Episode #019 Top 5 Mistakes People Make with Their Voice (And How to Fix Them for Instant Revenue Boosts!)

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So glad you're back. Thank you for joining me. Today's topic Top 5 Mistakes People Make with Their Voice (And How to Fix Them for Instant Revenue Boosts! Yep, fellow entrepreneurs and voice enthusiasts, today we're going to dive into the wild world of vocal blunders that can accidentally sabotage your success.

But don't worry, we're going to turn those incidents into woohoos with some fantastic tips and tricks. Before we begin, quote of today, nothing lasts Beadaholique. com for all of your beading supplies needs! Beading supplies needs! by Arnold Glasgow. [00:01:00] Nothing lasts forever. I would add not even your vocal troubles.

So, you're gonna be able to take this information today. Hopefully, my intention, my heart, always in sharing this information with you is that you can take this information You can go sign that new client. You can close that real estate deal. You can ask for that promotion or that raise with a little more confidence by the time we're done with this episode than when we started.

So today's episode really is more for business people, entrepreneurs, teachers, coaches, doctors, creatives, healers the same information definitely works for singers. But last week's episode was really dedicated to the singing community. [00:02:00] Today is really more for the business people. So the first mistake that I see, that I hear, that I have clients who are sent to me from their bosses or their CEOs there.

And there's a number of these on here, but the first one is, is what we're calling the mumble jumble, right? This is where you're trying to close a deal with a potential client, but they can't understand a word you're saying. The mumble, jumble, that quiet not getting the words out clearly with enunciation there, and, and, and it's really, it comes back to a confidence issue.

So, anyway, today, don't fret, I've got the perfect solution for you. One of the first things. that can help if you are a mumbler. And again, [00:03:00] a great tool to go explore this and see if this even applies to you, right? Are the audio file on your phone, right? The iPhone has the voice memos, the Samsung has another voice recorder.

You don't need to have it on a phone at all. Just having any type of a recording device record yourself reading a little. excerpt from a book or your, the content that you're trying to present, go listen and see if any of these things apply. And if they do, what I'm giving you today are how to fix those things.

All right. So if you are a mumbler, this is an example of a mumbler, I have this issue with, with my kids. Sometimes I find myself more frequently asking two things. One, to speak louder, I can't hear you, or we have another situation that frequently happens and that's talking so fast I [00:04:00] can't understand anything that you just said.

So my other request I hear myself asking is, can you please slow down? I can't understand what you're saying. So there's nothing wrong if you as a listener are on the receiving end of any of these things. This all comes back to your self care, believe it or not, right? This is setting a boundary.

This is not letting someone who's trying to communicate with you do things that aren't in alignment with them having a clear voice of clarity. So part of us taking care of ourselves, if we can't understand what somebody is saying, is to, to ask in a nice way, can you please repeat what you just said?

Can you please slow down? I didn't catch that, right? There's a nice way of doing this as well. But, if you think you might be a mumbler, again, record yourself, see if this applies to you, and two things you can do right out of the gate to clear that up [00:05:00] is to slow down, slow down the pace at which you are speaking, and to enunciate.

And I hopefully I'm demonstrating this for you using the techniques that I teach my clients. These, these actually everything, anything I ever present on a podcast, YouTube social media. These are all things that I do. I do them myself. I practice them myself. I teach my clients how to use them and practice them for themselves and you see it's a domino effect that goes on and on.

So those are two ways to clear that up. And I do have literally a a gentleman I think I'm going to be working with in a few weeks, actually, that this is the issue. And it's, he is not the one who reached out to me. It's the CEO that reached out to me saying I, this, Person needs help. They aren't even aware that they're doing this.

This is making me crazy. It's not good when we're with clients when we're on calls It's it's killing me. So I'm going to be meeting with someone to [00:06:00] teach this very thing the second mistake the monotone blues You know them you've heard them right the monotonous speaker It's like trying to stay awake during an endless PowerPoint presentation on the history of paperclips Right?

Spice up your voice. Get some excitement. Throw some emotions in there. We are not robots. We are not the robots calling on our phones. I know everybody's getting these calls, right? They're the automated, the voice that speaks just like this, right? That is not us. Yet there are people walking around.

We know them, we've been with them, who speak in that constant, level, monotone, sound voice where it's like, Hello! Who's in there? Are you, are you still with us, right? And I'm not sure what the psychology is behind that, but, I'm going to venture to guess all five of these things that I'm sharing with you today.[00:07:00]

Somewhere in our psyche. I think that our unconscious mind creates these things that we then do so often that we are unconscious. We are even doing them. I remember the, I'm afraid to even say this, the, the voicemail machines, the, the phone machines. Remember when we used to phone machines had the recording

Now we'd get it all on our, our. I've had a lot of people come to me over the years, when I hear my voice on a recording or, the voice machine, I can't believe it's me. I sound too old. I sound too young. I'm talking too fast. I'm not talking loud enough. These are all things I hear all the time, right?

But you are, we are dynamic, right? We have these tools. We have access to so many ways to, to fix these things. The first piece in this, It's even being aware that we're doing [00:08:00] them. And that's where recording devices, mirrors, video, are all wonderful tools. So let your voice reflect the rollercoaster of passion that you have for your business.

Your audience will be cheering. They, they will want more. Now I, if you're a doctor listening to this, I know there are, your patients. When you go in, it doesn't have to always be serious. You can have some fun, right? You can, you can laugh. I mean, I know there are lots of doctors out there who are probably just burnt out.

I, I know that we've, we've been left changed forever since the pandemic and now we're dealing with heat things and all that. I mean, our, our, our medical professionals are overworked. You're understaffed. You are, are probably exhausted and it doesn't have to come across. Those things don't have to come across in your voice.

You can [00:09:00] still have those relationships. You can still be engaging with your patients. If you are a coach, the same thing with your athletes, with your students, if you are a teacher, a mentor, all of these things add. How you use your voice is going to contribute. to engaging with those that you are teaching, leading, mentoring, business people that you're trying to get as a new client, or our voice can literally repel all of those people in our life.

Our voice, the tonal quality it has really, it's less to do with what you're saying and Everything to do with how you're saying it. Does your voice draw your listener in? Does it draw that new client, that prospective client in? Or does it push them away? And again, a recording device is a great way to go check that out.

Third mistake [00:10:00] I already mentioned. The lightning speed chatterbox, right? I totally get it. We're excited to share our genius ideas, but whoa, slow down speed racer. If you are racing through your speech, like you're late for a hot date, your audience might not catch all the gems, all the nuggets that you're dropping.

So the way to fix that, I've already mentioned, is to pace yourself, slow yourself down, let your words breathe, create space. In between what you're trying to communicate, I think it was Wayne Dyer that said just as important as the words that we're speaking, the content or material that we are sharing, is the space in between.

I think he related it to music. In between the sound are those bars of no sound at all. So use that, [00:11:00] use that to your benefit if you are presenting some information. It's that space. It's that pause. The power of the pause that sets up that next important piece of information. If you're really wanting to make a point, if there's something that it is, it's critical that your audience gets this important point.

The power of the pause is a great place to a great way to lead them there. Because getting quiet, whatever is going on, whether they're paying attention, they're scrolling on their phone, they're talking to their neighbor, you being quiet is going to get their attention. So lots of great stuff on that.

Slow down, let your words breathe. That's another person who's coming to me as well. In fact, I might, I think I might be going into this company and actually doing a corporate training is what it's coming down to because the [00:12:00] opposite of the mumbler is another employee who talks so fast, nobody can understand her.

No one. Her peers, her colleagues, the clients. The boss and it's it's you have these two dynamics happening in the same room in the same company simultaneously, someone mumbling who you can't understand a word and on the other end of the spectrum, someone speaking so fast. with the same outcome, not being able to understand.

Number four, oh my gosh, and I, I have done, I'm actually working on this next one. The fourth mistake, we call it the like, air quotes, if you're listening on podcast, the like addict. Hey, this is right up there with the filler words I've even discovered, I think I created a new [00:13:00] filler word. I notice myself using the word right?

So, all of these things, again, the only reason I even know that I've been doing that, right? Like is because I've been hearing it come out in these podcasts and these YouTube videos. So, very powerful tools. Use our tools, right? So, so sprinkling our sentences with these things, it, it's, it's fine if we do it conservatively.

And this is what I'm trying to be more aware that I'm not repeating these things all the time throughout every episode of anything that I'm delivering or sharing with you, the audience. It can be a distraction when it gets to the point of that's what you're hearing every other line that is distracting and it's time to fix it.

So again, coming back to just being aware. And [00:14:00] instead of filling that space with one of these filler words, rather just stop and be quiet and grab through your thought for the next piece of information that you plan to share that is just as powerful, if not more powerful than filling the space. And I've, I know that, in difficult conversations, it's very easy to jump in and you want to get your information out there.

You want to share your pitch or your new offer or what's going on that's new with your company or your business or whatever it is that you're using your voice for. It's just as powerful to slow down, pace yourself and be able to gather your thoughts. In that space in between the words. In fact, if not more power.

So it's just a matter of being aware, [00:15:00] right? Being mindful. And number five, the fifth mistake, the high pitched squeak. Now this is a physiological thing that happens in your body. And it can show up. It's, it's it's that it's like the chew toy. If you have pets or a dog that squeak, squeak, squeak, but it gets stuck actually in your throat.

This is actually your vocal break. That is, is. Trying to engage and the break is that place while the physiology of your body. Here's some information for people who might not know So one of the things that I teach you may have heard of previous episodes or podcast videos Is that you've got one voice with what I call three vocal vicinities three parts three areas in your body.

You've got this low area. Was it all about breathing and relaxing? Then you've got your speaking voice. That's that place right in the middle of your body. That's that place you speak from that you're moving energy and sound from [00:16:00] all day long with everybody you've come in contact with. And then there's this place up in your falsetto, this part of the voice up here, which we call the head voice or the falsetto voice.

Now there's this, the vocal cords themselves. are made of two sets of muscles, thick and thin muscles. When you're using your speaking voice, using the thicker part of the vocal cord muscle. When you are up in your head voice, using the thinner part of the muscle. And what separates those two muscle groups is this thin membrane in between that thick and thin muscle.

That's what you call the vocal break. That's that space that if you land on that space, you're going to get what we call the Tarzan. Oh, that place there. Don't do that at home. It's not a good thing to do that. Anyway, the vocal break does not that that that membrane does not vibrate sound. And the further away we are from it, the easier it is to access your voice.

The closer we get to it, there's a physical thing happening. It's actually physiology of your body. Your brain is [00:17:00] also asking you for information. Now, for our purposes today for business. for how to fix your, for speaking, this is more for speaking. It's not likely you would ever land there, but you, you hear it, kids going through puberty, more, more boys when the voice is all changing, they, they can have a difficult time with that.

We all go through it at some point. Some people it's way more evident than it is with others when we get nervous. Nervousness, all of a sudden we're speaking up here, which is not your normal voice. So you're fully disconnected from your solar plexus where your air and your support and your breath should be coming from.

But now we're speaking up here and now we're straining our voice. I mean, there's just a whole mess of problems. Follow that. So the two things to avoid that. Do you want to take a guess? They're my go to's. Two sides of the same coin. If you are saying breath, breathing correctly from your solar plexus connected to the diaphragm muscle, you are correct.

[00:18:00] Combined with what is going on up here, the jaw, the lips, the shape of your vowels, I call it placement. You also know the term as projection. Those two things, breathing from your core. Placing that sound out in front, moving that out of the throat, out of your body, will prevent your voice from ever squeaking like a, your dog's squeaky chew toy, alright?

So, here are a couple of more tips here, how to avoid any of those things from happening. One, this is the juicy part, these are the action steps, so, if you can, I'm not going to ask you to do this right now, if you are in a position, If you're in a position where you can, and if not, when this is all over, I'd love for you to go try this.

I'd love for you to get a mirror and a voice recording, whatever it is, app on your phone, voice memos, voice recording, and I want you to practice. This information I've [00:19:00] given you today. So, the read, the first thing you're going to do is enunciate. So go, go grab your phone, a recording device, a mirror, either now or when this is over, and something that you're working on for your job, something that you're working on for your business, some piece of material that you're going to be presenting.

And I would love for you to get in front of the mirror with your recording device on and enunciate like a diction. guru. So you're going to super exaggerate whatever it is that you are presenting. All right. You're going to articulate each of you, but we're kind of going over the top. We're going the other extreme, right?

I want you to articulate each word with precision and you'll be able, you'll hear, you'll hear the difference in your voice. If you're a mumbler or if you are a speed talker, whatever your issue is with your voice, you'll hear the difference just by slowing down and [00:20:00] enunciating. The next thing would be to add some flavor to your presentation.

emphasizing key points, right? Maybe throwing in a joke or two or something that your audience can relate to about your product or your service, but using some humor again to get some engagement to make your audience smile, right? A surefire way. That your audience is listening. If you are meeting in person or if you are working over zoom is is getting the head nods is getting the smiles is asking questions, right?

Engaging your audience with questions, getting them to raise their hand. You're in agreement or we've got a lot going on with engagement in the chats and in the rooms. If you are working on social media, if you're doing lives engaging your audience. By asking questions, things that they can relate to slowing down.

This is a big one. I've [00:21:00] already, I've already mentioned it, right? Giving your words room to resonate with your audience. You want, you want to create a space. You want to create an environment where now they are engaged and hanging on every word. This comes back to, captivating your audience with really great content.

I'm, I'm, I love anything practical. I'm all about useful. Give me something I can use right now. Now, tell me how to get there, how to, what to do, and, and then how to get to the next level, how to get to the next step. The next thing, oh, this is the one I've been guilty of. Kick the like habit, all right?

You're powerful, you're articulate, you're already convincing. There's no like needed in any of this and find your confidence. The confidence truly is the result of having [00:22:00] tools, learning the skills, knowing your voice intimately, inside and out.

All those quirky little things that you do that are unconscious. And the, the reception, the engagement, the feedback that you're getting from the clients, from your students, from your colleagues, always giving feedback, right? If they are leaning in. That's a sign. They want more. Like, I'm ready. Give me something.

Give me more. If they body language is huge. We didn't even talk about body language today. I'm going to save that for another episode. But if your listener, if your audience, and this is in person, this is in Zoom, this is where you can actually see it. see the people that you're communicating with.

If they are leaning back, if they've got their arms crossed, if they aren't really engaged, if there's, you feel it. [00:23:00] Everything is energy. When your audience is engaged and they're right there with you or if they have disconnected and they've left the room, right? They may be sitting there physically, but they are not hearing a word you're saying.

They're already thinking about what are we making for Where am I going to take my last vacation of the year? Whatever's going on. So really, I would add that as, not only know your own voice intimately, but know your audience. Who are you speaking to? And for what purpose are you speaking to them for?

These things, there it is. I did, right? These are huge. Wonderful, accessible tools for you to help, to help you up level your game. So on my final thoughts here, begin the journey of unleashing your voice's full potential. All right, say goodbye to those vocal blunders, say hello to increased revenue and success.

Whether you're a business [00:24:00] owner, you're a teacher, a healer, a creative, a doctor, a lawyer. I've got some lawyers in here. Watch how your business will change just by you changing yourself, your voice specifically, it's, it's truly, and, and so much of it, it comes back to awareness. It comes back to mindfulness.

You have to first. Know what's going on with your voice in order to understand how your voice is affecting other people and so much more on that for today Friends if you found any value in this I'd love for you to share it, five stars I'm always looking for those five stars if it was worthy of five stars if you're watching on YouTube I'd love for you to subscribe so you don't miss a single episode lots more coming I'm gonna be diving into how your voice affects a positive mental health coming up in the weeks, how to boost your [00:25:00] immune system more for singers and emerging artists.

The other thing new, if you have not picked it up, my new free gift, totally juicy, eight short videos, they're free. Go pick that up. Notes are in the link. Pick that up. It's completely free. I take a little bit of a deeper dive on some of these tools I'm talking about with your voice. And it's just a great way to go, plug in a little bit more, go a little bit deeper with me, join the community.

And if you are done sitting on the fence, you're like, I, there it was. You're like. Oh, I'm catching myself, right? Like these are things, see mindfulness, awareness. I've shined a light on this for you, the audience, and all it has done is reflect right back to me. The very thing that I'm teaching all of you, if you found any value [00:26:00] in this.

Please share it with someone else that you care about until next time continue to inhale confidence Exhale any doubt continue to come play. I know what I was going to end with if you are done Second guessing yourself if you are done Wondering. Oh my gosh Why? Is this not happening? Why are, clients are calling, they're coming in, they want to do this, and then crickets, do I even have a voice?

If you're a singer and you happen to listen all the way to the end here, please go schedule your first session with me from curious to confident. We will break it all down for you. The session is an hour, but within 30 minutes of that session, you will already be experiencing a vocal transformation.

Until next time.