The Thrive Careers Podcast

The Confidence Code: How to Speak Up Without Freaking Out

• Olajumoke Fatoki • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Struggling with public speaking anxiety or feeling nervous during job interviews? You're not alone—and confidence can be learned. In this powerful episode, confidence coach and college professor Tim Newman joins Olajumoke Fatoki to share how you can build communication skills that truly transform your personal and professional life.

You’ll discover: ✔️ How to overcome speaking anxiety and fear of public speaking
 ✔️ The STAR method for interview success
 ✔️ Why storytelling makes you memorable
 ✔️ Non-verbal communication cues that speak louder than words
 ✔️ How to boost confidence through preparation and practice

Whether you're a young professional, job seeker, or looking to level up your communication skills, this episode is packed with practical tools and inspiring insights to help you speak with confidence and clarity.



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Olajumoke Fatoki (00:00)
All right, hi Tim. I'm very well, thank you. How you doing?

TIM (00:02)
Hey, Ola, how are you doing?

I'm doing great. I really do appreciate you having me, you know, to talk to your community here. It's going to be great.

Olajumoke Fatoki (00:12)
Beautiful. I'm super excited about this conversation as well I love what you do and I know that this is going to be very beneficial to our listeners because communication is like the bedrock the Foundation, know on which every other thing rests So to get us started. I just wanted to ask You know, I read your profile and I'm really inspired. I'm blown away

So what inspired you to start the Speak With Confidence podcast? Let's start on that.

TIM (00:40)
Well, really, the journey started a long time ago, really. Um, you know, when the first time that I was ever truly tasked with standing up and, know, given a speech or presentation in front of people, the first thing I did was throw up. And I knew I was a little bit older. You know, I had, had, was an athlete had been in the military and I knew how important communication was. So I knew that no matter what I was going to do, I had to get better.

And, my dream was always to be a teacher. And if you can't stand up in front of the students and talk to them, you're not going to be a very effective teacher. yeah. So again, that journey started a long time ago and, and, you you fast forward to me as a college professor, the, you know, when students, they have such trouble for whatever reason, you know, whether it's speaking up in class, asking a question,

Olajumoke Fatoki (01:12)
You

I know.

TIM (01:29)
expressing their thoughts, standing up in front of the class and giving a presentation, you know, whatever it is, they struggle so much that, you know, I figured that, you know, they're not going to be successful no matter what I teach them from a content perspective. There's doesn't matter. They're not going to be successful again, if they can't, you know, communicate their thoughts and ideas. So that's kind of how this all started. And, and, you know, coming to, you know, really the near the end of my, my career as a professor.

After COVID, the communication skills got so bad. I knew we had to do something. And that was, that's really kind of the impetus of actually pushing forward and getting the podcast started and truly going out and helping people become really more powerful communicators.

Olajumoke Fatoki (02:10)
Amazing. love that. I love that. And that sort of draws in into my next question, which is as a confidence coach and a college professor, with over 20 years of experience, how would you define confidence? I always love to start on a note of definition so that we can build up from there. So how would you define confidence?

TIM (02:32)
You

know, that's a really good question that, you know, I don't know that I've given it a whole lot of thought for other people, but you know, for myself, confidence is the feeling of knowing that you've done everything that you can and are prepared for as best you can be for whatever it is that you're going into. Again, you know, for me in my career, going into a class and teaching a lesson as a professional, you know, providing

you know, products and services and customer service to my clients. Being an athlete, know, doing those types of things, you know, doing the preparation and doing the best you can and knowing that you've done the best you can to go out and perform to the best of your abilities. And I think, you know, that to me is really kind of the bedrock is the preparation. Because if you haven't done the preparation,

at least for myself, I know that I don't feel good going into whatever it is that I'm going to be doing.

Olajumoke Fatoki (03:28)
Thank you so much for providing that foundation.

on which we're going to move this conversation forward. So confidence is important. It cannot be overemphasized. And for us on this show, it's about helping career professionals land their dream jobs, build thriving careers. So taking away all of those things that can make them get stuck, like not being able to communicate confidently, like not being able to interview confidently, and we'll get into some of those aspects

TIM (03:44)
Yeah.

Right.

Olajumoke Fatoki (03:56)
But for now, why do you think communication, why do you think communicating with confidence is such a crucial skill for landing dream jobs and advancing careers?

TIM (04:07)
Well, to me, comes back to if you don't have some level of self-confidence, when it comes across to talking to people, it comes across that you're, I wouldn't say timid, but you're not so sure of yourself. So when you're going into an interview and if you can't sell yourself, why would a company or organization hire you to go out and provide a product or service

or whatever it is that that company does, if you're not so sure of yourself, you're not going to be able to sell whatever that is, you know, to their customer.

Olajumoke Fatoki (04:38)
So let's take it a notch further, right? I've had this debate a lot of times in different rooms that I've been in at different points when people ask the question, is confidence something that is innate or something that people can learn? Are people born with confidence or is it a learnable skill? I'd like for you to demystify that for us in this conversation.

TIM (04:59)
You know, I personally think that confidence is something that's learned when you...

Almost every podcast I do, I talk about my family. To me, that's what's really important. And I'm visiting my grandkids right now and I look at them just trying new skills, whatever it is. Take tying your shoes. A simple basic skill that everybody has to do at some point in their life. And you...

you teach them how to do it and they get frustrated and they get frustrated and they get frustrated and then when they can do it, the look on their face, the feeling that they have, the joy that they have, that right there to me shows you that they've learned something and they feel good about themselves and they feel confident now that they can move forward and maybe struggle a little bit, but they know that they can do it. They've seen it, they've demonstrated it.

You know, when we do things that we don't necessarily have to learn or practice, that's a... That's just a, okay, we did it great, so what? But when it comes to something that is complex, and as we get older, it's the more complex things that we have to do, right? That we have to practice at, that we have to get better at. And communication is something that you have to practice all the time. Your entire...

life you're practicing your communication skills because things change so much and people change so much and the way we communicate changes throughout our lives so you have it's something that that is must be practiced to be able to have that kind

Olajumoke Fatoki (06:25)
amazing. So it means that it can be learned and you can get better with it over time. I love the example you gave, know, of watching kids learn as little as being able to tie their laces and how their confidence grows over time when they're able to do it. So it means that confidence is a learnable skill. So this is for our listeners out there in case you've condemned yourself and you've said to yourself, know what, I don't think this confidence thing is for me. I don't think this communication thing is for me. You can, you've heard it.

TIM (06:28)
Absolutely.

Ha ha ha.

Olajumoke Fatoki (06:54)
from a college professor, you can learn it and there's never a time that you feel like you have attained the peak of it. It keeps evolving, you keep getting better at it. I don't know if you have something, you wanted to say, something to that?

TIM (06:55)
You can do it. right.

Yeah. I again, I, you know, my background is it comes from the sport industry. And if you look at the, at the all time greats in, in sport, you know, and at least here in the United States, you know, we look at the Michael Jordans, the Kobe Bryant, the Tiger Woods, the Tom Brady's of the world. They, they always, always, always practice the basics, no matter how good they were. They knew that you had to continue to work on, on basic fundamental skills to get better.

at the more complex skills because if you don't, if you can't master those basic skills, you have to, you're never going to master the complex skills. You know, and Kobe Bryant, and I can't remember, and so don't quote me on exactly what he said, but he basically said that he practiced, you know, the basic fundamental skills, like 30 to 45 minutes before practice actually started so that he was, so that he felt confident enough to go into practice with the Tim, doing the other things that they were actually working on.

Olajumoke Fatoki (08:00)
Fantastic and I think that's another great layer you've added to this conversation. The impulse of practicing, you you get better with practice and that also applies to communication and confidence. Thank you so much.

for this conversation so far. moving on, you sort of gave an hint to this when you started your introduction about some of your students and how some of them have struggles with speaking confidently in front of a crowd, in front of the class. So.

let's talk about overcoming speaking anxiety. And this is very real. In fact, I used to experience this, you sometimes in my career before I started to gain confidence. So, and I know that a lot of people are still going, you know, through this phase. So many professionals still struggle with speaking anxiety, especially during job interviews. And again, this is my own practical experience. There was a time I realized that I wasn't getting

TIM (08:35)
Yes.

Olajumoke Fatoki (08:56)
you know, getting called for the jobs after attending several interviews and I realized that I wasn't interviewing well and I went back to the drawing board, you know, to fix that. But I also want to take this, you know, away from here today because that might be their current struggle. So what are some practical immediate strategies that you can recommend for people to manage anxiety at this level?

TIM (09:19)
Well, you know, there are many reasons for the anxiety. And I get that, and I understand that. But we have to understand a couple of things and break it down first.

most of the time, the anxiety that we're, that we have is self-inflicted. We, we, we have the negative self-talk. am I good enough for this job? You know, do I have the right skills? I'm nervous. You know, I'm not sure if I'm going to do well, you know, and we start having that, that negative mindset and it just starts. And once that starts, it's very, very hard to stop. know, even if, even if you're a fairly confident person and you have.

a lot of skill, once you start negative self-talk, that deteriorates all of the good thoughts that you have much quicker than good thoughts deteriorate negative thoughts. So we have to understand that and we have to stop having that negative talk. So how do you stop having that negative talk? That I think is the million dollar question. Part of that is in the preparation and in the research. So when you go into an interview, and it could be...

It could be an interview, it could be a Tim meeting, it could be anything where you're going in and you've got to share information with other people. You have to prepare. You have to know who your audience is, who you're going to be talking to. When you're going for an interview, it's not that hard to find out who it is that you're going to be interviewing with. You could be interviewing with three different people. It could be one person, it could be three people at one time.

but you should have an understanding of who those people are so that then you can go ahead and craft your answers and craft your thoughts that are going to resonate with them. And that again, that comes back to the whole practice and preparation piece. There are so many tools out there right now, just from an AI perspective where you could log on and you could tell them the job that you're applying for.

give them your credentials, and AI will mock interview you and then tell you where you need to improve. so there's so many more tools today to help people in that job search than when I started out. So that's really part of the preparation piece is doing the research and then practice. It's critical.

Olajumoke Fatoki (11:23)
Fantastic. Just had an extra layer to the AI perspective that you brought to the fore. There are tons of apps that can help people prepare for interviews today and put you in a real life scenario.

as though you're face to face with your interviewer. You're just speaking to, you know, AI and it gives people feedback. Okay, so this is what you need to work on. This is, you know, the aspect you need to make your intro stronger. You know, you need to, yeah, so there, you know, just to buttress that aspect that there are a lot of, apart from the, so you started from the mindset thing.

You know this has to do with a lot of mindset, know Seeing yourself as being able to do what you plan to do or being able to get that job It begins, you know with the mind but

Apart from that as well, know an extra layer to it would also be to you know, seek for help like how he has explained Yeah, like, you know the aspect of preparation the carrying out your research You know knowing your audience and being able to speak to them I think those are very important aspects of communication people don't just show up confidently when you see people who show up confidently They've done their own work in the background. So and that reflects when they show up on the outside. So

TIM (12:32)
Great.

Exactly.

Olajumoke Fatoki (12:39)
Thank you for taking us through that, Tim. So moving forward, I'd like for you to share at this point a personal story or a client story that illustrates what we are talking about, how you have seen transformation with a client, especially in the area of their public speaking or communicating with confidence.

TIM (13:01)
Okay, so.

Olajumoke Fatoki (13:01)
You

TIM (13:02)
This is a good one. And it was kind of brought to my attention because I don't know how I forgot about this, but I did. I'm putting together a mini course and I'm getting ready to do a presentation on something else. And it was brought to my attention that this happened. So we were at a, I was out of a college function and the person I was with,

College president came up and had not met this other person and the college president, they introduced themselves and the college president literally said, tell me about yourself. And the person froze and she said, I've always wanted to steal a tasty cake truck.

and college president kind of shook his head and turned around and walked away. And I said, I kind of chuckled and I said, why did you say that? Why would you do that? And, and she said she froze.

Olajumoke Fatoki (13:48)
Anxiety.

TIM (13:51)
And that right there is truly indicative of how young professionals react because they're not prepared to even talk about themselves. If you can't talk about yourself, right, and it's your life and you know who you are, that we have to kind of get to the root of that problem and help them. Now, fast forward, that person is now a real estate agent.

and she sells multimillion dollars every year. Just from some of the things that we worked on, know, being prepared, know, having a prepared elevator speech for different situations, you know, for a professional situation, for a personal situation, for a social situation, you know, having something where you don't really have to think about it, you can just say it and then you can get into that conversation.

and feel relaxed and now you can really just start having a normal conversation and not worry about stealing a tasty cake truck.

Olajumoke Fatoki (14:46)
That's amazing and a really powerful transformation story indeed. Thank you. Thank you. So I love what you said, having different elevation speech for different scenarios, you know, for different aspects of life. And I think that's really crucial. That's really a strategy, you know, that people can employ and that doesn't make them freeze when they find themselves in such, you know, in such situations. Cause you sort of already have some lines in your head and it's

TIM (14:50)
Yeah, yeah.

Right.

Right.

Olajumoke Fatoki (15:14)
It's

easier to build a conversation from there.

TIM (15:17)
Right. And once you start a conversation, it, you, everybody starts to feel a bit more relaxed and then you can just really have a normal conversation with like a normal human person. It's, it's not, it's not, you don't have to be uptight. It's not, it's not, you know, very strict and you have to use perfect words. It's getting over that initial hump of, okay, and now we're talking and now we're just having, we're just being, having a normal conversation.

Olajumoke Fatoki (15:39)
Absolutely, and you know I experienced this in public speaking when Before I start to speak the million a million and one things going on in my head You know But the moment I grab the mic or the moment I start to speak even in having normal day-to-day conversations with people even if it's one-on-one The moment I start to speak all of that just dispels and I think that's just what you're trying to say So but of course it helps to prepare it helps to you know have

TIM (15:48)
Yeah.

Yes.

Olajumoke Fatoki (16:06)
you know, some sort of things that you would like to talk to people about, you know, ahead of time and that just helps the conversation.

TIM (16:13)
Yeah, exactly.

Olajumoke Fatoki (16:14)
All right, thank you so much and let's move forward. I'm glad we're fast on time. So let me get out the next question.

So what are the key elements of a clear and impactful message, whether it's in an interview situation, a networking event, or during a workplace presentation? What are those key elements of a clear and impactful message?

TIM (16:37)
And it's...

That's a really good question. And I think it truly depends on the situation. I think that first...

people have to understand what you're talking about. So in other words, what language are you using? Are you using a lot of jargon or is it plain, simple language? Is it actually addressing the issues that they need to be addressed?

And is it something that can generally be said in short chunks, because people can understand and digest short chunks much better than a five to 10 minute dissertation of information. So I think it really kind of depends, again, it goes back to the audience. Are we addressing the audience in the way that they are able to understand what you're talking about? know, for example, if you're a

If you're an engineer and you're talking to marketers, you're not going to be able to come in and talk about engineering lingo and terms if these marketers don't understand it. It's not going to make any sense to them. So you have to talk in the language that the audience that you're addressing understands. And it has to actually address the needs that they are looking for.

And again, in those chunks of information that they'll be able to digest, understand, and then ultimately use in the future.

Olajumoke Fatoki (17:51)
Awesome. All right, so a second layer to that question is in interview situations, I want us to, you know, deep dive further into that, because that's really very common. So for job seekers, how can they structure their answers using the STAR methodology framework? S-T-A-R, Situation, Task, Action, Results.

TIM (18:14)
Yeah. So again, I think that's a, that's a great strategy to use. And I, I was actually having a conversation about the star method with my wife a couple of days ago. And I, I think it's a, I think it's a good tactic, but I'm not sure that it's always what's, what's best because a lot of times if you, if you stick with, with that method, it just seems so

Olajumoke Fatoki (18:26)
in.

TIM (18:38)
So cut and dry. A lot of times there's no story behind it. And I think if you can still use that method and create a story around that method so that it becomes really impactful, that's where you really get the whole idea. That's where the, especially in interview, where you're make the biggest impact. Because.

You can just say, know, this, this, this, and this, okay, that's great, but what was the bigger picture there? And be able to sell that answer in a much better way if you can really kind of develop a story around that method.

Olajumoke Fatoki (19:13)
interesting. You kind of peeped into my next question which is the power of storytelling. know storytelling is such a powerful tool, it's such a powerful communication tool and it's becoming even more and more popular today because a lot of people are seeing how powerful and effective it is.

TIM (19:19)
Yeah.

It is.

Olajumoke Fatoki (19:33)
You already sort of laid the foundation, I'm just going to jump to the last question in that set. for those who are struggling with storytelling, as powerful as it is, a lot of people are still struggling, what's a simple way to start?

TIM (19:44)
You know, again, these are really good questions and I think it comes back to you as an individual.

And as you begin to, again, for any type of situation that you're in, it's your life. You know your stories. So they can't be wrong.

take the situation and find a time in your life that you can actually relate to that to be able to answer the question or to make that point.

And he can't be wrong. think, you know, it's, don't have to, from an individual perspective, we don't have to have, you know, the

the deepest, darkest history to tell stories. Again, for example, earlier I talked about, I'm going to see my grandkids and talk about tying shoes. How mundane is that? But it gets the point across, right? Another story with my daughter. And see, for me, I pull a lot of my stories from my family and me.

Because it's easy. I know, because I was there. I lived it. it also tells, it also gives the audience a little insight into who I am and what's important to me. So for example, my daughter, just had a, my youngest grandson just turned seven months old. He's got some food allergies. And so she has to be very, very careful about what she eats because she's passing them on.

You know, to my grandson and she told me I could have anything I wanted to eat in the house. Cause I'm saying at her house right now. I said, good. And I opened up the refrigerator and there's one thing, there was only one of one thing in there. And I know she likes it. And I said, I better call and ask her because you know, I don't want it because she can only have limited. mean, some things I don't want, I don't want to eat that. And she said, yeah. If I need more, I'll go get more. said, well, just go ahead and.

and go ahead and pick up another one. Cause I'm going to eat all of it. And she said, dad, don't eat all of it, but it's, it's those stories of, of, you know, clarification. It's the stories of, you know, of connection. It's the stories of, and we're talking about, ever had blueberry jelly, blueberry jelly? so good. It's one of my favorites ever. but, but, but, it's, it's, it's the stories of, of clarification, you know, from, from a communication perspective. So let's just say,

Olajumoke Fatoki (21:32)
Yeah

All right.

TIM (21:44)
She didn't want me, she said I could have whatever I want, but didn't realize that was in there and was expecting it. Part of it is asking clarifying questions. How important was it for me to ask that question as a just in case if you don't know the answer?

Olajumoke Fatoki (21:57)
Are you frozen? Okay. I thought your mic was frozen. Okay. Was that a question for me?

TIM (22:02)
Just that's a rhetorical question in general, you know, from that communication perspective and go back to what I said earlier in terms of students not being willing to ask questions in class or ask questions in an interview or ask questions on the job site, right? You know, it's okay if you don't understand, the best thing to do is ask that question and then you can move forward.

Olajumoke Fatoki (22:04)
Okay, okay, absolutely. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

TIM (22:24)
And so that's part of, at least from my perspective, one of the biggest issues of young professionals. They're not willing to ask questions for whatever reason. It could be anxiety, could be they don't want to sound stupid, whatever. You're not going to sound stupid if you ask a question. I believe that asking questions is what really moves us forward.

You know, I say, if asking questions makes you look stupid, I'm okay with being the stupidest person in the room because if something doesn't make sense to me, it doesn't make sense to sit through something and not get clarification.

Olajumoke Fatoki (22:56)
think that's a really big point there because a lot of people would rather not sound stupid or come across a certain way and just keep quiet and they keep going in ignorance. And a simple question could have just clarified things. Even in workplace situations, people have made big time errors just because they didn't ask questions for clarity and to know exactly how to approach the task that has been committed

TIM (23:04)
Right.

Yes.

Olajumoke Fatoki (23:22)
them so I think that's a really big one that you just touch on there being able to ask questions gain clarity and you know just to add to that as well I think that if people are nervous about asking questions it goes back to where we started this conversation from maybe you haven't prepared well because if you are prepared well enough you would have some level of questions you know or some of some things you know that you would like to seek clarifications about even if it's one and from one most times

always leads into many more and the better questions you ask the better clarity you know you get thank you so much you know for this conversation so far another thing you said about how to tackle storytelling if it's something that is not comfortable for you that I also picked on is

TIM (23:52)
Exactly.

Olajumoke Fatoki (24:10)
I mean, you didn't call it a strategy, but I think that's a strategy. Finding a comfort zone that you can speak, that you can comfortably speak about. For you, it's family and you know, for everyone, it could be your hobby, it could be your family, it could be, I know someone who says that when he gets into public speaking situations, so he's a great singer, but when it comes to speaking, he's nervous, you know, but.

Singing is his natural, you know, that comes to him naturally. So before he goes for any speaking engagements, he sings to himself, you know, as a way of preparing, because that's something that boosts him, you know, and then by the time he gets to the speaking part of it, he comes, you know, with ease.

TIM (24:43)
Okay. That's right.

Yeah, that's a really good strategy. mean, like you said, different people have different ways of adapting and dealing with those types of things. And if that works for him, that's great. There's other people that do deep breathing exercises. There's other people that do tapping exercises. mean, could be whatever works for you, do it, lean into it, embrace it. And if that's what's gonna help you move forward, then let's get after it.

Olajumoke Fatoki (25:03)
amazing.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. So now let's talk about the place of verbal cues, know, things like body language, tone of voice, posture, do all of those things have any role in communication?

TIM (25:29)
They really do. And I think from a...

from a presentation perspective, you know, the body language, those types of things, I think a lot of times we put too much emphasis on it. you know, I think the body language stuff is what gets us, you know, that last bit over the edge, you know, to get our message across. Now, tone, volume, pauses, those things I think are...

are so much more important than people give them credit for.

Tone and volume is what really kind of conveys the message. Think about it from a perspective. If you listen to sports on the radio, if the announcer just kept the same tone and volume throughout the entire game, you wouldn't really have any emotion if somebody scores, if there's a good defensive play, whatever it is, it would just be the same.

You know, that tone and volume is what really conveys the emotion. know, pauses are so important in creating anticipation and driving home a point. Or getting people on the edge of their seats. So, you know, those types of things, again, really come into play as you're actually practicing before you go in and give your presentation or go to the interview.

go to the Tim meeting, go to the networking event, what have you. So really keep in mind the importance of those types of things.

Olajumoke Fatoki (26:48)
Amazing, amazing, amazing. Thank you. So I don't think I need to flog it, thank you. So those seemingly unimportant things that people tend to overlook, they actually play a crucial role in getting your communication across. Volume and.

TIM (26:53)
Yeah

Yes.

Olajumoke Fatoki (27:04)
you know, getting your communication across. Was it tone and volume? Is that what you call it? Tone and volume. Tone and volume, yeah. So those are critical. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. So as we round up on this conversation,

TIM (27:10)
Yeah. Tone and volume. Right.

Olajumoke Fatoki (27:20)
Let's talk about practical exercises that, you know, could you share a quick exercise or activity for our listeners that they can begin to try to improve their communication skills? there any, is there anything like that?

TIM (27:34)
So practical exercises, I think it really kind of does depend on the individual and where they are and what they really need to work on. I think the biggest thing I'll come back to is the research and then the practice. And when I say practice, I'm not talking about sitting in your chair, reading your notes.

reading your slides, that's not practice. When I'm talking about practice, it's you're delivering whatever piece of information you're gonna be delivering in the manner that it's gonna be delivered. So if you're be standing up in a Tim meeting at the head of a table, that means you stand up, you're at the head of the table and you have the setup and you go through your information. that's because from that perspective, that's when you're gonna really kinda...

have an idea about your, you know, that last little bit to get you over the edge, your body language, your movement, especially if you have somebody there that's watching you and watching you or critiquing you, you know, give that information.

And so, you know, that, that, that to me is, is probably one of the best things. And if you don't have anybody there, you know, film it. Everybody has, everybody has a smartphone set, set your phone up, film yourself and watch it. And really, nobody really likes doing that. Nobody likes watching yourself on camera, but it's going to give you so much more information than if you just go through it by yourself with no, with no critique at all.

Olajumoke Fatoki (28:52)
interesting, interesting, putting yourself in that particular environment. I'm looking for the word, like a simulated environment, So put yourself.

TIM (29:02)
Right. Exactly. You know, if, if,

if, if, if you can actually get in the room or the actual place that you're going to be doing it to practice, that's, that's even better. but if you can't set it up in your office, set it up in your home, you know, have, have other, have other people watching you do it. That's, that's, it's just so important to, to the practice because you're going to get some critical feedback.

Olajumoke Fatoki (29:24)
You took that word right again from my mouth. The practice and the preparation yet again. And I think that if I had to redefine what communication is, it would be how much of practice, how much of preparation you've done. That's what makes for a confident communication. So thank you so much, Tim. One last question.

If someone wanted to master confidence communication in 30 days, what do you think the first step should be that they should take? What would be a first step that they should take?

TIM (29:56)
I'd say the first step would be to contact me and have a conversation and we could kind of figure out what's working for you, what's not working for you and go from there. everybody starts in a different place. They really do, whether you're a young professional or whether you're somebody that has been in the workforce for 25, 30 years.

Olajumoke Fatoki (30:00)
Hahaha

Beautiful.

Mm-hmm.

TIM (30:21)
We all have things that we need to work on and it's...

I don't know that there's ever a simple, you know, one step or one way to do anything for people. Now there's obviously there are systems out there that will help you, you know, like whether it's forming for public speaking, whether it's a STAR method, you know, those are tips and strategies, but the actual putting things together and delivering them, it's gonna be different for different people.

Olajumoke Fatoki (30:46)
great insights there and awesome perspective. So thank you so much, Tim. That brings us to the end of our call conversation today. And we have one rapid fire question, just to get to know you more and to bring some form of fun into our conversation today. So what's one advice you would give to your younger self?

TIM (31:02)
Okay.

Where do I start? Where do I start? boy.

Olajumoke Fatoki (31:09)
Tell us!

TIM (31:10)
Don't wing it.

You know, that's...

Olajumoke Fatoki (31:12)
Mm.

TIM (31:13)
Every time in my life that I've just won it, just winged it, it's something it's never worked out. It's never worked out ever.

And, and again, where, where do I start? I mean, I got a whole list of things, but you know, what, of, of things that, that I've said or done that I look back and said, Tim, what are you doing? What are you thinking?

But you can still be yourself. You can still. So I'm the type person, I like to have fun in what we do because life's too short to be serious all the time. I don't take myself seriously, but I take what I do seriously. And it's okay to have fun at work. It's okay to have fun as you're doing things. And it's okay when you screw up to look back and say, wow, you screwed up and you laugh a little bit.

Olajumoke Fatoki (31:42)
Absolutely.

TIM (31:53)
and you fix it and you move on. And that's it, I guess. Don't wing it and have fun. How about that?

Olajumoke Fatoki (31:59)
Lovely. Don't wing it. Prepare.

TIM (32:02)
Exactly.

Olajumoke Fatoki (32:03)
No

better way to end this conversation than on that amazing note and thank you so much Tim For being on the conversation today for joining us on the thrive careers podcast. You've covered so much today from overcoming speaking anxiety to Using storytelling crafting compelling messages mastering non-verbal and verbal communication And if you're listening to this, i'll just say one thing start applying

every one of these strategies and you will start to see massive shifts in how you communicate. And one thing you know that I stood out today as well for master communicators, those you admire, preparation and practice. Okay, if you would leave this, if you're not going to take anything away from this podcast today, do not forget those two things, preparation and practice. Thank you so much. So Tim.

If there's one final piece of advice you would like to give to professionals who want to boost their confidence and communication skills, what would that be?

TIM (33:02)
Again, go to Tim Newman Speaks.com and reach out to me and we can work something out and I can help you get on the road to becoming a more powerful communicator.

Olajumoke Fatoki (33:13)
Amazing So I think you're already as a part of the next thing which I was going to say so where can people find you? How can they connect with your work and you know get to meet you? Do you want to share that?

TIM (33:24)
So the best place is at, excuse me, I should know my own website. It's timneumannspeaks.com or LinkedIn and it's just Tim Newman and you'll see this face there.

Olajumoke Fatoki (33:34)
Okay, and...

TIM (33:34)
if it's a good thing

or not,

Olajumoke Fatoki (33:35)
About your formula for public speaking course as well, how can they?

TIM (33:38)
Yeah.

So, so that's, that's on the website as well. The form of Republic speaking, it's kind of a step by step process to, to, to help, you know, build that confidence and give you a, give you that formula that if you, if you repeat that formula every time it's going to become second nature and you're going to get rid of a ton of that anxiety because you're going to be prepared and go and be able to go into pretty much any type of

interaction, interpersonal public speaking on the stage, Tim meeting, networking event, interview, what have you, with a ton more confidence.

Olajumoke Fatoki (34:12)
Amazing. Thank you so much. What a way to end this conversation. So if today's episode resonated with you, be sure to subscribe to Thrive Careers podcast and share this episode with a friend and connect with us on social media. Your voice matters and confidence communication remains a super power. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, Tim. And we've come to the end of this conversation.

TIM (34:37)
Ola,

thank you so much. really enjoyed the conversation and I really do appreciate being able to share with Thrive Careers Hub community.


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