What I’m Learning:

– One cool thing I learned at work last week:

I learned how to make master slides in Google Docs and sort of can do it in Powerpoint as well!

– One cool thing I learned outside of work last week:

I learned how to use my instapot. I’m addicted.

What I’m Creating:

– One example of how I created value at work last week:

I created template slides for our pitch decks to help expedite the deck building process.

– What project I’m currently working on at my BP:

Another week, another list.

This week my little projects include:
updating the featured content sliders
adding testimonial quotes to our coaches bios
reaching out to female-founded companies to be featured on our blog
comments on our blog posts
updating the health and wellness page
alphabetizing the coaches order in our eCoaching Programs

My bigger projects include:
revamping the corporate sales cycle
upping our SEO game in blog posts and site pages
making plans to shoot company specific stock photos(this is a much bigger picture) getting the company twitter verified! – that said, go follow us @alvcoaching!

– What I’m doing to become a better version of myself overall:

Finished book 6 number six for this year and started listening to audiobooks again!

Weekly Wednesday Workshop:

– What Praxis Wednesday session did you attend last week (ie. what was the topic & who was the guest)?

Erica Smith on the art of persuasion.

– What was your favorite highlight from the session?

We all use persuasion a lot more than we think. Pretty much every conversation we have has elements of persuasion in it.

– What was your biggest takeaway from that session?

These are Erica’s 8 points for persuasion:

• Remember you’re in a persuasion so don’t forget to persuade. The biggest mistake people make, they forget to persuade. They focus instead on what they want and why they want it & they forget to convince the other person why they want it
• Know Your Audience. Before you can focus on them you have to understand how they think, what they want, and what keeps them up at night. (A 100 person firm is looking for a specialist vs a 2 person company is hiring based off a general knowledge and an overall likability
• Figure out who your audience is. If you’re making a pitch to the wrong person it won’t actually be helpful. Who are you spending your resources on? Sometimes we have an audience and we don’t realize it. Personal assistants and secretaries have more power than you think, they can leverage and create space for you to get that appointment. People are always watching you and you don’t realize it.
• Simplify. People will lose interest, get bored, and potentially resentful and they won’t enjoy it. If you can’t explain it to an 8th grader you will look like a fool. Persuasion is not the time to convince someone you are smart.
• Be credible. It’s very tempting to oversell and exaggerate. It’s better to understand vs overstate. Be a straight shooter.
• Be confident. If you can’t persuade yourself you can’t persuade someone else. If you don’t believe in yourself no one else is going to believe in you. Confidence comes with practice
• Practice. The more times you do something, the more comfortable you become and you gain confidence. Your goal is to get good, sound natural and not sound rehearsed. *Crossed arms, stop making eye contact, arm on their neck – stressed or uncomfortable, arms behind head, dominance*
• Present Well. You want to present yourself well, think of yourself as a tasty dish. You want to present yourself on a nice dish, not a paper plate. Be personable, smile. In person presentation: we have minor ticks if you make the most persuasive case in the world but if you make a distracting motion you lost the battle.

– How do you intend to apply that takeaway to your life?

I’m now very aware of my habit of uptalking. It’s been killing me every time I now notice the fluctuation in my voice. The best way I’m applying this is by practicing my presentation skills and through practice gaining confidence in my ability to persuade.