The stage was enormous, and I wanted to run
I’m sitting in the audience. I’m the next speaker. The stage is enormous, screens at the back, and I am thinking: absolutely not.
I’m Kate Wolf, and this is the story behind Electric Voices.
The pouting stranger who told me I was weird
The first time I put a video out was 2015. I posted it on Facebook, and a total stranger took it upon herself to tell me that she was sure I was full of good intentions, but that I came across as a bit weird.
So I had a little look at her profile. Her first photo: pouting. Second photo: pouting. Third photo: pouting.
And I thought, of course you think I’m weird. I move my face.
We love to judge, we hate to be judged
The thing about humans is we love to judge, but we hate to be judged. And we know that as soon as we put ourselves out there, post a video, step onto a stage, launch a podcast, we are opening ourselves up to judgement. We are. It’s inevitable.
But we are also opening ourselves up to being seen and heard by the right people: our just right clients, the ones who need and want what we have to offer. And more than that, opportunities. Doors opening.
Opportunities always come through other people, and other people can’t know about you if you’re not putting yourself out there.
I met my fiancé because I was showing up and sharing my voice, which means my daughter exists because I was showing up and sharing my voice.
Showing up doesn’t just change your business. If you let it, it changes your whole life.
The conversation I had with myself backstage
I’ve been working with entrepreneurs, healers, therapists and creative thinkers for 12 years now, and I have seen again and again that every time we want to rise up, the fear rises up too.
I remember a couple of years ago I was about to speak on the biggest stage I’d ever spoken on, big enough that we needed screens for the people at the back. I was sitting in the audience thinking: no, no, I think I’ve forgotten my whole entire speech. Too big, too scary. No, no, no.
So I sat there and had to coach myself through it. Okay, Kate. What will you do if you don’t get up on that stage? Well, I’ll be really embarrassed, and I’ll have a lot of apologies to make. And then the dream will probably come back, because it always does.
A client said to me just last week: there are parts of building a business that I do not want to do, but sharing my voice, showing up, expressing myself, I can’t not do that. It’s a soul contract. That’s exactly how I feel.
So I knew the dream would come back. I’d have to go again, and it would be harder, because I would have all the shame to deal with, and the fear would be bigger.
So I might as well just get up on that stage and go.
The lightning bolt opener, and the rush after
And I did. I opened with what I call my lightning bolt opener, and the audience erupted with laughter. The rush of that moment was like nothing else. I get why comedians do it. It’s a rush.
(I talk about the stand-up as a speaker archetype we want to bring to the stage in a future episode, so listen out for that.)
I got up, I did it despite the fear, and when I came off that stage I was mobbed. People wanted selfies. I felt a little bit famous.
“Your calendar is broken” (only it wasn’t)
Someone handed me a slip of paper that said: your calendar is broken. It wasn’t broken. It was full.
I had even been messaging my VA while I was still sitting there: open the calendar, open more spots. She had, and it had filled up again. Someone thought my calendar was broken, and they cared enough to write it on a slip of paper and creep through the auditorium to hand it to me.
As a direct result of speaking on that stage, someone booked in for a VIP day. A client signed up to work with me for an entire year. Her business was already successful, but she was working hard. Now she holds it all so much more lightly. She’s having more fun. She feels more confident. She’s showing up easefully. She’s taking clients on retreats in France, Tuscany, Scotland, and she chose to work with me because of how I showed up on stage.
Now she gets to shine on her own stages.
That is the power the right stage can have for you. It showed me what one well-crafted talk, delivered to the right people, can do for your business.
You can have the success you dream of without having to pretend you’re anything you’re not. Your voice is the key.
Sharing the fear beat the highlight reel
I shared that story, the fear and how I talked myself through it, on social media. It got hundreds of likes, loves and engagement. People love hearing the journey. They don’t want to hear from the mountaintop that you’ve got it all sorted, the perfection. They want to hear the fear, the setbacks, the falls as you’re going along.
So take your audience on the journey with you. Sharing your stories is the key. Your voice is the key to having a business that is truly fulfilling for you. This is what being real on stage unlocks, and that is why we’re here.
What’s coming next
In the episodes ahead, we’re going to get into all of it: how to find what I call your speaker magic, the thing that makes you fascinating to exactly the right people. How to structure a talk that actually moves people. How to love up on your fear instead of fighting it. And how to walk into a room full of strangers and have them recognise you as the one to work with.
As we round out this first episode, here’s what I want you to know. Just because you have doubts doesn’t mean you can’t find your centre. Just because you stumble doesn’t mean you can’t be powerful. And just because you aren’t the loudest voice in the room doesn’t mean you’re not the most interesting.
I’m on a mission to make sure everyone who has something important to say knows they have the power to share it. If you’re someone with deep thoughts, unique perspectives from a life well lived, and a heart that’s calling for you to share them out in the world where they can do the most good (plus have some fun and make some really good money along the way), then this is the show for you.
I’m so glad you found your way here.
Listen to the full episode:
