Episode 211

How To Tell Stories That Connect With Audiences | with guest Danny Brassell

Unlock the Power of Storytelling with Danny Brassell

Summary

In this episode of Present Influence, host John Ball welcomes storytelling expert and professional speaker Danny Brassell. Danny shares insights into the significance of storytelling as a tool for connecting with audiences and increasing sales. He discusses his journey from journalism to teaching and eventually becoming a highly successful speaker and coach. The episode explores how to craft compelling stories, integrating personal failures for deeper audience connection, and the importance of persistence and motivation. Danny also offers practical advice on developing engaging presentations, crafting a powerful call to action, and building strong rapport with diverse audiences. Tune in to learn actionable strategies to enhance your storytelling and communication skills.

Get Danny's free storytelling guide here:  http://freeSTORYguide.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Episode

01:23 Meet Danny Brassell: A Journey of Pivots

02:04 Building a Speaking Career

03:33 Coaching and Measuring Success

04:43 The Power of Storytelling

09:57 Motivation and Persistence

18:09 Crafting Effective Presentations

20:12 Using Reminders for Personal Growth

21:13 The Importance of Clarity in Presentations

21:58 Connecting with Your Audience

22:17 The RAP Framework: Relatability, Authority, Purpose

23:33 Crafting a Memorable Presentation

26:38 The Power of Positive Storytelling

28:49 The Art of Storytelling

29:05 Practical Tips for Storytelling

34:19 Avoiding Overused Stories

35:22 Creating Relatable Stories

37:48 Free Storytelling Blueprint

38:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Go to presentinfluence.com to take the Speaker Strengths Finder and discover your greatest strengths as a speaker as well as where to focus for growth. For speaking enquiries or to connect with me, you can email john@presentinfluence.com or find me on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening, and please give the show a 5* review if you enjoyed it.

Transcript
John:

For speakers and communicators who want to do well, it's essential to

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connect with your audience and my guest

on this episode today is an expert at

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helping you develop strong and powerful

connections with your audiences.

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As a speaker, one of the main tools

that he uses and teaches to do this

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is storytelling, and he has one heck

of a background as an amazing coach

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and speaker and trainer himself.

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My guest is Danny Brassell.

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And you will hear Danny has a real passion

for what he does and for who he helps.

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And a real excitement for

talking about that as well.

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Danny talks about storytelling and the

kinds of storytelling that can develop

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connection and increase sales, And one

of the counterintuitive ways of telling

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stories that does deepen connection

and rapport with your audiences.

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Now if you are watching on YouTube,

please do take a moment to like and

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subscribe and maybe even click that

bell notification for new content

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as it comes out on the channel.

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And if you're on a podcast

app listening to this,

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make sure you give us a follow.

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You won't wanna miss the guests

and the solo episodes that

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have got coming up for you.

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Welcome to Present Influence the show

for professional communicators who

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want to impact, influence, and inspire.

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My name's John Ball and I'm your

guide on this journey to mastery

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level communication skills.

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Danny, thank you for joining

me and Present Influence.

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It's great to have you here

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today.

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Danny Brassell: For having me, John,

I really appreciate you and thanks

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for spreading some joy in the world.

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We need a lot more of you.

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John: I've been trying to do exactly that.

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I did my first ever standout

comedy night last week.

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I definitely got the bug for

spreading more joy and laughter

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into the world from doing that.

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So let's see if we can do

a bit more of it today.

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I've been excited to speak

to you actually because.

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Out of, I can speak to a lot of people

on this show, but not everyone has the

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extensive experience and really the

amazing amount of productivity that you

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seem to have had throughout your career.

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So, just to give us a bit

of an overview of that.

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Tell us a little bit about

how much speaking and writing

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experience you have.

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Danny Brassell: if I was gonna

write an autobiography, it would

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be called Pivots, because I've gone

all kinds of different directions.

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30 years ago I was a journalist.

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I got to cover President Bush Senior

in the:

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I loved being a journalist and got to

meet every editor of every major daily.

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One editor offered me a job working

in the city beat for $16,500 a year.

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Then a friend told me that they were

hiring teachers in South Central

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Los Angeles for $25,000 a year.

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So I became a teacher in 2005, my wife

and I attended a real estate seminar,

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which turned out to be a scam, and we

lost everything I didn't want to declare

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bankruptcy in my account and said

you have to make this much more money

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this year then to avoid bankruptcy.

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So I started speaking on the side, and

I hit that number right on the number.

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Then in year two, John, he

gave me a much higher number.

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And I hit that number right on the number.

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in year three, I thought maybe

I should set a higher number.

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during one of the worst economic

downturns in world history, I was able

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to build up a very lucrative speaking

business, which was rolling along great.

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then in 2020, Covid occurred

and people said how's business?

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oh, it's great how I just lost

200 speaking engagements last

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night because the world shut down.

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For years, people have been asking

me to coach them, and I always

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resisted because as a teacher, I've

always had a very high standard.

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I actually will not let you fail.

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I'm going to be on you holding

you accountable until you succeed.

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I absolutely love it because I'm

working primarily with entrepreneurs,

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executives, and business owners who are

highly motivated and they do the work.

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And so now I coach people on how to

create engaging presentations to get the

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audience to take the next step with 'em.

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John: You, You've delivered a

lot of presentations over time.

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From what I understand.

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Danny Brassell: I think on

my latest biography it's over

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3,500 paid presentations.

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A friend asked me how many unpaid, I'm

like I probably did at least a thousand

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unpaid before I did the 3,500 paid.

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So I've done quite a few with huge groups,

with small groups internationally and

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nationally, all men, all women, little

kids, elderly senior care facilities.

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John: And you have a few books out, right?

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Danny Brassell: I've got 19 books.

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So the last book I wrote which I've

actually now created podcast for

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lazy readers who just wanna listen

to the book is called Misfits and

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Crackpots, and most of these stories.

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Of women, minorities and international

examples of people in companies

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that are doing extraordinary

things more contemporary.

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I had a lot of fun doing that.

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I'm in the process of writing

three books right now, I love

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writing and love speaking.

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You can tell that so

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John: Yeah.

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Fantastic.

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Most of us have struggled to get one

book done, let alone 19 and more to come.

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So that's pretty amazing.

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And, I know that you mentioned that

you have been coaching people and

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that's something you got moved into.

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What has become a main

focus for you when you're

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doing that?

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Danny Brassell: The most important thing,

John, when I'm working with people.

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Is, how do we get your audience

to take the next step with you?

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A lot of people will say, oh wow,

you had a standing ovation and

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everybody thinks you're a great

speaker, and that's all fine and good.

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I think that's wonderful, but really,

I only evaluate your performance

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based on how many people decide

to continue working with you.

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So, maybe that's an unpaid offer,

like, subscribe to my podcast

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or book a free phone call.

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It could be a paid off or like buy

my product or invest in my coaching.

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And so when I'm working with clients, we

look at numbers, like numbers don't lie.

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for example I was working

with a financial planner.

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I have a company the Well Craft

story Workshop with coach Jimmy

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Hayes Nelson, and Dave Ward.

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I call us the professor the

performer and the producer because

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I have the academic background.

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Coach Jimmy used to be on Broadway.

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He is the performer.

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And then Dave he's our guy behind

the scenes, that's our social media

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expert, he's created this cool

comic book of us and everything.

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when I'm working with people, we're always

looking at how did we move the needle?

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we were working with Richard

a few months ago, who's a very

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successful financial planner.

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And he used to start off

with his presentations.

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He'd say, I have 30 years in the industry.

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I've made over a billion

dollars for my clients.

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I've worked with this famous

person and this famous person.

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I said, time out.

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Richard, what are the three most

important elements of real estate?

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Location, location, Location.

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It's all right for you to brag,

but you're doing it in the

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wrong part of your presentation.

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The most important part of your

presentation is when you start, you have

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to connect with your audience By talking

about your failures, not your successes.

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so we recrafted his talk.

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So now, he starts his presentation.

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He talks about the very first client

he booked 30 years ago, and it's this

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hilarious story, this comedy of errors.

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I can't believe anybody would

invest a dime with this guy

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after he tells his story.

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He said this, John, it was interesting

'cause the way he gets clients is once

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or twice a week, he holds these seminars,

these dinners at fancy steak houses

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for about 15 couples in their fifties.

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And he's trying to get them to

invest their money with him.

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And so it's always married couples.

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And he noticed that before the

guy was always sitting there with

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his arms crossed, like, what's

this guy trying to sell me?

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Out of the 15 couples, he'd book about

six phone calls for people interested.

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Now that we've changed the story, that

same guy he noticed is now patting

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his knee, 'cause he's laughing so

hard and he's increased the number

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of phone calls from six to 12.

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He actually doubled his results.

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Which is, the results may vary,

but I thought that was great.

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But that's how we're measuring

how effective his presentation is.

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So, again, it's another long

answer to your short question.

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John: Was that mainly applicable

to people who are selling products

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and services from the stage?

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Or does this apply to people who may

be doing more keynoting, who may be

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doing individual stuff, but may actually

want to bring people their world as

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Danny Brassell: Yeah,

it applies to anybody.

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So when I'm working with pastors, it's

how many people can we get to tithe

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to your church or how many people will

convert to whatever you're preaching?

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When we're working with politicians,

there's two different types

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of speeches for politicians.

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One is they're trying to raise

money so that they can run.

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And the other one is, will

you give me your vote?

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So those are two different

types of, presentations.

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this is a key element your

audience has to understand.

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The biggest mistake I see in most

presentations is people are asking for

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multiple offers, and I always tell people,

choices confuse and cause you to lose.

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For example, right before I joined you,

I was on another podcast at the end of

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the podcast the host, said, if you like

this podcast, make sure you like it,

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subscribe and give us a five star review.

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I told her, you just told your

audience to do three things.

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They're not gonna do any of 'em.

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You need to give 'em one single

course of action choices,

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confus and cause you to lose.

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And so, so that's a perfect example.

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She just wants people to

engage in her podcast.

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I'll work with Keynote

presenters and say hey.

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One of my mentors was

a guy named Zig Ziglar.

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And Zig, towards the end of

his life, he did data from the

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30 years he'd been speaking.

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And it was crazy because out of

every hundred letters he got,

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only one person says he changed

their life based on a speech.

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The other 99 were based on his products,

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For him, it was like cassette tapes

and books when I'm working with

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people giving keynote presentations,

I'm like, this is great.

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You can inspire people for

an hour, but you need to stay

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connected with these people.

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So a lot of people, the way you do that,

I'm like, give away a free offer, but

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get everybody's name and their emails

so you can stay in touch with these

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people and work with 'em again and again.

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My speaking career, one of the reasons

it succeeded is I'm very persistent with

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people and I stay in touch with 'em.

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They're getting at least

one contact a week from me.

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And I had people that had never

hired me to speak that I had been

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emailing for 11 years that after year

11 going, oh, we want you to speak.

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It wasn't because I

just sent 'em one email.

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It was because I sent 'em emails for 11

years and built up that relationship.

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John: I think that's a level of

persistence with your CRM that most

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people would never stretch to 11 years.

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Wow.

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But it is paid off in the

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longer term

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Danny Brassell: If it was

easy, everybody would do it.

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what's that quote Entrepreneurship

is living a few years of your

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life, like most people won't.

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So you can live the rest of your

life, like most people can't.

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Muhammad Ali, when he used to train, he

said, I hated every minute of training,

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but I thought to myself, suffer now and

live the rest of my life as a champion.

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So that's the way I try to

live my life be persistent.

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Get the work done.

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Give yourself options.

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John: Yeah it's certainly something

that I've found most people don't

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get as far as they want to in life

because they don't feel like doing

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the stuff that will get them there.

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They don't feel like getting

up early to go and work out.

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They don't feel like putting in the reps

to rehearse their keynote presentation

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and all those kinds of things that

get you to those higher levels.

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And that's really where the line is drawn

between the winners and the not winners.

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Danny Brassell: Yeah.

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Most people, they want the result,

but they won't do the work.

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I love, was it James Alberry, the poem He.

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He died beneath the moon, he basked

beneath the sun, he lived the life of

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going to do and died with nothing done.

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That's good intentions.

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Or Gary Player.

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I'm a huge golf fan, and Gary

Player has a perfect swing.

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And for his entire life,

people have always said, oh,

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I wish I had a swing like you.

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And one day it just irritated him.

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He said, no, you don't.

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You don't want to hit a thousand

balls every morning until you're

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bleeding on your palms, and then you

have to bandage them and hit another

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thousand balls every single day.

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You want my swing without doing anything.

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But fortunately the people I work

with, I really don't like working

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with people that don't do the work.

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'cause I get very annoyed if

you're not succeeding and the

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reason you're not succeeding is

'cause you're not doing the work.

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fortunately, most of the people

I work with are highly motivated

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now and they'll do the work

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John: Do you ever make any moves

to help motivate them or you only

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work with them if they come to you?

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Highly

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motivated.

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Danny Brassell: I'm pretty persistent.

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I guess I'm annoying to people 'cause I

always tell 'em I'm your coach for life.

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'cause I check in with pe.

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I have one woman I've been

working with for about 20 years.

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When she hired me 20 years ago, I

had no interest in coaching people

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and I said, I'll coach you for $500.

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20 years later, I'm like, that

was a good investment on her part.

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I've been coaching her for 20 years.

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It only cost her $500.

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Cost my current clients

much more than that.

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But I like to see how you're doing.

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It was the same thing as a teacher.

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I'm always watching my students, I'm like,

how do we get you up to that next level?

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'Cause, fulfillment I hate that

term when I hear fulfillment.

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'cause for most companies,

fulfillment means.

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Taking the cash of your customer

and giving them a product.

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I like getting paid.

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But what's fulfilling to me

is watching a person succeed

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beyond their own expectations.

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I'm very proud that a lot of

the people I've worked with are

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far more successful than I am.

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That's what a good coach should do,

guide them to extraordinary heights.

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John: If we have a listener who is

struggling with motivation at the

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moment what would be guidance for them?

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Danny Brassell: If they're not doing

anything, I'm gonna be calling 'em.

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And we're gonna hop on a Zoom and I'm

gonna find out exactly why they aren't

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doing what they need to be doing.

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And we'll go step by step

speaking is pretty easy.

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I always tell people there's two

ways you get better at speaking.

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First of all, you gotta

watch lots of speakers.

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I watch at least 10 speakers a day.

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I watch 'em in front of big groups, in

front of small groups, in front of men, in

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front of women, in front of international

audiences, in front of national audiences.

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Here, I'll give you a ninja strategy

I share with my clients, I watch

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a lot of televised award shows

because when the person wins the

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Academy Award, they only have.

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45 seconds to connect with their audience.

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most people waste their time.

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They get up there and they're

like, no, I wanna thank God.

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I don't wanna thank the academy.

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It's stupid.

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Nobody pays attention.

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But every now and then, a

person does an incredible job.

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a few years ago, there was a gentleman

by the name of Joe Walker who won the

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Academy Award for best film editing.

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This is Hollywood The Academy Awards,

all the important people are in the

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front of the audience, the actors, and

you can tell nobody's paying attention.

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This is film editing.

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They're not even paying attention.

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Joe Walker gets up there.

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He's British.

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He speaks very deliberately on stage.

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He says, A lot of people don't

know this, but when phrased

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properly, the term Academy Award

nominee can be used as an insult.

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Now the camera scans the audience

and you see the actors leaning

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in, like, what's he talking about?

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He says, for example, yesterday I got

in an argument with my 17-year-old

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daughter and she said well,

academy of Award, Mamay Joe Walker.

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And all of a sudden you see

everybody laughing hysterically.

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He gets off stage.

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Denzel Washington wants to meet him.

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Sandra Bullock wants to meet him.

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Brad Pitt wants to meet him.

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Time Magazine said he was one of the

highlights of the Academy Awards.

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That's the power of

connecting with an audience.

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that's why I'm watching

speakers all the time.

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I'm like, what did they do to connect?

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So watch a lot of speakers to get better.

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The second thing is exactly what

you and I are talking about.

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One of my mentors was

a guy named Jim Rohn.

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And Jim used to say, you can't pay

other people to do your pushups,

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translation, you gotta do the reps.

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I guarantee you, John, your

very first podcast sucked.

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And the second one you did sucked, but

it didn't suck as bad as the first one.

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Now you've done it so many

times, you're very comfortable.

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Speaking is a trainable skill.

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People think, oh, Danny

you're so natural on stage.

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I'm like, are you kidding me?

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I went to 18 different schools

before I was 12 years old,

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everybody used to make fun of me.

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Because I stuttered eventually I went

to school and a teacher worked with me

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one-on-one she would sing things to me and

I found I could sing without my stutter.

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It's kinda like the

movie, the King speech.

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And eventually I lost my

stutter and I became a swan.

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But the reason I got better.

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I've done the work.

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I've done lots of presentations.

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I was at a presentation once.

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This woman, she's like, oh, I can

never do what you were you do.

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You're so quick I said, time

out the question you asked me.

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I've been asked that

question 500 times before.

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So before I gave you that perfect answer.

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I had 500 opportunities to

track that perfect answer.

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And that's how you get comfortable.

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And so that's what I always

want to encourage people,

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but you gotta do the work.

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people say, you know what?

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I have no idea who I can speak to.

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Even the smallest towns have Rotary

clubs, lions clubs, optimist clubs,

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Kiwanis Clubs, schools, churches,

temples, synagogues, chambers of commerce.

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I worked with a guy years ago.

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Jason drove me nuts.

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Jason was 22.

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I don't know anybody.

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I have no following Danny.

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I'm like, do you have a Facebook account?

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He said, yeah.

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I'm like, okay, we're going on right now.

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You're gonna do your

presentation on Facebook Live?

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And he was resistant.

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I'm like, no, we are going on right now.

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So we went on Facebook Live, Jason did

his presentation for 45 minutes, and one

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woman from Ontario, Canada accidentally

tuned in and watched him and he sucked.

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The next day I didn't

watch him but I forced him.

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I said, Hey, you gotta tell me

after you've done it, day two.

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So he went on again the next day,

like three people watched him.

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He's been doing that.

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I've never had a student like this.

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Jason has actually done this consistently.

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He gives the same speech every

single day on Facebook Live.

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He's done it for three years.

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He now has 6,000 people in his

community and last year he made almost

366

:

a million dollars based on the different

offers he gave to that audience.

367

:

And I always love to use him as an

example 'cause I'm so proud of him.

368

:

Here was a guy that thought

he couldn't do anything.

369

:

He didn't have an audience.

370

:

I'm like, build your audience.

371

:

You build, this podcast, I'm

sure you're not Joe Rogan.

372

:

You don't have a hundred million people

listening to it yet, but that's the word.

373

:

John: They're hiding if they are.

374

:

Danny Brassell: the word John

is yet, these things take time.

375

:

It doesn't happen overnight.

376

:

And I love that you're practicing because.

377

:

That moment that you're gonna

succeed, you're gonna be a

378

:

well-oiled machine at that point.

379

:

You don't wanna succeed.

380

:

Right now you're not ready yet.

381

:

people are like, Danny,

you haven't been on Oprah.

382

:

I'm like, thank God I

haven't been on Oprah.

383

:

I'm not ready.

384

:

I have friends that have been on

Oprah that aren't millionaires.

385

:

And I say then you did it wrong.

386

:

'cause if you go on Oprah, you

should become a millionaire

387

:

if you're doing it right.

388

:

And it applies anywhere in the world.

389

:

So that's what I would say to

encourage people get off your

390

:

butt and get out there speaking.

391

:

John: I think it is great encouragement.

392

:

And I know that you've already said

a few times about how important it's

393

:

to connect with your audience, and I

know that one of the ways to do that is

394

:

the way they craft their presentations

and the storytelling elements so

395

:

for our audience, can you tell us a

396

:

bit more about that.

397

:

Danny Brassell: It's not a science I had

like, my seventh grade speech teacher,

398

:

Lynn Ridge, she said every good speech

you need a good introduction, then

399

:

you need to instruct your audience.

400

:

Then you need to invite your audience

to continue to do something with you.

401

:

And then you need to end your

presentation with inspiration.

402

:

She called it the Four Eyes,

Jimmy and I, we call it the Five

403

:

Cs 'cause we gotta be different.

404

:

Everybody's gotta be a

little bit different.

405

:

But it's the same strategy.

406

:

So the five Cs are clarity.

407

:

Connecting with your audience,

teaching content, your call to

408

:

action, and then your close.

409

:

The most important at the

beginning is your clarity, because

410

:

there's two questions everybody

needs to ask themselves before

411

:

they deliver a presentation.

412

:

Who is your audience and what is

the problem that you are solving?

413

:

And you'd be amazed, John, I'd say

probably 95% of the people I work with,

414

:

A lot of these people are very successful

entrepreneurs and business people, and

415

:

they can't answer those two questions.

416

:

They're very unclear on what

they do and who they serve.

417

:

I'll work with people.

418

:

I'm like, who do you serve?

419

:

They're like, oh, everybody.

420

:

I'm like, if you serve

everybody, you serve nobody.

421

:

Like start with a niche.

422

:

The riches are in the niches.

423

:

What I would do if I were you

is come up with a very specific.

424

:

statement of the problem I solve.

425

:

And I would put an alert on my iPhone, and

every single day I would practice that.

426

:

So if you were to ask me what is

the problem I solve, I say I empower

427

:

leaders to transform their personal

experiences into powerful business

428

:

stories that inspire action, drive

growth, and create lasting impact.

429

:

I've practiced that so many times.

430

:

It flows off like, the Pledge of

Allegiance or the Lord's Prayer.

431

:

When you can do that, the reason you're

practicing that, John, is so now when

432

:

you're in the elevator and somebody

talks to you, oh, I have this podcast.

433

:

You're, I work with professional

communicators and this

434

:

is the problem I solve.

435

:

You can do that in 15 to 20 seconds.

436

:

Most people can't do that, and it's

because they haven't practiced it.

437

:

most people actually do solve a

problem, but they don't know how to

438

:

articulate the problem that they solve.

439

:

most people, waste time on

social media, on their phones.

440

:

What I'm doing all the time

is I'm setting reminders on

441

:

things that I'm trying to learn.

442

:

I read the book Dune and I love, they have

a thing called the litany against fear.

443

:

And so every day at nine 11, I have

an alert that goes, I must not fear.

444

:

Fear is the mind killer.

445

:

Fear is the little death that

brings total obliteration.

446

:

I'll face my fear.

447

:

I will permit it to pass

over and through me.

448

:

When the fear has passed, I will

turn the inner eye to see its

449

:

path where the fear has been.

450

:

There will be nothing.

451

:

Only I will remain.

452

:

Every day at 1220.

453

:

I got married on December 20th,

so every day at:

454

:

my wife an I love you message.

455

:

this is how I'm using my phone to

help me develop every single day.

456

:

Same thing, if I'm practicing a

speech like five minutes every day.

457

:

The book I'm writing right now

has some things I wanna remember.

458

:

every day I'm practicing for five minutes.

459

:

I gotta read this over so that I can just.

460

:

Give these case studies with no problem.

461

:

So that's how you'll get better at that.

462

:

that's the clarity portion.

463

:

For all your presenters that are listening

out there and most presentations,

464

:

the best presentations, they actually

have a very specific framework.

465

:

Now, I'm not gonna say

this is the only framework.

466

:

when I lived in Spain and studied

Picasso, at first I studied Picasso.

467

:

I'm like, man, this guy's crazy.

468

:

He's got Guernica.

469

:

I didn't understand anything, but

then I saw his paintings as a child,

470

:

like when he was nine years old,

he would go into a room, look at

471

:

that room, and then paint like a

photograph of that room from memory.

472

:

when I saw that and then saw his

later stuff, I realized, he's at

473

:

such a high level I need to figure

out how he got to that high level.

474

:

Same thing with great presenters.

475

:

Some people just focus on the basics.

476

:

When you get really good, then

you can start doing other things.

477

:

after clarity we talk about is connecting

with your audience, teaching content.

478

:

Connecting is the most important thing

because if you don't connect within the,

479

:

first five minutes of your talk, your

audience is gonna decide, am I going to

480

:

just sit here and be present or am I going

to actually be engaged with this person?

481

:

So, coach Jimmy, calls it you gotta rap.

482

:

And so the three gots for rap is you gotta

show your relatable is the R for rap.

483

:

Relatable means showing the

audience that you're just like them.

484

:

And the best way to do this, Brene

Brown talks about vulnerability,

485

:

and I completely agree with her, is

stop talking about your successes.

486

:

Talk about your failures.

487

:

not everybody in your audience has

succeeded, but they've all failed.

488

:

And the more you talk about your own

vulnerabilities, you're gonna connect

489

:

on a very human level with people.

490

:

I always joke that I've never

seen a presidential candidate

491

:

who grew up middle class.

492

:

They all grew up in a log

cabin and they had to struggle.

493

:

They're trying to relate to everybody.

494

:

That's the relatability story.

495

:

The A in rap is authority.

496

:

You also have to show that you've

had the same problem they have,

497

:

but you solved their problem.

498

:

So that's gonna get their attention is,

oh, here's a person I can learn from.

499

:

And then the p in the

wrap is your purpose.

500

:

You gotta show your purpose.

501

:

Why does this matter?

502

:

there's lots of research on this.

503

:

Simon Sinek talks about in

his book, start With Why.

504

:

He says that people want to be

engaged in something with a purpose,

505

:

with a bigger mission, Howard

Schultz does that with Starbucks.

506

:

It's not just about drinking

coffee, it's about building

507

:

communities around the world.

508

:

Bill Gates, when he started

Microsoft, said, I want a computer

509

:

in every single home so that people

can communicate around the world.

510

:

Big ideas.

511

:

connecting is the first part of

your presentation the content of

512

:

your presentation is the longest

part interestingly it's the least

513

:

important, whatever you're teaching

is by far the least important

514

:

because there's lots of research.

515

:

The research shows that the bun's

more important than the burger.

516

:

People remember the beginning of your

talk and the end of your talk, they

517

:

don't remember anything in between.

518

:

when you're teaching, what I think is

really important is that you serve your

519

:

audience because they gave you their time

520

:

Whether they decide to take

that next step with you or not.

521

:

It's very important for integrity

purposes, that you help them?

522

:

Like your podcast, every single

episode I've heard of your podcast.

523

:

There's helpful strategies that

you're sharing that I'm like,

524

:

okay, this was worth my time.

525

:

I'm glad I listened to John today because

now I have an action item And then the

526

:

final two parts of your presentation

are your call to action, your close.

527

:

what Jimmy and I like to teach people

is there's basically, we'll go back

528

:

to Richard's example of having the

married couple in his audience.

529

:

You get two types of

people in your audience.

530

:

we'll be stereotypical and

call it the man and the woman.

531

:

The man is usually the

guy who I call Joe Friday.

532

:

He wants just the facts.

533

:

How much is this gonna cost?

534

:

How long is it gonna

take What do I gotta do?

535

:

And it's very important that you talk

about that in your call to action.

536

:

Now, your call to action shouldn't

be a very long call to action.

537

:

Should be a very specific.

538

:

Thing that you want your

audience to do, very clear.

539

:

But If you only communicate that

you're missing out on what we'll

540

:

say is the wife, the woman in the

audience who I call Julia Roberts.

541

:

Julia Roberts.

542

:

What she's looking for is she wants to

feel good, and this is very important

543

:

because we know the human brain's weird.

544

:

It doesn't focus on logic, it

focuses on emotion, and people

545

:

make emotional decisions.

546

:

so the end of your presentation really

has to end on a very emotional high.

547

:

And if you can craft a presentation

that meets the needs of both of

548

:

those people, you're gonna serve a

lot more people and do a better job.

549

:

I know with your audience, a lot of

people are doing this, but they might

550

:

not know why they do certain things.

551

:

This is what I like to

point out to people.

552

:

This is why you're doing that.

553

:

So some people, just naturally get it.

554

:

I don't know if Steve Jobs ever took

a speaking class but I love watching

555

:

Steve Jobs, his old presentations.

556

:

I'm like, man, his commencement

speech at Stanford's like a

557

:

perfectly crafted presentation.

558

:

His product launches

559

:

John: It was well

560

:

rehearsed.

561

:

Danny Brassell: you just

said it right there.

562

:

He didn't do it off of memory.

563

:

he practiced those things.

564

:

He knew exactly where to

pause, it's fantastic.

565

:

that's what I admire about him.

566

:

He was a person that understood

it takes a lot of reps.

567

:

John: Yeah, absolutely.

568

:

And the closing stuff is really

important and not just for the

569

:

emotional high that you need people

with, but it's the recency bias.

570

:

It is the thing of, people will remember.

571

:

What you said, but mostly how they felt

when you closed off that's probably the

572

:

thing that they will take with the most.

573

:

'cause that's what

they're walking out with.

574

:

Danny Brassell: I'm not gonna put

people down for this, but I see a lot of

575

:

coaches and they coach people to speak.

576

:

Most of the people I'm

working with aren't speakers.

577

:

These are people that just want

to increase their business.

578

:

Even when I'm working with speakers, I

see so many people, they love to focus on

579

:

the sad stories There's trauma and there's

three reasons why I refuse to do that.

580

:

First of all, the world just

survived a global pandemic.

581

:

Everybody's had a lot of

bad stuff happen to 'em.

582

:

I don't think we need to

hear another sad story.

583

:

I think we need more stories about hope.

584

:

Second of all, what Coach Jimmy

and I are teaching our clients.

585

:

What we call a well-crafted story.

586

:

When I covered the president 30

years ago, it was his stump speech.

587

:

This is a speech you deliver

again and again to introduce

588

:

yourself to new audiences.

589

:

this is a speech you're gonna

deliver again and again.

590

:

If you're telling a sad story,

do you really want to tell

591

:

that sad story again and again?

592

:

I see a guy, he talks about

the murder of his daughter.

593

:

I'm like, how do you talk about the worst

day of your life a thousand times a year?

594

:

I have no idea how he does that.

595

:

You gotta be stronger than me.

596

:

And third, and this is where

people get angry with me.

597

:

I have one objective when I'm on

stage, I want you to leave feeling

598

:

better than when you came in.

599

:

I want you smiling, laughing, happy.

600

:

I think there's something admirable

about that as an objective.

601

:

I believe the people that tell the

same sad story again and again.

602

:

By the 20th time they tell it

now you're being manipulative.

603

:

Those are crocodile tears.

604

:

And I'm not saying it's not an effective

sales technique, it's actually a

605

:

very effective sales technique.

606

:

But I personally don't wanna have to

take a shower after I speak 'cause

607

:

I just manipulated my audience.

608

:

There's better ways, ethical ways to

get your audience to wanna work with you

609

:

And I'm not gonna name it, but there's

a lot of these sleazy people that

610

:

they'll take every last dollar from

you by working that violin story.

611

:

And I just don't like it.

612

:

I think we need a lot more

you were talking about it

613

:

John, like end on a high note.

614

:

'cause that recency bias, I

want people feeling good and

615

:

feeling like, Hey, I can do this.

616

:

John: Yeah.

617

:

as a speaker you are to some degree the

conductor of the audience's emotions.

618

:

Throughout your presentation,

you are leading the pack as

619

:

to where they're gonna go.

620

:

if your goal is to make people

cry, I would definitely be

621

:

questioning that as to why do you

want your audience to be crying?

622

:

Why do you want them to feel bad if you're

not actually trying to manipulate them?

623

:

I think I would much rather have

people smiling, as they leave the room.

624

:

I know one of the things that

my audience particularly love

625

:

to hear about is storytelling.

626

:

You've given us some great insight as to

the kinds of stories we should be telling

627

:

or the way we should be approaching that.

628

:

But what are some of the things that

really help us to deliver a good story?

629

:

Danny Brassell: an exercise I like to,

I'll give this to the audience right now,

630

:

is so sit down in a comfortable chair with

a pen and paper for an hour, write down

631

:

every story that's ever happened to you.

632

:

I don't mean the entire story,

I just mean triggers like time.

633

:

I lock myself outta the car

in front of the grocery store.

634

:

The time dad spill mustard on

his tie at that fancy restaurant,

635

:

you'll find in like an hour, he'll

come up with maybe 500 stories.

636

:

So that's the first part of the exercise.

637

:

The second part of the exercise

is to think about what's

638

:

this story really about?

639

:

Oh, this is a story about never giving up.

640

:

this is a story about loyalty.

641

:

this is a story about love.

642

:

I know you're the same way, John and the

people in your audience are the same way.

643

:

I literally have hundreds of files with.

644

:

Probably tens of thousands of

stories based on, the emotion

645

:

I want from my audience.

646

:

for example, I was working

with a gentleman the other

647

:

day, a fitness instructor.

648

:

we were trying to come up with a powerful

close for his presentation and the

649

:

action he wanted his audience to do.

650

:

He runs all these gyms and he wanted

people to sign up for a gym membership

651

:

because they can't do it on their own.

652

:

So the point he was trying to make

is, you have to hire an expert.

653

:

I said, okay, good.

654

:

This is good.

655

:

Hire an expert.

656

:

We need to hire an expert story

that has nothing to do with

657

:

what you do as a gym owner.

658

:

And so I gave him an example.

659

:

I said, many years ago, my wife and

I, we had tickets to the theater

660

:

and we were addressed to the nines.

661

:

And as we were driving to the

theater, we got a flat tire.

662

:

my wife said I'm just

gonna call the tow truck.

663

:

I'm like, we don't need

to call a tow truck.

664

:

I'm a man.

665

:

I can fix a flat tire.

666

:

So I opened up the trunk

and got the spare tire.

667

:

the pumper thing and the

thing that's shaped like an x.

668

:

And I was trying to change this

tire for 27 minutes and my wife's

669

:

just shaking her head like she could

have done so much better than me.

670

:

And unbeknownst to me, she'd

actually called the tow truck.

671

:

And this 17-year-old kid shows

up in the tow truck and in three

672

:

minutes flat, he changes the tire.

673

:

I think there are times in life when

all of us think we can do it on our own,

674

:

but if you wanna save a lot of time,

save some money, and save a whole lot of

675

:

headache and hassle, you hire an expert.

676

:

So what I've done with him

is I'm showing him a story.

677

:

This is gonna get your audience

thinking about the action that

678

:

you want them to do, which is

you're not telling them explicitly

679

:

you should get a gym membership.

680

:

You're giving them an example of

a time that you struggled with

681

:

something because you were trying

to do it on your own and you realize

682

:

you needed somebody to help you out.

683

:

and you work with people like this.

684

:

They understand.

685

:

It's not about just telling stories.

686

:

The story has to have a point.

687

:

John: helping

688

:

them make the connections,

689

:

Danny Brassell: Absolutely.

690

:

John: to get where you want to get

691

:

Danny Brassell: I was working with a

woman and she's a very successful realtor

692

:

and she's being difficult with me.

693

:

she's like, I have no stories.

694

:

I said, okay, first of all, you're lying.

695

:

Everybody has stories.

696

:

You just aren't thinking about them.

697

:

let's look at one of the most successful

personal development books of all time,

698

:

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

699

:

He shares no personal

stories in that book.

700

:

he interviewed all these millionaires

and told their stories, that's another.

701

:

Strategy, If you don't have an interesting

story, tell somebody else's stories.

702

:

That's what I'm doing in my books,

like Misfits and Crackpots I have

703

:

this story, there's basically

two women Martha and Agnes.

704

:

They're both choreographers and they're

having coffee at a diner Agnes has just

705

:

opened up her third play, audiences

like it, but the critics have panned

706

:

it, so she wants to shut it down.

707

:

And Martha's like, You can't do that.

708

:

Agnes, It's not up to the critics

to decide what's important.

709

:

if you shut down this play, you're

taking away that play from the universe.

710

:

There's never been another you.

711

:

There's never gonna be another you.

712

:

You can't do that.

713

:

You have to put out what you have.

714

:

So Martha was Martha Graham, who's

considered the mother of modern dance.

715

:

She won the Kennedy Center Honors and

the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

716

:

Her friend that she encouraged was Agnes

Demill, who was the first woman to have

717

:

three concurrent musical hits on Broadway.

718

:

And she decided she would keep the play

open, but she just changed the name.

719

:

To Oklahoma.

720

:

All of us get that negative energy

one of my mentors when I first

721

:

started speaking, I had 500 people

love the presentation, and three

722

:

people hated it and ripped me apart.

723

:

he said something I'll never forget.

724

:

He is like, Danny, 5% of your

audience, they hate you and they

725

:

hated you before they ever met you.

726

:

There are miserable people out there

and you just can't let 'em get to you.

727

:

There's also 5% of your

audience thinks to your.

728

:

The Christ that, they're irrational too.

729

:

The other 90%, the rational human

beings that you can actually affect.

730

:

that really got to me.

731

:

I thought about that and I know

I'm just like anybody else.

732

:

I still let the negativity get in, but I

try to get it out as quickly as possible.

733

:

I'm not gonna let critics get me down.

734

:

Good storytellers, have a point

to every story that they tell.

735

:

Steve Jobs I watch him all the time.

736

:

for a guy that wasn't a professional

speaker, he uses storytelling in a

737

:

way that everybody can learn from.

738

:

John: Yeah, there's some genius stuff

in his stories that I do recommend

739

:

everyone check, checking that stuff out.

740

:

and storytelling definitely a skill.

741

:

We can all do with getting better

at and practicing more, whether

742

:

it's our stories or other people's.

743

:

What I do find a lot, and you may

be, you've seen this in the speaking

744

:

world as well of people perhaps using

or overusing some of these sort of

745

:

parabalistic stories that maybe get

used again and again by speaking.

746

:

Because um, probably best, I think

probably best to avoid those.

747

:

'cause everyone's heard the

story of the Chinese farmer a

748

:

million times and the stone masons

749

:

and all of that,

750

:

Danny Brassell: oh, I actually used to

belong to a secret group of speakers,

751

:

and when we would encourage each

other, that's what we'd always say is,

752

:

oh, did you tell the starfish story?

753

:

Because I've heard it a million times.

754

:

So, yes I'm right there with you, John.

755

:

You just hit one of my biggest pep pee.

756

:

I mean, I, I'm, okay.

757

:

I'm not gonna get the

name of the gentleman.

758

:

He's a billionaire.

759

:

Everybody knows his name, but he was

getting paid $150,000 for a 45 minute

760

:

talk in which half of his talk was

commercials for his different brands,

761

:

and the other half were 20 anecdotes that

I can tell you I've heard 28 different

762

:

times from different, it drove me nuts.

763

:

I'm like, this guy's getting paid 150

grand to regurgitate these sad stories.

764

:

everybody has their own stories.

765

:

And I'll say this also because

usually the best stories are ones

766

:

that all of us can relate to.

767

:

I mean, I'm I got this

guy I'm working with.

768

:

He's climbed the highest

peak on all seven continents.

769

:

He swam with sharks from Madagascar.

770

:

He is done the Iditarod in the North Pole.

771

:

Nobody can relate to you.

772

:

The stories that are the best are

like the stories that everybody

773

:

peed their pants in first grade.

774

:

That's a good story.

775

:

Everybody's gone to a dress up party

and they thought it was a dress up a

776

:

party where they wore a, an outrageous

costume, and it was dress up like, oh, I'm

777

:

supposed to wear a suit or a fancy dress.

778

:

Like those are the stories that

connect the best with audiences.

779

:

You don't need to tell the stone mason

stories you hit absolutely right.

780

:

Amen.

781

:

John: We see it all too often.

782

:

I think your own stories are

great and if you don't have them

783

:

right now, should cultivate them.

784

:

do you have any advice

for people on cultivating

785

:

their own stories?

786

:

Danny Brassell: Yeah, absolutely.

787

:

Take a tip, take a strategy from

Jerry Seinfeld, when he is writing

788

:

jokes, it's observational humor.

789

:

He's just looking at the

craziness of society every day.

790

:

Humans are insane creatures.

791

:

start paying attention to the things

that are just silly that you see,

792

:

like, I'll say like, oh, I was

watching this horrible show last week.

793

:

It was so depress and was

called, the news, that's

794

:

gonna get a laugh from people.

795

:

I don't need to be a standup

comedian, I just need people to

796

:

smile like, oh, this person gets me.

797

:

I can't stand the negativity out there.

798

:

Like, that person cut me off

on the interstate and they said

799

:

I must be a good driver.

800

:

'cause they showed a finger

saying I was number one with them.

801

:

So, how do you take those little things?

802

:

I think it's the daily things that are

gonna really connect with your audiences.

803

:

if I'm working with a person

that's what I'm selling 'em

804

:

to focus on in your industry.

805

:

I work with lots of corporate people

and there's so much corporate jargon.

806

:

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert

Comic Strip, he was a genius with this.

807

:

He makes fun of all this corporate jargon.

808

:

His entire presentation is about corporate

jargon and people are laughing because

809

:

they're dealing with it every single day.

810

:

That's why I love the movie office space.

811

:

all of us have had that kind of annoying

thing, and so that's why it's important,

812

:

again, knowing who your audience is.

813

:

If your audience is golfers

tell funny golf stories.

814

:

If your audience are corporate

attorneys, talk about silly

815

:

corporate attorney stories.

816

:

That's what's gonna really

connect with those people.

817

:

John: Yeah, absolutely.

818

:

I do think the relatability

aspect is super important.

819

:

And for those who are working on

the stories, you have something

820

:

available for our audiences that

can help them with that as well.

821

:

Right?

822

:

Danny Brassell: As a thank you, John, and

your audience for having to listen to me.

823

:

I give everybody their own

storytelling blueprint.

824

:

Com, free story guide.com

825

:

guide, like a tour guide.

826

:

I'll give everybody their own

five Cs storytelling blueprint.

827

:

it takes you through the exact

framework that Coach Jimmy and I

828

:

take our clients through on how to

create a well-crafted presentation.

829

:

it takes the guesswork out of why am I

doing this, and why am I doing this now?

830

:

Now you have the peace of mind that I

know how to connect with my audience,

831

:

and most importantly, how to get

them to take the next step with me.

832

:

And you can get that@freestoryguide.com.

833

:

And John, I just appreciate you.

834

:

You're such a great listener.

835

:

You let me go on and on.

836

:

I've never met a microphone I didn't like.

837

:

And I appreciate you and love

what you're doing and I believe in

838

:

everything you're about my friend.

839

:

John: Thank you, Danny.

840

:

Thank you for coming and sharing your

passion and your expertise with us today.

841

:

I really appreciate it and I know our

listener's gonna en enjoy that as well.

842

:

And there will be links to go and

check out Danny further in the show

843

:

notes for anyone who wants to do that.

844

:

Danny, thank you so much for coming and

being my guest on Present Influence today.

845

:

Well done for making it to the end of the

episode, first of all, and, I hope you

846

:

were able to pick out nuggets of value

in there as well, because there's plenty.

847

:

And do, make sure that you go and download

Danny's free story guide as well, I

848

:

think you'll find it incredibly useful.

849

:

But connecting with your audiences

is not optional if you want

850

:

to be a top-quality speaker.

851

:

So developing these

skills is really critical.

852

:

But maybe after hearing the episode,

you might understand why I had a

853

:

few challenges in editing this down.

854

:

And believe me, it is a

heavily edited episode.

855

:

So what you heard was the after result of

a lot of editing work, which one of the

856

:

reasons why I wasn't sure I was gonna be

able to bring you that episode this week,

857

:

whether it was gonna be editable enough,

858

:

for me to bring it down to a more

digestible level that would still

859

:

make sense as well and be still

have value for you to listen

860

:

to I hope that I achieve that.

861

:

Maybe you can let me know if

I didn't quite hit the mark.

862

:

I hope you'll come and join me again on

Friday, we'll recap some of the key points

863

:

of this episode and talking about maybe

some additional things that might help you

864

:

to develop deeper connections with your

audiences, whether they're large or small.

865

:

So make sure you stay tuned for that.

866

:

If you're not already following the

show, give us a follow, and wherever

867

:

you're going, whatever you're doing,

have an amazing rest of your day.

868

:

See you next time.

About the Podcast

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Present Influence
The podcast that helps professional communicators learn the skills that increase influence, impact and authority.

About your host

Profile picture for John Ball

John Ball

John Ball is a keynote coach and professional speaker on a mission to help upcoming leaders master their communication, create impact and stand out as experts in their field.
John left the high life of his flying career to do something more meaningful to him and has since worked with several leading personal and professional development organisations as a lead coach and trainer.
The heart of everything John does involves helping people shift to personal responsibility and conscious awareness of how they show up and perform in every situation, whilst equipping them with the tools to be exceptional.
John also co-hosts The Coaching Clinic Podcast with his great friend and colleague Angie Besignano.
He lives in the beautiful city of Valencia, Spain with his husband and often visits the UK and US for speaking and training engagements. When he's not speaking or podcasting, he's likely to be out swimming, kayaking or enjoying time with friends.

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