124: [Coaching] Opportunities Come When You're Prepared with Karen Briscoe

Have you ever been asked to give an important talk or presentation with a very short time frame?

You knew that saying “yes” would be beneficial, but then you had to scramble to put it together, which meant pushing aside your other work, stressing about it, and creating a presentation that wasn’t as good as it could have been?

What if, instead, you’re prepared when great speaking opportunities present themselves?

My guest today is Karen Briscoe, the author of several books, highly successful in real estate, and an action taker.

In this episode, Karen and I talk about:

• Why she decided it was time to create her signature talk
• Her inspiring story of being turned down for a speaking engagement - and then getting the opportunity again
• How she took her signature talk and turned it into a book (and found the time to do so!)
• Her writing routine
• Flipping the pyramid to achieve your goals
• The importance of goals and milestones in your life

This episode is sponsored by Modern Traction, a web development and content marketing company.

We used Modern Traction to design our new website for https://www.speakingyourbrand.com and we are beyond thrilled with the impact and ROI we’ve already received less than a month in.

Melanie Richards, the founder of Modern Traction, was on the podcast in episode 121 sharing what a powerful marketing and sales tool your website can be, especially to position yourself as a premium and paid speaker.

Learn more about how they can help you with a website refresh, a complete overhaul, or done-for-you content marketing at https://www.moderntraction.com and schedule a consult call. I can’t recommend Mel and her team enough.

About My Guest: Karen Briscoe has been on a heroine's journey from being too busy and overwhelmed to love the life she has, much less to make time to create and co-create the life of her dreams. In her real estate career, she experienced several major obstacles: her business partner passed away in September 2008, the same month as the financial markets crashed. That crisis was the beginning of the great recession. For the next 5 years, she set about to re-build the business with her new business partner. By my mid-50's she had achieved a high level of success in her profession, ranking in the top 250 agents WSJ list. In her personal life, she enjoys good health for her age, a happy marriage, and 2 healthy, well-established kids. She still felt as though there was something more that was hers to do. And yet there never seemed to be enough time or money. Busy had become a competitive arena, a badge of honor. What she found is the only one truly stopping her was her. How she "flipped" time to focus on meaningful activities and work. If she can do it, you can too! Karen's book, FLIP TIME: LOVE LIFE is based on this heroine's journey. Her books are available on Amazon and in bulk on the 5 Minute Success website.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals create their signature talks and gain more visibility to achieve their goals. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power: on stages, in businesses, on boards, in the media, in politics, and in our communities. Check out our coaching programs and workshops at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/124

Karen’s website and podcast: http://www.5minutesuccess.com/

Karen’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Flip-Time-Love-Life-Heroines/dp/1936961423/

Join the free Speaking Your Brand community at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/join/ or text the word SPEAKING to 444-999.

Apply for a Virtual VIP Day to create your signature talk: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/coaching

Say hi to me on Instagram and Twitter: @CarolMorganCox.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts and leave a review!

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 91: Visibility Works: From Local Speaking to TED.com to a Book with Tammy Lally
• Episode 98: Expanding Your Personal Story into a Universal Message with Nicole Rochester, M.D.
• Episode 114: Building Your Thought Leadership Platform with Lisa Zawrotny [Coaching]
• Episode 116: 16 Ways You Can Use Your Signature Talk

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