The first time I held a webinar…let’s say things did not go too well!
I can have a good laugh about it now, but at the time, this was so devastating.
I had it all planned for ages, the content, the slides, the offer.
It was scary enough thinking no one would turn up. But I pushed and persevered and got a few people on my list who were interested.
Yay! I navigated my first obstacle!
Nothing could go wrong!
Or at least that’s what I was led to believe on a course I took all about how to create successful webinars.
The day arrived, and before I knew it, I was hosting a live webinar in front of around 60 people.
But it may have been 6 million!
The rest was a blur, but I remember stumbling through it, messing up on the slides, sweating, forgetting my words and rushing through it praying it would soon be over and I could get to the end.
As soon as I stopped recording, I was sick everywhere. This never happens!!
And safe to say, sales that day was a big fat ZERO.
I spent the rest of the week in hiding. When I replayed it all in my head, feelings of shame, failure, being a total amateur wanted to make me pack it all in.
I was meant to be the professional. The expert! But I messed it all up.
It was the holidays, and later on, I took my son and his friends to a local swimming park. The one which had loads of big, scary looking slides.
He was too afraid to go on the biggest slide and was talking himself out of it.
“It’s too scary”
“It’s for the big kids”
“What if I fall off?”
He was scared! And that fear was overwhelming him.
“You can do this, you’ll be ok! Go have some fun!”
He was not too convinced the first time around. But he managed to get on the slide the second time.
And when he reached the bottom, he had a big smile on his face!
His excitement had overtaken the fear, and he looked like he was having fun!
It was then I realised if my son could go on a bloody big, scary water slide more than once, then I could come back from my hot mess of a webinar.
After all, it was all in my head.
My reputation was NOT in ruins (just a bit of an ego bruise)
There was no terrible backlash.
Nothing bad happened.
The world was still spinning.
I’m not going to end this by saying it was “Happy ever after” and I became the Queen of Webinars and made my millions….
But I did go back and do it again. And practice makes perfect.
I had to go back at it a couple of times. Each time felt better.
And now, I even have fun on webinars!
I conquered a personal fear and lived to tell the tale.
It’s ok to be scared. Most of us are on a daily basis.
Visibility, trying something new and putting yourself out there is scary.
Most of us are trying to do the same thing. We are obsessed with the notion that others are watching and waiting for us to trip up.
So they can point and laugh.
The reality is that people are often wrapped up in themselves and will not even notice what we magnify and beat ourselves up over.
People pay more attention to those who already see the success.
They did not see the struggle, the fears and the anguish in the beginning.
Or how they overcame those stumbling blocks
And you WILL get through yours.
Don’t let that fear stop your rise.
Somewhere, someone needs to hear you.
And you’re going to change lives.
You’ve got this!