142. Face your speaking fears to build an empire with Jess Williamson

If you're building a business - or want to - being able to confidently speak on stage and on socials is essential! In this episode I chat to award winning mindset and business coach Jess Williamson, who's scaled 4 successful businesses in the past 7 years. We chat about taking action, speaking with confidence and the importance of showing up online.

Follow Jess on instagram @jess.williamson8. Visit her website here

Transcript

Hello, hello! How are you? I am bringing a guest back to That Voice Podcast this week. There were a few more solo casts than usual over Christmas, so it's time for another voice to give you a bit of a break from mine. And I am excited to welcome the amazing, inspiring, angelic Jessica Williamson. So Jess is an award-winning mindset and business coach and a serial entrepreneur, like she's scaled four successful businesses in the past seven years.

Like, what? In this episode, we chat about taking action and how to find the right. Course of action to take so you don't find yourself burnt out. Jess shares a great mindset hack for having the confidence to speak on stage and on social media, and one story in this part may or may not involve a potential shot of vodka before 7:00 AM.

We chat about how important it is to show up even if you have a product-based business. This applies if you're an employee as well. And we touch on the AI boom. And does this spell the end for the human voice? Hint: I think not. Before we get into the episode, I have an announcement. My group coaching course called Speak From Your Soul is now open for enrollment.

We start on Feb 19, and this is the only time this year I'll be running this course. It gives you everything you need to find your voice, speak your truth, and release your fears around showing up on social, speaking on podcasts, really speaking in any scenario. This course gets to your true, powerful, resonant voice. And past students say it's a soul-nourishing experience, unlike any other online course they've done.

You know, we've got meditations, poetry, and live circles where you really feel safe to open up and speak what's on your heart. Nothing is off limits. And the resources of course are yours for life. The information is in the show notes and of course, DM me on Instagram @sallyprosservoice. If you wanna find out if Speak From Your Soul is right for you and your circumstance.

Okay? Are you ready for Jess? Let's dive in.

Sally: Jess Williamson, welcome to the podcast. So great to have you here. First question: could you do your job if you lost your voice?

Jess: Ooh, good question. I don't know that I could. I would probably find a way, but since I mostly do voice memos with my clients and audio calls, Might be a little bit challenging.

Sally: Yes. So give us a bit of an idea of your business journey and where it is you've come from and what it is you do now.

Jess: Yes. I will give you the most abbreviated version that I can, but I started my first business back in 2016. I was 22 and had no clue, no experience, no nothing. And, um, just went all in. And so I created a global fashion brand and from there it just exploded.

I was on the news, on the media, all sorts of places, and so off the back of the success on that, I thought, well, I can do anything, which has always been like an underlying theme of me in my life. So, well, in 2019, I had five businesses at once. I was doing my coaching. Uh, I've been coaching for the past, I think four or five years.

The years just disappear now, but four or five years. Um, but in 2019 I was running five at once. Pretty wild, like pretty wild experience. I've always gone really, really fast. Have an idea. Guess what? It's up today. Like I'll make a website in two hours and off I go. So that's never been my problem. Action has never been my problem.

Um, but knowing where maybe not to take action, has been the biggest challenge. So in 2019, I hit max burnout. To the Max. Adrenal fatigue, stressed, like on edge 24/7. My health was suffering. So through that, I really got to ask myself like, what does success mean to me? What businesses are really lighting me up?

And so I sold some of them. I sold my last business except for my coaching, cuz that's just me. But I sold my last one in 2021, which was my swimwear. And so then I've just been focusing on my business coaching, which has been so incredible to lean all the way in, and even though I've been doing it since 2018, which is wild in itself, crazy, but I am continuing to evolve at every stage, and it just gets to be really, really fun, which I'm sure you've found as well that your passions evolve.

You'll evolve as a human, and when you have a personal brand or when your business is you, it's fun because your business gets to evolve with you as well. So that's kind of where I'm at now. And I really, really love just helping women dive into the deep subconscious mindset stuff and unlocking their whole next level self and removing all of the blocks in the way of their success, but also diving into the strategy side because I have built five successful businesses and have a background in marketing and all of that fun stuff as well. So I kind of get to play. All of the things which keeps it interesting.

Sally: Yeah, I love that. So how do you strike the balance? Because on one side you've got the take fast action. Go, go, go. You know, I've been there as well. Think of the idea, get the landing page, make the post, you know, go for it. And I know that's something that a lot of people do struggle with, of how do I take action? It's that sitting in the indecision. And maybe part of that fear, I know for some of my clients it is, is as you've explained, is if you are always taking action, taking action, taking action, then you end up burnt out.

Jess: Mm-hmm. Yep.

Sally: So how would you suggest people take this action without ending up getting to the edge?

Jess: Yeah, and this is something I love working with people on. The first thing we actually need to do is. So much clarity on what your idea of success is in the most an idea workshop recently called Fantasy Land, because I feel like that's kind of my superpower, just playing in the realm where anything and everything is possible. Because when we create our version of success or our goals from a place of anything gets to be possible, and what really, really aligns with me, then we get to make the most direct route there. And that's where we don't end up taking action in 50,000 directions. And really we've only ended up one step away from where we started. If we know exactly where we're going, we take 50,000 steps, we're gonna be 50,000 steps closer to our goal, if not already surpassed our goal.

So I think that is where it starts, which in itself can be quite challenging because it's like, well, I don't know what my dream idea is, or what my dream idea of success might be, but this is where I think the mindset or the deeper inner work comes in because we get to do things like working at your core values, looking at past experiences where you have absolutely loved your life or loved what you are doing.

And then we can build something looks like that, but at the same time, trial and error. Trial and error gets to play like the biggest part. And I think a lot of people think they just have to all figured out from day one. So sometimes you can just try something, didn't love it, no worries. Then we get to move on, rather than sitting in this idea of failure or, oh, it didn't work out.

I can't do business, but it's just like, that just wasn't for me. Now I get to go in this new direction. So there's so many, I guess, moving parts, but that would be the first thing to really nail.

Sally: Mm. And there's so much learning in taking action isn't there? And there's so much energy that can get consumed in the not taking action, in the procrastination that, that sitting in that indecision can actually drain you more than making those decisions to go forward.

Jess: Yeah.

Sally: And Fantasy Land, I love that it is like, I saw that on your website. I thought, what a great name for a masterclass. And the more delusional we all are, the better. I had someone once say to me, You're so delusional. You love public speaking? I was like, Well, if that's the case, then let's all be delusional!

Jess: Yeah. Delusional has like this negative connotation, but the literal definition of delusion is being so in conviction or deep belief that something is true when everyone else knows it's false. I think that's pretty damn cool. I think that is the biggest show of deep felt confidence because in this world, like we have seen insane, um, technology advancements, success stories.

None of that was logical until someone did it. So I think delusion is like the best thing that we can do.

Sally: Yeah, that inner confidence. And Jess, throughout your businesses, you have shown up on media. You've got your own podcast, you are now on YouTube. You're thinking of starting a TikTok, you're on Instagram.

Have you always been totally fine with standing up and public speaking either on stage or on camera?

Jess: Yeah, no, definitely not. So I always remember back in primary school, I have this vivid memory of, I literally was so shy that someone would have to yell out, Hey Jess, hey Jess! Like 10 times before I would turn around because I was too embarrassed that if I turned around and it wasn't me, that all hell, like that was my worst nightmare.

Sally: Oh my gosh.

Jess: So this is how shy I was. I wouldn't even wave to people cuz I would be afraid that they wouldn't wave back. And then I would look silly. Like this was the level and like probably came across quite rude, but this was the level of shyness that I had growing up. And so then when I started my businesses, I literally didn't put my name anywhere.

I was like, I'm creating this global fashion brand. I have so much conviction and belief in what I'm capable of, but I don't want anyone to know it's me. Like, I'm just not gonna put my name. I'm not gonna claim that this is me anywhere. And so I didn't really tell many people and so damn shy. But then what started to happen? I had this insane opportunity. I was invited to New York Fashion week after one week in business, which was just insane.

Sally: Wild. Yeah.

Jess: And so from that, my background's marketing and so I was like, right, I need to get press coverage for this cuz this is a story that I need to leverage while it's timely.

So I did a lot of press outreach and started to. Some interest there. A lot of it was just written, so it wasn't too crazy. Um, but there was one TV opportunity that they came to my house and did a whole TV segment and interviewed me, and I was so, so nervous, so beyond nervous. I was just like so dead in the face when I looked at the interview, but I was like, whenever I was scared, I always saw the goal. Like the outcome of me doing this is that I get to be on TV and get the word out there about my business, versus being afraid and sitting at the sidelines. So I've always seen that my goal, or my why or my outcome, has far outweighed my fear. Even with my first ever speaking engagement, so even in uni, they make you do speeches on stuff you're not even interested in.

So, I will get my name, like everyone would go through and I'm like, I've literally forgotten my name. I don't even know. So I, when I was in business, I thought to myself, I don't have much budget. How do I get my business out there for free? So I was like, maybe I'll go and speak at some women in business events in Perth.

And so I just started emailing people and I said, Hey, I've got this story. Can I speak at your event? And one lady said, Look, I'll give you five minutes before the actual speakers. You can come, and I remember this event. I had five minutes to literally stand up and say, Hey, I went to New York. Here's some photos.

Here's me. And I practiced for four weeks on what I wanted to say. Practiced nonstop for four weeks. I had sleepless nights the whole week leading up to it. So much anxiety, so much stress. But not one ounce of me ever said, should I not do this. Like it's kind of random because not one ounce of me thought maybe I just shouldn't do this, or maybe I should tell them I can't do it.

I just felt the damn uncomfortable and did it anyway. I even was considering this is how far it went. I don't even drink that much, but I was considering taking a shot of vodka in the car so that when I got there I could have a shot before I had to go in to speak. And this was a 7:00 AM event, by the way.

I didn't have the shop cuz I had to then drive home and that just wouldn't be a thing. But this was how nervous I was. So, I went in, I did my five minutes. In that five minutes, I managed to flap my arms around so much that I accidentally threw the, the slideshow clicker on the floor and broke it for all the speakers after me.

So , it didn't go so well. But after that they, they had a mingling section and people came up to me and said, thank you for sharing. That was really awesome. And so it was that moment that I realized, All the fear and all of the like, it doesn't even matter because one person found interesting and that's all that I needed.

Sally: Jess, that is so great. So would you say from that moment, that was the turning point, or were there other things that you did to help feel more confident showing up and speaking?

Jess: Yeah, I think every experience was a turning point, really like. Until now where I can just get on, like I had no idea what we are gonna speak about and we're here and just chatting and it feels natural.

I think just every step. But that was the biggest one cuz it was kind of my first experience. Went terribly, but still, I didn't make it mean anything about me. I just went on and moved on. And so the other, the other part that was the big one was showing up on social media where friends and family are now gonna see it.

Because the first time I did face to camera, Instagram stories, you can see who's watching. So that's another huge thing. But again, I just had to come back. I don't even know who's watching this or gonna receive this, but I know that someone will, and someone needs to hear this today. So that's kind of what's driven me at every point and just working on my confidence by doing.

Sally: Hmm, confidence by doing. And I'm just thinking, I didn't send you any questions for today before our chat. We were like, Oh, what? What could we talk about, you know? And that is such awesome progress to go from practicing for four weeks.

Jess: Yep.

Sally: For a five minute presentation to being like, that's fine. Yeah. Go with the flow.

Jess: Yeah, it it's wild now. I haven't thought about that in a while . It is kind of crazy!

Sally: Yeah. So good. So for anybody who has a business and they might have been hearing your story about the hold, oh look, I'll just have the brand and I don't need to be any part of it. I'll just be in the background. I don't need to show up.

What would you say to them? How long would that strategy work or what is, what is a pep talk you could give to help them have the confidence to step out like you did?

Jess: Yeah, I think, look, I think when it comes to a product-based business, I know that people are saying you have to show your face and things.

But I do think that if you look at any of the big product-based businesses, the founder is not the face like it, you don't have to be. Um, but people do wanna know your story. And so that's where I started with just sharing, this is my startup story. I, I wasn't a thought leader from day one. I wasn't the, you know, even though I had good strategies and expertise in things.

I wasn't trying to build a personal brand. Um, but it's when I started really realizing that I had a message to share and I wanted to let people know how they can unlock that success, too. And actually people used to just stalk me down and find me. I had my name nowhere, but somehow people found me on Instagram and just wanted to know how.

So that's kind of how I started with that. Um, but I do think that the era of the personal brand is so powerful because if Richard Branson came to you and said, Hey, do you wanna invest in my business? It's just gonna cost you a hundred bucks and you know it's gonna be a Virgin brand. You'd be like, cool. I'll invest in that. Thanks Richard, for the personal invitation!

But if you know somebody who had no clue who they were, Came to you and pitched an idea that you had no clue what it was, I don't think you're gonna invest. So not even necessarily from an investment standpoint, but just from a leverage standpoint.

Like I'm able to create all sorts of income streams, businesses, whatever it is, because I'm the one behind it and I literally get paid to be me, now. Whatever channel, whatever income stream. People trust people, so it's a really, really good way to just connect in a different way. Even if you're not the face of the brand, you've got a separate account or social media presence where people can find you and connect if they want.

Sally: Mm. Yeah. Great advice. And if you are a service-based business, then, I dunno if there's a way around it. I think you really have to be, be showing up and it comes down to the trust and with all of this AI and things that are going around the place at the moment. You actually, Jess, oh my gosh. I heard this on your podcast this morning.

Jess: Yeah.

Sally: Where you spoke about this and I thought it's so true because you can't AI the human voice.

Jess: Mm. I think you can actually. Yeah.

Sally: Let me add the next bit. They, they can't AI your particular sound.

Jess: Yes.

Sally: And phrases and the way that you can connect and respond. I mean that might be coming, let's be honest.

Jess: Yeah. I think we'll be coming soon, but I was playing around with all these AI tools yesterday. I just love geeking out on like things like that. But I was playing with them. The thing with those tools you have to know. What you want the output to be. So they still can't quite replicate critical thinking or perspective or things like that, that have never been shared before.

Sally: Yeah. And that's also why when you're sharing your story or sharing your voice, how it is so valuable to share your opinions, your perspectives, your story, all of those things that come from deep inside you.

Jess: Mm, definitely. So powerful. Storytelling.

Sally: Yeah. Amazing. How can people find you if they'd like to work with you?

Jess: Yes, so people can find me on Instagram at @jess.Williamson8, also on YouTube and my podcast Jess Williamson: The Podcast and where else you can probably find me anywhere, type me into Google and um, come and connect. But Instagram is the best place and my DMs are always open. So I do love hearing, you know, if you've had some crazy stories about your speaking journey or just wanna come and connect and let me know. I would love to hear from you!

Sally: Well, Jess, thank you so much for coming on the show. You're doing such awesome things, and it is wonderful to chat. Thank you.

Jess: Thanks so much.