1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Tis I, Lord Podcast. Are you yearning to equip yourself with the confidence to record?

2
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,160
Elijah, the skilled podcast professional, is preparing himself for a tale of tools and

3
00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:17,480
skill that only a mighty podcaster may employ in one's podcast journey.

4
00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:22,760
Elijah, I do believe that we shall teach our weary wanderer the confidence that they strive

5
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,760
to achieve. Shall we start a podcast?

6
00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,240
We shall. It's settled.

7
00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:31,040
Let's start a podcast.

8
00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:36,560
Perfect. We look professional, we sound professional, we're all set. Pascala is here with me at

9
00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,520
Present Tales. We're going to learn about how to become more irresistible than chocolate

10
00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:45,400
cake, maybe perfecting our public speaking skills. Does that sound familiar? I don't

11
00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:46,400
know where I got that, goodness.

12
00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,400
I don't know where you might have got that.

13
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:55,160
The magic of having so much social content out there, you're an incredible storyteller

14
00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,880
and you're just a whole lot of fun to all these energetic costumes that I don't know,

15
00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,600
you have more costumes than drag queens do for the record. It's fantastic.

16
00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:05,320
You have no idea.

17
00:01:05,320 --> 00:01:10,000
It's nice. A lot of people don't know about the adversity, how you'd stop at nothing.

18
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,000
You're paralyzed, you lost your career because of that and you had to start all over again

19
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:19,000
to figure out why. I don't even know if your two pups were involved at that point. How

20
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,480
did this all come to be? Goodness. That's a short period of time. Goodness.

21
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:30,440
Yeah, it all just happened very fast, to be honest. How did all of this come to be? I

22
00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,360
grew up in the Netherlands. That's the accent that people are hearing if they're thinking,

23
00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:40,920
what is that accent? I grew up in the Netherlands, small town girl, countryside type stuff, moved

24
00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:46,080
to the next city to become an actress. It's literally like that. My mother played Tinkerbell

25
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:50,800
in the musical Peter Pan and I fell in love with the theatre from there. I've always been

26
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:56,800
obsessed with human interaction and the way that we can portray a character. Did drama

27
00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:01,920
school in the Netherlands, moved to the UK to do my masters and all along I've always

28
00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,400
done shows. I've been on stage because I was four years old, which believe it or not, is

29
00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:13,440
possible. Did that for a long time, ended up on the West End doing all kinds of cool

30
00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:20,720
stuff and then had a stroke five years ago. I became paralyzed on the left-hand side.

31
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:26,200
The right side of my brain didn't get enough blood, effectively so it's an ischemic stroke

32
00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,160
where there's not enough blood and oxygen within the brain, which means basically it

33
00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:38,600
just shuts off. Luckily, it opened up again. I survived. I am relatively okay now. I don't

34
00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,240
have a lot of paralyzation anymore. If I get really tired, for example, or I need to do

35
00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:48,400
some really fine motor skills with my left hand, it's not going to go great. Other than

36
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:55,080
that, I am absolutely fine. But it did mean that my career in musical theater is over

37
00:02:55,080 --> 00:03:00,120
and I knew that the moment it happened. That meant I needed to figure out something else.

38
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:05,120
You can feel sorry for yourself or you can just give yourself a kick up the box and do

39
00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:06,120
something.

40
00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,600
It's nice. It is positive though. You can rid of the Peter Pan tights because I don't

41
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,840
think they're that comfortable, are they? Especially if you're four and you're dancing

42
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,960
around, you're all cute, but when you get older, a little different.

43
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:23,680
Not great. I mean, people ask me, do you miss musical theater? And I go, no, because it's

44
00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:29,160
such hard work. You never have a day off and you are hungry all of the time and forced

45
00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:34,800
into uncomfortable costumes. So no, I don't miss it.

46
00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,240
Fair. That part is a blessing, right? You get to try it, you get to experience it, you

47
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,920
can have a great time and now you don't have to wear those incredibly fascinating costumes,

48
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:44,920
if I may say.

49
00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:52,040
Fascinating indeed, but definitely not comfortable and don't recommend wearing them ever.

50
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:58,800
People don't always understand how the power of public speaking can intertwine with podcasting.

51
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,920
But for me, I was worried about going through an episode of my podcast and my mind suddenly

52
00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:09,000
goes blank because as you can probably see, I have big ket energy, ADHD, I see squirrels

53
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,720
and shiny things and I'm out. And then the panics come, the odds happen, you start to

54
00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,880
struggle and you don't have a co-host, I don't, to keep on track. What's the answer? Do I

55
00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,840
give up? Do I cry in the corner? Like, how do I recover from this?

56
00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:27,960
It's very simple. You just step back, you stop talking for a second to say, hold on,

57
00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:32,200
I'm going to think about what I want to say next. You just stop. Either check your nose

58
00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:37,560
or go back within your brain and then you start again. I think there is such a pressure

59
00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,360
on speakers, whether that is on a podcast, whether that is on stage, on a panel, to be

60
00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:48,120
this perfect thing as if I'm looking into the camera right now with like an auto-queue

61
00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:53,080
running by. It's not like that. You are human and you can celebrate in that humanity. So,

62
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:58,180
if you need to take a step back because you need to think real quick, do it. It's okay.

63
00:04:58,180 --> 00:04:59,180
It's totally fine.

64
00:04:59,180 --> 00:05:03,320
That's it. Just take a minute, second, however long you have.

65
00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:04,320
Yeah.

66
00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,920
Yeah. Just take however long you need in order to be, you know, effective in your communication.

67
00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:14,840
Wow. I've done a long day of speaking. But what you want to do is just give yourself

68
00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:19,480
that time. Be nicer to yourself. Don't think you need to be this perfect person that always

69
00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:24,720
speaks everything perfectly. No, you can be human. You can just say, give me a second.

70
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:30,200
I'm going to check my notes. And the great thing with podcasts is you can edit it out.

71
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:31,200
Yay.

72
00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:35,320
What happens if you're a DIY or you're a hobbyist that is a one person show that doesn't

73
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,360
always have this time for editing and you say a lot of ums and ahs and you get distracted?

74
00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:44,680
Are there any tips to kind of get rid of some of that speaking habits so that you don't

75
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,560
have to edit as much?

76
00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:51,080
So of course, you can always practice at becoming a better communicator. When it comes to your

77
00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:58,080
ums and ahs and those non words, like the word like, really, very, those are words that

78
00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:03,680
people use a lot that are not always very functional or the comment like the common,

79
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:10,200
well, nobody wants to hear that. So what you can do, you can grab a tennis ball and as

80
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,320
you know, you just start talking. So you start talking about your day or your favorite holiday

81
00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:18,880
or your favorite child of memory. And every time you catch yourself saying a filler word,

82
00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,800
you throw the ball against a wall and you catch it and you continue. Because what that

83
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:29,160
does, it turns the filler words into something physical, because it happens before we even

84
00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,800
know that it's happened, right? It happens really quickly. It happens within the brain.

85
00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,400
And when things happen within the brain, it's very hard to get them into control because

86
00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,560
they're intangible. So we turn it into something tangible. So your filler words become tennis

87
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,160
ball. When you say your filler words, throw it against the wall, catch it and continue

88
00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:50,880
because it shows you how and when those filler words come up, which means we can then start

89
00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:51,880
working on them.

90
00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:56,800
Do I get treats if I'm if I do good at this? Is that part of the part of the

91
00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:03,440
No, unfortunately not. My golden retriever gets all of them, including the crackers that

92
00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,520
she begs for and a little piece of ham. But what are you going to do? Right? Stay with

93
00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:12,360
my dogs. They would eat my finger if I met them. Really? She just kind of gnaws on it.

94
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,520
Like just gently try to slobbers all over it as a thing that she does to put herself

95
00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,560
to sleep. Like really? There's got to be a better way. Yeah. But I'll stick to tennis

96
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:22,560
ball. That'd be good.

97
00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:29,280
Do you think that I speak too fast? Some people think that I should speak slower. Is that

98
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:30,280
a thing?

99
00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:37,560
Oh, if another person tells me just speak slower, I am going to slap them. You know

100
00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:42,360
what? The whole speaking slower is not the problem. It is adjusting your timing as you

101
00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:47,320
see fit. So it's like with a song, right? If you listen to a song, it starts a bit slower,

102
00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:52,760
then it speeds up and then it goes through different rhythms. It's the same with when

103
00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,840
we speak. It's okay to speak fast, but just sometimes make sure you also speak a little

104
00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:03,640
bit slower. So it's just adjusting the timing, but you don't need to speak slower in general

105
00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:09,600
or constantly in order to be well received. If you speak quickly, that is fine. Just make

106
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:14,400
sure that you enunciate correctly and that you stress the right words so that people

107
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:15,960
know when to pay attention.

108
00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:17,680
That sounds really easy.

109
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:18,680
It is.

110
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:24,760
It is. Since you've been doing this at four, it comes natural to you. So it's a piece of

111
00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:29,640
cake for others who struggle and overthink this stuff. Throwing a tennis ball and just

112
00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,200
taking a break seems like second nature.

113
00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:39,240
I know. The thing is, I think we put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect all of

114
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:44,680
the freaking time. And it's like, you don't need to be perfect. You need to be clear.

115
00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:49,800
I don't care about perfection. Nobody cares about perfection. Actually, if you look at

116
00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:56,320
loads of data on presentations, when people are perfect, we don't trust you. By all means,

117
00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,280
make the mistakes because it makes us trust you more.

118
00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:06,520
Is that how you coach your CEOs that get seven figure TEDx talk gigs? People at that level

119
00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:13,160
seem to have so much scrutiny and in a sense of perfection. They feel so visible and seen,

120
00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:14,160
right?

121
00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:15,640
Kind of how you think about it.

122
00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:21,760
Yeah. I was literally with one of my clients at lunch today and we were talking about big

123
00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:27,280
seven figure keynotes exactly like this. He's like, wow, I would do that. And TED talks

124
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:32,560
and all of that stuff. And I was like, well, because he did Toastmasters and I love Toastmasters.

125
00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:36,800
Let's make that really clear. It's a really great place to start your public speaking

126
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,200
career because it just gets you those flying hours. It gets you exposed to public speaking.

127
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:46,320
It gets you into a community and it's really nice. But what it also does is it sort of

128
00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:50,480
makes sure to this perfect person, like a puppet almost, right? You're like, and now

129
00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,920
I'm going to present. So you become a presenter. And that is a very dangerous thing because

130
00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:02,080
a presenter is not a thing. You still just need to be you as a human. So instead of focusing

131
00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:06,680
all the perfection, saying all the right things, all the right words in all the perfect ways

132
00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:12,680
with the perfect voice, let's focus on who you are and turn that into something interesting.

133
00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:16,680
If you are somebody who talks with their hands a lot, talk with your hands by all means.

134
00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:20,960
But what we need to do is make it functional. So instead of you just flapping your arms

135
00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:26,600
about like some crazy duck, we need to find out how you do that, why you do that and how

136
00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,200
we can make it more functional for you.

137
00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,620
Even though my wife hates this, the eyebrows, how would I incorporate that into my keynote

138
00:10:33,620 --> 00:10:39,000
speaker events? Would that distract people or could I play off my sense of big kid energy

139
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,000
somehow?

140
00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,320
I love big kid energy. So with the eyebrows, it's quite a funny thing when you do that.

141
00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,840
And if you would constantly do this as you speak, it might become a little bit annoying.

142
00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,840
Okay, if I do this all the time.

143
00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:51,840
You practice well done.

144
00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:59,680
If you use it as a tool. So for example, if I say something cheeky and I then go like

145
00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:04,520
that, then it's absolutely fine. So again, it's becoming aware of what you're doing because

146
00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,440
a lot of people are just not aware of the things that they do automatically.

147
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:09,440
Right.

148
00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:16,760
Like the flapping of the arms. So making that awareness happen, that will turn it into something

149
00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:20,520
functional because it's who you are and it's part of who you are. So why would we change

150
00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,480
that? Let's just make it more functional.

151
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:30,280
And those who have really brought introvertedness and introverts to the spotlight, do you want

152
00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,920
to celebrate them even more because they're great listeners and they're afraid of going

153
00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,880
out and they have this introspectiveness?

154
00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:43,600
Yeah, there's this big myth that introverts are terrible at public speaking, that extroverts

155
00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:49,360
are automatically great. That's bollocks. Take that really clear, okay? That's absolute

156
00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,320
bollocks because extroverts are more comfortable in the spotlight. It doesn't mean they're

157
00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,040
better at it because they're often the people that just talk and talk and talk without a

158
00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,440
real purpose. Okay.

159
00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,720
Introverts are people that are way more introspective. They think about things much more deeply. It

160
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:09,560
takes them more time to be ready to get onto the stage. But when they are ready, they're

161
00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:14,840
often really, really good presenters. The difference is that when an extrovert is done

162
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,840
talking, they'll be coming into the networking pool and be like, woohoo, yes, hello, what's

163
00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,320
an A grade, what's an A grade, what's an A grade? The introverts will be like, I now

164
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:27,280
need some time for myself because it drains the advisory. So depending on if you are an

165
00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:32,800
extrovert, an introvert or an ambivert, doesn't matter. That doesn't decide if you're a good

166
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:37,640
or a bad speaker. It's just knowing what you need in order to prepare, in order to how

167
00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:42,160
you want to be during your speech and how you're going to treat yourself afterwards.

168
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:49,160
So if I go to the major European or American podcast convention, I probably don't want

169
00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:55,320
to sign up for eight different podcast speaking events in a row because then even if I was

170
00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,160
ambivert, I'd want to have a nap halfway through. Just know yourself.

171
00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:02,880
Yeah. Just know yourself. Just know what you need.

172
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:03,880
It's that easy.

173
00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:10,600
It is that easy. It's just celebrating humanity instead of celebrating perfection.

174
00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:16,520
Respectfully, I'm just waiting for you to pinch me because it seems too good to be true.

175
00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:21,040
Just think about it. Just take a break, throw a tennis ball, take a breath, celebrate yourself,

176
00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,560
know yourself. It's done. Easy. I just learned the Scala's course. It's fine.

177
00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:29,880
That's it. I mean, there's loads of techniques you could learn. And obviously there are ways

178
00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,880
that we can train the voice, we can train the body language, we can train the facial

179
00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:39,560
expressions. Of course, the most important thing is that we keep you being you and not

180
00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:43,440
turning you into something that you're not because that's never going to work.

181
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:48,160
No. Do you celebrate individuals and train them through your video vamp challenge? Unstarted

182
00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,040
in October, it's been kicking ass.

183
00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:57,160
Yeah. So we do a quarterly challenge every quarter. So we did video vamp, which started

184
00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:03,480
as a joke and then became a real thing. Okay. So this was, uh-oh, shit. Now we have something,

185
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:09,800
which was quite funny. So we did four weeks of group cohort style training. And then we

186
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,960
had an in-person event in London, which was a great success. Because what I did, I told

187
00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:17,340
everybody to make a video because that was what it was all about. These were all people

188
00:14:17,340 --> 00:14:21,800
that struggled with video creation. And then we put all the videos on the big screen, which

189
00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,360
is pretty cool. So we all had popcorn and a drink. And then we showed their videos on

190
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:31,640
the big screen, which is really, really cool. And now we're doing one again in February.

191
00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:36,960
That is not about videos. That is about master your message. So it's all about how do you

192
00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:41,240
get clear on your messaging? How do you write keynotes? How do you write good presentations?

193
00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:46,600
And basically everything to do with storytelling. So that's really good fun as well.

194
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,440
Is there a particular cost for this sort of thing? Is it by donations you just give to

195
00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:56,920
the Pascuala's charity of dogs? Or is it a freebie thing, just kind of like a thing you

196
00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,480
do because you're a nice person?

197
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:05,560
So I'm quite a nice person, but I also need to eat. So it is these things run. So we have

198
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:10,320
always have an early bird price and then a super early bird and early bird and then the

199
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,280
normal tick price. But right now we're still in the super early bird phase and that's only

200
00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:19,120
50 pounds. So 50 pounds is not a ridiculous amount to have four weeks of fun. You get

201
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,400
access to the whole group. So we have like a WhatsApp community so they can all chat

202
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:28,000
to each other, make great new friends and learn a little bit together.

203
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,600
So 50 pounds, bring your own popcorn. No problem.

204
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,520
Bring your own popcorn. Well, even the popcorn is provided. If you're coming to the live

205
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:39,520
event, we will have all the drinks, food, it's all there.

206
00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:45,600
That's lovely. That's pretty reasonable. Hopefully you get more than veggies to eat after that.

207
00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:46,600
That's great.

208
00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,120
We work up so quick before these things. It's really good fun.

209
00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:50,120
That's really cool.

210
00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:51,120
Yeah.

211
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:56,240
I think I have a soft spot for hardworking entrepreneurs like yourself. You have present

212
00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:01,840
tales. I have my journey. I'm on growing my humble business as a podcast mentor, manager,

213
00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:06,520
audio production pro. But what does present tales really mean to you?

214
00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:14,240
Oh gosh. Well, to me, it means a lot more than just a business. For me, it is finding

215
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:21,680
myself because when I started present tales in September 2022, yes, wow, I can't believe

216
00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:26,720
it. It feels like years ago, but I was in a very bad place. I had done, I've worked

217
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:31,360
in multiple industries and gone like, this is shit. I had my passion. That passion was

218
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:36,040
obviously taken away. The musical theater life is taken away from me. What am I going

219
00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:41,400
to do now? And I was at the time working in a company where I just didn't feel like it

220
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:46,720
was my place and I quit from one day to the next. I just quit. And then I went into Google,

221
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:47,720
how do you start a business?

222
00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:48,720
Literally.

223
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:53,800
Yeah, literally like that. That's literally how it happened. How do you start a business?

224
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:58,800
And well, I got some great people that I knew who had started businesses, who I asked for

225
00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:04,680
help, didn't listen to any of them because I'm so stubborn and because all of them gave

226
00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,120
me different tips. And I was like, well, clearly it doesn't matter how you do it. You need

227
00:17:08,120 --> 00:17:13,120
to find a way that works for you. And I knew that I wanted to do public speaking coaching

228
00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:19,640
because my heart's always been on stage. I love telling stories. And in my years in corporate,

229
00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,920
the four to five years that I worked in corporate, I saw people present and I was like, this

230
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:28,920
is terrible. And I can use my knowledge of being on stage to help people do this in a

231
00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:33,840
way more exciting manner whilst making them feel great about themselves. So that's when

232
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:42,360
Present Tales was born. For me, it saved me. It really saved me for a life of unfulfilled

233
00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:48,880
work. It saved me in every single way. And I'm now I couldn't be happier. Like it's hard.

234
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:55,680
Don't get me wrong. I want to give up like twice a day. But it's also giving me so much.

235
00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:01,880
It's giving me new friends. It's giving me it's really challenging me to constantly reinvent

236
00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:08,040
myself, right? I had no idea what LinkedIn was about 16 months ago or 17 months ago.

237
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,560
And I had to figure that out. I've never done any marketing. I've never done any. How are

238
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,480
you clever with words, you know, SEO, all of these things, I've never thought about

239
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:23,760
it. So this year has really taught me to think deeper and think smarter, work harder, work

240
00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:28,760
smarter. So there's it's been it's been an incredible journey. So to me, it's absolutely

241
00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:29,760
everything.

242
00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:35,440
You broke the rules of society fearing the fear itself. But you say that we should embrace

243
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,320
our fears like hit them head on, smack them in the face and just be a part of the journey.

244
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:40,320
Why is that?

245
00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:45,120
Yeah, why not? What's the worst thing that could happen?

246
00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:49,960
So when people are afraid of themselves, it's really that easy just to say forget it. It's

247
00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:55,000
just head on, go for it, see the light and see what happens.

248
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:59,560
I think it's asking yourself different questions, right? And I see this with my clients, for

249
00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:04,200
example, all the time, like, why would I do that? And I'm like, why wouldn't you ask the

250
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:10,000
other question is you're asking questions out of fear. And I think being afraid of fear

251
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:16,760
or like not doing something because of fear is is the most stupid thing you could possibly

252
00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:21,840
do. Like that's maybe really harsh, but not doing it because you're afraid. That's a terrible

253
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:27,360
reason. Terrible reason. Not doing it because you think, oh, well, what if it doesn't work

254
00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:33,280
out? What is it? What if it does? What if it does work out? Different question.

255
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:37,080
Do you find that's a lot of your material that starts off with your coaching? People

256
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:42,560
are stuck in their head, they're fearful and they say, please help me be the fairy godmother

257
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:48,400
of the Netherlands that you dream to be. Yeah, no, that's that's what it is. I have to give

258
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:54,320
people a slap on the wrist sometimes. My client's gonna test to this that I sometimes go listen,

259
00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,840
we're gonna ask you different questions now. So it's also teaching them to change the mindset

260
00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:03,480
to, you know, say goodbye to the negative self-talk. We all have that. What about the

261
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,720
positive self-talk? Nobody talks about that. Nobody teaches us how to do that because we

262
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,560
live in a world where we can always do better. We can always earn more. We can always give

263
00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:18,000
more. Okay, what about enough is enough? Okay, just go and do your thing and ask yourself

264
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,240
the opposite question. So next time you have a negative thought, what is the opposite of

265
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:27,000
that question? Try to answer that because I can bet you that that answer is way more

266
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:32,720
exciting. Focus on that because fear and excitement sit in the same part of the brain. You can't

267
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:40,200
feel both at the same time. So it's interesting. So it's it's a ever fighting battle. It is

268
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:45,760
between fear and excitement. You choose which one wins. That's your choice. So you go to

269
00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:51,180
Toastmasters to get the polite slow claps. And then you go to yourself at Present Tales

270
00:20:51,180 --> 00:20:58,960
and then get slapped on the wrist. It's magic. That's how it works. Yeah. Yeah, they go away

271
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:03,960
feeling great. Figured life out. That's nice. Well, I haven't figured life out. If I had

272
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:10,560
that, then you know, I would probably be sitting on a big boat somewhere. You've got to figure

273
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:13,900
it out for the balance though. I mean, you've separated yourself from the hustle culture

274
00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:17,760
and you're dedicating a quarter of your life to your husband who seems lovely. He's in

275
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:22,360
a dapper suit with your two dogs on socials. And that's part of life. But were you did

276
00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:27,520
you always have the luxury of being able to spend that much time at home and or building

277
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:34,200
away from building your business? No. So when so if you look at the musical theater part,

278
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:39,640
I just never home. Then I looked at my corporate career. I was home, but I wasn't home. I wasn't

279
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:44,440
present because I was I it stressed me out so much. Then I started this business and

280
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,720
all I thought about for the first six months was my business, right? I was wasn't talking

281
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:52,320
about anything else. I was obsessed. And I realized very quickly that that was going

282
00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:58,640
to kill me if I continue to do that, because what I did, I made the very common mistake

283
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,800
of linking my business to me as a person. And that's a big problem. Because if my business

284
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,440
was doing great, I was doing great. My business was doing bad. I was doing bad. You can't

285
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:14,920
have that. Okay. So I realized that I needed to keep control of my life. I didn't want

286
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:19,880
to become an employee within my own business. I'm the business owner. And I need to be founder.

287
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:25,920
Yeah, I'm the founder. So yeah, I started dedicating some time to me. And in the beginning,

288
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:30,840
that felt selfish, like all the normal feelings like guilt and all these things, you know,

289
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:35,080
started flooding in and I still get that sometimes, right in the evening after dinner, I have

290
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:39,600
a rule that I put my phone away. And I, I don't look at it anymore. And I'm like, what

291
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,960
if a client messages me? What if a deal comes in? Or what if I what it shouldn't I be working

292
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,920
right now? Shouldn't I be working on the next cool thing? And I'm like, well, if I'm not

293
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:54,280
doing okay, if I'm not taking this, this is mental break for myself, then my business

294
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,880
is never going to do great. There's a saying, right, if you press stop on people, they start.

295
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:03,760
And that is true. I need that time to relax. I need my two hours every day to go for a

296
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,640
hike and you know, to be with my family and for myself.

297
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,640
Those boundaries are huge.

298
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:10,640
Boundaries.

299
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:11,640
Hey.

300
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:17,440
So learning about emotional intelligence, thanks to my partner. And of course, you know,

301
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:21,920
going through a chapter in my life with a divorce many years ago, but that started the

302
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,800
journey to self happiness. And then I'm learning all these things about, you know, circle of

303
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,760
influence. And I have three emotions that I can deal with. I'm super proud of myself

304
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,560
instead of just one, you know, and that's kind of the joke where you just search and

305
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:38,080
for things that matter and hopefully public speaking matters to many people and not just

306
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:39,080
you.

307
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:42,400
Yeah, it seems to do. And a lot of people get very excited by it. And it's something

308
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:47,400
we do constantly every day. When I come home tonight, I tell my partner about my day. And

309
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,200
I say, that's public speaking. We all do it all the time.

310
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:52,200
Right.

311
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,380
And you can gauge your success if the eye rolls come out or the tune out to the cell

312
00:23:56,380 --> 00:23:59,320
phone or petting the dog. Like I'm just loving the dog.

313
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,480
Yeah, that's the thing.

314
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,200
I'm curious, do you still see musical theater as something enjoyable to participate in as

315
00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,840
a guest, as a viewer, or do you scrutinize everything and just ruined it for you?

316
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,000
I've never liked musical theater.

317
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:14,000
Okay.

318
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:21,320
And this is it. So I don't like musical theater necessarily, because I don't think it's quite

319
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:27,200
boring and a bit much. But I like doing it, which is funny thing, isn't it? I like doing

320
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:31,280
it. I like being on the stage and being in control of the story and being able to share

321
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:36,240
in that story. But now I have watched shows ever since. But it's not like you will be

322
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:41,800
doing me a favor to go, Oh, should I go watch Linda Silver? And like, no, I don't. Yeah.

323
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:49,400
Oh, don't get me started. No, I am not a huge musical theater fan. And when I do go, I see

324
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,760
everything that goes wrong. So I look at different things. So for me, it's always work. That

325
00:24:53,760 --> 00:25:01,120
feels like work now. That doesn't feel like a day off. It feels like work still. So yeah.

326
00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:03,800
Maybe Shakespeare would be a better transition.

327
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:10,360
No, I have traumatic. It was a traumatic experience doing Shakespeare. I'm never doing that again.

328
00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:14,320
And you hear the internal moose of the cows when you're watching Shakespeare. That's a

329
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:15,320
thing.

330
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:20,720
Yeah. I don't understand why people can watch that and not fall asleep.

331
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:26,920
Those sound effects, I'm just saying. Inside perhaps, or a novelty inside your life, a

332
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:31,920
personal thing of the farm and the nightmares that you have from the cow-taking experiences.

333
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,440
Another podcast perhaps, to save you the stress.

334
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:36,440
Shakespeare.

335
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:43,680
Most importantly, people love to know how to make money, right? And grow and monetize

336
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:47,880
their podcast or public speaking, or even getting into public speaking experiences.

337
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:55,880
Get that seven figures. But have you had the luxury of understanding, I guess, how you've

338
00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:00,760
created those inbound leads? Like multiple dozens a day that come in to your perfect

339
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:05,120
client. It just happened by magic because you're nice, right?

340
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:10,360
So no, unfortunately, there's a lot of thought that needs to go into that. Have I figured

341
00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:17,120
it out? No, absolutely not. Do I have a process? A little bit. But what I think has really

342
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:23,040
worked is trial and error, trying things out. So I will try for three months, I will try

343
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:27,040
this tone of voice, or I will try this type of messaging. So if you look at my LinkedIn

344
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:32,920
profile, for example, in the beginning, it was long, long texts with lots of information.

345
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:38,760
Nobody cared. Then I moved into really short text, which actually missed a lot of context,

346
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,560
and loads of emojis, because I thought that was cool. And that's what the cool kids did.

347
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:47,960
Again, wrong, didn't work. Then I started working. I've worked with a guy called Nick

348
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:54,680
Bruckerman. He is an amazing content designer. And he helped me with my content strategy.

349
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:59,560
So he told me about the tofu mofu bofu stuff, which is like the top of funnel posts, the

350
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:03,600
middle of funnel posts, and the bottom of the posts. And that helped me to diversify

351
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:09,420
the way I talk about my business. So I'm now sharing more about me because Prec and Tales

352
00:27:09,420 --> 00:27:14,840
is me. Okay, so Prec and Tales is Pascala. So I needed to build up my brand, tell my

353
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:20,000
story, share my share, you know, things about my life. Then I need to talk about client

354
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,000
success. That really helps. So talking about client success, showing client proof, you

355
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:29,360
know, people that have done video testimonials, written testimonials, getting it out there,

356
00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:34,800
getting results, and then showing my authority by sharing how I do this or how I teach people

357
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:42,440
to do that. So that's it. But do I have I got to figure it out? No, I don't think anybody

358
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:48,880
ever will because the world of money changes constantly, right. So I think, be you, as

359
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:54,280
long as you're staying yourself, you will attract the right people, but you might need

360
00:27:54,280 --> 00:28:02,480
a little bit of help to just get the messaging quite right. Let's start a podcast.