The Power of Your Voice: Public Speaking

I recently watched a YouTube video stating that public speaking skills are one of the top skills crucial for business and career success. A great speech is a direct reflection of our thoughts, which is what makes us ultra-confident when speaking in front of groups. This confidence projects itself in business scenarios like negotiations, networking events, and interviews.

Of course, public speaking also increases networking opportunities - should I mention how crucial networking is for success? As they say, your network is your net worth.

👉 Now, how is this exactly applicable to design, art, and other creative fields, you might ask? You’ve probably heard me say that it’s not enough to just be good at skills like drawing or interior design.

If the greatest artists of all time were to just sit at home, creating and mastering their skills, but never share their work because they think, “I will be discovered anyway because my work is brilliant,” then I have some bad news for them. At some point, dissatisfaction with their unrecognized work can lead to demotivation, and eventually, to decreased confidence in their skills.
In the past, before I did all the inner work and learned about selling, public speaking, and other success strategies, I had similar thoughts. I believed my work wasn’t perfect enough to be shown to the world. Is this one of my biggest regrets? Yes, and it’s something I’m actively working on. This is why the message of this newsletter is so important - to help those who need to hear it.

The goal of our work is literally to sell our creations - to those searching for an interior designer, a piece of art for their home, or an illustrator for their newest book. If we think, “If they don’t like my work, it’s their problem,” I have a scenario for that.

Imagine sending an email with just one single attachment of your work, accompanied by basic text like, “Hey, I’m Anna, this is my work, let me know what you think.” Same scenario in real life during conferences: “Hey, I’m Anna, and I draw.” End of story.

Wow, what a fascinating first encounter with my work and brand, right? Really memorable and distinctive (please, add an emoji to show irony here 😅). And the first impression is something that lasts and is difficult to change - think about it.

We all want to connect with extraordinary and unique personalities, dream clients, and build high-quality relationships, which will also help build our business. And how is this going to happen? EXACTLY. Through our confident public speaking skills, knowing how to mesmerize others with our strong personality (do you have your elevator pitch ready?) and with our stories, etc.

There are so many truly fantastic professionals in art and design out there. So, is it REALLY enough to just show the design and wait for a dream client to reach out to us? I mean, that dream client already receives tons of requests to work with them from truly amazing professionals. So how exactly are we going to stand out? Yes, consistency and marketing are also part of it, but so is the way you present yourself. Speak. Tell stories.
When I was applying for my dream job in Hamburg (which was my dream job at that point as a fresh interior design graduate), I went through a series of interviews, each lasting not 10 minutes, but HOURS! The last one, where I was asked to sketch on the spot, lasted about three hours, as far as I remember.

So you think my potential employer just stared at my work all that time? Of course not.

My job was to convince him why he should hire me without any experience and how his firm could benefit from me - not the opposite, like “Hi, I’m Anna and this is my work, I’m so great, please hire me.” PLEASE. And yes, he ended up hiring me. This happened right before the pandemic hit, but that’s another story.

A lot of you have attended my open drawing webinars. I keep receiving feedback like, “I loved Anna’s energy,” “the way she inspires me that anything is possible,” and “my story is motivating.” Do you think we would have had over 5,000 attendees at those webinars if I had been talking monotonously, without passion, just showing my sketches and saying, “This is my work, enjoy”? I don’t think so.

So, make public speaking one of the skills you’ll focus on in 2025. I’m still learning about public speaking with my mentor, Eduard, who also encourages my students at the ASDB Academy to be confident.

My transformation has been impressive - it’s as if there were two different Annas! I’ll share that transformation in more detail soon - before and after I decided to work on my public speaking skills.

I mentioned that this is ONE of the skills for 2025. The other one is digital drawing on the iPad, YES! ✍️ With all the incredible additional tools like AI, this is such a powerhouse for literally ANY project type - whether it’s a quick design, detailed illustration, graphic design, email banners, YouTube thumbnails, website development (yes, this is how I communicate my ideas regarding our landing pages with my web developer), and more!

I’ll show you how in practice in my upcoming webinar - one of those I mentioned earlier in this newsletter :) All details and practical sessions on digital drawing from A to Z will be waiting for you - register HERE, it’s free!

Wishing you the best of success and see you in the webinar!

And here are all the links to connect with me.

Lots of love,
Anna