Discovering Your Niche: Lon Graham’s Advice for Aspiring Speakers

Welcome to another episode of My First Stage! I’m your host, Sara Lohse, and I’m so excited to bring you a conversation direct from the NSA Influence Conference floor. Each week, I sit down with speakers and leaders to find out how they broke into the business, discovered their message, and built lives around sharing their voices from the stage.This episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lon Graham—founder of LG Inspires, sales leadership expert, and co-host of the Grow Business podcast! Lon’s journey is a testament to resilience, listening, and reinventing yourself when life throws you some unexpected curveballs. If you’ve ever felt stuck, questioned your value, or wondered how to find your lane as a speaker, Lon’s story will absolutely resonate.Here’s what we talked about:Finding Your Lane: Lon’s winding path from sales leader to fired employee, to recruiter, and finally to discovering his true stage as a sales leadership expert.The Power of Listening: Why paying attention to what others come to you for should inform your message—and how that guided Lon’s pivot in his content and focus.Overcoming Setbacks: How losing a job after 14 years rocked Lon’s confidence and made him question his expertise… and how he bounced back stronger.The Three-List Strategy: Lon’s practical exercise for finding your niche based on what you love, what you’re good at, and what people seek you out for.Letting Go & Leaning In: The difference between learning from the past and releasing it so you can truly move forward—and how ego and self-doubt can get in the way.Advice for Pivoting: Steps any aspiring speaker or professional can take to identify the right direction and thrive there.If Lon Graham’s journey gave you food for thought, here’s what you can do next:Share Your Own Pivot: Have you had to switch lanes or rediscover your calling? Head to myfirststagepodcast.com and tell me about it!Connect with Lon: Reach out to Lon Graham on LinkedIn, check out longraham.com, and don’t miss the Grow Business podcast for more leadership gems.Do the Three-List Exercise: Set aside some time this week to list what lights you up, what you’re good at, and what people already seek you out for—then look for the overlap!Subscribe & Review: If you’re enjoying My First Stage, please hit subscribe, leave a review, and help us reach more future speakers and leaders.Get Involved: Whether it’s joining a conference, speaking up on a podcast, or sharing your thoughts online, every step brings you closer to your own first stage.Thank you for tuning in! I can’t wait to bring you more stories and advice to help you launch your own first stage.Timestamped Summaries00:00 – We kick off at the NSA Influence Conference, introduce Lon Graham, and bond over the excitement of our first Influence event.00:42 – Lon Graham shares why proximity to successful speakers and immersion in the community is essential to building his speaking business.01:33 – Lon opens up about getting fired from a long-standing sales leadership role, experimenting with a recruiting franchise, and finally realizing that speaking was his calling—only to struggle launching during COVID.02:38 – The power of feedback: Lon Graham describes listening to what people were really seeking from him and realizing leadership was his true lane.03:26 – How Lon used feedback from leaders, friends, and nonprofit colleagues to realign his content, and why working “in the dark” prepared him for the spotlight.04:53 – Why it can be humbling to embrace what you’re truly known for—and the mindset shift required after setbacks or career changes.06:53 – Both Lon Graham and I open up about the aftermath of losing jobs, dealing with self-doubt, and relearning how to see our own value.09:51 – Lon introduces his “learn and lean” framework: learn from your past, release it, and lean into your future.10:51 – We talk about finding the lane you should truly be in and why forcing yourself into the wrong topic or role just won’t work.12:10 – Lon Graham details his three-list exercise: what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and what people come to you for, and how the intersection points you to your ideal niche.13:58 – Find out where to connect with Lon Graham: LinkedIn, lawngraham.com, and the Grow Business podcast.14:53 – Final words and a reminder to share your voice, follow the show, and keep seeking your first (or next!) stage.