Do you find yourself asking many “What if” questions when it comes to public speaking? Are you often so limited by these thoughts that you end up not sharing your message with others? How can you overcome these questions and fears in order to become a confident, clear, and credible speaker?
Public speaking, interacting online or offline, and getting those interviews could greatly help you get your message across different networks and might even guarantee you some new clients. It is important to be authentic and credible when it comes to sharing your message with the market. How can you be known as a person with authority in the market and also makes your message unique, credible, and reliable?
Tom Bailey is the Founder of Succeed Through Speaking, but he spent the first 25 years of his life becoming an expert at avoiding public speaking, presenting, and being in front of groups of people. However, since overcoming his life-limiting fear of speaking and presenting, he has experienced first-hand how people can succeed through speaking. He now helps other Entrepreneurs and Experts use speaking to raise their profile and gain new clients.
In this episode, Tom shares how public speaking can be a make or break potentiality in the market. He shares the power it holds and how you can become a powerful, credible, and confident public speaker overcoming the “what if” questions.
 
What you will learn from this episode:
  • Discover how public speaking can bring you success and guarantee you more clients
  • Learn more about why it is important to position yourself and become a person of authority when it comes to public speaking
  • Find out how you can overcome the “what ifs” and get your message across to the market efficiently and effectively
 
We’re ultimately not going to die if we speak, so we need to just get out there, do it and prove to ourselves that nothing wrong is going to happen.
Tom Bailey
 
 
Valuable Free Resource:
 
How to become a fearless speaker and get your message across to your audience confidently: https://www.succeedthroughspeaking.com/live-demo-registration
 
 
Topics Covered:
 
1:48 – Challenge is positioning yourself as an expert in the market and being credible and clear with your message
3:03 – Putting out content by other experts and spending most time interacting in social media rather than being the authority of your content: the common mistakes business women leaders make when trying to get their message to their market
4:19 – One free and actionable tip you can do to enhance your presence, position, and credibility: You can use public speaking, presenting audio content to help raise your profile, and really share value with your networks.
5:27 – One valuable resource to help you become an influential and credible public speaker with authority to market your message amazingly: https://www.succeedthroughspeaking.com/live-demo-registration
6:27 – Q: What do we do if we’ve got a fear of public speaking? A: talk around the topic is that it all comes down to fear. And usually, this shows up as “What if?” questions really linked to that talk or presentation.
 
 
Key Takeaways:
 
“The fears are there for a reason, and they’re very powerful. They’re really linked to an ancient part of our brain. And that part of our brain is there to try and protect us. So, if we let this ancient part of our brain perceive this threat as quite a large threat, then ultimately it is going to stop us from going out there and presenting and speaking. So, you know, we need to retrain that part of our brain that speaking, presenting, isn’t that dangerous.” – Tom Bailey
“The person needs to be the face, the voice, and the authority at the forefront of that content, instead of posting other people’s content as your core offering.” – Tom Bailey
“Whether you’re speaking or presenting, whether you’re on video on the podcast, you need to get clear on what message you’re putting in front of your market so that it resonates with that market.” – Tom Bailey
“I always say that the person stood in front of the room is usually the one seen as the expert. So that’s where you need to position yourself to really help you raise your profile in your industry.” – Tom Bailey
 
 
Ways to Connect with Tom Bailey
 
 
Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown
 
 
Full Episode Transcript:
Sarah E. Brown 0:42
My guest today is Tom Bailey. He is the founder of Succeed Through Speaking. And the interesting thing about Tom is he spent the first 25 years of his life becoming an expert at avoiding public speaking, presenting, or being in front of groups of people at all. However, since overcoming this life-limiting fear of speaking and presenting, he has experienced first-hand how people can succeed through speaking. He now helps other entrepreneurs and experts use speaking to raise their profile and gain new clients. Welcome, Tom.
Tom Bailey 1:26
Hi, Sarah, thank you so much for inviting me along to this show today.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 1:29
And I know your topic applies to both men and women. But since our audience today is primarily females, let me ask the standard question, what’s the biggest challenge you help female leaders face in business today? And what might be some symptoms of that challenge?
Tom Bailey 1:48
Of course! Thanks for asking. And like you said, this does relate to both men and women, but in particular, female leaders, and it’s very, very relevant for, and for me, it’s anybody wanting to become a leader in their industry. The missing pieces and the biggest challenge is positioning and credibility. So just in terms of positioning, and, specifically, positioning yourself as an expert or authority, you first need to get really clear on your market and also on your message. So, whether you’re speaking or presenting, whether you’re on video on the podcast, you need to get clear on what message you’re putting in front of your market so that it resonates with that market. And like you mentioned in the bio, I really show people how to get their message to market with both confidence and clarity. And typically, that’s through public speaking, presenting, and it could be online, on video, or even in person. And just one last point, before I give your hand back over to you, I always say that the person stood in front of the room is usually the one seen as the expert. So that’s where you need to position yourself to really help you raise your profile in your industry.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 2:57
And what do you see are the biggest mistakes your clients make before working with you?
Tom Bailey 3:03
Yeah, thank you. So, what I see too often is the desire to be constantly putting out content on social media every single day. So before working with me, a lot of my clients will post daily quotes from other experts on every platform. They’ll point to posts by other experts on every platform and typically spend hours liking and commenting on other people’s posts on social media. But obviously, before, you know it, you spent four hours on social media. You’ve got a few likes on your posts, but no real follow-up or sales or traction in the market. So instead, what I find people need to do is they need to find ways to get themselves as the expert in front of their ideal clients. So, whether that’s sharing great value on a podcast episode, whether it’s a guest interview, running your free masterclass or, you know, a high-value virtual boot camp. But the person needs to be the face, the voice, and the authority at the forefront of that content, instead of posting other people’s content as your core offering.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 4:10
So, what’s the number one free and actionable tip you can give our audience today to help them address this challenge now?
Tom Bailey 4:19
Yeah, perfect. And to be honest, and it’s like you and me and what we’re doing right now. So, Sarah, you’re the host of your own podcast, and you’re showing up online as the authority in your niche or industry because ultimately, you’re the host, the leader, and the figurehead of your brand. And me, in the same example, I’m showing up here today, as an expert, you know, the person that’s been sourced to come and share my knowledge with your audience. And again, that’s positioning me as an expert in front of your following. So, equally, I’ve got my own podcast show. I currently do around three to four expert interviews each every week to get other people to share their knowledge with my audience. So, this is just a great example here of an actionable tip. You can use public speaking, presenting audio content to help raise your profile, and really share value with your networks. And I think this is what all of the people in your audience should be doing as well to really help them enhance their own presence, positioning, and credibility.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 5:19
And what’s a valuable free resource you can share with women who are listening today to help them understand this challenge better?
Tom Bailey 5:27
Of course, thanks for asking. So, it all depends when people are listening to this episode, but I currently offer a high-value, value-packed masterclass, and it’s on the first Thursday of every month. So, we’re in June now and the next one’s coming up on the first of July ’21, but every first Thursday of the month going forward. And this master class is on the topic of, “How to Become a Fearless Speaker and Get Your Message to Market with Confidence and Clarity So That You Can Raise Your Profile and Gain New Clients”. And the best place to find this is to go to my website, which is succeedthroughspeaking.com. And on that homepage, you can just click on the free masterclass button.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 6:12
Terrific! And we will also have that in the show notes as well.
Tom Bailey 6:17
Thank you.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 6:17
So, Tom, what’s one question that I should have asked you today that will help our audience take action to address this challenge? And then would you please answer the question.
Tom Bailey 6:27
Yeah, of course. So, this is something that comes up quite a lot. But the question is, “What do we do if we’ve got a fear of public speaking?” or, you know, “I’ve got a limiting belief when it comes to public speaking?” And the answer for that, for me, is to talk around the topic is that it all comes down to fear. And usually, this shows up as “What if?” questions really linked to that talk or presentation. So, it could be, “What if I make a mistake?”, “What if I forget my lines?”, “What if the technology fails?”, or “What if I embarrass myself?” And a lot of these questions, all of the answers to these what-if questions are typically irrational and not in proportion to the actual likely outcome? So, what I do is I get people to dig into these questions by also asking, “What if?” So, okay, what if you do forget your lines? You know, what could you do about it? What else could you do? How could you have prepared yourself differently so that you have a backup? What could you do to rectify the situation afterward if you did, in fact, forget your lines? And then equally I like to ask the question, well what if you don’t forget your lines? You know, what if you deliver an amazing presentation, and somebody in the audience becomes a future business partner? What if two or three people in the audience want to purchase your product or service? Or what if they all do? And ultimately, these questions can turn those fears on their heads and really try and put them back into proportion. And one final thing, just to mention, sorry, before I do finish is that you know, the fears are there for a reason, and they’re very powerful. They’re really linked to an ancient part of our brain. And that part of our brain is there to try and protect us. So, if we let this ancient part of our brain perceive this threat as quite a large threat, then ultimately it is going to stop us from going out there and presenting and speaking. So, you know, we need to retrain that part of our brain that speaking, presenting, isn’t that dangerous. You know, we’re ultimately not going to die if we speak, so we need to just get out there, do it and prove to ourselves that nothing wrong is going to happen.
Dr. Sarah E. Brown 8:34
Terrific. Tom, thanks so much for being here today and sharing your wisdom with us.
Tom Bailey 8:40
Sarah, thank you so much for inviting me again.

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