Using Your Voice to Attract Your Ideal Clients with The Magnetic Voice Monique McDonald

Catharine O'Leary: 00:00:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to kickstart the conversation. And I am really excited today to have the third member of the manifestation squad in the house. I have Monique McDonald and here's the deal folks before you appear on a podcast, give your next presentation or have a sales conversation you might want to talk to my friend Monique Monique is an award winning Grammy nominated opera singer and certified conscientious just I think I said the right transformational coach. As an international singer speaker and MC Monique has a knack for making meaningful connections with audiences and help others do the same. With her unique coaching style. She's noticed that magnetic voice mentor Monique inspires healers and entrepreneurs to strengthen and elevate their stage presence, their confidence and mastery of expression. Wow, we need to work on that with me. So what if your next professional conversation could take your business and yourself to unprecedented levels? Are you ready to unleash your magnetic voice? So welcome, Moni.

Monique McDonald: 00:01:13

Thank you. Thank you. Oh, Catharine, I'm so excited to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:01:18

So when we talk on this podcast Monique and thank you for for gracing me with with your, with your time and your presence because I just love it and especially in this industry particularly hard to get Monique outside of like Pool time. So you know, because time is it lonely time is a thing, folks, when you when you start your own business, you get to decide where you work and location freedom is key for Monique and I because we tend to work best in pools that are infinity pools that overlooks the ocean towards Cozumel. So that's, that's amazing. But for, for my audience, Monique, we talk a lot about leads and lists and leverage. And when guests come on, I typically talk about you know what they're using as your lead magnet, or how they're using their email lists or, you know, leveraging relationships. And I think that you actually teach all that in a different way. Because you're actually getting people to use their voices, to attract their ideal clients to make business you know, grow and be more confident until enter leverage those skills. So can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Monique McDonald: 00:02:30

Sure. This is one of my favorite things to talk about. As you can imagine it your voice is your most underestimated tool in your leverage toolbox. We don't think about our voice unless it's sick. But if you all of you listening here today could imagine what would happen to your business if you lost your voice? And what if understanding how to use your voice to sound like the expert that you are, could bring more success, more business could attract you, your ideal clients to you in a way that most people aren't thinking about. They're worrying about their content, they're worried about what they're saying, as opposed to how they're saying it.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:03:33

Okay, I need to repeat that you need to worry about how you're saying things as much as you're worrying about the content that you are providing. So this, I think that this goes beyond just you know, breathing techniques or putting pauses in different places, as you're talking, this is a whole this is a whole mastery like this. This is a like a whole lifetime. For you.

Monique McDonald: 00:03:57

Yeah, I like to call it really aligning your voice to your message. And we're talking about inner voice as well as outer voice right. So what are you thinking, what is the what are the voices in your head telling you and how to handle that? Because that's creating, that's literally coloring the sound of your voice. And we don't think about it. Because we most people aren't aware that that's a thing. And your audience isn't going to say well, I don't like her voice so I'm not going to buy from her. They're going to say or him. They're going to say something just doesn't feel right. So I work with people on the energy behind the words as well as me Literally embodying your stage presence, right? Usually, you know, we talk about that X factor, we talk about that thing that makes you captivating that makes people hang on your every word, they can't wait to see what you're going to say next. And, frankly, Catharine, they don't care what you're selling as much as they want to be in your presence, because they feel a certain way, in your presence, they feel like, everything's gonna be okay. And I'm gonna be my best self, right. And so, obviously, you can't build a business around that.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:05:45

We tried,

Monique McDonald: 00:05:49

but if you, if you become aware of the importance of your voice, and your presence and how you show up, and that all of these things are in alignment, you have, when you step on a stage, you have an unfair advantage. Because not only do you have your expertise, your content, whatever you are a master at. But then you learn how to express it in a way that you own the room and everybody is engaged and wanting to understand what you do, and how they can get more of it.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:06:34

That is, that is amazing. And I mean, most people know that I came from corporate I came, I come from a corporate background. This This isn't just about speaking to sell, this isn't just about getting on a webinar, or maybe talking in a, you know, on a virtual summit or something like that. This can be going into a presentation for a you know, trying to get your product launch trying to get your idea through trying to get the grant trying to like like this is and I think so this is not just for like speaking to sell it when we were talking to Shiraz last week. So you know, we're not we're not talking about speaking to sell here only. And that's a big thing. I think that that inner game, though, that is like that's for everything like whether your stage is a board room, whether your stage is the playground, or the PTA meeting, bedroom? Yes. Yes. But it also could be as you sit down to write the email, yes, or the blog post, or the response to maybe some of the questioning what you know, having a question for you. Those can also be stages in your head and your mind, the how you need your, you need to kind of figure out what you want to be portraying. And I think that that's what you're talking about a

Monique McDonald: 00:08:10

little bit. That's exactly it. So whether you're speaking one to one or one to many, or to yourself, right, because as leaders, the first person we have to lead is ourselves. And a lot of times, you know that there's so much information coming at us right now. I mean, it's an ending, and everybody's an expert in something. And so we have forgotten how to tune in to, I think also we've, we've stopped trusting that inner voice of intuition, because we start to believe that everybody knows better than we do. And although it's essential to have mentors, but to also trust yourself, so I didn't, I did a talk Wednesday here in New York City. For artists, it was called the creative love fest. And I was so grateful to be to be a part of this day of really celebrating art and artists. And one of the things I said and it's true for entrepreneurs as well. We have our business and we have what is our thing that we're selling. But first and foremost, our business is us. We are our brand. And when we really truly understand that we understand that wherever we go and when ever Are we are speaking, we are representing our brand, representing our product, our product. And so what I help my clients do is to uncover that natural magnetism. Most of us have grown up with life experiences on one level or another, where we were told, children are meant to be seen and not heard. Yeah, you're too loud, your inside voice, inside voice, you know, when we would be our most passionate, our most excited, somebody came along and threw water on us. And we learned that in order to be heard, we had to tone it down, we had to be less of our most magnificent self. And so what I help people do, whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, I help you get comfortable again, with that part of you, that is the one who expresses with presence and passion. Whatever it is, that you do, whoever you are, so that you start to believe in yourself again, so that it's not about the PowerPoint, right, you can turn the PowerPoint off, and actually have a conversation. Why? Because you're enough, because who you are. And whatever it is that you're passionate enough about two to build a whole business around, it deserves to be heard.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:11:55

Wow, that's, that's powerful. And I think it's, I understand the PowerPoint off idea. But it's also it's, it's a little bit because because you and I have been on a bit of a journey on this in the speak to sell world. And there are scripts, there are formulas, that that we use, and and you have helped me at least at times, kind of step out steps not step out of step through. Yes.

Monique McDonald: 00:12:22

Better Choice. I love that. Yes,

Catharine O'Leary: 00:12:24

yeah. Step like so you need to know the formula. I mean, I think you do you need to know like, you know, kind of the bits and pieces of a really good speak to sell talk or, or networking, you know, talk or a you know, masterclass talk or webinars or whatever, it doesn't matter. You have to have the structure, you have to have the structure, I get that. The mastery I think comes through when you are able to ditch the script. You know, it like you've practiced it, you know it so now you get to go, Okay, I know that I have it in the back of my head, I have in the back, like I have it in my back pocket. Now I get to use that. And so it's a yes. And here I am as a as an entrepreneur, here I am as like, you know, the the person talking about this, you know, this particular passion point, which a lot of businesses you know, that's that's why you started them.

Monique McDonald: 00:13:18

That's right. As you know, Catharine, some of you may not know, I'm a classically trained opera singer, I've sung all over the world. And I was Grammy nominated, won a few awards.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:13:34

Just few, Grammy nominated, upset, but Grammy nominated.

Monique McDonald: 00:13:40

And one of the most important things as a performer on a stage. You know, it's quantum physics, we understand that when something is observed, it changes. So to be seen and heard, as human beings, stuff happens that you have to negotiate. Some of us don't ever want to go near that. So we're wallflowers and stay in the background and, and support from behind the scenes. Some of us love to be in the spotlight and love to have that feeling of being seen, and everybody in between. But one of the things that became essential to me in my training was technique, the technique of being able to speak or seeing whether I'm sick, whether I'm nervous, no matter who's looking, whether I'm prepared or not. Whether all of the circumstances to me that's technique, right.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:14:55

Whether it's prince, the prince of Monaco is in the

Monique McDonald: 00:14:58

audience, the prince of Monaco. are the King of Belgium. Right?

Catharine O'Leary: 00:15:01

Right? Because those are the people that listen to you. Yes.

Monique McDonald: 00:15:06

Yes. And, and, or your husband? Right? I mean, because for some of us, it's not the prince of Monaco or the king of Belgium. It's our husband, who has all the power in our world, right? That we need to be, to feel heard to be able to express ourselves. But here's the thing, just like the script, the structure, so you have the technique. You know, you do this first, then that, and then that, and then that and that leads to your offer. And then you have you tell your stories, and you make your call to action. And then you give your message, the last thing you want to write we have the structure of the talk. But what I was told was great technique, masks technique. Yes. Right. So what I'm seeing is a lot of speakers out there doing the script, yes, a lot of speakers out there reading their PowerPoint, or reading whatever it is that they wanted to express, they aren't being it. And that's what I help people do. And if you have to have, yes, you must have the structure. So thank you, for we gotta have it, we need to know where we're going, where we're leading people in our talks in our presentations, we need to know that. But we also need to be able to be alive vailable, so that our natural charisma and our natural, authentic selves can be there. Because when we're in our head worrying about what we're going to say next, it's like we've put up a wall between us in the audience. So allowing your and also, this is something that most people don't realize, when we're reading. Or if we've memorized the script, and we're reading it in our heads, our voice takes on an a monotone, that we're not aware of, right? When we're fully present and telling a story. Our voice takes on this, these colors, and this natural rise and fall, and this natural, speeding up and slowing down that that happens naturally. And but we have to be willing to step away from the technique step away from the script. And it's like a dance between the two to know when you have to look at your notes, right? And when you can, I was watching our business mentor Amana guy, do his presentation for three whole days, like nonstop for, you know, eight hours for three days. And I'm always amazed at that. And how he used his PowerPoint where the PowerPoint was to give the information, the connection, he turned it off, and looked into the camera. So it felt like he was speaking to me alone. Like there was no one else in the room. And that's what we want as speakers and as you knows about speaking, is one of the ways to grow your business, the fastest ways to grow your business. All the other stuff is great. But speaking is what grows your business the fastest.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:18:59

Well, I think I think if we take it even a step further that's stages mean almost everything. So your the way that you have your email campaigns set up the way that like, don't think about them as an email campaign. Think of them as a conversation that is it's a story flow chapter of a book. You know, if you if you start having some fun with it, and one of the things I just wanted to circle back on, because a lot of people in the audience know that guys, the quiz queen, it always comes back to quizzes folks. And what Monique was talking about as the technique is the GPS right? The technique right helps you get from A to B, just like questions help you get from A to B the quiz questions help you get from A to B but your personality, your expertise, your voice, your the way you frame things. That's what makes it come alive. That's what makes it you know, attractive. to your ideal clients, and that's why when people take your, your quiz, they're ready, like, you know, they're they're that much more ready to start working with you. Because they've already gotten that that feeling from you. Whereas if they just want to reform or something that's just like, Oh, here's, here's a bunch of 10 questions like, like the puke looks like a mortgage, you know, a mortgage form, who cares? It's it like, it's, there's no questions could be the exact same, right? But there's no flair, there's no personality, there's no, like, there's no what's, what's this? Like? Where do I get to be at the end of this? Right? Yeah. And that's one of the things that I know that you talk about is, before you get on stage before you write the emails before you take the summit stage before you take the stage at an event. What do you want your audience to be at the end of it or feel or have real or

Monique McDonald: 00:20:57

do? That's right? That's absolutely right. And that's the other thing too that Catharine, I just want to to say this, because I think it's, it's something that is your magic trick. So yes, you're the quiz queen. But what makes your quizzes different than an assessment is that you have figured out how to get the voice and the essence of your client into the quiz. So it's not just a bunch of questions, it is their voice, it is their, their, their magnetism, that you find a way to put that into the questions. And you have your system to to get that to draw that out of people, right. And that's what I do when people come to me and are preparing their talk whether, you know, their, their authors doing their book signing, whether they're entrepreneurs doing their speak, to sell, whether they are keynote speakers who are speaking to inspire or to educate, right, you still have to be entertaining, you still have to be there.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:22:21

Think and I think that's yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

Monique McDonald: 00:22:23

No, I was just gonna say, because it's even more essential now than it was before. And it's always been essential. We are inundated with information, and we can Google anything now. We can look on YouTube and learn anything we want to learn. So why are people going to listen to us? If we are doing a presentation, or a talk? Because our human voice, our soul, our being is a part of it. And most of us are afraid to put too much of that into it. Because of all the old stories, all the old tapes. I'm not enough, why would they listen to me? Confidence, imposter syndrome, all the stuff, all the voices in our head, right, those inner voices?

Catharine O'Leary: 00:23:23

Yeah. And I think I think what, what what I'm hearing and what I completely agree with is that content is great, right? content, and it needs it, but but the thing is that content is like 30% of the game, maybe maybe 30% of the game, if you're lucky. The rest of it is your relatability because, you know, like even if somebody's doing the exact same thing. And in my industry in my niche, there are a couple of people that do, like do the exact same thing. Right? But not everybody is their people. Not everybody is my person. That's fine. Right? Right. But not everybody is third people either and the world is big, like a 7 billion people like I mean, even if, like the four or five of us that are doing this could serve as everyone like I mean, we could write like so. The skit like you know, the the scarcity is a story. Yes. And the fact that somebody else is doing the same thing is a story because it's not you and the ability to take people on the journey outside of the technique. And outside of the scripts and outside of the you know, like what do we get on YouTube? Do a Dooby Doo see? That's what's the other 70% or more? Yeah, of like how to really connect with your audience and using your voices. And it's more than just the vehicle it's more than just your vocal cords. It's the emotion it's the energy Energy is the thought process. Yes, the breathing the techniques 100%?

Monique McDonald: 00:25:05

Absolutely. Would you like to know my secret, I would love to know your secret. My secret, I call them the ABCs of magnetism. The first secret is to adjust your thoughts before you speak. Before you're about to be seen and heard. One of the fastest ways to make an impact is to connect to gratitude, love, and being of service, when that's what you're connected to. And that's what you're thinking about. As you walk onto any stage, or you walk into any room to have a important conversation, you walk into love, you walk into gratitude. So you, whatever comes, you are speaking from gratitude, you're speaking from love. So even if it's a difficult conversation, even if somebody's belittling you or criticizing you, the only time we get tangled up in that is when we forget, my mother used to put it this way. If somebody told you, you were a fire truck, would you believe them? Right, how do we get tangled up in criticism? It's because we are criticizing ourselves on the inside. We're thinking about all the things that could go wrong. I asked my clients this all the time. So you're about to walk onto the stage, you're about to walk up to the mic, you're about to, you know, walk into the boardroom to present or, you know, writing out your grant, whatever it is, what are you thinking? And I hear some really, really funny things. And unfortunately, rarely Am I hearing about how grateful I am to have this opportunity, right? Where I love being able to share what I do with people, right? And because when you're coming from that perspective, when you're speaking from that part of you, you are magnetic, you can't help but be magnetic.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:27:40

Yes, yes.

Monique McDonald: 00:27:43

All right, number two, deep belly breathing. It's again, you know, I am an opera singer. And I'm trained to sing in a theater that seats 1000 or more over an orchestra of 50 instruments or more with no microphone. How do I do that? By supporting my voice with my breath. As speakers, what I noticed is, a lot of speakers are walking through life with a body empty of air and breathing from the chest up. They are not including the lower part of their body. What a lot of people don't know is that the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle. And in order to move it, we have to activate the muscles around it. So in order to do that deep belly breathing, once we start allowing our stomach to naturally puff out as we inhale and gently fall back against our spine as we exhale. That activates the diaphragm. And the other thing that it does those deep belly breaths is send the message to our nervous system that we're safe. Then we are safe wherever we are, whatever we're doing. I mean, think about it. When a woman is giving birth one of the scariest moments of life. She's breathing. She's focusing on her breathing. What's the first thing that happens when we get scared?

Catharine O'Leary: 00:29:38

We stopped breathing.

Monique McDonald: 00:29:39

We stopped breathing, fight or flight, fight or flight Exactly. Breathing also is the quickest and most natural way to access the divine. Whatever your belief system is as far as that goes If you just imagine what is breathing me, what is beating my heart, and connecting to that, and surrendering to that and giving yourself over to it and knowing that whatever comes out of your mouth is okay, because you've done your work. And we love it when people make a mistake, don't we, when we find we

Catharine O'Leary: 00:30:24

don't know what we don't know, half the time, half the time more than half now.

Monique McDonald: 00:30:28

But if we do, we love them a little more, because it means they're human, they're like us, they're not somebody standing on this big podium that's got it all together, right? They are human like we are. And that's, I think, you know, because of our life experience, we're terrified of making a mistake. And when you're speaking from being terrified of making a mistake, you're not breathing, you're not breathing. And the third, which is really one of my favorites, is to connect to the part of you that is a natural magnet. I know that sounds sort of very esoteric. But if you imagine that, there is this part of you, that already has the vision for your audience, you already know where you're going to take them, you already see them as creative, capable and resourceful, you know that what you're sharing with them, is just going to make them stronger, better, grow faster, when you're speaking from that place inside of you, that is expansive, and you're holding the vision of who they can become and what they can do. That activates your magnetism. That is what calls people to you. Because they know that you see things in them that they can't see for themselves. And don't we all want to be that person that believes in people, when they can't believe in themselves, to hold that vision for people, when they forget who they are. When we speak from where that dream is already realized, it's already done. It's a blessing to those who listen.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:32:39

And did you all catch that had nothing to do with content? Like the ABCs, there was no content at all. Right. And I think that that's one of the things that people need to understand is that as you find the marketing strategies that light you up, as you stop chasing the shiny object syndrome, and start, stop doing all the things just to do all the things and really get connected, really understand, like, I love to do this, this lights me up, whether that's social media, whether that speak to sell, whether it like whatever that is for you. Right, there's 100 million ways that you can be marketing your business. Right. So however that works for you, but that's like, you know, get that sorted and then just lean into it. Yes, then allow that that container and allow yourself to say, I know you can all do this, and I'm here to help you.

Monique McDonald: 00:33:31

Yes. That's the magic words, whatever it is that lights you up. Because don't misunderstand me, we don't want it to be just fluff, right? There has to be content, there has to be you know, the the nuts and bolts of whatever it is that you do to build whatever you're helping people build. But if that's your only focus,

Catharine O'Leary: 00:33:57

it's not enough. You're reading script.

Monique McDonald: 00:34:01

You're reading the script, you're going through the motions, and your heart isn't in your marketing,

Catharine O'Leary: 00:34:08

and you're denying everyone your genius, and that's just

Monique McDonald: 00:34:12

rude. That's just rude. And people are are saying yes or no to your invitation without actually getting to see who you are.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:34:29

Which can lead to a whole lot of freebie seekers and tire kickers. Because what you give in is a whole bunch of content. Right? So they haven't actually kind of connected to how it's going to help them necessarily. So, thank you so much, Monique, this I am going to I swear to God I'm putting this on on like bookmarking it and playing it over and over again. And and I do believe that there is there may be a gift involved for Are our audience in the show notes? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Monique McDonald: 00:35:03

Yes, there absolutely is. I am giving a gift that I just started giving. It's a whole new beautiful gift. It's called an inner voice healing call. And what this call is about is about reclaiming your voice. In those moments where you may not have spoken up for yourself. It's a little bit of meditation. It's a little bit of guided imagery. And it's a lot about reclaiming your voice, and I can't wait to share it with all of you. So if you go to the magnetic voice.com/appointments You can book yourself in inner voice healing call, and I can't wait to meet you.

Catharine O'Leary: 00:35:58

And y'all can line up behind me. So Monique, thank you so much for playing with us here on Kickstarter, the conversation is there any final words that you'd like to leave the audience with?

Monique McDonald: 00:36:10

Yes, absolutely. The world is in need of strong authentic voices now more than ever. everybody's scared to death because we don't know what's coming but we feel that something is coming. So now is your chance to be the voice now you are the voice What are you going to speak into existence?