Last month’s first post of the Staging Diva Dispatch blog I wrote, “I love this time of year because I always feel like it’s a fresh start.” Just as I encourage my students to do, I’ve really been pushing myself outside my own comfort zone to grow personally and professionally.
One of my big hurdles has been feeling confident in promoting myself as a public speaker. I regularly host conference calls for 200 people, yet getting up in front of a live audience is not the same. In fact, in college I was the kid who used to get full-blown strep throat on the very day I had to give a class presentation.
In order to get past my fear, I realized I had to jump in with both feet, so I applied to be a featured speaker at NLP Canada’s HOPE Symposium that was held in September. To prepare, I had to draw on all the confidence boosting techniques I share with my home staging students and give myself the pep talk I usually give others.
I also took $3,000 worth of speaker training. When I’m serious about a goal, I’m a firm believer in investing in information that will help me succeed faster. Life is too short to waste it spinning in circles when someone else has prepared a shortcut for success!
The symposium was an awesome experience and many audience members spoke to me later to say I had inspired them as entrepreneurs. What better reward is there than to know you helped pave the way for others to move forward?
I’ve written in the past that if you push yourself to do something that’s scary for you, you will be stronger afterwards and it will give you more personal strength and confidence to accomplish other things. I know intellectually that this is true, but I actually experienced physical proof a couple of weeks ago.
The symposium I spoke at was on a Saturday and the following Monday I went for a workout with my personal trainer. Would you believe that with every single exercise I did, I could lift more weight than ever before? The difference was significant too— I could lift 50% more weight during many of the exercises! When I left the gym, I felt so empowered and ready to dive into my next challenge.
Conquering my fear of speaking to a large audience literally made me stronger. So imagine what conquering a fear does to us psychologically!
What barrier do you need to push through in your own personal or professional life? Try closing your eyes and envisioning yourself on the other side of it. Now pay attention to how you feel when you’re there!
In the last week, I’ve found another event to speak at and also entered a business awards competition (more on that later if I’m a finalist!) which required me to battle against a million negative voices in my head saying things like, “Who are you to think you deserve this?”
My mission— to inspire and empower others to earn a living doing what they love — is one that I take seriously. And it’s something that I’ve strived to do for many years. In fact, this week marks the 22nd anniversary of quitting a high-level job to start my first business. I was about to turn 30, had a mortgage on my own and a ton of “bag lady fears,” but I took the leap anyways. And I’m still leaping because it’s all a journey of finding out who we are and what we’re capable of, if we’re going to savor every drop of juice that life has to offer.
Thank you for being part of the Staging Diva community, and I hope to continue to be a voice of possibility for you!
I welcome your opinions and/or new story ideas and hope you enjoy this month of Staging Diva Dispatch posts, and that they help you grab hold of your own dreams!
P.S. Don’t forget that my group coaching program, Staging Diva Dialog, is now open to all home stagers, whether you’re just thinking about getting into the business or you’ve been at it for years. Learn how you can join us on the next call here!