The Quiet Warrior Podcast with Serena Low

109. 5 C’s of a Well-Crafted Story That Converts Leads to Sales with Dr. Danny Brassell

• Serena Low, Introvert Coach for Quiet Achievers and Quiet Warriors

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In this uplifting episode of The Quiet Warrior Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Danny Brassell—international keynote speaker, coach, author of 19 books, and co-founder of The Well-Crafted Story Workshop. Known as the “Jim Carrey with a PhD” for his humour and energy, Danny has spoken to over 3,500 audiences worldwide and helps entrepreneurs, leaders, and professionals transform their presentations into powerful business and life opportunities.


Danny shares how he pivoted from journalism to teaching, survived financial devastation, and built a thriving speaking career during one of the world’s toughest economic downturns. Most importantly, he shows us that speaking is a teachable skill—not an inborn talent—and anyone (even introverts and quiet achievers) can learn to tell a compelling story that moves both hearts and business outcomes.


Together, we explore why storytelling matters more than statistics, why humour wins over tragedy when telling a story, and why humour and vulnerability are essential tools for connection. Danny also walks us through his signature 5 C’s process for creating a well-crafted story that inspires audiences to take the next step with you.


What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Danny’s journey from journalist to educator to international speaker and coach.
  • Why laughter is more powerful than tragedy on stage.
  • The 5 C’s of a well-crafted presentation: Clarity, Connection, Content, Call-to-Action, and Close.
  • Why speaking is a teachable skill—even if you’re introverted or fearful of the stage.
  • How to use self-deprecating humour and vulnerability to connect with any audience.
  • The importance of having one clear call-to-action instead of confusing your audience.
  • A simple exercise to uncover your own stories and connect them to universal themes like love, loyalty, and perseverance.



Resources and Links


Free Story Guide: Get your own Well-Crafted Story Blueprint at freestoryguide.com.

Learn more about Dr. Danny Brassell’s work: dannybrassell.com.


For more tips and resources for introverts and quiet achievers, subscribe to The Visible Introvert newsletter at  serenalow.com.au.


If this episode inspired you, please leave a 5-star rating and review so it can reach more introverts and quiet achievers.

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

SPEAKER_02:

Hi, I'm Serena Lo. If you're used to hearing that introverts are shy, anxious, antisocial, and lack of good communication and leadership skills, then this podcast is for you. You're about to fall in love with a calm, introspective, and profound person that you are. Discover what's fun, unique, and powerful about being an introvert, and how to make the elegant transition from quiet achiever to quiet warrior in your life and work, anytime you want, in more ways than you imagined possible. Welcome. Hello and welcome. Today's guest of the Quiet Warrior Podcast is Dr. Danny Brizzell, a highly sought-after speaker, trainer, and coach known as Jim Carrey with a PhD. Danny has spoken to over 3,500 audiences worldwide. He has authored 19 books and is the co-founder of the well-crafted story workshop. Danny helps entrepreneurs, individuals, and organizations leverage speaking on stages as a major client lead source that converts. Danny is on a mission to bring joy back into education and the workplace. Welcome, Dr. Danny Brazil to the Quiet Warrior Podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks so much for having me, Serena. More importantly, thanks for spreading some joy around the world. We need a lot more of you.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you. We would first like to find out more about your professional journey. I know that you started in education. And how did that become entrepreneurship along the way?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, if I was going to write my autobiography, Serena, it would probably be called Pivots because I feel like I've already lived nine lives. 30 years ago, I was a journalist, uh, covered President Bush Sr. in the 1992 presidential election. And I loved my job. I got to meet every editor of every major daily. And one editor offered me the City Beat for$16,500 a year. Meanwhile, a friend told me they were hiring teachers in South Central Los Angeles for$25,000 a year. So I became an educator for the noblest of reasons, Serena, for the high pay. And uh it was ironic because I actually fell in love with teaching. I've taught all age levels from preschoolers all the way up to rocket scientists. I can make that claim because I used to teach English as a second language to engineering students at the University of Southern California. And in 2005, my wife and I attended a real estate seminar, which turned out to be a scam and we lost everything. And I could give you the woe is me story, but I'm a positive person. I learned a lot from the experience. First of all, my wife is my soulmate. I put her through the ringer and she stood right by me. She's an incredible human being. Second of all, I learned money is not everything because you can lose money just like that. Third, I try not to judge other people because if I was somebody who saw what I had done, I would have said, well, you deserve that. But now I realize unless you know everything about a person, you really don't know anything about a person. Fourth, uh, I became a Christian, which I'm always embarrassed to confess, it took a catastrophe. But the more I read the Bible, I'm not the first screw up to find Jesus. And fifth, my my accountant told me I had to make this much more money if I wanted to avoid filing for bankruptcy. And so I started speaking on the side and I hit that number right on the number. Well, the next year, Serena, he gave me a much higher number and I hit that number right on the number. So in year three, I thought, well, maybe I should set a higher number. And basically during one of the worst economic downturns in world history, I was able to build up a highly lucrative speaking business, which eventually attracted the attention of some pretty famous people and companies who wanted me to coach them. And I have to be honest about this, Serena. I resisted coaching for a long time because I'm obsessive compulsive. You have to know this about me. Uh, I have a very high standard for my students. I won't let you fail. I will be on your back holding you accountable until you succeed. Well, now that I work primarily with entrepreneurs and executives and business owners, I find they're highly motivated. They do the work, and it's probably been the most gratifying thing I've ever done. So uh uh that's that's nine lives in a in a nutshell for you there, Serena. Long answer to your short question.

SPEAKER_02:

Actually, in a sense, you've still stayed in the education space. It's all it's simply that you have a bigger stage now.

SPEAKER_01:

Indeed, absolutely. And it was it's important because I learned uh teaching different age levels that what works with a 12th grader does not necessarily work with a kindergartner, but what works with a kindergartner works with all age levels. People always ask me uh uh what was the difference between teaching kindergartners and adults? I'm like, not that much. I mean, kindergartners have about a seven-minute attention span, which adults seem to be getting slowly we're we're we're we we just don't have any attention anymore. And uh so I had to learn a lot of strategies to keep the kids uh attentive, and it's served me very well as a speaker.

SPEAKER_02:

And how did you become known as Jim Carrey with a PhD? What's the connection?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I had a a very gracious audience member. Uh she she said, You're like Jim Carrey with a PhD, and that just kind of stuck. Uh I I have a creed. I take my job seriously, I don't take myself too seriously because I ain't all that, and neither are you. And if you think you're all that, just teach kindergarten for a week because those little ones will set you straight. I had one of my little girls one day, Lashonda raised her hand. I'm like, Lashonda, question. She's like, Mr. Salle, when are you going to trim your nose hair? I'm like, this afternoon. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Um, I'm not all that. And so uh I I like to laugh a lot. I think the world would be better served if we laughed a lot more.

SPEAKER_02:

I agree with you, especially in these times.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, I mean it's something that's a little bit different about the way I coach people, Serena. A lot of the so-called speaking coaches out there, I see that they they teach people to share their most traumatizing story. And there's three reasons why I refuse to do that. First of all, the world just survived a global pandemic. Everybody's had a lot of bad stuff happen to them. I don't we need, I don't think we need to hear more sad stories. I think we need more stories of hope. Second of all, I train people how to create what I call a well-crafted story. Um, politicians would call it a stump speech, superhero movies would call it your origin story. You can call it peanut butter and jelly, it doesn't matter what you call it. What this is, is a speech that you're gonna deliver again and again, and you're gonna you're gonna be able to just reel it off uh with no problem. Well, do you really want to repeat the worst event of your life again and again? I mean, I have a friend, his daughter was killed in a school shooting. He's told that story to over a thousand audiences, and I'm like, I have no idea how he died. There's no way I could talk about the worst day of my life again and again. And then, third, and this is where people get angry with me. I have one objective when I'm on stage. I want you to leave feeling better than when you came in. I want you laughing, smiling happy. I think there's something admirable about that as a goal. I believe these people that tell the same sad story again and again. By the 20th time they're telling that story, now those are crocodile tears and now they're being manipulative. And I'm not saying it's not an effective sales strategy, it's actually a very effective sales strategy. But I personally don't want to have to take a shower after I get off stage because I just manipulated my audience. There are actual ethical ways to get people to want to do business with you. And so uh I have a little different tactic on, and plus, I guess number four, I just want you having fun. I mean, most of the people I work with are very much like we've had this discussion before, Serena. I work with mostly people that have no interest in being on stage or they're terrified of stages. They're introverts. And I want them to have fun. I want this to be a fun, I know it's painful for them. Uh, so I want to make it as fun as possible. So I don't need them talking about traumatic stories and experiences.

SPEAKER_02:

You bring up a very good point, Danny. And I think from a therapist's point of view, also it's important for listeners to understand that when someone keeps talking about that thing that feels like a wound for them emotionally, it has a potential of re-traumatizing them. So it's immense that stories immense those beliefs. And what they actually should be doing is speaking with someone who can hold that space safely for them and to process those emotions and not just keep recycling the story because then you know words are so powerful that we have the ability to shape our reality on our experiences. And if we keep reinforcing that we have had this experience, and as a result of it, we've been a bit of him for this and that, it it alters, I think, the the trajectory of what is possible. So I think we need to be very careful with that. So that's a slightly different um perspective on what you were just sharing about what happens when we tell that traumatic story too many times. And what you did say was the other point is that it is also possibly manipulative because you know people are in general, people are people of good will, and people are sensitive, they're emotional, but we also don't know where they are in life and how raw they could be, what what kind of a time they could be having as they listen to that speech, and it affects them in different ways. So I think we also need to be, as you say, you know, ethical and responsible in the sorts of stories that we tell and how we tell them. So tell me what makes a well-crafted story.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so you're gonna have to bear with me, Serena. I'm a former teacher, so everything I do either rhymes or it's alliterative. And so I have a company called the Well Crafted Story Workshop with my two uh co-founders, uh Coach Jimmy Hayes Coach Jimmy Hayes Nelson and Dave Ward. Uh I call us the professor, the performer, and the producer, because my background is academia. Coach Jimmy was a Broadway actor, and Dave was an attorney. And so what we guide our clients through is what we call our five C's process. And so before we put together any part of your presentation, we start with the first C, which is clarity. There are two questions I always ask clients that uh are essential before we put together your presentation. Those two questions are who is your audience and what is the problem that you solve? And you'd be amazed. 95% of the people I work with cannot answer one or both of those questions in a succinct manner. And so that's the first thing we work on is working on those clarity questions. Once we have clarity, then we get into the presentation, which is to connect with your audience, have meaningful content that serves them, helps them solve some immediate problems. Uh, and then finally wrapping up with one clear call to action and an emotional close that gets people stampeding to want to do business with you. And if we can do all five of those things, I think that we're gonna have what I call a well-crafted uh presentation. Now, the way we evaluate that, I have clients that will say, Hey, Danny, I got a standing ovation. I'm like, that's fantastic. Or they'll say, Danny, people think I'm a really good speaker. I'm like, wonderful. But the only way I evaluate your presentation is one way and one way only. We want your presentation to move hearts, but most importantly, we want it to move the needle. How many people in your audience are deciding to take the next step with you? Now, it can be an unpaid next step like subscribe to my podcast or vote for me. It can be a paid uh offer like buy my product or invest in my coaching program. But it's very important to me that everybody I work with, they know their numbers. How many people were in the audience? How many people decided to take that next step? How can we get that number at a higher level? What do we have to do to get there? Um, and this is what I'm calling, I mean, I watch 10 speakers a day, so I'm constantly evaluating people and and trying to figure out well, what can we do to tweak it so that they have that uh that extra um just that extra will, the the extra in their presentation to get people to take that action.

SPEAKER_02:

I saw on your website that you say that story is the most powerful tool for entrepreneurs, for business leaders, for marketers, and that when done right, it has the potential to generate seven figures in revenue among those other benefits. So you were just talking about your five S, your connect content, call to action, emotional claws. But before that it was a there was a clarity as well. So when you say the call to action and the emotional close and the thing that moves the needle, I suppose that it depends very much on what the the needle represents to the person that's making that call to action. And you didn't say it could be paid, it could be unpaid, but the question is how many people or what proportion of the audience is actually ready to take the next step with you? So when you put it in terms of seven figures in revenue, tell us about some some stories around that.

SPEAKER_01:

I have a client this week. I I've only been working with him for a month, and he's like, I've I mean he's gone up to he went from uh 400,000 to 2 million in in under 30 days just by doing a couple of tweaks to his presentation. I mean, that's the power of connecting. I mean, uh, I'm a huge fan of Steve Jobs. Uh Steve Jobs was a very powerful communicator. He used to say the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. And if you ever watch his presentations, he's just an expert at crafting a presentation that moves the audience and puts them on an emotional roller coaster. When we get to the, and this is why you need to have clarity, you have to understand what's the point of your talk. Some people talk, and that's great, but they have no point. Um, here, here's a here's an action item. Everybody, including you and your audience, can do right now. Later on, I want you to sit in a comfortable chair with a pen and paper, libation of choice. And for an hour, I want you to write down every story that's ever happened to you. And I don't mean the entire story, I just mean triggers, like the time I locked myself out of the car in front of the grocery store, the time dad spilt mustard on his tie when we were at that fancy restaurant. You'll find in an hour you can come up with hundreds of little triggers like this. So that's the first part of the exercise. The second part of the exercise is then I want you to figure out well, what's this story really about? Oh, this is a story about never giving up. Oh, this is a story about loyalty. Oh, this is a story about love. And on my computer, I have hundreds of files with tens of thousands of stories like this. So when I'm putting together a presentation, whatever I emotions I want my audience to have, I know exactly what stories to use to evoke those emotions. So I'll give you an example. Uh by the way, whenever I talk about clients, I never give the real names of the people or the companies. So I'm working with a uh a nutrition expert named Kathy, and she has a wonderful presentation. Um, she she grew up with this intestinal problem that that caused her all kinds of issues, and no doctors understood how to figure it out. But she's come up with a she was able to treat herself with the with diet and exercise and uh uh uh natural herbs and things like that. And so now her offer is she has a 90-day program for uh uh 1997,$2,000. And that's when she ended her presentation. I'm like, oh, Kathy, big mistake. She's like, what do you mean? I'm like, well, there's two types of people in your audience. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be very stereotypical. I'm gonna say it's the married couple. Now, the guy, the guy I call Joe Friday. Joe Friday, he's sitting there in the audience with his arms crossed and he wants just the facts. How much is this gonna cost? How long does it take? What do I got to do? It's very important that when you're making a presentation, you answer all of those questions to satisfy Joe Friday. But if you end with Joe Friday, you're ignoring the wife. The wife is who I call Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts doesn't call she doesn't care at all how much it costs or how long it takes. She just wants to feel good. Oh, I I always listen to Serena's podcast because it makes me feel good. I love she's like my long-lost sister. And if you can accommodate both of those types of people, you're doing a good job. So, Kathy, she was only hitting Joe Friday. And so I asked her, I said, Well, what do you want your audience to do? And she first thing she said was buy my buy my coach. I'm like, Yeah, I know that you want them to buy a coaching. What do you want them? What's the underlying theme though? What's the point? And she said, Well, I want them to understand they can't do this on their own. I'm like, ah, ah, you need to hire an expert story. And she looked confused to me. I said, Okay, I'll demonstrate for you. Many years ago, my wife and I uh we had theater tickets. We were dressed to the nines, we were driving to the theater when we got a flat tire. My wife said, Well, I'll call uh the triple A tow truck. I'm like, You don't need to call triple A tow truck. I'm a man, I can fix a flat tire. So I got out of the car, I opened up the trunk, I got out the spare tire, I got the uh the pumper thing, and then I got the the big jack thing that you you take out the the nuts with, and basically 27 minutes later, I had grease all over me. I had not fixed the flat tire. My wife standing beside the car, shaking her head, like I could have done so much better than this guy. Well, unbeknownst to me, she had called the AAA guy. And this tow truck shows up and this 17-year-old punk hops out of the tow truck and he proceeds to fix my flat tire in just under three minutes. You know, I think there are times in life when all of us think we can do it on our own, but if you want to save time, you want to save money, and you want to save a whole lot of headache and embarrassment, you hire an expert. And so what I've done then, Serena, is now I've taken a metaphorical story that's in the minds of the audience. And rather than just speeding over the head, buy my program for$2,000. I'm basically alluding to, you know, can you remember a time when you tried to do something on your own and it didn't work out so well? Well, maybe you need to just hire Kathy as your nutritionist. And that's the power of a well-crafted story.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you think it makes a difference as who is making that call? As in the person themselves, the the person who has created the program saying it about their own product, as opposed to somebody else who's hyping up their product, or you know, even the the master of ceremonies who says, you know, you know that effect is quite different when someone is introducing you professionally as when you are saying it about yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, Serena. I mean, I'm a big fan of Brene Brown talks about the importance of vulnerability, and I completely agree with her. So one of the first strategies I share with people, I say, stop sharing your successes, start sharing your failures, because not everybody in your audience has succeeded, but they've all failed. And the more you share your own failures, the more your audience is going to start seeing themselves in you. And that's how you build trust with people. And that's what we're trying to do is to connect with our audience. So when we're starting our presentation, the first five minutes are by far the most important part of any presentation because your audience is making a decision. Am I going to be present for this presentation or am I going to be engaged? And so, in the first five minutes of your presentation, Presentation, you got to, and I'm I'm sorry, former teacher, everything rhymes, you gotta rap. So rap stands for you got to show you're relatable, you have to demonstrate your authority, and you have to tell the audience your purpose. So relatable. Oh I am just like you. I've had the problem that you've had, authority, and I solve that problem, purpose. And now I'm on a mission to help people just like you so you don't suffer the way I suffered. If you can do that, that's how you're going to get your audience. Now, another little strategy I share with people for me, you know, I don't like it when a person uh I I don't like speakers that are bragging at all. I really don't like that at all. And so what there's one of my little ninja strategies is I've personally written an introduction that another person reads aloud. You know, it's kind of like you you gave me a very nice introduction for this podcast. And, you know, and so I I make the introduction make me sound like Jesus Christ. And so then when I get on stage, I'm like, yeah, Jesus Christ forgot to wear his dress socks. Well, what's what's going to happen is the audience, they're gonna smirk, oh, he doesn't take himself too seriously because everybody likes a person that doesn't take themselves seriously. I'll give you another example. So um I'm working with a a group of engineers at a uh a company in Silicon Valley. And let's just say engineers are pretty introverted people. And uh I'm working with an Indian gentleman uh who's who was terrified. He's like, Oh Danny, please, please, you have to make me interesting. Nobody will listen to me otherwise. And so he has a very difficult name to pronounce. And so what we did with his presentation is he starts off, he says, uh hello, my name is Shubonakar Maja Hardin.

SPEAKER_00:

Gee, I sure hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not trying to get him to be a stand-up comedian, but I am trying to get him to connect with the audience through humor. You know, uh again, I I just think humor is so much more powerful than uh tragedy. I I go to the movie Monsters Inc. At the end of the movie Monsters Inc., they they figure out that uh laughter is more powerful than sadness. Uh and I I just think that uh we need a lot more laughter nowadays, more than ever.

SPEAKER_02:

Especially the self-deprecating kind. I think that ties back to your point about being vulnerable, not taking yourself too seriously.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and that's a very important point that you just made there, Serene. It's gotta be, it's gotta be directed towards yourself. If you look at, and that's why I love watching speakers, if you watch, I mean, I watch every type of spike. I watch politicians, I watch uh uh comedians, I watch televangelists, I watch them in front of big groups, in front of small groups, uh, in front of men, in front of women. I'm I'm constantly trying to evaluate what is it that they they do really well. Um one of the things I love about comedians that they do really well is um Kevin Hart is a short black guy. And so he tells a lot of jokes about being a short black guy. Jim Gaffigan is a big fat white guy. So he tells a lot of jokes about being a big fat white guy. By taking their perceived weakness and making fun of themselves, they've actually turned it into a strength. Nobody can make fun of them for that. And that's um it's really a powerful Jimmy tells the story of you've ever seen the movie Eight Mile uh with Eminem. Uh, I'm gonna prove how white I am right now. At the end of the movie, Eminem, he's in like a wrap-off with this black guy. And uh Eminem's buddies are like, oh man, he's gonna diss you. He's gonna say that you live in a trailer, that your mom's a craco, that he slept with your girl. And so he doesn't know what to say. So he he gets up there and he he has to rap against the black guy. And he goes, You're gonna say that I live in a trailer, that my mom's a craco, that you that that you slept with my girl. And the black guy doesn't know what to say now because he he just took away all the ammunition. I mean, I work with a lot of politicians, and that's what I always tell politicians. I'm like, anything that people perceive as a weakness for you, just turn it into your strength. I mean, uh I and I did not work with President Biden or President Trump on their presidential election. But if somebody asked me to work with them, with President Biden, I would have said, make lots of jokes about your age. I can't remember anything because if he did that, now age is no longer an issue. With President Trump, I'd say, make lots of jokes about your humility.

SPEAKER_00:

Nobody's humbler than me.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm the most humble person on the it's gonna make people laugh because it's so crazy and they're not gonna be able to use it against you. And so I'm working with a woman right now who's terrified about being on stage. And I said, okay, when you get on stage, I want you to tell everybody, look at my hands, I'm freaking out. I can't, I'm so scared. Because this is an interesting point. I I bet you you've observed this, Serena. People actually want you to succeed because there's nothing worse than sitting through a presentation where a person is bombing. It's very uncomfortable. And so when you see a person that's like, I'm nervous, you you'd be amazed how audiences like, you can do it, you can do that. I mean, human beings, contrary to popular belief, are actually a lot cooler than you you think they are. And so uh I just always tell people take what you perceive as your weakness and just turn it into your strength.

SPEAKER_02:

I think that's brilliant, Danny. I think the introverts and the quiet achievers listening to this, thinking about their next presentation, the next time they have the speaker in the meeting, uh, will take a lot of comfort from that. So would you say that your what you've shared so far applies not only to entrepreneurs, but actually to anyone who needs to tell a good story to get ahead? And so that would include, you know, professionals, people working in the corporate space.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. I mean, my youngest daughter, she's uh at school. I I just helped her with her presentation and she just killed it. And I said, you know, she was she was trying to be impressive with all these numbers and statistics that to begin with. And um I always share with people of all people, it was Stalin who said a million dead is a statistic, one dead is a tragedy. Translation, facts tell, but stories sell. You know, facts inform, stories transform. And so I just helped my daughter totally change her presentation where she talked about an incident, and her teacher gave her the highest score in the class because everybody was laughing and uh she was very relatable to her audience. Um, you know, and I understand that. I I work, it's one of the things that draws me to you, Serena. You're very cerebral. Um, I I admire you for doing this podcast. I bet you that may have been one of the most difficult things ever in your life. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_02:

Definitely. It took me a good six months to decide to do it.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's wonderful. I mean, you did something most people don't do. You did it. Like I hear people talk all the time. You know, there's something to admire about any person that's willing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And this is what people have to understand with speaking. Speaking is a teachable skill. You know, uh, people think I'm a natural speaker. Well, I was in India in 2018 speaking to some elementary schools, and uh at the end of one of my presentations, kids are coming up to me afterwards, like, oh, you're great, you're great. And all of a sudden I see a little boy, he's maybe six years old, and he's got tears in his eyes looking up at me. And I notice he's missing his left arm. And he he I was motivating the kids. He's like, How can I succeed? And so I I crouched down, I got to his eye level. I'm like, you know, when I was your age, I went to 18 different schools before I was 12 years old. Everybody called me stupid because I stuttered. Uh and eventually I went to a school where a teacher, she worked with me one-on-one and she would sing things to me. And I found that I could sing without my stutter, kind of like the uh the movie The King's Speech. And eventually I lost my stutter and I became a swan. But I looked at, I looked at that boy in the eyes. I'm like, isn't it interesting? The little boy that everybody used to make fun of and call him stupid because he doesn't talk right, now gets paid a lot of money to go around the world to do what? And he gets the biggest grin on his face. He's like, speak. I'm like, don't ever let anybody tell you what you can't do. Anything is possible. And I work with so many people that are terrified of speaking, and I say, that's fine. That's exactly you're in good company. You are in great company. Barbara Streisand, she vomits before every time she performs on stage. President Reagan vomited before he gave every single speech of his career. Bill Russell, NBA uh basketball player, vomited before every basketball game. They were nervous. Nervous means it's important to you. That's not a bad thing. And the more we practice things, it's the same thing with you with this podcast. That's the point I'm getting to, Serena. Is the first time you did this podcast, it stunk. And the second time you did this podcast, it stunk. But it didn't stink as bad as the first time. And now you've been doing it for a while, and you're a finely oiled machine and you're getting much more comfortable, and this is becoming a lot more natural. It's probably never going to be natural to you, but you you're better at it. And most of the people I work with, they get a lot better, significantly better.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh, and that's that's where I'm fulfilled as a coach.

SPEAKER_02:

That is probably the most encouraging thing anyone who's listening right now could take away from it that speaking is a teachable skill, speaking is learnable. It doesn't matter whether you're born with it, not born with it, it's what you make of it and whether you have a real purpose in in speaking, which I think goes back to the clarity that you talked about in your five C's. So, my question to you is as someone who gives a hundred keynotes a year, how do you keep your content fresh? And how do you maintain your energy and your enthusiasm about delivering the content?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I love audiences. Uh, you know, uh I was just actually watching an interview with uh Bruce Springsteen and his manager of 50 years, and his manager just retired. Uh Bruce had given a concert in Rome. 80,000 people were going, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. And Bruce couldn't believe that his manager was retiring. And I can't remember his manager's name, but his manager said, I wouldn't retire if they were yelling, Steve, Steve, Steve. You know, uh, when you're on stage, I mean, it's just uh it's wonderful. And I I enjoy because I again I like humor, and so I'll try and insert little things throughout the presentation. Uh uh, I'm I I get kind of crabby, I get judgmental of audiences where if they're not laughing enough, I'm like, well, I'm not gonna tell you this other funny story because you haven't earned it. Uh and other it's just a silly thing. But I love it. I I I love watching how can I turn around different audiences. I mean, a game I play every single day is every single day I have a goal to get at least one person to laugh. And it's very easy because I'm in a lot of airports and there's a lot of miserable people in airports. And so I find a grumpy person, I just try and get them laughing. And if I can get them laughing, it's it's also, again, another good strategy for a person that's a little bit nervous on stage. I say, well, stop looking at the entire audience. It's just you and me, Serena. I'm just gonna talk to you because it's it's kind of like a painting. Even though I'm looking at you, your eyes, everybody thinks that you're looking at them. It's like the Mona Lisa, doesn't matter where you go, her eyes are following you. Um, and just speak to that one person because, again, that's an effective presentation, too. I mean, uh, that's the reason I became a teacher was I realized that Oprah had a teacher that inspired her. And, you know, I might be the person that inspires this person to cure cancer or to run a very successful company or to be a really good parent and human being. I mean, that's that's where I that's that's all my jazz. I I get very excited. Uh so keeping it fresh is very easy because every audience is a brand new experience. And plus, the audience doesn't know me from anybody. And so I got to prove my worth every single time I go on stage.

SPEAKER_02:

What is the one thing you want our listeners to take away from our conversation today?

SPEAKER_01:

You already hit it, Serena, is that speaking is a teachable skill. Most people think this is rocket science. It's not rock. I mean, actually, it is kind of rocket science. There's a science to it. I have a little way of doing it. And if you follow the formula, uh, you might not be an overnight success, but you'll definitely be a much more effective and better speaker. Um, so uh that's important to me. I'll tell you a quick little thing, a big mistake I see in a lot of presentations. Uh here's just one more thing for your audience is that uh uh many people have multiple calls to action in their presentations. And I'm like, you're you're gonna you're gonna screw up your conversion rate by doing that. You're confusing your audience. Again, teacher, choices confuse and cause you to lose. In the United States, there's all kinds of different supermarkets, uh, but the number one supermarket in terms of sales volume is Trader Joe's. And the reason is if you go into any of these mega supermarkets and you you want to buy mustard, there's 36 different types of mustard. Well, when you go to Trader Joe's, there's one. It's called mustard. They made the choice for you. I was on a podcast with this hostess, and at the end of her podcast, she said, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Make sure you like, subscribe, and give us a five-star review. We got off the air and I said, You just told your audience to do three things. They're not going to do any of them because you just confused them. And so, if you really want to increase your influence, make it one very clear call to action. This is again why those clarity questions are so important. I want to know, and so my audience might be different. I speak to lots of different audiences. So, speaking to kids is very different to than speaking to adults. Speaking to teachers is different than speaking to corporate executives. Speaking to men is very different than speaking to women. I have to be very clear about my audience. I have to figure out what's the problem that I'm solving for that audience and what's the action I want them to take. When I'm clear on those things, I'm going to be much more effective as a speaker.

SPEAKER_02:

What's the best way for people to connect with you and work with you?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, as a thank you to you, Serena, and your audience for having to listen to me today. I wanted to give everybody a freebie. So if you go to freestoreguide.com, guide like a tour guide, freestoreguide.com, I'm going to give everybody their own well-crafted story uh blueprint. What this is, is the exact process that Coach Jimmy and I take our clients through to help our clients and you now create your own well-crafted story. What this does for you is it shows you why you're putting this here and what's the effectiveness of putting it here. And what this means for you is the peace of mind that you have a proven formula that's going to help you create a lot more impact and hopefully income. You can get that at freestoryguide.com. And Serena, I am so appreciative to you for all that you do. I I actually just love listening to you. I I wish I wasn't talking so much because every time you talk, I'm just captivated. So thank you for all you do. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much, Danny. It's I'm I'm just so appreciative of you sharing your time, your wisdom, your energy with us today to tell the good story to help us, you know, for those of us that love the structure, particularly that five C's that you've uh shared at length about and also the importance of being vulnerable, using humor, particularly self-deprecating humor. And just I think reflecting on the kinds of stories that are already present in our lives and how do we use those stories in a way that helps us establish that rapport that we trusted with you, the people that are listening to us and the people we work with. So you know, thank you so much for coming on the Quiet Warrior podcast today. Thank you.com.au see you on the next episode. I'm so grateful that you're here today. If you found this content valuable, please share it on your social media channels and subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform. Together we can help more introverts thrive. To receive more uplifting content like this, connect with me on Instagram at Serenalo, Quiet Warrior Coach. Thank you for sharing your time and your energy with me. See you on the next episode.