The Language of an Entrepreneur
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In the entrepreneurial world, it is so important to learn to talk on your platform not only with material that gives value to your followers, but allows you to have the space to find your own voice and use language that is most comfortable to you. Now, when I say language, I don’t mean foreign languages such as Korean. Sure, I’m fluent in Korean, but if I start talking in Korean to my primarily English-speaking audience, I would lose a lot of people! There is another use of language that can cause you to lose people, even if you both speak English,, and that’s technical babble. Jargon, extensive vocabulary, or dated slang, can all cause unnecessary confusion and disconnection with your audience. If you use a difficult word that you’re not familiar with, you’re more likely to forget it during your speech. You’re more likely to not talk in your own voice. And I have gone through that so many times in the past.
I first started public speaking in the second grade. My sole focus was to try to sound smart, try to sound intelligent and try to throw in quotes and facts that I didn’t really understand, but I still put them in my speech so that people would think that I’m smarter than I am. That really made it difficult for me to vibe with my speech. It really made it difficult for me to just go with the flow. Since then, I’ve tried different methods, like going off the cuff unscripted so I can talk from my heart. That way I get to choose a topic and just go with it. Talk about my stories, my experiences, and what I learned over the last 12 years that I’ve been doing like public speaking and been super passionate about it.
So what, when I only focused on trying to sound smart and trying to use vocabulary that I wasn’t familiar with, I noticed that I was focusing on trying to memorize the script because I didn’t really, feel the script or feel the quote or the fact with my heart. I couldn’t resonate with them. I just try to memorize them. And when you try to memorize your speech, that’s when you start to mess up. That’s why I think it’s really important. As Russell Brunson mentioned in his Expert Secrets book, it’s important not to use technobabble terms that people are not familiar with. Let’s say you’re passionate about digital marketing. If you throw in words like “SEO”, you may alienate the audience that is unfamiliar with that term, if you don’t pause to define it as Search Engine Optimization and what that means.
Many people try to just sound smart by throwing in those words and trying to explain that concept, that people don’t re can’t really wrap their heads around, especially because there are so many acronyms in this world. I’m not sure if you noticed, but there’s so many acronyms depending on which industry you’re in. I used to work for the government, and there’s a book of acronyms and a lot of them. I’ve seen the same acronyms in other industries, meaning entirely different things. I think it’s important to use easy words, stay away from jargon and your SAT words.
Many of us spent many years memorizing SAT words. I have boxes and boxes of vocab, workbooks and note cards that I used to have to memorize back in high school. If you want to go ahead and memorize those ords, but if you’re like target audience, if your audience is like mid twenties or mid thirties, like me, or like my case, or even younger, like teenagers, you don’t want to throw in SATwords, that’s just going to confuse them and you’re are going to lose their attention. had a plethora of sat vocabulary just like shoved in my brain for many years in high school that I don’t remember. If it feels right to throw in a word, go for it! What’s important is that you find your own voice and talking, speaking in a language that feels most comfortable to you.
I had the pleasure of watching a ClickFunnels live training where Yara Golden discussed how to email follow-ups to your customers. She said, you want to talk to your community just like how you talk to your friends. Let’s be honest, I’m a pretty casual person, and I don’t throw in big words when I’m having a conversation with my closest friends. Forcing yourself to sound formal, or to use language and terms you wouldn’t normally use with friends and family, are clues that it’s time to step back and let yourself speak comfortably.
When I first started You’re A Gift Podcast, I started to ask myself, like, am I providing enough value for my listeners? Are they curious about and engaging with my topics? I was afraid to scroll down and listen to my first episodes, to avoid the cringe. But, it’s something memorable, and it becomes something you can talk about in the future. My main focus has been providing quality from day one. But stepping away from technobabble has really opened the door for me. I consider you as my friend and I enjoy communicating and just chatting with you, sharing my own vulnerabilities. At the end of the day, I want to share what I’ve learned as an entrepreneur because it is my gift that I want to share with you. Remember, you’re a gift. So open up and enjoy the present!
