Hustle with Aloha

Public speaking anxiety holding you back? In this essential episode of Hustle With Aloha, host Alicia Nagel welcomes Sara Glancy, founder of Speak Masterfully, for her top tips on how business owners and entrepreneurs can elevate their public speaking skills. Sara, whose background is in New York theater and improv, shares the surprising techniques actors use to manage nerves, boost their authentic presence, and connect deeply with any audience.

Learn why "preparation is overrated" (and how to redefine it for success!), the power of the pause, and how to use the principles of storytelling to make your talk unforgettable. We cover everything from breathing techniques to the key components of a professional speaking presence. If you’ve ever felt like your nerves sabotage your brilliance, this episode gives you the practical tools to embrace the spotlight and reduce public speaking stress instantly.

Sara’s final takeaway: whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, you have a story to tell, and you just need the right tools to tell it with confidence (or at least seem like you have confidence!).

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS
  • Why Authenticity is Key to Professional Public Speaking
  • From Broadway to Business: Sara Glancy's Theater Background & The Birth of Speak Masterfully
  • "Preparation is Overrated": How to Redefine Your Prep Routine to Lower Anxiety
  • The Actor’s Secret Weapon: Using the Power of the Pause for Impact
  • The Critical Role of Listening in Speaking: Authentic Communication Hack
  • Storytelling Structure for Entrepreneurs: Conflict, Climax, and Resolution
  • Quick Fire Tips for Managing Nerves and Improving Body Language
  • Sara’s Final Encouragement: Every Entrepreneur Has a Story to Tell

RESOURCES & CONNECT WITH SARA GLANCY
Ready to master your message? Connect with Sara and check out the resources mentioned in this episode:

Creators and Guests

Host
Alicia Nagel
Guest
Sara Glancy
Sara Glancy, founder of Speak Masterfully, helps professionals present with ease and high engagement in front of audiences large and small, so they can get the promotion, become known as thought leaders in their field, become more effective team leaders, and make more sales. With a background in both theatre and entrepreneurship, Sara has a unique perspective on what it takes to be an effective speaker in the professional sphere. Drawing on her acting training from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, as well as her years of experience building her own business, she has developed a methodology that is equal parts art and science, all with the goal of empowering her clients to step into the spotlight with less fear and more fun.

What is Hustle with Aloha?

Hustle With Aloha is an informal interview style podcast full of juicy insider tips and game-changing advice from some of the top entrepreneurial minds in their industry - as well as a glimpse into the founder's journey. To Hustle With Aloha is to be ambitious, not frantic; driven, not grinding. Let's rise up without burning out. Join host Alicia Nagel as she picks the brains of some of the smartest and most interesting people she knows, on topics that impact the success of small businesses.

Public Speaking Tips to Raise Authenticity & Lower Stress with Sara Glancy
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Sara: [00:00:00] This is maybe my spiciest take as a public, public speaking coach. I believe preparation is overrated, or at the very least it is misdefined. When we talk about preparation, I think we're talking about all of the wrong things; preparation is great, but it's not scalable.

Alicia: Hello, welcome to Hustle with Aloha, Sarah, I'm so glad to have you. Thanks for having me on the podcast. Specifically also thank you for being willing to have a conversation about how we can help business owners and entrepreneurs show up as authentic and professional in public speaking because you are the owner and founder of Speak Masterfully.

Sara: I am, and it's one of my favorite things to talk about. So thanks for being willing to have that conversation.

Alicia: I love it. I love it. and , Would you mind telling us about that background in the arts and how it led to you starting Speak masterfully?

Sara: Yes, I would love to. So my background is in [00:01:00] theater. Theater is my first love. I saw the Wizard of Oz when I was five years old and it was game over. I knew that was gonna be the rest of my life, and so I pursued it, uh, in the collegiate level. I got my BFA in drama from NYU and graduated back in 2012, which feels like a lifetime ago.

Sara: And I hit the New York theater scene and loved being on stage. I immediately went on tour with Peter Pan, which was a great time, and was doing the off Broadway circuit and hit a point about three years in where I was starting to feel really burnt out. Where I loved being on the stage, but I don't know how many listeners have interacted with actors before, but it can be a pretty feast or famine industry.

Sara: I love that. So you might be riding high in a show one week, even a Broadway show, and then next week the show closes and you're back to babysitting. Waiting tables, all the things that actors do,

Alicia (2): right.

Sara: To keep the lights on.

Alicia (2): Right. So

Sara: I was starting to hit that point that I [00:02:00] think a lot of people can relate to in the professional world as well, where they're starting to feel that burnout and they're feeling like the thing I'm doing in the day to day isn't using my skillsets or my passions and the way that I want.

Sara: So like many people, I was thinking, what do I do? How can I actually make an impact with these skills that I've spent my whole life honing? Unfortunately for me, my best friend at the time was an entrepreneur because entrepreneurship was not on my radar at all. And this friend of mine, who is a brilliant copywriter and owns her own business, said, tell you what, I'm going to this three day business conference.

Sara: Come with me, talk to some of these women. I think you'll be inspired.

Alicia: Wow. Yeah,

Sara: that's like drinking

Alicia: from the fire hose. You

Sara: jumped in. That's awesome. Oh, and it felt like drinking from the fire hose. So I showed up to this conference and it was indeed inspiring, but it was also incredibly intimidating because I was having all of these conversations with these brilliant founders [00:03:00] who had created their own businesses or nonprofits and were equal parts inspiring and intimidating.

Sara: But here's the turning point, and this is actually where Speak Masterfully came from. On three day, on day three of this conference, there was an opportunity for the business owners to speak with the keynote speaker, to come up to the mic, talk about their businesses and ask their questions. And I see, I love it.

Sara: You're, you're, you're laughing now 'cause you probably are understanding the punchline that's about to happen. Which is I watched these business owners one by one, walk up to the microphone and shrink. Oh, yes. These brilliant, inspiring women who I'd been conversing with for the last three days. Suddenly, the shoulders were up, the voices were quavering, hands were shaking, and they were absolutely dynamic in these one-on-one conversations, but in front of a crowd.

Sara: They did not know how to talk about themselves, their businesses, and their story. And that was the moment when I went, oh, I now know what I want to do. [00:04:00] I want to help professionals and business owners share their story in a way that is authentic and dynamic without their hands shaking in their voices, trembling, because I believe, and I knew these women had a story to tell and all they needed were the tools to tell it as themselves.

Alicia: You said some really important words in there too. I heard story a lot because I wanna remind you that you told me you don't just act, you write for people too. And you're a playwright as well, right?

Sara: I am. I am. The one thing that has been constant throughout my life is I am obsessed with stories and getting in there and learning how they work and, you know, oh my goodness, you know, as a, as a branding person.

Sara: And there's nothing more persuasive than a well-told story. Hundred percent. So, so I learned a lot of the mechanics of storytelling. Studying acting and playwriting, but storytelling, it's everywhere. In every industry. It is the water we are swimming in. And so I love, love getting in the wes with entrepreneurs and talking [00:05:00] about their story and how to make it connect with others.

Alicia: Yes. I like to say that, um, as humans, we're wired to remember story. That's why we call it history, like his story. It's not like his bullet points or his facts. Mm-hmm. So, um. I, you said something really interesting in one of our conversations that you see public speaking as like the intersection of the arts and entrepreneurship, um, and how important it's to show up as authentic because just being professional can be boring, which sounds like a total duh, but I think it's really hard to give people advice on how to be authentic because it's like, oh, just be yourself.

Alicia: And the person is like, well, I'm already physically made up of cells that are myself. So what do you mean? So do you think we could unpack that a little bit or it mean I would love to unpack

Sara: that. I think Okay. Be authentic is an impossible note, which said, you said, be yourself. I have no other choice. I am being [00:06:00] myself.

Sara: I'm just boring right now. I was like, who do you think I'm being in this moment? But I think the problem. That comes up for people when we think that person isn't being authentic. They don't sound like a person. The underlying problem is nerves. It's not that we have trouble being ourselves. We are ourselves 24 7, but it's the, when our nervous systems are activated, that's when we stop breathing, when we stop listening, when we stop connecting to our audience and when we sometimes try to.

Sara: Play, dress up and be like, I'm going to be a leader, or I'm going to be a professional. Love that. And we try to hit the, the target of what we think that looks like.

Alicia (2): Mm-hmm.

Sara: And often it comes across as disingenuous when really I think what's usually happening is people are just nervous and getting in their own

Alicia: way.

Alicia: Oh my God, yes. I mean, I, I, I am nervous all the time myself. I think the problem is that my personality just wins. [00:07:00] So no matter what, I'm just gonna be my weird self. I don't have a lot of control over it. But, um, you made a really also a great comment earlier too, about how like over preparation can kind of ruin the connection that you have with the audience.

Alicia: Yeah, like memorization and stuff like that.

Sara: This is maybe my spiciest take as a public, public speaking coach. I believe preparation is overrated, or at the very least it is misdefined. When we talk about preparation, I think we're talking about all of the wrong things, and this happens all the time. When I'm talking to a prospective client.

Sara: They'll go, you know, I'm not a bad public speaker as long as I have time to prepare. Then I go, oh, well that's great. How often do you feel like you have time to prepare? And then they go,

Alicia: that's a really good question.

Sara: Almost never. Right? And that's the thing is most people, when they talk about preparation, what that looks like is writing everything.

Sara: We're gonna say word for [00:08:00] word, spending hours. That's. Yes. Index cards. Oh my goodness. The conversations I've had about slide decks where 80% of the time goes into building the slide deck and then 20% goes into, what do I reading it want to say? Right? Yeah. So when we're talking about preparation, preparation is great, but it's not scalable.

Sara: If your version of preparation is, I'm gonna write everything out word for word, and I'm going to rehearse it over and over and over again, that can be a winning strategy. If you do two speaking events a year, if you're trying to speak on panels every other week, that's not going to be a winning strategy for you.

Sara: So I'd like to say that preparation is great, but skills are scalable because all,

Alicia: sorry. No, please. I think you just like really struck a nerve with probably me and a lot of people that there's all these public speaking events that you don't have control over, like. [00:09:00] You could know that you're gonna speak and then prepare for it and have notes and a bullets and the, the spreadsheet and the note cards.

Alicia: But a panel discussion is like throwing you to the wolves. That's really interesting. How can, how do you prepare people for panel discussions? Or do they usually like give the questions ahead of time and you kind of help 'em prepare?

Sara: It depends and. While best practices like to let you have all have a peek behind the curtain, Alicia very kindly sent me some questions she might ask today.

Sara: Before this conversation, we're probably not gonna talk about all of them. Not, and in fact, we've already ducked and weaved and kit a few other things. Yeah, sorry. No, no. I invite that and I think that. If you want to only hit the questions that you're prepared to answer, one, you're giving up an opportunity for some beautiful discoveries and for the conversation to evolve organically.

Sara: And also you are gonna be a deer in the headlights if you get thrown a curve ball. So the skill that I would rather work on with my clients [00:10:00] is how to breathe and listen and stay present. Which is all improv skills so that they can follow the opportunities when the conversation gets juicy in another direction and feeling like they, instead of feeling like they need to rigidly stick to their script.

Alicia: Yes. I love that. And also, I mean, I think I remember you mentioning you work with people who are like attorneys and like HR directors and stuff like that. I mean, they have to think on their feet and it's really important how they come across right.

Sara: It's true. I would say 70% of my coachings are preparing people for impromptu speaking.

Sara: Wow, that's a lot. Most of us. A lot. It is. It's a lot. And that ratio changes from time to time, but not a lot of us are giving prepared PowerPoint presentations day in and day out. The bulk of the speaking that we're doing is on the fly. So how do you build the skill, the skills to be as effective when you have.[00:11:00]

Sara: 30 seconds to prepare as when you have three months of lead time.

Alicia: Right. Do you have any like nuggets or hacks or aha moments that you can pull outta your toolkit for us? Oh, I have, so asking for too much. I have, but

Sara: Okay. I'll, I'll share the number one thing that I've noticed during a Q and a or a panel discussion, the thing that gets people in, gets in people's way, and that's.

Sara: Once you see this, you can't unsee it. Watch during the next panel of discussion, most people, while they are being asked a question, hold their breath because they're bracing for the unknown. And what happens is usually they're holding their breath. And you see they're trying to formulate the answer before the person has even finished their question.

Sara: This is such an understandable impulse, but it's what's usually causing people to ramble because we realize we've started answering the question before we fully heard it, right? And then we just in a panic. If I [00:12:00] say enough words, eventually, hopefully I'll hit on the thing they asked. Like midstream, you decide you're gonna say something else.

Sara: Yes. To try to shift it towards that one. And again, it's just, it's a product of nerves and a lack of trust that if you could just breathe and listen when the person is asking the question, it will be so much easier for you to come up with the answer. But it feels scary to do. It feels really scary to just go.

Sara: My only responsibility while I'm being asked this question is to breathe and listen. Wow. But you'll have so much more polished of an answer if you do it, but it is a leap of faith.

Alicia: Yeah, and you know, I think, well I grew up in the Midwest where maybe it may, I shouldn't blame the entire Midwest, but growing up I was raised that a good conversation flows.

Alicia: And if there's a pause. It's my job to fill it.

Alicia (2): Mm. And

Alicia: so sometimes I think when I listen to other [00:13:00] people and they're asked a question and they take a moment to like consider it, everybody's waiting. They're the expert, right? Like there's nothing wrong with collecting yourself probably. Before you answer, and in fact you might look more intelligent.

Sara: I always love seeing a pause on stage. To me, that's not the sign of a rookie speaker. That's usually an advanced speaker because they're not afraid to take their space and take their time. And you'll, you'll see this too. So if we are asked a question and then someone takes a full inhale before they start answering, 'cause this is another soapbox of mine.

Sara: We don't breathe, and breathing really helps us when we are doing public speaking. One of the secondary definitions of inspiration, the word inspiration is inhalation. So if you are not breathing, you cannot get inspired. Yeah. If you've ever had that deer in the headlights moment where you can't remember your next slide, or the next thing you wanted to say, nine times out of 10, it's because you are holding your [00:14:00] breath.

Sara: Oh. And you cannot come up with the next thought when you are holding your breath.

Alicia: Yeah, and like inspiration and respiration. I mean there's probably like some sort of, I didn't take Latin, but there's gotta be some sort of like common commonality.

Sara: Yes. Inspiration is, it's just one of the secondary definitions is an inhale, inhalation and inspiration are synonyms.

Alicia: I didn't know that. I was accidentally understanding that before you re-explained you. Yes, you. Hundred

Sara: percent understood it.

Alicia: That's funny. So, um, so how do we, what do you think is a great way to strike the balance between preparation and like letting go? Because you don't wanna like not prepare right.

Sara: Yes. You don't wanna be on the other end of the spectrum where you just show up to your TED talk and you go, you know what, I'll wing it. Yeah, no,

Alicia: let's not encourage people to do that.

Sara: No, I, let's not have that be the pull quote from this interview. I think, and with all of this, it's context specific.

Sara: You're [00:15:00] gonna prepare differently for a TED talk than for a panel discussion. Right. But the one non-negotiable piece of preparation that I recommend to all my clients is, in any speaking situation, the first thing you wanna think about is who am I talking to and what do I want them to do or feel as a result of this conversation?

Sara: Because I think setting an objective like that, that is our north star. From there, you can create your outline, you can create your talking points, but sometimes we get an assignment and we start putting our slides together before we've paused and thought, who am I talking to? What do I want them to do or feel as a result of this talk?

Alicia: I love that. So dovetails nicely with like brand strategy and marketing and what I do because, um, a lot of times when people are interacting with a brand or even listening to a podcast or a TED Talk, they wanna get something out of it. Like literally they wanna get [00:16:00] something out of it. Not just like, oh, this has value, but if something that has value, walk away with like an aha moment or like a feeling or you, your perspective has changed or you learn something.

Alicia: Um. And the same thing with marketing. You wanna communicate something, you're not just there to like have a poem or to make something look pretty. Um, so I love that. Do you, um, do you have any like ideas about how to help people channel the audience or any like, things that are hallmarks of a good story or a good.

Alicia: Path to get from like the hook to the meandering forest to the action.

Sara: Mm. Yeah. When it comes to storytelling, I like to reverse engineer a story, so starting with that objective of. Why am I telling this story? What do I want them to do or feel as a result of this story? Because like you said, otherwise, it's just a tone poem and why are we telling it?

Sara: So starting that, I love that. What, what do I want the moral of the story to be? And then [00:17:00] from there, I think a good rule of thumb is where is the climax? And the climax is the moment of greatest conflict. To think of this another way, because really your elevator pitch is also an opportunity for storytelling and you want to be able to let the audience picture the problem.

Alicia (2): Mm.

Sara: That's, and I also believe that people are hardwired for story, and this is just one of those storytelling hacks that's really important is we tend to remember conflict and if we want to the audience to emotionally resonate. With the climax of the story, the moment of greatest conflict, they need to be able to picture it because the part of our brain that processes images is about 45,000 years older than the part that processes, written language.

Sara: I believe that. So we want the audience to have an emotional reaction to what we're describing. They need to be able to picture it.

Alicia: I love

Sara: that. That

Alicia: totally makes sense. [00:18:00]

Sara: And I'm sure you help your clients with this all the time. What is the problem? What is the pain point? Mm-hmm. How can we paint the picture of that?

Alicia: That's really interesting. 'cause I usually encourage them to think about what's the positive emotion that they wanna inspire in their target audience and that that be like the carrot that is dangled, so to speak. Um, because. At least in marketing, I think a lot of times people are already expecting the brand to be like, you're suffering, aren't you?

Alicia: Ooh, you wish your life was better, don't you? You know? Sure. But if the brand leads with, man, I know what it feels like to X, Y, and Z and, um, you know, we, we deliver this, which is like this golden desired state of the opposite that they're feeling, you know? Um. That's really interesting. I never really thought about it that way, but I talk a, well, you know, it's so

Sara: fascinating to me.

Sara: I love that. What I found with my clients is they have no [00:19:00] problem coming up with a solution, the benefits of what they offer, because most of us are solutions oriented people.

Alicia (2): Mm-hmm. I find

Sara: they have more trouble coming up with language around the problem. Huh. And that purely from a story perspective, we remember the problem better.

Sara: Because our brains are hardwired to remember the problem. It's more important that our brains remember which of those berries are poison from a survival perspective. So I, I think being able to paint the picture of the solution and the hope is so important, especially if that's part of your brand, that you want to be seen as someone who is positive and solutions oriented.

Sara: But purely from a story mechanics perspective, I think a lot of us are uncomfortable talking about the problem and the problem is released. Sticky for the brain.

Alicia: Interesting. Yes, absolutely. Um, I usually split it up into kind of like three things. The, obviously the, the, the problem that you solve and any, any other solution to the problem that you solve is [00:20:00] actually the competition and sometimes doing nothing.

Alicia: It's a really insidious competitor, unfortunately. Um, yeah. Uh, but it's the intangible benefits, the tangible benefits, um, and then also like what you're actually delivering. So intangible benefits are like emotions or this aligns with my lifestyle, or something like that. And then the tangible benefits are like the bullet points to like that, back that up for the reasons to believe.

Alicia: Um, but studies show that usually as consumers, I hate that term as customers, we're driven to make a purchase with our emotions and our heart. Mm-hmm. So we make the decision like emotionally and then we look for rational reasons to justify the decision that we've already made. Yep. Um. That's really interesting.

Alicia: I love this. Sorry, I don't wanna go too far down this rabbit hole. No, I

Sara: And you, you see that's where you and I are different. 'cause I'm like, Ooh, let's follow that rabbit hole. That is so fascinating to me. Yeah. But I think it brings us back to story again, because this is [00:21:00] something I teach my clients in terms of persuasive storytelling.

Sara: When we make decisions, we make those decisions emotionally. And one of the fastest ways to get emotional buy-in from an audience is to tell them a story.

Alicia (2): Hmm.

Sara: So it all comes full circle. Look at these intersecting rabbit

Alicia: holes. I love it. I love it. And I love it too, that you're, you know, it's not just about the emotions and the, the journey that you take people on, but the delivery of it and also the words 'cause hmm.

Alicia: When you choose words, you cast spells, you know? And I think when it comes to speaking and acting and and playwriting and stuff like that, they have to be even more carefully selected because if the person didn't catch it, you can't go back and read it again.

Sara: I love that insight and as a lifelong word nerd, I really truly relate to that.

Sara: And it's interesting. I find that's a big struggle when I'm working with. Attorneys or [00:22:00] authors. Mm-hmm. Folks who like me do love the written word. Yeah. Because when we are writing, we do have the option to go back and pick the perfect word and do a red line and do a revision, and we have to let go of a lot of that perfectionism when we're doing public speaking because if you can't retrieve the exact word that you need, you need to have the flexibility to go.

Sara: Flexibility. Yeah. You know what? There's 26 letters in the alphabet. I can find another word.

Alicia: Yes, yes. You know, I was given some interesting advice so many years ago, and it, it has truly impacted my business. I was supposed to be doing, um, just like a video about my company and it was supposed to be captivating, blah, blah, blah.

Alicia: And the videographer, instead of like, I, I thought that he wanted me to just come, come show up with a script. But he said before we got started, he needed me to come up with 10. Truism that I held to be true, that were fairly unique within the marketplace. Mm-hmm. That when [00:23:00] you said them, um, maybe other person kind of raised their eyebrows and want an explanation.

Alicia: I was like, are you flipping kidding me? Mm-hmm. What do you think? I'm a magician. Like this is insane. Um, and it took me like months that I did it, and I still use some of them today. Um, and they have to be short. Do you ever, do you ever have anything like, like that, that you, like, do you prime your people who have to speak on the spot with like, I don't know, some core truths or like how do they, how do they remember what to say?

Sara: Yeah. Usually the way I refer to it with my clients is sound bites. Like what is the one sentence distillation of the point that you're making? We can use an example from earlier in this interview, preparation is overrated. Yes. That's kind of a surprising statement. And you go, Hmm, I don't know. Explain yourself.

Sara: I brought Ray, you wanna hear more? Yeah. Right. So I like to think of them as sound bites, where if we were just taking a ten second clip out of [00:24:00] context, people would want to keep on listening. Now I think the problem is 'em is a lot of speakers come up with their sound bites and then they don't go deeper.

Sara: Which is why I could do that. I think starting with what is my objective? What do I want people to do or feel as a result of this talk? And like you said, thinking about what do I want their takeaways to be? How can I be of service to the audience? And then from there. That's when you can come up with your sound bites because they are useful things to have and they're nice to have in your back pocket.

Sara: But I think sometimes people stop short. They go, all right, I have my sound bites and I'm good to go. And there also needs to be deeper substance within an explanation. That's funny.

Alicia: I love your tone of voice when you said, I've got my sound bites and I'm ready to go. I got my sound

Sara: bites and I'm good to go.

Alicia: So, excellent. That's awesome. Um, so. You still work in theater though, even though you are coaching these people and you [00:25:00] coach, um, I know, I think you said you do corporate workshops and then also one-on-one, is that right?

Sara: That's right. And my practice is entirely on Zoom. This hot new technology the kids are using.

Sara: Which the wonderful thing about that with my private clients is when I go on tour, if I do a regional gig, they come with me. Awesome. As long as I have a stable wifi connection, I can keep my coaching practice going and my work, working with non-actors feeds my acting career and my career as an actor feeds what I bring back to my clients.

Sara: So that's been, there's been a really wonderful give and take with those two. Parallel careers. Sometimes people call their second job their survival job. I think of these as parallel careers that really help each other and are both wildly satisfying. So that's my private clients. And then for my corporate clients, I do workshops on storytelling, presentation skills, and improv skills that [00:26:00] are available both on Zoom and in person for a corporate workshop.

Sara: I'll show up in person and you'll see what's happening below my, uh, standard green screen.

Alicia: We'll learn that you're actually six foot five.

Sara: You'll, yes. You'll realize I'm actually have a commanding stature.

Alicia: Wow. You said something that really like, is stuck with me. The side job, what did you call it? The survival job. Para

Sara: parallel career versus a survival job in the theater industry. A lot of times folks refer to their non theater job as their survival job.

Alicia: Let's not, let's try not to have that. Let's have the people who are listening know that they just need be a little bit more creative about translating the arts into something that can be.

Alicia: Totally lucrative and quote unquote realistic. You know, like it's not such at the whim of, um, you know, what's on Broadway and stuff like that. Literally,

Sara: and I [00:27:00] 100% to what you just said and also that it's okay. To have multiple streams of income. Totally. I

Alicia: think

Sara: one of the great things that came out of the pandemic is, at least in the theater industry, people are more willing to talk about the other things that they do in addition to theater.

Sara: They've always been happening, but I think people were a lot shyer pre pandemic of, I don't wanna admit that I'm also waiting tables or that I'm also teaching. And the truth of the matter is even people who. Have been in multiple Broadway shows, they are doing other things. They're also teaching at universities.

Sara: They're finding other ways to utilize their skillset to have stability in their lives. Yeah. So I'm a big proponent and talk about all the things you're doing, and those things feed each other. It's not a failure to be doing more than one thing.

Alicia: I agree. And also, I mean, it's kind of like diversifying not only your revenue streams, but your like mental bandwidth.

Alicia: You know? Like yes, sometimes you get sick of doing something. I [00:28:00] remember when I was, uh, working a corporate job, I used to like fantasize about being a barista because it sounded like it would be so fun and like basic, and I'm sure I was wrong, but you know, sometimes it's good to mix things up. It's good to work

Sara: different parts of your brain and also in terms of diversification.

Sara: I started speak masterfully in 2018, and then something happened in 20 19, 20 20. That was not great for the theater industry, was not great for a lot of industries, but I was very grateful to have a business

Alicia (2): before when there

Sara: was no live performing opportunities. My industry dried up for a couple years and I was extremely grateful to have other work that I found satisfying and fulfilling and that I could do from the safety of my apartment.

Alicia: Wow. Yeah. That's some timing, and how interesting that you went to like an entrepreneur meetup and just heard other people's stories, which is [00:29:00] kind of what I'm hoping this podcast does too, like. Um, I think when you hear the different ways that people rethink, like what it means to make a buck. Like there's so many ways in this world to make a buck.

Alicia: Yeah. You know, and you could have four of them, or two of them, or one, um, and I, I just, it's difficult for entrepreneurs. We don't have like a water cooler, you know, we don't have an office and a water cooler where we get together and cluster. So I think the water cooler becomes podcasts and conferences like the one that you went to and stuff like that.

Sara: I couldn't agree more, and it opens up possibilities for people. I never in a million years would've thought that entrepreneurship was an option for me until my kind friend said, show up and have some conversations. Here's some stories you might surprise yourself. And here we are all these years later having this conversation.

Sara: But I think until you hear someone's story, you may not be able to see the possibilities that are out there. A

Alicia: hundred [00:30:00] percent. I love it. Um, and you're still involved in theater today, like what does that look like? Where can we like, see, hear, read that part of your life?

Sara: That is such a kind question. You can find out more about me on stage, not as a public speaking coach@sarahglancey.com.

Sara: S-A-R-A-G-L-A-N-C y.com. I. Singing in a concert next month. Again, with this theater industry, it's when I have something to announce, I'll announce it on the website, but there's always things going on behind the scenes that may or may not become public. I also love, more than anything, developing new works.

Sara: So a lot of times the processes that I'm involved in are something you might see on stage in a couple years, but it's, right now it's in the writing and development phase. So the stuff that I'm currently working on. May not be in front of an audience for a little bit, but it's so fun to be in on those projects when they're [00:31:00] still changing and evolving and we're tweaking those stories.

Alicia: I bet. What do you read or do you go see plays or how do you like nourish that part of your brain and scratch that itch from works that already exists out there?

Sara: Yeah, I'm a huge theater lover. I've got my running log of how many shows I've seen this year. I think I'm at, oh no, 50 for live performances as I've seen this year.

Sara: And

Alicia: for those listening, this is the end of September, so she's doing pretty good. This is the end of

Sara: September also. I live in New York, so there's a lot of opportunities and I'm plugged into a lot of. Networks where they're like, we're doing an invited staged reading, or we need ushers this night. So I'm not spending Hamilton bucks out going to the theater every night, though.

Sara: That sounds lovely. So just seeing, seeing theater feeds me. I also. Love the Libby app, which is the library app where you can get books on tape. I'm a on a Malcolm Gladwell kick at the current moment, but, uh, the number one [00:32:00] book that I recommend to all my clients and I reread it maybe once a year, is Wired for Story by Lisa Kron.

Alicia (2): Hmm.

Sara: Which I know you would dig if you read it. It's all about storytelling, mechanics and why stories work on our brains the way they do. I

Alicia: love it. I already have her written down from our previous conversation, and if you didn't mention it, I was gonna remind you. Oh, I appreciate it. Yeah, I, I'm really, it's totally on my list.

Alicia: Um, and then, so are there any. Are there any other ways that people should get in touch with your business? You mentioned Sarah Glancy do com, but does that encompass your business and your theater activity or

Sara: No? If you're looking for public speaking tips, don't go to sarah de glancey.com. That's gonna be a bunch of singing videos.

Sara: Where you should go if you're interested in learning more about public speaking and storytelling is speak masterfully.com. Also, that's where folks can reach me if they're interested in working with me privately or bringing me in for a corporate workshop. Uh, if you go to back slash [00:33:00] strategy dash session, that's where they can book some complimentary time with me, where they can talk about their specific goals as a public speaker or storyteller, and I can point them in the direction of some resources to get closer to those goals.

Sara: That's

Alicia: amazing. And I'll make sure all of these links are in the, whatever it is, show notes or the YouTube thing. Appreciate. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, wherever this is, is, uh, consumed. Well, gosh, is there anything else that you wanna, that you kind of were thinking we might touch on that we didn't talk about yet that you wanna leave us with?

Sara: Well, here's the thing. I've loved every rabbit hole. We've gone down and we now have this beautiful network of rabbit holes. There is nothing that we didn't talk about that I wished we hit. It was really lovely speaking with you and connecting. I guess the ending note that I wanna leave people with, because again, I set my objective before we came into this conversation is whether you are an introvert, an extrovert, or any vert in between, you have a story to tell [00:34:00] and all you need are the tools to tell it.

Alicia: Thank you, Sarah. You're truly amazing. Every time I hear you talk, it's, it's exciting. Um, and to have a conversation with you and have it recorded so that we can help everybody is like so many cherries on top. I'm covered in cherries. Thank you so much.

Sara: Delicious. Thank you so much for having me.

Alicia: All right.

Alicia: I'll catch you later. Bye.

Sara: Thank you. That was so fun. Thanks for having me.

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