Today we are joined by a personal friend of mine that I have met through Genius Network, the MasterMind that I recently joined and raved about. His name is Joel Weldon.

Joel Weldon is a former construction worker, who turned down a 4-year college scholarship because he thought he wasn't smart enough. Nevertheless, he went on to become living proof of the power of one idea. And that one idea will transform your life.

For over 40 years, Joel has been one of the most highly respected and sought-after keynote speakers and sales trainers in North America. He has been an idea consultant and executive speech coach for some of the world's leading business. Companies that hired him 4 decades ago are still hiring him today! Why? Because he gets results.

Joel, by the way, is the only speaker to have earned all 4 of the highest honors in the speaking profession. Those are The Golden Gavel, “for his profound impact on corporate America,” the coveted Communication & Leadership Award, the induction into the Speakers Hall of Fame, and in 2006 he was named the Legend of the Speaking Profession.

As I said Joel is an incredible guy, and at 76 years old you are going to see just how much energy and vitality he has about speaking and about everything else. About living life to its fullest.

I really enjoyed the talk because we discussed what I believe is another exponential skill. We've talked about exponential skills as memory and writing before, but Joel firmly believes with every fiber of his being that public speaking is another extension of that exponential skill set. I totally agree, as my career is certainly proof of that.

So, we talk about that, and we also talk about how everyone and anyone can and should become a better speaker. We actually covered some things that even I, someone who has been a public speaker for over half a decade, didn't know. In the episode, Joel gives me some incredible feedback that I'm sure you folks are going to benefit from as well.

It's a great episode, and I think you folks are really going to enjoy it!

-Jonathan Levi

Join Jonathan for a completely free, 1-hour training seminar, where you'll learn the top 3 strategies to accelerate your learning and improve your memory!

This episode is brought to you by Organifi. Save 20% on their highly-recommended green juice products with coupon code “superhuman.”

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why is speaking such a SuperHuman skill? [5:25]
• What are the basic premises of speaking? [8:20]
• A little about fear of speaking (the no.1 fear) [10:10]
• Speaking effectively makes you a thought leader [11:00]
• The immense impact small tweaks can make [12:50]
• It's important that you know how to organize thoughts and ideas [14:50]
• Where to start with speaking? The power of a great 10-minute talk [15:50]
• How did Joel Weldon get into speaking? [18:50]
• Getting into Toastmasters [21:20]
• What happened when Joel Weldon finished in the top 3 positions in a worldwide speaking contest [22:05]
• The power of mentorship and being in the right room [24:50]
• Speaking is a skill that can be attained [26:45]
• Being yourself is the most important thing you can do [28:00]
• The importance of keeping your audience aligned with your message [30:20]
• Joel Weldon's 5 truths about speaking – The first one: ‘who is your audience?' [31:15]
• How to immediately connect with an audience? [32:35]
• The golden thread, aka what is your message? [33:20] 
• How to keep an audience fully engaged? [34:55] 
• Have that 10-minute talk [37:05]
• Joel Weldon's feedback on Jonathan's TEDx talk [38:30] 

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Our previous episode about the power of being in the right room
• Our previous episode about writing as an exponential skill
• Jonathan Levi's TEDx talk
• Toastmasters
• Text “Ebook” to +1 (480) 526-5888
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Favorite Quotes from Joel Weldon:

Transcript:

Introduction: Welcome to the Becoming SuperHuman Podcast. Where we interview extraordinary people to bring you the skills and strategies to overcome the impossible. And now here's your host, Jonathan Levi.

Jonathan Levi: Before we dive into today's episode, I want to let you guys know about an opportunity to learn some of the most important. Skills in life, if not the most important skills. And those are the skills of learning and doing so rapidly, effectively, and easily. You see guys, I'm putting on a completely free 60-minute webinar that you guys can check out where I will be going into my absolute best memory tips, learning tips, and speed reading tips so that you can immediately begin applying them and accelerating your learning of.

Anything and everything, all you need to do to claim your spot in this free webinar is visit JLe.vi/webinar We have showings at many different times throughout the days for every time zone, but you have to log in and claim your spot. So that's JLE.VI/webinar And I really look forward to seeing what you guys achieve.

This episode is brought to you by Organfi you guys. One of the only things that every nutritional expert that we've had on the show seems to actually agree on is that we all need to eat more vegetables, eat more greens, eat organic, cut out all the processed junk. Well, who has the time, right? Who has the time to go out, do the shopping, make the salads, make the juices, make the smoothies?

And that's what I love so much about Organifi their product is an all-organic green juice. It has all of the nutrients that you need. It tastes absolutely amazing. And it's made by wonderful people who I consider to be personal friends. And as listeners of this show, you guys can actually save. 20% on your first order.

And all you have to do is go to Organifi.com. That's O R G A N I F I.com and use the coupon code superhuman at checkout.

Greeting SuperFriends, and welcome to this week's episode of the becoming super podcast, which is brought to you by a review from Moshe Becker, from Israel who says “Five Stars”.

“My favorite podcast, can't wait for a new episode every Tuesday, the best of its kind. Thank you, Jonathan”. Well, todah rabah Moshe. I really, really appreciate the review. That is thank you very much in Hebrew. And I really would appreciate it. If anyone who hasn't left a review goes ahead and does.

So before next week's episode, onto today's episode, yesterday, we are joined by a personal friend of mine that I have met through Genius Network.

The mastermind that I recently joined and raved about his name is Joel Weldon. A former construction worker who turned down a four-year college scholarship because he thought he wasn't smart enough. Joel Weldon went on to become living proof of the power of one idea. And that one idea will transform your life.

For over 40 years, Joel has been one of the most highly respected and sought-after keynote speakers and sales trainers in North America. And he's been an idea consultant and executive speech coach for some of the world's leading businesses companies that hired him for decades ago are still hiring him today and is because he gets results.

Joel is the only speaker, by the way, to have earned all four of the highest honors in the speaking profession, those are the Golden Gavel for his profound impact on corporate America. The covenant communication and leadership award, and induction into the speaker's hall of fame. And in 2006, he was actually named the “Legend”.

Of the speaking profession, as I said, Joel is an incredible guy at 76 years old, you're going to see just how much energy and vitality he has about speaking and about everything else about living life to its fullest. I really enjoyed the talk because we discussed what I believe is another exponential skill.

We've talked about exponential skills as memory and writing, but Joel firmly believes with every fiber of his being that public speaking is another extension of that exponential skillset. I certainly agree. My career is certainly proof of that. So we talk about that. We talk about how everyone and anyone can and should become a better speaker.

And we actually learned some things that even I, as someone who has been a public speaker for over half a decade, didn't know, and Joel gives me some incredible feedback that I'm sure you guys are going to benefit from as well. So it's a great episode. I really think you guys are gonna enjoy it. So please enjoy this special episode with my SuperFriend Mr. Joel Weldon.

Mr. Joel Weldon. Welcome to the show. It is so great to reconnect. How are you?

Joel Weldon: Great, Jonathan, great to be with you and your listener.

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely. It is a pleasure to chat with you and I'm so excited. For all of the different things that we said we were going to talk about last time when we had dinner. So I'm really looking forward to getting into it.

So, Joel, I want to jump right in because I know your time is very, very valuable. And I want to ask you why speaking, why is speaking such an important and superhuman skill for every single individual in the audience to improve and eventually master? I think a lot of people probably say, you know, I'm not a leader, I'm not a public speaker. Why speaking?

Joel Weldon: Well, that's a great question to start our discussion with, because sometimes the biggest opportunity as you listen to this might be occurring and you don't even know what's happening. And what does that mean? You could be speaking somewhere and somebody in the audience listening to you is paying close attention and thinking to themselves, boy, that person that's the person I want on my team.

All because of the way you were able to communicate. I mean, people who speak effectively with clarity, conviction, confidence, and calmness are seen as leaders. And it's the single thing that separates the successful from the mega-successful. And Jonathan, I bet that happened to you when you gave that 10 X stock way back in 2015, it immediately positioned you as a thought leader.

And that title is so great. I mean, what have schools taught us how to learn? And we both know this basic premise in answer to your question, big money talks. That's it, when you can speak, you're going to get more business at whatever you're doing. And I noticed some of your listeners are still in school.

Some haven't really decided on grid path yet others have been doing it for years, but in our discussion, no matter where you are on that continuum, never really starting out speaking or being an experienced speaker like yourself. You're going to learn in our discussion, how you can be an even better speaker.

And you're going to have some very practical, easy-to-use tools to help you. And when this discussion is over, you're going to be thrilled that you're here.

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely. You know, Joel, I want to corroborate what you're saying on two different points. One you're absolutely right. The TEDx talk, even though, you know, it didn't get the 10 million views, just the picture of me standing on that stage has been one of the most impactful things in my business.

And as you say, I mean, even if people don't see the talk, the fact that I was chosen as the thought leader to stand on stage. Stands out. And people respond to the most to website versions of our website, which have a picture of me public speaking, versus a version of me just smiling and waving. And I think that's really interesting.

And you also talked about no matter what you do well, we have a staff member who you're going to meet actually this month at Genius Network because I was so wowed by him, but the way that he got into our company, Was, he did a lot of public speaking around his school, which helped him write a book, which basically he raised his profile and was selected to be valedictorian.

And when he found his way to me, he had all these examples of, Hey, I've been president of this club and this club, and it all started with speaking on campus. So I think what you're saying is so incredibly important that it all comes from being recognized as a thought leader.

Joel Weldon: Absolutely.

Jonathan Levi: So Joel, you talked about, and obviously I've had months to get familiar with your TEDx talks through Genius Network and meet you.

And, but you talk a lot about five different truths, five very, very important truths that you've learned after. What is it? 44 years of being a professional speaker and you've coached, I believe over 10,000 other speakers. So what are those truths?

Joel Weldon: Well, before we get into that, let's talk about some of the basic things before we get into those truths because there's a couple of premises that would be really important.

Number one, that when you can speak effectively, it can skyrocket your career. Whether you're speaking at a meeting and your community. For a businesswoman or a businessmen's group. If you have a website video if you're doing Facebook videos or you do videos, so doing a webinar or podcasts like we're doing, or being interviewed on the radio or television, and as you're listening, are you doing any of these things?

And if you aren't, you should be. The second premise is that it's highly effective. I mean, we're going to spend what, 40 minutes or so in this conversation, but it's going to reach thousands of people. So when you can speak effectively, you can multiply your effectiveness by one hour. Is not one hour times one person, it could be 10,000 hours.

So that's why you should be speaking even more, but people always wonder, you know, well, what am I going to speak about? Who do I speak to? Where do I go? Will you speak about what, you know, you know, about learning, accelerated learning, super learning, your passion, your expertise, and who do you speak to?

Will you speak to your prospect? So your niche or your fans or your community. You want to speak with prospects, hang out. And when you do you get more business, but one of the problems is we know that the fear of speaking is one of the top fears in the world. People have phobias, and I know that we have listed as all around the world, but yeah.

In America, they do study phobias and people are afraid of spiders and snakes. But speaking in front of a group is the number one fear. And Jerry Seinfeld, were you a fan of him?

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely.

Joel Weldon: Okay. Well, the great comedian said this at a funeral, the person giving the eulogy would rather be in the coffin.

I mean, death is bad other than speaking, but if your passion is greater than you feel, you act. And that's how you use speaking to grow your business, position yourself as an expert, an expert in your niche. And when you speak effectively, then you can become a thought leader. That's where you are. Jonathan.

Even at a youthful age, I have socks older than you. So remember I'm old. I got an autograph copy of the Bible. I mean, you're in Tel Aviv. I remember when the red sea was just sick. So I go back a long time. But a thought leader is a recognized expert and who recognizes them, their customers, their clients, their fans, their prospects, industry leaders, and you become the go-to person in your niche when you can become an effective speaker.

And you are there, Joe Polish at Genius Network is there, I'm there in the area of speaking skills and slalom water-skiing and where. Into our slalom skiing. Now, even though it's April, it's beautiful. We were skiing yesterday. It was 92 degrees.

Jonathan Levi: Wow.

Joel Weldon: So if you want to be an expert at something, you need to become a thought leader.

That's the next step. And that's the go-to person, which gets you recognition and raving fans and status, but it's not something you can claim. It's something you earn by your reputation, your results, and the respect that you get from the people that you do business with. So the question is you listening to this?

Where do you want to go? Are you living the life that you've dreamed of right now? And for 44 years, I've worked with thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners. And I know as you're listening right now, you wouldn't be here. If you didn't have a passion or feel a calling to what you're doing and feel that you've got a gift to share, but sometimes doubt comes in and you say to yourself, can I really do this?

Well, trust me, I have a hundred percent conviction based on thousands of testimonials. That the number one premise you can skyrocket your business. If you become a better speaker, even better speaker, that's what you want to be. And it's effective just what we're doing on this discussion. And the third premise is its tweaks.

It's little things that make the difference. There's a great expression, little hinges, swing, big doors. So the fastest way is having a system that lets you be you being just you. So as, let me give you an example of a tweak, a power word, and this is the word that you could have used in your TedTalk because words make bonds, you know, mental images and you teach that in your memory system.

But if I said to you, Jonathan, I can help you earn more money. No, that sounds on the surface. A pretty good statement, but it probably is inferring that you are not doing very well financially, but if I had one four-letter word..

Jonathan Levi: Even

Joel Weldon: That's it, I can help you earn even more money. That means you're already successful, but there's another level.

Or I have a system to get you in better shape, which means you're probably fat and out of shape. Well, I know you got a six-pack. Abs I still you on that stage. But if you had that word, even I can help you get an even better shape. So there's a simple tool. As you're listening to this, every time you say more, a better just add, even it edifies your audience.

It makes them feel better about themselves and it gives them credit. And you can have an even better memory. So that's an example of power words. And you don't want to say these guys, you know, some guys got a beer belly, don't say that, say he's got a liquid grains storage facility. That's what he's got.

Don't say a woman has a neck. That's not good. I'm married 54 years to Judy. I would never say that. But if you want to comment about a woman, just say she's verbally much better. I won't say somebody who's a total ass word is important. Say he's got rectal. Cranial inversion. What's the difference? All right, well, you're laughing and that's important, but so many times people think the way to grow their business to make more money, Facebook ads and YouTube videos, webinars, podcasts, networking groups, email is mastermind groups.

They're all worthless. Unless you can take your ideas and organize them. And then connect them to the people you're trying to reach and present them clearly with engagement and a compelling call to action. Right? That's the key they're helpful, but you've got to connect with people and have clarity. And that's the big challenge I see in coaching.

So many people is they know what's going on, but their audience doesn't. Cause they're thinking like themselves, instead of thinking like the audience, and when you get connection, clarity, confidence, then you have significance. And I know as you listen, maybe you saying to yourself, well, I don't really speak, I don't have a, what am I going to speak on?

Where do I even start? Here's a great idea, Jonathan, you know, the power of a 10-minute talk. We use this at Genius Network, which I'm sure that many of your people listening to this. Or experienced from you a 10-minute talk is a great starting place. It gets you to be focused and concise and can lead you to a longer message to a book or a video.

I know that we have people from all over the world, but in the super bowl, which is a worldwide event, 30 seconds, this year costs 5 million bucks.

Jonathan Levi: Wow.

Joel Weldon: So in effect, the 10-minute vlog is a hundred million dollars of airtime. On the Superbowl commercial, you can say an awful lot in 10 minutes. And one of our clients from genius network, Stephen Beeson Bach gave a 10-minute talk.

He had 42 people in the room. He talked about his business, which was a coaching system and engaged scorecard 26 said yes. And he made $1.2 million in 10 minutes. Now you're not going to make a million dollars in 10 minutes, but. It just shows the power of having a great 10-minute vlog So if you don't have a message, start with that.

Your talk at TEDx in 2015 was about 14 and a half minutes. They vary with all the different venues around the world, somewhere between 10 and 18 minutes. So start small. And if you think about where do you want to be? A game-changer could be a 10-minute talk key to wealth, opening the door for you and at Genius Network.

Just in the last few years, I've been involved in 183, 10-minute talk.

Jonathan Levi: Wow.

Joel Weldon: That's really, the key is thinking that way. And then when somebody asks you to speak, you should say, yes, I can. So those are my three premises. To this message and you know, people usually ask me, how old were you when you first gave your first talk?

Was that one of the questions you were going to ask me,

Jonathan Levi: I wanna ask you a couple of questions? I want to come back to that really quickly because I want to actually comment on something you said that I think is really, really smart. You know, we talked recently about, I came up with this idea of what I call exponential skills, which is skills that make everything you do better.

And the first one I identified obviously is memory, right? But then the second one was writing. And I believe that if you become a better writer, you better organize your thoughts and what I'm starting to realize that I want to point out to our audience is that I think speaking is an extension of that in the same way as very similar, if you can write well, you can organize your thoughts.

You can move people emotionally, if you can speak well, you can do that even better. You can do that, not just on stages, but in video and certainly public speaking. Is one of those exponential skills alongside writing that has put me where I am today. So I just wanted to emphasize that to people and encourage them if they haven't checked out the episode on exponential skills and about writing that that's also a fundamental episode to check out.

So, Joel, you were saying, how long have you been speaking? And also I want to pick on you a little bit because you have this booming, phenomenal voice. You must have been pretty good at public speaking, to begin with. Right.

Joel Weldon: Well, not really. Not at all. I mean, I was 28 years old when I gave my first talk. And, you know, they say, you sure it's easy for you to talk about speaking.

I mean, you're in the speaker's hall of fame. I've been paid, as you said, in the introduction to, at over 3000 events around the world that talk at, but that's not where it started. It started in far Rockaway high school Queens, New York, four years of high school never gave an oral report, never stood up in front of my classmates.

Terrified I was so shy and self-conscious, I couldn't even leave my Sunday school class in silent prayer. I mean, that's bad. And I had no confidence, so I never talked to anybody and I was only good at working with my hands. I didn't go to college. I went into the construction industry and for the next eight years, I was a carpenter banging nails, digging ditches.

And in 1967, I mean, I was 26 years old. I was making 62 bucks a week as a carpenter. And then I got into a sales position. I did miserably two years later. I ended up having to do a sales meeting. Now, if you think about where you started, do you remember when you were in high school, were you outgoing and gregarious as you listened to this message wherever you are in the world or were you shy and self-conscious well if you were like me, there's hope.

I wasn't a high school valedictorian. I couldn't even spell valedictorian, but the turning point occurred on September 4th, 1969. When I gave my first talk in front of a group. And at that time I was 28 years old. It was 17 people in the room, Jonathan. And after the meeting, everybody left and then a man walks back in the room and he says, Joel, would you like some feedback on the meeting?

Now let's stop. If that was you, you've never spoken before in front of a group, you give this little talk for about 40 minutes and then somebody says, would you like feedback? Well, I hesitantly said yes. And he looked at me, put his arm on my shoulder was taller than me. And he said this was the worst meeting I've ever been to.

And young man, you're the worst speaker I've ever heard in my whole life. I cried. He said, stop crying. You're not a baby. Well, I felt such despair. Now, if somebody said that to you, how would you feel? What would you do? And he said, stop crying. I'm going to fix you. I said, how are you going to fix me? You're going to come to Toastmasters with me on Tuesday.

And you're going to join that club and we're going to teach you how to speak. And Jonathan, on September 9th, 1969, I'll never forget it because it's all nines. 9th month, 9tht day and 69th year of that decade, I joined the Tempe Arizona Toastmasters. And that was a defining moment. Have you ever made a decision that changed your life forever?

Absolutely. Well, that decision was it, Jonathan, you said? Yes. Well, I'm sure as you're listening, you've had some kind of a life-changing decision and that led to a five-year journey in Toastmasters. Then I discovered that speaking is a learned skill. And after five years, my wife, Judy encouraged me to enter a speech contest in our little club with 25 members.

And I won. First time I ever won and I went all the way to the world finals. It was 60,000 competitors in 1974, and I placed in the top three in the world. Can you imagine a guy who couldn't even lead his Sunday school class in silent Britain? If that was you, how would you feel? I mean, what would you think that a guy calls me up?

And he says because it was written in the Arizona Republic, our biggest newspaper in the state, young man, places in the top three in the world and the phone rings and a guy named Paul Cronin. I'll never forget him. Was the independent garage owners association director. He said, would you come and give a speech?

I said why? He said, well, I read in the paper, you won the speech contest. You must be good. We need a speaker. I said, sure. I'll show up. He said, all right, we got to talk money. I said, what do you mean? He said, how does $25 sound? I said, well, I guess that's okay. Where do I mail the check to? He said, no, no, no, we're going to give you $25.

I said I get 25. I said, yes. And that was when I began my professional speaking career. I was making 60 to 50 a week. When I was 26 years old and now I was getting $25 at age 33 for a short talk. 10 years later, I was in the speaker's hall of fame. I was charging $10,000 an hour for a talk. I had five different audio cassette programs speaking for fortune 500 and 100 companies.

I was making over a million dollars a year. Because big money talks. And we live in within the little house that we had 1900 square feet. We still live in the same house. We've added seven additions, it's imploding 9,000 square feet. And I mentioned that I'm a competitive water skier. We have a private ski Lake out in the desert an hour from Scottsdale where we have a second home.

And we ski out there and bring my grandkids out there. They all slalom ski and we have a beautiful houseboat at Lake Powell that we spend two months a year for the last 30 years on. And all of that occurred because I learned how to speak.

Jonathan Levi: Wow.

Joel Weldon: My grandson just got accepted to Annapolis, my youngest grandson, and one of the things they told them was the reason was that he was such an effective speaker student class, president, captain of the football team wrestling team baseball team, but it was his speaking skills.

So I've lived this life on one decision. I'm 76 years old. And if you think about these last 44 years, it came from one decision. To be an effective speaker and it's a learned skill.

Jonathan Levi: Incredible. I want to point something out before I touch on that learn skill, which is just the power of mentorship. I mean, we've talked before and I always encourage everyone in our audience to seek out mentors.

And also I recently did a post on genius network talking about the power of being in that right room. And you sought out not just a mentor, but a mentor who said, Hey. You need to get in this room, it's called Toastmasters and you need to put your butt in that chair. And just why, I mean, your entire career built off those two things, a great mentor and being in the right room.

I think it's incredible. Absolutely incredible.

Joel Weldon: And I'm still in Toastmasters. Matter of fact, at 12 o'clock today, which isn't two and a half hours from now, I'm going to be in my Chad's Dose medicines club in Scottsdale. And every Monday that I'm in town, I never miss a meeting. And my daughter is a member of the club and she has won the state speaking contest twice as a humorous speaker.

And her business is now making humorous videos all because she learned to speak. So it's one of the most valuable skills, but so many people make mistakes and just in case somebody gets off. You know, you said it was okay to send them this ebook. I wrote it's called five mistakes. Ordinary speakers may.

So if you're listening, just text to this phone number 4805265888 and just write e-book and I'll send you this book. It's nine pages long it's it's just about a five or 10-minute read, but you'll get some great ideas.

Jonathan Levi: That's great.

Joel Weldon: And the question really for you at this point, as you're listening, what discoveries have you made that can change your life?

That have altered it. So can I share the three things that really are the most important discoveries about speaking as, as our time is getting down to close to our 15 minute Mark?

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely.

Joel Weldon: It's a learned skill. I mentioned that when you were born Jonathan when you were born, they didn't hold you up in front of Mrs. Levi and say, look, you have a TEDx speaker here. No. You're a little baby, maybe seven pounds. And you learned everything just like you teach in your courses. We've learned it by practicing it. Shall we have talents, but you can learn skills outside of your talent area. And I showed it. I had no talent for speaking, no interest, no experience, but you can learn it.

And one of my great examples comes from Toronto Canada. His name is Steven hammer. He's a financial advisor. And in 2015, the same month in October that you gave you a talk. He gave his first 10-minute talk and he'd never spoken before he used the tools that I provided him. He got a standing ovation and he wrote me this email.

It's so short, my life changed today. I now have a system I can repurpose. And another person I coached Brian, Tracy, Brian Tracy has got 5,000 paid talks He and I are in the hall of fame. And he says, the system is like the gold standard. It's saved people decades of time. So whether you're like Steven had never talked or somebody like Brian, these ideas can make a difference.

The second discovery is to be yourself. That's what I liked about your TEDx docTalk I know what you're like. And you were the exact same on that stage in Tel Aviv. So if you're happy and bubbly, then speak happily and bubbly. If you're tough. And forceful speak tough and forceful. If you're nerdy already an analytical and monotone, I think that's how you should speak because it's not a performance.

That's what I loved about you. Your TEDxTalk It was you that affective speaking is a conversation with your audience. Just like I'm talking to you in this discussion. You need to be congruent. And when you are, you're relaxed. So if you're low-key quiet and reserved, say something like this, don't let my laid-back style fool you inside.

I'm really excited about what we're talking about, but it just doesn't show on the outside. And then if you're full of energy and enthusiasm, I mean, if you were the captain of the Titanic, You probably would have been telling people were just stopping for rice. No, I mean, if you're that way, be that way, identify your shortcoming.

I mean, like I told you when I'm old, I'm introduced my social security, number is five, uh, you know, I was a busboy at the last supper, laugh at yourself. And if you're bald laugh at your head, you know, if you ball have a client and he rubs his head and he says, you know, it's not good for you to love life. If you have no idea.

Well, think about this. If you have a dog. And your dog lost all its hair. Would you pet it? And the audience roars and it's laughing at yourself and you did that. You had four laughs in the first five minutes of that. TEDxTalk. And that's important that you be you and there are some people, people who just don't have a lot of energy, they brighten the whole room and I leave. You don't have to be somebody different. You can be yourself, just let the audience know that. Being congruent and think about this great quote from Oscar Wilde, the great writer be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.

Jonathan Levi: Love that one.

Joel Weldon: Let me give you the third discovery and then we can get into those five secrets quickly.

It's called the lesson of the bus, and this is a simple tool for you. Every time you give a talk, Jonathan, just imagine. There's a bus driver, passengers a sign and the bus. Well, you're the bus driver. The passengers are the audience. The bus is your message. And the sign on the bus is your title or theme. I call it the golden thread.

And you did that so effectively. And hopefully, you could share that TEDxtalk with people who are watching this interview because it would be such a great tool. You did so many things, right? But you got them on the bus and you kept them on the bus. And when you use the system, you get relaxed, your message is clearer and you can grow your business.

So hopefully you learning some things. Does this make sense?

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely. Absolutely. So I do want to make sure and ask you about these truths because I've heard you talk about them. I've heard you mentioned them. So, do share.

Joel Weldon: all right. Number one. How do you always know how to deliver the right message? This is secret number one.

So let me just give you this and we have not practiced, right? You don't have any idea what I'm going to say. So let's say tonight, John, then you're going to talk to people about safe driving. I got 50 people coming to a hotel room. Your other speaker about safe driving quickly. Give me some talking points.

What are you going to tell them? Not to do, to be a safe driver? Go.

Jonathan Levi: Texting drink.

Joel Weldon: No texting. When you drive no drinking. When you drive

Jonathan Levi: No distractions,

Joel Weldon: No distractions.

Jonathan Levi: Focus on the road.

Joel Weldon: Focus on the road.

Jonathan Levi: Pull over. If they get too tired, follow traffic laws.

Joel Weldon: Okay.

Very nice. Unfortunately, all wrong. Sorry, because you didn't know the first secret, the first secret is to always ask this question, who is the audience?

So now ask who is there was the audience.

Jonathan Levi: Okay, who is my audience?

Joel Weldon: Oh, they're NASCAR drivers. They're race, car drivers. There's been accidents on the track and they wanted you to come in and talk as they saw that TEDxTalk they know you're a great communicator. So let's go over that. The texting, the drinking. Is that a problem? Do you think for race car drivers?

Jonathan Levi: Probably not.

Joel Weldon: No. And not tailgate things that alright, so you can see how simple that is. If you always start with who is your audience? Second secret. How do you connect with an audience immediately? And this is secret number two, and I call it the NFV formula N stands for needs.

What is your audience need to be doing? Thinking of feeling they're not doing now. What are their fears? What, what are they concerned about? Worried about fearful about what keeps them up at night. And the third is victories needs, fears, victories, what are their successes, their achievements, their wins, their claims to fame.

And if you can tie in your content, your message, one that TEDxTalk was learning. And I have some notes on that. You use the word learning 21 times in the first 4 and 1/2 minutes.

Jonathan Levi: Wow.

Joel Weldon: It was possible not to understand what you were saying. And that's secret number three, secret number three is the golden thread and your golden thread in that message was there's an even better way to learn.

That's what you talked about. So the golden thread is one sentence that summarizes what you're going to say, whether it's in 10 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour or four-hour seminar, what is your message about in one sentence, an ordinary speakers have so many different directions. And as you're listening to this, how many times have you been at a meeting, hearing a speaker turn to the person next to you and say, what are they talking about

Jonathan Levi: Quite often?

Joel Weldon: Where is this going? I mean, Jonathan, you've had that all the time. You need a single focus and your single word was learning. And I imagine if I counted that whole 14 and a half minutes, it was probably between 40 and 50 times. You used learning learner or learning in some format. You want to keep repeating the golden thread in a video, on an audio and in front of a live group.

It's so important to keep the focus of your audience.

Jonathan Levi: Is that why? In some Ted talks, you hear people almost out of nowhere in between paragraphs drives the point home, like yeah. And schools kill creativity. In fact, schools kill creativity so much. It's almost like they're interrupting themselves to drive the golden thread in an extra time.

Joel Weldon: Absolutely. Yeah. And you did that continually. So let's go to the fourth secret. How do you keep an audience fully engaged? And this is so simple. It's called the you connection. So many times a speaker is all about themselves and every time you use I, me or mine, when you're speaking on a video on audio, an interview, I just think of the audience saying, so what, who cares?

What does that have to do with me? The keywords Are you yours? And you'll. And let me give you a tweak from your presentation. You used you guys three times. If you replay our interview, Jonathan, when I'm talking to you, I mentioned Jonathan, when I'm talking to your listener, I see you. So there's only one person when you're speaking, there could be a thousand people in the room, but use you, not all of you, and then make it about them.

So many times you hear speakers say, I love this idea. This is my favorite idea. Well, my mind says good. Well, go in the closet and tell it to yourself. What if you just said, you're going to love this idea. This is going to be one of your best takeaways. It's all about your audience. It's not about you. And look at your last email, any email you wrote to a customer or a client, or even a friend count how many times you said I have versus you.

Let me give you an example. If somebody was to write you a letter about this interview, Jonathan, I love the interview. I love what I heard. It was so valuable to me. I got so many great ideas Pat, and they say, that's all I, what if they said the same thing, Jonathan, your guests were amazing. You always provide such valuable information.

You provided so many wonderful ideas. You promised a lot, you delivered even more. You are so much appreciated Pat Nowt a single I in that sentence. And that's what you need to look at. How can you communicate to your audience? It's one person that's all they're interested in is what's important to them.

Jonathan Levi: This is phenomenal.

Joel Weldon: And the fifth is simple. The fifth secret is to have a 10-minute talk, use these tools and come up with something that positions you so that when somebody says, Hey, could you come and give a talk? Yes. And if you've got something you can either make it longer or shorter, as long as you don't make mistakes.

So remember that phone number 4805265888. And all you want is just the ebook. Phenomenal. It, And hopefully this is making sense to you.

Jonathan Levi: Absolutely. And in fact, I want to point out Joel that it's the second time you've said something that is related to my favorite book of all time, which is Dale.

Carnegie's how to win friends and influence people. And the first time I'm the memory guy, right? You talked about. Telling people, even better memory, even more, money, give people a Dale Carnegie goals that give people a high reputation to live up to don't put them down. And the second one is speak in terms of other people's interests.

Don't say I, I, the third one, you also mentioned that you use my name a lot, which I want to point out to people is another superhuman people's skill that Dale Carnegie says. Remember that a person's name is to that person, the sweetest sound in any language. So I just wanted to give some appreciation because I can see why you've been so successful as a speaker.

Joel Weldon: Well, do we have enough time to give you some feedback on that TEDxTalk that the listener can see that. All right. I've got my notes here. So let me go over all the things you did. Well, I gave you a 9 on a 1 to 10 scale, and I'm going to go through this fast. So you can re-listen to this, the opening.

The way that we learn is broken. Boy. That was such a startling, powerful statement. You got everybody on the bus immediately. And the other thing you did so well, you stood absolutely still when you said that, and then you got into the golden thread. That there's gotta be a better way to learn. I would just add the word even in there.

And I told you in the first four and a half minutes, you use learn 21 times you had those laughs. So you had humor and then you gave the world war two photograph, which was so good, that famous scene of the kiss in times square. So you proved your point with an example. The other thing that was good, number five, you were so calm, clear, and confident.

And that led to connection to your audience. Number six, it was impossible to be misunderstanding what you said, because you only said one thing, it was all about learning 14 and a half minutes about that word learn in different ways. And perhaps the most impressive thing was you just had a conversation.

There was no difference between the Jonathan that sat next to me to eat dinner or the Jonathan that was onstage. At TEDx. So that's why it was a 9.4. So how do you pick up five tenths of a 0.5 more to get a nine, nine? Remember? There's nobody. That's perfect. Well, there is one. That's the one your spouse could have married.

If you're married, you might've remembered that. All right. So let me give you the five suggestions. You started to pace, you stood strong and then you kept wandering around. One thing is moving is great, but you would think of three parts of the room. You have a right-center in left, go to the right and talk, maybe finish a thought or a paragraph, and then go to the middle.

We'll or go to the other side, but don't keep moving back and forth because people then are trying to look at the head in front of them and see you in between those heads. Number two. We talked about that earlier. Not you guys, because you had that three times at you. Number three was add the word even every time you say more and better number four.

And here's the big one at 12 minutes and 21 seconds in on a 14 and a half minute do talk you said, so what's the idea I want to impart to you. That needs to be in the first minute. You need to give them a sign on the bus. I call it opening with your clothes. Tell them in the beginning where we're going with this.

So we opened this. This is about how do you speaking for you to be even more successful? And number five, and this is something everybody does. You said thank you as last two words, never end with thank you. You challenge your audience, you congratulate your audience. When you say thank you. It means you got something when you said thank you.

Oh, you made me feel so good. You reinforce my ego. I'm going to have this video and make so much money on it. No. The reason you're speaking is to help them. So here's what you said. And let me give you an even better ending. You said if you ask me our future depends on it. Thank you. So you were talking about learning, remember that?

Okay. What if you had said if you would ask me our future depends on it. What if they asked you. What will you say, think about it. What will you say?

Jonathan Levi: I love that

Joel Weldon: That's your club.

Jonathan Levi: It's better.

Joel Weldon: Even better.

Jonathan Levi: I love all those feedback points. I do think the TEDx organizer required us to say, thank you, but I'm guilty of doing this in my webinars.

And I often say, thank you. And you're right.

Joel Weldon: Well, let me, tell you when you say thank you because they gave you huge applause, right? Thank you.

Jonathan Levi: There you go.

Joel Weldon: Then you fade. Thank you. You know, the words you used is so important. This guy looks at his girlfriend and he says, when I look at you, time stands still. She falls into his arms and kisses him his buddy over years.

It says I'm going to try that with my girlfriend, but he doesn't get the words. Right. And he says to her when I look at you, your face could stop a clock. That's going to get the same response. So if you're going to grow your income, your business and your career speaking effectively is the key using the right words delivered in the right way.

Use those five secrets. Make sure you don't do those five mistakes and it can be a wonderful experience for you. And then you can make it a great day every day.

Jonathan Levi: Phenomenal, Joel Weldon. I want to thank you so much for spending your time and sharing your energy with us today. I know what a busy schedule you have coaching thousands of people.

I hope to be one of them soon. I'm going to hear your words of advice and do a 10-minute talk. I need some advice on which topic to choose. So I'll talk to you and I'll talk to Gina about that at Genius Network. But I want to thank you again. We're going to make sure to put that phone number. That people can text in the show notes.

We're going to make sure to make all that stuff available to everyone. So thank you again for your time.

Joel Weldon: And make it a great day every day. And you speaking to grow your success in whatever area you want.

Jonathan Levi: All right, Superfriends. That is all we have for you today, but I hope you guys really enjoyed the show and I hope you learned a ton of actionable information tips, advice that will help you go out there and overcome the impossible.

If you've enjoyed the show, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher, or drop us a quick little note on the Twitter machine @gosuperhuman.  Also, if you have any ideas. For anyone out there who you would love to see on the show. We always love to hear your recommendations. You can submit on our website, or you can just drop us an email and let us know that's all for today guys.

Closing: Thanks for tuning in to the Becoming SuperHuman Podcast. For more great skills and strategies, or for links to any of the resources mentioned in this episode, visit www.becomingasuperhuman.com/podcast. We'll see you next time.