Jasmine Star (00:00:01) - Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show, where we discuss life and business and marketing and thinking a little bit different. And on that note, today's episode is a little different. I wanted to share with you my insights on what I really believe is a crucial skill for any entrepreneur, and it might not be what you think. Okay, but before I get there, I should let you know my husband, JD, he is my business partner, and I have to tell you, this man loves being sold to I mean, he just loves when somebody looks at him and can basically see like blinking money signs above his brother's head. He loves the art of it, actually. He enjoys the experience of being sold to like, if you could describe my husband's love language, picture this. He's in a steak house and the waiter comes up and sells him on the rarest type of steak and then he says it's for a limited time. And tonight only you could add shrimp or scallops done however you choose.

Jasmine Star (00:01:23) - And oh, don't forget the Rochefort Butter special tonight. And just for you, sir, we can also add a loaded baked potato. Now, you'd have to pay extra for the prosciutto and this French cheese we're putting on top of it. My husband would sit there and be like, Yes, all of it. And there's more. Yes. You know what? Make two of them like, okay. And then I on the other side of, I don't know, the dinner table and life, I am skeptical of every situation. Well, not situation. I'm skeptical of every suggestion in any situation. Okay. But when I am convinced of confidence, clear explanations and. Yeah, okay. A little bit of showmanship. I am an obscene tipper. And I'm one of those people that, like, I love leaving really generous tips and I also like leaving notes on receipts. So I want to know this person's name. I want to cite specific things that they did to make our meal magical. I am one of those people, but I'm going to tell you that as somebody who spent almost seven years serving tables, and I should also mention that I was employee of the month for the entire organization of a series of steak and rib houses.

Jasmine Star (00:02:43) - Now, maybe someone might hear that and believe that I have the capacity to do that. But I'm a vegetarian, right? I could sell you a steak and ribs and I had never tasted it. And not only could I sell you on that steak and ribs, I would have you upsize it for an additional $9 and, oh, you know what? I'm going to stop you in the middle of it to say this makes a phenomenal lunch, but what you can't eat for lunch tomorrow is our made nightly only banana cream pie served in a mason jar. Speaking of mason jars, would you like our back house? Strawberry lemonade? We grind up our own strawberries here and is sweetened with a little agave and fresh lime up on the top. I'm telling you, your girl could rack up receipts. Okay, so you could just imagine. I am a little bit skeptical when somebody wants to sell me. However, what I am not skeptical of is somebody who confidently can make a suggestion and gives clear explanations or differences as to why the option is superior.

Jasmine Star (00:03:49) - And yeah, has that little bit of showmanship. Okay, There you go. Bring it all in. Bring it all in. So at the start of 2023, I made it a personal goal to get serious about honing my skill as a speaker. And you're going to be like, okay, why are you talking about rib houses? Me Employee of a month when you were a vegetarian and now you're talking about being a speaker. Yes, I know. So I had spoken on stages, but everything that I had learned up into the top of 2023 was through trial and error. I had spent years speaking to groups of 5 or 10 people, and I did it all without being paid. And I speak. But what I am actually learning was to value and practice how to have that lean in moment, the lean in moment. So when I am standing on a stage the same way that I was taking somebody's order, I knew where to apply a pressure and a bit of showmanship when they leaned in.

Jasmine Star (00:04:42) - So I don't know if you've ever been in a conversation and you begin to tell a story and it becomes really engaging and they lean in to hear a little bit more, or you're getting to the apex of a story and someone's like, No, that like connection, body language. As people lean in, that is an indication that people want to hear more or learn more. And so what does this mean as being a waitress? What does this mean standing on stage? What does this mean as a business owner? Because whether you're pitching, presenting to clients or networking at events, effective communication mixed with self awareness, man, it's going to make a big difference in the impression that you leave on people in the room. Okay, so you know that I love this podcast. I love sharing how to's and tips, but I really want to discuss why speaking skills are important for all entrepreneurs and not just the entrepreneurs who are considering speaking out on stages. Okay, so wherever you are, let's dial in first.

Jasmine Star (00:05:35) - These skills, the skills that you develop as a waitress, as a speaker, it's going to help you handle objections and closed sales, right? So if somebody says, No, I don't want the full rack of ribs, what I'm going to do is handle the objection and give you reasons why the ribs taste better the next day, how to prepare the ribs with scrambled eggs, warm them up, put them over a salad or strip them to the bone, Put them on a piece of Hawaiian bread. Let's go. Right. What am I doing? I'm handling objections and I'm going to close that sale. And I want you to remember your job is to think of every objection people might have before they have it. And then I want you to think of a way and a reason to overcome that objection. So you're selling something from the stage or you're selling something on a sales page. Why would they not buy boom, Answer it right there for them. If I'm giving a presentation or if I'm pitching, I come across confident.

Jasmine Star (00:06:30) - Not because I'm naturally confident. Like not at all. I am not a naturally confident person, but what makes me confident that is thinking through every objection that I need to address. And it is so helpful because you're able to show empathy and understand your customer's concerns and objections while clarifying features, benefits, and the transformation your business provides that my friends thinking through all that handling objections and closing sales, the skills that you learn there apply to you actually growing your business. Second, it helps you lead and build relationships with your team members. Okay, so like, how can being a good speaker help you lead your team? I get it. But when you effectively convey the vision, the goals and the strategies, your team will be able to align their efforts and understand the role they play. Bringing it to life sometimes, sometimes be a little real. Right now. Sometimes I get so good at casting a vision for the future that I need to tether myself to a timeline because I'm really good. I actually had one of my team members say this.

Jasmine Star (00:07:35) - She was like, Jasmine, you're really good at selling me in the future, and I get so caught up in the future that I begin to feel frustrated in today. And I was like, Man, that is such a good point. I didn't realize how good I was at selling a future vision. So now what I do is I cast the vision and then I route it in the reality of where we are today. And I rooted in the reality of how long it might take for us to get to the future. But when I say that when I effectively convey a vision of the future, man, they know where they play with that. They know where they fit. And I believe solid speaking skills can also help you communicate your ideas, expectations, instructions. I mean, when you can effectively communicate how to be more productive, what you're going to do is you're going to create a more productive and collaborative culture. So another little tidbit here. I wasn't always great at explaining my thoughts, right? I wasn't always good at casting a vision for the future.

Jasmine Star (00:08:32) - I got better with it over years because teammates would like pour into me. But what is still maintained over years is the team now uses the words. So what I hear is right. So I'll go through and I'll say x, y and Z, and then they'll say, So what I hear you say is this project needs to be done in two weeks. And I'm like, Oh, no, wait, is that what you heard? So what happens is encouraging the team to say what I heard is allowed me to look at what I was saying and how I was saying it to become a clearer speaker. And so my barometer of how I know I'm getting better at using persuasive skills while being clear is the less the team has to say. So what I hear is right. So it allows me to clarify and see where my communication gaps are. Okay. And the third reason how speaking publicly or these type of skills that you develop are going to help you with your negotiation and your business deals. That's the third reason why this is important.

Jasmine Star (00:09:28) - And I want you to hear this. And third, learning public speaking skills is going to help you with negotiation and your business deals. So I don't know about you, but I've had multiple businesses and negotiation is part of business. Like day in, day out. It's better to become stronger at it and not wait. And I have interviewed hundreds of people, and I can say that asking for what you deserve and then backing it up with easy to understand reasoning is so important and it applies to everybody. But I'm going to take a second. It applies especially to women. Now, I have talked to you and I have interviewed and I have dissected and I have studied multiple female entrepreneurs. And what I can say from my perspective and experience is that women are less likely to state clearly what they want. They are less likely to negotiate, and they are less likely to come into an interview with a plan on how they will create their own ROI, their own return on investment. I want to demystify this process.

Jasmine Star (00:10:30) - It is normal that this is something you should do when you are going after a job. When you're qualified for a job, this should be par the course for you. You never have to agree on what is being stated. Anything and everything could be a negotiation. So this is a real life example of a situation that happened in the business. We put out a job description and a job listing for a particular role in our organization and we interviewed who got the final interview. So our CTO was interviewing people and then we get to the final three candidates, myself and our CEO. And what we're basically screening for is culture Fits. And so we interview two men and one woman for this role. And both of the gentlemen came in and they had a clear plan how they were going to say, I am requesting this much and I know it's more than the job listed price, but I am going to be doing X, Y, and Z, which would quantify me getting paid more because I know that I can do more and go above and beyond of what's being asked based on my credibility and education.

Jasmine Star (00:11:39) - Both of the guys came in and asked for more and then we interviewed a woman and she was, on paper more qualified than the other two men. And then when we asked what she wanted to get paid, even though the job listing had stated the minimum, she said, I would be open to what you thought was fair. And I want to say that that doesn't happen. And that was like a rare case. But I will tell you the differences between myself and our Co interviewing. Quite honestly, hundreds of people over the last few years has been that women have a tendency to accept, not negotiate and feel less likely to come in with a clear plan of how they're going to deliver more than what they're getting paid in the business. Now, I just wanted to point that out as a way for us to understand and like really demystify what it means as females when we're interviewing for a jobs, when we are applying for loans and when we are talking with investors, we must have strong speaking skills because it will help with our.

Jasmine Star (00:12:44) - Goshen and those business deals. Okay, So I can go on and on about how. Developing speaking skills is going to help you with media interviews, help you with conversations, networking, content, and probably a billion other things. But I know you're ready now to hear how. Okay. So let's move on to some strategies that are going to help you overcome speaking anxiety, because this is the thing that stops most people from even having kind of like hard or wonky conversations. This is what stops people going live. This is what stops people from making social media content. This is what stops people speaking on stages, big and small. It is absolutely and totally obviously completely normal to be anxious before you speak. And even experienced speakers like all have conversations and they are nervous too. I mean, have I ever told you I'm an introvert? Like I use my being an introvert to my advantage, but that is a conversation for another episode. But what I want you to know is that being an introvert, speaking and then especially speaking on stage is not normal.

Jasmine Star (00:13:46) - But it is a skill that I have honed because I know that clear communication in front of an audience is a fast track to growth. And I am more interested in growing than I am being comfortable. And I want you to really hear what I'm about to say. The more action you take, the better you'll become at public speaking. You know how people say practice makes perfect? Well, what's practice? It's intentional action. Now you can start with smaller speaking opportunities to build your confidence gradually. That's what I did. But until you've got a few speeches under your belt, you can manage those anxious feelings by being prepared with breathing techniques, with mantras. Okay. Like if you are a mantra person like me, like just like to repeat things, you know, your girl loves a good sticky note on a mirror, you know, like, come on, anybody. Sometimes I'll get a sticky note sticking in my wallet. So when I crack it open, I am reminded that money flows to me.

Jasmine Star (00:14:43) - I am reminded that money doesn't own me. I am reminded that I have exactly what I need in this very moment. Okay. So I sometimes will say a few things that you can borrow so that you can say before you go into a conversation, before you create content, before you go live, before you speak on a stage, before you have a conversation or an interview. While these mantras, while you're saying them, visualize, visualize the thing you want. Visualize a very powerful interview. Visualize a great live, visualize you speaking on a stage and then feel the satisfaction that boom, you're doing it. I want you to feel or hear applause. Right? Like I actually want you to see you starting it in the middle of it and ending it. Recently, I had a conversation with a team member and I knew that the conversation was going to be great. But when we comes to pay in compensation, sometimes people feel a little uncomfortable on that, and I don't want that culture at all in our organization.

Jasmine Star (00:15:38) - And so what I did is I pictured myself having the conversation and it was fruitful and it was light and it was forward and it was inspiring and it felt like we were both on the same page. And lo and behold, that actually came a reality. So what are the some of the things that I say before I have a conversation before I step on the stage? Well, a few things that you can just use right now. I'm just share five. My voice is strong and my message is important or I am in control of my nerves. They do not dictate my energy or I bring value to others. This audience is here so we can learn together. Or every word I speak helps other people get closer to their success. Or I'm grateful for this opportunity to share what I know. Any one of those five? Go on, try them on for size. Borrow them. Say whatever you need to say to get you taking action. Okay, so let's chat about what's probably going to make you feel the most prepared are, and that is going to be writing an outline or a script.

Jasmine Star (00:16:44) - What I do first is I decide which is going to be the best for me depending on what I'm doing, an outline or a script. Now an outline is more of a guide and it kind of follows a specific structure flow, main topics. And if you're going to do an outline, this is going to be best if you're number one, a really well versed in that subject. Like, you know what, you could speak 15 minutes non-stop about that subject. An outline is going to be great for you. Number two, maybe you need room for flexibility depending on the audience if you're feeler right, If you feel like the energy is changing, then maybe you need you need a little bit of room for flexibility. Number three, if they said you can talk anywhere from 40 to 70 minutes and you don't have like a strict timeline, then you probably use an outline because it'll give you time to riff where you want. Number four, maybe you want to outline because you are really great at thinking on your feet and you're very witty and you know, for the outline you have more room for improvisation.

Jasmine Star (00:17:41) - Why can I say that word? Improvisation and preface? You know what? You you can use an outline if you want a little bit of room for flow and improvisation. There you go. Thank you. And fifth point, why you would want an outline. Maybe you're looking for like a little bit of a less polished natural delivery, right? Like maybe. Maybe an outline would be great for you if you're really confident saying the word improvisation. Definitely not my stroke, I'll tell you that much. I am more of a script kind of girl, but let's break that down. A script is going to be detailed and it's kind of like a document that has exactly what you're going to say during your presentation. When I say a script, I'm not saying that you read the script per se, but I am saying it's very detailed with very clear points that are going to move you down that presentation very clearly. And so in it you're going to be including like anecdotes, stories, the transitions that are included, conclusions.

Jasmine Star (00:18:39) - And so you're going to be including a more robust presentation or keynote because, you know, maybe you need to focus on precise wording. If you need to focus on precise wording, having that word or that cadence or that specific line of text on a slide so that you nail it, then that's going to be a perfect presentation of times that you would be using a script that builds out that keynote or maybe two. You're dealing with complex or sensitive topics and you're like, I need to really follow and watch my P's and Q's. Then a more robust like script, like Keynote is going to help you. Maybe you want to ensure that you're covering specific points as planned. Maybe there's a lot of steps or there's a lot of distinct pathway. Well, then, you know, using a lot of visuals and slides for a keynote with specific points, that's going to help for maybe you need to hit a certain time frame. This is why if you've ever watched a Ted talk like set a cadence, they will tell you that the slides are set at a certain amount of time per slide because you have to finish your Ted talk in 20 minutes.

Jasmine Star (00:19:41) - Ah, now we get to see why. And then five maybe you're being paid for the delivery or someone else is paying, you know, for you to give this speech. Well then when a lot more money is involved, you have to be really in control of the timing, the delivery and those key points. So that's just going to be a little bit of a difference. Now, I used to do a mix of both an outline and like script, but what I've really leaned into like I just get very busy. And at the time of this recording today, I gave four presentations to four different communities, one for the social curator community, one for photography community, one for health care community, one for children, hardware community. So it was really important for me to have a very detailed keynote because my mind is in a thousand places and I want to make sure that I'm sticking to my points, sticking to my timeline and showing up very professionally. So something that you want to consider after like, Hey, what am I going to do? Is it going to be a script? It's going to be outline, and I want you to really consider duration.

Jasmine Star (00:20:41) - A lot of times when people are inviting you to speak or a lot of times if you are setting up a meeting with your boss or you're setting up a meeting with your employee, there is a calendar invite. And that calendar invite would be 15 minutes or 30 minutes or sometimes, you know, you're invited to speak on a stage for 45 minutes or an hour long training. Here are two tips that have helped me and my team in these situations. Tip number one is consider your speaking pace. People often tell me that I talk fast. I'm not going to listen. I'm not to listen. People like honestly, like leave podcast reviews or send me like Instagram, DMS, and they're just like, you talk too fast. I have to slow your podcast down. And I'm like, Oh, I'm so glad they have that technology now because maybe you listen slow. I don't know. Anyway, so I. Do, though I do consider this at the pacing and cadence of how I'm creating a keynote.

Jasmine Star (00:21:28) - Like generally speaking, if somebody was asking for advice, I would suggest if you have a very detailed keynote to change your slide every minute of the presentation. So if you have a 30 minute presentation, you should have around 30 minutes of slides because that's going to be enough to cue you. But because I don't know, people say I talk fast, I know that I need to have change my slide every 30s and that means an average keynote for a 30 minute presentation is going to be around 60 slides because I get in more words in the average person. Okay. The reason why I make these suggestions is because I want you to avoid rushing and I want you to avoid dragging, right? So if you're going to do like making a script to highly detailed keynote, you can simply Google how many words is it 30 minute speech? Or if you're using an outline, you can estimate how much time you're going to need for each segment. And then one tip that I have learned, if you are going to do like an outline, it's going to be a little bit loose.

Jasmine Star (00:22:27) - You're going to say, This is my three part framework, or here are four steps to X, And then you could say to keep yourself and everybody in the audience on the same page. I'm going to talk about each of these frameworks for five minutes. So the bulk of the presentation will be 15 minutes and then we'll have another ten minutes at the end for Q&A. When you prepare your audience, they're more adept to actually follow you with the flow. Okay. Tip number two is to consider for content density. I know sounds fancy. I need to understand the complexity and the depth of the topics that I'm covering. So, you know, if you want a deep dive into certain topics or maybe just there are some things that you don't want to touch at all, well then for anything that you are not comfortable talking about, you want to make sure that you're leaving more of a wider scope, right? An idea or a path to learn more. So here's a perfect example. Oftentimes I am invited to talk about marketing and business growth.

Jasmine Star (00:23:21) - And so as I'm preparing now, I was hired to go to an event and speak about business and wealth. And so I know that my lane isn't really wealth. I do more business. I know how to make money. And it has just been a very recent transition for me to really discuss and think how do I turn my money into a wealth? And so because it's still so new for me, I don't want to stand on a stage and speak with utmost authority on how to build wealth. I can't speak with a lot of authority on how to build businesses because I've done it for myself, but I also teach other people how to do it and they get these massive results. So what I decided to do was when we get to the topic of wealth, I am going to give key takeaways that I've learned up until this point, but then I'm going to give them a pathway to learn from people who I'm learning from. So the vast majority of that presentation is going to be about business growth.

Jasmine Star (00:24:10) - Then certain segment. I'm going to downshift, right? The density of like business growth, marketing, building out funnels, transitioning followers into customers. How do you cultivate leads? Outbound, inbound? I could talk about that all day, every day, and that will be the bulk of the presentation. When we get to wealth, I'll give away a few tips, lessons and then a pathway to learn more. Okay, so what I want to do is now focus a little bit on foundations, right? And I understand that. I've talked about why being a stage presenter or being a waitress or a business owner, like why these skill sets are important. I get that. But what I don't want to get confused at all is that I believe everybody should speak on stage. Not at all. However, you are speaking to your team and I have come to believe that even just today, even just today, we're working on creating, should I say, should I say it? We have not publicly said, hey, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to say here on the podcast and then just like y'all are going to know, we have done no outbound messaging.

Jasmine Star (00:25:11) - We have not announced it. People in the social care community don't even know about it. But hey, you're a podcast listener. So we're working on launching a course that I am so proud of already. And it is for a high level entrepreneur, so I'm so freaking excited for the way that this content is going. We reached out to people who we really respect to add on to trials and bonuses, and everybody has said yes, which makes me feel like we're so in alignment. So many people see a need. It doesn't exist in the market. And I'm very excited as we're going through the content. I made a note on week one and I said, I love this content, but we need to resell the people who made this decision. So I am going to be spending a bit of that time in week one reselling. They've already given us their credit card, right? But what happens is that a good speaker, a good leader, is reselling them and validating their decision to invest. A good leader, a good CEO, a good manager is reselling their team on what they're responsible for.

Jasmine Star (00:26:17) - They're reselling them on the vision, on the goal, on what we're doing. And so when I talk about these principles. I am really just saying, how do you get a group of people behind the thing that you're doing so that they shine and they perform and they get fulfillment based on their results? Okay, so I'm going to give six foundations while you're writing a speech or a presentation that are going to keep people engaged. So if I am giving a presentation, I never call it I know not a team meeting. I'm never like, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to give a presentation. Not at all. I'm like, Hey, I just want to talk about a few things. I am, though, giving a presentation. I need to have the team bought in on what it is that we're doing, so I'm going to name each of the six foundations first, and then we're going to go into detail about each one. So foundation number one is the hook. Foundation number two is the main content foundation.

Jasmine Star (00:27:05) - Number three is supporting content. Number four is segment structure and transitions. That's a good one. Number five is engagement techniques. And then foundation number six is the call to action. So starting with the first foundation, which is the hook. Your hook should grab the listeners attention. And this can be a statistic. This could be a thought provoking question. It could be a bold statement that makes them stop what they're doing and really listen. Now, this is just my personal preference, but I've also had a lot of lean in moments is when I start my hook with a story. It is hands down the most compelling way to begin a presentation and really get people engaged at the get go. Now I've learned. I mean, now you're going to see it, y'all. Y'all are going to see this. I learned that politicians do this when they visit different cities because they want to find, like, relatable ground with their constituents. Okay. So here's an example, and I'm going to leave this very broad because I don't want somebody coming.

Jasmine Star (00:28:00) - Are you a Republican? Are you a Democrat? Are you independent? Like I'm not. I'm just saying whatever party you're about, y'all watch them do this. Hmm? Sorry I was late. Saint Louis. There was a line out the door at Mamma's on the Hill, and I had to get some fried ravioli while I was here. Do you see what they just did? They said, Oh, oh, I'm going to subtly drop that. The line describing out the door at a very specific place that's famous in that city because I had to get what the thing they're most known for. And then what are you going to get from the people in Saint Louis who in hollering child memories, your parents taking you there? Late night college runs for fried ravioli. Do you see what's happening? So when the politicians do this, they don't just gain the audience attention, they gain their trust. We've all heard people saying people do business with people they know, like and trust. But what we don't always hear is that people like, know and trust people who are like them.

Jasmine Star (00:29:05) - That's why being relatable is so important. That's why a good story told right allows the listener to put themselves in the story as an observer. Oh, that's a good hook. So the next time you're speaking to a crowd, your team can be virtually online. I want you to ask yourself, what are the commonalities in the audience and how can I create a relatable moment here? Okay, so I was hired for an organization called IBC and IBC. It's an organization for people who sell and buy and put in hair extensions. And their conference was going to be in Las Vegas. And the venue that I spoke at was Las Vegas Convention Center. And so as I was preparing the presentation, I really wanted to get grounded in the room and explain why me being at that event was very important to me. And I was able to explain how my grandfather moved his family to Las Vegas and lived in a trailer park. And every morning, even though he was supposed to be retired, he wasn't able to retire.

Jasmine Star (00:30:15) - And he took a job as a security guard there at Las Vegas Convention Center. And I started the conversation there to let people know that there are people who take nominal jobs that people often overlook and they don't know that they're ushering the next generation of leaders and thought leaders in people who are a part of the American fabric. Fabric? Yes, part of the American fabric. I slipped into an accent. Fabric. I'm not a politician. So the story allowed somebody in the audience to be sitting in a room that potentially my grandfather could have locked up at midnight. So after you earn their attention and maybe a little bit of trust, you should provide a brief overview of what the live or the episode or the training or the speech or your presentation is going to cover a brief overview. Okay. Why? Preparing the audience for what they're going to learn is going to help them contextualize and digest the information we have to prepare our brains for what it's about to take in, and this helps us pay better attention and retain that.

Jasmine Star (00:31:24) - Okay, After you hook your audience and prepare them for what they're about to learn, you can move on to the second foundation, which is preparing the main content. This is going to be likely the bulk of your presentation, and there are several ways that you can organize your information. It just depends on the type of brain you have. There's not a right way. Your job is to say, How do I remember this content to disseminate it the most effectively? So you can, number one, divide your content into segments or sections. Number two, you can create frameworks or do step by step processes. Number three, you can give tips. Number four, you can give reasons why. So this would be an example like the four reasons why you should stop drinking alcohol. And then you got to give them the benefit for better sleep, higher productivity to make more money, whatever the case may be. Now, it's going to be totally up to you in this podcast. Right now I'm building on foundations, which is another example of how you can organize your main content.

Jasmine Star (00:32:24) - Based on my personal experience frameworks and step by step processes work best for me and it's just how I'm delivering it. So you'll notice in a lot of my solo podcasts, what I am doing to break down a lot of information is to create a framework like this podcast. Right now, this is a framework I'm giving you step by step processes on how to become a better speaker. Now this for me is beneficial because it helps me remember it. And then in the future, when somebody says, How do you become a better speaker? I'd be like, Oh, let me tell you, I already created a framework on my podcast. Okay, this leads us to this foundation number three, which is the supporting content. We spent most of our time building out the main content. Now you can support your main points and you could do this with facts, statistics, examples, anecdotes, expert opinions. Because when you include all of these like science factual things, you can build credibility and strengthen your main points.

Jasmine Star (00:33:20) - And it also shows that you are listening to the cultural conversation of what's going on at that time. For example, in January of 2023, we launched a business mindset course, and this was just on the inside of Social Curator. So people signed up and it was like a four week course. And we're focusing on how to change our business mindset now in order for somebody to believe me and I am not a doctor, nor do I focus on like the mind or the brain, it was important for me to anchor my beliefs in science. So I was able to cite by the National Science Organization that the average person is thinking about 60,000 thoughts a day. That's a stat from a science organization. And then I included another stat that Dr. Joe Dispenza says that we think 90% of the same thoughts the next day. That's a fact by a doctor who studies the brain. And then I added my own conclusion. This means that about 46% of every thought we think. Is the scene from yesterday. I don't know if I did that.

Jasmine Star (00:34:30) - I don't know if I did that math. Right. So 60 Oh, no, 48,000. Right. So we think 60,000 thoughts a day and 90% of the thoughts that we think are negative. And 90% of the thoughts that we think in one day are repeated the next. So 40,000 thoughts that you thought are going to be repeated the next day and 90% of them are negative. So what did I do? Statistics, facts, interpretation. So what then does somebody do with this? If you're a business owner and you are thinking the same thought day after day after day and those thoughts are negative, it won't happen. I'm not moving fast enough. Why is it not happening for me? You're going to stay stuck, huh? In order for me to make a claim like that, I had to route it. These are things that you're called supporting content. So you can also even tie in your own personal stories if you think that the supporting content proves your point. Okay. So before we move on, I want to recap because we're going through a lot right now.

Jasmine Star (00:35:24) - Foundation number one is the Hook Foundation. Number two is the main content foundation. Number three is the supporting content. And now Foundation four is transitions. Now, I did not I did not learn this until way too long. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just save you some time. Like I would go through like a point and then I wouldn't have like a smooth over to the next point. I would just be like, So next. Ooh, that's a little brutal as a listener. Okay, so here is an example of a smooth transition to guide listeners from one subject to another. Now that we've covered the main challenges of fighting food hunger in America, which are X, Y, and Z, let's go over five potential solutions. Ah, what do we just do there? We cover this problems. Now let's go into the solution. If you were paying attention, whenever I feel like I don't have a clean transition and you're in a pickle like I just was right now in the podcast, I go back to let's review what we've just learned so far, right? Because then it recalibrates the brain that we're going to take on another piece of content.

Jasmine Star (00:36:27) - It is always so helpful to summarize the key points before moving on to the next one because it helps listeners digest information. And you know, here I am doing my own podcast. Okay? So after transitions, we can add in foundation number five, which is adding engagement techniques. Okay? So when you can get an audience, when you can get your team, when you can get people who are watching you live, engage, it's such a powerful tool because what you just need is one person who's brave enough to engage at the beginning, and then it acts literally like a domino. So we're going to be focused on getting 1 or 2 people to engage that would then empower other people to follow suit. Now, I know we talked about a little bit about this in foundation number one, The Hook, and you might already be naturally doing this without knowing that it's a foundation. Now you can add engagement techniques by sharing, engaging stories, by talking about personal experiences and relatable anecdotes. And then you say, how many people here have Have you ever been in this situation? Tell me.

Jasmine Star (00:37:25) - I'm not alone. Okay? We're soliciting connection and having somebody else testify. Okay. Engagement techniques can make the biggest difference in your presentation. I think that what it really helps is like not being over salesy or having your presentation be like to textbook. Like it reads like I'm reading from a text, like you're sounding stiff, like these foundational engagement techniques, they're a total game changer. Now, this foundation really leans into your personal voice and it really does showcase your personality and your humanness. I remember hearing Simon Sinek, one of the highest paid public speakers. He's an author, consultant, has an organization, and he remembers a story where he was giving a presentation to a speaker's bureau. Now, for those of you who don't know, Speaker's Bureau are the people who handle about 90% of all professional paid speaking events. So they invited him. So basically, every gatekeeper in the industry like was at this event. He says he's giving this presentation and never in his history has this ever happened before or since.

Jasmine Star (00:38:32) - But in that moment, his mind went totally and completely blank. He says that he remembers standing on the stage and thinking there is not a single thought in my mind. What did I just say? What am I going to say next? And as he's on a stage of the people who are responsible for this whole revenue generated his business. He doesn't fake it. He just says, I am so sorry. I'm actually so embarrassed. I don't know. How I lost my train of thought. What was I saying? And everybody kind of tittered and he said, no, I'm being serious. And then a woman from the front row had said, You just said this, and then, boom, it kickstarted him back into it. And guess what? That showed his humanness like he literally won the entire audience over because he just spoke his truth. How many times do people not get on stage because they're so afraid that they're going to lose their train of thought? And here, number one, highly trained, most sought after, most paid professional speaker, and he's on his stage and just says, I don't know what I was saying.

Jasmine Star (00:39:33) - That's amazing. Amazing. So it sprinkles in a bit of you in a presentation. Okay, now we're getting towards the end. Foundation number six is the call to action. Even though you should only have one specific call to action, this call to action should do two things. Now, a call to action like this is basically what do you want people to do? What do you want your team to do after you give a presentation? What do you want a customer to do at the end of a sales call? Like at the end of a live? What do you want them to do? What do you want them to do at the end of a keynote presentation? That's a call to action. Now you should only have one. You shouldn't say sign up for my newsletter list, book a call and buy the course. No, no, no. It should be. What is the one thing that you want them to do? One call to action. But that CTA. It should do two things.

Jasmine Star (00:40:21) - Number one, it should really serve your audience in some capacity. And this could be providing a mindset shift. Maybe you could facilitate a breakthrough and inspiring action, maybe a thought provoking thought. And it should always feel and this is how you know, the strength of your delivery. It should always feel like they're getting something from that call to action. And then number two, it should serve you. It should serve your audience and it should serve you. You spent a lot of time putting together your speech, your presentation, your training, whatever you're preparing, it's okay to ask for reciprocation. In fact, is that not what I do on every podcast? Y'all are tired of hearing me talk about that, right? But at the end of every podcast, we create this podcast for free. We absorb all of the cost, my time writing it, proofreading it, or creative team who helps source ideas and put together the frameworks, our podcast editor, our social media team that puts it out. The people who uploaded, who's writing show notes.

Jasmine Star (00:41:26) - All of that are costs that we're absorbing to serve you well. Why? I freaking love it. Reciprocity, baby. So most of the time in a podcast episode you will hear me say My CTA. If this podcast has served you well or it has changed the way you thought or behaved, it's about you, then can you please leave a podcast review then it's about me. Okay, so I gave you a personal example, and here are three examples that of these like kind of like 2 in 1 call to action that both serve your audience and then gets them to take the next step with you. Okay? Number one, if you are a guest on somebody's podcast and they say, how can people connect with you? It's beyond say, hey, go visit my website. What you want them to do is take an action. You could follow me on Instagram or if you like what I said, I have a free resource and you could download it here. Ah, okay. Then we're going to get into example number two.

Jasmine Star (00:42:31) - If your guest coaching or providing any kind of training and you could serve that audience well and then you could also gain email subscribers. This is a great thing. This is a great call to action. And it's like I have a free and then resource PDF e-book and you visit my website here. Oh, okay. So I really love when people have asked to visit their website and find the resource because it's one CTA download the resource, but where do you go? Oh, you go to the website, scroll the website, then get the resource. That's a nice twofer. And then number three, if you're pitching a product or service, you can get people to experience it while gaining new leads and you could say start your free trial today or do XYZ for a free sample. You're giving them something, but in exchange you are getting new leads. Okay, so now that you have your speech right, we've already framed Work Foundation. We know why it's important. Here are five tips to becoming a Better Public speaker, even if it's virtual in person in a boardroom.

Jasmine Star (00:43:33) - Pitching tip number one practice authenticity. I know it's easier said than done, but please don't try to imitate somebody else's style. You know, embrace your own unique voice. It's okay to show your personality. And I know it probably sounds easier than it is. However, sometimes I will record myself on my phone and I'll use a voice memo so I can listen back and see where I was confusing, boring. And then I make changes to my presentation or my cadence. Now, I have to tell you that what I have learned is when I ever tried to show up as Uber professional and like, totally poised, it never works for me. Why? I've come to believe that audiences connect with speakers who are genuine and relatable. Tip number two rehearse. I know, I know. In fact, I was just having a conversation a couple of days ago with a mentor that I have in a mastermind, and I introduced him for a speaking engagement. They asked me, Hey, who is doing really cool and interesting things? And I made an email introduction and he had said, okay, Jasmine, so tell me, how do you prepare? And I talked to him basically giving him all these same tips from the podcast.

Jasmine Star (00:44:39) - It's like, make sure that you make a statement about what this is. Prepare them what to expect, give your main content, give supporting points, insert stories, have a clear CTA. And then the last step was practice. And he's like, Oh, so you like really practice? And I was like, Yeah, at minimum I am going a full on our presentation three times over and I'm recording myself and he's like, You take things so seriously, he's into athletic and triathlon training. And I said, Yeah, but if you are going to a combine or if you are ready to go and run your triathlon, you wouldn't wait until you're on the starting line to be like, I'm in a PR this. No, you would train and I'm like, speaking is the same way. And oftentimes, even if I am having a conversation with my team, I will present it to JD before and he listens and makes very helpful insights. So in my opinion, it's a non-negotiable step to becoming a better speaker.

Jasmine Star (00:45:28) - You can practice your presentation. I suggest a few times you could practice in the mirror, you could record yourself and you could find areas that can improve. And I know that you're like, I'm so busy, I don't have a lot of time. I get it. But truly it is so effective. It not only that, like it builds familiarity with your content, it reduces how nervous you are. It makes you feel more confident and it improves the quality of your presentation. And when you have a good presentation, it literally opens the doors to you doing very similar things in different markets. Tip number three, improve non verbal communication. So nonverbal cues like body language, facial expressions, hand gestures, that's the majority of communication. Like when you combine that with the words that you use like man. So I actually went into detail a few episodes back when the episode was titled Three Sales Strategies to Increase Revenue. Like I really broke down How Body Language Helps Sell. But you could do this and like I'm going give you the short version is like by making contact, standing or sitting confidently, shoulders back, crossing at the ankles, not buckling your knees when you're standing on a stage and you can use your hands purposely to prove a point.

Jasmine Star (00:46:40) - Now, these like visual physical cues, they're going to enhance your message, and then it's going to show your audience that you're fully engaged and that you're totally confident. Tip number four is to seek constructive feedback to improve your speaking skills. You could seek feedback from mentors, business friends, or maybe there's a group of people in your audience who really want to help you practice on the inside of social curator. Back in June, we had a promotion for Social Curator and we created a new webinar for it and I went into the social curator community and I said, Hey, this is literally like, this is completely selfish on my end. But if anybody would like to see this new webinar and give feedback, I'm doing it on this date. I think there was like a hundred people that showed up and I didn't have the chat and so I gave the presentation in Zoom. I couldn't see the chat, but people could chat in and I was asking them, I was asking them like, when you get bored, right, bored.

Jasmine Star (00:47:34) - And people are like, No, we can't, right that. And I was like, No, tell me when you're bored. Because when you're bored, if I go take this to an audience who's not familiar with me, they're going to be so bored. They're going to tune out. I need to know when you're bored or when you lost attention. So then I went through the keynote and then what we did is we exported the chat from Zoom and then we lined it up time by time, and you will see chunks of people being like, I lost interest, I lost interest, I lost interest. And then we had to go back and, you know, we got to go back and rework those sections. So yeah, there are people who are willing to listen to it and help you make it better. Tip number five is to embrace continuous learning. You know, just like any other skill speaking improves with continuous learning. I recommend that you start watching other speakers a lot more critically and then take note on how you can adapt it to your own speaking style.

Jasmine Star (00:48:21) - I think you can attend workshops, you can watch Ted Talks. There's a lot of great free content on YouTube about great speeches. And then there's people who will dissect a speech and talk about why it's great. Okay, we just went through a lot today and I want to stop here and I really want to review what we've talked about. By improving your speaking skills, you can improve almost all aspects of entrepreneurship, closing sales, networking, negotiation, team culture and so much more. Number two. If you feel anxious before speaking, be prepared as possible. Practice. Repeat some of the mantras we went over to feel confident and remember that you're there to serve. Number three, decide if you want like a script or more of an outline, depending on your situation. There's not a right or wrong, but the two are very different and they need you to choose at the beginning so you know how to build it out. Number four, we covered the six foundations of building a great script or outline for your speech.

Jasmine Star (00:49:27) - I'm going to go over them one more time. Foundation one is the Hook. Foundation two is the main content foundation three is supporting content Foundation four is Segment structure and transitions. Foundation five is Engagement techniques. Foundation six is Call to Action. And then lastly, we went over five Tips to help you improve speeches which are practicing your authenticity, rehearsing, improving verbal communication, seeking constructive feedback, and embracing continuous learning. Now, do you know what's coming? I know you know what's coming. I know you do. What is it that's right. Call to action now. I hope that the content that this creative team and myself has put together served you well. I hope that you have a tangible toolkit that makes you stronger as an entrepreneur. And if you got one thing from this and you put it into action, you have the ability to change your life and your business faster. If you had all found this valuable, it would mean the world to me. Truly, truly. If we see an uptick of reviews after this podcast, we got saying They got it.

Jasmine Star (00:50:42) - We're doing it, we're doing it review on the podcast. It would just mean so much to us. It really does have a very big impact on the work that we're doing and who we're able to attract to the show that is the CTA. I would be honored if I was able to read your review. It would mean a lot. Y'all be blessed. Have a good one. Take care. Bye.