6 Principles for Successful Public Speaking

Audio Transcription

Listen as business coach, Clay Clark, breaks down how you can be more successful as a public speaker. The six tips that he provides in today’s episode have been tested through multiple personal speaking events. He is known a dynamic public speaker and is sought after by many large corporations for his abilities. If you would like to learn how to be more successful as a public speaker this is the show for you.

Learn Public Speaking From The Business Coach : Podcast Transcript

Announcer: And now, broadcasting from the center of the universe and the Thrive15.com world headquarters, presenting the world’s only business school without the BS, with optometrist and entrepreneur Dr. Robert Zoellner, and of course small business administration entrepreneur of the year in your ear, Clay Clark. It’s the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170. Three, Two, one, boom.

Clay Clark: Bang, bang, boom. It’s hump day. That’s right drivers. It’s Wednesday. My name is Clay Clark, your co-host and business coach with the most and the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year in your ear. Today I am talking to you about a subject that is very near to my heart; it is the six principles for successful public speaking.

I used to travel around the planet talking about business, how to grow a business. Just Google my name tonight. Google, “Clay Clark reviews” or, “Clay Clark speaker”. There you’ll see I’ve spoken for Maytag and Hewlett Packard and O’Reilly’s and Chevron. My mother’s bunco parties. That’s a lie. I’ve never spoken for my mother, her bunco parties. She doesn’t have bunco parties.

I have really never spoken for any event that my mom attended other that than my brother’s wedding, which I sort of spoke, but I was a disc jockey. If you’re a disc jockey, it’s one level below a carny. It’s kind of a carny as a carnival worker who heckles people. One level below that is a DJ. That’s what I was.

That was a real talk, but today I am joined here with really incredible people who’ve known me from college until now. They’re the truth cannons. They’re like, “Hey, listen here homie, you weren’t that good. You weren’t very good”. I’ll tell you what, we have Miss Sharita Bent the co-hostess with the most-ess. Miss Sharita, how are you?

Sharita Bent: I am great and you DJ’d my wedding and you did a great job. Do you remember?

Vanessa Clark: I remember your wedding. It was epic. It was epic. A lot of Jamaican.

Sharita: Yes. We had our good food, our music.

Clay: At the Scottish, right?

Sharita: That’s where our reception was. Yes.

Clay: I remember the song, Just like-

Sharita: Yes. Sean Paul.

Clay: – was introduced to me, and I went, “Woah. This is something I can work with here.” It was really good. The whole [unintelligible 00:02:16]

Vanessa: It made an impact on Clay. It was a great reception.

Sharita: It was fun.

Clay: I’ve learned about Kevin Lyttle. I’ve learned about Bob Marley, the [unintelligible 00:02:24] Jamaican Squad. It was great. I am also joined here with my wife of 15 years. The thing is, my partner Dr. Zoellner, he’s an optometrist. He is not here today. He’s expanding his vast empire. He has never been able to help her vision, so she hasn’t actually ever see, which is how I stay married.

Sharita: Yes, she does.

Clay: It’s Miss Vanessa Clark. How are you [unintelligible 00:02:48]?

Vanessa: I’m doing great, thanks.

Clay: We’re talking to you about the six principles for successful public speaking. Is today’s show for you? Maybe you don’t know what’s going on. I mean, you could go over to 106.9, our sister station. You could be listening to some Bieber and some Taylor Swift and some One Republic, or you could be listening to this show. You got to be really sold on why do I need to hear this show.

Do you ever have to make speeches or presentations at work? Have you ever had that happen? Have you ever been asked to speak and like, “Ahh, I am here to talk about something.” Have you ever felt sick? Just sick, unable to — would you have a speech tomorrow and the whole night you’re like, ” How are you? How are you John? I am doing good. I’m excited about my talk to –“ [vomits] It’s like you’re going to vomit because you’re just dry heaving. “I’m good. I’m good. I’m going to do the speech. I’m gonna to nail it.” You’re feeling nervous.

Have you ever seen somebody speak and just mangle a presentation? Have you ever wanted to become somebody who’s a good speaker? If that’s you, this show is for you. We’re talking about speaking. Sharita, I’m going to ask you this. From your perspective — this is totally off script. There’s no statistics. I just want to ask you. From your perspective, why do most people perceive people that can speak well, they always say, ” You’re so well-spoken.” Why does the average person perceive someone who speaks well as being an authority? Why does that happen? Why do people go, “Wow! You’re on a pedestal of awesome.” because you’re a good speaker. Why is that you think?

Sharita: I think it may have something to do with the confidence and that energy comes across. Maybe if you’re fearful or you have that nervousness about it, you may look at that quality and say, ” Oh my Gosh. Look at that. That’s so admirable.”

Clay: Vanessa what is your take on this?

Vanessa: I think the ability to communicate effectively, if you don’t have it, your point is never even getting across. If you can communicate effectively, you’re very intentional about the message you’re sending, you know what message people are receiving. It’s very intentional.

Clay: Now check it out. I want you guys to Google this tonight. I want you to Google this. Check it out because I want you to research it. Don’t believe what I am saying. Use the law of credibility, which states that I should never say anything that’s not true. Law of credibility is you should never say anything that’s not true, and then you build credibility by being truthful; which is rare.

The thing is I want you to go ahead and Google a guy by the name of Daniel Goleman, G-O-L-E-M-A-N. He is a best-selling author. He wrote a book called Emotional Intelligence. What he discovered is no matter how good you’re at welding; no matter how good you’re at making those kicks; no matter how good you’re at producing those videos; no matter how good you’re making those houses; at the end of the day, the person who’s in charge is a good communicator.

They have high emotional intelligence and the peak of emotional intelligence is to be able to get up there in front of a group of people that you do not know, and then communicate effectively. Let’s think about it. Who is the most successful — Sharita for 500 points, in your mind; who is the most successful computer guy in the history of the planet? Computer guys.

Sharita: I’m going to go with Steve Jobs.

Clay: Let’s go with the most successful media female, Vanessa. Media female.

Sharita: Oprah. My favorite. Oprah, I love you.

Clay: Oprah?

Vanessa: Yes.

Clay: Why didn’t you guys say Barbara Walters?

Sharita: She’s second place to Oprah.

Vanessa: Yes by eighth or ninth.

Sharita: Yes [laughs]. I love Oprah.

Clay: Okay. I just thought you’re a Barbara Walters [unintelligible 00:06:12]. She was so awesome for the time there.

Sharita: No, I love Barbara too. I love her too and Oprah.

Clay: Buy Oprah, yes. Who is the most successful — I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. Who is the best speaker in the presidential world in the last 10 years? Who is it?

Vanessa: 10 years, I was going to go before that.

Clay: I’m going to say the last 10 years, the last decade.

Vanessa: Obama.

Clay: President Obama?

Sharita: Yes, definitely. I was trying to think — Yes, definitely Obama.

Clay: Shameless homer alert, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican.

Vanessa: He can give a speech.

Sharita: He’s good.

Clay: He can give a speech. So, because he can give a speech, he can touch your heart. When someone can touch your heart, now they can get you to start. Now we have this thing called, “People who are motivated”. You have to learn persuasion.

Sharita: Can I say something about this too?

Clay: Okay.

Sharita: I want to encourage our listeners because they may be thinking, “Oh no. I never have to make speeches or presentations. None of these things apply to me.” You never know when you may get called upon to.

Vanessa: Also, a speech doesn’t have to be something in front of 50 or 100 people. It can be you’re standing in front of a group of five people and it might be a group that you’re managing, but you’re elevating yourself to a new standard when you can communicate your idea, or what you want done to those five people, and they receive what you’re saying.

Sharita: Yes.

Clay: Now, here is the thing. Before we start to pontificate and teach these moves, I want to make sure you Google one more thing, because I’m giving you these facts. Again, I love credibility. I build credibility with you by you verifying that what I’m saying is true instead of my opinion, because my opinion is just a random thought that I have verified.

Sharita: Everybody’s got one.

Clay: Everybody’s got an opinion, but check it out. Google “Warren Buffett” and “Dale Carnegie”. Warren Buffet said the one most impactful training of his life, the number one most impactful training of his life was attending Dale Carnegie’s public speaking classes. He said being able to communicate is what changed his life. Sharita, we have a mystic statistic before we get to the first principle. Can you read the mystic statistic?

Sharita: Yes, I can.

Clay: Here we go. We’re getting ready.

Sharita: It says, “No, what really strikes fear in the hearts of many Americans are snakes.”

Clay: Snakes. That’s true I am so scared of snakes.

Vanessa: This is super [unintelligible 00:08:20]

Sharita: A recent Gallup Poll that asked adults what they were afraid of, reveals that more people, 51%, fear sneaks than any other suggested possibility-

Clay: That’s me.

Sharita: -including speaking in front of an audience which was 40%, and heights which was 36%”

Vanessa: Another one for business coach, Clay.

Sharita: Yes.

Clay: I hate heights. If there was a snake on a tall building, I’d whack myself. I would just shoot myself.

Sharita: It’s over. While children are reputed to fear the dark, only 5% of surveyed adults do. Just 11% of adults fear thunder and lightning.

Clay: Check it out. I’m going to interrupt you real quick. This is from Gallop. Here’s why I’m reading this is because there’s this stupid tale that’s been told. You see, if you say things enough they become true in people’s minds; but not for me, no because I distrust everyone. There’s a little statistic that goes, “More people fear public speaking than death.” Really? Freaking no way. No way. I mean death is pretty permanent. I’m not like, “I just rather die than to speak. I would rather –.” No. I mean they say that; but really people are afraid of snakes, but then after that in the middle of the list is speaking. You have snakes, heights, then speaking. Speaking bothers about a fifth of them.

Sharita: Yes. I don’t like the snakes.

Clay: But you’re not more worried about it than death. That’s kind of stupid, but people say that crap. The public speakers make stuff up. I’m going to get into that in a little bit here. Principle number one; predetermine in your mind what success looks like. Predetermine in your mind — I’m going to play an audio clip. An audio clip, here we go, getting ready. This is clip number one. This is a guy that I heavily endorse, real quick homer alert.

I love this guy. If I could adopt a man who is older than me to be my brother or son, I would — adopt a man who’s older than me to be my son, it would be T.D. Jakes. I love this guy. He is awesome. Let me play a little audio. Here we go.

T.D. Jakes: Things like low-income housing, hood income port clusters are poor. People live together. It’s sociologically, it has not proven to work well; that I’d be the first who has to make sure that people had a place to stay. That’s a good thing, but if all the people who stay around you don’t have any more than you, it is proven that the kids don’t do as well in school–

Clay: The thing is, he’s talking slow, he marinates. I love T.D. Jakes because he marinates. To me, that is the peak of speaking.

Sharita: You always say pros go slow.

Vanessa: Yes.

Clay: Pros go slow in the go fast. That’s all I’m saying in go fast. I’m not going to say because it’s a family show. We shouldn’t say what rhymes with fast. Here’s another example. Someone says this guy is awesome. I love this guy, I love him. Here we go.

Tony Robbins: Who’s done this more than once say, “Aye”. When you failed, why did you fail?

Clay: Breathing on the mic.

Tony Robbins: Why are you suddenly tongue-tied?

Clay: Why are you suddenly tongue-tied? I’m Tony Robbins. The thing is some of you like — you look at Tony Robbins and go, “If I had a deep voice and I could talk like that. I could breathe on the microphone. I could be Tony Robbins, hot coals, hot coals, hot coals. Everybody hot coals.” Some of you are one T.D. Jakes you’re saying “T.D. Jakes is the [unintelligible 00:11:51]“. You want to start, predetermine in your mind what success looks like because you have to get an idea of where we’re headed to become a successful speaker.

[music]

Advertisement: This show is brought to you by Adobe Creative Cloud. If you’re a photographer, graphic designer, video editor, podcaster, business owner or just creative genius, this is for you. All of your creative tools, all in one place. Creative Cloud includes the entire collection of creative apps for Desktop, from favorites like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, to new tools like Adobe Experience Design. Check this out. You can create podcasts seamlessly in high quality with Adobe Audition. Did you miss the exposure or looking to create a stunning and beautiful photo? You got to download Lightroom. The latest release of Adobe Creative Cloud is here with incredible new features in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and all of your favorite apps, plus millions of Adobe Stock assets and new premium images are built right in. You can turn your brightest ideas into your best work, fast. Make sure that you check out Adobe Creative Cloud at www.adobe.com. Once again, Adobe Creative Cloud at www.adobe.com.

[music]

Announcer: Live, local, now. You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: What’s going on T-town? It’s going down on this incredible hump day. It is Wednesday in the Thrive Time Show during your drive time home. You could be driving home, listening to something else, but you have chosen to enrich yourself. Today we’re talking about the six principles for a successful public speaking. Some of you go, “What makes you qualified to teach us?” Google my name, “Clay Clark” and “reviews”, Google my name, “Clay Clark Hewlett Packard”, “Clay Clark Maytag”, “Clay Clark a jerk.” I’m sure you’ll find something.

Vanessa: He’s pretty awesome at being a business coach, I must say. You may think I’m biased as his wife, but he’s freaking awesome as a public speaker.

Clay: I have done well, but the thing is, now I don’t travel anymore where you have to come to Tulsa if you want to hear me speak. You got to come to the Dojo of Mojo at the

Thrive15 Studios.

Vanessa: It is worth it.

Clay: Here’s the deal, we’re going to teach you these six principles for effective public speaking. Principle number one; you must predetermine in your mind what success looks like. I’m going to give you some examples. If someone’s listening right now and you’re going to go, “You are, you, y-y-y–“, you know what? Every time that you say that it offends me, but I’m going to be real. I go to a church right now. I used to go to Higher Dimension Church. I went to Higher Dimension Church because-

Vanessa: Best church ever.

Clay: -Carlton Pearson, he used to sing this song and it was a song that, “Father along we’ll know all about it. Father along we–“, and I would just love him singing. I would just sit there and go, “He’s touching my soul.” It was just so good. Then he kind of switched. Carlton went from super Christian to like, “I don’t believe. I was more of a

Universalist.” I was like, “I don’t know. I don’t believe anymore.” So I had to switch churches. I went to a different church. Carlton’s a great guy; good guy, but he switched–

Vanessa: Changed everything up on us.

Clay: Now I’m going to a church where this is how the praise and worship sounds. Here we go.

[music]

Clay: An inner dialogue I’m going, “This has to be Homer. I can’t do this.”

Vanessa: He couldn’t take it. He physically cannot take it. I can attest to this.

Sharita: I feel like it’s a whisper, “Jesus.”

Clay: Here we go. Everybody sing with [unintelligible 00:15:37] everyday with Steven Curtis Chapman. Yes.

Vanessa: By now you get up and say, “I will meet you after”.

Clay: You’ve got kind of messed up hair, and you’ve got sandals on, and you play your guitar. Here we go.

Sharita: You always have to whisper too. You have to whisper.

Clay: “Oh please, Cinderella.”

Sharita: “Jesus.”

Clay: That’s how you do it. You wear sandals. You got tight pants, really tight pants.

Sharita: Skinny jeans.

Clay: Skinny jeans where you go, “I don’t think I should see all of my pastor’s body like that.” And your shirt, you’re very casual. Typically that’s the Caucasian Church deal. I can’t handle it.

Sharita: If you’re listening and you love it, more power to you. You rock it.

Vanessa: That is great.

Clay: But if you Google me you’re going to go, ” Aren’t you white?” I can’t handle it. The praise and worship leader I’m just a — if you [unintelligible 00:16:28]

Sharita: He’s black on the inside. You’re black on the inside.

Vanessa: There’s so many things that he can’t handle; not only the singing, but it’s the ambience, it’s what they’re wearing, everything is offensive. It cracks me up.

Sharita: But I feel like he’s a black man trapped inside a white is–

Vanessa: He is.

Clay: Here is praise and worship to me. This is praise and worship to me. Here we go.

[music]

Vanessa: The look on his face. I could see it.

Clay: I sing — everybody now. Because I’m free. Here we go. I know you’re in your car, it’s okay to sing.

Sharita: Love it.

Clay: It’s called a run.

Vanessa: I tell you, he’s going to be leading the black choir soon.

Clay: Not going to happen. I’m not that kind. I’m a very good — here we go, let’s hear it. Please don’t stop. It blows my mind. That’s from Sister Act 2.

Vanessa: That’s Lauryn Hill.

Clay: Lauren Hill? Back in the day?

Vanessa: Yes, I love her.

Clay: To me, that’s my ideal. If you can go on a run and you can just sing from the soul, that’s awesome. Somebody want the guitar, that’s your deal, but I can’t tell you what’s right or wrong. I’m just telling you my opinion, my hyperbole. The thing is that you have to determine in your mind what your ideal is, because you have to have some sort of model that you’re trying to replicate.

I’m going to read you a notable quotable that comes for you from Warren Buffet. He’s been interviewed and he says, “I was so terrified that I just couldn’t speak in public, I would throw up. In fact, I arranged my life so I would never have to speak in front of anybody.” Then after moving back to Omaha after grad school, he saw an ad in the paper for the Dale Carnegie speaking course. He says, “I knew I was going to have to speak in public sometimes. The agony was such that, just to get rid of the pain, I signed up for the course again.” The thing is, you have to determine your inner brain what the ideal is. If you can’t conceive it, then you can’t achieve it.

You’ve got to figure out what is your ideal. If you expose yourself to a certain kind of speaking, then that’s going to become your normal, and now you’re going to compare yourself to that kind of great.

Sharita: I have a question for you. I know for me, sometimes before I speak and sing, even now it happens sometimes. I feel like nervous, I might throw up. I just decide even if I throw up right before I go on the stage, I’m going to throw up and then I’m going to go out there and do it. Do you ever get nervous like that, ever?

Vanessa: I mean–

Clay: What I do is — Vanessa you go for it.

Vanessa: From the outside, he is amazing on there. I think that you are a lot less nervous now than you used to be, but I think there’s a certain amount of nervousness that’s healthy, and it makes sure you do good get up because I would see you — you have to be alone and you would say like, “I am mentally prepping” and I would know because you were a little nervous.

Clay: I would prepare. Typically like if we have a speaking, we just had the last one for Conoco. I’m sorry, for Chevron. So I was speaking for Chevron in Huston, and I just tell Vanessa, “Hey, I need to be left alone.” and I just focus and I prepare and I literally say the words out loud. [unintelligible 00:19:29] Chap, one of our producers, he shows up the other day at the house and I forgot what time it was. I’m making announcements like — the kids turn the speaker on outside, so they can hear me, making announcements

Vanessa: Blasting out into acreage.

Clay: I’m practicing for the show. I always practice the intros, and the teasers, and the hooks, and all the things. I will tell you, preparation. Check it out. You always fall to your level of preparation. You want to practice until you can’t get it wrong. Don’t practice until perfect, practice until you can’t get it wrong. You have to be of the mindset that you know where you’re heading. You can’t get there if you don’t know where you’re going.

Sharita: Yes. I just want people to know that nerves can be a part of it, but you can channel that.

Vanessa: It’s natural, it’s to be expected.

Sharita: Yes. You can practice and you can channel that and use that.

Clay: I’m nervous. I must tell you but the more you practice, the more when you fall, you get nervous — but you can fall to your level of preparation. Now, the notable quotable I want to read to you, this is from Seth Godin. Sharita, can you read this to us? I just want to comment on it.

Sharita: Yes, I can. He says, “You are not being judged. The value of what you are bringing to the audience is being judged.”

Vanessa: That is so good.

Clay: Hers’s the deal, Seth Godin is a best-selling author. He’s a marketing expert. He’s talking about you’re not being judged. You’re not looking at you. I’ve seen a speaker who spoke — who was unbelievable, who was not handsome, not very good, in terms of — he wasn’t very quick-witted, he wasn’t very funny, wasn’t very any of the things that you would — didn’t have great teeth, but he spoke about how he served in the military, and he was injured so bad his whole face was burned. Burned most of his fingers off.

Sharita: I have heard him. It’s compelling.

Clay: He speaks truth. He speaks from the heart. When you hear him, the profundity of what he says hits you on such a deep level, that you’re not judging him for the way he looks. You’re not judging the way he sounds. You’re not judging some of the odd mannerisms he has, but you’re judging the concept. You’re judging mentally. You’re trying to judge of what you are bringing to the audience. What does he bring to the audience? What he’s bringing is a life-changing message.

When we get back, we’re going to be talking about this next principle, which is huge. Principle number two; seize every opportunity to practice. Some of us are saying, “I don’t want to speak if I’m speaking in front of a big audience.” The thing is, you’re not ready. You haven’t laid that foundation. You got to start where you’re at. You got to speak to those small events. You got to get that preparation game up. We’re going to talk about move number two, principle number two; seize every opportunity to practice, practice, and practice.

Advertisement: Are you a business owner? You need to ask yourself right now, how are you backing up your files and important documents? Most businesses have no system for the files in their business. If this is you, you got to use Dropbox, at least sign up for one of their 30-day free trials. Real talk, it’s the secure file-sharing and storage solution that employees and IT Administrators trust. You get as much space as needed at no additional cost. You get unlimited file recovery and versioning, basically creating new versions, and valuable admin controls for secure sharing and collaboration with Dropbox for Business. You got to check this out. After using Dropbox, you’ll definitely feel more secure knowing that a virus or a power surge can’t ruin your computer and your entire business. Try full access to Dropbox Business for 30 days, head over to Dropbox.com to get started. Again, Dropbox.com to get started.

Announcer: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: What’s up Thrive nation? Welcome back here to the Thrive Time Show during your drive-time home. For many of you, this has become like your refuge. You want to cocoon yourself with positivity. You’ve realized you could listen tonight and know that, “I heard that Hillary did this, her emails came out, this just in. An email came tonight that show that Megyn Kelly said this about Trump, and Trump said this about–” You know that on November 8th, you’re going to vote?

Sharita: We’re almost there.

Clay: I’m just turning that off, that political fatigue is happening. I’m looking for a business show on my radio and you’ve found it. It’s the Thrive Time Show, this business school without the BS. We’re talking about principal number two here, but specifically, we’re talking about the six principles to become an effective public speaker. Principle number two is seize every opportunity to practice. We’re joined here with the co-hostess, with the mo-hostess, it’s Miss Sharita Bent. How are you?

Sharita: I’m great.

Clay: And my incredible wife, Miss Vanessa Clark, how are you?

Vanessa: Hey, hey, hey.

Clay: All right, Sharita can you read this first notable quotable from Mr. Dale Carnegie?

Sharita: I can. He says, “Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.” That’s good. That’s good.

Clay: We’ve all been to an office. You have been to that office. I’ve been to that office too, and this is what your boss does; you know your boss hasn’t prepared, and he gets up and he does this, “Hi everybody. We’re here to talk about the three–” and he folds his fingers because he wants to look at them and formulate what they are first. There’s actually three moves for leadership. One is — well, the word is I’m thinking of is big; B is busy. You want to be a busy person. “I” is impact and “G” stands for Greg. “Greg, let’s go to you for more information.”

It’s just tragic because you know they’re making it up on the fly, everybody with an ounce of discernment’s like, “This person doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” To make it worse, they have an hour-long meeting, or a half hour. They feel the need to fill the whole thing up with pontifications about random things that they’ve just thought of for the first time. They’re flushing out in front of you; the employee who is forced to endure a mind-numbing, series of dumb generalities formulated by somebody who is not prepared.

Vanessa: It’s obvious to everyone.

Sharita: Yes. I have to give a shout out to Clay. This is not on the script or anything, but our meetings at Thrive whenever he leads them, they’re so inspiring. He challenges you. He encourages you. You point out jackassery, but then he gives us something really motivational. Not just for work, but for our lives. Big props to you, because that’s rare in leadership.

Vanessa: It’s big on his heart.

Sharita: Yes.

Vanessa: I mean that is what he is made to do.

Sharita: Yes.

Clay: My move is I don’t want to say anything unless I have something to say.

Sharita: That’s good.

Clay: A lot of times we don’t need to have a meeting because — if I do have meetings it’s like 10 minutes long.

Sharita: Right. Check the points.

Clay: You’ll see me, I’m like, “Hey, staff meeting. We’ve an hour blocked out.” And I’m like, “Okay. We’re going to go over this number, that number, great. Any questions?” Boom, done.

Sharita: We’re done.

Clay: And you’re like, “I thought we had an hour?” And we’re done. I learned that from Dr. Z. Dr. Zoellner’s all about, “Hey, let’s have a high impact meeting. And by the way, it doesn’t need to be an hour.” Some of you are listening right now, and you have a speech to give, for your business, and I’m going to tell you what; you just want to get to the point and be done donesky.

I’m going to teach you how to specifically do it, but principle number two; you have to seize the opportunity to practice. You want to seize — you have to create opportunities. Here’s what I want you to do as an action step. Someone’s going to go, “But, what if all of us call the Chamber.” No. I’ll tell you this. Years ago, I put my phone number in one of my books just to see how many people would call. Out of the thousands of copies we sold, like two people.

Sharita: Really?

Vanessa: Yes.

Clay: Yes. I learned that from Jim Stovall, motivational author, best-selling author.

Vanessa: He’s great.

Clay: He put in his book, his phone number, his direct phone number in books, no one calls. Because people don’t seize the opportunity. No, they won’t. The thing is, most people don’t have a breakthrough until they breakdown. They went away to their [unintelligible 00:27:21], they want to get their breakdown before their breakthrough. They don’t want to do anything but just survive. Not you because you want to thrive, that’s why you’re listening to the Thrive Time Show.

Here’s the action step; go ahead and make a list right now tonight of 10 events that you’re going to perform at, speak at, perform at, speak at, sing at, talk at, get to, whatever your presentation is. Make 10 that you’re committing, “I’m going to perform there for free. I’m going to speak there for free.” You know what you’re going to do, the first event you do? There’s going to be 6 people that show up. They’re there because they’re on the board that hired you. You’re going to speak and you are going to suck like a hoover. You’re going to be terrible, but you know what? You’re there and you’re going to get better. Miss Vanessa, back to you.

Vanessa: Yes. I think to you, it’s obvious, but most people think, “Where do I find these events?” You’re used to either creating these events, or mining through, and networking to find them. If I’ve never spoken and I need to find 10 events to speak at, where am I speaking? In my garage? Am I speaking in my kitchen?

Clay: Okay. No, no. I’ll give it to you.

Sharita: That’s good.

Clay: Everybody has a Chamber of Commerce that you can get connected with. Whatever city you’re in, join the chamber. It’s like 30 bucks a month. You meet like-minded business owners. Do that. “But I heard that the Chamber actually is giving back to Hillary.” Just stop it. Just sign up for the Chamber. “But they’re giving to Hillary. They’re taking all the money from the hotels. They’re actually in bed with the government.” Stop it. Just sign up. Your church, “I don’t even like my church.” Just stop it. Just find a place. The Boy Scouts, “But the Boy Scouts, they don’t even stand for anything good anymore.” Just find a group to speak. Don’t find me a perfect group, by the way, and I’ll find heaven.

Vanessa: Do I cold call them? I find out who the leader is and I approach them? I say I have a message I want to share?

Clay: Yes. Here’s my cold call script. Sharita, you are the Head of a Chamber. “Hey, I’m trying to get hold of Miss Sharita.”

Sharita: “This is she.”

Clay: “Hey Sharita, my name is Clay Clark –” I did this by the way back then. “I have an entertainment company and I’d like to speak to your Chamber about how to generate sales leads.”

Sharita: “Okay.”

Clay: “It was hard for me to do and I end up doing pretty well. Is that something I could do to you? Do you have an event coming up maybe? I’d be happy to speak for free.”

Sharita: “We do. We have a monthly meeting actually. Would you like to speak there?”

Clay: Here’s the deal as Sharita is very nice, you should have go–

Sharita: No. [laughs]

Clay: Usually they’re not even willing to take free.

Sharita: I was working. I was trying to work with you

Clay: They’ll say, “Do you have a video?” You’re like, “Oh, yeah.” I was crafty. Then I had someone film me talking to myself alone in a room, which is more uncomfortable than you could possibly imagine, but that’s how you do it. Thrives, when we come back we’ll talk about principal number three; preparing the proper way.

You see, you could be preparing in the wrong way. You want to prepare in the proper way. When you prepare the proper way, problems go away. Thrive Time Show, drive time home. Boom.

Advertisement: For the professional looking man out there, this is for you. Are you tired of waiting for hours in disorganized barber shops around town? You may be looking for an upscale haircut experience instead of being treated like a little kid. If either of these thoughts crossed your mind, then Elephant in the Room Men’s Grooming Lounge is for you. The Elephant in the Room Men’s Grooming Lounge is proud to offer a variety of packages and memberships for discerning men and regular customers who wish to maintain their tailored look, while receiving discounts off of services and products.

They’re going to bring you in, they’ll offer you a beverage, identify your style that you’re going for, get you a tailored haircut from one of the professional stylists, wash your hair, and then style it afterwards so you could even go back to work. The experience is awesome. They even do cool things for members like a free nape shave on Mondays or a peppermint oil scalp massage on Tuesday. Check out one of the locations near you and book an appointment. You can check them out at eitrlounge.com or just dial 918-877-2219. Seriously, you’re going to love it. 918-877-2219 or visit eitrlounge.com to book an appointment today.

Announcer: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: All right, Thrive nation welcome back to your inspiration and education station. You see, Thomas Edison was this guy, he invented the light bulb. He invented recorded audio. He invented recorded video and he said that vision without execution is hallucination. I repeat, I encourage you to Google that. “Vision without execution is hallucination.” For many of you, you feel like you’re hallucinating. You have this vision or this dream of carrying this message to the people. The people need to hear your message, but they can’t hear your voice because you don’t know how to speak effectively.

It doesn’t mean that you’re not talented. It doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have a plan for you. It doesn’t mean you missed the boat. It doesn’t mean that you’re not qualified. It means that you just don’t have the practical skills. It’s like being a highly motivated hitchhiker without someone picking you up, but if you learn these moves, all of a sudden, get that thumb out and someone picks you up like, “Hey bro, where you want to go bro?” and you go, “I kinda want to go to New Mexico.” “Oh, New Mexico bro. I’ll take you there. Lets go.” All of a sudden you’re hitchhiker things are going well.

I’m not advocating hitch hiking. What I’m talking about today is how to effectively be a public speaker. The six principles for effective public speaking. Principle number three; you want to prepare in the proper way. Miss Sharita Bent, our co-hostess, with the mo-hostess, can you go ahead and read this notable quotable from John Wooden. By the way, the basketball-

Sharita: I love him.

Clay: -coach who won 10 championships in 12 years. Think about the profundity of that; 10 in 12 years. Mike Krzyzewski is a big deal, but 10 in 12 years? That’s sick. Did he have the swine flu?

Sharita: I love him. He says, “Teaching players during practices was what coaching was all about to me.”

Clay: If you watched tonight, if you go home and you Google — I want you to Google this. “Google, I want you to use the Google, you type with the finger on the home row. You want to Google –“. You go there and you’re going to find — I want you to Google this. Google “Pete Carroll Seattle Seahawks”. May they lose all their games.

[laughter]

I want you to also Google “Bill Belichick, The Patriots.” May they win all their games, and they always do.

[laughter]

Sometimes it involves a little cheating, but we get it done. If you watched them in practice, you could watch [unintelligible 00:34:07], Pete Carroll is a master, an absolute master of practicing with his team. He obsesses about the smallest details. He makes sure his team prepares in the right way. He is obsessed. Pete Carroll actually chooses the music they play and practice because he wants to create — he creates motivational music in practice.

Sharita: The mood, he’s getting the mood right. This John Wooden, did you know he teaches players like how to put your socks on? How to tie your shoes.

Clay: Yes. John Wooden is teaching top level high school and other college players how to put their shoes on. He wants to get that preparation down the right way. Bill Belichick, if you watch him on [unintelligible 00:34:45], he’s talking about alignment on how to get his stance, how to catch the ball, how to fire off from the line. He’s focused on these really basic details, but the basics are what allows you to be successful.

Now, Dale Carnegie, the best-selling author, he says, “Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.” We talked about that. Sharita, can you read this notable quotable from the man, the myth, the legend, Mister Bill Belichick; perhaps one of the best humans in the world.

Sharita: Yes. He says, “My personal coaching philosophy, my mentality, has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice. However bad, we can make them. I make them.”

Clay: He loves to make practices awful. If the weather is bad, he likes to practice. Now Vanessa, you cheered in high school. You were a cheerleader?

Vanessa: True.

Clay: You cheered for a guy — what was his name?

Vanessa: James Speed. He’s actually known as the best cheerleading coach in the nation. He coaches the University of Louisville cheerleaders who are the winningest national champion cheerleading squad.

Clay: Yes, but are you judging people just based on victories?

Vanessa: Because one high school — but it was our squad and then he also coached GymTyme which is basically the gym that started it all, this whole in this [unintelligible 00:35:59] craze in Louisville, Kentucky. [unintelligible 00:36:01]

Sharita: I know that. Yes

Vanessa: Because she was a cheerleader in Tennessee and if you cheer-

Sharita: You know.

Vanessa: -you know.

Clay: Were the practices hard?

Vanessa: They were insane. Out of four years that I cheered, we won national championships four years.

Clay: What kind of crazy stuff did homeboy make you do in practice that was harder than the average coach?

Vanessa: Like you said, he made it so you couldn’t fail. You could not fail. If you ever missed something, it wasn’t like you sometimes got things perfect. You never missed it or he would take it out. Our practices–

Clay: He would take out that specific move from the cheer routine if you couldn’t master it.

Vanessa: Yes. He would not allow you to have it. I have one story now and it’s [unintelligible 00:36:42] here. I was a flyer in my first two years, then I was a base. My second two years, I didn’t know how to base first and he came and told me and said–

Clay: Wait. The base is the person at bottom?

Vanessa: All about the base, all that base.

Clay: At the bottom of the cheer formations, they hold the women up in the air?

Vanessa: That’s true. I remember he came and talked to me. He said, “Vanessa, you know, next year we have eighth graders coming in so they’ll be freshmen, and our squad — it didn’t matter how old you’re, just the skills.” And he said, “We only have one flyer who’s over five foot. So, unless we chopped off your head, you know, you’re five four, you’re going to be–“

Clay: You’re too tall to be a flyer because you weigh too much. You’re too big.

Vanessa: Yes. So I said–

Sharita: Even though she’s itty-bitty. [laughs]

Vanessa: I said, “I will be the best base you’ve ever had.” And I made it my mission, but I remember the last stunt we had our senior year, I couldn’t do it. We kept dropping. We were the center stunt because he gave me a back spot who probably wasn’t the best. She wasn’t tall enough.

Clay: A back spot. What is that?

Vanessa: There’s positions. You’ve got two main people lifting, Sharita knows this, we have someone in the back who’s more —

Sharita: They’re like safety [unintelligible 00:37:48]

Vanessa: Yes. They push up the stunt, but when it’s up there they’re not holding a lot of weight. There’s two people lifting. And then the girl who was across me was 4’11. She was too small, but I had the very best flyer and I kept dropping it, and he came to me and pulled me inside and he goes, “Vanessa, just so you know, I can take that stunt out if you can’t do it.” He goes, “But we won’t win, and you’re the only one who can do it. I can’t give you anyone else.” One time our backs got passed out during that stunt, and we still held it up without her. He would put the pressure on you where he’s being nice, but he’s saying, “It’s up to you. You have to get this done all the whole thing blows up.”

Clay: Here’s the deal. If you’re a speaker right now, I’m going to give you four specific action items you have to do or you are not qualified to speak. Here we go. Somebody is not ready for this. Get a pen, write it down. Pull over. Signal — you got to signal, try to signal and be courteous. Get over there. I’ll give you some time. Just turn or pull over, get into [unintelligible 00:38:45], get into the shoulder. These are four profound nuggets. You must, as a speaker, have statistics to prove everything you’re saying. That’s one, statistics. They call this the “quad” by the way, statistics. You can’t quote the first if it comes up in Google which is a scam.

Sharita: Yes.

Clay: [unintelligible 00:39:01] “Well the folks said getrich.com said–” Come on.

Sharita: Reputable sources.

Clay: Reputable. We’re talking about maybe a reputable news source like a CBS or an NBC or an ABC. “But there’s a liberal bias.” Just stop. Just find somebody –Harvard, “Harvard [unintelligible 00:39:18]” just something find a provable statistic. Many [unintelligible 00:39:22] statistic or at least two. Then find a quote. A notable quotable, a specific person outside of you who validates what you’re saying is not insane. You have to have a third-party quote. If you’re a pastor, get bible verses.

Sharita: Yes.

Vanessa: Something that will speak to you crowd.

Clay: Get those quotables. Get a third-party source. Don’t quote like,” Oh Mario Jenkins said –” and like, “Who’s Mario Jenkins?” “That’s my brother’s friend and he is really — he works at Chick fil A and he’s really — we got laid off.” But the thing — “You got laid off from Chick fil A? It must be bad there.” “Well, I quit because he was pursuing his purpose as a blogger.” You can’t quote random people.

The third is stories. You want to have at least two stories for every point. Why? Because you want to get down to the best one. The fourth is you have to have action steps. Here’s the deal. If you’re going to speak for one hour, it should take you a minimum of four hours to prepare. If not, get off that stage.

Sharita: Say that again, because I think people miss out on how long it takes to get ready.

Clay: If you’re going to speak for an hour, you must prepare for four, or get off that stage. No one wants to hear captain obvious talk about things that we already know. This is what they do to get up and go, “All right everybody. I didn’t get a really big chance to prepare. I didn’t–“, obviously. Have you ever heard that? You go to a wedding?

Sharita: I hate that because why are you talking.

Clay: It’s a wedding.

Sharita: Yes, why are you talking.

Clay: It’s a wedding. It’s not a shocker your buddy got married. He told you six months ago he’s having the wedding, and you’re getting up there going, “No, I didn’t get a chance to really write anything down. I was too busy watching flipper flap, and I didn’t sign up for their get rich plan, but the thing is I was — anyway, so Greg is–“, and you just know that the person speaking is either hammered, or just so lost in nerves, lack of preparation, jackassery.

Sharita: Hot mess.

Clay: They’re like, “So, what I’m going to say is Greg is — he is important for three reasons. Well, actually four. I was thinking of this last night. I didn’t write it down, but G is great. R is respectable. E is — hey, how many shots do you think I can have? The bartender used to open — okay, E is energy, and Greg is G. So, that’s Greg. Let’s hear it for the best man. That’s me. I’m sorry. Let’s hear it for the groom.”

Sharita: Slow clap. Everybody slow clap.

Clay: Or you can be somebody who has prepared. When you’ve prepared, you sound like you’ve prepared. Let me play a little — let me tell you, when we come back, I’m going to play a sound clip by a guy by the name of Eric Thomas, that many believe to be one of the top motivational speakers on the planet. I’m also going to play a sound clip from Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis was known as the inspirational leader. He was the linebacker for the Ravens, who many had said was the inspirational coach on the field. He would prepare — he was totally motivated, but he’s also prepared, and therefore he could educate, but you must be prepared if you’re going to get up there and speak in front of an audience of humans.

Advertisement: Okay, managing your money has not been easier. Mint.com is the solution to ambiguous and blind money management. You can effortlessly create budgets that are easy to stick to, or even use one that they make for you. Design budgets that are appropriate for now, and put you in position to succeed in the future. Get notifications for weird account charges, and receive personalized tips for eliminating fees and saving more money. Check your credit with free credit score and explore what you can do to improve it to be able to purchase the things that you really want later. Link up the app on your phone and money management on the go has never been easier.

You can even link up your portfolio account, so you can see your bank accounts and stock values side by side. Mint.com, you got to go check it out and you can sign up for free.

Again that’s Mint.com M-I-N-T.com. Go sign up right now. It’s definitely a gamechanger for money management.

Announcer: Broadcasting from the center of the universe, featuring optometrist turned entrepreneur Dr. Robert Zoellner, and US SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, Clay Clark. This is the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: Hello Thrive nation, Oklahomies. Good natured people of importance. We are broadcasting here live from the ManCave. The ManCave. Yes, we are broadcasting from the ManCave here on the Thrive Time Show. My name is Clay Clark, and I’m the former SBA, Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year, tickling your ear with a– tickling your ear with entrepreneurial wisdom that I have gained from my career. Having done it the wrong way, then the right way, then really the right way, then, boom I’m on the show with you.

I’m joined here with Sharita Bent, the co-host and business coach with the mo-host today. How are you?

Sharita: I’m wonderful.

Clay: And my incredible wife, Miss Vanessa Clark. How are you?

Vanessa: We’re doing great.

Clay: Are we still married?

Vanessa: [laughs]

Sharita: She’s still your bird. She loves you.

Vanessa: I’m still here, still the bird.

Clay: We’ll stay married for another day, right? Okay. I always try to trick her into staying married to me. We’re talking today about the six principles for successful public speaking. Principle number one; predetermine in your mind what success looks like. You have to know what success looks like. You have to know if who you’re going to emulate. “Am I supposed to be my own person?” Yes, but first let’s get to a level called good, and then we’ll move on to becoming our own great which is really the fully self-actualized version of yourself.

You don’t want to become self-actualized. I mean you don’t want to become the fullness of yourself until you’re not bad. Moving on. The second move, the second move here okay, is you want to seize every opportunity to practice. You want to practice a lot. I would always tell people, if you’re going to speak for an hour, prepare for four and practice for four. That’s eight. Work with me, remember this. If you want to be great, practice for eight. Okay, got that? Want to be great, practice for eight?

Vanessa: It sounds extreme, but you really do that.

Clay: I really do that. That’s why speaking is very stressful for me, because I’m like — Vanessa knows. I’ll go to a speaking event and I’ll hop — the event we just did for Chevron, I hopped into the bathroom of the hotel-

Vanessa: This is true.

Clay: -And I turned on the water. “[unintelligible 00:45:53] you’re a water hog.” I turned on the water, and it becomes like a swamped rainforest.

Vanessa: He creates a rainforest environment.

Clay: The ceiling is dripping water, and I keep it on, and I will not come out for like six hours.

Sharita: It’s Dagobah, you’re Yoda.

Vanessa: He loves it.

Clay: Yoda’s in there going, “We’re going to speak soon. Vanessa, [unintelligible 00:46:12].”

Vanessa: Good thing the hot water never runs out. It doesn’t matter where we are.

Clay: “In due time, great speaker I will become. Not coming out of the shower until I practiced for eight hours.”

Vanessa: I just remembered the signs about the drought in California.

Clay: “No, no, no.” Somebody heard that I had to shower on for eight hours when I was in California.

Vanessa: They’re so offended.

Clay: They’re so offended, that was true. Anyway, they’ll get more water soon.

Vanessa: You got a good speech though.

Clay: I had a great speech, yes. Principle number three; preparing the proper way. That’s very important that you do that. Now we’re moving on to principle number four; speak about something you have earned the right to talk about through experience and study. I’m going to play you a notable quotable — I’m going to play you an audio clip here. It’s a notable audio quotable. This is from Eric Thomas. If you Google him, Eric E-R-I-C Thomas. He’s a speaker who brings it. I just want you to listen for probably, let’s go with like 30 seconds. I want you to marinate, and you just formulate, and ask yourself why is this man such a successful speaker.

When he’s speaking here, he’s got a white hat on. He’s got a black T-shirt on, and he’s got a white board behind him where he takes notes. Listen to him, and you tell me why you think he’s successful. Here we go.

Eric Thomas: Many of you are taking anything, because you don’t know what you want. If I can do one thing for you when you leave this room, I don’t want nothing from you but for you to leave this room and know what you want. What do you want in your marriage? What do you want with your son and your daughter? What do you want in your health? What do you want financially like how much money do you want to make a year? What do you want to drive? How do you want to live? Stop just waking up like an accident. What do you want? Once you find out what you want, spend the rest of your natural life waking up and going after it.

The reason why I speak with so much passion, “ET, why do you speak with so much authority?” “Because I’m talking about my life. Not–“

Clay: You can tell what he’s talking about. It’s not something that he’s passive about. He’s very passionate about that subject, and you get the perception that he really believes what he is saying.

Vanessa: He’s got intensity.

Sharita: Yes, he means it.

Clay: When you go through our previous step, principle number three, you want to prepare. You have the statistics. Remember, you want to get the statistics, the quotes, the stories, the action items. You want to spend four hours preparing. By the time that I have thoroughly prepared and researched for every one of these radio shows, I am so white hot, ready to go, pumped up, let’s do it, nothing to it, come on now. This is how you’re going to become a great speaker. I absolutely believe what I’m saying. People always comment, “When I heard your show, I get the feeling that you’re passionate about that subject.”

Yes, because I know 10 times more about it than the average person, because I know you guys have jobs, but this is what I do for a living. I basically research This is what I do.

Sharita: He calls it deep dive. I see that on your list.

Vanessa: One thing that I think is really crucial, is when you are in a preparation stage, I have seen you do this. You really cater your preparation to your audience. If you’re speaking to — I’ve seen this before with you, a bunch of government employees versus you’re speaking to a bunch of startups, you are going to have to chain that whole preparation geared, or you go in and you could potentially bomb.

Clay: This is a show where we talk about the things that you can’t talk about. It works, they’re like, “You’re a racist. You can’t say that.” I’m going to just be real. I spoke for Chevron, an audience where it was basically an all African American audience. I’m going to tell you what, the people that were there, they were a group of people that were startups, and they were all African Americans.

Now, I will tell you, their perspective of life is slightly different than if you were speaking on — so I go to the Metropolitan Baptist, that’s where I go. It’s as far as 10 miles north of Downtown. Miss Sharita introduced me to that church. Basically, where the white family heads to church, but I love that place. It’s great, okay? I said that because many of you are the African American who goes to the white church.

Sharita: Right.

Clay: You’re African American, so check it out.

Sharita: That’s me.

Clay: You go to the church, people are like “Oh, so where are you from?” And you go “I’m from [unintelligible 00:50:29].” “Really, so-”

Sharita: I’m an American, yes, I was born here. [laughs].

Clay: “Do you have a job?” There is a certain subtle racism. “Oh you’re an African American at the white church you must be — are you here as part of a mission’s outreach?” Then when you are the white guy at the black church people say to you — some of the guys he said you heard him [unintelligible 00:50:47]

Vanessa: Yes, I heard it.

Clay: They go, “Are you running for office?”

Sharita: Stop it.

[laughter]

Clay: I’ve been asked that.

Vanessa: They asked two questions. They asked, “Are you speaking today?” and then, “Are you running for office?” The next week we came and they asked — someone else asked the same question.

Clay: I was in the bathroom the first week and the guy goes “So, are you guys here as part of a political thing or what is–?” and I’m like-

Vanessa: It made me feel bad. It made me feel bad.

Sharita: Are people pulling these moves? What is that? What is that?

Clay: Check it out, I am here because I am a pasty white male and I am here to judge whether the praise and worship tonight is good. I will tell you, there is nothing more certain than Martin.

Vanessa: You need the rhyming [unintelligible 00:51:27]. You need it.

Sharita: We love Martin. We love Martin.

Clay: What’s Martin’s last name?

Sharita: Huff, we love Martin.

Clay: Martin Huff, you can’t get enough of Martin Huff. I am certain you can’t get enough of Martin Huff. That guy just brings it. The thing I’m saying is I had to be aware of my audience while speaking, so I knew the diversity and the makeup. I know the gender. I know the age. I know the background. I know the jobs. I always ask the event planner.

Vanessa: What was their reaction when you did it?

Clay: They loved it.

Vanessa: You killed it.

Clay: I loved it. You just Google “Clay Clark Chevron speaking reviews” and you will find sick videos, but the thing is you have to tailor your speech because if you get up there and you’re like — if you’re not aware. Let me give you an example. I spoke at an event recently, it was a while back but it was for Maytag, and it was almost all women business owners. You can’t get up and go, “Well, I’m here to talk about business and I’m not going to address the elephant in the room. I’m just going to talk about–” and you have to say, “Hey, listen, I realized that you’re all women business owners, and I am not a woman. Check it out. I’ve been checking out — I’ve been doing some [unintelligible 00:52:27] looking in the mirror. I’ve been doing various studies. I went to the doctor. I know, I’m 100% sure I’m not a woman.”

[laughter].

Clay: I’m sure — well, I could be. I don’t know. I know I’m not and I know you are and I know there are certain challenges that you are dealing with in business that I am not. I want you ladies, real quick, I want to interact with you. I want you to go ahead and tell me, what are some of the challenges that you deal with as women that you feel like that I would not deal with — that you would not deal with if you were a male? What are the challenges that you are dealing with as women business owners? Let’s do it. Put your hand up. I want to hear from you. I’m coming around the room. I’ve got a microphone. Let’s do it.

The women are like, “Well, one, I can’t get any respect,” and I’m like, “Sock it to me, sock it to me,” she, “What now?” “Aretha Franklyn, you can’t get any respect, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me.” I said, “Listen, you’re not getting any respect. What does that mean to you?” So she says — I go, “Anybody else?” and the lady goes, “I will tell you this, I get talked down to.” I go, “What do you mean?” and she goes, “Men will literally talk louder to me in slow to speak to me.” I go, “What do you mean?” she goes, “I hired a guy to come in and fix my plumbing,” I remember the story, so funny.

She said, “I brought in the guy to fix my plumbing and I said, “Hey listen, I have a store and there’s a problem with the plumbing,” and he looks at me. She goes, “I’ll never forget how humiliating it was. In front of my whole staff he goes, “Well what you’re going to want to do is you’re going to want to make sure — now, are aware of plumbing Mrs. Anderson? Now what you’re going to want to do is — what you have here is what we call a leak.” And she is like, “Are you kidding me?” but they’re talking down to her because she is a woman.

We’ve got to understand — work with me, there is a thing called communion. Someone needs to write this down. It’s a little bit profound today. Communion is common union. Before you move on with your audience, you must build rapport or you can move on no more [laughs]. You’ve got to build rapport before you build on. You can’t move on because you’ve got to build that rapport, because if you don’t build that rapport, the audience hasn’t had that common union with you. They have to like and trust you before you move on. You must absolutely speak about something that you’ve earned the right to talk about.

I had looked up all the challenges that women deal with. I got about three volunteers and I said, “Hey, there is five more reasons that we didn’t say. I’m going to read you off. Statistically, women business owners according to Wall Street Journal said,” and they’re all going, “Oh my gosh, he knows us.” Now I have earned their respect, now we move on. That is how it works, so notable quotable “Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.”

Now I’m going to give you another notable quotable that blows my mind. It blows my mind here. Check it out, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Who said that? Winston Churchill. Why am I saying that? Because when you speak, you’re going to have a little bit of struggle at first because you’re speaking about something you’re passionate about but you’re not very good yet. What we’re going to do is we’re going to teach you when we come back, again we’re getting back into principle number four; speak about something you’ve earned the right to talk about through experience and study. We are going to talk about how to make a profit as speaker. We’re going to talk about how to make a profit as a speaker. We’re going to talk about — someone needs write that down, how to make a profit as a speaker. It means money, copious cash in your pocket, boom.

Advertisement: This show’s episode is brought to you by Moz.com. If you have ever considered the World Wide Web as a viable strategy for your business, you’ve got to check out this tool. Online marketing is complicated but Moz software makes it easy. Companies like 99designs, OtterBox and Errands, they all use Moz because it works. Explore organic search keywords for your business, research Bing and Google search results for your targeting keywords and link up Moz Local and Google My Business. Seriously, this tool is crazy powerful with the clarity it brings to online marketing for your business. Even if you are just curious, start a 30-day trial with Moz.com today. It’s a game changer for your business. Moz.com M-O-Z.com.

Announcer: You’re listening to The Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170

Clay: Hello Thrive nation, welcome back to the inspiration station, you’re at 1170 Talk Radio. You’re clicking around the dial and you’re going, “Maybe I’ll stick around here for a while. What’s this show about? What is this show about? I need to be told something profound in the first 15 seconds or I’m not going to listen.” We’re talking about six principles for a successful public speaking. Why do you need to know this? Because the world’s top earners are all effective speakers. I repeat to you, this is what the election is, this is what the election is, “Let’s all get together and vote based off of who is the best speaker.” That’s what it is.

Sharita: True

Clay: I’m going to tell you what, Ronald Reagan, effective speaker. President Obama, effective speaker. Now if you read up the lives of each person, are they perfect? No, but if they’re an effective speaker, you’ll love them. The biggest church in America, Pastor Joel Osteen, great speaker. Best talk show host, Oprah. Best technology dude, Steve Jobs, because they’re all great speakers. If you can speak, you can change that game. The thing is it’s a learnable skill, you can do it. We’re teaching you the six principles.

We talked about principle number one, which is pre-determine in your mind what success looks like. We talked about principle number two, if you missed, you can go to thrivetimeshow.com, you can hear it again on the podcast version. Principle number two, seize every opportunity to practice. Principle number three, prepare in the proper way. You want to prepare in the proper way, you want to get it right. Principle number four, speak about something that you’ve earned the right to talk about through your experience and study. Miss Sharita, you had a question off-air so go ahead like you just don’t care, ask us.

Sharita: Sure, I was thinking about the word “earn” there, like you’ve earned the right and I just wanted to touch on that and ask you guys, “What are things that you would say you’ve earned the right?” Because I think that sometimes you see people talking about things and it’s like maybe they haven’t been through it or researched it. What have you earned the right to speak about?

Clay: Okay, I will say this. One, I’ve learned to speak about recently. Six weeks ago, almost seven, my dad passed away from ALS. I talked to a Thriver the other day and they said, they’d just lost their mom to Multiple Sclerosis. He said, “I was so inspired by hearing how you went to work every day because I wanted to not show up. My employees were telling me, “You should take a day off,” but if I did, I realized I wouldn’t make payroll and that was like what I needed to hear.”

I could say, speaking through adversity, just talking about adversity and work, starting a business out of your dorm room, starting a business with no startup capital, I could say, how to build a multimillion dollar business, I could teach you that. How to build a successful wedding business, time management, PR, marketing. The thing is, I own so many different businesses and I’m involved in a lot. Really, there is not a business topic that I can’t really talk about. In that regards–

Sharita: But when you’re saying, “Earn the right,” just so people understand, it’s what you’ve lived through and experienced?

Vanessa: Well, I think it’s anything that you’ve either experienced, you’re passionate about or you’ve studied up on.

Clay: There we go, the final one. You have to know 10 times more than the person in the audience. One of our producers here, Sam, codename, Sam Parker. He’s sort of a big deal. Literally, his hands are so strong that I want to agree with everything he says.

Sharita: He’s the Viking.

Clay: He’s married to a sweet lady, and I think she lives in fear of [unintelligible 00:59:59] incredible strength because you’re so nice, like a gentle giant but it’s like you know at any point he could just – “That’s it. I’m going to rip the head off.” He’d rip the head off an animal. He’s powerful. He’s got these laser eyes. He’s got a beard and he can lift over his body with his shoulders. Sam, how much can you lift? Is it over three pounds over your shoulders?

Sharita: Yes.

Sam: 340 pounds.

Clay: 340 pounds he says. He can lift 300–

Vanessa: Remember that day he came and picked the table up in the office, he just hoisted on his back and walked out with it.

Clay: The thing is he’s so powerful you can even hear his voice without a microphone. He doesn’t even need amplification. He’s so powerful. What I’m saying is he is an expert. You can talk to him about power lifting. You want to listen to that guy.

Sharita: Yes.

Clay: Now you won’t talk to Sam about how to be petite, in skinny jeans with Sam — or you couldn’t do it. That’s not really something, you look at him and go, I don’t think you should wear skinny jeans and he’s not petite.” He’s a beautiful man. He’s a big beautiful man. He looks like he’s an extra from like a Braveheart movie. He’s just awesome. I love the guy. He inspires confidence.

Vanessa: He does.

Clay: When you’re around him and you’re like, “I feel safe.”

Sharita: We can do everything.

Vanessa: Yes.

Clay: The other day, I was having a rough day and I walked over, and I didn’t say it, but I said it mentally, and I know he heard it. I said, “Just hold me Sam. Just hold me, make me feel safe.” Seriously, he’s an expert in that area. Now my wife has cheered for a high school cheerleading team where they won multiple championships. Where did you cheer out there Vanessa?

Vanessa: Dupont Manual.

Clay: Where is Dupont Manual for the people that aren’t big cheer people?

Vanessa: Louisville, Kentucky. I agree. Something that you’ve experienced, you can speak on. Something you’re passionate about maybe you’ve lived or a life lesson, or something you’ve studied–

Clay: But you have to know 10 times more than the audience.

Vanessa: Yes, or something you’ve studied up on. I think if you’ve lived it, you have learned 10 times more. If you lived a life lesson and you’ve got something in your soul from that, you can speak to it and people can receive it.

Clay: I’m not arguing. what I am going to argue about in a very respectful — I hate going to a church service where the pastor — I hate going to a speaking event where the speaker, they’re so knowledgeable. This is their talk, “Well, we are going to talk today about a subject that is very — well it’s not so much important as it is profound, profundity, profound comes from the Greek word meaning pro found.” And you’re just like, “Stop it. Quit talking down to me. Quit talking like you’re God’s–” like everyone else thinks it’s dumb.

Vanessa: I said they’re not communicating effectively. I’m saying for someone, if they have something they’re passionate about and they can communicate effectively, the idea that they’re passionate about it, not drawing it out or making a huge production. But–

Sharita: I think to the point of like just you can’t come there and be passionate, but you haven’t prepared. You have to study. You have to be ready.

Clay: You have to do that. When you speak about something you’ve earned the right to talk about. People will pay you if you can teach them something. They can do. They will pay you if you’re teaching them something they can do, or if you’re teaching them about a story that is profound. If you’re a former NFL player, you’re going to talk about what it’s like to play and live through concussions. That’s like a headline story, if you climbed Mount Everest, but if you’re like, “I have seven tips for organizing my garage for well, really how to kinda organize the garage, but basically well I’ve never done it, but I will tell ya.” No one’s going to pay for that?

I want you to look up problems tonight, that the world has, and if you can become an expert in a problem many people have like time management, like how to sell something, like marketing, like search engine, like marriage, family, something that everybody — if it’s a universal problem that many people have. If you get an audience of 250 people and they all paid you $5 each, bam. You’re making some money. So, you want to talk about something that the world is seeking the answers to.

Vanessa: The great thing about it is that, that leaves it open to anything that you are willing to take the time and energy to really study up on. For me that was a huge thing is marriage. I really wanted to study up on that in every single area even before I was married, before we knew each other.

Clay: You were a marriage nerd.

Woman: You can choose any area. You don’t have to have a passion for it right now, or experience in it right now. Those are two other areas. I’d like to speak on our son’s healing because I’m passionate about it and I have experience in it but, I could choose time management and really get studied up on it if I want to, right? You can become an expert in that field and teach on it.

Clay: If you’re listening right now. I would encourage you that if you are passionate about becoming a speaker, you have to find a subject that the world — find a problem that the world wants an answer to. Find a problem the world wants to solve. Find a question that the world wants the answers to, and become an expert in that and you can get paid.

Now principle number five; choose to be excited about the subject you’re speaking about. If you’re not excited, nobody wants to hear what you have to say. If you’re just talking and you sound like you’re not enthusiastic, people don’t want to hear that mess. We already have listened to enough people that aren’t excited. We’ve all been to the DMV. We’ve all been to the DMV. The DMV, no one’s excited there. There’s like a guy, he’s going, “Just stamp here. Just–” Anyway, talk about a subject you’re excited about. We’ll talk about it next.

Advertisement: Right now, how are you taking credit card payments for your business? It’s never been faster or easier to begin taking credit card payments for your business than with Square. You know the little white square that plugs into your phone’s headphone jack? It’s awesome. This payment app is great for businesses such as food trucks, beauty salons, and retail shops.

The users receive a small portable card reader that they can attach to a phone or other mobile device to take fast, and convenient payments. The way it works is that it subtracts 2.75% of every time a card is run, and it does it automatically. So, if you sell a sandwich for $20, you will see a net gain of $19.45 in your bank account the next day.

If you enter the card by hand, it costs 3.5% plus 15 cents on top of that. They encrypt everything so you know you’re secure. They make it super clear to start, and even offer bonuses for sharing with friends. So, you can learn more at www.squareup.com. It’s free to download and works on all devices and operating systems. So make sure that you go visit www.squareup.com

Announcer: Live, local, now. You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: Hello, Thrive nation. Welcome back to the Thrive Time Show on your drive time home. My name is Clay Clark and I’m talking to you about how to start or grow a business. That’s what we do every time. Normally, Dr. Z is with me. Dr. Z is a top-level entrepreneur and some people know him as Dr. Zoellner, but he’s a very successful entrepreneur. He’s normally here, but he’s out expanding his vast empire today. So, I brought in what I believe, I can’t call them upgrades because Dr. Z is just great, but I will tell you, these are people that are at the same level. When you talk about people you want to listen to, you want to be in the room with, we have Miss Sharita Bent, how are you?

Sharita: I’m wonderful.

Clay: And my incredible wife, I’m biased, but she’s an incredible human. It’s Miss Vanessa Clark. How are you?

Vanessa: Doing great.

Clay: All right, now we’re talking today about a subject, the six principles to become an effective public speaker. The six principles to become an effective public speaker. You see, many of you listening really either A; want to become an effective public speaker or do you have to be. I’ll tell you what, this is what happened for me at the DJ business. I started a DJ business. I’m growing the company and I remember I hired a guy named Ezekiel. Remember Ezekiel, Vanessa?

Vanessa: Yes, I do.

Clay: He lived at my apartment complex, so I hired him. That was the move. I was like, “You look [unintelligible 01:08:11] you live here right?” He had like a big old Buick. Remember that Buick?

Vanessa: Yes. He was a big guy.

Clay: He’s a big guy so I hired him, and then pretty soon I hired Rich. Remember Rich?

Vanessa: I do remember Rich.

Clay: So I had Rich, I had Ezekiel. Rich, Ezekiel, we had Josh. You remember Josh? Josh number two? We had Josh Gamble?

Vanessa: How can I forget that. Josh Campbell, yes.

Clay: So pretty soon it was like six guys. Pretty soon, I now am talking to a group of men and I am nervous because there was more than five of them. You’re like, “You’re a DJ. How was it nervous?” Well, as a DJ you’re kind of cheating because you’re behind the booth and you’re talking to people who are usually intoxicated, so they think anything is awesome. The more they drink the better you get.

[laughter]

So this is my typical DJ show. I’m like, “Alright ladies and gentlemen welcome back here the Yucatan, liquor stand. I’m your man and your biggest fan. Talking to you about this mic and a drink in your hand. We’ve got those one $1 specials, $1 long necks. By the way, if you’re over 40 and you’re over 40 pounds overweight, we have an incredible volleyball tournament for you next weekend. It’s called the stand, and let the ball come to you. It’s unbelievable. It’s changing the game.” And people were like, “He’s so funny.” And I would write it down, and I would play music like something classy like —

Vanessa: They’re breaking it down.

Clay: I would do that. That was my job. Actually I got paid to do that, but then when you move the DJ system aside and now you have a microphone. It’s just you and that mic and people are going, “You have nothing to say to us. You are not a person of wisdom.” I remember standing there — I call this is a psychological nudity. You’re standing and you’re like, “So there are seven things about sales.” You’ve read these stupid books that are wrong, and they go, “Look for an exit.” So check it out, I go — the people are right here, I’m looking at you, but instead of looking at you, I look up and I go, “There are seven things you should do to become an effective salesperson.”

[laughter]

Sharita: I hope you are watching on Facebook Live so you can see his face. It’s great.

Clay: And then you never make eye contact. “Seven things, thing number two–” You skip one because you’re nervous, and then you hold your paper and you go, “success”, and you’re just shaking the paper. All of the sudden your voice starts to quiver, and you go, “Success.” But you get nervous so you start until your armpit starts to sweat, and you start to get — energy, you start to get little nervous sweat a little bit on the lip. You start to go faster and so you go, “Seven things I want to talk about success tonight.

Success tonight.” And you start to move back and forth because you start to do a little James Brown. And you start to, “Ahhh.” You can’t modulate your voice anymore. And you’re like, “Seven things we’re going to talk about success for success. And there’s one — I get nervous sometimes that I sweat. Success principle number one.” And the people are like, “You are having a meltdown”. They think you got stung by a bee and you’re allergic to bee stings.

Sharita: I hope they got to see that on Facebook Live. It was great.

Vanessa: I hope so.

Clay: It’s bad. That’s what happens as a speaker if you’re not in control of the situation. Vanessa, you had something you’re going to add up.

Vanessa: I always feel like — I have not spoken nearly as many times as you have, and I can relate to that really nervous feeling. You’re a pro. You just go in there and when I’ve spoken on Aubrey’s healing–

Clay: Real quick, our son, if you want to Google it, because this is law of credibility. We always do it in the show. I never say anything you can’t prove. My son, his name is Aubrey Napoleon-Hill Clark. He was born blind. He couldn’t see. That was his deal. He couldn’t see and now he can see. So you say, [unintelligible 01:11:59] “I don’t like it when he uses the word healing”. He was blind, and now he can see. My wife says it’s a miracle. I do believe it’s a miracle, but we have a show where we’re just talking about facts and business. I don’t want to turn you off because you’re like, “You’re a miracle guy. You’re one of those holy rollers. There you go again”. He was born blind and now he can see.

Sharita: It was medically documented, right?

Clay: Vanessa speaks about it.

Vanessa: I wrote about “Now, I see”. Anyways, long story short, in the past year I started speaking about it and it was very scary for me because I don’t have a lot of experience in public speaking, but I was passionate about the story and it was easy for me to tell the story because it’s my truth. What always made me nervous was time period. You have 45 minutes to speak or we’re going to give you one hour to speak. That is something you have to have so much preparations for and you helped me with that, but that’s scares me every time.

Clay: Here’s the deal right now, we have 52 seconds until we go to an incredible break here. We have a great commercial from some wonderful advertisers that we highly endorse. All the great people who sponsored this great show, but I’m going to give you a notable quotable what I’m going to end right on time. Here we go, “Today is life. The only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” That’s Dale Carnegie. That’s the guy who’s speaking course — Dale Carnegie, his speaking course is what Warren Buffet credits as having changed his life. When we get back, we’re going to be talking about principle number six. Fill your talk with the quad in familiar words. Talk with the quad in familiar words. You heard?

Advertisement: Are you looking to start or grow a business? Then you are definitely going to have problems and questions along the way. You will find the answers to all of your business questions at Thrive15.com. Thrive15.com provides online video-based business training topped by millionaires and successful entrepreneurs for less than a dollar per day. That’s less than your daily coffee budget. It’s no classrooms, no get-rich-quick-seminars. These are trainings broken into 15-minute segments that get you the answers that you need. It’s business school without the BS. I dare you to try a 7-day free trial. Simply go to Thrive15.com and the first 100 people will also receive a free downloadable for how-to optimize your website. So, stop wasting your time and money. Go to Thrive15.com and get your business questions answered, now.

Clay: Hello and welcome back to the Thrive Time Show during your drive-time home. Many of you are driving right now. You’re in your car. Maybe some of you refer to it as your “coach”, because you’re bilingual, you’re in your coach. You’re headed to your what we call your “casa” or some might call it your home. You’re almost there, and you’re going, “Why do I need to listen? What are you going to say in this next segment that’s going to be worth listening to? I’ve got things to do buddy.” We’re talking today about the six moves to become the most effective speaker possible.

If you Google my name, my name is Clay Clark. I’m a business coach and the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year. Yahoo referred to me as the Jim Carrey of public speaking. I don’t know. A little more Jim Gaffigan — more Jim Gaffigan than Mr. Carrey. I’ve spoken for Hewlett Packard, Maytag. I’ve made hundred of thousands of dollars, speaking because I know what I’m doing. And the thing is, I’m going to teach you the moves. I’ll teach you the final moves. These are the very specific moves that are going to help you become the best speaker you could possibly be. Whether you’re a pastor, whether you’re a motivational speaker, whether you’re an office leader, whether you’re a manager, I’m giving you the moves.

One, fill your talk with the quad and familiar words. You heard? Here we go. Familiar words, I’m going to start there first. Familiar words. Don’t fill your speech with jargon. Nothing is worse than somebody who’s speaking down to you using nomenclature and a plethora of words; a thesaurus if you will. We like to say these words when we become speakers. “A thesaurus if you will”. Who says that? “If you will”. Stop. [unintelligible 01:16:33], “Today I am talking about a plethora of words and a virtual thesaurus if you will.” [giggles]. No, be real. Be authentic. Don’t talk like that because no one wants to hear that. Communication means you’ve reached a common union. Communication has not occurred until both parties understood or understand what is being taught. They have to understand you, otherwise you’re just talking at them.

So, Sharita, you’ve been to many church services. Vanessa, you’ve been to many church services. What happens when the pastor starts talking about the intertestamental period and he begins talking about things that you are not aware of and various nomenclature and you don’t have any idea of what he’s talking? What starts to happen to you? Vanessa, for 500 points, what happens to you?

Vanessa: Unless he does a fantastic job about getting us up to speed about where he’s at, every one’s lost. No one can connect.

Clay: And then you start to do, what? What do you actually, physically start to do once you’ve realized–

Vanessa: You check out. You disconnect.

Clay: I start to go, “I wonder that time it is.”

Sharita: Yes, “I’m hungry. What’s going on over there? Look at that person.”

Clay: “These pants, I’ve got a stain on these pants. I didn’t even know that.”

Sharita: “What am I going to eat for lunch.”

Clay: “Oh my God. There’s Carl. I think Carl — Hi carl.” Then all of a sudden-

Vanessa: They’re going to watch.

Clay: -Or you start to do the drift move where you pretend not to sleep. Here’s the hot move before you go — and you just kind of — and you pretend like you’re not — you jerk away. You’re not pretending like you’re not some — from Facebook Live, you could see. But what you do is you kind of go — and then all of a sudden you realize — This what happens, you realize you go, “Oh no. I have been asleep.”

Vanessa: You don’t know how long you’ve been asleep. That’s the scary part.

Clay: And look around, and you’re like, “I’m cool.” They’re like, “No, you’re not. You’ve been asleep for like an hour or 2 seconds. You don’t know.” You know what I’m saying? If you’re a speaker where that’s happening routinely, figure it out. You have to wake that audience up. How do you wake them up? I’m going to tell you. Talk about something that interests them. See, now you’re offensive.

You have to talk about the things that impact them. Example, if you’re talking to a bunch of people who are — they’re an organization that’s dedicated to marathon running. Picture a bunch of really thin people who run a lot, and you get up there and go, “Today we are going to talk about the powerlifting. All you’ve got to do is you’ve got to do the hack squat, and the biceps, and you want to do what I call the Arnold press, which is like a curl and a shoulder press. And what you want to do is–” and they’re going, “I don’t know what he’s talking about. Do you guys know where my power bars are? When are we going to get some kale? Is there a kale here? Hey, where are my yoga pants?” “We got to focus on the biceps because–” They’re just drifting off because they wanting to talk about their New Balance shoes–

Sharita: Their Asics.

Clay: Their Asics, Lululemon pants. They don’t care. They’re drifting. They don’t want to hear — you have to focus on what they just want to talk about. Here’s how you do it: One, you have to have those statistics we talked about, it’s called the quad. Those statistics that are impactful. So if I’m speaking to a bunch of marathon runners, I’m going to say, “Did you know that back in–“, I’m going to say the year. I’m just making it up. But back in 19 whatever, the record for the fastest marathon was x amount, and that record had stayed for hundreds of years, but then one day, a guy, who was the guy? He actually broke the record and he was able to run this fast. And then that following year these many people broke it. So today we’re talking about breaking through. Back in the day, that was a record that people thought would never be broken, but it was and everyone broke it. It became the new norm. We’re talking today about breaking through big barriers. Now you’ve connected with them.

Sharita: I was just so into that reel. I hope people can see you on Facebook Live, because you’re being dynamic, even though you’re just giving that example. You’re passionate about it. You’re being dynamic.

Vanessa: That’s one of the things I think he gets from speaking and from studying it so much. Whenever you speak, if it’s to a group of 200 or to a group of five people in front of you at the office, he uses his whole body. He’s physical, He’s [unintelligible 01:20:37]. He is dynamic. Obviously, you all can’t see that on the radio, but that’s part of your public speaking.

Clay: I’m going to play this sound clip here. This is from my favorite speaker A.K.A linebacker Ray Lewis. I’m going to play this little sound clip, here we go.

Ray Lewis: Tonight is about each other. Tonight is about relentless football, and if anybody feel it’s just football, they get knocked out tonight. Let’s do what we do best on

three. One, two, three.

Clay: He would pump up and inspire that team and The Ravens had this unbelievable defense for years, but Ray Ray, he was ready to go. The final year he played, he had a Bible verse that he just kept talking about how nothing in a form against him shall prosper. He’d just go on and on talking about how there’s nothing that can stop him, just nothing.

He had this verse he gave the whole team. He was sold out to the vision. He kept telling them, “This is our year”. He would say it with such passion, that this thing called enthusiasm began to occur. Now enthusiasm, again — for those of you who’ve heard this before, I always tell you because you need to know this. The word “Theos”, it’s the Greek word for “God”. Theos is God. So, “enthusiasm” means “God within”. God is within you. Imagine that God, the Creator of the Universe was inside you, now go talk.

Sharita: Yes, and I love how these ties back in all these steps are connected, because with Ray having that verse and that intention, he is like step number one; predetermining what our success is going to look like. I love that.

Clay: Absolutely. Moving on here is the quotes. You’ve got to have quotes. If you’re a pastor, you got to have verses. You got to have quotes. You got to have people who are more intelligent than yourself or more known or more credible than you, teaching the principles. I’m going to hit you with a notable quotable right now just to demonstrate the power of the notable quotable.

Dale Carnegie. Who’s Dale Carnegie? He is the man. He is the founder of the Dale Carnegie Institute. He started the program that Warren Buffett, one of the world’s largest investors, which made him billions of dollars, he said this program was the single most impactful course he’s ever taken, the Dale Carnegie Institute on public speaking. Dale Carnegie, the founder of that says, “Practice, practice, practice. And speaking before an audience. This will tend to remove all fear of audiences just as practice in swimming will lead to confidence in water. You must learn to speak by speaking.”

That was sick. I’m going to go vaccinate myself. That was awesome. Dale Carnegie is talking about practice, practice, practice, but because I gave you a notable quotable from somebody other than myself and that person who I’m quoting was the person that Warren Buffett said changed his life, now it’s like, “Man, Warren Buffett endorses that. Wow. I should probably know that. I should probably write that down.” So, what just happened? I just got profound. The third is stories. Vanessa, do you have something?

Vanessa: I was just going to say on that, back about practicing, don’t you think when you study so much and you practice it so much, you’re not steaming up the reciting a bunch of memorized facts anymore, but instead you’ve internalized this knowledge and it’s become a part of what you know and truly can share. That’s where the truly dynamic speaking and where the fear goes away because you’re not standing there trying to memorize some said facts.

Clay: You’re absolutely right. I want to make sure you get this. You want to know your stories. You want to know the stories you are going to tell. You don’t want to be searching for facts and go, “Did Ray Lewis actually do that or I wasn’t sure–“. A lot of people speakers get and they just shamelessly misquote, misguide — and they build distrust with the audience. You must be factual.

The final is action items. How do you know if your talk was good? If people take action. If people actually implement what you said — just so we’re clear, if you can get 10% of your audience to do anything, you’re the best. Napoleon Hill studied this. He has a book. He wrote about this, but if you can get 10% of any audience to do something, you’re the best. Very few people take action in life. If you can persuade 10% — check it out, we’ve all been to church. We all know a lot of kids have been to that whole safe sex class. We all know how it happens, right? They were all, “I wonder how the pregnancy happened?”

[laughter]

Clay: “Okay, well we can break it down. We can diagram it there Billy.” “I would like it. If you didn’t — I need more education.” Are you kidding me? Come on. We have it figured out. It’s not about education, it’s about implementation. That’s the conversations we have here on The Thrive Time Station. Thrive15.com is kind of our parent company, Thrive15.com is the world’s best business school. If you want to go up there and learn public speaking, you want to learn sales, marketing, search engine optimization, social media, public relations, business models, how to get more done, time management–

[01:25:34] [END OF AUDIO]