Ever since LA Law captured Naphtali Hoff’s attention, he thought he wanted to become a lawyer. His studies in faith brought him to teaching and then into school administration. Both of these were opportunities to engage with an audience. As Naphtali says, “If you cannot effectively entertain and engage students, you do not have an effective classroom.”

The more Naphtali Hoff spoke to audiences he began to see the opportunity to open his own business. Since this was a major pivot, he had to focus on demonstrating an ability to share ideas and become better known on the topics he wanted to speak, coach and consult on. This brought him to create a website, social media accounts and begin deliver this focus.

What other lessons did Naphtali Hoff share? 

• Look for the “built in” speaking opportunities around you
• You can be an introvert and reticent and still be a public speaker
• The more prepared you are, the more impact you can have
• How you prepare can be the difference between energizing you on the stage or draining you
• Test the waters with your message before quitting everything to speak
• You never know who’s going to serve as a referral for you
• What is the major motivator to get people to say ‘Yes’ to you

If you have trouble viewing the video, check it out on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and get notified when new shows are added. 

Who is Naphtali Hoff, PsyD?

You can with Naphtali Hoff, PsyD. on LinkedIn, Twitter,  Facebook, and Instagram , and of course on his website, ImpactfulCoaching.com where can you get ebooks, his podcast and read his blog.

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Below is the full transcript from the show with Naphtali Hoff. Please note that there may be some errors as it was auto transcribed using Otter.ai. (referral link that provides us with a 1-month Premium Pass

Tim McDonald
Well, welcome everybody to the business of speaking show. I am your host, Tim McDonald and today I am joined by Naphtali Hoff How are you doing?

Naphtali Hoff
I’m doing great, Tim, thank you so much for having me.

Tim McDonald
Yeah, no, I’m so glad you’re here. And for those maybe just watching for the first time there. Business is speaking show isn’t really sharing the stories of what the speaker share on the stage. But it’s really talking about their journey on how they got to the stage and what they learned since they’ve been on the stage. And if you are thinking about getting involved in speaking, or just starting speaking, this information should be so valuable for you. That’s who our target audience is. But as 2020 has taught us, no matter how seasoned we are, no matter what we think we know, we don’t know everything, and we can’t plan for everything. That being said, I think anybody that’s in the speaking world can find value from anybody that’s on the show. So with that being said, let’s talk about, you know, kind of what you’re doing now and what your business looks like, you know, who you work with, I can share what I know, but I always find it more valuable to come directly from you.

Naphtali Hoff
Absolutely. So first of all, again, Tim, it’s a great, it’s great to be with you on the on the show in the podcast. To have this conversation, I would say from a sort of a backdrop, and then I’ll pivot to the moment. My background is that of education and others, I was a classroom teacher, school leader, before moving into my current role as coach and trainer slash speaker. So it actually lent itself to speaking on a regular basis, because if you cannot effectively entertain and engage students, you do not have an effective classroom, as you know. And once I moved into school leadership, there were tons of opportunities to speak. Many of them were not solicited by me, but they were just part and parcel of the job. So it was like talking at lifecycle events, especially at the bar bar mitzvah types, or graduation. Or speaking at parlour meetings and talking to donors, there were so many different built in opportunities for public speaking for opportunity to engage from the stage, and to have my my message shared. And and now, I use speaking as another way by which to impact you know, I’m really very mindful about the impact that I have. It’s not the only way in which I try to be impactful. It’s through my coaching, it’s through consulting work is through my writing. So there’s a lot of different ways to do it. But one of the things if not the biggest thing, despite the fact that I identify as an introvert, and many people often think that that is not the kind of profile that lends itself to speaking, when I get up to the stage that lights me up, it may drain me simultaneously, but it lights me up, it gives me an opportunity to really see transformation occurring in the eyes of people in the moment. And since you talked about 2020, in our current reality, now I’m doing it more on platforms like this one, you know, doing zoom calls and other ways by which to talk to people, people are more used to it now. So they they’re more willing, on some level to receive it this way, though, some people are, as they say, zoomed out, and they would love that interpersonal peace. And so actually this coming Monday, we’re recording this on a Friday. So this coming Monday, I’m going to be speaking at my first, well I shouldn’t say my first, at a one of the more recent live events, this one for people in the nursing home industry, long term care, outdoor event, but creating an opportunity for them to gain credits that they need for, for their industry in the same time to talk about empowering people. In 2020, what does that look like? You know, we live in a different environment. And so that’s kind of where I am today.

Tim McDonald
No, I love that. And, you know, before we go all the way back I you said something that I think so many Can I know I can relate to and I think other people can relate to is this fact of, you know, you getting energized by getting up on the stage, but at the same time it drains you can you go a little bit deeper into, you know, what that feeling is for you before you get on the stage, and how it works, you know, to help, you know, to help you get through that. And yeah, and maybe decompress after you’re off the stage.

Naphtali Hoff
So I’ll actually take it a step back, if I may. And that is, you know, I think in order for me personally to be very successful, I can live in the moment and they often do. I’ve got a repertoire of stories, a repertoire of sayings and quotes and things like that, a personal anecdotes that allow me to to live in the moment as I sense the crowd, but simultaneously I like to come in like really prepared because the more prepared. I don’t want to be scripted. I don’t want to be canned, but I do want to be prepared. So for example, with this audience that I just referenced, I’ve reached out to people I know in the industry and I asked them the question, what should I be focusing on or what do administrators of individual facilities need? They’ve got owner operators operating out of some corporate office. They’re dealing with their people boots on the ground in their facility, hundreds of people. What are their challenges, both In terms of leading up, leading across, leaving down, and then and in the context of the pandemic, which of course complicates things that much more. So when I come in to my conversations, Tim, I’m trying to demonstrate a connection with the people I’m talking to. And that makes it much easier for me to convey my message. Now, that all said, as an introvert, you know, we oftentimes associate extraversion as people who are outgoing, sociable, you know, they, they just love a crowd, because of the fact that they interact well with people. Whereas introverts are shy and reticent, and, and don’t. And so when I get up on the stage, and I’m dynamic, and I certainly try to be and I genuinely AM. And people say to me, and I am make a comment about introversion, especially when I’m talking to educators, or talking to people who really have to be mindful of the people that they interact with from a engagement standpoint. And I tell them that I’m an introvert, many of them have this quizzical look. And they say, Well, what does that mean? Because you don’t strike me as being shy. You don’t strike me as being reticent, you don’t strike me as being somebody who’s uncomfortable in a public space, I own the space when I get up there. So I tell them that it’s not about how sociable I can be, it’s about whether or not this experience is energizing me, or if it’s draining my battery. So it’s really more on the back end of the process. Tim, it’s not so much during the actual experience. But when I’m done, I may instead of running around the room, I may choose to sit down, or I may choose to kind of like regroup more. So I still want to take advantage of the moment, if it’s a social or networking opportunity, I don’t want to lose it. But I’m doing it, you know, on a half charged battery rather than a turbocharged battery. And it’s just a matter of knowing oneself knowing how you operate in that space, what what best works for you. And then you can make adjustments as needed. So that, to me, it’s all about showing up in the best way at the most important moment. So what is that moment? And the moment of course, is the talk in this in this context. So how do I show up for that? You know, with the very best moment that I’m not thinking about the massive crowd, I’m not thinking about all the things that typically get people nervous, I’m thinking about my message, I’m thinking about making an impact and think about making eye contact with a few people that sort of ground me in the moment in my conversation. And then I’m and then I’m focused on delivering a clear, properly laid out message that has all sorts of nuggets and stories and anecdotes and takeaways that people feel really good about. And then I let the chips fall where they may on the back end about my own, for lack of a better term, let’s call it recovery, you know, a regrouping, it’s not a big deal. You know, I don’t want to overplay this. But it is something that, you know, we have to be mindful of as speakers. What is it that charges you? How do you make sure that you’re showing up in the best way at the right time? And then you figure out the rest of it kind of around? around that process? That’s been my, my experience.

Tim McDonald
Yeah. So, you know, looking back to when you got an education before you got into education? Did you know you wanted to become an educator?

Naphtali Hoff
No, I thought I would become a lawyer. I actually, at that time, I’m dating myself just a little bit, there was a show called LA Law, which was very compelling. I kind of spoke to me the idea of engaging in argument, but but with with purpose, you know, the idea of litigation that spoke to me, and I thought that that could be a lifestyle for me, for a variety of personal and maybe communal reasons, I moved more into let’s call it focusing on my studies, being more connected with my with my faith. And there’s a lot of academic rigor associated with that, which is not necessarily true with every faith. But certainly, within Orthodox Judaism, there’s a lot of emphasis on becoming, let’s call it scholarly on some level, or at least having a lot of foundational learning since there’s so many commandments, obligations, and let’s call a practices associated with the faith, it’s difficult to do it in an informational vacuum. So that kind of moved me in a direction of learning, and engaging in of teaching. And when I got my hands on it, so to speak, and I had opportunity to do it. It really was something where I felt meaning and purpose and all of that. And so that became a career choice. And I still feel myself first and foremost as an educator and everything I do, and I look at it, and I say, I’m not here to entertain you. I’m here to deliver something concrete and useful for you that will transform the way you think about things. And I want to make sure I’m also mindful of the host of an event did they get in bringing me in the level of engagement, the level of advancement, if you will, for their audience that they intended? And if the answer is yes, to me, that is the primary the primary takeaway, and that’s my focus.

Tim McDonald
Yeah. And so as you were in education, I know when you you know, right at the beginning, you were sure hearing how that kind of was a natural thing of feeling comfortable getting up in front of people. Yeah, at what point did you make the transition from being in education to really focus on, you know, your business and speaking.

Naphtali Hoff
So it was it was, I guess, the transition from my head of school position to my current work. So I had been delivering trainings in advance, you know, in advance of that period, as I told you, I had numerous opportunities to speak and whatnot. But it was always peripheral to my core work, you know, a core work was teaching classroom, running a school, being a professor, whatever those responsibilities were, it was all about the students in my little orbit that I was focused on. Once I became open for business hang hung my shingle to the world, that’s obviously a much different focus. And at that point, you know, whether its use of social media, which I had done, almost none of prior to that, in fact, I had no accounts whatsoever, until I knew that I was going to be pivoting, I had no website, I had no real public presence outside of the little world, again, which I was operating, I needed to change all of that. And I needed to be able to demonstrate an ability to share ideas and become better known, so that people who are looking for what I feel is a dynamic speaker with a clear message, especially about leadership, and coaching and self improvement, and these kinds of things, productivity, now that they have an address to turn to that they feel will deliver the kind of message. So that that was really the time where that became a conscious focus. And it’s not the only thing that I do, as I mentioned before, so I have to find a way by which to put it out there, and at the same time, demonstrate other capacities as well.

Tim McDonald
So um, you know, because I know so many people are just like, No, I’m going to quit my job and, you know, start speaking, right. And it sounds like you almost did that. But I’m just kind of curious, was it that simple? Or did you start developing some clients and everything before you quit your, quote, unquote, day job?

Naphtali Hoff
The answer is, yes. And no, I’ll put it this way, if I would have had, you know, like, I talked about in my book about the idea of the critical nature of experience. And, and obviously, as Brian Tracy talks about, he calls it a quick analysis, right, knowing what I now know. So using a quick analysis, if I, if I knew, at the time that I was transitioning out of school leadership, what I would ultimately become and have a clear sense of what that would look like I would have been, I would have been seeding that and developing more of a foundation in the years leading up to it to make that transition more seamless. Sometimes you don’t necessarily have full luxury of doing that for a variety of reasons. And so you kind of hang your shingle and get started, I did have a couple of anchors in what I was looking to do, which allowed me to make that pivot. But I also knew that I would need to build other parts of my business quickly and in a more robust way if I was going to make this work. And thankfully, I’ve been able to do that, you know, we’re always looking to grow, but, but I’ve been able to round out my portfolio involving speaking and other and other ways by which I engage with my clients, in order to do what I what I love to do. So the answer is, I wish I would have done more. But I did some. And I think that anyone who is looking to, quote, drop everything and become a coach, drop everything become a speaker, should really, in my estimation, be testing the waters in advance finding out? Is my message, something that that is resonating with people? How do I get in front of as many audiences as possible without directly conflicting with the work that I’m presently doing? And how do I build enough of a foundation so that if I ever choose to really jump into this full throttle, I have something to rely on as opposed to trying to make it work afterwards, because that’s much more difficult. And even in today’s environment, speaking in general is a much harder gig to engage in because again, we don’t have the platforms, we don’t have the the social events, we don’t have the conferences in the conventions that typically bring speakers as a critical piece in what they do. So you need to be more resourceful and you need to cast a wider net, I would imagine today than ever before, in order to ensure that you have a sufficiently full pipeline.

Tim McDonald
So, you know, one question that I see from so many people thinking about getting involved in speaking, and I’m just curious if you experienced this when you you know, put your, you know, hung your shingle out is how do you know who to get in touch with to hire you?

Naphtali Hoff
Yeah, it’s really a good question. And I think that I mean, let’s put it this way, you can get in touch with a bunch of people, but those people won’t necessarily certainly reciprocate. If they don’t feel that you bring enough to the table. So oftentimes, if you’re talking about agents or agencies, you know, individuals who are going to help you get in front of the right audiences, unless they feel that you have a platform that you have built. That’s through your social media, your email lists, other things that you do to build a network, maybe publications and the things you have out there. For the most part, they’re going to ignore you. Because there are so many people putting themselves in front of you, they don’t need that many speakers in order to fill events. So they’re going to go with the people that they think are going to help them sell, really draw in potential business and that type of thing. So it is important to get in front, I think of a lot of people, people, you can demonstrate your capacity you never know, who knows someone you never know who’s going to serve as a referral for you, you never know who’s going to make that connection for you. And be willing to speak early. And often, you know, Zig Ziglar talks about it, or talked about a Brian Tracy, I mentioned already, many others as well, we have to be willing to get in front of people. And you know, if you’re if you’re a person of, you know, let’s say even mild success over the years, if you want to move into this space, oftentimes it could feel like a step down or five steps down to quote, humble yourself in order to get in front of those audiences. On the other hand, if you if you keep sight of the bigger picture, if you recognize you’ve got to go down in order to get up. And you also recognize that, you know, impacting somebody, even in a small Rotary Club event, or business commerce gathering or some other social gathering, it may not seem like much right now. But if you’re making an impact here, and you can collect video of your talks, and collect testimonials, as you go and broadcast them out there, put them up on your website, have a YouTube channel fine, have people people need to find have ways to find you, right, you have to put it out there, but they also are going to research you and they’re gonna want to see what can you do. And the more that people can find your material and do their own research. That’s just what people do nowadays, they go on Google, they go on searches, they look for you, they look for your stuff, they look for what people are saying about you. And that’s a lot of it as well. So the more that you can give people opportunity to feel comfortable, that they could trust you that they know that you’re going to deliver, that usually will be a major determinant. And motivator for people to say yes to you.

Tim McDonald
Well, that was fantastic. And I know we’re getting short on time. So before we kind of and tell everybody how they can learn more about you find you.

Naphtali Hoff
Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it, Tim. First of all, you can always go to my website, there’s a chock full of goodies over there, including ebooks, my own podcast, my blog, and other stuff. It’s impactfulcoaching.com. That’s all one word, impactful, ful, coaching.com, you can find me on LinkedIn, very active over there, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And you could also take a, take a look at the reference the book before there’s a lot of my I don’t know if I’d say my wisdom, but at least my experiences wisdom I got from maybe bad decisions that ultimately became better decisions. Learning. This is specifically targeted for new leaders for people who are just starting out who want to shorten their experience curve so that they can hit the ground running, and enjoy sustained success.

Tim McDonald
Well, thank you so much. And we want to thank everybody for watching it. Again, if you haven’t gotten to this part of the show before, this is where we kind of sign off of YouTube. But before we go, what I’d love to do is invite you to go over to speaking.business and sign up for our weekly email list. Why should you do that? You’re asking yourself well, because I am going to stay on and ask one additional question. And those questions only get shared with our exclusively with our email list. So if you head over to speaking dot business and sign up for that, you will have access to this exclusive content. So thank you for joining us today.

Eileen Lichtenstein went from owning a dance studio to becoming an educator and then evolved it into a speaking business. She saw how important her work was in educating students and working with clients. This especially became evident right after 9-11. 

As an educator, Eileen Lichtenstein knew the importance of knowing her material. Knowing more than she needed to know to be able to present the information with confidence. As she began speaking, she realized that it just wasn’t the material you knew but also that putting yourself in the right frame of mind and body could be really helpful as well. She began practicing breathing and relaxation before getting in front of a group of people. This allowed her to make an impact and do the important work with her speaking business. 

What other lessons did Eileen Lichtenstein share? 

• Resilience it about being flexible
• Humor is very important when delivering valuable information
• You make a difference one person at a time
• Never underestimate the value of a business coach, and a decent webmaster, you can trust
• Listen to your intuition – it’s usually correct

If you have trouble viewing the video, check it out on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and get notified when new shows are added. 

Who is Eileen Lichtenstein?

You can with Eileen Lichtenstein on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest, and of course on her blog andwebsite Balance & Power, Inc.

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Below is the full transcript from the show with Eileen Lichtenstein. Please note that there may be some errors as it was auto transcribed using Otter.ai. (referral link that provides us with a 1-month Premium Pass

Tim McDonald 0:01
All right. Well welcome everybody to the business of speaking show. I am your host, Tim McDonald. And today I am joined by somebody I just recently met through a networking group that obviously we’re doing in 2020: virtually. Eileen, how are you doing?

Eileen Lichtenstein 0:18
Great. Thanks so much, Tim, for having me on your show.

Tim McDonald 0:22
No, it’s wonderful to have you and I can’t wait to dive into more your story. And to let everybody know who’s watching. This is really a show for people that are interested in getting involved in speaking, or in the very early stages of their speaking career. Although as 2020 and COVID has taught us, no matter what we thought we had planned out and knew the world can always throw us a curveball. So regardless of where you are on the journey, I would not say don’t listen. But it’s really geared towards those who are just starting. And I’m thinking about getting started in speaking. So with that being said, I would love to jump in. Because we don’t really focused on the story of what you talk about onstage, we talk about the the journey to the stage and how you kind of evolve from there. But I mean, what I’d really like to start with before we kind of dive into that is tell us a little bit about what you do now what what you know, what your accomplishments have been, um, so that then we can go back to where the early days of where you started.

Eileen Lichtenstein 1:26
I’ll be happy to Tim. So let me hold up my workbooks slash success stories and strategies. And these words are so key words now with the pandemic and everything. And I wrote this about 10 years ago. And it’s still an again, more relevant than ever. So resilience is more than bouncing back. It’s about being flexible in spirit, and emotionally flexible in your prioritizing whatever you make, we may do. It’s about being flexible. So succeed, overcome obstacles, achieve your goals and reduce stress and anger. I am a certified anger management specialist now. And that is a benefit that has been a journey to become that and I’m also an EFT, tapping Emotional Freedom Technique tapping practitioner, and I teach that as well with clients.

Tim McDonald 2:40
Wow, I haven’t even heard of that before. Now I explained it. I don’t know exactly. But you kind of gave me the hint that it’s like

Eileen Lichtenstein 2:51
what it does, if I made is, I hear the client’s story as a coach with active listening. And then I kind of plug it in to talking about their their story while we tap on certain acupuncture points. That releases lets go of cortisol in a very negative hormone. I’m bringing to positive hormone up to the section of the brain that deals with feelings. I’ve had miraculous successes with clients and for myself as well.

Tim McDonald 3:33
Well, I think you and I might have a whole new conversation to talk about, but let’s not focus on that today. But I love I love that and it sounds so fascinating to me, and I’m curious to learn more about it. But um, you know, so, you know, having the book, you know, becoming the, you know, certified in, you know, anger management therapy. I’m getting a chance to speak with people to, you know, get out in front of people. How did you start in all this?

Eileen Lichtenstein 4:02
Well, I was, um, I have always been an educator and my adult education and educating experience was with adult students at Hofstra University in Long Island and also Medgar Evers college, part of the CUNY system. And for mega Labradors, I was in the business department teaching soft skills, and they would send me out to teach it to employees of city agencies. And when you’re speaking to a roomful of adults to work for a city agency that is a really good base to start a speaking career from

Tim McDonald 4:57
what you bring up something pretty Interesting, which is getting up in front of a room of adult students. Right? And I know most people don’t think of that as speaking. But do you remember the first day you were in class?

Eileen Lichtenstein 5:13
What do you mean, as a student?

Tim McDonald 5:15
No, like, as a teacher of these,

Eileen Lichtenstein 5:18
I was so nervous, always the first day of class, because I remember actually, when I was in college, a long time ago, and master’s degree, and it was always and we were all the students for always judging the professor, the new teacher, I had to make the grade kind of thing. So anything that that anyone is a bit fearful about, let me just interject here that tapping can get rid of.

Tim McDonald 6:03
I’ve done a lot of research and talk about fear. So I’m fully aware that so how did you you know, but back then you probably weren’t doing that. Right. So how did you? How did you deal with that? And how did you kind of, you know, what did? What were the feelings that you were going through? And how did you process that? To gain your confidence while you were in that situation?

Eileen Lichtenstein 6:23
Yes, um, I had to be so fully prepared, overly prepared with the material, that no matter what question would come up, or if I had the wrong overhead, in my hand for what I was saying, or whatever could possibly happen. I would be okay with it. Because I knew my material inside and out. That was the main thing for me.

Tim McDonald 6:53
Well, that I think that’s very helpful. And, and I think that, you know, one thing that I, you know, I’ve found is the same thing, it’s like, when you’re talking about something that, you know, it’s a lot easier than getting up and talking about something you know, nothing about?

Eileen Lichtenstein 7:10
Oh, yes. And also, I have learned early on that relaxation, breathing before, going in front of the group, just putting yourself in the right frame of mind and body could be really helpful as well. So I was always doing that before.

Tim McDonald 7:29
Well, that’s great. And, you know, so you mentioned that being in front of these students that the college would actually send you out in front of some of the city agencies and work with their people. Um, was it a different feeling for you? When you took yourself out of the classroom, even though you were nervous when you first started a new class? Because this is like every agency that you got in front of was a new group, right? And so yes, how did you deal with that?

Eileen Lichtenstein 7:56
Well, as I just said, just being totally prepared and and being sure that I did some relaxation for myself before I was in front of the group kind of backstage so to speak, you know, behind the scenes, I knew that that would help me no matter what I I messed up with possibly.

Tim McDonald 8:21
Um, so you know, you working for the college, you’re getting an opportunity to not only be in the classroom, but also in front of these city agencies. Tell us about like how your path kind of evolved from there to you know, and I’d love to just sit and listen.

Eileen Lichtenstein 8:40
Okay, so I was at Hofstra also teaching. I was in the health and phys ed department there. And I was teaching stress management from that department, not the not the School of Psychology class but from the health and phys ed class. And the students were so dressed all the time. That almost whatever I said they were all ears show they love the subject. Also I taught yoga there and I was kind of on the floor in the in the gym. I at the time, I had a certification and fitness, and very way back, I owned a dance and exercise studio.

Tim McDonald 9:33
Wow.

Eileen Lichtenstein 9:36
All all of this kind of came together at Hofstra in the health and phys ed department. So I was with students during it teaching yoga. Yeah, I was at Hofstra. My last semester, there was the semester that 911 occurred. And I saw miracles on the mat. in teaching yoga. This the students who attended as, as you may imagine, were so stressed out, and some of them actually had, you know, people in their family and friends that were very affected, that were personally affected. So I was really providing a service that they needed. Even though I wasn’t speaking that much, I was giving guided meditations and, and teaching yoga poses in a yoga class. But oh, my goodness, it was I felt so important. I was doing such important work for the students. And that helped to build my confidence in the field.

Tim McDonald 11:16
Was it the impact that you saw you had on the students that gave you that confidence?

Eileen Lichtenstein 11:22
Yes.

Tim McDonald 11:25
And and how did that make you feel? I mean, how I mean, because I can only imagine I didn’t live in New York at the time. But having lived there and talking with people that I was friends with, I know, you know, no matter where we are in the US, I think it affected us all, but living in the New York City area, it was unlike anything that you can imagine.

Eileen Lichtenstein 11:45
Yes, it was, and anyone who attended the school who actually got their bodies there who had been affected. It was amazing to me that they were even in class, but somehow they got there. So I made it worth their while. And I felt very, um, like I said, contributor to their well being.

Tim McDonald 12:12
And so, yeah, I’m guessing that, you know, it’s, it sounds like, it wasn’t something that you consciously planned out to do. It was just something that you reacted to knowing that it was kind of the right thing. Yes, exactly. And how did that? How did that kind of move you to, you know, getting out on your own and not working for the university?

Eileen Lichtenstein 12:37
Well, that kind of evolved, because, um, to do internal changes in the university, I was down to teaching one course, and I decided I wasn’t going to take my time of the week to do that. So I’ve got a different kind of position at that time.

Tim McDonald 13:00
And so how did that kind of mean, so it was a, it was kind of a choice of yours, but it wasn’t fully what you necessarily would have chosen If it was up to you.

Eileen Lichtenstein 13:09
That’s right. That’s right. And while I was still there, I created a graduate course in that department, I, all my students were either in that course where phys ed majors, or they were going for physical therapy.

Tim McDonald 13:27
So it’s something that you are passionate about that you were you were able to help them and get them out in the world doing what you love doing.

Eileen Lichtenstein 13:34
I felt I was doing very important work that they were, they knew it was a required course for these majors. And, and we were really working together to to give them a good experience, myself and the students when I when I’m saying we

Tim McDonald 13:56
now when you still talk with people, and you, you know, you’re getting in front of people, do you still have that presence of we? Or do you ever feel like it’s you talking to several or many, you know,

Eileen Lichtenstein 14:09
it just depends, okay, it depends on the group. It depends on the venue these days, it’s all online with the pandemic. So that’s very different from me, a different kind of feeling than talking to a group where I can feel the energy in the room and see their expressions and so on. And way, way back, when I started with the speaking, I gave some trainings at the for the New York Times, in an open, like open a group for employees in the auditorium. I’m just thinking back I haven’t thought about that in a long time. That was really amazing. Amazing, just being there with all these employees of the New York Times, and then following that, because it went so well, I was hired by their sales department to give a training. And it was all about it was it was almost the same thing I’m doing now is like less stress for greater productivity and focus.

Tim McDonald 15:28
So is that one of your first major, you know, speaking things? Was it then your times? Yeah. And how did that come about? For you?

Eileen Lichtenstein 15:35
How did that happen? I’m, I’m not sure. I think I sent out a lot of cover letters, talking about my college experiences, kind of a resume, you know, but in in paragraphs that a list and they picked it up the I sent back to human resources to EAP, which is employees assistant programs, I sent to quite a few big businesses in the metro New York metropolitan area.

Tim McDonald 16:15
And so how many do you think you sent it to before you had the New York Times? Say, we want you Eileen?

Unknown Speaker 16:21
I really don’t know. But it seemed like I was always working at it.

Tim McDonald 16:27
So it wasn’t the first one you said?

Eileen Lichtenstein 16:33
Wait, let me just say, there are two key words here. persistence and perseverance for anyone who’s starting on a new endeavor, whether it be speaking or or starting a new business, or being a new employee and another business, whatever it is, it often takes incredible persistence and perseverance to get through those beginning times.

Tim McDonald 17:06
I think that’s so wise for and I love that you phrased it for anybody, not just people looking to get into speaking. But so after you got that one, and you said you got other ones from other people, or even within the same company? How did that kind of grow? And how did you? Did you continue having to send those out? Was it all referral? What did you Was there anything that you were doing or finding that work for you, that really helped you continue to get more of these bookings, to get you know, in front of people and get paid to speak

Eileen Lichtenstein 17:44
early on, I had a business coach. And she and I became good professional, colleagues, friends. And we, she and I had an online business at the beginning of online businesses that no longer exist, and none of them want to sit in the middle of it. And she and I created an amazingly fantastic radio shop, on blog talk radio, which was extremely popular them. And she had a fantastic webmaster at the beginning of all that. And I hired him. He’s still my webmaster Now, over 10 years.

Tim McDonald 18:35
And so that relationship and that experience, what did that kind of teach you? And how did you see it help your business?

Eileen Lichtenstein 18:45
Well, I, it helped me to understand that anyone listening, who was really listening, whether it be the students, or the New York Times, participants, are the people listening to our radio show, if they were truly listening, then it was important for me and whomever I was doing it with, to give really important well thought out information and, and have a great sense of humor. Very, very important.

Tim McDonald 19:21
Well, I remember talking to somebody and you’re, you’re reminding me of this, it’s he said, he was a little hesitant about posting even just on LinkedIn, that’s the only social network he was on. And he goes, Well, what if nobody reads it? And I said, Do you know that there’s 1% of the people that truly helped contribute to what you put out there? There’s 9% that might engage with you like like it, you know, give you a comment. And then there’s 90% that will just see it, and never even tell you. And imagine if you made a difference in one person’s life with what you shared.

Eileen Lichtenstein 19:54
That’s how I’ve always felt one person at a time making a difference. I felt that As a college professor, and when I was began the speaking engagements and on the radio show, which was all part of that time.

Tim McDonald 20:11
Wow. And so, as the internet evolved, and as you know, social media evolved, you know, I’m sure you weren’t having to actually send or, you know, I’m not sure how you were sending them, we didn’t even talk about that, whether it was, you know, running them over or faxing them over, because that was one of my first jobs selling fax machines, when nobody wanted them, because they couldn’t afford them or didn’t think they were worth anything. And now, you know, it would be the same challenge today trying to sell. But you know, how is how is that kind of all evolved from you, you know, for you? And how is how have you seen it kind of help your business? Or has it been in that way?

Eileen Lichtenstein 20:51
Yes, thank you, it’s been extremely helpful to my business, for Google to have me on their first page on several topics. And sometimes now, people simply look up, um, for instance, anger management specialist, Nassau County, and there I am. And my website has been upgraded as needed. Same with webmasters I mentioned, and he does a fantastic job with the search engine optimization. And yes, I’m on some social media, not everything. And I like it. I like what the social media that a month.

Tim McDonald 21:41
And I’m guessing that you, the minute you put up your website, you probably weren’t on page one of Google for all these things. Which brings us back to those two keys. Right.

Eileen Lichtenstein 21:52
Exactly. Exactly. And also facing my webmaster making the right choices.

Tim McDonald 22:02
Well, you bring up something interesting, you know, which is another thing that I think, you know, a lot of people getting started is they see successful people that are, you know, doing speaking as part of their business. And, you know, you bring up that you have somebody on your team, that’s a webmaster right. And other people might have PR, you know, or VA as virtual assistants. You know, so, you know, when did you know and realize that you needed to hire somebody else? And how comfortable do you feel when you bring somebody in and release a little bit of control to them?

Eileen Lichtenstein 22:37
Well, um, as I think I mentioned, I, I had a really good recommendation for this person, because I was in venues with this other woman that he was a webmaster for. So I had kind of a preview, so to speak, of his of his work and her recommendations. So that was a good start for me,

Tim McDonald 23:05
and how did you know that it was time for you to make that hire?

Eileen Lichtenstein 23:10
Because she was also my business coach. And I I agree that it couldn’t be the time and if it wasn’t, then, you know, I could stop doing some things.

Tim McDonald 23:25
I, you know, it’s it’s one of my more recent guest, you know, Dr. G, Dr. G. She brought up that she went to art school for theater, and inner undergrad, and then worked in that field for six years, and then became went to medical school and became a doctor. And she told me something pretty interesting that when you’re in art school, they always tell you, it’s about the art, never about business. And when you’re in medical school, they tell you, it’s always about the science and never about the business. It sounds like you made the decision to get hooked up with a business coach, early on when you started.

Eileen Lichtenstein 24:04
Yes. And when I went through my coaching life, life and career coaching training, it was always recommended to do that. So it wasn’t simply an original idea to do that. You know, part of my coursework said it’s really good to have a business coach.

Tim McDonald 24:32
Well, I think that’s so important because, you know, people see speakers and they don’t realize that there’s these other people that are either be working behind the scenes for those speakers, or have been with them for some part of their journey to the stage.

Eileen Lichtenstein 24:47
And then later in my career, I coach clients to do public speaking. It was it wasn’t like officially what I did, but they were friends. Since a life coaching client and or a career coaching client, and would say, Oh my goodness, I’m, I have to give this presentation in a week and I’m so nervous and I don’t know what to do. And I would help them to do it not by being there physically. But with that I had just learned about that tapping, and it totally helps overcome fear of public speaking.

Tim McDonald 25:31
Oh, that’s great. And so, as we kind of wrap up, um, if you were to go back not to when you were in the, you know, teaching in the schools, but once you started your own business, knowing what you know, now, what is the one piece of advice that you would give yourself that you know, now that you didn’t know that?

Eileen Lichtenstein 25:53
Well, I think I know it because that maybe because I’m older and wiser is listen to your intuition, because it’s usually correct.

Tim McDonald 26:08
I love it. Well, thank you so much. I lean in and tell people how they can get in touch with you and find more about you.

Eileen Lichtenstein 26:18
Yes, my website is balanced VA Li n C, E, and n d power, pow er.com. And my phone number 516-623-4353. That is a landline. So please don’t be shy and leave me a message. And of course, you could go you could fill out a contact form on my website that way. And I hope to be Tuesday soon. Anyway,hey listeners I’m talking to now.

Tim McDonald 26:55
Well, thank you so much, Eileen. And thank everybody for joining us. And I forgot to tell Eileen this before we went on air. But one thing that I love doing is ending the YouTube broadcast. But keeping Eileen on for a few more minutes. And I’m going to ask her one additional question. And that content will only be available to our email subscribers. So if you head over to speaking dot business, and just sign up for our free weekly email newsletter, you will get on the exclusive content that we record after we stopped the YouTube broadcast. So thank you.