Ep 54. Projecting Success: Using Your Voice to Grow Your Business with Sally Prosser

If you're like many of our listeners, the thought of stepping in front of the camera or speaking at an event is as attractive as trying to put shoes on a toddler who just doesn’t want to leave the house. You started your business for freedom and flexibility, but now the idea of promoting it through video or speaking engagements seems daunting, leaving you to wonder if hiding behind text and images might just be easier.

But what if you could turn your voice and your presence on camera into your most powerful tools for growth? If we’ve peaked your curiosity then today's episode is crafted especially for you. We’re joined by Sally Prosser, a holistic voice and public speaking coach who has transformed the way entrepreneurs communicate, helping them to speak with confidence, clarity, and charisma.

Sally brings over two decades of experience and a treasure trove of insights on how to harness the power of your voice. Whether you're speaking on a podcast, at an event, or creating engaging online content, Sally's expert advice will help you leave those fears behind and step confidently into the spotlight.

So, if you're ready to find your voice and make it heard, stay tuned as we dive deep with Sally Prosser on mastering the art of speaking.

ABOUT SALLY PROSSER

Sally Prosser is a Holistic Voice and Public Speaking Coach with an entertaining flair and undeniable zest for life.

Over the past 20 years she's helped hundreds of professionals speak with more confidence, had a career as a TV News Reporter and built a community of 300k+ on TikTok.

Sal is a Tedx Speaker Coach, Master NLP Practitioner and in 2020 was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year for PR and Media in Queensland.

She lives in Brisbane with her boyfriend Patrick and her hobbies include jigsaw puzzles, pilates and gaming the frequent flyer program!

Find out More about Sally

Instagram / TikTok / Facebook - @sallyprosservoice.
Website - www.sallyprosser.com.au
Free Ebook - What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say - https://sallyprosser.mykajabi.com/wts-ebook
Free Pep Talks in Your Pocket - https://sallyprosser.mykajabi.com/pep-talks-in-your-pocket

Connect with us on Instagram and TikTok @madmarketingmums and tell us what you think about this episode.

Transcript

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If you're like many of our listeners, the thought of stepping in front of the camera or speaking at an event is as attractive as trying to put shoes on a toddler who just does not want to leave the house. You started your business for freedom and flexibility, but now the idea of promoting it through video or speaking engagement seems daunting, leaving you to wonder if hiding behind text and images might just be easier. But what if you could turn your voice and your presence on camera into your most powerful tool for growth? If we've piqued your curiosity, then today's episode is crafted especially for you. We're joined by Sally Prosser, a holistic voice and public speaking coach who has transformed the way entrepreneurs communicate, helping them to speak with confidence, clarity, and charisma. Sally brings over two decades of experience and a treasure trove of insights on how to harness the power of your voice, whether you're speaking on a podcast at an event or creating engaging online content. Sally's expert advice will help you leave those fears behind and step confidently into the spotlight. So if you're ready to find your voice and make it heard, stay tuned as we dive deep with Sally Prosser on mastering the art of speaking. Sally, I feel like this is a long time coming. Welcome to the show. Oh, and Krishla, it's so great to meet you. I feel I you from following you on TikTok for so long. So it's great to have this conversation. same. I feel like I know you already as well. And I think I first came across you Sally, you had recorded a bonus for Stevie Dillon's program Launchpad. I think it was Launchpad. One of her group programs and so I saw you there and then you know, Started stalking you online and the rest is history. So lovely to finally connect. Would love to hear a bit more about what it is that you do, because this is fascinating. So I, a public speaking coach, is it just for people who are going and speaking publicly at a lectern at an event, or are you coaching people that are doing. Other things as well. We'd love to hear a bit more about that and why someone would be seeking out your services. Yeah, so absolutely. When you about speaking, most people think, okay, you're on stage on a lectern. And I do do that. So if you need to speak at a conference, I help people with the writing of the speech and all the preparation need to step on that stage. However, most people I work with are not. doing that. They're using their voice in So we're public speaking whenever we're speaking and not to ourselves, or you could argue that's part of it as well. And so mostly it's business owners who want to do things like this, speak on podcasts or start their own, who want to show up and do video content online, who want to be able to do webinars and speak confidently, who want to be able to speak confidently, even in their coaching or with their clients. So it's really anywhere you use your voice. It is public speaking and the voice, I'm really focused on that. The voice is the vehicle that we use to express ourselves in that time. And as I'm into, speaking is just one of the best ways to market who you are and what you do. So how did you initially develop your confidence in speaking, and how can say busy parentpreneurs or, busy business owners apply what you've learned within their business and personal life? Yeah, it's of experimentation and trial and error. I could say, you know, I was pretty much born microphone first. know, I've been speaking a lot from a young age. I remember one of my very first Christmases, I think I was about eight years old. I really wanted a microphone on a stand from Santa. I wanted. And then I got it. And I said a thank you speech to Santa for bringing me the microphone. So there's definitely an element of it being in my. my blood, I suppose, wanting to speak, but there have been lots of practice along the way. know, the first time you do anything, it's going to be challenging. So. The first time I spoke on live radio, terrifying. The first time I stepped on stage, a disaster. And even sometimes now when I do presentations or videos, you would see this as well, some flops, some are okay. Some podcasts you think, yeah, I really nailed that. Others you walk away and go, I don't even know if I know what I said made sense. You know? So it's really just that forgiveness and doing it imperfectly. So what I'd say to busy parentpreneurs, I love that, that phrase, I haven't heard that, to really just dive in. Imperfect action. Like don't try to get it right before starting. Just do it. Because as I'm sure you would support the first video, the first podcast, the first stage speech, whatever it is, it's not going to be the amazing, perfect thing you expect it to be. It's all experimentation and doing. And I turned some clients away when they say, Oh, For example, I want to start a podcast, but I want to get voice coaching first. And I say to them, I will not be another excuse for why you're not starting the podcast. That will not Night. Go and start the podcast and we'll work together while you're doing because be doing alongside and not being that extra roadblock in somebody's way. Oh, I love that. Yes. Mic drop Sally. That's incredible. And I think this leads really nicely into our next question. I popped up a video the other day. I was on my high horse preaching on TikTok about why I think that faceless and voiceless content is trash. There's this trend going around at the moment, for anybody who hasn't seen them, lots and lots of master resale rights. Content is going out where people can buy packs of faceless Instagram reels, use them for their own business and sell them and it's really just an MLM kind of network marketing thing in my opinion. But I think the biggest problem with this trend is we're not sharing our unique voice. We're not sharing our face, which unless you're a Identical twin or have a really, good doppelganger. That's one of your unique selling points. So we'd love to talk a bit more about this with you and get your views on this, Sally, as to why small business owners really need to get comfortable with getting in front of the camera. So your voice, hearing someone's voice is the thing to touching them. Hearing someone's voice is the closest thing look at a business sense, you can't actually touch the people that because same country, or might completely inappropriate to doing So right, our voice, you know and seeing someone's and someone's voice. That's how we connect. people to trust us. I know in marketing, we, it's like the no like and trust And now more than ever, consumers are, we're really smart. We want to know the person behind the brand. You know, so even if you've got a product based business, if you've got a service based business, it's a no brainer. If you've got a service based business and you think that you can build your brand through faceless content, like it's no, no, there's not many things I put my foot down on, but like absolutely not. When you're offering your service, it is your personality, your voice, your, your style that people need to know whether they resonate with. Because here's the thing. We all have a unique vibration of our voice and there are people who are receptive only to our vibration. only our vibration, but the way that we speak about a particular topic. So, you know, people will say, oh, well there's so many other competitors. There's so many other people that do voice coaching, or do marketing, you know, there's, Well, nobody does it in the way that you do it. Nobody shares the message in the way that you speak because your as unique as your fingerprint. And it's something that cannot be chat gtd. It cannot be Canva Graphic. It cannot be outsourced because you are the source. Your voice is the source of your magic. And if you're wanting to amplify your message, that amplification begins with the vibration of your vocal cords. So you can tell I'm I work with so many business owners who. You know, learn very quickly how fantastic it is be able to show up and speak with confidence, especially online. you make such a good point about it's about your voice and your unique identity almost and the confidence that you exude. How does someone get better at speaking confidently? I think you touched a little bit on this. before, but you said just simply like diving in and doing the thing, but is there like a formula or something that you see that maybe works best for someone rather than just diving deep in? It's, dipping your toes in the water. Try doing five minutes of speaking first and then 10 minutes. And then this, is there a step by step approach that you see that works really well? Absolutely, absolutely. So this is sort of my whole business. There are so many strategies and tools and techniques that you can use. There's two main parts to it. So it's like the, the inner confidence and the. strategies. So if you have this resistance around speaking, this resistance around what will people think, Oh, I don't want people to judge. Oh, I'm a private person. Like these things, these, these thoughts that speaking to something much deeper than just public speaking, there's other stuff to work on. And that's a lot of what I do in my courses. And programs as well is getting to the core of, you know, what is that resistance? Where is it coming from and how can we work through it? And Clem, you said in the intro that your voice is a powerful tool for growth. And I wrote that down because that is so true. A lot of people say, Oh, I came for voice coaching and I've left with like full on personal development, life Tool. window into your soul. They say, you know, the voice is the organ of the soul. It's the soundtrack of who you are. And so you can use your voice as this powerful channel for healing. If there's something there that's not coming out, then it goes beyond speaking. It's something that you need to process or would be beneficial for you to process. As a person. So it's getting quite deep the value this kind of work. Then you've got those formulas and strategy show. So I'll share one with you now, which is my three B formula. And this formula will help you for any sort of speaking that you're doing. And I actually have this in an online course version. It's called the magnetic voice formula. So it's a mini course called the magnetic voice formula. And I can share that with you. And the formula is this. for belief, B for body and B for breath. So the first thing is the belief. The most important conversation you have is the one you have with yourself and your physical voice is a megaphone for your inner voice. So if the inner talk is, Oh my God, I've done this a hundred, like I, I keep stopping, pressing record. And I, this is not good enough. And what are people going to think? And I look weird and I sound weird. Like that's the energy. That's going to come out. So important have that belief you can start with just one belief statement. I call it the BS statement. You know, we listened to so much BS. actually make the work for us. So the belief statement could be, I've got this. People want listen to me. I have something valuable to share. You know, and also with podcasts and online, I think we have this feeling that we're forcing upon Yeah. no one's, no one's shoving earplugs into people's, into people's ears or anything. can scroll, they can choose listen. people are there, they want to be there. it's working on that belief. second part is the body. So there's this belief that the voice actually I could ask, ask you, like, if you had to point to your voice, what part of the body would you point to? Probably my chest, or Here? Yeah, My neck, you've got your voice box Yeah. Normally I have the, the throat or the, or the heart or sometimes the mouth. And the answer is all of the above. Like your voice, our voice runs from the soles of our feet to the crown of our head. Our voice boxes in our throat, but our actual voice is a whole of body. channel. And so our body needs to be in it when we're just putting everything into the intellectual. we often do this. What am, what am I going to say? Is this going to sound good? What are people going to think of me? And we overthink and we overanalyze and we overload and that can cause brain freeze sometimes. But what that does is it puts the voice all the way up into the head. So you'll often get like a faster pace and a higher pitch and it will sound like it might sound quite nice, but people listening are not going to feel the person, you know, when we speak, we want people to feel our words, not just hear our words. So we want that voice to come from deep within our body. We want to be able to access that whole channel. So we can go high and we can go low and. All this fun stuff that that we go through. So what can you do? Move your shoulders, twist, dance, do spaghetti arms, move, just like stand jazz hands, Really get into your body, jump up and down before a video, you know, jump up and down. Or if you've been recording it so many times, you're like, Oh my God, it's losing meaning. Like I've done it so many times and this to me as well. Just, you know, switch it off, run around, dance a bit. Then and that's maybe why sometimes you'll find you'll create a video and it, you think you've done it really well and there's a lot going into it and it flops, whereas the one that you made in two minutes on the fly performs really well. It may be about that different energy that you are bringing into that video, into that two minute video. Yeah, a hundred percent voice is energetics and breath is our energy that we use to power our voice without breath. There is no voice. So our words ride out on that wave of air. It is energy. And so we're shallow breathing, it's like, we're not actually giving our words much inspiration or much energy. breathing, I always say breathe below the bra. Right below the bra and really get it into your belly. then the voice can come from deep within and that will also calm your nerves. So what's great about that belief body breath formula is you can use it for whatever scenario. And this is exactly why. Not just online, but in person, some people will walk in, they haven't really prepared, but they're really in the zone. They're charismatic. The words flow out and other times people will, this is what my clients say to me. They're like, but I really practiced. I had all my slides I had on my points. I put it all down there and then I stood up and I, I sort of got a bit lost or I tried to do it and it didn't have the same impact because this is what happens when we over intellectualize the process. It's not, what do I want my audience to know? It's how do I want them to feel? And that's also why at the moment I'm experiencing this on Tik TOK. I've got a video that I filmed on holidays in Tasmania, just like for fun. That's got 140, 000 two. so would there be any, I guess from a. Using your best tool, which is what you say is your voice. Are there some practical voice exercises or quick prep techniques that they can use to actually help that, that, that powerful tool besides besides the dancing and such, which I'm like, yes, I'm totally going to do that when I need that confidence boost just before I record. Is there anything else that you could do like for your voice specifically to help with that confidence as well? yeah, absolutely. So humming. So start off with a simple hum, just, Hmm. Hopefully my picking It sometimes thinks it's background noise and you can do this in the shower or just while you're doing something else, just getting that air moving through and getting your, your vocal vibrating. If you want to see something that's not, that's a little bit disgusting. Well, I shouldn't say disgusting. It looks a bit like something Yeah, show us, I love it. A woman's beautiful two portals of expression. just say that, right? So our expression is linked to our sexual expression and that's why they both look the Oh wow, okay, I never thought of that. the word, the word cervix actually means neck. So it's like, we've got the two necks and it's this sort of. We want to keep the channel open on both ends, Yeah, And then we're going to go onto the jaw. good exercise is one I quite, this is good to do with kids. Kids love this kind of thing. I used to be a speech and drama teacher for young kids and all these exercises I use with adults. And it's, it's, It's, work. called the surprised donkey. So the donkey is ee or, and then the surprise is so ee or ah, or Okay. really opening the jaw, especially in Australian culture, you hear it's quite a tight jaw, like Hey how you going? What have you been up to? Okay. Yeah. And like, it's like, I don't know why we haven't produced more ventriloquists because so many people don't open their mouth when they speak. So we, we don't want that when we're thinking about airflow and, and connection, honestly, just opening your mouth is going to help. And if you're holding a lot of stress, which let's be honest, you know, this can happen, especially, you know, when the household's really busy, that stress will often sit in our jaw. So really opening up that jaw will release tension throughout your body. And I'll give you one more one, which Uber drivers always really laugh at, and it's relaxing our lips. So if our, if our lips are really tight, That's kind of, know, sounds a bit like Kath and Kim for anyone who's been, who's watching that show. We want our lips to be nice and relaxed. And so I call it the, the relaxed donkey or the tipsy donkey. And he's like, so you're rolling your lips and really effective because if you're tense, you can't do it. You'll end up going, all right. So you're forced to relax to go we do the elephant. telephone. This is why the kids love it because it's kind of fun, but getting that going, it means the vocal cords are vibrating. The air is flowing. The lips are relaxed, the jaws opening, and that's all you need to do. I've got a freebie actually called pep talks in your pocket. So I think I've sent you that link. It's a pep talks in your pocket and it's little short audio tracks that take you through warmups. And this one that I went through is on one of the tracks. Oh, amazing. Okay. We will link to that in the show notes. So if you're listening, you can go and grab that. And if you want to see exactly what Sally was doing, head on over and watch the last few minutes on our YouTube channel at Mad Marketing Mums because I think the visual is really helpful as well for understanding those exercises. Selly, I'm just gonna pop in with a bit of a random aside here. Circling back to that idea of resistance, and I can't believe I just said circling back but I have seen, I would say, Three or four TikToks over the past day of people saying for their business, they are, their business social media accounts, they're blocking all of their friends and family so that they can show up without feeling weird on camera, without feeling embarrassed about what it is that they're doing. What do you think about this move? I'm 50 50 on whether or not this is a good strategy. Yeah. Well, I think I'm, I'm with you. There's two sides to it. The first side is it's, if that's what you need to do in order to show up your business, that is much better up at all. So if you are going to make a video the your friends and family, then absolutely do it. But it's also a great window. This is why having a business and doing voice work is so great to learn more about yourself because that is showing what is that resistance. you want to be with friends and family who don't see you for who you are, who don't support you for really want to do? And why is that? I see this commonly. It's because you're often here. Strangers will support you more than people who knew you your whole life. And that comes from when people have known you for a long time, they attach a particular identity to you and they create a character for you. And we often fulfill that character in order to maintain the integrity of that relationship. When we have growth and anybody who's starting a business, you have growth, right? You change, you go through that development. And there are some people that come along for the, they come along and they support you and they love seeing that change. But for a lot of people, they don't like seeing that change because they liked how things were when you fit the identity that they had of you. Or if it's, you know, from school friends or something, it's like, Oh gosh you know, she's reflect, she's a reflection of what I haven't done with my life. know, when it's a stranger, we make up these stories. When we don't know someone's background, we go, well, it's easy for them because they had X, Y, Z. We make up this backstory. That means it's easier for them than for me. But when you actually know someone, you know, their backstory, then it can be a bit more, wow. Well, actually there's no reason why I can't be doing what I want to do. And so this is why I'd say unblock them and go for it. And the people who are really triggered and criticize you, you know, that's really on them. that's a great opportunity for you to see whether you want to keep them in your life or whether you just want to carry on and not worry that that's the way that they see it. Like my brother, he actually, he thinks my whole business is a waste of time, which is offensive to all of the incredible people who I helped do incredible things. You know, but I'm just like, that's Matt. I mean, okay. Okay. So you want to get to a stage where like, if people aren't agreeing with you, that's fine. live my I'll shine my light and give people permission to do the same. And if you're not okay with that, then that's If he's not okay, if he's not okay with that's on him, that's his problem. He can deal with it, that has nothing to do with you. Family dramas, that's something that I think we're all too familiar with for sure here. You have grown on TikTok. I think we became friends when TikTok came on the scene in Australia. Back, I'd say in 2019, 2020. We are old TikTok mates. And I've, yeah, OGs. This is the OG triad right here, right now. But you have A really large follower. You have done so well on TikTok. What have you found to be most effective for making that engaging connection with an audience where you're not seeing them face to face where it's all digital and you only have a few seconds to make that impression on them? So yes, we were, I was on Tik TOK in the early days and I was doing all the trends and everything. The first video that went viral that took me from 45 followers to 10, 000 in seven days was a talking to camera video that I did. After I came back from a workshop and I did in one take and didn't even brush my eyelashes, which the good people of Tik TOK pointed out. then I was like, right, this face to camera stuff is really good. then in the early days, I really enjoyed all of the trends and transitions. I was, I thought really And let's be honest, Tik TOK has changed a lot. And over that time, I built up a big audience. A lot of it was the wrong audience. And when I say the wrong audience, it's because it was lot of people who thought I was an English teacher. Really? Yeah. Cause I was like this is the difference between Yeah. it was of my own own doing and I had shift because that's not what I do. a voice and confidence and speaking coach, not a English teacher. And so I made that transition and that did affect my and my followers. I'm being really transparent now. My followers have consistently gone down for the last 12 months. But you're fine with that. what that is. Oh, I'm totally fine with that. I don't know. My business revenue's up, so it's completely fine. But the, I don't know if it's the bots or the algorithm or sort of what it is, I've working harder on getting the right kind of people watching. As in people who really going to benefit it is I actually do, because, you know, I was getting questions about grammar and I was like, hang on, I'm going to have to Google that. Like, I don't really know the answer to tell you. So that was a sign to me that I'm like, I need to stick square in my lane, in my expertise. saying that, I find TikTok is really great for that big awareness piece. And the stuff that goes viral, know, me talking about Bruny Island in Tasmania, that's the one that's on 130, 000 or something, is just that being yourself content. So engaging ones are being yourself. There's another one where my boyfriend commented on my new haircut. I remember that one. stuff like that. Cause that, that went, went really well. So it's great for that. And what I'm doing and actually Clem and Krishla, you could share whether this is, this is more of a marketing thing that I'm experimenting with, but I've started asking myself, who am I talking to? And if I'm going for awareness, I'm I now know not going to get awareness by sharing my tactical techniques. The awareness is from those. lifestyle, relationship, travel type things, which are great because it tells people a bit about who I am as a person. And especially, you know, for a service provider, people want to work with somebody who they actually like and have shared values with. So it's, it's really important for me to do that. And also to stand apart from other voice and speaking coaches, like anybody can give tips on breathing and that kind of thing. want people to. I'd be gravitated towards me if they feel that because of who I am as a person, then when I go over to Instagram, mainly I speak more to people are already in my audience. So it's more nurturing thing. maybe Maybe that's why my followers aren't like all that big Instagram. and yeah, I found that's, what's been working for in terms of It's getting to the point quickly and. I guess not taking too many pauses is another thing that I've noticed, but to be honest, and I don't know if you agree with me here, often the things that go viral are still the things that I don't expect to. I think what you've just described is pretty much almost like when you meet a new person at a, say, a mixer or something like that. You end up meshing with somebody that you don't know by their personality, by their hobbies. And then the next question is, so what do you do? And then you can go into the voice coaching and such. And if they really relate to that, they're gonna keep speaking to you and they're gonna keep being interested in what you do and then learning more. So you've essentially just said, yeah, it's, It is building a relationship by showing that you're just a person online first, and then if they really are going to latch on and connect and learn what you want to do, then they're going to start looking at the other content that you're creating, about your expertise, about what you can offer them in your business. Yeah. Yeah. So the answer would be if you want to, if your goal is to have more reach and for people to know you, then it's opinion based content and lifestyle content. And I've just experienced this firsthand as well. Whenever I do opinion based content, you get a lot of people who disagree with you, but that's just what you've got to be prepared for. I did a video where I was shocked at the amount of people who stole stuff from the Woolies self serve just because this, a lot of people were stealing things. And I was just shocked that that was the case. Now looking back on that, maybe the timing of it wasn't all that great because of course it struck a nerve with people struggling with the cost of living, which is a real thing. But what was extraordinary was the amount of people in the comments who were like pro stealing who said, yeah, pinch stuff all the time. I never pay. I always put meat in the bottom of the stroller. I was just really interesting because this is like, think what you want about our prices expensive. Oh my gosh. Like think what you want about the actual service. But I was both thinking, I don't know, Yeah right or wrong? don't, yeah, for me. And I think that that was actually quite good for me looking back because a lot of people did actually. support me as well. And a lot of the people who disagreed with me and said that they steal stuff. I'm like, well, I don't know if there'd be likely to pay for a personal development voice coaching course either. So I don't think it's really too much of an issue. Oh, Yeah I think you hit the nail on the head, Sally, in terms of your strategy. And look, you can come for my job now if you want to become a content coach, because I think You've got it exactly right. Using TikTok, using that value based content to get people to know and trust you, because who do we buy from? People we trust. And then nurturing that audience, moving your content focus a little bit further down the funnel to that relationship building, credibility building, and ultimately inviting people to work with you over on Instagram, I think that's a really great workflow. I've seen a number of people do this and it works really successfully for them, because TikTok is such a great platform for getting attention, a hundred percent. So yeah, I love what you're doing there, I think That's really great. Now I, this is something I personally need help with. And when I messaged you about coming on the podcast, I said, please don't judge us. Don't judge me for stumbling over my words a lot. And the dreaded ums and ahs that we tend to put in or filler words. I have a bad habit of saying something and then saying right at the end. Would love to know what practical advice you can give us to help with that because it really increases the amount of time we spend editing the podcast because of our ums and ahs or repetition of words as well as something I've noticed in our editing. So any tips you can give us. you can provide would be much appreciated. Krishla, I think you're doing great. I haven't really noticed it at all. I'm not the arm and arm police. I always say not the arm and arm police and it's much better to have arms and arms and speak fluently than to not have any a script or to sound robotic. And little things like right and so, you know, these things go towards our our vocal brand. You know, so it's not always a bad thing. In saying that, if we are starting a lot of sentences with we're like leading with uncertainty, which is when we're trying to show authority. So authority in our field, we don't want the first thing to be a marker of uncertainty. And if it's repeated too much, then people get distracted by it. videos. I I'm a little bit of a, like user and. Actually, my TikTok that I did where I tell my man in the bear story, I say like a lot, a lot in that video, but I look back at it and I go, well, I was because I was remembering a memory that wasn't that pleasant. So I was putting lots of filler words in as a subconscious protecting. mechanism. So it's really interesting. What is a sign of, if you feel like you use it too much, starting off with forgiving yourself, you know, like it's, it's okay to use fillers. This is a symbol that there is a blockage in the upper chakras, right? So it's like the crown and the third and throat, not flowing through in those areas. Think remembering the voice is like an energetic channel, a visual that all of your words are. Lotto balls in a barrel they're going every direction. If we speak, as soon as the thought comes down, it's like, we've become the humus human tennis ball machine. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then when we don't have a ball at the ready, we put in a filler. So what we want to get train ourselves to do is to wait until I call it the ball drop technique, until the balls have dropped and then as a sentence. So it's thinking on the in breath. on the out breath, having the full sentence you begin. Oh my gosh, the beginning, you can practice this by doing something physical. So if you're front of you thought squeeze the pen. Then the whole thing comes out. Yeah. Oh I give that advice to my son all the time but I didn't think to apply it to myself because he often repeats the first two words of a sentence over and over as he's thinking of the rest of the sentence. And I say to him, just stop, think of the whole sentence, and then say it. So perhaps I need to take my own advice. It's probably an appropriate question that I ask, since right now I sound like a 14 year old boy that has just hit puberty, in a way. I'm a little bit hoarse. As a voice coach, obviously your voice box is the most, is a very valuable asset. So what are some ways that we can protect our voices, especially if you're constantly speaking or you get laryngitis every other week thanks to daycare? Do you do you have a routine that you do before you record that you recommend or? yeah, absolutely. And, and the vocal health part of the conversation is really important. You the using your voice in terms of showing up your business. You know, I've had a woman in her seventies who came to with me because her was on her she couldn't get through the reading at She wanted to read at through the reading. And she was speaking to her grandkids FaceTime because she couldn't get the volume required. They just weren't and she wasn't able to communicate. So I think your voice is such a valuable asset, especially as we get older and the rest of our body might start breaking down a bit. You know, your ability to speak is so important. And there is a vast difference voices when you look at people in seventies, eighties, nineties. And you can tell it's because of a lifetime of poor treatment. Of voice, you really looking after our voice is so The first technique. So always breathing from low. So all of the force is coming from the diaphragm, being strained on the throat. You a lot of teachers, for example, work with teachers who have, some have had to leave the profession because they haven't had their voice and it's because they've been using all of that force on their neck. The second one is hydration, of course. I know that you mentioned earlier, you've got your tea there, Yes milky things to the mucus and caffeine adds So if you're lot, wanting to if you do drink coffee or alcohol, you want to balance that out with water. Not, coming in here being like, no no wine. Like, that's me. I'm just, I'm just saying just keep this in mind, you know? so the hydration Monica Honey as well is really good. And the other thing is rest. Rest. So, you know, if you've been in your, on your feet all day and you get home, you're like, ah, I need to just get off my feet. It's the same thing. If we're using our voice all day for podcasts or for coaching, or for facilitating. Then I know it's difficult if you've got kids, especially, but if you, if you can yourself that, that rest period to recover. Yes, and I was, Is exactly what we went through earlier. yes, I was worried I wouldn't be able to speak today after all the yelling that I did at my children and trying to get them out the door this morning. We had a bit of a rough morning. But yes, like that. And I absolutely agree. Some days if I've done, if we've done back to back podcast recordings or I've been presenting in a group coaching program or something afterwards, that's it. I'm out. I'm like I've got no more words. I cannot. Form a sentence, just have to rest for that little while. We've got one final question for you Sally, before we get into a few fun little quickfire questions. And that is, are there any specific tools that you're using, whether they're digital, in person or, I don't know how you'd say that. Tools for actually practicing your speaking skills. So you've given us some exercises, but are there any tools that you really lean into when helping your clients? So I actually do have like an AI software where people can record their speeches and it generates a whole transcript and it does the stats on the filler words and the pacing. And it's pretty cool. Actually, it flags even problematic language. It gives you options for rephrasing things. So that's really great. But the best tool we have at our disposal is our phone. If you're not ready to get onto Instagram stories, Instagram stories is a great way to practice because it expires. Start recording into your camera roll, practicing into your camera role, doing just, just speaking. best tool that we have is social media. I think people put, Oh, I see business owners put too much pressure, like, Oh my goodness. And there's just, this, this one single video becomes bigger than Ben Hur. And I say, look, no, one's probably going to see haven't got that many followers. Like, I know it's like, I feel like the business owners think, Oh my goodness, I'm going to do this one little video and then I'm going go viral. I'm like, well, okay. happen. I mean, that's great if it does, but probably not. And you've got to climb cringe mountain a lot. It was actually tick tock on this and it's so true. Like you've got to be cringy. You've got to get past people say, Oh, Sal, you're really cringy. I'm like, yeah, no. You just got to get over it and get past it. And like I say, advice, like just get over it, I understand can be wildly unhelpful, which is why if you do have this resistance working with a coach like myself or with a marketing coach, it's really valuable because then you've got somebody who's walked that path, who's able to talk you through it and give you the strategies. And in my case, often, you know, get to the root of what is causing this resistance. For you to be so worried about showing up. the most common thing people say to me is I don't know what I was worried about. I what I was worried about, and now I'm going to make another one. So it's just pushing that boulder and getting that first one up there. And if you're listening to this, make sure you do a video and tag us. And then we will, we'll share, yes, plug in some engagement and get people to, to like the video and and comment. And I would love to see people practicing that as well when they, they tag us and you Sally in their stories and such. Yeah. Or even sending me a voice note at my webinar. I did last week. I said, all right, the action is me a voice note. And a lot people did. And some of, and some of them were just, hello, this Yeah. I don't know what to say, but I'm just, this is my very first I love voice notes. I love voice notes. I've been using them quite religiously on LinkedIn. Janine Cummings, Video for Bosses, we interviewed her on the podcast. She and I the easiest way we have found to communicate is just sending each other voice messages across LinkedIn. It's so much easier than typing things out, but then it also helps It does help us exude those ideas that we want to come across to the other person. I find it to be so much easier. And, like you said, I tell some of my clients when they're like, I really don't want to get in front of the camera. I don't think I'm going to be good enough. I'm like, think about it. It is just like FaceTiming your mom. It's, you are just FaceTiming somebody else. Just record the video. Send it to me. I'm not going to judge you. And most importantly, nobody really cares. You care the most. absolutely. I talk about this as holding this, this paradox of being radically obsessed with your life, right. Being the main character and also realizing that nobody cares. and get off Mimi Island because honestly I put out a video I actually had lipstick on my teeth also kind of had a lip like a bit of my bra showing I thought oh bloody hell oh my Bad I should and I do take more care but honestly with that particular one nobody cared people were just commenting on what I So it's often the thing that we fixate on Yeah. And it's funny. It's you might not really care, but some of your followers will actually come to your aid almost. And with say like trolls or someone who critiques, like I remember I posted a video and I obviously my my, my hormones or my skin was way off. I had a huge zit on my face. I still did it. I still posted that video and of course a troll comes in just going look at that huge zit on her face. I had three, four followers just come straight into the comments and just go, how bloody dare you? That's not what this video is about. If you are going to go and do comments like that, we'll be reporting you. They came to my defense and I didn't even ask for it. But I also, Clem, I love, I love the way that you handle comments on social media. oh really? it's, yeah, and it's extraordinary the things that people, especially being a woman, people are gonna comment on No matter what you do. Like I've, oh, this is a whole nother Of hate comments that I've got on my videos. Yeah. You got to live life in your disco ball. Keep on shining, keep on dancing. You decide who comes to your party and who's a reflection right back on them. Because if you're going to get upset by what strangers say on the internet, going to be very difficult for you to live your life and make a success of your business. And the best way to get over hate comments is to start getting them. And the way that you start getting them is by starting to show up and making engaging content. You know, so I see so many people who are there going, I'm getting canceled. And I'm like, you haven't even made a video. Like I would love, I would love to be a big enough name to be canceled. If I got canceled, no one's doing Sally Prosser canceled across the national news. Like I would have to be a pretty big deal for that to happen. So I say, well, let's cross the cancellation bridge when we get to it. Don't worry about that yet. And it's, if you're afraid of being cancelled, it's like you're obviously hitting a chord and you're hitting a controversial topic, but if you're afraid of being cancelled, then why are you here in the first place? Exactly. Exactly. You know, if you're in alignment with your values and what you believe and also being okay to change your mind, there is content I did in 2019 that I see come up as a memory now and go, Oh, Oh, post that now. And okay. Yeah, half the time I see those old videos, I'm like, what is going on with my hair? What is wrong? that's the evolution, right? Yeah Sally, thank you so much for coming on. It's been an absolute pleasure, and again, it's been a long time coming, for sure. We've got a couple of quick fire questions for you. That hopefully don't throw you off, but we're gonna learn a thing or two about you a little bit. First one is, what is your number one tip for busy, business owning parents, or just busy business owning people in general? Love yourself. Love yourself. Every day, look in the mirror and say, I'm so glad I'm you, know, just constantly say I'm doing great. I'm fantastic. The self talk definitely every day. Love that. And I love your really holistic approach to this whole process as well. I think it's, yeah, so refreshing and so interesting. Okay, this is a bit of a random one here. What is one word that gives you the ick that you absolutely cannot stand when you hear it? I had a few here. going to go with failure, failure. It never used to, but now that I know that there is no failure, only learning every time I hear it, I'm like, Oh, it's not a failure. You know what I don't like about that word, failure? It's the meaning of it is so negative, yet the pronunciation of it is so smooth and easy. It's not it's not cacophonic. Is that the right term? It's not like harsh? It sounds like a perfume. What are you wearing? failure. All right, so we know what your worst favorite word is, the word that makes you go ick. What's your favorite word? Upgrade. Yeah, upgrade or upgraded. It's music to my ears. I guess that's gonna lead into the next quickfire then. Because, you love to game the frequent flyer system. So how do you get that upgrade? How do you game it? Yes! LinkedIn! I love LinkedIn! Yeah. and leading with excitement and learning about their story. I've done this all over the world, actually asking how their day is. It's engaging with them. It's just got us so many upgrades as far as points go. this could be a whole episode on itself, but just making sure every single that you spend is earning you a point or more, and final question for today, Sally. Instagram or TikTok, where are you enjoying yourself the most at the moment? What's working for you in terms of business? And they might be two different places. Amazing. At moment it would be Instagram for sure. Yeah. Tick tock still for reach, but I enjoy Instagram's the first app I open of the day and that's telling because for a long time it was tick tock. Now it's, it's Instagram followed by LinkedIn, actually. Yeah. Oh, LinkedIn was, has, is huge for me. Yeah. I do a lot of business. Most of the majority of my work is actually corporate workshops, is consulting. So it's great. And some the posts on there make me laugh, but it's such a great place to stand out because so many people are really boring on there. So if you just want to put a little bit of spark onto it, then if you do business to business, I would recommend LinkedIn. Yeah. So many people misunderstand LinkedIn. I like to tell people it's like the boomer dad of social platforms. So you're safe there. You're gonna find somebody that's got that quirk that you think you can find that common link with. It's really interesting though, that you say Instagram's your favorite. Cause I think you're the first person that I've spoken to, at least, that has gone from Tik TOK to Instagram being their favorite channel, especially now. Yeah. I think you know. TikTok's just been a lot harder for me. I used to find it this safe place where I could, you know, have fun. And it was like my little secret, not my little secret, but you know, it was actually more fun when everybody was like, Ooh, what are you doing on that kids singing, dancing app? And I was secretly going, Oh my God, if they only Ha. for my business. was really great. But now yeah, it's really changed in Brisbane. Actually recently I went to a tick tock in event. They invited me to they released this economic report on actually how tick tock is helping businesses and how many people do their shopping on. I can Oh yeah, I'd love to see it. really interesting, interesting read. And of course they were doing that to try to preempt potentially any policy change that might come through. Yep. Yeah. that was, that was kind of interesting. I was, I was also interesting that I was invited because I never really get invited to any of the, the movie premieres or any of the fun stuff, but they've thought, right, who's somebody who's built a business on TikTok and can talk to politicians. I know. It was, it was great though. It was really good to go along and I'm interesting to see how much the platform has changed. When I first joined, I had a TikTok representative on speed dial on WhatsApp that I could speak to at any time about anything. It was crazy. And then now, of Yeah. You know, it's just this big thing. And that's, this is I'd love to end with this point if I can, this is the thing with online marketing. It is always going to change. We've seen it change so much just in the, in the last few years. that I believe will not change even with AI coming in, with whatever platform, with whatever algorithm is your organic human voice. If you can show up you can speak up. Speak from the heart about who and what you do and connect with your audience. And it doesn't matter what goes on in the environment. You will always have a strong business because of that skillset. Thank you so much, Sally. That was incredible. And what a good point to end on because I could not agree more. And I would say, especially in this time of AI. content, things that are just being generated and you don't necessarily know who's behind it and what their credentials are. I think showing up with your unique voice is absolutely the very best way, to have success. And your business and your personal life for whatever reason really that you are online. So thank you for joining us. For those listening, we will have links to Sally's social media the free pep talks in your pocket resource that she mentioned. She's also got a free ebook as well. So we'll link all of that in the show notes. So you can go and connect with Sally, maybe send her a voice message or tag her and us in a video. If it is something that you've got to just go out there and give it a red hot go, we would absolutely love to see that. Be sure to tag us and we can come and give you some love on your content. So until next time, take care and stay mad.