How Rachel Druckenmiller Overcame Her Biggest Fear in Becoming a Successful Thought Leader

Atiba de Souza: Okay. So we're digging in once again into how to get started with video. You wanna become a thought leader, but we've got to produce video content. And today I've got a good friend of mine, Rachel Druckenmiller on. And she's got an incredible history and — no she's about to drop some serious knowledge bombs.

So if you don't have pen and paper, put this video on pause. Go get some pen and paper because she's about to drop some really great gems for you. Stay tuned. And as always, we are brought to you by Client Attraction Pros. If you're ready, it's your time to become the thought leader your industry needs you to be.

We're gonna help you make that fun, easy and painless.

Hey everybody! Welcome to the show that has no name yet because it's so brand new. But I'm your host Atiba and we are here because we love to talk about video and I've got Rachel Druckenmiller with me today.

And listen, she is absolutely, absolutely, absolutely fantastic on video. Not only is she good just in spoken video, but she's awesome singing too. Yeah. So we're gonna learn from Rachel today and get some real value bombs to help you turn that darn camera on and record some video. Rachel, welcome.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Thank you. I'm excited to talk about this today. I have lots of thoughts on it.

Atiba de Souza: Yeah. Well, I guess it's a fun topic for us. Scary for some others. Was it ever scary for you?

Rachel Druckenmiller: I think people see us at a certain point in our lives and they assume we've always been that way. I was very shy growing up. I avoided anything that required me to be on a stage, to be in front of people, to be performing. That absolutely terrified me for most of my life, honestly.

Atiba de Souza: Wow.

Rachel Druckenmiller: I avoided it.

 I loved singing, but I was like, you gotta try out for choir. That means I gotta sing a solo in front of one other person and be judged. No. So I love singing, but I wouldn't even do that. And I missed out on things that I thought brought me joy. And I feel like sometimes there's moments — and all of us have had these moments.

I know you've had these moments where something happens. We have a new experience and the new experience unlocks something in us.

So for me, it was studying abroad. I lived my fall semester of my junior college. I was terrified to do this 'cause no one in my family had ever been outside of the United States.

Atiba de Souza: Oh, wow.

Rachel Druckenmiller: And I lived in Spain for four months. And I'm immersed in this culture of people that are vibrant and very social and so I was never alone. I mean, I had a book called the Introverts Advantage Growing Up. So for any context for people listening, you get it. Right?

I just wanna say this was not like in my DNA. Like some people might assume.

So it was that experience that it would gave me the courage to like go. I was in gospel choir in college and I tried out for a solo when I came back because I had a new perspective on life and I was emboldened and I had so many things living in another country that took me outta my comfort zone almost every day. That it's almost like the more you do a thing, right? That confidence is a byproduct of action. You don't get more confident by thinking about something 50 more times.

Atiba de Souza: So hold on, say that again'cause people need to hear that. I've told you Rachel have some bombs ways. Say it again.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Confidence is the byproduct of action. You don't get more confident by thinking about it 50 more times.

Atiba de Souza: Turn that camera on you. All right. But —

Rachel Druckenmiller: And then message us and tell us you'd recorded the video and then tag us in it.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, yes. Wow. Okay. So —

Rachel Druckenmiller: So I avoided it.

Atiba de Souza: Yeah, you avoided it. And I get that and then you were thrust into it.

Rachel Druckenmiller: What happened was, I was very entrepreneurial. My parents both work for themselves. So I had this model of like make up what you do for a living and find people to pay you for it which is I believe what they call entrepreneurship. So at the time though, I worked in corporate for 13 years.

I was in that role. I was a director of wellbeing for our company which was a job title I made up and a role I made up. And I was getting asked to start speaking at things 'cause I had developed a passion. See, it's easier to find confidence when you're connected to something that you are deeply personally passionate about. Like when you care, when you really care, you feel this compulsion of I cannot be selfish and hold this inside my head. I need to let this out because it's gonna be for the benefit of somebody else. And I'm being selfish if I don't share that.

Atiba de Souza: Yes. I'm writing that down. Okay. I hope y'all are writing that down as you're listening to this too. It's easier to find confidence in something you're passionate about.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah.

Atiba de Souza: Wow. Yeah.

Rachel Druckenmiller: So what for me started to happen was I was having this healing journey. I've been sick a lot, growing up. I had chronic ear, nose and throat infections and strep throat and half a dozen surgeries and acid reflux and all sorts of other things going on with my body. And I discovered that by changing what I was eating that I could get off these medications that I could feel better that I could be symptom free of all this stuff that I just dealt with my whole life. And I was like, I start to tell people — I couldn't help myself, but be in conversation with people and start talking about it. And then I had somebody say in 2013, they're like, you should start a blog.

And I was like, how do you do that? What's like — how does that work? They're like we just like start sharing things, you know? And so I started a blog. I had no logo for a year. It was called Rachel's Nourishing Kitchen which is not what I do now. The typeface wasn't great. The pictures were from my crappy phone or my digital camera which 10 years ago was pretty garbage.

And I didn't care. I was more — and three times a week, I would write a blog post. Working full time which was a lot. 

But I was like, I'm so excited about this. I wasn't focused on views. I wasn't focused on likes. I was focused on I have something to say that would've helped me in my pain that I now need to share so that somebody else who might be in a similar spot can get help I didn't have.

Atiba de Souza: Yes. Oh, man. You just hit so much stuff. I'm gonna have to take my hat off on that one. You just hit so much stuff there. And I wanna focus it down and then come back out because we are talking about the act of starting with video. And one of the things that people mess up and you just kind of hit this so hard on the head, is one they're always thinking about, "Oh my gosh, how many views?" And they're measuring these vanity metrics. That's one side. And in measuring those vanity metrics sometimes it leads you away from something that you did back in 2013, from what you just said which was quality over quantity.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah.

Atiba de Souza: Right?

Rachel Druckenmiller: Well, actually, frankly that point is both. It was almost like both. It was like quantity —I just need to get — I need to get reps in. I'm gonna write a blog post about something to say, I got another thing to say, I'm gonna write another blog post. I'm gonna write. I wanted to make sure it was well written.

I wanted to make sure it provided value, right? Does this bring value? If we can think about that, it's either, does this serve my ego or does this bring value?

If it serves your ego, don't post it.

Atiba de Souza: So dive into that. I'm taking all kinds of notes. Y'all see this, right? How do you determine when it serves your ego versus bringing value?

Rachel Druckenmiller: I think it's almost like the reverse, is can you clearly identify to yourself how this might benefit another person if they watched it or read it. Right? In this case video, they watched it. What gem or wisdom or insight might somebody gain as a result of watching this video that you've posted? And if you cannot clearly articulate that, then one, you might have just shared something that was just you rambling that doesn't bring any value to somebody in which case it's like, why am I sharing this?

If it's not gonna bring value to anybody, why are you sharing it? I think it's almost easier to answer the second question of, is this bringing value?

And if the answer is no. It's like, am I trying to prove something by sharing? Am I trying to approve or impress by sharing this and not serve? Because sometimes you can share something that serves people and also impresses them.

Like sometimes like I'll share a singing video. If my voice sounded like crap, I really wanna share it.

Do you know what I mean? Like I don't wanna be a distraction to people because if you're listening to somebody who's like tone deaf sing, like it's not like enjoyable which is not to dissuade anybody from trying, but like just candidly. That's just a thing. Right? Human beings are very sensitive to tone. So sometimes I'll share something that somebody will say, "Oh my gosh, that was incredible. That was amazing." I appreciate that. There's nothing wrong with being praised and validated and affirmed. Receive it for what it is. But if that's the only reason you shared it, you weren't hoping to share it in a way that was gonna somehow uplift somebody or encourage somebody or give them insight or give them wisdom or give them perspective.

A lot of the stuff I share is just intended to give people perspective to like pause and think about how they're living and leading and showing up a little differently and being more intentional about it. That's like really what's at the under kind of that sub layer of most of what I share.

Atiba de Souza: Yes.

Rachel Druckenmiller: I think it can do both, but I think the intent should be, I'm sharing this so that someone else can benefit from this insight that I've gained. So that somebody else feels less alone.

So that somebody else feels validated in their experience. So that somebody else feels encouraged or nudged. Let me share this brave thing that I did that I was scared to do. Okay. Now you go do a brave thing you're scared to do that serves.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, absolutely. And I think, that's something that's so valuable and important. So this section of this channel, we're talking about video and we're talking about starting on video. And a lot of the other content on this channel talks about thought leadership which gets back into where you even started with talking about passion 'cause you can't be a thought leader if you're not passionate about a topic. And you also can't be a thought leader if you're just sharing stuff for ego, like you're sharing to uplift someone else to help someone else be better and learn from your knowledge base. And that's the key. You and I wholeheartedly agree on that.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yes. Can I just share something that you — since you're taking notes. Something that you just shared. When you're in conversation, this is another thing that's really cool. It's also tip, always have a pen and paper when you're having a conversation with somebody.

If you share something that's an insight that either they tell you it's an insight, or you say something you're like, "Ooh, that was good." Write it down. And then when you hang up the phone or get off the call, go shoot a video about that because now you're emotionally connected to it like that's one of the best times where it's easiest.

What came up for me is what I intend to do, I like rhyming and I like alliteration. So when I think about what I feel like I'm here to do, I'm here to almost like brighten someone's day, like to brighten and enlighten. That's like the two things is like I want someone to have perspective and think differently and be transformed in their minded in their soul.

And I wanna brighten their day. I want them to see content I post and be like, "Man, that was like a breath of fresh air." Like I'm very intentional about how I want people to feel. That's the other thing. Think about it when I post this, what emotions am I hoping to elicit out of another person? What am I hoping someone who watches this will feel during and after watching it? Do you know? Ask yourself that question before you shoot the video. How do I want somebody to feel and talk to that person? Like ideally you talk to an individual. You're talking to the person, right? So that's another insight I thought might be helpful to share.

Atiba de Souza: That's absolutely brilliant and absolutely awesome. I'm a storyteller. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna tell you a couple quick stories. Really, really quick. So for many, many years, one of the things that we owned was actually a bakery. We own the bakery for a lot of years.

That's a even longer story. And we had locations in malls. And one of my jobs was training all of our staff and always used to tell the staff that the entire purpose of what we do is to communicate to all five of their senses.

So as you're greeting someone and talking about what we have, they should smell, see, even physically touch in their mind.

Your word should cause them to taste. And they're hearing you say wonderful things which all dries to emotion.

 And the emotion that we want them to have in order to consume our product.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yes.

Atiba de Souza: Emotion is very powerful.

Rachel Druckenmiller: It is.

Atiba de Souza: It's so very powerful. Now take that on a more technical term.

Like when I teach marketing, I actually have this thing that I call the Seven Practices of Effective Marketing. And one of the practices is thinking steps.

What are the steps you want to take someone through and in there too, we start to talk about the emotion. If you're not conveying emotion to people, what are you conveying?

Rachel Druckenmiller: Right.

Atiba de Souza: They'll just get bored.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah.

Atiba de Souza: You even think about stories. Stories are all about conveying emotion.

Right? So, yeah. That was great. And for you guys listening, Rachel hit it on the head there. What is the emotion when you're — right now, if you never shot a video, we just want you to turn the camera on and shoot a video.

Okay. Just start to build a muscle. Okay. Really think about that person who you believe is listening and what's the emotion that you're trying to convey to them right now.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Pull out of them. I mean, I had people walk away from watching a video saying like, "Ooh. Man, I needed that today." That's what I want someone to say when they watch a video. It was like, "Ooh, I needed that today", or "Man, I was journaling about that this morning and this was reinforcement", or they tag a friend who's like, "Hey, I think you need to watch this." If you share something that's emotionally compelling, then people are more likely to engage with it.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, they are. They absolutely more likely engage with it. And you also have to balance with what Rachel said earlier. Don't do it for ego.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah.

Atiba de Souza: Right?

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah.

Atiba de Souza: At least not first. Like sure, it might be nice when people say it's great, but if you did it only for people that say it's great, then that's problematic.

So let me take the conversation in a slightly different direction and circle back around. Okay.

So many people see those of us who've been on camera a lot and they're just like, "Even if you went through all that stuff, you're just a natural now and it's gotta be easy for you now."

Are there any little quirks that you have about recording video? Things that you've gotta do, don't do or whatever just to help. Even yourself still get through recording.

Rachel Druckenmiller: I think initially, here's what I did. I started posting videos on Facebook primarily about 2014, 2015. And I was doing it to coincide with my blog, which was a food and nutrition blog. And I would do these little tips about like here's how to break apart cauliflower.

Here's how to get the little seeds out of a pomegranate or here's how to make a chocolate moose that's vegan. I would just set up a camera and again, I didn't have the best lighting. There were so many things I didn't do, but I was just in that point, I was more focused on quantity. Most focused on quantity. Get in the reps. Get in the reps.

I would do two videos a week. I had a day that I picked to do this. And I did this for like almost two, maybe about a year and a half. Every week, two videos. Every week, two videos. And some were better than others, obviously. I looked back on some and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I had no energy." Like I watched some of the things and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I had no energy."

And I didn't even seem like I was excited to be doing that. And part of it is, you have to suck before you could be good a lot of the times. You have to be like willing to suck. And the reality is, and I will make this disclaimer, I'm a professional speaker. So I have been working at that specifically for over a decade.

Atiba de Souza: Wow.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Over a decade.

Atiba de Souza: Over a decade.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Over a decade. I've invested in professional speaking training. So I've done a lot to build that up. Having said that, I think we're just starting off think about like what do you most naturally and easily talk about that doesn't feel like effortful to you?

What are you most excited about? Even record a video about how uncomfortable it is to record a video. People love vulnerability and say like, "Hey, I'm gonna do 15 second video." Just give yourself something easy that you could say, alright. So this is my first video. I feel little uncomfortable. 

Here's something that I've learned recently or here's an insight I've gained recently, or here's a really great book I've read recently that might be a benefit to you. This is the kind of stuff I'm gonna share da da, da, da. Just getting one out there and saying, this is my first time.

I'm a little scared doing this, but here's why I want to. Communicate why you want to. Remind yourself, why do you even wanna do video? No, one's making you do this. Most people don't ever go on video to share any insight or experience or stories. Why do you want to? Are you clear on why? Get clear on why, you even wanna show up on a video.

I'll tell you why. I wanna show up on a video because I speak for a living. And when I show up on a video they get a micro experience of what it is to feel my energy and my presence.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, as we're feeling right now by the way, which is awesome. 

Rachel Druckenmiller: Thanks. I've had people shared videos on LinkedIn. I've gotten business out of it.

I've had people comment and say, "Oh, I love that." Some people think it's weird that I sing and some evaluations I've gotten from some events, there's a handful of people that are like, it was weird that the speakers sang. Okay. I'm not for you. I'm not for you. That's okay.

But I can still take that feedback and say what's might be the grain of truth in there.

Well, let make sure when I do sing, I make a tighter integration into why I'm singing, so it doesn't feel random. Okay. I can learn from that. Right? I can learn from that. It's not all lost. When I think about that, I think about the thing that I was so afraid to do for so much of my life has actually become a differentiator for me and a revenue generator.

Atiba de Souza: Okay. Hold on. Say it again.

Rachel Druckenmiller: The thing that I avoided doing and was scared to do for most of my life, which is frankly perform for people, is the very thing that has helped me to stand out and generate revenue online.

Atiba de Souza: I've said to my kids for a lot of years and I think you'll be able to relate to this. The stone that the builder refused will always be the head corner stone.

Rachel Druckenmiller: So think about that. For everyone listening, think about what was just said by both of us. What is the thing that you're most scared of? Like lean into that. What is the reason you're avoiding this the most? Unpack that. What's underneath of that? Where does that come from? What would happen if you could push through that?

What becomes possible? So now I'm getting hired to speak and sing at events.

Atiba de Souza: Wow.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Had a guy watched one video that like somebody else must have liked or commented on where I was talking about my company's called Unmuted. Right? So I was talking about unmuting yourself.

I was taking out a walk in my neighborhood. I didn't rehearse it. I just like recorded probably a minute and a half or two minutes of me rambling about something I was really revved up about. And he contacted me like two days later and a message on LinkedIn was like, "Hey, I'm planning a conference in the fall. I think your message of unmuting would be great? How could we have a conversation to see if that might work out? So next month I'm gonna be in Burlington, Vermont. And I'm speaking at the Vermont State SHRM HR Conference. Opening keynote for that conference.

Atiba de Souza: Wow! Congratulations.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Thank you.

Atiba de Souza: That is awesome. But that's also the power of video.

Rachel Druckenmiller: It's power video. People get to see and feel what you're like. And it's not manufactured. You can have a sizzle reel where like you're in performance mode. Right? And you can have a sizzle reel that's like all engineered to be like slick and awesome. And those are great.

You know what I mean? But when you can catch somebody just in their natural habitat, in their element, just being real with you. It's a way to get to know somebody. It's like, "Oh, I like that person. They're kind of funny. Or they're witty or they're really energizing or man, I'm pumped up now too. I'm gonna go do something."

Atiba de Souza: Yes.

Rachel Druckenmiller: They can feel all that.

Atiba de Souza: It's funny that you said in your neighborhood writing about something. So I've recently started a series that has done really, really well 'cause my team, this video is what do. We help you produce video and so they help me produce videos as well. And we have topics.

We help speakers with topics, etcetera, et cetera. And we create these wonderful briefs to help a speaker through their video and know what points to hit and so on and so forth. And they do that for me. And about a month or so ago, I just started this series of going outside and turning the camera on and walking around a neighborhood talking about stuff. And those videos have done so much better than everything else.

And it's because of that, what you just said. People get to connect with who you really are. You're prepared videos. Okay. They're not scripted, but you're still talking. They're still getting to feel you, but it's something different about being in that natural element.

Right? And people just say, "Oh yeah. Wow." It's unedited too, because it is not going through the editors and getting cleaned up. Or like the one that I did the other day where I had recorded a whole new — like we just launched this brand new website and recorded a whole new series of videos that are gonna be going up on the website shortly on the homepage and all these other pages, so on and so forth.

And I realized that the microphone was off after I was done. And so I recorded a video about that and people loved cause it's real.

 Now speaking on bloopers. How are you with your bloopers and dealing with the forgetting to turn the microphone off? And I just realized, "Heck I didn't even turn half the lights on in my studio for this interview." I just realized that. We're always screwing up guys.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah. I mean, most things are fixable. Like editing software and stuff. I don't know how to use any of it, but like that's why they bring you in. Right? You know what I mean? Cause it's like, you know how to do all that. It's it is what it is. I just keep going. It's like don't let the mistake keep you stopped.

You can let it pause you. I mean, I'll be in the middle of a thing where I'm recording, I do promo videos. Like if I'm doing a workshop or a training or a keynote for a company, I record a promo video on my computer and I use a software called Loom to do that. And then I'll send them the link to the Loom.

I can see if they watched. All that kind of stuff. And I'll be doing a promo video. That's gonna be like a 90 second video. Right? And I have the gist. I have like points, bullet points of like these are the things you're gonna make sure you mention in this video. Not a script, but just like a guide.

Atiba de Souza: Yes.

Rachel Druckenmiller: I'll be like nailing it. Intro strong, intro strong.

And then I'll like get to the end. And I'll like, I'm 15 seconds from closing and I'll say the wrong date. I'm like, you gotta re-shoot that. Move on. Okay. Stop. Delete. Let's go. Just keep going. It's when we let the mistakes defeat us as opposed to just cause us to have to repeat.

It's not defeat. Just repeat. Right? So if we wanna throw in that kind of thing, right?

Atiba de Souza: Hold on. I'll go write that one down.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Just dropping some bombs for myself here. This is what happens. This is us being on video having — I've never said that phrase in my life. But I just naturally like I'm a word person. So I can think to myself like, "Oh wait those two words rhyme. I'm about to say, hold on, let me see how I could craft this. Oh, okay." So it's like ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. And that's what it is. It's like, don't be defeated, just repeat it. Like that's really what it is.

And I can tell you there's some videos, I was just having a day and I'm tired, I've shot the same video, eight flipping times. And then I get to the end. I'm like, all right, Rachel. Okay. Sometimes I gotta give myself a pep talk. Like you got this, you got this girl, you know what you're talking about?

You've already said it. Just press record. You gotta, I know you're almost done. You wanna be like — sometimes I need to give myself a pep talk when I'm like struggling for real. And sometimes I need to step away. Sometimes I'll be like, you're not gonna get this. You're not gonna get this right now. You need a break, go take, go outside, take a walk, drink of water, go eat something, come back. Come back when you're clearheaded and you'll get it.

So that's the other thing. There's a time at which knowing yourself is a really important. I think knowing yourself is one of the most important things, but knowing yourself and knowing what your capacity is to keep going. It's not admitting to defeat, it's just like, okay, I'm just gonna take a break.

Atiba de Souza: And that's so very important too. There's so many different ways that you can decide that you're gonna create video, right? You can be completely spontaneous. You can be more scheduled. Like there's some people who say, Hey, Monday's at two to four. I'm gonna shoot all of my videos.

That's my scheduled time. But you may get to Monday at two to four and you had a really bad night the night before. You know, kids didn't sleep, kids say — whatever, and it's just not there. And you've gotta give yourself the permission to forgive yourself.

And not hold that against yourself and like you said, take the break, come back.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yes, yes. Take a break, come back and even challenge yourself. Like I had a coach who's been a mentor of mine who I really admire named Simon T. Bailey. He posts a lot of good stuff too. And I remember it was January of 2020. And I was talking to him, I was like I wanna continue to grow.

I'd launched my business, like five months earlier. And I was like, I wanna continue to find ways to like grow what I'm doing and build my base, my social media following and all of that. And he said, I want you to record and post a video every day. 

I said, excuse me. Look, I try to honor my weekend. He's like, "Okay, post Monday through Friday. Every day." And for me, it's also helpful to know what your style is. So there's a quiz that folks can take listening that's called The Four Tendencies Quiz. If you just search on Google, The Four Tendencies Quiz by a bestselling author named Gretchen Rubin. She has these four tendencies that basically answer the question, "How do I get myself and others to do what I want?" And for me, what she calls an obliger which is I'm like better at meeting an external expectation than I am to meet an inner expectation. So because there is this person that I admired and respected and wanted to impress and not disappoint — coach mentor. Which is why coach's mentors can be powerful accountability partners. I did it. I wanted him to be proud of me. So I kept doing it and I kept doing it. And from mid January of 2020 until May 1, 2020, I recorded and posted a video on LinkedIn, every single weekday.

Atiba de Souza: Wow! Now, that's great for consistency.

And people say that you should do this. Now I've done that with lives. And I did it on lives on Facebook. So I can tell you what it does for me. I'm curious. What did it do for you?

Rachel Druckenmiller: It helped me go deeper in my content. You know what I mean? You gotta like dig deeper beyond the stuff you're used to talking about because you gotta come up with more stuff. It also helped me be more like creative with my content. So I wanted something different. What could I do?

And it was at that time, but I started more consistently sharing videos of me singing snippets of stuff, because if you'll notice May of 2020, that was a month and a half after the pandemic and the lockdown. And so that coincided with a time where a lot of people were online, like everybody, cause I had nothing else will do and they needed to be encouraged.

And I was like, well, I'm just gonna sing like — Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase. Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze. It means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy. Hakuna Matata!

Atiba de Souza: Hakuna Matata!

Rachel Druckenmiller: Hakuna Matata. I'd share that, right? Says the little girl who would not even audition to sing in front of one person.

And I'm like thousands of people. I don't know, but this was a joy that was pouring out of me that I had to share.

Atiba de Souza: Yeah.

Rachel Druckenmiller: And then I was involved in a really bad car accident that fractured my back. I was hit by a car while running, which is why May 1st is the cutoff date that I can clearly identify as when I stopped doing daily videos.

But I still shared with like wet hair, back brace, sometimes no makeup on when I'm in the midst of my recovery. 'Cause now, I'd been in front of people every day. Some people had started to come to expect to hear like their daily little boost from the videos I would share.

And so I got to the point where I was like, "Well, this is how things are going." Sometimes you just have a hard day, I'm having a hard day. And so if you're having a hard day, be encouraged, like tomorrow can get better. And here's what I'm doing to help myself today. I wouldn't do it just to like elicit people joining my pity party and playing violins for me. It was the intent of being honest with this is how I'm doing because people haven't followed me. Some people had a vested interest in like, "Are you okay?"

Atiba de Souza: Right.

Rachel Druckenmiller: And I would share that, but again, still with the intent to serve. Still with the intent to normalize and say this pandemic has been really hard.

And I know like I'm we're all having to figure out ways to lift ourselves up, to encourage ourselves, to encourage each other. I did it with the intent to be helpful. —

Atiba de Souza: Still adding value.

Rachel Druckenmiller: — their experience. Still adding value. How can I add value? How can I add value back to that.

Atiba de Souza: That's awesome. 

Rachel Druckenmiller: Thanks.

Atiba de Souza: I hope you guys hear the awesomeness there of one, the consistency that forced her to go deeper within herself. It grew community. And in some ways, even though she didn't say that community was there for her, when she needed them. 

We know that's underlying, but, but, but and this is the big but here, even in her time of need, she's still focused on — what can I give? How can I serve? How can I add value? And when you turn that camera on, that's your thought.

How do I make one person's life better today?

You're not trying to save the world. You're trying to save one person.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah.

Atiba de Souza: One. That's it.

 Rachel, this has been amazing. I've got two final questions for you.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Go for it.

Atiba de Souza: Okay. Two final questions for you. My first question for you is outside of everything that we've said already, if you were to give one tip to someone who is just beginning their journey with video. What would it be?

Rachel Druckenmiller: For someone who is just starting their journey, here's what I would say. Be a bit kinder, gentler, and more playful in your process. Even if somebody watches it is best for you ever, they're gonna forget about it five minutes later. So it's like have perspective on what this is. It can be really powerful and it can be really impactful. It doesn't have to and should not be your identity or where you find value or worth. Maybe you share something and you're like, "Oh, that was the best of everything I had to offer."

And one person likes it and nobody comments on it. You do it for the sake of you needed to share it. So be gentle with yourself and be like, "No what I'm proud of myself 'cause I did a thing that was hard. I shared my thoughts, my ideas, my perspective on something. And even though only one person liked it, I still did something brave and courageous so I can be kind and gentle to myself in the midst of that."

Atiba de Souza: Wow. Wow. Wow. That's a heck of a tip. Thank you for that. 

And now my final question for you today at least is for everyone listening who number one might want to hear you sing again. That was awesome. 

Rachel Druckenmiller: Thanks. 

Atiba de Souza: Number two, may want to know more about what you are all about. Or three, want to contact you because maybe they may wanna work with you. 

Tell them, how do they reach you and what is it that you bring to them?

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah. I work as a keynote speaker, a workshop facilitator, and a trainer for organizations, leaders, and teams and I help them to build resilience, connection, confidence, courage, engagement. I basically help them be more alive.

More alive, engaged and connected.

That's like when I come in, that's my goal, what I'm gonna do. And so people bring me into companies. They bring me into associations, conferences, all that kind of stuff. So the best place and we've mentioned several times here today, best place to most consistently kind of see all the stuff that I'm doing or sharing would be on LinkedIn.

So just search me on LinkedIn. That's how we got connected. And then, also Unmuted Life is my website, unmutedlife.com. And then I'm also on Instagram @unmutedlife. And I'm about in the next 90 days — I've got a friend, so Quentin — a couple people that are encouraged, if this is helpful, encouragement, like just video stuff Simon T. Bailey, Quentin Elms who was one of the first video creators on LinkedIn. So anyway, those are some people that have inspired my journey that may be helpful. So connect with me on there.

Don't you love it when people message you when they listen to a podcast and they're like, oh my gosh, that one thing that was shared —

Atiba de Souza: Absolutely.

Rachel Druckenmiller: — we wanna hear from you. It's not weird. People say, I know it's kind of weird to reach out. No, it's not. That's why we do this. Like reach out to us.

If you are hearing something that's valuable.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, absolutely. It's not even about the ego boost, but it's about seeing like I just had that happen today. A guy reached out and he said, "Okay, I have to retalk last week. My wife and I, we created our first video. Here it is."

 We want to hear from you.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Yeah. Yes, we do. We love it. And I would encourage you, "Hey, you got somebody right here who knows how to do this stuff." So if it's something that you're really serious about, it's like work with somebody that knows what they're doing and can guide you and encourage you and support you and coach you.

If you're really struggling with the confidence piece. I am a huge advocate of coaches and investing in yourself and your growth and development. I've done that my whole career and it's really served me well.

Atiba de Souza: Well, you know what, we are gonna have to have you back and we're gonna talk about that. Coaching and development. Because I'm like you and believe heavily in coaches. Matter of fact, I tell my staff, I tell 'em, listen, your time with me eventually will end. You gotta leave at some point. That's just life.

Okay. We won't die together. It's just not gonna happen. And so you're probably gonna have another job after you've worked for me. And in your interview with that other employee, you should ask them who is your coach? And if they can't answer you, you should not work for them.

You can't be successful and I'm gonna get on a soapbox here, but you can't be successful in business. There is no successful professional. Think about it. The highest paid people in the world all have coaches.

Rachel Druckenmiller: They do. Or mentors at the very least. At least, even if it's not a coach, you're gonna pay a mentor that you're gonna seek out guidance and wisdom and insight from. Like I got a coach. A business coach. I've got a therapist. Both of those are I think helpful or having a spiritual advisor thrown in there too.

I mean, whatever, but have people that are giving you feedback and giving you wise counsel. Get that outside of yourself, please.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, yes, yes. So Rachel, way to wrap it all up with another value bomb. Thank you so much for being here. You have been — I mean, honestly, you could've just saying that would've been value enough 'cause that was — that's probably the best rendition of a Hakuna Matata that I've ever heard. So thank you for that, but no, seriously, like we hit so much great stuff today.

This was awesome.

Rachel Druckenmiller: I enjoyed it. I got some value bombs too. So thank you. See, just show up for the conversation and let what comes out, come out and you'll be surprised by your own brilliance.

Atiba de Souza: Yes, you will. So, bye everyone. Thanks, Rachel.

Rachel Druckenmiller: Sure.