Yasir Khan: Speak Like a CEO, a Masterclass on Effective Public Speaking | E320

Summary

Podcast Summary: Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha – Episode E320 featuring Yasser Khan

Release Date: December 9, 2024

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Introduction and Guest Background

In Episode 320 of "Young and Profiting (YAP)," host Hala Taha welcomes Yasser Khan, a distinguished public speaking coach and founder of "Speak Like a CEO." Yasser shares his transformative journey from an introverted child to a confident public speaker who now coaches top CEOs worldwide. This episode delves deep into the art of effective public speaking, tailored specifically for entrepreneurs seeking to enhance their communication skills.

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Importance of Verbal Communication for Entrepreneurs [04:19]

Hala emphasizes that communication is the backbone of entrepreneurship. She asserts that whether entrepreneurs are on stage, in boardrooms, or engaging in virtual meetings, mastering verbal communication is essential for success.

Yasser echoes this sentiment, highlighting that verbal communication defines one’s brand:

“When you open your mouth, that is your brand. And you'll be shocked, Hala. In fact, you probably won't be shocked with the amount of people you talk to.” [04:19]

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Yasser Khan's Personal Journey into Public Speaking [05:36]

Yasser recounts his early struggles with public speaking during childhood. An introverted individual who often avoided presenting, Yasser's transformation began when his parents sent him to Canada in hopes of alleviating his shyness. Loneliness and desperation led him to join a Toastmasters Club, where his initial attempts were fraught with anxiety. However, encouragement from the club’s host, Karen Knight, motivated him to persist. Over time, Yasser honed his skills, eventually winning a public speaking contest and evolving into a TEDx speaker and coach for high-profile CEOs.

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The Role of Voice and Tone in Communication [10:01]

Yasser discusses the critical role of voice and tone in communication, using personal anecdotes to illustrate his points. He explains how over-eagerness can negatively impact perception:

“When you're trying to impress that you talk a lot. And when you talk a lot, you talk fast, you mumble, you go high pitch, and you're trying to get your approval.” [10:21]

Yasser advises speakers to modulate their pace and volume to project confidence and maintain listener interest.

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Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety [12:45]

Yasser identifies that much of public speaking anxiety stems from self-esteem issues rather than the act of speaking itself. Building self-confidence is paramount to overcoming such fears. He shares:

“If you constantly need to practice your public speaking just to feel good about yourself, that's not a public speaking issue. That's a self-esteem issue.” [14:08]

This realization helped Yasser shift his focus from merely improving speaking techniques to enhancing his overall self-confidence.

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Techniques for Effective Public Speaking

Volume and Pace [22:02]

Yasser emphasizes the importance of varying volume and pace to capture and maintain audience attention. He demonstrates this with an exercise, transforming the mundane topic of "washing dishes" into an engaging narrative by modulating his voice:

“Washing dishes is one of the most exciting things you can do because every single day when I make dinner, it makes me feel present in the moment...” [22:55]

Body Language and Hand Gestures [33:03]

Effective body language should complement the story being told. Yasser warns against excessive movements that can distract the audience. Controlled gestures convey confidence and stability:

“If you ask me a question...what you should do is vary your pace a little bit as well when I talk.” [34:12]

He also highlights the psychological impact of open palm gestures, which signal transparency and friendliness:

“When you reveal your palms, it shows that you're friendly, it shows that there's a lack of I'm not hiding anything.” [35:21]

Authenticity vs. Memorization [27:29]

Yasser advises against memorizing speeches word-for-word, as it can make the delivery sound rehearsed and inauthentic. Instead, internalizing key points allows speakers to remain present and responsive to the audience:

“Memorizing is you putting on a performance on stage... you have to be able to be in the moment with the audience.” [27:40]

Storytelling Techniques (PAM) [42:13]

Introducing the PAM technique—Phrases, Analogies, Metaphors—Yasser explains how simplifying complex ideas through familiar comparisons can enhance understanding and retention:

“Phrases would be your one-liner... use analogies and metaphors to help others understand concepts.” [42:13]

Engagement Strategies [31:26]

To maintain audience engagement, Yasser suggests regular check-ins such as quick questions or addressing individuals by name. This approach ensures the audience remains attentive and feels personally acknowledged:

“Raise your hand if I'm on the right track, or nod your head if you've seen this before.” [33:03]

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Storytelling and Its Impact [47:56]

Yasser emphasizes the power of storytelling in making communication memorable and emotionally resonant. He shares personal anecdotes to illustrate how stories can leave lasting impressions:

“People just remember for much longer... if they don't feel anything, they will not remember it.” [47:56]

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Building a Personal Brand Through Storytelling [52:08]

While initially focusing on tips and tricks, Yasser learned the importance of incorporating personal stories, especially those highlighting past struggles. Sharing authentic experiences fosters relatability and strengthens personal branding:

“Emotion creates devotion... people relate to your mess-ups and your journey.” [52:44]

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Final Advice and Key Takeaways [60:01]

Yasser advises entrepreneurs to integrate storytelling into their communication to make it impactful and memorable. He encourages preparing story journals to recount significant life milestones and using impactful narratives to engage audiences.

He shares a powerful story about Mary, a midwife, to illustrate the importance of responsibility in communication:

“It's not your job to rehearse. But if what you're talking about is important, it is your responsibility to prepare and rehearse for every single time you open your mouth.” [63:49]

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Conclusion

Hala and Yasser conclude with actionable advice, highlighting the significance of storytelling and authentic communication in building a profitable personal brand. Yasser leaves listeners with a profound mantra derived from his coaching experience:

“Be better at being different.” [65:00]

This episode provides entrepreneurs with invaluable strategies to enhance their public speaking and communication skills, emphasizing authenticity, emotional engagement, and effective storytelling to build and sustain a profitable brand.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Brand Representation:
  “When you open your mouth, that is your brand.” [04:19]

• Self-Esteem and Public Speaking:
  “If you constantly need to practice your public speaking just to feel good about yourself, that's not a public speaking issue. That's a self-esteem issue.” [14:08]

• Volume Variation:
  “It's the up and down and up and down. That's what makes it interesting.” [23:31]

• Authenticity Over Memorization:
  “Memorizing is you putting on a performance on stage.” [27:40]

• Power of Storytelling:
  “People just remember for much longer... if they don't feel anything, they will not remember it.” [47:56]

• Final Mantra:
  “Be better at being different.” [65:00]

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Actionable Insights for Entrepreneurs

1. Vary Volume and Pace: Use fluctuations in your speech to emphasize key points and maintain interest.
2. Control Body Language: Use hand gestures that complement your message without distracting the audience.
3. Be Authentic: Focus on conveying your message naturally rather than memorizing every word.
4. Utilize Storytelling: Incorporate repeatable, emotional, and belief-reframing stories to make your communication memorable.
5. Engage Your Audience: Conduct regular check-ins and personalize interactions to keep your audience attentive.
6. Prepare Story Journals: Document significant life events and milestones to draw upon for impactful storytelling.

By implementing these strategies, entrepreneurs can significantly enhance their public speaking abilities, thereby strengthening their personal and professional brands.

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Learn More:
Visit Yasser Khan's website at speaklikeaceo.com and follow him on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at @speakingwithyasa for more insights on effective communication and public speaking.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

When you open your mouth, that is your brand because what you say is what is reflected about your business. Emotion creates devotion in storytelling. That's what makes people feel something.

[A]

How do you infuse storytelling to get people emotionally attached to you?

[B]

There are three Rs to be remembered. The first R is so if you constantly need to practice your public speaking just to feel good about yourself, that's not a public speaking issue, that's a self esteem issue. For a lot of people, the fear doesn't come from the speaking itself. It's how they perceive themselves.

[A]

How can you tell if people are engaged or not?

[B]

If you want to transport people somewhere in your story, one of the most powerful words you can use is.

[A]

Yeah fam. Welcome back to the show and today we are focused on public speaking. Now communication, in my opinion, is the backbone of entrepreneurship. Whether you are on stage, in the boardroom, or simply on a zoom meeting, you really got to know how to communicate if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. So joining us today to talk about this is Yasser Khan. He's a public speaking coach with years of experience in helping individuals and organizations improve their ability to connect, persuade and influence. Yasser Khan is the founder of Speak Like a CEO and he's going to give us a masterclass on how to be a more effective speaker. We're going to learn about pacing, volume, storytelling, body language and so much More. I can't wait to dive into it. So without further delay, my conversation with Yasser Khan starts now. Yasser, welcome to Young and Profiting podcast.

[B]

I'm really excited to be here, Hala. And you might not know how I met you the first time or how I found out about you. It wasn't about LinkedIn. I was looking up how to start a podcast, and I stumbled on a speech of yours from MIT from years ago, and I thought it was going to be about how to start a podcast, but it ended up being about your personal story. I watched the entire hour of it.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Then I found you on LinkedIn, and I still remember you had a quote in there. You said something like, at the time, I wasn't young and profiting. I was young and pissed. And it just made me laugh in the moment. And there was a connection I felt. That's why I went and looked you up on LinkedIn. So it's a pleasure to be here.

[A]

Oh, wow, What a compliment. I mean, from somebody who's such a great public speaker. The fact that you listened to a whole hour of my speech, that's amazing. That was one of my first speaking things that I ever really did in front of a lot of people, and it worked.

[B]

You got my attention.

[A]

Thank you. So, Yasser, you are an expert on public speaking, and this show is all for entrepreneurs. And in today's age, a lot of our communication is written. So we're writing in texts, we're writing in emails, we're writing in DMs. Why is verbal communication still so important, especially for business owners now?

[B]

Verbal communication is how you show up to the world. When you open your mouth, that is your brand. And you'll be shocked, Hala. In fact, you probably won't be shocked with the amount of people you talk to. How many people are not careful of the words that come out of their mouth? Because what you say is what is reflected about your business. So if you knew that, wouldn't you be a lot more careful of what came out of your mouth, what you said, what you wrote? That's why just having that finesse on your words, making sure when you're on stage people remember you is more important than it's ever been.

[A]

And aside from speaking on stage, because entrepreneurs, not all of us are really going to be on stage, but there's transferable skills when it comes to public speaking. Can you talk to us about that?

[B]

Yeah. The definition of public speaking isn't just being on stage, it's talking to someone at some time, if you are talking to someone, which I imagine if your listeners are listening, they're talking to people, right? Unless they're locked in a basement somewhere, you are going to do public speaking. And every single time you do that, you are representing yourself and your brand. What do you want people to interpret about you? How do you want them to perceive you? How do you want them to perceive your company? All of that is public speaking. So you want to treat the stage as your entire life. Every single place you go, you're performing. So wouldn't you want to put up the best performance wherever you go? I think the answer is yes.

[A]

I was really surprised to find out because you come across very confident. I was very surprised to find out that as a child, even as a young adult, you were really introverted, you were really shy, you really struggled making connections and relationships, and it wasn't until your adulthood that you actually cracked the code when it came to public speaking. So talk to us about how public speaking is not something you're necessarily born with and share your story about how you became a public speaker.

[B]

Yeah, I was the least likely person to become a public speaker. In fact, if you were in my classroom when I was in third grade, you would have seen me run to the bathroom right before my presentation, and you wouldn't see me come back out. And that was the thing. People knew, hey, Yasser's turn. He's not going to show up. And I started failing. So it was really affecting my education. And as I grew up, eventually my parents said, this kid is just. He doesn't say anything in meetings. He doesn't say anything in family gatherings. What do we do? Let's send him to a different country. That'll open him up. So now they spent thousands of dollars sending me to Canada. The only thing that opened up was their wallet because I did not learn a thing. I came all the way here in Canada. I was still introverted, but now I had no friends. So eventually, Hala, you become so lonely, and the pain of it grows so much that you become desperate. You're willing to do anything. So I just googled, how do I make friends? That's what I wanted. I wanted friends. And the first thing that popped up was something called a Toastmasters Club. Have you heard of that before?

[A]

A Toastmasters? Yes, of course. Of course.

[B]

Okay, well, a kid from Pakistan, I hadn't heard of it. I thought it was one of two things. One, a place where people sit in a circle, make a toast. Or two, a place to get a Grilled cheese sandwich. That's what I thought it was going to be. So I show up, I walk in, and there's 35 people, all in their mid-50s, and it says, toastmasters, learn public speaking. No, this is not what I signed. I came here to make. No, no, no, no public speaking. That's not my. I took the fastest U turn you've ever seen in your life. But then before I could leave, the woman who was hosting the club, her name was Karen Knight, she saw me and she said, hey, we've got a new guest. Come on up and introduce yourself. So there I am, new country, I don't know anyone, and you would have seen me sweating, walking all the way to the front of the stage. To this day, I don't know what I said. I blurred out four words. I sat back down, I said, yasser, this is why you never leave the house. This is why you should just get yourself a PlayStation and that's it, that's your personality. But then Karen came back to the stage and she looked at me and said, yasser, you're in a new country, you don't know anyone. This is the first time you've spoken in front of an audience. Congratulations. And then everyone started clapping. Now, I'm new, so I'm thinking, is this a Canadian thing? I've heard these people are nice, but did they listen to what I said? Because that was pretty bad. And afterwards, I'm still beating myself up over it and I'm going to walk out the room, never coming back, and she just catches me right before I do, and she says, yasser, are you coming back? And Halal, what do you say? When we don't want to say yes, we also don't want to say no. We're always in the middle. I'll think about it. I'll let you know. I'll check my horoscope, ask my grandma, check if the universe is perfectly aligned. So I said all those things, and she said, yasir, when I was your age, I was the exact same. I was really afraid of public speaking too. But if you come back next week, I think one step at a time, it might change your life. Now, I didn't have friends, Hala. So I said, okay, you're my only friend, I'll come back. Why not? So I came back the week, the next week, the next week. And eventually she says, yasser, you're making progress. You want to try out that public speaking contest? Contest? Are you trying to kill me here? I'm just, I'm just Here to make friends. And I won the contest.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And that's where it clicked, Hala, that this is not my personality. It's a skill that I did not have. Months later, I had done 40 workshops. I became a TEDx speaker. Ten years from that moment. Now I'm coaching some of the biggest CEOs in the world. So how did all this happen? Complete accident.

[A]

And you just shared how awesome your storytelling capabilities are. Because I was thoroughly engaged in that story. So we're going to pick your brain on that later on. So something I just wanted to talk about is the importance of somebody's voice. Right? I am dating right now, and there's literally people where I'll hear their voice, and I'm like, I just can't deal with that. You know, their voice is not something I'm attracted to. So talk to us about how people can actually be attracted to one's voice.

[B]

This is a topic very personal to me, Hala, because a big reason why I got into public speaking was all the rejection that I got in my dating life. I still remember I went on this one date, and first of all, it was extremely hard for me to get a match at all on Tinder. It was just. I could not get. So when I finally got it, I was like, hey, she has two eyes and a mouth and ears.

[A]

I'll take it.

[B]

So I showed up on the date. I'll never forget. She met me. She looked at me up and down, and we sat down within the first two minutes. She looked at me, said, yeah, this is not really working. Listen, I'm just going to go, wow, can you imagine being lonely, not getting any validation and just being hit with that? I was just sitting there by myself the entire day, sinking in on, just hating myself, loathing myself the entire time, and I couldn't figure out what it was. And after I got on a lot of the other dates, they said, some of the dates, I even asked for feedback, believe it or not, I said, hey, out of curiosity, why don't you want to Yasser? You sound like you're trying too hard. You sound way too eager. You talk too much. You're trying to impress me with your stories. And it's just too much information, too fast. Just slow it down a little bit. And when you were talking with the Voice, sometimes what happens with people is they're so eager to impress that they talk a lot. And when they talk a lot, they talk fast, they mumble, they go high pitch, and they're trying to get your approval. And because of that, you can almost sense it. And you back off a little bit. Even now I talk on the faster side, but I've had to train myself. Hey, slow it down and be more sure of what you're talking about. Be as sure as you are as the color of your hair. I used to say things like, hey, so this is what I did. Isn't that interesting? Don't you find that I'm seeking your approval? But if I said I went to this thing, I did this thing, and that's how I feel. I'm so sure of the fact that I'm talking about. I don't question myself. Sometimes you can feel it. You can probably tell me more about your dating experience than I can. Maybe that's what you felt. Who knows?

[A]

Yeah, 100%. Some of it is just like the tonality.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I don't want to listen to that voice forever. You know what I'm saying? Like, the tonality, like, all of it. I just feel like people don't realize how much voice impacts attraction and your perception of somebody's confidence and all that stuff.

[B]

Well, think about it like this. Take your favorite song. Hello.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Pull up the lyrics and just read the lyrics. How good will the song sound?

[A]

Not great. No, terrible.

[B]

But that's what most people do with their voice. They show up and say the words. They don't use their tonality at all. And they don't realize how annoying it might be until they go on a date with you. And then they realize, hey, why isn't she texting me back? Maybe I'm annoying.

[A]

Okay, we got a little sidetracked, but let's talk about some of the common fears and anxieties that people have with public speaking.

[B]

Where do you want me to start? There's all kinds of public speaking anxieties. Most of the ones that I feel, they have nothing to do with public speaking itself. They have everything to do with how we view ourselves. One of the most influential coaches I've ever had in my life, he said, a lion doesn't need to sharpen his claws to know he's the king of the jungle. He just knows he is. So if you constantly need to practice your public speaking just to feel good about yourself, that's not a public speaking issue. That's a self esteem issue. And I realized this when, for four years, I'm learning all these public speaking techniques, and I'm realizing, hey, I'm on stage, I'm doing well. Why don't I feel more confident? Why do I still feel less Confident. I just have less filler words now. And the missing ingredient was I did not have self esteem, I didn't have self confidence, I didn't believe in myself. So for a lot of people, the fear doesn't come from the speaking itself. It's how they perceive themselves and therefore project what other people feel about themselves. I guarantee you if someone feels good about themselves, they're not afraid what other people think about them because their opinion about themselves is more important than the opinions of other people. So that's one and two. It's just a skill gap. If you've never done something before, it's going to be inherently scary. And if you ask the average person, how often do you do public speaking? Twice a year. Once a year, I do. One meeting, of course is nerve wracking because we just don't do it.

[A]

So how did you yourself get better at public speaking? What were the steps that you took?

[B]

One of my ex girlfriends actually really helped me out with this. I don't know why we're going on this dating direction, but I used to get really, really nasty comments about my teeth in the comments, like really, really bad. So I have fine teeth now, thank you. Invisalign, please sponsor me. But before that I had these crooked teeth in the front and all of the comments were just about my teeth and they were so disheartening. Halal, I would wake up, I would not want to post a video. Check my comments. I didn't want to make any content. And she said, yasser, are you doing this for praise or are you doing it because you're passionate about it? You have to do this for purpose, over praise. Purpose over praise. And that's when I realized if I really want to talk about this stuff, if I'm really passionate, I have to go through that. I have to go through that with grit. I don't have to worry about getting the praise, getting the compliments. Just do it because I want to do it. And once I became more passionate about it, I forgot about what they thought of me. My message was reaching the right people. That's why I continued on this journey.

[A]

And I'm glad that you continued on this journey because now you have over a million followers on TikTok, which is really, really impressive. You seem surprised about that. Did you not know you made a.

[B]

Million followers on TikTok 2.4 on Instagram? That's my main platform.

[A]

Oh, got it. 3 million across all platforms. 3 million across all platforms. So I was checking out your TikTok before that's. Why I knew that number. So you're crushing it on social media. But I was really surprised to find out that it took you five years to get your first 1,000 followers on YouTube.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So what changed? What happened? How did you go from struggling content creator to now just dominating on Instagram and TikTok?

[B]

Yeah, that's the other thing. I'm really passionate about talking about content just because I've learned a lot about it before we go into YouTube. Hala, my Instagram has 2.4 million right now. I created that account from scratch in May of 2023.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

From scratch. That's a year and a half.

[A]

Incredible.

[B]

And TikTok, I think, was a year and a half. So on YouTube when I started, I didn't have confidence. I was just vlogging my daily experiences as a student in Canada. I would talk about job searching for a bit, then I would talk about my journey, eating something or it was all over the place. And that's why I never learned. And by the time I got to a thousand subscribers, I had some followers from this topic, from that topic, and it was just all over the place. So I started a brand new channel about four months ago. And because of that one podcast that I told one of your team members about, I was on one podcast. The guy had 4,000 followers on his channel. The highest viewed video was 500. I came onto the podcast, it went live two weeks ago. That video has 400,000 views on it now and that got me 25,000 subscribers just from that podcast.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So Halal, I know you're getting excited. Man, I can't wait to upload this video. Who knows, maybe that's the same thing might happen. But then, now I know how to work social media. So I've already worked YouTube and it's working quite well now.

[A]

Oh my gosh. Yeah. You are doing an incredible job. Hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors. Yap gang, I appreciate a good deal just like anyone else, but I'm not going to cross a desert or walk through a bed of hot coals just to save a few bucks. It needs to be straightforward. No complications and no nonsense. So when Mint Mobile said that I could get wireless service for just 15 bucks a month with a three month plan, I was skeptical. But it is truly that simple to secure wireless at 15 bucks a month. And Mint Mobile made my transition incredibly easy. The entire process was online. It was easy to purchase, easy to activate, and easy to save money. The only lengthy part that took up any Time was waiting on hold to cancel my previous provider. If you want to get started, just go to mintmobile.com profiting. You'll see right now that all the three month plans are only 15 bucks a month, including the unlimited plan. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. And don't worry, you can use your own phone and keep your current phone number with any Mint Mobile plan. Find out how easy it is to switch to Mint mobile and get three months of premium wireless for just 15 bucks a month. To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mint mobile.com profiting that's mintmobile.com profiting cut your wireless bill to just 15 bucks a month at mint mobile.com profiting $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month new customers on first three month plan only. Speed slower above 40 GB on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. Yeah fam. When I first started this podcast, my amazing volunteer team helped me out. But as my business grew, we needed to hire real talent with real experience and it became overwhelming because I'd had to sort through piles and piles of resumes and interviews. And then I discovered the easy way to hire quickly and that's Indeed. Indeed is your go to matching and hiring platform where you can find, vet and lock in the best talent all in one place. Stop bouncing around between different job sites and let Indeed's matching engine help you build your dream team. I'm glad I found Indeed when I did because hiring now is a breeze. In fact, in the minute I've been talking, 23 hires were made according to Indeed data worldwide. A recent survey found that 93% of employers agree Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites. Indeed's engine learns every day from over 140 million qualifications and preferences and the more you use it, the better it gets. Join the 3 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire a Players and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs More visibility@inn Indeed.com Profiting Just go now to Indeed.com Profiting and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com profiting terms and conditions apply. Need to hire you need Indeed. Hey app Bam. Launching my LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass was one of the best decisions that I've ever made for my business and I didn't have to Figure out all the nuts and bolts of creating a website for my course. I needed a monthly subscription option. I needed chat capabilities. I needed a laundry list of features to enable what I was envisioning with my course. But here's the thing. All I had to do was literally lift a finger to get it all done. And that's because I used Shopify. Shopify is the easiest way to sell anything, to sell online or in person. It's the home of the number one checkout on the planet. And Shopify's not so secret. Secret is Shop Pay, which boosts conversions up to 50%. That means way fewer carts get abandoned and way more sales get done. If you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell wherever your customers are scrolling and strolling on the web, in your store, in the feed, and everywhere in between. Put simply, businesses that sell more sell with Shopify. Upgrade your business and get the same checkout we use at Yap Media with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com profiting and that's all lowercase, young and profits. That's shopify.com/profiting. Go to shopify.comprofiting to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com/profiting. So let's get into some actionable advice, some fundamentals when it comes to public speaking. Let's talk about volume. What do we need to know about volume when it comes to the way that we talk?

[B]

I've had a change of heart in this. I used to think you have to talk louder to be more confident, right? But then I realized if you're always loud and just talking like this the entire time, eventually it gets really annoying. But if you're always quiet like this all the time, and you look timid. So the key is not just volume. The key is variety in volume. So you go up and down and up and down. And I do this exercise in my workshops where I'll ask people to give me any topic, like on the spot. And I'll just start talking about it and I'll just tell them, okay, I'm going to vary my emotions and my volume, and you tell me if it sounds interesting. So, hello, the best way we can do this is just do it right now. You think you can prompt me with a quick topic?

[A]

Sure. Okay, just any topic.

[B]

Just give me the most boring topic you can think of in the world. Okay? And before you do that, just hold your thumb up like this just so I can see it on camera when you do this, I have to be really high volume. And when you do that, I have to be really low volume. And let's see if I can make something boring sound more interesting. Okay, we'll do 30 seconds.

[A]

Okay. Washing dishes.

[B]

Perfect. Ready to go?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Give me the thumb and I'll know where to start. Washing dishes is one of the most exciting things you can do because every single day when I make dinner, it makes me feel present in the moment because I'm there feeling the water on my hands, feeling the warmth on my hands. And I love seeing all the little dirt go off the dishes down the spiral. And it makes me think for a moment how grateful I am to have that meal.

[A]

How grateful.

[B]

See what I mean?

[A]

Yeah, I love that.

[B]

So it's the up and down and up and down. That's what makes it interesting. Not just high volume, not just low volume.

[A]

Yeah. And speed is another one where I think we need variety. Now I have my own perspectives on speed. I am a fast talker. I do a lot of workshops and trainings, and my business partner, Kate, and I love her, she's not such a fast talker. And I really, truly feel that I'm more engaging in terms of my enthusiasm. I feel like people are just awake when I'm talking, and I can have like an eight hour session and keep everybody engaged the entire time. And I think a part of it is talking fast. But I do feel like when public speaking folks come on, they often say, slow it down, you know, so tell me, what do you think?

[B]

Listen, I have adhd. I have a million thoughts running in my head and all of them want to come out at the same time. So I'm just like you, I want to talk fast. I was once invited to do a seminar on public speaking anxiety, and I've done this seminar a million times. So I show up with my 17 different things to do to overcome your public speaking anxiety. I present in front of 200 people, and immediately people say, wow, Yasser, you covered so much information. That was absolutely amazing. One of the guys says, yasser, I'm about to go next after you. That's exactly what I needed because I was so anxious in the moment. I said, amazing. So I went out, got some coffee, sat back in the room. I'm waiting for him to pop up on stage. He shows up on stage and hala, I can see the notes shaking in his hand in the moment. So he slowly walks onto the lectern, he puts his notes there, he starts speaking, going through his slides, and he's stuttering. And you know when you're. You have this feeling in your stomach where you know something bad's gonna happen. The entire time I'm watching that, my stomach is just turning inwards. And then eventually, he hits this word that he can't really pronounce properly.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

And he just puts the clicker down and walks off stage. And I'm seeing it, and it's just. I can't understand why. So afterwards, I see him in the parking lot, and I say, hey, what happened? You were just there in my presentation. He said, oh, man. I just. I got nervous. I don't know what happened. You were in my presentation where I Talked about the 17 ways to overcome public speaking anxiety.

[A]

You were front row.

[B]

What happened? And Hala, he said three words I'll never forget. I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember. And that's when I realized, what's the point of me talking fast? High energy. Covering these 17 points, when he couldn't remember it, when he needed it most, that's when I learned to slow it down. So my coach has this great saying. Craig Valentine, he says, I'd rather give you three things you remember than 10 things you forget. Three things you remember, then 10 things you forget. So I really narrowed down the amount of material I share, but I also try to vary the pace a little bit as well when I talk.

[A]

So same thing with volume. You also want to vary your pace. So what is talking slow do versus talking fast? Like, what does it portray when people are listening to you?

[B]

Talking fast builds momentum. Like, okay, we're going somewhere. Come along with me. I'm going. But then I want you to think about this for a second. Then you slow the pace down, and every time you want to make a point. This is one of the biggest challenges people have in storytelling. They skip over the most important part of the story because they're going so fast. So if you really want people to listen, slow down and you whisper. What happens when you slow down? What happens when you whisper? People immediately lean forward. So if you look at any of my talks, you'll say, I'm super high energy. And then it'll immediately drop the energy, and then people feel it in that moment. So you use pauses effectively. But, you know, some people who are trying to be good public speakers, Hala, I'm sure you've seen them. They are always trying to talk like this. I have great pauses. And then you're listening to it. You don't sound like a human being. It's Just a little too theatrical, too rehearsed for me. So I'd rather you be real and have variety than just try to be this choreographed speaker that everyone wants to see.

[A]

And speaking of being authentic and real, I know one of the things that you say is that you shouldn't really be memorizing your stuff. You should just know your stuff. So talk to us about that.

[B]

Yeah. Memorizing is you putting on a performance on stage. I memorize every single word. I'm here on stage just to say the word, so I feel like I did a good job for myself and then I can sit back in my chair. You'll be shocked. Actually, you probably won't be shocked if you've ever been to college. How many people are completely unaware that their audience is uninterested in what they're saying? If you're ever doing a pitch or zoom meeting, the audience has been zoned out for half an hour, but they're still just going on and on because where's their focus? Hala, I need you to get the words out. That's it. So when you, instead of memorizing, you internalize meaning. Just say the words out loud. And half the time when you do that, you'll realize, oh, that didn't come out right. That didn't really sound good. Even I can understand what I'm saying. Let me rework that. You know the structure and the flow of information, but you don't have every single word memorized. So now what happens is, if I asked you, Hala, tell me what you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday. If you remember, you can tell me. You don't have to memorize every single ingredient. You can just tell me what you had. So when you show up for your speech, you know the sequence and then what you're able to do is you're able to be in the moment with the audience. And when someone's phone rings or someone makes a comment, you're able to go out of the speech, interact with them, and come back in and be present in the moment. That's the difference between internalizing and memorizing.

[A]

I feel like that works in many most situations. But sometimes, like for example, I do this presentation called the IB Up Fronts. It's like the biggest podcast advertising event. And I just have 10 minutes. So for every other speech, I just know my stuff and it's really natural. But for the 10 minute timed one, I need to memorize it so that I can get every single point that I want across and I just memorize it and just do it. And try to be as engaging as possible. What are your thoughts on that?

[B]

Well, that depends on the goal. If your goal is to get those specific words in that specific order out, then, yes, memorize it. Like your elevator pitch.

[A]

Right, Exactly.

[B]

If the goal is to engage in having a conversation with the audience, which is most of public speaking, then you should not memorize. Imagine having a conversation with someone who's memorized every sentence of their conversation.

[A]

Oh, yeah, that's. You could tell that in a sales pitch. And you're like, oh, my God, this guy is just.

[B]

Exactly. So there is a performance element to it then. Absolutely. As long as you don't sound like you've rehearsed every single word.

[A]

Exactly. Okay, cool. Glad you're aligned with that. Pauses and breaths. How should we think about them?

[B]

At the end of the sentence and when you want to create anticipation. So I try to use it at the end of a sentence, because if I don't pause, usually an or will stick in. And you'll find when most people have ums or uhs, they don't quite know what to say next and they're afraid of the silence in between. So then they add a little more in there, and that buys them some time. So that sounds a little bit like this instead. So that sounds like this. Just removing that and being comfortable with silence really helps. And then also what I like to do is whenever I'm making a big point, I'll combine this with high volume, and then I will drop the energy and I'll pause. So for example, I was getting this birthday gift. I was so excited about it. I finally opened the gift and I couldn't believe that it was a pair of socks. I always wanted high energy, pause, drop energy. Can you see how much you felt that in that moment?

[A]

Yeah. So let's talk about working the stage. Right. How can we first of all tell if people are unengaged and engaged? And what are the ways that, aside from what we're saying, that we can engage people?

[B]

The biggest mistake, or rather I'd say the biggest missed opportunity for most people, Hala, is getting off stage. On stage. Now, you might be thinking, what do you mean? If you look at my last keynote, I start the speech on stage, then I get off stage and I start talking to people individually. What happens then? Now they know. He's not just going to talk for an hour. I am in his speech. He's going to ask me questions, whether it's raise your hand, nod your head, what comes to mind. When I say this word, I'm having a conversation with him the entire time. And you'll notice no one else does that because they come onto the stage, they say their slides and then they hop off. But the moment you step off the stage, now you're one of them. Now you're having a conversation. You're not, hey, I'm this mighty public speaker up here. Please listen to me, bow down to me. You talk to them, and then you go back up on stage. So every single time I'll talk about something, I'll ask a question, I'll go off stage, have a conversation, bring it back. So, for example, in one of my modules, I'll say, what do you think is the number one thing or one mistake people make in their presentations? Shout some words at me as I walk around. I'll get off stage, I'll walk around and I'll collect all the words from them. So I heard this, I heard that, I heard this. All of those are great answers, but that's not the number one thing. And then I will go into my speech. So how are they feeling? Hey, everything that we said is contributing to his speech. And now it's a conversation and not a performance.

[A]

So let's say this is a meeting or an investor's pitch. How can you tell if people are engaged or not? And also talk to us about hand gestures. Like, what can we do to make it more interesting?

[B]

To answer your first question, do regular check ins. And regular check ins are just these quick questions. Raise your hand if I'm on the right track, or nod your head if you've seen this before. Just these really, really quick engagement points so you know they're still with you. If someone's on their phone, at the very least when they hear it, they know they have to be sucked back in. Now, a trick that I use is if I know the people in the room and I want to get their specific attention, I'll call them out by name. So let's say there's 10 people there. So for example, Michael, you remember in our last meeting, right? We did xyz. So what I'm talking about here is immediately when they hear their name. Oh, okay, right, like that. I love that you have to be attentive to people. Now on Zoom, the way I would do this, if I don't know anyone, I see their names pop up. So I showed up. I had no idea who anyone was in the room. I was really nervous. Hala, what do you think I did in that moment? Exactly. I was really nervous before my speech. So I would just look at their name. I will get their attention. I will place them into my speech. That way they feel acknowledged throughout. So if there's 50 people in my zoom call, I will take many different names throughout it. So every single person feels recognized throughout it. Remind me of your second question. Hallelujah.

[A]

Your body language in general, hand gestures, body language, what do you recommend?

[B]

Yeah. Does it aid the story? Does it aid the purpose? Body language can get very distracting as well. I remember I used to do this entire play with my hands, and people had to tell me, hey, relax a little bit. You're putting on this. It doesn't contribute to your story. So if it adds to the story, great. I naturally use my hands a lot, but in meetings specifically, I've noticed that the more controlled your hands are, the more confident you sound. Because if you ask me a question, Yasser, are you really a good public speaking coach? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm a great public speaking coach. I've done a lot. You can see all this uncontrolled movement in the moment, and that shows you I'm not very confident now. Whereas if you asked me the same question and I'd move nothing about my body. Yasser, why are you such a good public speaker? I'm a really good public speaker because I've done this enough. I didn't move my body at all. But that showed stability and calmness and composure. So it really depends on the context. It's not just more or less, it's what's the context? What are you trying to communicate?

[A]

And I also heard you say the power of showing your palms.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What does that do for us psychologically?

[B]

But what happens when we can't see someone's hands? Psychologically? We just don't know what they're holding in their hands. We don't know if they're holding a weapon or what might be. If someone's hands are under the desk, in their pocket, behind their hands, subconsciously, it creates uncertainty. Hmm. I can't see his hands, or I can't see her hands. I wonder what they're doing. I wonder what they're hiding. Right. So similarly, if someone puts on a hoodie in the middle of the night and is walking down the street and you're walking towards them, just because it's dark, you can't see them. They've got a hoodie on. There's uncertainty. So that's why when you reveal your palms, it shows that you're friendly, it shows that there's A lack of I'm not hiding anything. So open palm gestures tend to be much easier on the eyes to perceive a message.

[A]

Okay, so we're about to do a fun little segment. It's a quick fire segment. It's going to be getting tips on delivering our content better. I'm going to rattle off a word like intelligence, and then you can tell me how we can sound more intelligent. I might even rattle off a celebrity name or something like that. Okay, let's do it persuasive.

[B]

Admit to your own limitations first before you tell them what to do.

[A]

Give me an example.

[B]

So if I said, go vegan, it'll change your life. Your diet sucks. You're probably not going to go vegan. But if I said, man, I loved eating meat, but for some reason, when I would go to my jiu jitsu class, my stamina would just run out. Then I met this guy who said, hey, have you tried going vegan? I said, are you out of your mind? He said, I didn't like it either, but I tried going vegan. It really helped. So I said, okay. I tried it for a month and oh, my God, did it help? My stamina was through the roof. So if your stamina is an issue, give it a shot. Which one was better? How about that?

[A]

The second one for sure. Okay. Intelligence or smart?

[B]

Count the number of things you will share. So if I said hala, today I'm going to share a couple of things with you that will help with public speaking or hala, today I'm going to share five things that will help you with public speaking. Which one sounds more intelligent?

[A]

The five things.

[B]

All I did was number it. And it does so much because it makes you think, oh, this person has thought about it enough that they know how many numbers are tied to that equation. Quick little tip.

[A]

Love that. Alex Hermozy.

[B]

It's funny. I was front row in his workshop, so I got to see him live. The one word that comes to mind with him is, he's so real and authentic in the moment that because he's real, whatever he says, it goes straight to our heart. It's not a performance. He's not reading off any slides. He genuinely feels anything. And remember this. If they don't feel it, they forget it. If they don't feel it, they forget it. And every time Alex speaks, he feels. And that's why so many of us remember so many of his quotes.

[A]

Love that. Imaginative.

[B]

If you want to transport people, somewhere in your story, one of the most powerful words you could use is the word imagine. And better yet, place them in your story with a phrase so they can imagine themselves there. Now, I don't even know if you remember this hala, but when I told you my story of when I came to Canada, I said, if you were there in the room with me, you would have seen me walk to the stairs. What are you doing when I say that? You imagine. Exactly. So when you're telling a story, don't just say I did this, then this, then this happened. Now you're telling a sequence of events. Put the person in the room with you there. Get them to imagine.

[A]

Okay, last one. Compassionate or empathetic? How can we be more compassionate?

[B]

I've got a TED Talk on empathy, so I'm going to have to go empathy between the two of them. But sure. I had a run in with someone who it was a small town in Canada and I was doing door to door sales and I knocked their door and they opened the door and the first thing they said was, get off my lawn, you effing Hindu.

[A]

Oh my God.

[B]

And that was four months in Canada. Now you can imagine my reaction. Now at the time I was really traumatized by it, but I heard it so much throughout the summer, a lot of this racism that eventually just stopped and asked him, hey, what happened? Where did this come from? And he told me a story about some guy who looked like me who broke into his car and stole it. And about two hours later I ended up walking out of his house selling him an alarm system. And all of that happened because I was able to empathize with someone who just hated the idea of my very existence. So that's how far empathy can take you. And I expand more on that in my TED Talk.

[A]

Amazing. So I'll stick your TED Talk link in the show. Notes. Let's double tap on intelligence. I think people get a lot of things wrong when it comes to trying to sound intelligent. Can you talk to us about how we can make really complex things easier to understand?

[B]

I give you a perfect example. You mentioned Hermozy earlier. I was at Hermozy's workshop and one of the things they do in the workshop is you have these roundtables where you sit with one of the people on his team and you've got about 10 people and we have a minute to ask a question and they give you a response. And as the next person. So I was noticing this person next to me, he would ask a question. So this is my business and I'm trying to do this other thing and Also, by the way, my wife does this. And so five years ago, he's giving his entire life story, and then he gets the answer and he's not satisfied with the answer. He does that two times and three times, and I lean over to him and I say, hey, listen, I don't know what your question is. I don't know how he knows how to answer your question. Why don't you start by asking your question and then providing the details and see if that helps. So the next roundtable he had was he said, hey, I have a lot of followers, but they're not converting for context. Xyz, what do I do? And then he got a good answer. And he said, man, what happened there? I said, you know what happened. You hadn't processed your own thoughts. You threw your unprocessed thoughts at the other person. You were hoping they would untangle those thoughts, find the question, and somehow give you a good answer. It does not make you sound intelligent. Instead, it makes you sound lazy. So first, think about what you want to ask. Start with a point and then go into the detail. So if someone's trying to sound more intelligent, sound like you thought about what you're about to say first.

[A]

And then how about using big words? Is that helpful at all?

[B]

Not at all. In fact, when I'm working with CEOs, the number one thing I have to do is simplify everything. I work with a lot of people in the web3 crypto space, and they have so many terms they don't want to throw at people. And one of the clients just yesterday, he was, he was not even two minutes into the pitch, I said, listen, you lost me. I have no idea what you're talking about. He said, but these are important. I said, listen, do the people who are investing in your business, do they understand this terminology? No. Then simplify it. Use analogies, use metaphors, use stories to put me in the room. That's how you get their attention. So, yes, simplify it. Don't worry about the vocabulary.

[A]

I know you have this great technique called the PAM technique to help people understand and simplify concepts. Could you break that down for us?

[B]

Phrases, analogies and metaphors. So your phrases would be your one liner. So if I said I have a dream, who's the person who comes to mind?

[A]

Martin Luther King.

[B]

If I said the name Alex Hermozy, what's a quote that comes to mind?

[A]

Focus is more important than anything.

[B]

So can you see how the moment you think of a person, a quote comes to mind, the moment you Think of a quote, a person comes to mind. That's the importance of having these repeatable quotes. Most people don't have them in their back pocket. So earlier, like I said, purpose over praise. That's a quote, that's a phrase. So when you repeat these phrases enough times, people associate that phrase with you. So Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Tell me a single word from the rest of his speech of transmission. No one has any idea. Exactly. Simon Sinek. Start with Y. Tell me a single word. No one knows. So you have to have these phrases in your back pocket and then you have to have analogies. So for example, I like to tell people, hey, if you're going to speak, start with the gift, then the gift wrap. The analogy says, don't tell me the 50,000 points without the actual message and takeaway. Tell me what the purpose is and then give me the details. Start with the gift, then find the gift wrap. So can you see how the analogy and the metaphor helps your understanding? Take a familiar concept and use that to explain an unfamiliar concept. That would be your metaphor and analogies.

[A]

So one other tip that you give is actually listening to smart things, listening to other smart people. How does that help us, especially in day to day communications?

[B]

If you think about how we learn a language, especially when we're babies, how do we learn? We learn from our parents, we learn from people around us. We subconsciously absorb it. How many toddlers are going to language classes? I imagine not many. Maybe Elon Musk did, I don't know. But we don't learn through courses and classrooms. We learn through exposure. So similarly, what kind of material are you exposing yourself to every single day? What are you reading? Who are you listening to? If they're listening to your podcast, I imagine they have a very rich vocabulary. The moment you start listening to all these things and they sink into your brain, you won't even realize. You start saying things that you've heard in podcasts, but you don't even know you heard it somewhere until someone says, oh, I've heard that somewhere. Where did you say that from? Because subconsciously, all of this is sitting in your head. So you have to really carefully guard what you allow in and what you don't allow in in terms of your intellect.

[A]

We'll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors. Yeah, fam, if you're anything like me, you didn't start your business to spend all your time managing finances, budgeting, invoicing and tax prep. Not exactly the fun part of entrepreneurship. My COO Jason is great at the finance stuff, but even he doesn't want to switch between five different apps for banking, expense tracking and contractor payments. We wanted a tool that could just do it all and save us our time. And guess what? We found that tool. And yes, it's called Found. Found is an all in one financial tool made for entrepreneurs. Found handles everything business banking, bookkeeping, invoicing and vendor payments, and even tax planning. No more juggling multiple apps. Found does it all in one place. With smart features like automatic expense tracking, virtual cards for specific budgets, and no hidden fees or minimum balances. Found helps us stay organized and save time. Plus, signing up is quick and easy. No paperwork or credit checks required. Join the 500,000 small business owners who trust Found. Get your business banking working for you. Try Found for [e-mail] profiting stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free at found.com profiting Sign up for Found for free at F o u n d.com/profiting found is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Piermont bank member fdic. Found's core features are free. They also offer an optional paid product. Found plus what's up? Yeah fam I travel so much for my job these days, and on top of that I've been spending more time in Miami. In fact, I'll be down there keeping myself warm most of the winter. I love to travel, but at the same time I feel like my glamorous Jersey City apartment with its pink velvet couch and skyline view of the city. It's just going to waste. But what if it didn't have to? A lot of people don't realize that they might have an Airbnb of their own right under their noses. You can host your whole place or spare room when you're out of town. So many of my successful friends host and it's such an amazing way to generate passive income. And now you can also hire a co host to make the job easier than ever, especially if you're going to be away for an extended period of time. Vetted by Airbnb Co hosts have experience in the hosting space and can help with your bookings, manage reservations, provide on site support, and more for your investment properties. So if you're escaping to the warm weather this winter like me, find yourself a co [e-mail] host so something that I want to talk to you about in detail is storytelling. Because I feel like storytelling is so important even when it comes to relationships. We were just talking about dating. I think being a good storyteller just makes you more engaging, more interesting to people. What are some of the ways that storytelling helps us in our communication? What does storytelling do? How do people feel when they hear stories?

[B]

The most important thing that I feel storytelling does is just memorable. People just remember for much longer. So if I asked you, do you want people to remember what you said? Yes. Okay. Do you want to share your message in a way that people remember it? Yes. Then you must do it in a format of a story. How many of your three hour lectures do you remember from college? Hello.

[A]

Like, none.

[B]

Exactly. How many movies since you were a child do you remember?

[A]

Plenty.

[B]

And all of those are stories. I imagine none of those were 30 bullet points from start to finish, right?

[A]

No.

[B]

So you have to learn to create imagery and you have to get people to feel something. If they don't feel anything, they will not remember it. And I'll give you a really strange example here. When I was a kid, I had a costume party when I was about 7 years old at school, and I had this crush on a girl and she was going to dress up as Pikachu. So I said, okay, what goes well with Pikachu? I'm thinking of all the best costumes. And for some reason I come up with Bugs Bunny, right? So I show up as Bugs Bunny in the moment, and I'm trying to impress her, and she says, oh, Yasser, of course you're Bugs Bunny. Like, oh, how did you know? Oh, because of your two large ugly front teeth.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

And I didn't Forget that for 20 years. Holla. That one single sentence for 20 years because of how she made me feel in that moment. And the reason I say that is because that story I've told so many times to so many people that, hey, the words that come out of your mouth, they're important. What you say might not be what they hear. You might say something as a joke to somebody, but they might remember it for a very, very long time. So that's why when you're telling a story similarly, you can have positive words, positive phrases that people will remember for a very, very long time. For example, Karen, in the first meeting that I ever met her in Toastmasters, she said, it takes one small step to change your life. I still remember that. It's been more than a decade, so.

[A]

Talk to us about how we can become better storytellers. Just like, how can we start to infuse stories and the things that we do and get better at it. Is there a formula or like, how should we think about it?

[B]

There are three things that I talk about, the three Rs to be remembered. The first R is your story has to be repeatable. If I hear the story, can I hear it long enough to then repeat it to someone else? So if you've heard your favorite standup comedian, you have this bit that you like. Oh, he has a great bit on dating or great bit on whatever, you can repeat it to other people. If I can't repeat it, I won't remember it. So first thing has to be repeatable. Number two, does it relay emotion? Do I feel something when I hear your story? I can tell you about how I got into my car and I got gas and I came back home. What's the point? It's a pointless story, but is there a point to it? And you'll be shocked how many things you can make sound emotional. Like earlier we talked about cleaning the dishes and just with the volume, we made it sound a little bit emotional. Right. Someone asked me in a conference of 500 loan officers napkins, and we made napkins emotional. So can you talk about that with emotion? Can you resonate and relay your emotion? And number three, I feel like this is the strongest thing when it comes to storytelling. Can you reframe an existing belief? If your story tells me what I already know, it's not changing my belief. Can you take me from point A to point B and reframe how I look at the world? That's what a good story does. So three things. It has to be repeatable. You have to relay emotion and it has to reframe your beliefs.

[A]

It's so true. Stories really trigger our own emotions. We feel more relatable to the person talking. And to your point, it helps us question our own beliefs. And that's the point, especially with social media, gets people commenting and giving their thoughts. They're agreeing, they're disagreeing, and it causes a lot of engagement.

[B]

Add one more quota to that. You said something really amazing there. You said about how they change the belief. A quote that I love because I created it. It's good. Speakers tell you what to do. Memorable speakers make you question what is true. They make you change your beliefs. And if they don't make you change your beliefs, you're not going to see the world. Any difference.

[A]

So I know we were just talking about how you grew a great personal brand on Instagram, on TikTok. How do you infuse storytelling to get people emotionally attached to You.

[B]

I haven't done a great job of that to be very transparent with you. I'm always talking about tips and tricks and all these things that I never really talked about it much until my clients started telling me, hey, I love that one video you made where you talked about your adhd. I love how you talk about. Oh, you mean you actually like that? That's not filler content. And then I started tapping into that quite a bit more. I don't know what it is with me, Hala. Maybe it's my childhood, but I. I feel like if I tell people stories where I struggled in the past, it's going to be a downer and people will feel worse off. But I've learned over time, if you share your pain, it's almost always in the audience's gain.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

So now I've started leaning into it more and more. So it's only recently that I've been talking about all the mess ups I've had with my clients, all the terrible advice I've given them, how I used to be anxious with my public speaking and now people are starting to relate to it. So I imagine my following might grow a little bit faster now. But to give you an honest answer, I didn't use much storytelling in all this content up until now.

[A]

I love that you're being honest about this now. I also am very similar where I'm always giving entrepreneurship advice and interview clips of other people. Now whenever I replay something like my MIT speech that you mentioned where I'm giving my own personal story, I get 10 times more DMS where people go out of their way. Hey, I heard that. And oh my gosh, I totally relate. And I just want to say you're doing such a great job. So much more actionable things that people do, like, aside from just commenting, they really go out of their way. And I get so much more engagement. So it's so important for you to share your story. It makes people feel like they know you better, you're an old friend and then they support you more because of it.

[B]

Emotion creates devotion. Mm. And it's hard to relay emotion with tips and tricks. When was the last time you gave your teacher a standing ovation?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Unless they shared a story. Never. Right. They're giving you tips and tricks. Very helpful. But that you won't give them a standing ovation. But when someone sings a song with their heart, when someone delivers a performance. Hell, I've been in cinemas where a movie ended. There's no one there. People will stand up and clap. Why? Because it's the emotion that creates the devotion. I was speaking with a coach, and I used to listen to his speech, and I said, listen, you always get a standing ovation at the end. I'm doing all these workshops and public speaking. I'm so valuable. How come I don't get it? He's like, because people don't feel anything. And storytelling, that's what makes people feel something. So try ending with a story. I ended with a story. And guess what? Standing ovation.

[A]

So I've got some advice for you. I teach personal branding, and I help influencers grow on social media and LinkedIn specifically. And one of the things that I tell my students is to create a story journal. So everybody has 10, 20, 30 stories, milestones that have happened in their life. They got fired. They had a transformation. They were an intern. Then they became a CEO. Somebody died. Everybody has big milestone stories. But the problem is that when you tell them to share their stories online, they're like, why? I don't have any stories? But everybody has stories. You got to write them down, and then you've got to say them in a million different ways. So what are your thoughts about that? Like, how can people prepare their storytelling and anything to add there?

[B]

I love that. I love that. So, okay, this is going to be a really weird example. I'm going to tell you a really quick story. Okay. I spent a month and a half preparing the perfect intro for a keynote I had coming. I want to get. Yeah, just the first sentence of it. Okay. And the first sentence was going to be, I have a confession to make. You might have heard that I've got all these followers, but there was a time that I wasn't very confident, and I was going to go into my speech about my journey. Right. It's going to start on a very somber note. And the night before my keynote, I'm having a dinner with the team, and they notice that I'm not drinking. I don't drink. They said, okay, hey, you asked her, you don't drink? I said, no. Oh, I also noticed you didn't drink any coffee in the morning. How come you don't drink coffee? I said, oh, it was because it dehydrates me. And then he said, so what? And I was thinking, okay, how do I explain to them? How do I say this? So here's the thing. I make money with my mouth, so it dehydrates me. But before I could say the dehydration part, everyone started laughing. And then I realized what I had just said, and they said, that's what you should open your keynote with. I said, are you out of your mind? And no, no, no. Open with that. So now I've spent a month and a half on that perfect line. And the next day I said, okay, let me try it. And I tried it and it killed it.

[A]

Completely amazing.

[B]

So that was the story of just in the moment, how I came up with it because of what happened there. And that was a story, right? It was a quick little anecdote that I pulled into the speech. So every single day, like you're saying you're going to have experiences that give you a story. Lower the bar. What a story is. Yesterday I was in line for 15 minutes for some new coffee shop that opened up that was terrible. And I'm thinking, what's the message? Life's too short to wait. That's the message. You can just practice that with everything every day.

[A]

Yeah. And I love what you're saying here because you're saying stories don't have to be like long and complicated. Stories can actually be simple. Right. You've got this prep formula. Can you go over what that is? And then maybe can we do some role playing? Related.

[B]

And by the way, this is not my formula. I learned it from Stanford, so.

[A]

Oh, okay, so Stanford's formula, but we're learning it from.

[B]

Yes, it's point, reason, example, point. And it's mainly for, let's say you've got an impromptu speech or you want to say something and make sense of it. You give a point of something, you provide an example of it, reason, an example and then a point. I do PRP or psp, point, reason, point, point, story point. Just because I find that I naturally infuse an example in there. So why don't you give me a random question and I'm going to give you a terrible answer and then we'll try to implement it in there.

[A]

Okay. Why did you become a public speaker?

[B]

Oh, man, there's so many reasons I became a public speaker. You know, I always wanted to share my message and there's so many things I'm interested in, like public speaking, confidence and reading books and mindfulness. I wanted to share that with people. And, yeah, you know, it's always been like a goal of mine. And. Yeah, that's why I'm a public speaker.

[A]

Pretty bad all over the place.

[B]

Have you heard an answer like that before?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Nine times out of 10 right now, what I'm going to do, I'm going to Say the exact same thing. I'm just going to structure it differently. I'm going to pick one specific reason and I'm going to go into that. Okay, so ask me that question again.

[A]

Why did you become a public speaker?

[B]

I became a public speaker to show other people how important their voice is. Halal. When I grew up, I didn't speak for 20 years because there was a little girl who made fun of my teeth and I was embarrassed to open my mouth. But when I started practicing public speaking, I realized how many more people were being affected with the words that were coming out of my mouth. So now it was my responsibility to open my mouth and I want to show other people through my public speaking that their voice matters as well. That's why I got into public speaking.

[A]

I can imagine this could be really helpful to prepare for networking events because everyone's going to ask you the same questions, like, what do you do for a living? And what are you passionate about?

[B]

Exactly. If you just script three questions one time in your life, it will make you successful in every single network. Just what do you do? Why are you here? Tell me about yourself. That's it. Just script them one time and you will be good for life. But you'll be shocked. How many times, like, so what brought you here? You know, my wife dragged me down here, like, oh, my God, why me? And then you have to just move on to the next person. And I've been to conferences where people were representing their company, Hala, and said, hey, what are you finding interesting about the event so far? Oh, I guess it's all right. You know, I'm just here for a couple of hours. Why are you here? Yeah, this sends somebody else.

[A]

You're fired.

[B]

Exactly. Exactly.

[A]

Yeah. So I know that you are coaching CEOs now, and I imagine that you are taking sales calls and closing and pitching these CEOs. What advice do you have for the entrepreneurs? Tuning in for how to handle a sales call and some communication tips around that.

[B]

If you go to my website right now and you go to coaching, you will see one video of me that says, I am completely booked. I do not have time. If you want to work with me, here's $2,000 an hour. Book a call. That's my funnel. So there was a time where I was doing sales calls there. I'm no longer doing sales calls. Fortunately, I have such demand that I can't afford.

[A]

Yeah, content marketing is working for you. Yeah.

[B]

You want it two grand an hour. Right. But when I did have it, I would often Find that if someone's in a position where they want to work on a skill that's far in the future, they have no urgency. Yeah, I want to become a good public speaker. Yeah, I say with like, 20 grand, I'll let you know. But if they have a presentation coming up, hey, I'm pitching my product in front of 15,000 people. I've never stepped on stage. I don't care how much you charge, let's do it now. It's a lot easier for me, and I just prefer working with people who have a specific end goal in mind, because skills take time. There's no urgency around it if you've got a specific presentation coming up. Tends to be easy. So I think the sales message here is find a way to add urgency into the process. Full transparency. I'm probably not the best salesperson in general to ask, but my content does a lot of persuasion. So by the time they're on the call, I don't really have to do a whole lot.

[A]

Yasser, this has been such an amazing conversation. Do you have any last bit of advice for entrepreneurs related to their communication and public speaking that you feel like you didn't get a chance to share?

[B]

I'll leave you with this. I never wanted to implement any of the things that we just talked about today. I've heard them a million times, but I never wanted to do them. Oh, yeah, sounds great, right? A woman came to my workshop once, and she said, yasser, I'm not very confident. Teach me public speaking. And I got her to speak a little bit, and she said, I'm a midwife, and this is what I do. I said, okay. And she stopped talking after 30 seconds. So I said, okay. Can you tell me something interesting that happened to you at work? And she said, yeah, as a midwife, I help with delivering babies. I said, okay. And one day a woman came in, and she was delivering a baby, and she delivered the baby. But when the baby came out, the baby wasn't breathing. So all the doctors immediately went. They did cpr, tried to resuscitate the baby over and over again. They tried for 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds. Eventually, they had to call it. So they looked at her and they said, hey, Mary, it's up to you. We did what we could. I know. Tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, you're off. But do whatever you got to do. We'll meet on Monday. So the doctor's left, and Mary's standing there in the room. And on one side, you see a mother who just gave birth on the Other side, you're seeing a baby boy who's not breathing. So in that moment, she just goes to the mother and says, hey, can I just continue giving cpr? Can I just, like, what do I have to lose, right? So she continues giving CPR, continues 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, and the baby starts breathing.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And immediately she wraps up the baby in a pink blanket, runs down the pharmacist and says, hey, I need medication right now to stabilize the baby's condition. And the pharmacist says, hey, you don't have the authority for this. And she says, listen, this might not be my job, but it's my responsibility. Give me the medication. She signed up with her own name, brought the medication back. Monday morning, all the doctors came in and they see the baby breastfeeding and they're like, did she deliver twins? What the heck happened there? And the mom just pointed at Mary and said, that's the reason why my baby's still alive. Because she was in the room. She stayed Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday to make sure my baby was still alive. So I heard that story and I asked her, listen, what made you stay there? You were off the weekend like it was every. Everyone just made the decision. She said, yasser, I realized that it was not my job, it was my responsibility. So the message I want to give your audience is, it's not your job to rehearse. It's not your job to be prepared. It's not your job to have stories and messages. But if what you're talking about, if what you say and do is important, it is your responsibility to prepare and rehearse for every single time you open your mouth.

[A]

Oh my gosh. So good. And such a great example of storytelling and good storytelling. Thank you, Yasser. I end my show with two questions that I ask all my guests. The first one is, what is one actionable thing my young and profits can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?

[B]

Tell the stories they wish they could have heard when they were a child.

[A]

Why when they were a child?

[B]

Specifically, because that's where a lot of our trauma develops. That's where a lot of our needs and wants develops, and we don't really visit them often. If you look at public speaking anxiety specifically, most of it happens because some teacher said something. Your parents were really scolding you, so what would that person need to hear? And then think of the stories that that person would need to hear because all the adults in the room you're talking to, they're just grown up kids with the same Exact drama. So think of those stories and tell those stories.

[A]

And what is your secret to profiting in life? And this can go beyond business, beyond the topic of today's episode. What is your secret to profiting in life?

[B]

I'll leave you with one last piece of advice that my client gave me. Are you familiar with the brand Lumi deodorant? Hello.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

The founder is one of a client of mine, Shannon Klingman. She's had the biggest impact on me. In fact, I have her male brand deodorant on my desk as well.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

When she got in a call with me, I didn't want to work with her because I was full. I have no capacity. And she said, whatever it is, just let me know. Let's just work together. I said, listen, I just didn't want to work with her. It's $5,000 a month. I wanted to push her away. And she said two words I will never forget. She said, that's it. What do you mean it's 5,000? That's it? That's all you charge. She was skeptical of me because of my price. I have never in my life heard that. After we worked together, she said, yasser, I would have paid you 25 grand for the work we did together. What the heck are you doing? I said, listen, I'm a public speaking coach. There's a million of them out there. Why would you pay me 25 grand? She said, you know what made my brand successful? I have the only full body deodorant in the world. Everyone else has just the deodorant for the armpits. The reason my brand was successful is because I wasn't trying to be better. I was trying to be different. So, Yasser, be better at being different. Be better at being different. That's why I went to working just with CEOs. I bought the domain. Speak like a CEO. All my clients are just CEOs. That's how I profited in life. So be better at being different.

[A]

Yeah. So you dropped so many gems. I feel like everyone learned so much. Thank you for your time today. Where can everybody learn more about you and everything that you do?

[B]

Speak like a CEO dot com. And if you want to find me on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, it's speaking with Yasa.

[A]

Amazing. Thank you so much.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Well, yap gang, I hope you gained some valuable insights into the art of public speaking from my guest today, Yasser Khan. Like he said, verbal communication is literally how you show up to the world. The words that come out of your mouth, reflect on you and your brand every day, and can have a profound impact on your success. Yasser shared some great practical strategies that can transform not just only how you communicate, but also how you connect with your audience, whether that's in a boardroom or on a stage. Here were some of my favorite pointers. First, varying your volume and pace is essential for capturing and maintaining your audience's attention. Slowing down your speaking pace allows your audience to absorb information more effectively, while fluctuations in volume can emphasize key points. Next, make sure your body language and hand gestures help the story that you're telling. Otherwise, it could just be distracting. Often, the less that you use your hands, the more confident and in control you appear. Also, when it comes to the words that you use, internalize what you want to say, don't memorize it, and avoid big words and overly complex language or jargon. Keep things simple and use analogies and metaphors to help others understand concepts. By mastering basic techniques like this, you can ensure that your message resonates long after you finished speaking. Thanks for listening to this episode of Young and Profiting Podcast. If you listen, learned and profited from the public speaking insights of Yasir Khan, then why not let somebody else do the same? And if you did enjoy this show and you learned something, then please take a couple minutes to drop us a five star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to the show. I don't think anything makes me happier than getting a new review. I read them every single day and they always make my day. If you're looking for me, you can find me on Instagram at yabwith, Hala or LinkedIn by searching my name. It's Hala. Haha. If you like to watch your podcast as videos, you can find all of our episodes on YouTube. And finally, a quick shout out to my production team here at YAP Media. You guys are all absolute rock stars. Thank you for all that you do. This is your host Halataha, AKA the Podcast Princess signing off.