funnydubs

2006-08-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

My 21 year old daughter had a make up lesson yesterday - she wanted to learn how to do her eyes quite dark, a bit like Pamela Anderson. It tool ages to find somewhere that did lessons but in the end we found a place in our local town. She turned up at the arranged time and was asked to lay on a couch. The girl then tried to do her make up. My daughter wasn't near a mirror so couldn't watch and therefore couldn't learn. Luckily she knew what she wanted so asked loads of questions but I have a younger daughter who also wants a lesson and she wouldn't have known what to ask. The beauty place in question had hardly any make up so couldn't make her eyes as dark as she wanted and the young girl told her that she couldn't apply the eye pencil as well as she wanted to because it had been blunt that morning and as she couldn't find a sharpener she'd spent most of the morning trying to sharpen it with a pencil! Now I find this totally amazing - the beauty place is only a 1 minute walk from Boots the Chemist and a 3 minute walk from Superdrug both sell cosmetic sharpeners and if for some strange reason they'd both sold out, W H Smiths the stationers is 2 minutes away and they sell sharpeners!
I will write a letter of complaint but I doubt if anyone will take any notice. How can you advertise make up lessons if you don't have any make up? Perhaps I'm the stupid one!

2006-07-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

When I told my father (in 1979) that I was going to get married he suggested I stop and think abour it a bit. He said I'd have to work for anything I wanted myself because my husband to be was lazy. I sort of knew that he was right but went ahead anyway. It's now 2006 and he was definitely right. My husband has only ever worked part time and thinks that he works really hard - he means it, he really thinks he works hard! At the moment he's a part time lecturer working 30 weeks a year with max of 8 in a class! and only getting paid a part time wage, it's quite a lot per hour but only 11 hours a week.
I've had enough and want out but I need money - he doesn't earn much but it just about keeps a roof over our heads. I need to build up my own business, which he has always made fun of. I've delivered hundreds of leaflets and I've had a few successes but not enough yet to be able to buy my own place. I've written an ebook about speaking skills which I know is good but I've only sold 10 copies!Sales page is here - any comments please
My husband is so strange that I've always thought I could write a book about the things he's done and I think I'll start today - in fact this can be the start. There's the time he reluctantly changed my daughters tyre because it had a bulge (she was 19 and had to go to work) and he did it in such a hurry her business partner had to get out every few yards and tighten the nuts by hand to prevent the wheel from falling off! When she got to work someone shook the car and it was a miracle it didn't come off. He reckons it wasn't him and has never said sorry. She now refused to let him touch her car.
Or the time he was under the influence of something and fell over while teaching Law (my daughter was in the class), he locks himself in downstairs cloakroom and cuts his own hair in the dark etc etc....more another day.
I personally think it would make a good film.
I'd better get writing..

2006-07-08T00:49:00.000-07:00

Use your voice to increase your sales.

If you're a realtor or estate agent, or just trying to sell your own home, your aim in life is to sell property and if you use your voice correctly you'll be able to sell more property more easily.
When you're showing prospective buyers around a property do you sound enthusiastic and excited?
Do you make the words work for you?
Can you make a room sound larger than it is?
Your voice needs to convey excitement. No matter how fed up you feel, or how ill you feel or how many times you've looked around a property (after sessions with me it should sell first time!), you have to remember that for the client it is the first time they've seen the property. As a realtor or estate afgent it's your job to sell the property no matter how you feel.
They need to be excited and eager to buy from you and if you sound excited they're more likely to purchase the property - making you a more successful realtor which means more commission for you!

Word pictures.
When you describe a property or a room to a client, you want them to get a picture in their mind of their ideal room. A room they can live in, in fact a room they just have to live in.
If you say a room has a high ceiling, you want them to picture and even feel that high ceiling.

You need to lift your voice and emphasise the 'i' sound (pronounced 'eye') in the word.
If you say 'high' in front of a mirror you'll probably find that you can put one finger in your mouth - if you make the word sound exciting and open your mouth fully you should be able to fit two or three fingers vertically in your mouth.

These word pictures need to work even if you're both already in the room or property.
Imagine walking into a room with a client, it's a fantastic room with high ceilings, a wonderful fireplace and fantastic views.
Your client thinks 'wow', and you say, quite quietly, 'this is the lounge' and you leave it at that. Your client will feel deflated and confused - they'll wonder what you, as the realtor or estate agent, know about the room that they've missed.

Exercise
Try try this exercise - imagine you'vve been fishing and you've caught a huge fish. Now explain to someone how big it was but sit on your hands.
Explain again but this time use your hands to indicate the size of the fish.
The second explanation, using your hands should have sounded more exciting and should have made the fish sound larger.
It is this sound of excitement you need to keep in your voice when describing a room. You need to be able to pick out the important words and emphasize them.

Volume
Your prospective buyers must be able to hear you. It doesn't matter how knowledgeable you are about the property, you won't become a top realtor if you can't be heard.

Open your mouth so that the sound can get out. You need to practise speaking in front of a mirror and make sure that you open your mouth. When you say 'dining room' you should be able to put three fingers vertically into your mouth on the 'i' pronounced 'eye' part of the word!

Pace
In order to sound enthusiastic you need to speak fairly quickly, but you must give your clients time to take in each new piece of information.
Estate agents shouldn't rush around a house.

Stand tall
Stand tall and be proud of what you're selling. By standing correctly you will help your breathing and therefore your speaking skills will improve.

More info about speaking confidently can be found at www.afraid-of-speaking-a-speech.com

2006-07-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

As I know, only too well, being a shy child is not fun.
As parents we don't hesitate to teach our children to count - we're always asking 'how many? - and most of us can't resist trying to teach our children to read at an early age.
However, we assume they will learn to speak by themselves (and it does sometimes appear as though they do - but they don't.
We assume that they'll pick it up just by listening to us.

A lot of parents worry that their children are not very confident when they speak and this can be a special worry if your children don't attend school. I know that when I decided to take my children out of school my main concern was that their social skills wouldn't suffer. They are now aged 21 and 18 and are happy, confident and successful - each runs their own business.
Some children who appear to be shy children are just lazy and soon discover that thay can manage quite easily by pointing to things.
Other children are simply shy - I say simply, but as a very shy child myself I know how difficult it can be.
Parents can do their part to encourage their shy child to talk but never force it. The more fuss you make, the less likely they are to speak.
A good way to encourage them is to use the method outlined below.
By spending just a few minutes each day encouraging your shy child to speak - using the method explained later - you will help them:
Speak in sentences,
Improve their memory,
Increase their vocabulary.

Once children reach their teens they seem to communicate only by texting or emailing - speaking is very low on the list. Many employers complain that although their new employees are academically qualified they lack basic communication skills.
Give your child a head start and encourage them to speak now.

The method outlined below is the method upon which I have based Speaking Tots (fun speaking groups for toddlers).To start with get yourself a few pictures - these could be photos, magazine pages, calenders etc.
Sit down with your child and discuss the picture.
For this example imagine I've chosen a photo of two girls with a dog.
Talk about the setting - it looks like a park or a forest, talk about the type of dog, what the girls are wearing etc.
You then need to ask friendly questions and encourage your child to answer in complete sentences - but keep it fun and keep it simple.

Parent: 'What colour spot has the dog on its side?
Child: 'It's black' (Now repeat the answer but in a sentence)
Parent: 'Yes, the dog has a big black spot. What colour is his tail?'
Child: 'His tail's white.'
Parent: 'Yes, the dog in this photo has a white tail and a black spot'
If you ask a question and the child hesitates to answer - just answer for them - it's not a test - keep it fun!
Parent: 'What is the girl doing with her hand?'
Child: (no answer)
Parent: 'I think the girl is covering her mouth with her hand - don't you?'
Child: 'Yes'
Parent: 'And what colour ears does the dog have?'
Child: 'It's got black ears'
Parent: 'That's right, the dog's got black ears'

Obviously the more detailed the pictures are, the longer the conversation can be. For young children keep it simple - perhaps just a picture of a dog or a cat.
Later the conversations will become a little more complicated - asking the children for differences and similarities as well as observations.
If you fancy a change, let your child ask you some questions - but make sure you answer in sentences!
This method can also apply to practical activities such as laying the table, baking, shopping etc.
Continually ask questions - 'what are we doing with the sugar?' 'yes, we're stirring it into the butter' and so on.

If teachers want to do this with a group, quickly move round the children - asking the questions - you might want to ask the group the questions and get those who are eager to answer to put their hands up. You then pick a child to answer the question - remember to repeat the answer in a sentence.

If you have a shy child who seems reluctant to answer you might want to direct a fairly simple question at the child.

Teacher: 'Lucy, what colour is the cats tail?'
Lucy: (hesitates)
Teacher (quickly) : John - can you tell us?

By doing this Lucy doesn't feel as though the whole class is waiting for her to speak and she doesn't get told off by the teacher. Next time round when asked, she might answer if she realises there's no pressure on her.
The more you can encourage your child to speak the nore confident they will become.
A lot more information about speaking can be found at http://www.afraid-of-speaking-a-speech.com

2006-06-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I've just spent about 6 hours altering almost every page on my website. I've altered my sales page on the advice of people who are supposed to know about these things. Time will tell if they're right. The new sales page is
http://www.afraid-of-speaking-a-speech.com/howtospeakwithconfidence.html
what does anyone else think?

2006-05-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Well, today I've done something new. I've set up this blog! It's my birthday as well and I've decided that at my age it's time I made an impression on the world so my new website www.afraid-of-speaking-a-speech.com is the first step.

The second step is to get some sessions going at complemetary medicine centres (teaching not as client) and I've got one already interested but I have to wait until I came back from Disneyland Paris next week to arrange it.

If you're worried about speaking and it's holding you back in life have a look at my site.

Got to go now - need another piece of birthday cake.