Tomorrow I’ll be holding my own workshop and speaking on stage to a room full of strangers.
Now the first time I held a workshop was around this time last year. It was my first real experience with public speaking. I thought giving presentations in school were bad enough, but at least they were to faces that I recognized. And for the most part my friends were all zoned out and not paying any attention to whatever nonsense was coming out of my mouth. So I was never really bothered. Even though it still freaked me out to stand up in front of the class.
Last year’s workshop took that ‘freak out’ to a whole new level.
Prior to that I had never had any experience speaking. And suddenly I was thrown into the limelight, center stage with a packed room of strangers staring at me. Waiting for me to talk. And judging every word.
“Every master was once a disaster.”
Those are the words of motivational speaker, T. Harv Eker. And I couldn’t agree more.
I spent three weeks to prepare for that workshop last year. For 8 hours a day I would go over research, structure, content and what have you. The night before I was scheduled to talk I didn’t get a wink of sleep.
I actually puked twice.
At that time I feared speaking on stage more than death itself.
So you’re probably wondering why I wanted to do it in the first place.
Well it’s always been a dream of mine to hold my own seminar and share my knowledge with other people. My goal is to help others and give back to the community. Up until last year, the only thing stopping me, was me.
If you look back at my YouTube channel, you’ll notice that I’m not in any of the videos dates two years back or more. At that time I was terrified of speaking, even if it was to a camera. I hid behind personas and never showed my face.
Fast-forward to today. To this very moment as I write this.
My workshop is tomorrow. And next to my laptop are two movie tickets to watch Oblivion tonight.
Yup, I’m relaxed and getting ready to go out. No more puking.
So what changed between last year and now?
I took the initiative to sign up for 4 different seminars on public speaking. I learnt how to talk in public (yes, it’s a learnable skill!) And above all else…
I didn’t give up.
This is something that can be applied to anything in life. Including Internet Marketing.
Remember, every master was once a disaster.
Speaking doesn’t come naturally to me. I had to take classes and learn. I had to persevere and stay motivated. I practiced and practiced, then I practiced some more.
The same is true with making money online.
The key is persistence.
I didn’t suddenly decide I wanted to make money online then immediately create a slew of money-making websites.
Just with any business, it takes time. And just with any form of learning, it takes time.
So the point that I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t give up.
If you really want to succeed at something, you have to be willing to fail and struggle and panic and puke a few times at the beginning, but NEVER give up.
