Earning Money

Do you have a big pitch coming up? Are you trying convince people to invest their time or money into your concept? Even if you have a fabulous idea, if you can’t communicate that to your audience then it’s worthless. How do you best communicate your ideas? Take a look at a few of these tips.

1. Dress the part. Someone in a hoodie and jeans doesn’t inspire authority like someone in dress slacks and a collared shirt. Also if you’re going to wear black shoes, please please wear black socks. Consider wearing a watch to convey your attention to time, (and therefore your attention to money). Most importantly though? Don’t wear something that distracts you or is very uncomfortable. Nothing can kill a presentation more is your inability to think of anything but how bad your feet hurt in your dress shoes.
2. Arrive early. Few things are more irritating than waiting for the speaker. Think of when your professors are late for class, aren’t you just counting away the seconds before you can get away?
3. Drink lots of water before your speech and warm your voice up before your pitch. Want to know a tip from the pros? Chew gum 15 minutes prior to your piece and spit it out before you arrive for the presentation. Chewing gum exercises your tongue and articulation muscles. Do not get in a habit of “clearing your throat” because that abrasive action is actually bad for your vocal chords.
4. Be organized. Make extra copies of any paper work you will be handing out. If you memorize your presentation that’s okay but keep brief note cards with you. If you lock up doing the presentation, take a deep breath pause then reference your notes.
5. Avoid vocalized non-words. What is that? Your “Uhh” “Umm” “Like” and “Sorta”s If you’re unsure of what you’re going to say next, just stop for a second and take a breath. Audiences often perceive non-words as signs of uncertainty or ignorance.
6. This may be common sense but the number one key to a stellar presentation is practice! The more practice you do, the more relaxed you will be when you’re up in front of your audience.

I hope these tips will help you on your future presentations. If you have any other questions you’d like me to address on presentations or written communications, feel free to comment.

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If you’re having a bad day like we all have, one of the last things you want to do is go and write on your blog or update your forum or add some new pages to your growing content site. Trust me, I know all about that. Having a bad day can really suck. But, you can’t let that get in the way of your work. Over the weekend, I was just away and had no way to get to the computer, but what if I had been having a bad day? I would have let that get in the way of my continuous growth of this blog. So, what can you do to get over a bad day? Here are some tips:

• Take a thirty minute power nap. You’d be surprised what a nap can do.
• Go ahead and take a walk. Just walking and clearing your head really does help.
• Take a shower. The hot water will clear your sinuses and just generally help out in easing your frustration or whatever.
• Do some basic exercises. The endorphins released will help make you feel just a bit better. Trust me, it works.
• Have a snack. Perhaps you are hungry and a little bite to eat might make things work just a bit more.

These are just a few ways of dealing with a bad day. Bad days suck. I know they do. I have them all the time. But, to get through them and to have the success necessary to make it to the top, you need to try and get passed the bad days. Try one of the above tips or do whatever works for you. Whatever works for you, do it because you want to get back to your work and negative days just make things that much worse. Good luck.

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