Speaking and Communicating Podcast

Welcome back to the Speaking and Communicating podcast. I am your host Roberta. If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast for you. And by the end of this episode, please don't forget to subscribe, give a rating and a review. Today I have the privilege to be joined by Jude Charles. He is a filmmaker. He's worked with some big names which we'll talk about. He is an author and a well-known speaker.
00:29
Before I go any further, please help me welcome him to the show. Hi Jude. Roberta, thank you. Thank you for a warm introduction. Looking forward to the conversation we'll have today, but thank you for having me on your show. Thank you for being here. I'm also excited about our conversation. So please give us a little bit about yourself. At 17 years old, I was in a TV production classroom in high school. My teacher, Mrs. Donnelly.
00:54
taught me everything she knew about video production. And then at the end of the school year, she said, Jude, you're really, really talented at video production. You should start a business. I'm the youngest of 10 children. My father worked, he worked as a construction worker and my mom worked at a chair factory. And none of my siblings were entrepreneurs. So I didn't know anything about what it meant to be an entrepreneur, but by the following day, May 5th, 2006, Mrs. Donnelly came into the classroom. She handed me a yellow envelope.
01:17
And I was like, what is this? And she was like, look inside. And inside of this yellow envelope was my first set of business cards, which I still have to this day. That is how I got started in video production. What I do is that I run a video production company, but specifically I help entrepreneurs bring their stories to life in a dramatic way. I create these documentaries and docu-series showing behind the scenes of their lives and showing who they really are as a leader, as a spouse, as a parent.
01:45
not just the thing they do, but who they are. That was what I've been doing for the last 16 years, blessed to do it, and that's who I am. Let's talk about the impact of teachers. Yes, yes. For your teacher to notice that at such a young age, and that's where your life has gone. Yeah, I talked to Ms. Donnelly still to this day, she's still teaching. And I tell her, I would not be where I am today had she not believed in me the way she believed in me, had she not gone out of her way
02:14
to hand me business cards, I wouldn't be where I am. And so yes, I have a special, special love for teachers because teachers truly change our lives. They spend almost just about as much time with us as our parents do, but they really impact our lives and the teachers that really see their job as more than just a job, like Mrs. Donnelly did. I just have a special love in my heart for those kinds of people. I don't know. Absolutely amazing. So when you're in the TV production class, what drew you to being behind the camera?
02:43
Cause you know, a lot of people like being on stage and being in the limelight. One, I'm an introvert. So I love being behind the scenes, but two, I've just always loved technology. I wasn't the kid that was like breaking things apart to see how it works, but I just enjoyed knowing. Like I remember in elementary school, when they switched out our computers, we had some rinky-dink bad computers, but then they gave us Apple computers, the colorful ones. I don't know if you remember those with the iMacs. I think they were colorful. Yes, the kind of colors, yeah.
03:11
I had that in elementary school and it was just this new fascination to me. At the time I used to hand write a lot and then I learned, oh, I could take the things that I was writing and put it on a computer and then print it out. I just think I was always fascinated by the things that technology allows you to do. And then nowadays the cameras are now in our pockets. Here's my phone with three little lenses on it. That just fascinates me how technology has continued to evolve. And I think that's what it was for me back then. It was like.
03:39
I could take the stories I was writing and turn them into videos or turn them into films. It was just magical to me. Do you mean writing those stories you actually asked people to act them out? No, when I was eight or nine years old, I would write books that told what my future life would look like. So I wrote a book called The Police Life of Jude Charles because I wanted to be a police officer growing up. And then I wrote The Baseball Life of Jude Charles. These were stories that were told in the future. At the time I was eight, nine.
04:07
but I was telling it as if I was 28 or 29. Of course- Were you really listening to motivational speakers at that age? Not that, no. I think it was because I was the youngest of 10. I was trying to figure out, okay, how do I fit into this family? What's my future life gonna look like? Cause the sibling before me, my brother, he's six years older than me. By the time I'm in elementary school, middle school, he's already in high school getting ready to graduate. Right? So- Right. I was just always fascinated by what is this gonna look like in the future? How do I pave my own way in this family?
04:37
I didn't start listening to motivational speakers until I got to maybe college, but yeah, it's just something that started at an early age. That is amazing. Cause that's usually what they talk about, visualize the kind of life that you want to design for yourself. Yeah, I was doing that early. I don't know why. It's funny cause my family always thought I'd be a lawyer cause I wrote so much. No, I ended up being the filmmaker. I ended up being the person that holds other people's story and tell their story for them. After high school, what happened? So after high school, I started the video production company in the...
05:06
First five years, I just focused on that. I did go to college for one year, but then I was like, you know what? I don't wanna do this. I already started the video production company, so I dropped out after a year. But I failed my first five years, meaning that I struggled to make money. After the first five years, I was just like, you know what? This may not be for me. And then I remember waking up one morning to the sounds of chains hitting the floor. And it always was a nightmare to hear these chains hitting the floor. When I woke up, looked outside the window, what it was, was a tow truck driver coming to repossess my car. For the second time,
05:35
in eight months. And I was like, all right, this is a clear sign. I should quit. I sat on the edge of my bed for about 30, 40 minutes. And then in that moment, I get a call from a client I had been working with, Keisha Dior. And Keisha Dior, I had started filming a documentary with her. She was the very first client I ever filmed a documentary for. She was running a cosmetic business, building it from the ground up. So she was selling lipstick, think blue, purple, green, lipstick. They weren't popular back in 2010. And she called me in excitement to tell me,
06:03
she had made $1 million in her business in one year. And I remember- After you filmed her documentary. After I filmed her documentary, after it came out, she had used it to launch the company and for it to come out. And I remember pulling the phone away from my ear, thinking this can't be real life. And the moment that my car is getting repossessed, my client is telling me she's made a million dollars by something that I've created. Wow. And so that was the turning point where I realized, okay, you do have something valuable that someone will pay you for. Kishu Dior had paid me money.
06:33
For context, she only paid me $3,000 at the time. So she paid me 3,000, she made 1 million. I was like, okay, there's a middle part here I gotta figure out. With your business model. With my business model, exactly. And so I continued working with Keisha, but I took a year off to learn sales and marketing because I knew that was the missing piece. I was talented, which Mrs. Donnelly had seen. I took that talent and turned it into money, $3,000 with Keisha DeOer, but now I needed to fill in the gap. How do I make more money?
07:02
How do I convince and persuade a client to work with me and pay me what I want to get paid? After that year, I remember pitching an interior design client. It was so nerve wracking for me, but I pitched him $15,000 to do the same thing I did with Keisha. Right. And he said yes. And so that's what got the ball. Did that shock you? It did shock me because one, I didn't think it was possible, but I was willing to give it a try. Right. He called me in September. It took me an entire month to put together a proposal.
07:31
just because I wanted to get it right. I wanted to rehearse it. And literally when I told him the number, he was like, great, when do we get started? Oh, it works is what I was thinking. It works. And so literally from that moment, 2013 is when that happened. I have been on a trajectory up and just excelling in the business. Like you mentioned, I am a speaker as well. I'm a consultant and recently I wrote a book, but all of that is because of that moment with Keisha Dior, when I realized, okay, you have something valuable. How do you go back?
07:58
What worked with Keisha, that was the other thing I wanted to figure out. And I knew it was her story. It wasn't the fact that she was selling lipstick. It was the fact that she was telling her story of women empowerment, being comfortable in your own skin. And so because of that, I was just like, okay, let me repeat this. It worked with the interior designer. And then later on, I ended up working with Google and Steve Harvey. And it's because of that moment back in 2010 of understanding that I had a gift and how can I best utilize this gift?
08:27
It's the human connection that worked with the Kisha story and you realized that there's something here. Yeah, so I remember I produced Kishidi or Documentary 2010 from 2010 to 2013. I would ask people who watched the documentary, what was it about this that made you sit? So the very first one was 10 minutes long. People still say that today. Tension spans are small and people won't sit down and watch a 30 second video, but they were watching a 10 minute video.
08:56
I would ask them what was it and they were like, I love what she's about. I love that I can see behind the scenes of how she's building this company. It's not just talking about how great she is, she's talking about the things that she messed up too. It was that human connection, right? The vulnerability, that's the biggest piece to working with me. If you can't be vulnerable, we're not a good fit. And it was that vulnerability that helped people see that she was a real human being. That is so powerful. We always hear the end story. I'm successful now.
09:25
Or if they do tell how it began, they will just say, Jeff Bezos one month was working in his garage, two years later he had Amazon and now he's a millionaire. We never hear the messy parts, the vulnerable parts when he wanted to give up when his car was repossessed. We never hear that. And that's why people always feel like those levels of success are for a special group of people. Right, yeah. The people think that it's unattainable.
09:50
And what I've noticed over the years, even with working with Steve Harvey, Steve Harvey has a story where he used to be homeless for three years. Just because he was trying to make his comedic career come off. He was trying to be a comedian. He was going on tour, but he was living out of his car. He couldn't afford hotel rooms. And there was one morning he went to a hotel room just to wash up. He had parked the car at the hotel room, but he had a show to do. He went to the bathroom just to wash up. But on that day there was a conference at the hotel.
10:17
And he didn't want other people to see him washing up. So he was trying to wait for people to stop using the restroom, but people kept coming in and they kept coming in. Right. And he was frustrated. So he sat on the toilet. He just cried. He was thinking, I'm going to go call my dad and tell him, look, I just want to come back home for this comedy career. And he said he heard the voice of God. Tell him, if you just do one more show, I'll take you to places you've never been in places you've never thought about going before. He washed up. He got the call. Maybe that was on a Wednesday. That Friday, he gets a call to do Showtime at the Apollo.
10:47
Showtime at the Apollo was the one thing that catapulted his career where everybody discovered him. He's just been on an upward trajectory ever since. And now he has family feud and he has family feud in Africa. Like 10 different shows. 10 different shows, radio shows, books. But it's all because of that one moment where he was homeless, just trying to make ends meet. But again, that's the story that makes you respect and see like, it's not always gonna be easy, but if you continue, if you push through, you'll make it.
11:15
And so those are the stories I love to bring to life. Those are the stories that are the most important in my opinion. When we think of our grandparents or even our parents, when they tell us the stories, like my parents are immigrant parents. They came from the country of Haiti and they would tell us stories of what it took to get to America just to give us a better life. You take that and you remember it, it instills these principles, this work ethic, because you know where you come from, right? And I love what you said that many people don't talk about the messy middle part.
11:43
But when you know the messy middle, you know, there's no difference between me and Jeff Bezos or no difference between me and Mark Zuckerberg. It's just, they kept going. They kept pushing through the issues that they went through. That's what I noticed with Keisha Dior. That's why I pushed through. Instead of quitting, I pushed through is because I noticed there was no big difference between me and Keisha, but she figured out how to market herself. Right. And tell her story. That's always the missing pieces. What is that messy middle that helps you to understand it? And speaking of comedian Steve Harvey,
12:10
It's a similar story to when you got that first $3,000 check. Yeah. He talks about the first $50 who was ever paid to do comedy. And he said, I can do this. Imagine $50. It's not a lot. That's the idea that this thing can pay him. Yeah. When he was ready to give up, was there is, and he said, maybe I can't really do this. $50 was what made him say, no, no, I'm not giving up. I think this is going somewhere.
12:40
It's the proof. It's the tangible proof. It's kind of like the business card that I showed in the beginning with Mrs. Donnelly. If Mrs. Donnelly didn't hand me the business card, I'll be honest with you, I probably would have never started the business. But when she handed me the, it was like this transfer of power, right? And that's what it's like when you get your first $50, it's like, oh wait, this is real. Someone is willing to give me money to do this. That means they find it valuable what I do.
13:04
Right. And that was, yeah, you're right. It is the same thing that happened with me and Keisha. She handed me $3,000 and it was like, oh, I trust you. I see value in you following me with a camera and I see value in you telling my story. So I didn't quit because I realized, okay, she saw the value, but then she made her money back a hundred times over. Right. So there's something that I have that people need. Yes.
13:28
And that's what it was for Steve Harvey. There was something that he had, even though it was comedy, making people laugh, entertainment, but it's something that people need. It's something that people want, especially after a long, hard day of work. They want to just relax and listen to someone and laugh. And he's continued to do that over the years. Family feud, think like a man, act like a man. He turned that into a movie. Then there's the business book as well, the motivational book. And so if you can see that someone is willing to pay you, that's all it takes, that transfer, that's all it takes to make it happen.
13:58
Right. And like he always says, he uses this gift to make people laugh. Family Feed existed before. Yeah. Now it has the highest ratings because of the laughs that it brings to the show. It's an important point that there's no one else like you in the world. Yeah. Say that again. There's no one else like you in the world. And if you truly believe that you sit in that, that's what will help you get to the next level.
14:26
I love that you mentioned Family Feud was here before Steve Harvey, but it only became this wildly successful game show once Steve Harvey stepped into it. Same thing with Showtime at the Apollo. Showtime at the Apollo was here before Steve Harvey, but then Steve Harvey showed up and he hosted the show and now it became this wild successful show that everybody knows today. There's no one in this world like you. What are you gonna do with that? Let's just let that digest.
14:55
And that is so true. Yeah. Yeah. So you worked with Steve. Is there something not in the NDA that you can tell us about from working with him? Steve is the very same person on camera as he is off camera. I remember the very first time I met Steve. We were filming at the United Nations, as a matter of fact. It was his very first time at the United Nations. He came out of his car. I followed him into the elevator, filming from that very point.
15:23
And then he went and did the hosting and then he came back off. We were on the elevator again and we were going somewhere else. He looked at me, he was like, you know, I kept wondering, why is this black dude following me? It's not often that a black dude is holding the camera following me. He's the exact same on camera that he is off camera. But we worked together for three years. At the time he had a deal where he could produce TV shows, just like Oprah did, right? Like Oprah did Dr. Oz and she did Dr. Phil and all these other shows. Oh, how poor Vagacia. That she didn't have to be a part of. Well, he had the same deal. So we were filming.
15:53
pilot shows with other people that he wanted to help bring up. And so I did that for three years. Here's where again, it goes back to there's no one in the world like you. The only reason they brought me on is for my storytelling skills. It wasn't because I could hold a camera. It wasn't because I could edit. They wanted someone that could see the story in a way that no one else could see the story. His vice president of his company, Gerald Washington, was the one that hired me. And he said, we have plenty of people, but there's no one else that tells a story like you tell it.
16:22
And that's why we continued to work together for three years. But yeah, Steve Harvey is the very same on camera as off camera. Sometimes you don't know, especially with such a big character like Steve Harvey, but I really enjoyed those three years of working with him, helping them bring some shows to life that it wouldn't have been possible. There's one show specifically, Man Cave. We actually didn't film any footage for Man Cave. We actually took footage from online to show what the show could be. And BET purchased it in the very first meeting. They were like, we love this.
16:50
we're gonna purchase this. And that one is the one I'm most proud of because there wasn't any footage that we filmed. It was just a story that we crafted together. And that show lasted for three years on BET as well. And so no one else can do what you do. If you're not listening to anything else, when you are doing the work God has called you to do, when you're truly sitting in that, no one else can take that away from you. And that's what I've been able to do the last 16 years. There's no one else like you. So bring that to life. And that's what's gonna connect you with the rest of us. Yep, yep.
17:19
I went through your website. Yeah. But I find that some of the entrepreneurs who work with, they're very successful. Were they already on that level of success before working with you, or is that also the power of what you do and contributed to that? They were already successful, but what I did is help to amplify that. The only one that wasn't was Keisha Dior. Keisha Dior, I started with her from the ground up. Like I seen her from the very first day of starting her cosmetic business.
17:46
But every client since they were already successful, making really good money, but they were looking to either rebrand themselves or grow to a bigger scale, have bigger opportunities. By the time a client comes to me, that's what they're looking for is they're not looking for the next cool thing to do. They're looking for the person that's gonna come in and bring the right story, that's gonna bring the right strategy. I think of a client like Dr. Tracy Lin, she was already running a very successful business, beauty and jewelry.
18:12
Very successful, but she wanted the right people in her tribe. By the time a client comes to me, that's what they're looking for. They want to tell their story authentically and they don't know necessarily how to do that because what society teaches us, what the world teaches us is just only show the good parts. We're afraid of being judged, which applies in speaking as well. Yeah. What I help them do is see the value in the messy parts. Dr. Tracy Lin is why we were filming her documentary.
18:38
She sells jewelry and part of it through a fulfillment center. It's a vendor. And this fulfillment center is the one that ships everything out. They ship out the jewelry, they ship out the boxes, all that stuff. Well, that company went out of business in the middle of us filming the documentary. And it threatened to take her out of business too because that company went out of business for not paying their warehouse fees. The police was coming to lock it up and they gave Tracy Lynn three days to come in.
19:05
take $5 million worth of jewelry out of the warehouse. She had to do it, yeah, in only three days, but she had to take 18 trucks to be able to do it. What? We filmed that, we showed that, but that messy middle is the part that I'm talking about, because people think it doesn't even happen when you're a big company. It happens even when you're a big company. Right. I didn't work on this project, but there's a guy named Mark Lorry, who sold his business to Amazon, 550 million. I remember him saying that the week that he sold it to Amazon, he was depressed.
19:33
And you're like, why are you depressed? You just made $550 million, but it's that messy middle. The rest of us are thinking if I had depression, that would cure it immediately. Exactly. But that's the part that many entrepreneurs don't talk about. That's the part that excites me about bringing it to life is because entrepreneurship is not easy. And there's other things you have to figure out. And that's the part that people don't talk about. Like they talk about the big success, but that messy middle that we keep talking about.
19:58
That's really the part that is most important, even at a big scale. So that's what I work with my clients on is, I know there's certain things you don't wanna share, but if you share this, if you show people the real way it's done, they will respect you more, they'll trust you more, right? That's what it's all about is trust. Why you? I mentioned earlier, there's no one else like you, but then you have to answer the question, why you? Why is that? Why is there no one else? Why is there no one else to do this? Exactly.
20:26
Exactly. Why would I choose Jude? Why would I choose Roberta over any other option available to me? You have to be able to answer that question. That's what I help these clients do in creating what I call a dramatic demonstration. It's a dramatic demonstration of proof that they are the right leader to follow. They are the right leader to listen to. They are the right leader that knows what it's like to almost lose your business when you've been successful for over 20 years, like Dr. Tracy Lin was. Steve Harvey recently has started sharing a story about his tax accountant,
20:56
took money from him and he had to pay back the IRS. And he didn't even know. I think it was $22 million that the tax guy wasn't paying. Steve Harvey thought the guy was paying instead the guy was just removing the money from the account and keeping it for himself. Why is it that when it comes to celebrities those stories are very common? I've heard that about Rihanna, the ballplayers. Why is that so common with- I love that you asked that question. You know why it's so common? Is people don't talk about it until it's too late. Only recently-
21:26
have people started telling their stories in that way, like Rihanna, like a Steve Harvey. But these stories happened years ago. If you would share the messy middle, you would keep people from making the same mistakes that you made. The reason I failed my first five years in business is because I was too prideful and I didn't ask for help. That is the reason that I continue to share my story of my car getting repossessed or I struggled to make money. I didn't have to struggle.
21:50
I made that choice and the reason I share that story over and over, I talk about that, or I talk about burnout, because I burned out in my career 2020. The reason I talk about those things is so that other people don't make the same mistake. It is important for you to tell the real story, not the nice and shiny story. Tell them the real story. Yeah, I love that you asked the question, Roberta. Why does that keep happening? Okay, I'll admit, one of my guilty pleasures is celebrated gossip. Why does this keep happening? I always wonder.
22:17
Is it because I don't have the kind of millions that they have? So I check every single dollar in my account. They have so many. Just fall through the cracks. Is that what happens with Steve? It wasn't so much that he had so many. It's just, he just wasn't paying attention. He would look at his account. He knew he wrote the check, right? So he, let's just say the check was $10,000. He would go into his account and see minus $10,000.
22:44
But then he wouldn't see exactly how the $10,000 was taken. I had a $50 deduction. I want to know where it's going. Exactly. But that is why storytelling is so important. I want listeners to understand what vulnerability is. Vulnerability is just opening the door behind the scenes. Just like you said, you have a guilty pleasure gossip website. But that little part helps you see these mistakes that these entrepreneurs are making, right?
23:07
But you're being vulnerable. You're opening yourself up so well. I like gossip websites. Some people even say, oh, she sounds messy, but hey, I just like to read political. And that's a funny way, but there's also the real way, like we talk about with people actually losing their money. Even as you're going through your journey, tell the real part. I burnt out of my career in 2020, October 10th, 2020. I woke up that morning and I was paralyzed from the waist down. And I could open my eyes, but my heart was racing. My teeth were clenched.
23:36
finally two hours later getting out of bed and I called my therapist and that's when I was diagnosed with burnout. And then I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I didn't want to share that story in the beginning because I'm like, I don't know what this is. But then still going through burnout now in 2022 as we were recording this. And I've been sharing my story for the last two years but what I've realized is it helped other people realize that they were actually burnt out and didn't know it. They didn't know what it looked like. Because they can listen and then see the similarities in them.
24:04
Yep, because I'm sharing the details of my story, right? It's so important to share your story, even as you're going through your journey, because it will help someone else along their journey. They may be 10 steps behind you, but when that person sees that you're real and that you're human, just like they did with Keisha Deor, they saw that. And Steve Harvey, they see that.
24:25
when they see how real you are, that's what makes them trust you even more and wanna follow any and everything else that you do. Kisha Dior still runs the cosmetic business, but she's also now in fitness. And that has blown up into a big multimillion dollar company. Wow. But it's because of the work that we did before to lay the groundwork of who she really is, not just the things that she sells. And that's what people connected with. That's what people connect with. The human connection that we make, even when we're making friends, you and I become friends. Mm.
24:52
It's the stories that you learn about me or that I may share with you. That's like, oh, you know what? I wanna continue to be friends with that person. Or it's also the same story that's like, I don't like being around that person, right? That is the human connection, the stories, especially after the pandemic, right? Like we're all craving that human connection. The distancing, being forced to stay home, not flying to go see your family. Yes, it's been challenging. It has. Here's what I love about that though.
25:19
The very first time, at least in our generation, in our lifetime, no matter what part of the world you were in, we were all going through the exact same thing. But guess what? We had different experiences. I still continued to work and then I ended up burning out, but I also couldn't see my mother for two years because my mother was, she's 74 now, but in that age range where she was high risk, I couldn't see her for two years. I only just saw my mother for the first time for Mother's Day this year. Yeah. That's the universal story with the pandemic. That is the universal story, right? But we each experienced it in a different way. But.
25:49
If you're a speaker, if you're an entrepreneur, even if you're working a regular corporate job, when you share your stories, that's what helps you get promoted. That's what helps people understand why you're driven to work and why you work so hard. Sharing your story, sharing where you come from, sharing what matters to you, the mistakes that you made. Earlier we said, there's no one else like you. Guess what? The one thing that shows how there's no one else like you, it's your story. That's the one thing no one else can duplicate from you. So share it. Such powerful words, Jude. I know that...
26:18
people want to do that, but that fear of being judged, of being too vulnerable, everybody is now online, I'll show you how to do this, I'm in business. They feel like they need to portray this picture of success in order to attract clients. Yeah, you don't have to. Everybody else is already telling the same story that how great they are. They made a lot of money. Oh, come follow me because I've made a lot of money. So what? Everybody was already telling that story. What else is there about you? I think that's different.
26:47
What makes it different is the experience, not just that you made a lot of money, but you made a lot of money, you made a big mistake. Like let's say hypothetically, Steve Harvey wanted to create a course about being a comedian. He wouldn't talk about how successful he is. Or you already know that part. It's the part where he might've messed up the contract and he might've missed out on $10,000. So he's gonna show you how to not miss out on $10,000. It might be- Or to check with your accountant. Or to check with your accountant, right? Go through the books. Spend a day, a month to go through the books.
27:14
Like you said, everybody's telling the same story of how they made a lot of money. What else is there about you? There's gotta be more to it than that. What catches people's attention is being different. Why would you do what everybody else is doing? You experienced with burnout. You told me a story earlier about when you were giving a speech. So I was giving a speech called Changing the Story That's in Your Head. Well, I was coming back from burnout. I realized I needed to sharpen my perspective and then subtract the noise. Now, how do you sharpen your perspective? For me, it was reading biographies.
27:43
I love reading biographies. One of my favorite is from a guy named Jeff Amlet. He took over General Electric right after Jack Welch, 2001. Jack Welch was known as the best CEO of all time. But when Jeff Amlet took over General Electric, it was September 10th, 2001. September 11th was the next. It was 9-11. So when he took over, General Electric was very invested into making airplanes and all these other things. Not only he took over from the best CEO of all time, but he took over. Big truth from Phil.
28:12
But then he took over the day before September 11th. And that's how the story starts. And he takes you through his journey of being a CEO. I love stories like that because at the moment I'm thinking, oh my gosh, this is so bad. I'm going through burnout. And I'm like, oh wait, this guy had it worse than me. But how did he get through it? How did he think about it? How do you wake up the next morning and realize the world has shut down just like it did for the pandemic? The airline industry had shut down. Like, what do you do? That's why I love Bygara. So that's how you sharpen your perspective.
28:39
But the other one that I love that I did in this talk is I talked about subtracting the noise and what that is, is just, we do too many things today, especially as entrepreneurs, as speakers, we do way too much. So I played with this Jenga set while I was giving my talk on the Jenga set. It had words like listening to too much podcasts, spending too much time on social media, redoing your website, all of these things, but there were three things that you should add. So I had subtracted the pieces instead of putting the pieces back on top. What if you just left them out altogether?
29:09
the structure still holds up. The Jenga set is a 54 piece set. What if you took out 10 pieces? 44, the pieces are still there, they're still holding up. Then I asked people in the audience, who needs to stop listening to as many podcasts? And someone who raised their hand, I'd throw out the piece. What that did is it made it real and tangible for people to understand what I mean by subtracting the noise. And here's how I know it made it real for them. I went to the Facebook group for this event, maybe about a couple of weeks after the event. And I asked, hey, who still has their Jenga pieces?
29:38
They took a picture of the Jenga piece sitting in front of their computer at their desk and they sent it. Again, when you're looking to not just tell your story but make it real, when you're creating a dramatic demonstration, these are the visual elements that help make it real, that help people to remember. I wasn't telling a pretty story. I was telling a story when I burnt out, but I wanted to help other people understand how to get back to a place. One, they won't make the mistake of burning out, but two, if they have burnt out, how to come back from it. How do you subtract the noise? You have this piece that's in front of your desk that's reminding you.
30:08
With Mrs. Donnie, when she gave me the business card, it just sparked in my head 16 years ago, how do you make this real for other people? And that's how I do that today through dramatic demonstration of proof. As a speaker, even as a consultant, when I'm working with my clients one-on-one, I'm looking for ways to make the ideas that I talk about, the stories that I tell, how do I make it real for them? So now they own it. It's not just me that's telling them a good story.
30:34
They own the story. They own that Jenga piece. People went home with their Jenga pieces. My mission in life is to lead and empower entrepreneurs to have relentless courage. If I lead them and empower them, they will then be able to lead and empower others. Show me, don't tell me. That is how I do it. Right. Tell us a little bit about your book, Dramatic Demonstration. Dramatic Demonstration, how to attract premium clients and scale your business with visual storytelling.
31:01
Just like I talked about with the Jenga set, I walk you through what I've done for three other clients. So I talked about Dr. Tracy Lin on this podcast. She's featured in the book, but there's two other clients, a copywriter and a business coach. I literally walk you through how I started with them from day one to all the way of them launching their documentary series, but then I walk you through, how can you do the same things for yourself? I call it a roadmap. I do this process called a road mapping. There are three phases in the roadmap, dramatic clarity, dramatic demonstration, and dramatic leverage.
31:29
I walk you through each of those steps. How do you get very clear on who you are and what you're about? How do you then bring that to life when you've written down the words of who you are and what you're about? How do you bring that to life? And then how do you share your story over and over? One of the ways that I share my story over and over is spending time with you, Roberta. I am on podcasts almost every day sharing my story. That's a way to do dramatic leverage. That's the way to share my story. That's what the book is about. I want more people to understand how to do this for themselves.
31:57
How to be a Keisha D or Steve Harvey or a Dr. Tracy Lin, how to be successful. It is through that book, Dramatic Demonstration. Best place to get is through my website, jucharles.co. Everything that we've been talking about. I talk about leadership, storytelling. Website and Amazon? No, actually not. This is a book that's so important to me. It's my life's work. I am selling it at a premium. As we're recording this, the book right now is $150. Okay. The reason for that is I want it in the right people's hand.
32:25
You know how many people that actually get books and don't open them? So if you're gonna buy this book, I want you to open it, I want you to read it. I want the right people in my tribe, in my audience. And so I've made it expensive. The reason I didn't put it on Amazon is Amazon wants more money the more you make it. And so I put it on my website so that you can get it. But it's also a very special package. You'll realize when you get it in the mail, it's a special package. So yeah, it's only on juicharls.co. And there's plenty of other resources on the website as well.
32:53
I write a newsletter called the Dramatic Leverage Newsletter. I go into the business side of storytelling. So like I talked about in road mapping, there's three phases, but this, when I go really deep, how do you make money back from your story, like Steve Harvey has, or some of my other clients, how do you bring them a part of your business? No matter what business you run. That's what I also write the newsletter once a week, all through my website, jucharls.co. And I'm chasing numbers. I'm not chasing numbers at all. The Dramatic Leverage Newsletter is actually free.
33:22
There's an audio book for the book as well. That's free on Spotify, exclusively free. Well, I made the first three chapters of the audio book available for free Spotify. So then people will be interested in buying the book. I'm not looking to lead and empower a million people. If it happens, amazing. What I'm looking to do is lead and empower the people that are truly looking to transform their lives, that truly understand there's no one else like you. You can have the relentless courage you need to have to continue on your journey. The same way I did as a 17 year old kid.
33:50
youngest of 10 children who decided not to finish college. When everybody else finished college, it takes courage. Did your parents make you feel like you were the black sheep for the family? Oh yeah, no doubt. No doubt about it. Oh my God, I can't imagine. But I wouldn't change it for the world because I know I was called to be different. And so that's what I'm doing. There's no one else like you. What do you do with that? Charles, this has been so transformational. Just listening to you, I could go on forever. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your wisdom.
34:19
Thank you for having me, Roberta. It truly has been a great conversation. I thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my story. I hope that you feel encouraged to share yours as well. I will continue to, especially being more vulnerable because people put their best foot forward. You'll say, oh, my life is messed up. I'm not telling anybody what's going on. Right. So before you go, please give us your website again. JudeCharles, my first and last name, dot C-O, JudeCharles dot C-O.
34:47
That is where you can connect with me and continue the conversation. Excellent. Jude Charles, there is no one else like you. It's gonna revolutionize our thinking around it. Thank you so much for being here today. Thank you. Thank you.