, the Green Festival understands the importance of empowering vendors with top-of-the-line business training so they can be as successful as possible.In order to help the hundreds of green startups that displayed their products and services to over 30,000 people in their most recent San Francisco Festival, they brought in Expert DOJO to teach business power sessions to help the small green businesses.One of the power sessions, taught by the legendary business coach Brian MacMahon of Expert DOJO, was on how to grow your influence by becoming a recognized business leader in your community.Though the session was specifically geared towards green and sustainable companies, the principles apply to all types of industries just the same.Here are three powerful steps Brian shared at one of the B2B Power Sessions for vendors of the Green Festival 2015 in San Francisco.Step One: VISIONBefore you become recognized as a leader in your community, you need to create a very clear vision of your definition of green. There are a number of different definitions that fall under the topic of green. There’s no good or bad; every definition is just different, and you need to establish the definition of green for yourself to better create the type of green leader you aspire to be.1. Do you want to be recognized as someone who is making initiatives and pushing for more businesses to adopt green practices?2. Do you want to be seen as a leader in your particular vertical of the green movement in your community?3. Do you want to act as a voice for those who are adopting green values to their business?Whatever your vision may be, figuring it out should be your first step in becoming a green leader in your community.Step Two: VOICEIt is well-known that public speaking is one of the most feared and lamented tasks among human beings. If you want to establish yourself as a great leader, you must have a voice in the community. Therefore, you must be able to speak at both small, medium, and large functions comfortably and enthusiastically. Every town has multiple opportunities for individuals to have their voice heard, but only a handful of individuals take advantage of such opportunities, and those individuals are the ones who are not afraid to publicly speak.Here are a some options that can fast track your ability to feel confident while speaking in front of a crowd.Join a local Toastmasters. It will help give you an opportunity to speak on a regular basis in a safe environment until you get comfortable with branching out and speaking other public venues.Give speeches to local nonprofits about how they can incorporate green fundamentals into their fundraising efforts.Visit and talk with local businesses or business leaders about best practices in green business, specifically the types of initiatives or innovation that can actually save their company money.Talk to everyone from homeowners associations to PTAs to the City Council about ways that individuals can make small changes in their daily lives and behaviors that will make large impacts on the community’s footprint to the environment.Step Three: ValidationOnce you have a clear vision and absolute confidence in communicating this vision through public speaking, the next step is to gain validation by becoming an expert. The definition of an expert is someone who knows just a little bit more than everyone else. So make a decision to become an expert and start learning.Here are five easy ways to gain the knowledge you need to become an expert:1. Attend conferences on the subject of green, cleantech, and sustainable business.2. Attend local university lecturers open to the public on matters of sustainability.3. Go to the library and read.4. Scour the Internet for information about best practices for green businesses5. Gather facts from business owners, regulators, politicians, anyone who can give valuable insight on the latest green and sustainable trends.Three simple steps: Vision, Voice, and Validation.Focus in on your vision, get comfortable with your voice, and then seek validation by becoming an expert. Once you have taken these steps, apply to be a speaker at the next Green Festival. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!See you up on stage soon!