How to be confident and present well to win business | S1 EP7

In this episode, we chatted to the Impact Guru herself, Esther Stanhope all about how to speak with confidence and present yourself well on camera. We also got to hear all about her amazing book, 'Goodbye Glossophobia: Banish Your Fear of Public Speaking'. 

Transcript

Merlie: Hello, and welcome back to the latest episode in today's #GoFarFast Show: our small business talk show that's designed to get you the answers to the burning questions of today, as fast as possible, from the very best experts in our Farillio community.

Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe as we go through. Tell us what you guys are thinking; if you've got extra questions that we don't come onto in any of our episodes, let us know – it is our job to get those answers to you. Aaron, welcome back buddy! We're here again with another amazing guest on the show...

Aaron: Yeah, I can't wait for this one. I mean, we've been going through and looking at some really challenging subjects for our past couple of shows – but this one in particular I think is going to be really exciting, isn't it?

The idea that we get to learn some actual skills on how to present ourselves better when we're doing video conferencing and all manner of public speaking... I can't wait.

Merlie: I know, I know – this is one of my favourite people to talk about... impact, presenting, striding out there with confidence and nailing whatever it is that you want to achieve... whether that's a sales pitch, an interview, coming across on Zoom, giving the best presentation that you possibly can, this is one of the best experts – I think she is the best expert in the UK – for this topic.

I don't know about you Aaron, but I feel like this year has had more of an impact on me than I have had on it... so I want to reset. I know we all will love this session from today's guest. Aaron, do you want to give us a sneak peek? Who are we going to be meeting?

Aaron: Well, we've actually got an award-winning author so that says it all, doesn't it?! Her new book is called Goodbye Glossophobia and she's an expert in the field when it comes to presenting yourself and putting yourself forward, so I can't wait to bring Esther on. So, Esther are you there?

Esther: Yes, I am! Hello! Thank you so much for having me.

Merlie: It's amazing to have you, Esther! This is Esther Stanhope, guys... author of Goodbye Glossophobia... BBC producer... amazing... an extraordinaire in her time. She has some incredible stories for us, some anecdotes and some wonderful hints and tips. Welcome, Esther. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Esther: Thank you! Look, I brought my book with me! It's about the fear of public speaking. I won the Short Business Book Of The Year because it hasn't got that many words in it, which is good; I'm semi-dyslexic, and the reason why it's so brilliant is because, in 2020, when everybody started going from public speaking to, essentially, virtual speaking and virtual confidence and being on camera, every single tip in my book about the fear of public speaking and that fear of being in the spotlight, the fear of all the eyes are on you, the fear of making a fool of yourself of dabbling along and talking rubbish – all of those tips are really, really relevant to the skills that you need when you're in front of the camera... because the camera is a bit like bringing a little mini auditorium into the room with you. Suddenly the camera is looking at you and you think, "Oh no, there are thousands of people, hundreds of people, looking at me!"

Merlie: It's terrifying, it's terrifying!

Esther: I used to be terrified of it too.

Merlie: Well I was definitely terrified of the camera – Esther taught me how to love the camera and to speak to the camera, and I’m sure she's going to give you guys tons of tips as well.

We've got quite a bank of questions for you in today's show, Esther! So, Aaron, do you want to kick us off?

Aaron: Yeah, definitely! You've said that about fear, you've told us about being scared, and I think – this year more than anything; it's been quite a year hasn't it?! – I think it's really made people look into it in a completely different way.

So, can you share with the audience what you do, how you normally do it, and what's changed for you during 2020?

Esther: Well, my background's broadcasting so all of my skills are from 20 years of helping people... like people I’ve interviewed, like George Clooney or Danny DeVito or I used to have to produce shows with Boris Johnson on a regular basis – that was quite a handful, I got to tell you! But bringing all those skills into business... what I do is I help people to show up when they need to present or pitch or get themselves promoted and be the best version of themselves... to be themselves.

It's quite difficult to be yourself when you're under pressure, so I help people – from skills like body language, voice pacing to content messaging... but really, this is all about: how do you feel in front of that audience, and how do you bring the audience with you? So it is a combination of having the confidence to stand up there and be in front of the camera in the first place – but then, how does that translate in your pitch? How do you bring your audience or sell your idea? What is an elevator pitch? That's what I help people with.

As a producer at the BBC, I used to be holding up what I would call an 'idiot board'. "Oi! Say this!", or "Cut, cut!", or "Move on!", or "You've got 15 seconds left... ok 10 seconds left!...5, 4, ... cut!"

That's what I used to do as a broadcaster but if you bring some of those skills into business – and that's why I’m working now with pitch teams... about the pace without bringing the audience with you on a minute-by-minute basis. Because every minute the audience could tune out; that's the rule of thumb, guys.

I mean, that's a really good tip to take away first of all: your audience will get bored, quickly... every audience all over the world, pretty much, in this kind of quick, fast-paced world of lots of consuming, lots of media. So you've got to get in there quick.

One of the most useful tips I help people with is, in the world of broadcasting, you're constantly thinking: "What does my audience need? "How can I hook them in quickly? What do they need and how can I make them go 'Ah!'"... and that's what you need to be doing in business all the time. And people quite often just forget to do it.

Merlie: I think this is such an important point. Esther taught me, actually, in a completely different role many, many years ago... me and a whole team of managers, including our managing director at the time, and we had some pretty important messages to convey. I remember your advice at the time, Esther, which was: "Think about the time that you're speaking... it's just before lunch, so actually what they really want to know is, "Are my jobs safe? and "How long are you going to be talking for? I’m hungry", and then probably one other message and then I really wouldn't give the 60-page slide PowerPoint presentation that you might have been thinking of doing". It was such good advice.

Esther: Yeah and actually I do remember that very day, and I remember the very senior guy... he was planning on a 97-slide presentation to the whole company. And then by the end of the session I said, "Look, just think about sitting in that audience... imagine you were sitting in that audience of a few hundred people... the big boss is coming to do a talk, you're really hungry, you're not sure if you've got a job by the end of the week... do you want to be presented with a 97-slide presentation about the year's KPIs or next year's roadmap to our success when you're not even sure if you've got a job? And so I remember him coming up to me and saying, "You know, I’ve thought about what you said, Esther, and I don't think I’m going to use my 97 slides." He said, "I think I’m going to use one slide and that one slide is going to say, 'Thank you'."

Merlie: Yes, it had such an impact; it was extraordinary. Esther, I’ve got a question for you... so what do you do if you're terrified of presenting? What's your advice?

Esther: Well, all I can say is I used to be terrified of presenting. You look at me now and you think, "You're a former broadcaster, you work in businesses all over the world, you're a speaker, you're an author..." ...I was terrified; I really was uncomfortable in front of an audience and I was really uncomfortable in front of a camera. I was very good at doing my job as a producer and I felt very comfortable behind the camera, and I was really comfortable coming up with the ideas and writing the script and helping others... but I really struggled in front of an audience myself.

So for many years, and when I set up my business, I realised I had to do it. You know, I thought I have to walk the talk now... I have to put my money where my mouth is.

And I failed a few times and I lost my lines; I forgot what to say...

I tried to have a script but it didn't really suit me; doesn't suit my personality type. I fumbled here, got it a bit wrong, and then I worried of what people think of me... then I tried to be sensible...

I’ve tried quite a lot of different styles and I absolutely know from my own experience, and from working with people, the number-one thing you can do is... if you're frightened of presenting, my advice is to get out there and do it, and do it again, and do it again, and do it one more time, and then another time... and then 20 more times.

Do it with a small audience, with a friend, with family, do it. Start small and then slowly slowly build your audience. Do it for free, do it in your church, your school, your garden party, whatever... it doesn't matter where you do it; just get out there and practice. And that's the only way that you will start. Your brain will start building neural pathways that say, "You know, this is all right... it's pretty normal."

And the one thing you really can know is: you're not going to blow up; you're not going to spontaneously combust... you're all right. You're not going to get hurt. We are built to be scared of people looking at us; neuroscience tells us that we don't want to be outside the tribe and the people in the tribe are looking at you going, "We're gonna judge you, you might not be fed anymore, we might leave you and ostracise you." There's something about that fear – and I’ve worked through that and I kind of understand that now.

Even now, occasionally, if I’m not completely prepped with the tech and so I’m not 100%, I still get the fear sometimes. I got the fear last year – in 2020 when we went from live to everything's on camera – I got that fear back. I had to go in front of the camera, in front of hundreds of people from all over the world... they were tuning in from everywhere. And I suddenly got that that fear of, "Everyone's looking... what if I say something stupid? What if I forget my lines?" And I just made sure that I carried on and practiced.

Here's the good news: everyone can do this. Everyone in the whole world can do this... can speak, whether it's signing or somehow communicating in your way, in your language – everyone can do it. And everyone is capable of being very, very good at presenting and communicating.

Merlie: That's such a powerful message – isn't it, Aaron? That's reassuring for those of us who don't do it as much, who are practicing, who are trying to do it well. I feel the fear all the time. I don't know about you, Aaron, you always seem very self-assured.

Aaron: But that's the thing, isn't it? I mean, even the fact that you're saying yourself, Esther, you had the same issues... you've had the same problems we've all felt, and we've all been there; we've all had that that worry, that fear, of what people are going to think of us.

The advice you've just given there is just it's stellar. And it's so true. You know, anyone can go out there, can get that opportunity to go out there and speak and communicate and pass their knowledge on... and the more people we can get doing that, the absolute better it's going to be.

And I think we've got the best kind of opportunity now with all the different platforms we've got: we've got YouTube, LinkedIn... all these different areas where we can do it, and I think the more people that can listen to your advice, and to get that confidence and to go out there and embrace it, I think it's going to be better.

And speaking of advice – because, already I’ve got a list full of different things I’m going to be taking away from this – but if we talk about advice on the way that everything's gone virtual now...

Like you've said before, you've had that fear, you've worried about moving from a live audience to an online audience... have you got any tips for us? Is there anything we can do that can make our video calls more impactful and have that opportunity for us to get the most out of it? And, you know, get the same skill set that you've been giving people for their live audience... how do we put that into an into a virtual concept?

Esther: Absolutely. And what I call it is owning your little lens, your 'little square'. We've all got this little square and then we can all own it, we can just seize the day and see this as an opportunity – because it is a level playing field now and I have people talking to me about, actually, sometimes, the more senior people aren't owning their little lens, their 'little square' very successfully... and then suddenly everybody's got their the same kind of status, if you like.

So this is a really good opportunity. And if you're if you're running a business or you want to convey your message, you want to get your message out there, this is a massive opportunity to really get to grips with this form of communication.

And, yes, I do have some very simple tips in my little Love The Lens series. It's four tips that spell the word lens, l-e-n-s, and rather than me going through it all now I’ll give you a little taster.

L = Love The Lens. That's tip one, which basically means: there's your lens – learn to love it... but not just love it; you've got to fall in love with it. I’ve got a funny story about Cilla Black, the UK television presenter, and about her naming her camera when she was presenting.

E = quite simply 'eyes and teeth': smile. I’ll explain why it's so important to smile on camera: it makes a massive difference. So if you can walk away today with one tip, it's: smile for the camera and make sure you're looking at the lens when you're smiling.

N is about noise and audio. Again, I’ve got loads of tips on that, and I’m sure you've got some great tips about microphones and about finding a small area where you can control your environment.

S = shot. We talked earlier about... do you have headspace, do you line your eyes up a third of the way down? But the most important thing about the shot, and I explained this in my video, is about why you need to find the light. Light is so important, and I’ve got loads of lights now. I experiment with cheapo little lamps – honestly, you don't have to spend much money on it... but just finding a little environment where you can light yourself well, you can have a lot of fun doing this as well.

Merlie: That would be absolutely awesome, wouldn't it? Aaron and I are going to be pouring over that later on today, for sure!

I’m going to push on really quick; we've got so many questions for you, Esther! Final question before we turn to the community's questions. I wanted to talk to you about your business journey and your own story. I know we've got questions about interviews but I know some of the community are going to pick that up too. We definitely want to hear more about the book and why you wrote it, but I want to focus just for a few moments on your business journey, Esther. I mean, you decided to launch your business after a pretty life-changing event that made you see things in quite a different way. The pandemic has been lifechanging for so many of us in the last year or so... I think not just for us as business owners but for us as individuals and as family members too. Can you share your journey to becoming a business owner and your advice for anyone thinking of doing the same thing?

Esther: Well yeah – I suppose when I was at the BBC, I always felt as if I had something more... there was something more out there, and I felt as if I had golden handcuffs. And when I’ve spoken to other people that have left their safe job – I spoke to a presenter from Channel 4 and she said that in Channel 4 they used to call it a velvet coffin, which I thought was hilarious. I’ve got golden handcuffs she had a velvet coffin – there's something about leaving a secure job that's quite scary, and I would say the theme of leaving my job is... well, not leaving... I chose to take voluntary redundancy. I knew there were cuts coming, so I planned to take advantage of that and there's something about stretching your comfort zone, isn't there? It's about jumping off a cliff, about leaving a secure job and setting up on your own.

The reason I decided to leave was because I helped this author that came in to be interviewed on the breakfast show one day and the agent said to me, "Could you give this man a personality?"

And I went, "Probably, yes. I can!"

He said, "This guy's got no personality... what are you gonna do with him? I’ll give you money... could you take a day and just work with this guy?"

And I just remember, I told my boss that I was taking a day off and going to hire the work experience and the second crew from the BBC news... so they all walked down the street with their cameras and monitors and tripods and things. This guy happened to be a doctor, so we actually went in his surgery and we spent the day getting this guy to go from rather boring to brilliant.

And I just felt, on that day, "I love this. I want to do this. I really love using all the stuff I’ve learned for 20 years, throwing it into somebody's confidence", you know?

And helping them to build their confidence and seeing the confidence grow in front of my eyes – and then get them ready to go out into the world and be a great guest, or go and make a video, or present, or pitch... and I just thought, "I really want to do this".

Anyway, that was the reason I decided to set up my business. Originally it was going to be for people that wanted to be on television but then, when I started speaking to friends and colleagues that were lawyers and bankers and people that work in professional services like Deloitte for example, they said, "What you're doing is you're helping people be the best that they can be. You're helping them with confidence, you're helping them pitch their idea, you're helping them on so many levels... it's not just about media training; it's not about television."

And so it was that mission that really kind of spurred me on and made me realise I had to set my business up. But then, when I started working in law firms and I started speaking and being invited to speak at events, I very quickly I realised... I am going to have to speak and I’m going to have to learn a whole range of skills and – as you know, because you are a business, you're working with businesses every day – running your own business, the skills you need to learn, the confidence levels that you need to have... you know, the down days, the up days, you need a lot.

There's a whole toolkit that I never even knew I needed before, and I think that's why I keep going and why I still love helping people to build their confidence – particularly in client pitches and things like that, because the skills that you need are about stretching your comfort zone and believing in yourself... and then believing in yourself a bit more. And then the next day you don't believe in yourself again, and it's about flexing those confidence muscles. And then the technique of the way that you look and sound. That's, you know, my awesome tips... I’ve got loads of those but they're really more the cosmetic tips; they're the surface tips; they're the icing on the cake.

A lot of my work when I’m working with clients is about... you can do it... you really can. And not only can you do it, you can celebrate what you've got. You know, what you've got is brilliant; you don't have to compare yourself to other people. Whatever your cultural background is, wherever you're from, you can make the most of that and it's about really seeing people blossom. And if you're a geek... fine, be a geek. If you're introvert, you don't have to be extrovert to be good on camera or to be good on camera or to be good at pitching.

Merlie: I think that's such a powerful point and, Esther, it's definitely my experience... it's our experience too, isn't it Aaron, with all the people that we've interviewed too – we've interviewed people of such differing personalities. But if you're asking the right questions and you're putting them in a comfortable spot, my goodness... magic happens.

And so I think, if you can give people that confidence... if they feel really comfortable talking with you, as so many of our experts do, people who are being authentically themselves and who are really comfortable and confident about what they're doing and what they're sharing... my goodness, they power the world. And they certainly power the small business world, as you have done for so many of our peer group too.

I could listen to you all day, Esther, but our viewers will get very cross if I don't start asking their questions too – so forgive me, I’m going to power on. This question actually is beautifully set up from what you were just talking about anyway. So this comes from one of our audience members... he said, "I had to present my business in a pitch for the first time ever last week and I was terrible at it." I so relate to this question. "I was so nervous that I forgot everything that I needed to tell them. The investors were understanding but I felt so sick before, during and after it... especially since they said afterwards that they didn't want to invest. I really feel like I let everyone down because it's a great idea and I could have done so much better. What's your advice?"

Oh gosh... I really relate to this. Aaron, I don't know whether you do too but, my goodness, this is a question I think half the nation has probably been asking themselves in the last few weeks.

Esther: So the first thing is, you are so brave to be pitching to investors – well done. That's a massive achievement. The only way you're going to feel comfortable at this sort of stuff, at pitching and being sure of yourself and acing it and having a bit of swagger, is by doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it... and you have to have an element of self-belief and also an element of 'fake it till you make it'. I do believe that that is true because, at some point, you have to just bring it on and say, you know, "I’m just gonna do it today."

The most important thing, though, is that you don't take the rejection as that is it for you – because it's not. I mean, when you speak to successful people, when you hear the Mark Zuckerberg’s or you even hear Edison, the guy that invented the lightbulb, or whatever... what is it he said? "I had 10,000 failures and one success, but people only talk about the success."

Richard Branson talks about his failures, you know. It's not a failure; you learn. But it's really important that you learn and move on... and you will do it. You will. You didn't get that investment but, you know what? It's fine; not everyone is going to invest in you.

And one thing I’ve learned, which I’ve learned again through a few failures myself... we've all failed many times, but the one thing I’ve learned and it was a great bit of advice that a fellow speaker said to me – somebody who speaks at events as well – he said, "You're not going to please everybody all of the time... some people actually won't like you but some people don't like Marmite; it's too salty, it's kind of brown and yeasty. Some people don't like Marmite, some people love it... some people can't get enough of that salty, brown, yeasty flavour, right? But it's about being confident enough to be that Marmite, you know? You be yourself. Get on your path and don't worry. Some people might not like it, but that's okay."

And you will get investors. You will find the confidence.

Aaron: And you'll also find the right investors only with that mentality. Because so much can be put down to the pressure and trying to get that investor and everything else. But when you find the right environment, it's meant to be and there's meant to be a reason why you're connecting with that person. They're liking you, like you've just said, because you're Marmite and they like marmite, and much better things can happen. I think that's a real great mentality to have there and something that I think a lot of people are gonna take away from that.

And just on that kind of element there, that whole part where we're talking about nerves and people failing, we've got another question: "I have a job interview coming up and it's my dream job, but I know loads of people have applied for this and I’m rubbish at interviews. I never know what to say and I don't feel as though I’ve got an interesting background that employers will remember. I’ve been out of work for a while because I got made redundant, so I really need to impress the company.

Have you got any tips for anyone going through that? Because I get, during this time at the moment, quite unfortunately, there's quite a lot of people out there at the moment.

Esther: Absolutely. Again, I’ve got a whole program and I don't mind giving you a voucher for that, which is how to get your dream promotion.

But I’ll give you a few quick-fix tips. The quick-fix answer to that is, jobs and promotions and interviews are all about the future. They're not really so much about the past; they're more about the future, and they're more about what you're going to do and your ideas and how keen you are.

So a really good thing to think about would be what are your ideas for that job? What can you bring to the party? And then have a collection of really good examples of stories where you have done really well... it could just be three things; three really good tangible stories that you have up your sleeve ready to go.

And it's just it's a mindset thing. So if you're really down in the dumps – you got made redundant... that's awful, I know, it's awful when you've had knockbacks – but when you go into the interviews, it's about having pre-prepared material. So think about and write down your three success stories... three things that you've done that you're incredibly proud of or you got awarded for. That will be really helpful for you.

You don't need to have an amazing backstory or life story... don't compare yourself to anyone else. Think about what you're really, really good at and then think about stories that will back that up. But I feel your pain because when you are knocked back, it is really difficult to dust yourself off and hold your head up high.

And a good physical tip would be, if you're doing an interview on camera, smile at the camera. That's normally my tip for everything, but it does work!

Merlie: Well, we all need to remember to smile at the camera. Esther, our next question comes in from someone who is worried about presenting. So again, another fantastic area that you know lots on. This viewer says, my manager is about to go on maternity leave and ask me to present our new project at a board meeting in two weeks and I’m getting really stressed about it already. What's your advice for presenting to people who are a lot older and better informed on the business than you are? I’m terrified they'll ask me a question that I can't answer."

Esther: Ok, well, that's actually got about four questions in one because I could tell you loads of little tips on each bit!

So the first thing is presenting to people older than you are, more and wiser than you and cleverer than you...

Brilliant. Use their knowledge somehow... ask them a question.

Start with, "It's a real pleasure to be running this meeting"; give them a compliment.

In fact, when I worked with big personalities at the BBC, you know people like Boris Johnson, I would always give them a good generous compliment first like, "Oh it's such an honour to be sharing this meeting you know with such intelligent people."

And ask them a question... "How are you finding this?", "What do you think of this?" Get them to talk. Don't you try and compete with them; you're not going to compete, you're not going to out-knowledge a seasoned professional.

So that's a really good tip, and the other thing is: it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, how old you are, how inexperienced you are... if you are upbeat, generous, you're owning your own space – remember you own your square, you own that square your way – everything else will fall into place.

Don't be afraid. Be interested in them... show more interest in them and acknowledge their presence. Acknowledge their brilliance.

But, you don't want to be too, "I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy", you know. You want to be really confident, really generous, really positive and powerful. And if you show interest in them and ask them questions, they will really love you.

Merlie: I think that's really lovely advice. I mean, I’ve been in this position a couple of times. I remember the first time I was in exactly the same position and utterly terrified. One of my friends who worked in a different part of the business that we were both employed by at the time said, "Find out who's going to be at that meeting and go and have a chat with a couple of them beforehand too, so that as you're presenting you can drop their names into it and say, 'It was so helpful to talk to x and get their views on this because that's really helped inform how I’m presenting this today'." And it was quite cute. And at the time, I was like, "Wow, that's genius." It really was genius. It really did work. So if you can try not to present cold, that really helps too.

I think we've got time for one more question, folks. So, Aaron, do you want to ask the final question? Let's make it a goody.

Aaron: So, one final question and I think it's on everyone's lips here: who does your branding? Because you're absolutely smashing the branding by a long way and I think, more importantly, who does your social media? Without giving too much away, can you give us little hints and tips on your branding and your social media?

Esther: Oh well thank you so much! My goodness! Well, Patrick is going to be very, very happy because Patrick does a lot of my design. He did quite a lot of design for the book as well. We worked on it together and he hadn't really done a book like this before. He works for LMPP studio – I have to plug him, LMPP Studio, and he works for various different clients... he's got a bank, an Irish bank, I think he works for a donut company, but he's been working with me and I met him because he was doing the branding for Old Spitalfields Market in London, where I live, and he likes to use graphics and little cartoony people, figurines and things, and we just hit it off.

And I’ve got to say, it's amazing when you find somebody that you work well with, you have that kind of camaraderie, and you can kind of bounce ideas off each other. It's such a joy.

And then, we were joking around about the Liechtenstein cover for the book, and I was like, "What about if we did, like, you know, use that?" And I kind of held up the Lichtenstein picture and asked if we could have that but the Impact Guru version of that. So we mucked around with it but, at one point when they were doing a version of me, I did look a bit like Bananaman – but we've got a good relationship, so I can say, "I look a bit like Bananaman. Can you just take my chin out of that, because I really don't like that?" And then he'll send me pictures and ask what I think. You know what? It's taken a long time to feel comfortable. He does my web, and he's got people helping with the technical side of the website.

I’ve got other help; I’ve got Tim, who helps me with some of my LinkedIn posts and he's taught me a lot about LinkedIn. I’ve had lessons, I’ve had packages and Facebook help. I’ve got a fantastic assistant that I use called Claire Langmead from Miss Virtual EA. I couldn't exist without her.

So if anyone needs any help, I’m really happy to email you details of people. I would say the main tip there, though, is finding people that you trust and finding people that get you. How many times have you tried to do graphics if you're a small business, how many times have you tried to get help within the technical area or the website area or the graphics area and you feel like you're not listened to and you feel like you're an annoying client? I know I’m a really annoying client. You feel like they kind of want to put you in a box and they want to give you what they do. They don't really want to listen to you. I bet you both have found that too, right?

Merlie: Oh my goodness, yeah.

Aaron: 100%

Merlie: Absolutely. No one wants to be in a box, and if you're running your business, your brand is your reputation. It's so important, isn't it, Aaron?

I think that's us for questions now, for time unfortunately, there are so many more questions. Esther, would you come back and answer more of them?

Esther: Of course. I could answer some specifics about pitching and stuff like that as well.

Merlie: Yeah, please. The whole know-your-audience theme is so important to all of the questions and answers that we've had on today's show... we really have asked you anything today, but it will be wonderful to get you back at some point later on to pick up some of these incredibly empowering themes.

So, Aaron, I know that Esther has a book giveaway... should we ask her about it quickly before we round up?

Aaron: We've got to – we can't leave without that! It's a must!

Esther: Ok, well I do a virtual hat quiz... it's not a quiz, actually, it's just a competition, and you need no skill to enter the competition at all – apart from the skill to email me!

I pick out a winner from my virtual hat every Friday. All you've got to do is email me! If you email me Esther(at)estherstanhope.com.

If you write 'Tips, please!', I will send you more tips as well – I send my Friday tips once a week about pitching, about confidence, blogs about online content... So, if you want to email me 'Tips, please!' I’ll send you tips but also I’ll put your name in the hat to win a copy of Goodbye Glossophobia, Banish Your Fear Of Public Speaking, and I’ll pop it in the post to you if you win.

Merlie: Wow, that is awesome. I have to say, Esther's book comes in both hard copy and audio version – I have shamelessly consumed both of them and I keep going back to them because they're absolutely fabulous books – aren't they, Aaron? I thoroughly, thoroughly recommend that you do get in touch with Esther and see if you can be the name that she pulls out of the hat... it's a phenomenal way to really power boost your impact, whatever it is that you guys are gonna go on and plan to do. Esther, thank you. Aaron, it's been an awesome show today, hasn't it?

Aaron: It's been amazing. I can't believe how many tips we got out of half an hour's worth of content. I’m thoroughly, thoroughly thankful for everything you've done there – thank you very much.

Esther: Thank you so much! It's always a pleasure to see you, and I’m so happy that we are helping businesses and we are helping each other by sharing our tips. Thank you so much.

Merlie: Absolutely. It's been an absolute pleasure. Well, that's it for today's show guys – slightly over the normal time but, wow, you heard it here... this is stuff we definitely didn't want to cut short and for you to miss out on. As ever, please do like, subscribe, comment – tell us if there's more that we can do. We'll definitely pull Esther back and get some more nuggets of wisdom from her in the shows that follow too. But stay in touch, take care and, as always, – from Aaron and I – we wish you a terrific week ahead. #GoFarFast