Mahrukh Imtiaz 0:00
Welcome to the Spicy Chai Podcast. I’m Mahrukh Imtiaz. I host this podcast and still work a successful and fulfilling 9 to 5. My guests are content creators just a bit ahead of you, you will hear about their struggles and win learn from their mistakes so that you can avoid making them. So grab a cup of Spicy Chai.

And let’s get started.

One advice you would give to creator starting on LinkedIn?

Michael Barris 0:22
Have a clear plan for what you want to say, and how you’re going to achieve that objective. And when you know that you’ve achieved that objective.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 0:31
Love that! One advice you would give to creators who are starting writing for the first time?

Michael Barris 0:36
Have models to follow, even imitate the beginning if you want ultimately, that’s how you develop your own style. When I started, I had, there were certain things I still hear in my head when I’m writing that I’m emulating certain voices. And I think it’s good to try to develop your sense of those voices, and let it come up to writing off that

Mahrukh Imtiaz 0:54
What advice you would give to creators starting to speak on social media?

Michael Barris 0:59
Don’t be intimidated by the fact, you can’t necessarily always see the audience or feel the audience, it can be a little bit weird. When you’re starting out and all and your main function is just look at the camera there. By the way, remember to keep looking at the camera. I would say that’s number one. Yeah. But don’t be thrown by the fact that you don’t have people around you who you don’t see. You can develop a sense of audience within you so that you can feel them even as you’re speaking and that should be your goal.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 1:26
Love it. What’s one thing you wish you had known when you started posting on LinkedIn?

Michael Barris 1:31
That the algorithm would be finicky? And that they would change it from time to time? Because you put a lot of thought into promoting something and then you learn Wow, I’m really not supposed to be posting more often than 18 hours apart. Oh, you’re so weird. Yeah, that’s the newest algorithm change. And you have to know what you’re doing because it will punish you. If you go overboard in your efforts to build more of a name for yourself.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 1:57
Wow. Good to know, what’s one thing you wish you had known when you started public speaking?

Michael Barris 2:01
That audiences are changeable. That the way you feel one day is not going to be the way you’re going to feel the next day. And no matter how often I do it, I’m always impressed by that, that I have things I thought would be resonating may not be resonating the same way at the same moment. But the thing is that you become more comfortable with doing it so that you can kind of change on the fly.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 2:24
I agree you do become more comfortable. What’s one thing you wish you had known when you started creating audios?

Michael Barris 2:29
That you don’t have to have a voice with a big like a big bass drum like a radio announcer when I was a kid, we, my father loved to play radio, Toronto radio station CFR B. And this was in the days when it was more of your family News voice. It was more a kind of a home for people with voices like big bass drums. And maybe in some way I thought, Well, gee, if I don’t sound like a radio announcer can I really be a speaker. But the fact is, it’s not about the voice. It’s about the heart. And the energy you put into it, the connection you create with the audience, and all that comes from just wanting to be there for them.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 3:03
Love it. Having good intentions, like you said, What is the one common myth about being a creator on LinkedIn that you want to debunk?

Michael Barris 3:11
That it’s easy. It might come more easily to some people than others. Because of my background as a news person who’s been who has been writing every day, sometimes writing three articles a day, five days a week, for a living. I’m more used to how I feel when I know that I have to crank material out. It’s like I go when I flip a switch. And I go into production mode. People who are inexperienced may feel it see thinking, gosh, where am I gonna get my ideas from? How do I do this, but there’s many kinds of ways you get ideas. And one way is by repurposing things you already done and just kind of updating them and letting your new ideas inform them. And so they become almost kind of like a whole new post.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 3:52
Yeah, I love that. I love repurposing posts as well. What is the one common myth about being an audio speaker that you want to debunk?

Michael Barris 4:00
That what you say isn’t going to have impact on someone somewhere, you never really know how your words are going to be heard or interpreted by people out there, you may make some comment that you thought was completely innocent, you may not have thought that wow, I didn’t really have my best game that day. And someone hears it and it changes their life. That’s happened to me numerous times when people said, you said such and such I just wanted you to know that. That made a big difference to me. I’ve had people come up to me, who recognized me from video things I’ve done, or performances are given and they they’d sent to me, I just want you to know that you made a huge impact on me and I had no idea. So you have no idea how what you’re putting out, maybe changing the life of somebody out there, hopefully in a good way.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 4:43
I love it. What’s one common myth about being a public speaker that you want to debunk

Michael Barris 4:48
That speaking has to be something that’s very stiff and formal? And kind of from the days of Abraham Lincoln it isn’t quite like that. It’s more a kind of see Thinking with intention where there is an organization to it, and there’s a mission in it. But ultimately, people should just feel they’ve spent a day in a conversation with another human being.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 5:11
Love it. What are 123 mistakes you wish you had avoided as a LinkedIn creator

Michael Barris 5:16
One, writing too long, because I can be verbose. And I have to put the reins on that. Number two, trying being a little slow. To try certain other outreaches I took me a while to actually be doing videos on LinkedIn. In the beginning, I was just doing pros, because I myself was I had my own bouts with anxiety about being feared, afraid that my imperfections are going to be frozen up for all time to see, I had to get by that. And number three, I would say, again, just realizing that if you didn’t get views on on something like LinkedIn, that didn’t mean that you weren’t engaging, you weren’t resonating because I found many times that the people who actually seek me out to coach them are folks who were following me all along, but I’d never heard from them. They were what you call lurkers. So my lurkers sometimes are my best customers.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 6:08
Same, what are 123 mistakes you wish you had avoided as a public speaker?

Michael Barris 6:12
I think in the beginning, I didn’t try to go broadly enough for certain audiences you have to understand are going to be turned off by certain topics. For example, I had a great speech when I was speaking for a member run public speaking Club, which was about I once hiked to the top of the wrong mountain, I really had set out to to be on one mountain, I went up on the top of another mountain looking at the top. And I thought it was hiking too. Well, the it it didn’t resonate, because well, not everybody hikes to the top of mountains. So although I thought it was kind of a funny tale, and had kind of a human lesson in it, which was like kind of know where you’re going, it puts them off. It bombed. Unbelievably, that was a total surprise. So that’s, you have to understand that sometimes you have to go a lot more broadly than you realize.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 6:57
Love it. What are 123 mistakes you wish you had avoided on audio?

Michael Barris 7:01
Well, I think when the I didn’t have a cup of water with me, and then I was coughing all the way through it. Now I try to make that a, something I do I have a cup of warm water, I usually put some honey in it. And maybe I put tea in there too, just so I have a kind of a consoling little drink to help me along the way. If I get it if I get into a coffee Jag,

Mahrukh Imtiaz 7:19
I do the same thing. Just two more questions. What is something people spend too much time on that others should skip entirely when it comes to LinkedIn?

Michael Barris 7:27
They spent too much time think again worrying about the views. Because views don’t mean anything you can have like 100,000 views, and not one actual client coming out of it, somebody is actually going to be a customer. So I think that can be misleading and you mustn’t allow yourself to be misled. And the other thing we said one to three things correct? Yeah. I think trying to be influenced too much by the influencers can be a mistake, like you see these people who have followings, you know, millions and millions and millions of people who think, Gosh, why can’t I be like them? Well, first of all, everybody tries a different path in this life, you if that’s what you really want, you may get there someday. But that’s not the only model. If you just want to have a successful business, you can do fine having a smaller group, you know, have a few 1000 followers and do just fine. So don’t be somebody else’s, wow, they’re doing so much better than I am. That’s just crap. Don’t buy into that that’s just leading you down a rabbit hole that you don’t want to be going down into. And then finally, number three would be what’s the third thing?

Mahrukh Imtiaz 8:33
I don’t think people spend too much time on LinkedIn that others should skip entirely?

Michael Barris 8:37
Well, I think being afraid to do videos, I think you really need to have a video out there and you have to push yourself to go through that comfort zone and I recommend get a coach, this is the person you need to help you face the fear. Hold your hand get you through the looking glass so that when you emerge on the other side, wow, I don’t why didn’t I do this sooner? It can happen. I love it.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 9:00
What’s the biggest most expensive mistake you have ever made?

Michael Barris 9:05
Well, I have to admit, I went on vacation recently. And I said I’m not gonna take any calls. And then sure enough, I got somebody wanting to have a call with me. I said, No, no, I’m on because I really was going crazy just trying to get ready for the vacation because I was trying to juggle everything else that was going on. So I didn’t make a call. But it turned out when I got back and tried to pick up the conversation and say, Oh, well, it’s okay, we found another coach. So I think now even when I say I’m on vacation, I’m still gonna leave it open where I could possibly take a call.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 9:32
That’s fair. That’s fair. Awesome. Thank you for your time. Michael. That was all the questions for today.

Michael Barris 9:37
That was terrific. I’ve enjoyed this very much.

Mahrukh Imtiaz 9:40
Well, beautiful. It is my hope that this podcast inspired you to create your own podcast. Remember, you don’t have to quit your nine-to-five to do it. And if you found value in this podcast, you’re gonna love my free training video on how you can get started today. DM me the word Spicy Chai on LinkedIn and I’ll send it over to you. Until then lots of love from your favorite, You got this beautiful!