341: Unearthing Your Unique Message: Discovering What Makes You Stand Out with Judy Carlson

Raise your hand if you’re used to giving presentations chock full of information, facts, and figures?

You are not alone!

Many of us get comfortable doing this, probably because that’s how we got started as speakers and presenters.

But, your audience doesn’t need to hear tons of facts and figures; they need to understand the big picture of your topic, how it relates to them, and what they should do next.

This is precisely the evolution that our guest, Judy Carlson, did while she was in our Thought Leader Academy.

She worked with our lead speaking coach, Diane Diaz, to create her new signature talk and framework.

In this episode, Diane sits down with Judy to chat about her goal to do more public speaking and how she developed her unique framework and signature talk.

Judy also shares about her career path, personal story, and what she learned from her time in the Thought Leader Academy.

Plus, she gives us the lowdown on her VIP Day and how her awesome WEAVE framework came to be. You’ll love this story!

Here's the scoop on what you'll hear in this episode:

• Why Judy decided to step up her public speaking game now

• Judy's reasons for wanting to switch gears from training to thought leadership in her speaking

• How Judy's personal story influenced her unique message and framework, to help her stand out from the crowd in her industry

• The inside story on Judy's time in the Thought Leader Academy and her biggest takeaways

• The step-by-step process we followed to create Judy's WEAVE framework - hint: WEAVE wasn't our first idea

• What Judy thought her VIP Day would be like and what it was actually like

Our Thought Leader Academy is currently open for enrollment for our next start date of August 29, 2023.

About Our Guest: Judy Carlson is an independent lifetime wealth strategist, investment advisor representative, and life insurance professional. She has 40 years of experience as a CPA and has owned her own independent financial firm for the past 12 years. Her mission is to help individuals and families protect their assets and preserve their wealth throughout their lifetimes and legacy. Judy went from being a successful CPA in Corporate America to a stay-at-home mom to losing almost everything financially. She brings a fresh perspective to taking control of your money no matter what financial decisions you’ve made in the past. Judy loves helping her clients become aware of their financial options through her education. As their guide, Judy helps her clients decide what’s best for their money. Together they custom design and build unique lifetime wealth and legacy plans.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. This episode is hosted by Diane Diaz, our lead speaking coach. At Speaking Your Brand®, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories, voices, and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/341/

Judy’s website: https://judycarlson.com/

Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/

Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/

Connect on LinkedIn:

• Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox

• Diane Diaz = https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianediaz/

• Judy Carlson (guest) = https://www.linkedin.com/in/judycarlsonfinancialadvisor/

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable