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Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the fourth weekly digest of content from The Quiet Voice Collective, an online community providing resources and support for those looking to use their voice more effectively in business. We started out as a group of introverts wanting to improve their public speaking skills, but I'm finding that our needs are more nuanced than that. We currently have 111 members, all of whom are graduates of Made To Do This. Our content is driven by your comments, questions, and ideas. Here is what was shared in the group this week:

Many of us are at a point in our business where email lists are a big focus. James Wedmore has a free training I found valuable and shared with our members. Many industry experts suggest growing an email list by offering freebies in exchange for their email address, but few actually talk about how to do this with care and consideration. People aren't dumb, and if you treat them that way, you'll either get very few customers, or you'll get customers who aren't a good fit for what you do. It took me about three hours to get through his course. I think it was fourteen modules that were around 10-12 minutes each. It was well worth my time, and I'm in the process of implementing some of the things he recommended.

Our first group event has been posted, and it's a training for those of us who host groups (on Zoom or in-person). It's scheduled for Wednesday, May 26th at 8pm EDT/5pm PDT. If you are new to hosting groups, or you just want to discuss ways to make them engaging so that people will return for future events, this will be a place where you can learn some practical skills to make them work well. You can RSVP on the group event page.

There is another training in the works, from Quiet Voice member, Audra Caldwell. Audra learned public speaking through Toastmasters International, an amazing nonprofit whose goal is to help people learn public speaking and leadership skills through weekly group meetings where you can receive small group support. She'll be leading us through a fun, interactive training to help us learn simple skills to help us improve our speaking skills. I'll be sharing a poll Monday morning where members can indicate a date and time they'd like to attend. If it goes well, we've talked about hosting more. Take advantage of these trainings so we can learn what resonates, and it will help me craft future trainings people want and need.

Last week, I shared a poll asking what you wanted to learn about, and you said you wanted to hear about brevity. There was also interest in seeing examples of people doing things well online. This is a combination of both. On Wednesday, I shared author, Kate J. Baer, who has perfected the art of making poetry out of the criticisms and internet trolls who harrass her online. She takes their angry, defamatory, and often rambling criticisms, and turns them into something powerful that has value to others.

In the same post, I referenced the ways that social media feels so noisy and full of people with long, drawn-out posts that seem to lack focus or clarity. Quiet Voice member, Julie Browne, pointed out my bias of preferring brevity over long and winding talks because of my history with the TED organization. Julie is eloquent and communicates very well in writing, and I got a lot out of her insights. While I still firmly believe that we should use our voices with our audience's needs in mind, I recognize that my post could be misunderstood to mean that I was implying people need to be polished, rehearsed, and aiming for perfection. Those things can hold us back, and can keep us from acting at all. There's an important balance to be struck here, and it's probably worth exploring in a workshop or Q & A session. I'm still thinking about it, and am open to ideas. If you have a specific idea or need around this, please let me know so I can proceed with strategic effort to help.

As many of us are formulating ways to share ourselves on social media, we're trying to reconcile our personal needs and energy with the needs of each social platform. Instagram is the glaring frontrunner where we're being encouraged to spend time growing our business. I've recently noticed several influencers leaving Instagram after it took a negative toll on their lives. They reported feeling like they had to do more than felt healthy in order to be "successful" on that platform. On Thursday, I shared the latest example of a person needing to take a step back, Erin, of Cottom + Stem, who said she's going offline for a few months after developing health problems from stress she believes was brought on by trying to compete against Instagram's insane algorithms.

This led to a great discussion where we were able to share how we're caring for ourselves while growing our businesses. Quiet Voice member, Angela Duckett, dropped a powerful quote (displayed above) that resonated like an empowered entrepreneur's war cry. Angela has given me permission to turn this into a printable, so I'm working on that now. I plan to hang it on my bathroom mirror. Where might you hang yours?

Our last post for this week is a notification for a last-minute event happening tomorrow. A friend of mine, Nikkisa Abdollahi, is curating a virtual dinner party with discussion questions that will explore the ways the pandemic has affected us. There's no food, but there will be curated conversation. It is run by high school and college-aged students, and is a service project driven by love of the organizers. I participated in a beta event for this two weeks ago, and found it to be humbling and powerful in the most beautiful way possible. They are charging a $5 entry fee, and all ticket sales will be donated to charity. If you are looking for a way to have your voice heard at an intimate and thoughtful level, I highly recommend attending. Prior to the pandemic, the lead organizer hosted in-person dinner parties with speakers and activities that were equally thoughtful. I am so grateful for the chance to share her with all of you. I will be hosting one of the virtual tables (a Zoom breakout room), so perhaps I'll see you there. If you purchase a ticket, a Zoom link will be emailed to you.

That's it for this week. Our group has been together now for a month. It was originally formed as a group for introverts looking to get better at public speaking. Interestingly, though, it seems more like we have a group of female entrepreneurs looking to ground themselves in a heart-centered place as they share their voice mindfully with the world. We are a group of introverts, extroverts, professionally-trained speakers, and professional performers. The content I share is created with your needs in mind. If you have specific questions or areas of interest around how to share your voice, let me know by email or in the group so I can help.
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Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Carrie