Speaking on Stages, Lessons Learned from Decades of Talking

know, you know, the gist. If you've been around here a while, you probably are very familiar with how the show is produced and run every single week. But today's a little bit different. Because I wanted to actually go down memory really, I can't even say that memory lane, and share with you all of the different stages that I have been on over. I mean, decades of my life, not just today and the big, fancy sexy names. I want to really embody our motto, keep it up, we all have

to start somewhere. Because we do all have to start somewhere. And I'm gonna tell you like, you're gonna see the behind the scenes of all of the speaking that I've done to prepare me for what is to come in the next few weeks. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the profit podcast where we teach entrepreneurs how to start launch and market their podcast. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of podcasting, think of this show as the time saving shortcut you've been looking for. So let's get right to it, shall we?

batching has literally changed my life. I'm gonna link to an episode that I've done on batching podcast actually have a YouTube video as well. But um, batching is just one of those things that is just so so incredible for content creators. But I got inspiration for this episode from the batching that I did for the potty report. And there was this concept that I came up with it it says just because you're good, doesn't mean you can't be better. And so I want to start there simply

because I am a type of person. That stage fright has never been something that's held me back from at least trying to be on stage. And I did this whole potty report episode. It's coming out this week, if you want to listen to it, but I I really go into what stage fright is for most people. So stage fright is the debilitating like, You're sweating. You're shaking, you're so nervous that you can't walk up and I'm thinking of like a

physical stage, right? Like whether this happened to you in your childhood or your young adulthood or it still happens to you today. The idea of stage fright is you are literally terrified. like think about fright, like a scary movie, right? You're watching Scary Movie, you think the boogeyman is gonna jump out and get you like, stage fright is a real thing. And I totally understand that. But it was never an issue for me, like I grew up. I maybe it's because I'm the baby.

And I'm totally obsessed with understanding like birth order of because I have three kids. I am the youngest of three kids. My husband is the youngest of three kids. So it's always super interesting to see how all three of our sons are totally different. I'm different from my brothers, my husband's different from his brother. So it's just kind of interesting to see the different dynamics that play out as children grow up and kids are

raised, but I was the baby of our family. Not only that, but I was the only girl in with me one of my personality traits was I loved being the center of attention, right maybe that's one of the things you shouldn't say out loud, but it is one thing it just made me so happy.

got the moves. But it was just so much fun for me because I would practice for hours in my room. Even at the age of four, I would practice for hours and hours and hours, and I got a god bless my parents. I'm so grateful that they did not tell me to sit down and shut up. No one cares about your day. Cheers anymore. Krystal like we've heard it, we get it, you're excited. Sit down. They never did that to me. Instead, they were like,

okay, like, well listen to me. Just imagine them gritting their teeth, like, oh, here she goes, again. She's gonna do it again. Yeah, it's the same moves, just keep smiling, keep smiling. But that was the environment that I had, I just felt really empowered to show up as myself. And I never really had this fear of getting in front of large groups of people, because I had been cheering, you know, and being on stages and doing different things like that from a very young age. So stage

fright has never really been an issue. For me. The reason why I bring this up today is because I know that this is an issue for a lot of people in this community. So I didn't want to share of all these stages and different things that I've done. And say, well, you can just get over it really just get over your stage fright, because I don't think that's fair. Because I think that a lot of people have different situations, they have different capabilities, and they just have different

scenarios that they have been put into. Like, for me, for example, I was a cheerleader at a very young age. And that gave me this confidence to speak really loudly and to show up loudly. And it gave me permission to be loud at a young age. I've talked about this many times, if you are someone that's listened to this podcast for a very long time, you know, I tell y'all adjust your microphone and your environment to your voice, not

the other way around. I don't want you trying to whisper and not talk so loud, because you don't want the gain on your microphone to be too much. Or you don't want to hurt somebody yours. No, no, I want you to show up as yourself if you're loud, be loud and stand a little bit further away from your microphone like that is that that's just what I do. I'm actually a lot further away today, because I'm really fired up my coffee is really

going it's working right now. But I wanted to share my experience from approaching stage fright. And it not really being a thing that I had to overcome. So if this is something that you really struggle with, don't worry, I'm going to share with you some tools that I know have helped other people get over that and show up in a very visible way that helps them feel more confident.

what do I mean by that? I mean that I used to stand up in front of my classmates on a very regular basis, because I was the student council president. And that meant that you had to get up

in front of the class big presentations. You had to do speeches at pep rallies and different conferences or not conferences, but like, what is it I'm trying to think of like, you know, just like where everyone gathers, it's not a pep rally, but where people would gather in the gym like I would have to be the person to make specific

announcements. Now that doesn't mean that I didn't get nervous, don't get me wrong, I still sometimes my hand would be shaking, I got my hand on the microphone, but I just was like, I'm just gonna do this because it's part of the job, right? If you're going to be a leader, this is just part of it. And then I was also team captain on several of the sports teams that I was a part of. So I was fine kind of taking that center center stage in stepping into this role as a leader. It just felt

very natural for me. And then I want to move into college. So whenever I was at college, and I, I kind of make fun of myself. I'm just like, Oh my gosh, you were so nerdy. You're so dorky. I cannot believe that you did this. No one else wanted this job. But you Krystal no one else volunteered for this. Everyone else is probably like that is the lamest job ever. Who would want that title? And I'm like a me because this was so much fun. Oh my gosh, I feel like such a dork telling you this but

here we are. We're already into it. I can't back out now. So I get to college. And I'm a freshman in college. I went to Texas State University and Sam Marcus, Texas. So whoop, eat him up cats. It's actually where I met my husband. But this was my freshman year of college we had not met before. Here I am this little girl from Athens, Texas. I'm like four and a half hours away from home. I know a few people on campus. Some of my brothers, my older brother's friends and some other people that

had gone to my high school went there. But I didn't know someone that was living in my dorm. I lived right on campus, I lived close to the business building because that was where I was going to be going to school. And I was like, Oh, I don't have to walk as far as super lazy. But you have to understand like, Texas State has some hills that will not quit. And if you don't have like, it's like getting a butler lift when you go to school there because there's literally 1000

stairs, everywhere. And in the middle of summer, when it's 110 degrees outside, you're gonna be sweating. Like I didn't wear a lot of makeup in college because I sweat it all off. So just that's a little like, behind the scenes of Texas State. But I lived in the Elliott dorm. And I had my roommate, and this is how old this dorm was. My roommates dad lived in our dorm when he went to college. And so yeah, we had the oldest, some of the crappiest ones on campus. But it was also the

most affordable. So that is why I live there. So here I am. I'm living here. And they had like all the arese got together and they made like a big announcement. If you aren't familiar with the RA is there the I think it's the Resident Assistants is that what they call them? Like, I'm trying to think of the actual title, but it's the college students that are the upperclassmen that live in the dorms, and they kind of get paid to police.

The younger kids like Hey, no drinking in the dorms, no, like going into each other's bedrooms, because this was a coed dorm, it'd be girls on one floor boys on the other girls and like and so on and so forth. It was only like three stories, I think, I don't know, I lived on the bottom floor because I took enough stairs going to class. Like, I'm just gonna live on the bottom floor. But whenever we were there, they had like a town hall

type meeting. And they said, Okay, well, we are having elections for the president of our like dorm, like, who wants to be the president of our dorm. And I think back to that moment, and I'm looking back at myself as like the older version of me, and I'm totally judging the 18 year old that shot her hand up and said, Oh my gosh, I would love to be the president of our dorm. It's embarrassing, because I'm like, Who does that? Who gets so excited to be the president of one of the

crappiest dorms on campus. And like, you're just so excited. Like, you just want to like, I don't even know what this job means. But I want it. This is what I want to do. And so I had to run meetings about people, you know, you got to make sure you pick up your trash people like there's people leaving cigarette butts at the picnic tables, and there was gum and somebody left their, you know, their beers out there. And you can't have beers right here. So it was just like it was a whole

mess of a job. But I loved every single second. And that's where I kind of get a little embarrassed. I'm like, You're such a dork. You're such a nerd. But again, it gave me an opportunity to step into this leadership position of just really enjoying leading meetings we had like, I think it was like quarterly meetings. I can't remember. Like, we had to kind of coordinate like a party planning committee that's like, Hey, we're gonna do study halls and we're gonna do this.

We're gonna have game nights, like, all kinds of things. And looking back, I'm like, Oh, I was kind of like the dorm mom, like, let's let me just take care of everybody. And that was part of my job. Oh my gosh, that's such a long, such a long story. But it was I was feeling really nostalgic. And I felt like y'all would really, really appreciate all the little nuances of that.

assistant. And she was just so incredible. She became like a second mom to me. And we just had such a special relationship. We're still we keep in touch to this day. But I will never forget. She had a great conversation with me one day and was like, do you want to step into kind of a bigger role within our office? And I'm like, Well, what does that mean? Like, what can that look like? And I was eventually promoted to be a student manager in our office, which again, I'm just like, Oh, you

know, here I go. I'm making, you know, $5.25 an hour. And this is well before minimum wage is what it is today, I was making five bucks an hour. And working part time I was working like 20 hours a week. And it is still one of my most fun jobs I

ever had in my life. I loved it so much, because I got to help lead committees where we would plan different things, banquets for the whole crew on campus like we would do our yearly banquets where we would honor people and give awards and it got to the point where my boss asked me her name was Belinda. And she said, Do you want to help emcee the banquet this year? And I mean, you would have just thought she asked me to go to the Oscars with her. Like, I was just like, Are you kidding me?

Absolutely. This sounds like the dream of a lifetime for me to be able to stand up in front of my peers and colleagues and people that I work with. And just I basically I'd be the announcer like, I'm just kind of standing up there telling jokes, doing things, but it was so much fun. And actually, like, quick side note, that job and doing that led me to meet Erin Brockovich. Yes, like the Erin Brockovich came to our college

campus whenever I was at school there. And because of my job, like we were the ones that had to coordinate when she was coming out. And like all the things, we had to introduce her and it was just so much fun. So yes, again, I love that job. I get to meet Erin Brockovich. so freakin cool. But I loved speaking on stage, like, again, it's going back to my natural instinct to get up, be a leader, and have a lot of fun doing it.

you're serving behind it. Because I could look at all these opportunities that I've had in the past, the speeches that I did in high school, being the college dorm president like being the emcee at my college job, as nothing like oh, that's just not like, we're just gonna kind of push that to the

side. But those things were everything to me, because it laid the foundation for me to show up here behind this podcast and to do things like Facebook Lives and webinars and workshops and masterclasses and feel super freaking confident behind it. Like Yeah, don't get me wrong, there's still things that throw me for a loop. And I'm going to tell you about some really cool things that I have coming up in the next few weeks. But I remember thinking, I got this, I just have to show

up and be myself. So I'm going to give you an example of a few other stages that I've been on. I have talked in front of church groups. There was a women's ministry group that I was a part of at a church It was like right, whenever I I launched my very first book, they asked me to come speak on writing and what that meant and creative writing and journaling. I've talked at MOPs groups, which

MOPs is Mothers of Preschoolers. So this is whenever I was just staying at home with my son and I thought, Oh my gosh, it'd be so fun to speak in front of MOPs groups and just talk to other stay at home moms. And this was all before I ever got into podcasting.

teach in other people's programs. If you're familiar with Asa collective they are a podcast network, and I was a guest teacher inside of their free masterclass or was like a free eCourse on how to get your podcast like how to grow your podcast, I talked about branding and marketing. I've done virtual summits I have done, the pod fest masterclass, that happened really recently, I was part of podcast movement University. I've spoken on Amy Porterfield of virtual stages, from my

experiences and her B school program. And I'm actually going to be doing a training inside Amy Porterfield momentum group, talking about the apple podcast updates in the changes that online entrepreneurs need to know about. And the reason why I didn't lead with all these sexy summits and these different like podcast movement, and Amy Porterfield like there was a very specific reason, because that's not where it started. That is not where this journey has started.

super humbling, right? I never want to be someone that is that gets too big for their britches. Right. That's what we say down here in Texas as well, she gotten too big for her britches now, didn't she? No, I never want to be that person. I always want to be honest and share my own journey, what I've done where I've come from, because I believe that sharing all of these experiences and telling you the different things that I have tried and experimented with, and some are some big wins,

and some are some massive failures. But I love sharing my journey here on this podcast. That's really what it's about. And so I wanted to Reno really dedicate today's episode to share about the

different stages that I've spoken on over time. To give you some encouragement, I want you to be encouraged today that even if you're starting small, even if you feel like you're just standing up in your high school classrooms, surrounded by your peers, and maybe two friends out in the audience, that you have to start somewhere, it does not matter how big the stage is, what matters most is how are you going to impact the people

that you're speaking to? How are you going to have a lasting impression on the people that are in the audience? And how are you going to reach more people that you can help on a deeper level? Those are the questions I want you to ask not How can I get on the biggest stages in the world? Because that's just gonna make everything like make my life easier, and it's gonna make all the dollar bills come rolling in, and I'm just gonna make so

much money. I mean, so happy like all that. No, no, no, no. If that's what it's been about, you're missing the point. I want you to find aspects of speaking that you love the things that your maybe your older self will look back and say, Oh my gosh, you were such a dork to be so excited about those things. But at the end of the day, you know, that that young dork would go back and do it all over again, for just the joy of doing it. And being able to have fun being able to show up as

yourself. That's really what this is about. For me. I don't know about you, but that's what it's about for me is showing up having fun, and getting to talk about the things that I absolutely love to talk about.

I'm yeah I'm incredible basically. And she shut me down real fast she was like I mean you're good I'm glad that you felt confident showing up you know on camera and behind the microphone. But just imagine how much better you could be and I was like whoo What does that mean? Like like challenged like gauntlet thrown down like what like, come on lady, what you talking about? And I got into her program. She has a program. Speak up

to level up. And I have learned so much that I didn't know so many things that you would think someone who's spoken on dozens, if not like hundreds of stages, it just depends on what you qualify. Like I'm saying stages like, I mean, I had an entire month in August 2019, where I went live, every single day for 31 days in a row, I did a facebook live every single day, you can go back, you can still find all of these that I've done. I mean, you would have to scroll through your finger

would hurt. Like, if you're like, you're just scrolling through all the different lives that I've done. Over the years, your neck would hurt because you're like, oh, are they done? Yeah, like your fingers gonna get sore? You're like, seriously, Krystal? How many of these have you done? But the thing was, my message wasn't always landing. I was doing it. I haven't been afraid to do the thing. And maybe you're not afraid to do the thing. But is it really getting you the

results that you want? This is the missing piece of the puzzle for me is I wanted to be more impactful. I wanted people to walk away saying I cannot wait to work with her. And I wanted people saying, saying, This is the message that I need. It makes me so happy when I get a reply to one of my emails. And somebody will say, Oh my gosh, were you reading my mind? your podcast episode this week, your YouTube video, your email, like all of this is all of the thoughts that I've had in my

head. Every single one of these, like I have asked myself, this is what I'm struggling with. Or this is something like you just knew how did you know? I get these all of the time. And it's because I'm intentional with my content. I'm intentional with my message. And I'm not second guessing what I'm actually putting out there. There was a long time, a long time let me tell ya! That I was second gues ing the content I was putting out because I was not confident it was the right message getting to

the right people. Hello, I went through about a ear and a half of not even knowing who I was tal ing to. Okay, so it's not a like, hey, let's snap our fingers like click our heels together. And w 're just gonna magically know how to do all the th ngs and all the right way and just make million of dollars. That's not how this works. Okay, at l ast for not most of us. That's not how it's worked for me. So I'm not gonna sit here and tell you th t's how it's worked. And by the way, I'm not ma

ing millions of dollars in my business. Let's ust throw that out there real fast. But I do t ink that taking the opportunity to learn from pe ple who are experts in what they do, and who can ake someone who's already pretty confident and doe n't have a lot of stage fright. And be able to amp ify is almost like I feel like speaking as a d al. Right? I felt like my dial was pretty dialed in. And Heather came in and just cranked it up to ith such clarity and focus that now I know exactly

who I'm talking to. I know what my message is. A d I know when I walk off that stage, whether it s a podcast episode, a workshop of Facebook, live and Instagram, live a clubhouse room, whatever it is, I know that I will have left every single thin on the table. So if that's something that yo 're interested in, I would love for you to join us and Heather's speak up to level up program.

it's always a lot of fun. It's so much fun and I learned something every single time because people share their experiences and we are all different and I love it. So so much. So again go to KrystalProffitt.com/episode253. To learn more about Heather's speak up to level up program, but that's all I have for you today. So make sure you hit that subscribe button wherever you're listening to this leave us a review. Tell us what you thought about today's episode. And, as always

remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere