THE IMPERFECT SHOW NOTES

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These show notes come via the Otter.ai service. The transcription is imperfect. But hopefully, it’s close enough – even with the errors – to give those who aren’t able or inclined to learn from audio interviews a way to participate.

Liz Brunner  00:00

When you are on a newscast, when you’re delivering the news, there is sort of this expectation of what you’re supposed to look like what you’re supposed to sound like and Lord knows, you know, we have many consultants come in to tell us, you know, what we should be doing, what we should look like, and what we should sound like. And most of that is very helpful. But at the same time, how do you maintain that authenticity? How do you then still protect your privacy? And so it is a bit of a balancing act. But I always say to people, I’m a human being first.

Achim Nowak  00:33

Hey, this is Achim Nowak, executive coach and host of the MY FOURTH ACT podcast. If life is a five act play, how will you spend your FOURTH ACT? I have conversations with exceptional humans who have created bold and unexpected fourth acts, listen, and to be inspired. And please rate us and subscribe on whatever platform you are listening on. Let’s get started.  I am so happy to welcome Liz Brunner to the my fourth act podcast. Liz is a best selling author, an executive communications coach, a motivational speaker, a podcast host and an Emmy award winning journalist. If you have lived in the Boston area, you will remember Liz as the Co-anchor of the number one rated 6pm newscast at ABC TV, Channel Five in Boston. What really intrigued me is that in 2013, Liz embarked on her next chapter, becoming the CEO and founder of Brunner, communications. And she also launched Brunner Academy in 2020. Both are dedicated to helping people find their authentic voice, tell their story and lead with their presence. Now launching these businesses wasn’t Liz’s grocery invention. And she just published a marvelous book in which he writes both about her story and has wonderful wisdom to share with us. I love the title of this book. It’s dare to own you. And the subtitle, maybe even more adorable, taking your authenticity and dreams into your next chapter. Liz, you are a perfect guest for the my fourth ag podcast. Welcome.

Liz Brunner  02:26

Oh, thank you so much for that beautiful introduction, Achim. And I’m delighted to be here with you today. And yes, I think I’ve had many acts or chapters depending on how you want to call them.

Achim Nowak  02:36

I want to spend a good chunk of time on your book and the work you’re doing now. But I’ve learned that it can be helpful to know a little bit where you came from. And I know you actually write about it in the book. But when you were a young girl or teenager, like well, who did you think you wanted to be when you grew up?

Liz Brunner  02:55

Well, if you asked my mother, she would have said, Oh, Sarah Bernhart, You’re so dramatic. I probably wanted to be some sort of an actress or involved in music and performing in some way shape and form because from the time I’ve been Mihai, Achim. I was singing in the church choir, I was in every school ensemble that I could be in. So performing, if you will, at least musically, I don’t want to say necessarily came completely naturally to me. But that was there was a lot of focus on that growing up. So I think that’s what I thought I was going to do. And I went to Lawrence University’s Conservatory of Music to get a music degree because I thought that’s what I’m going to do, and I did for a period of time. So that’s what I think I wanted to do as a child.

Achim Nowak  03:40

You ended up doing some of it, which is very impressive. And you were a school teacher for a few years, right?

Liz Brunner  03:49

Yes, I was. I was a high school music teacher, and along with the choirs that I had, and then I had to monitor a dreaded study hall. But I also had a swing show choir, which was always a lot of fun. And after a couple of years, and I was still at the same time singing semi-professionally in the Chicago area. And with a chorale group that we got to tour Europe. We were in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece and even had an opportunity to sing for Pope John Paul the second in Vatican Square, which was pretty amazing. That was an amazing experience.

Achim Nowak  04:21

That very cool. Yeah.

Liz Brunner  04:22

But after a couple of years of teaching, I just somewhere deep within my soul felt there was more I was supposed to do now, I had no clue what it was. But I just had this feeling this organic feeling that there was something more I was supposed to do. And so I left the teaching profession to go and figure it out. Took me a couple years of informational interviews and all kinds of assessment tests. Maybe I would be a psychologist, maybe I would be an interior decorator. Maybe I would be an architect. I love drawing floor plans. Butt there was a wonderful book I was reading at the time called who’s hiring who by Richard Lathrop. And it was the first time I’d ever heard of informational interviews. I had done one television commercial. When I was Miss Illinois in 1979. I’m really dating myself. But being in the Miss America Pageant system helped pave the way for my college education. So I’m grateful for that experience as well. It talked about informational interviews, and I decided, You know what, I did one TV commercial when I was Miss Illinois. I wonder if I could get into television now, do I have to go back to school? Do I need another degree? And then it launched from there.

Achim Nowak  05:36

I love your story. But you snuck in this phrase that I want to follow up on you used, I had this organic feeling. And many of us have organic feelings. And we tossed them aside, you know that. How did your organic feeling manifested?

Liz Brunner  05:55

It’s hard to describe because I think you’re right. Again, we all have these organic feelings, we all have this, this instinct, we have some gut level reaction to something or a feeling that maybe there’s something else I could be doing should be doing would love to do. And yet, we do not give ourselves permission to explore it. Number one, number two, even possibly, potentially follow up on it. And I like I said, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I just had this feeling. There’s something more I’m supposed to be doing. And I’ll never forget, I was watching Oprah Winfrey Show one day. And I think it may have been with an interview with Barbara Walters, even at that time. And Oprah said something very similar. That she felt there was something more she was supposed to do. And I was like, oh, there are other people in the world who feel the same way. And I just remember feeling so validated because it was sort of an unnerving feeling. I had this great job. I enjoyed being a teacher. I was singing semi professionally, but there was more I was supposed to do. So I hope that explains it a little bit, because it’s a very hard concept to grasp.

Achim Nowak  07:06

It does, and what I appreciated about the way you said it is, you had a hunch, and there was an external signal, even you say was from Oprah, but we get them all the time we go that connects to my hunch. And yeah, maybe this makes sense, right? Look into this some more?

Liz Brunner  07:21

Yes. I think that if we are willing to listen to those little voices, the positive voices, not the inner critic, which we all have. But those positive voices that say, what if? What if? And where would that take us and particularly for people in their third, fourth and fifth back, whatever you want to call it? Can we ask ourselves that question? And can we give ourselves permission to ask that question, and then explore it and see where it takes us?

Achim Nowak  07:54

Part of me was to immediately dive into that. And because you’ve had this very public career as a highly visible news anchors for successful two decades in Boston, I want to probe a little bit because I have a hunch that that experience totally contributes to what you’re doing now. 100%. Let me just go for the stereotypes. The stereotypes are, first of all, I experienced you as this very warm, relaxed, authentic person we’ve just met. You know, this is also the sub header of your book. The danger always sees when we go public role is that we can we end up hiding that part of ourselves because there is a sense of what we need to look like professionally to be successful, we have to sort of play the part. So if you would maybe tell our listeners, how did you navigate being your authentic self, in combination with the demands of being a very public role?

Liz Brunner  08:53

It is a balancing act that came because while I was a public figure, and in some instances, I’m still recognized in Boston, which I appreciate sometimes, like, people haven’t forgotten about me or, but what’s interesting about that is when you are on a newscast, when you’re delivering the news, there is sort of this expectation of what you’re supposed to look like what you’re supposed to sound like, and Lord knows, you know, we have many consultants come in to tell us, you know, what we should be doing, what we should look like, and what we should sound like. And most of that is very helpful. But at the same time, how do you maintain that authenticity? How do you then still protect your privacy? And so it is a bit of a balancing act. But I always say to people, I’m a human being first. So while I may be delivering the news, and I am being objective, and really not showing an opinion one way or another, because that’s not my job. My job is to share the content, share the information, share the story. It’s not to give you my opinion on the story as a news anchor, although that’s one of the reasons why I’m not doing it anymore. because it seems like there’s, it’s all gray. Now it’s not black and white. It’s very gray. But for me, I always felt like if I could bring that emotion of being a human being into the story that I was sharing, then I’ve done my job, then I’ve maintained my authenticity. And one of the biggest compliments I think I ever got a king was from a viewer who said to me, I know you have to deliver bad news. Sometimes I know you have to deliver bad information, but somehow coming from you, it makes me feel like everything’s going to be okay. Wow, probably one of the best compliments I could have ever ever gotten. Because to me, that represented that, yes, I am being authentic, I am being my best self.

Achim Nowak  10:49

And what it means to me also is, there’s the stuff that you say, and I know you and I both coach people on this, but your presence, if I can use that word was inviting, soothing, comforting in which is a deeper level in which we experience each other. Right? Yes. Beautiful. I

Liz Brunner  11:08

think that that’s a big piece of it. And yes, I mean, obviously, I covered horrific stories that covered bad news. But there were also good stories to be able to share. But it really is that balance of okay, how do you protect your privacy, be authentic and marry the two together? So I think it was probably a challenge and 28 years in the industry is a long time to get practice that that balancing act.

Achim Nowak  11:33

What are some of the challenges or barriers you might have encountered in this journey? That may not be obvious to this person who says I found you so comforting? You know, because on the surface, first of all, you just said you a former Miss Illinois, you’re an attractive woman people that they both? She had it easy all the doors open for her. And now she had it made? You know, I don’t look like Liz Brunner. It’s not that easy for me. So what are some of the hurdles or barriers you might have encountered that we wouldn’t know about?

Liz Brunner  12:07

Well, first of all, it’s an incredibly competitive business, which I think most people probably understand on a surface level. But what they don’t probably understand from the competitive standpoint is, there was somebody who wanted my job, every turn. Yeah, there was somebody who wanted to be that reporter to be out in that big story, to be at the conventions to be on the anchor desk, whatever it was, there was somebody who was always nipping at my heels, who wanted my chair who wanted my seat who wanted the platform that I was on. So there’s that competition that is constant, then you add the next layer of competition, which is that with Nielsen ratings, and you’re being judged every 15 minutes, somebody’s got their clicker and they can change, okay. People say, Well, how do you know so much about sales? I was in sales. Okay, think about it. From that perspective. I’m selling myself every 15 minutes, I’m selling our newscast, I’m selling my station, I’m selling myself and selling my brand. So there’s that level of competition. And then what a lot of people don’t really understand either a came is that they see you on the nightly news. And they think, Oh, well, she’s just sitting down to read the newscast. They have no clue what went into the effort and the work and the time and the energy to get that story on the air, whether it was my story, whether it was somebody else’s story. But it’s a lot of work. And there’s a lot of hustle, and you have to be so proactive you it’s a hard job. It’s a hard job. Now, let’s take it off of the professional stuff. And then add in the work life balance, peace, good lord. I mean, it’s really challenging. And for me, because I was on so many different shows, which had so many different hours. So let’s say I’m getting up at two o’clock in the morning, I’m going in work at 3am. And then maybe, oh, the next week, they need to change my schedule. And suddenly I completely flip it around. And I have to be on the 11 O’Clock News one night. I mean, your body clock takes a beating sometimes with some of that. So there are a lot of different layers that people really don’t have an understanding of, they just look at you and they see you on TV. And of course, it looks like your hair’s done, your makeups done. Well guess what? I did all of that yourself. Alright, they took away all of those people who helped us do that. So I’ve had a lot of practice and putting on makeup and hair and everything else.

Achim Nowak  14:26

You tell that tale so beautifully and where my mind was going is and I want to relate it again to the word authenticity, which is important to you in the work you do now. Given all those demands, what did you learn about yourself and what you do learn about staying authentic in the midst of all of these pressures? And all of these things I would imagine tugging at you. What did you learn about Liz in the process?

Liz Brunner  14:54

I think because that career of those 28 years was still kind of what I’m going to There are some formative early career years, where you really begin to discover more about who you are. But I also feel like it wasn’t until I left the industry. Back in 2013, when I launched my business that I truly began to, not that I wasn’t authentic before. But now I felt a bit more freedom, if you will, to explore more of my authenticity, and to own more of who I am, which, as it turned out, ended up being the title of her book there to own you, I gave myself permission to own more of who I am, to own more of my own authenticity, and allow all of that to sort of come forward. And so the whole writing of the book process was really quite extraordinary for me and quite the journey, I think it is, for every author, you’ve written a number of books yourself, so you know what that feels like. So it’s, it’s quite a vulnerable experience, to put all of that stuff down on paper. And I would often say prior to this book that I hated writing, but I loved having written this book was a different experience for me. And once I sort of started really digging into it, I was compelled I came in, I was almost obsessed about writing my book, I just felt like, the more the more I wrote, the more I had to say. And it just really started to flow out of me. And I think it’s because I was in that authentic place.

Achim Nowak  16:38

Well, and clearly writing dear to own you was an act of owning more of you. Right? As I’m listening to you. I’m sure our listeners, I think, though, so what? After leaving broadcast journalism, what are some things that you’re owning more about you, if you give us some specific examples that maybe are finding expression now, that because you had a specific job, in specific demands could not be expressed before?

Liz Brunner  17:07

I think it was just, it’s more about trusting myself. Trusting my own confidence, because I had times of suffering of not having enough confidence. And that’s what’s so interesting. People assume, Oh, they see you on TV? Well, you must be confident. Well, I had, I’m just Liz, I’m just like any other woman out there, or man out there? Who has moments of, Am I good enough? Am I you know, all these limiting beliefs come into your head. And I’ll use the example of my business, which is that I never ever, ever wanted to own my own business. It was not something I said, Oh, I can’t wait when I leave television. That’s what I’m going to do. No, that was not it. And in fact, in my own head, the limiting belief that I had was, Am I smart enough to do this? Am I really smart enough to run my own business? I don’t know. I don’t know. But then, one of the things that I learned was one of the mentors I talked to, and I said, you know, I’m really scared to do this. I just don’t know if I know how to run a business. He said, You’re, you’re smart, you’ll figure it out. When he said that, to me, I came, I was like, wow, those were such powerful words for me. And it was one of the pieces that did give me the courage. And another piece that gave me the courage and the confidence. And the authenticity was another mentor who I had kind of said I’d narrowed it down to three different lanes of something I could do this was over two year period. Now mind you, I’m still in television. This is the two years before I left. And I said to myself, you know, I think I could become maybe a communications expert for a corporation. Or maybe I could be involved as an executive director of a nonprofit. I’ve never done either, but okay. And then I said, but then maybe I could start my business and help people with public speaking with presentation skills with presence with leadership, of course, with media training, and everything in between. He said to me, Liz, you’re well known, you’re well respected. That is value. Why would you give that value to somebody else? launch your business. If in six months, nine months, you don’t have any clients, you don’t like what you’re doing, you can always go do something else. A came a kaleidoscope went click. And I knew that’s what I was supposed to do. To take all of this experience from my teaching. I’m teaching now if you will, as a coach, to bring all that back into it to take when I was singing and using my voice to using my voice on television speaking to now teaching other people how to use their voice to the storytelling that I did when I was singing to the storytelling I was doing on the news to the storytelling I’m doing now and helping other people figure out how to tell their story, personally, professionally, whatever the case is. So no knowledge is ever wasted. And that actually is the impetus for the book was a quote from my grandmother, no knowledge is ever wasted. And when you can connect all those dots of those experiences, I liken them to being sort of themes and patterns that run through your life like a river. And when you’re able to bring all of that together, guess what? There’s so many chapters that you could create from all of those dots being connected, all of that knowledge, all of that experience.

Achim Nowak  20:43

A word from your sponsor. That’s me. I invite you to go to the website associated with this podcast www.my, fourth active.com, you will find other equally inspiring conversation with great humans. And you will also learn more about the my fourth act mastermind groups where cool people figure out how to chart their own fourth acts. Please check it out. And now back to the conversation. The two words I understand you play with and I’d love you to draw the distinction for our listeners that the difference between reinvention I think the word reemergence. reinvention

Liz Brunner  21:30

versus recreation used to be

Achim Nowak  21:32

creation. Sorry, would you just would that’s the difference is important. Would you kindly talk about that?

Liz Brunner  21:39

To me, there is a slight difference between the two reinvention which a lot of people talk about, but oh, I’m reinventing myself because I’m going to go do something else. Okay, well, that may be very true. To me. reinvention means you’re just leaving learning completely new business completely new opportunity that you really know nothing about. Recreation, on the other hand, is I liken it to what I just spoke about a moment ago about connecting all those dots of your experiences, you’re taking all of that knowledge, all of those spirit experiences, and recreating. So of course, yes, you’re going to be learning some new things along the way. But you’re taking what you know, you’re repurposing it, retooling it, reusing it recreating your next chapter. So I think more of us recreate than actually reinvent along the way. But it’s just a very subtle difference. But I think it’s an interesting one.

Achim Nowak  22:37

I love the notion of connecting dots. I also like the word sort of holistic or bringing things together that are already there, which is what I heard you do. If I can play devil’s advocate for a moment and be one of our listeners, they might say well, that Liz’s value was really clear. Of course, she’s doing what she’s doing is so tied to overtraining as a performer, the 20 plus years in broadcasting, but I’m not sure how to access my deeper value. I can’t articulate it as clearly as Liz just did. What wisdom might you have for that person?

Liz Brunner  23:16

One of the things that I enjoy a great deal when I’m working with clients who may want to figure that piece out, is to take a step back, and almost put yourself in what I like to call the witness position. So you’re, you’re on the outside looking in at at who you are from the outside, but also then from the inside out. It’s like you’re it’s a two way street there. What did you want to be as a child when you grew up? And why did you want to be in my case? Why did I want to be a performer or an actress? Yeah. When you what were the activities and hobbies that you enjoy doing as a child? And can you see any threads between those two things? Can you see any connections there? And what about in your life? Where the pivotal moments? Were either a choice or decision was made that pivot? Did you because the parent or someone else made a choice for you? Or did you make a choice that changed the trajectory of your life that made that pivot? Who are the people that were influential in your life back then? And who are the people who are influential in your life right now? What are the lessons that you’ve learned about yourself from every career job you’ve had even having a newspaper route as a kid, or babysitting when you stop and spend some time really exploring all of those questions if I can, I’m writing an article right now on this. I think it’s going to be in successful business or something like that. But anyway, I digress from

Achim Nowak  24:59

it. Fresh?

Liz Brunner  25:01

Yes. So it’s it’s when you’re able to explore all of that and really say, Hmm, what are the connection points here? What are the themes that I’m seeing emerge? Did I want to be a nurse? Why did I want to be a nurse? Because I liked helping people? Am I helping people now in my career? Am I Am I helping people? See if you can find the threads, the themes, the patterns that are very consistent through all of those questions, I believe that when you really spend some time on that, you will not only uncover and discover who you are, you’ll learn more about your leadership philosophy, your authenticity, and I daresay it’s going to provide clues to putting all that together to that next chapter, that fourth act, as you call it, yeah.

Achim Nowak  25:52

What really stood out for me, as you were just talking, it is not about maybe just randomly going somewhere else, it’s about going deep within you use the wonderful with the threads, the things that are already there, and that some of the answers are from within.

Liz Brunner  26:11

They are and you have to be willing to look at that. And also, I’ll give you another example that this might help for your listeners as well, when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, if and when I left television, and I would ask people, well, what do you think I could do? What do you see as my skill set? Now some people would say, Well, I see you read the news every night? Well, it’s a little bit more than just reading the news. But what when I started to explore that a little bit more, I learned that I had to speak their language, meaning I had to translate what I did in my day to day to language that they would understand, for example, breaking news for me, in their world could potentially be crisis management. Yeah, I was good at that. When it came to storytelling, it was being able to share a presentation or make a pitch to someone. So it was being able to connect those dots for them that allowed me to connect the dots for me to even see what are my skills? What can I do? So people need to really stop and think, look at your skill set. And can you look at it from a different lens?

Achim Nowak  27:37

You’re so much What are you talking about, which is beautiful is about the willingness to it’s almost a cliche to say mindset shift, but it is about changing how we look at things that may be staring us right in the face, but we’re not able to see them. Now one thing you said that really touched me personally, because I’m a serial entrepreneur right now, I’m very proud of that I’ve grown successful businesses, it’s

Liz Brunner  28:03

very impressive by my say, so

Achim Nowak  28:06

what the whole point is which you lose. Before I started my first business, I was terrified. This is one thing I cannot do. And I’ve learned through my podcast that many fourth actors. One of the obvious things might be well, why not start a little business or a big business around your passion? And everybody may have the fear that you and I had. So based on your experience, one piece of wisdom was I heard, I had great mentors, and they sent me straight. So you knew to talk to that was helpful. What else would you say to a listener who goes, I have a little dream as well. My dream is having a little business. But I don’t have a friggin clue around how to do that.

Liz Brunner  28:51

I didn’t know how to start a business either. And it was terrifying. And leaving a career of 28 years and going and doing something like this. I felt like I was jumping off of a cliff and hoping I had a parachute. At least when I went skydiving once I did have a parachute. I was hoping I had a parachute. But to be truthful with you a came, I kept telling myself this. If fear was the only thing stopping me from leaving television and launching a business. If fear was the only reason that was not a good enough reason. Yeah, that was not a good enough reason. And I had to really trust that I would figure it out. I had to trust that I would in fact, surround myself with good people. And I would have to be able to be willing to allow myself to be vulnerable and ask for help and ask for advice. Yeah, I had to take down what I would call that veil of secrecy of people who looked at me and thought Oh, she’s so concrete. She always knows what she’s doing. She’s on television, I was scared to death. I was scared to death. And I had to be willing to allow that. To come through in order to really get deep down and answer the questions and learn and recreate, take the skills I had, and translate them, transfer them into this next chapter.

Achim Nowak  30:22

So what have you learned about yourself as a now many years entrepreneur, a woman who is legally I hate to use the word but I have a hunch your brand is truly authentic to what you want to do, which is incredible. That’s something we all aspire to doing it as your own business, what have you learned about yourself, your resilience, your ability to do it, like what stands out?

Liz Brunner  30:47

For me, I think the biggest piece would be that through this all a, I’ve learned I’m smart enough to run a business number one. And I’m doing it thankfully, it’s going really well. But I believe through this whole process, I’ve also learned what I believe is sort of my overall philosophy and my vision for my life, both personally and professionally. I want to teach, I want to motivate and I want to inspire people to live their best life, whatever that means for them. And that’s a different definition for everybody. But that is what I’ve learned. And that is now really propelling me to completely move forward with everything I’m doing. And I also believe it’s one of the reasons it’s one of the reasons definitely why I launched my podcast a couple of years ago, which is live your best life with Liz Brunner. And it’s about people who have transitioned, whether it’s next chapters or transformed their life in some way and risen above, you know, challenging circumstances, that resilience piece that you just talked about. We are all more resilient than perhaps we know that we are. And if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s taught us to really look at our lives, see where we are, isn’t where we want to be. And how can we rise above? How can we be resilient? And we’re still not even out of all of this yet. We’re not? We’re not. But those are things that I think I’ve learned.

Achim Nowak  32:22

As a fellow podcast host, you know, I learned a lot from my guests. And at the same time, certain themes keep reemerging. And you’ve done this for a couple years. Now you’re talking about these are folks who are living their best life, but they’re also recreating reinventing. What are some themes that stand out for you around folks, your guests, the stories they tell you about their lives, that keep repeating themselves we go, these are some patterns, I see around how people do this well,

Liz Brunner  32:54

finding the courage to take that leap of faith to whether it’s take to that next chapter to whether or not it is to how have I risen above the tough times in my life. And when listeners listen to my show my goal and hope is that they will hear a story and they’ll say, you know if that person can do it. Yeah, maybe I can too. And I think in some respects, that’s a similar premise for your show, which is, how can you come to that fourth act? How can you go, Hey, let me take this chance. Yeah, but it really is about giving yourself permission to say, You know what, huh? I can rise above? Can we all look, none of us is immune from life’s challenges. It’s a fact of life. We all experience it. And the themes that come through, besides that are the limiting beliefs people may have, or the feeling that they’re not good enough or that they don’t have enough confidence. But somehow, they found a way to persevere.

Achim Nowak  34:01

To move forward. Looking to the future with Liz Brunner right now, and you are really living an authentic life. Are there any things that are emerging for you personally, where you go, Oh, this is something new that’s coming up. This didn’t show up three years ago, or this is a new interest or this is a whatever it may be? I’m so going back to the organic feeling right. Are there any new organic feelings about new directions for

Liz Brunner  34:31

you? I feel like it’s very hard to explain this. Yeah. I’m on the precipice of something. I don’t know exactly what it is. I know what I would like it to be. Which is that I love being a keynote speaker. I love sharing with audiences virtually or in person, please give me get back to doing Oh, I missed that energy. I know you feel the same way. but I really feel like I would like to be able to help inspire people, to motivate people and to be able to share with them the experiences. I mean, even in my book Akeem, it really is a memoir, both personal and professional, of how I have risen above the obstacles and challenges that I have faced some of them that are not all in the book, but enough, as well as what I’ve done professionally. And then what I’ve seen with my clients, and how they have been able to move the dial along the way, whatever we were working on with them. For me one of the best feelings in the world. And I’m going to guess you can relate to this, you probably like I see the progress in a client before they see it. But when they see it, when they see an acknowledged the confidence that they’ve gained, or they’ve done something that they didn’t think they could do, and they recognize and honor that in themselves. That is the best feeling in the world. It’s the best feeling.

Achim Nowak  36:00

I love to end with this. Because I find you first of all, so personally inspiring. It’s what you say, but it’s the essence with which you speak, which is who you are. Thank you, would you would you complete this conversation with maybe a client story, somebody that you have supported? Where maybe they were able to move into something that they didn’t think they could do they think it was possible where they maybe transcended a smaller version of themselves, if you do tell us one story, who comes to mind.

Liz Brunner  36:34

The first person I mean, there are a lot of stories, but the first person that comes to mind is a client of mine was a client of mine a number of years ago, who was who had been up for a promotion a year prior to us working together. She didn’t get the promotion. And it was a huge ordeal. Going through that whole process. And she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to even attempt to go through it again. Yeah, it was so daunting. She felt that she had to be perfect, she had to cross every T and dot every eye and order to possibly make it this next time around. And when she came to me, her confidence was in the basement. Yeah, she just really, really was struggling with. I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I should do it. I don’t know if I want to do it. As we began to work on her presentation that she would have to present to this board this committee for why she should be promoted. I really had to work with her on the story of it. And turn it around, I said, they already have this resume in front of them. They know what your accomplishments are, they know what value you bring, they know what you have done for the company. How can we turn that around to really conveying who you are, your authentic self and the value you bring from that perspective, completely recreated her entire presentation. And the more we began to work on it, I could see the confidence growing. It was so wonderful and beautiful to witness. She did get the promotion. And one of the best compliments she gave me was you helped me grow so much in my own confidence, both professionally, but also personally. And I just was so honored and touched by that, to have helped her achieve something that she didn’t even know if she wanted to attempt to do again, whether she could whether she wanted to. And she did it. Yeah, she did it.

Achim Nowak  38:50

This is an audio podcast. And I kind of regret that people didn’t get to see you visually as you’re telling this story. Because I I sense how much satisfaction you get out of serving somebody through what you do. It really comes across in your body language. And that’s beautiful. And I was immediately thinking of several clients I support who I adore who I’m going to make sure that we dare to own you. Because it’s so

Liz Brunner  39:16

thank you, I hope all of your listeners will. Because I do think that there’s something in the book for everyone and, and in fact, one of the things I’m so enjoying came is when I do get reviews from people and their writing. That seems to be a very consistent theme. Is there something in here for everyone? And even mark Devine who’s a former Navy SEAL, former podcast guest of mine, but also wrote me an endorsement. That very same thing. There’s something in this book for everyone.

Achim Nowak  39:48

So where besides going to Amazon or bookstore where else would you like our listeners to go to who want to learn more about you not just the book but the services you do? Where do we find you

Liz Brunner  40:00

Thank you, first of all for that opportunity. And probably the easiest place is just to go to my website, which is Liz brunner.com. That’s li zi, br you nn er.com. And on my website, you’ll be able to find information about the book, which is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble indie books, I think it’s in target. And we also have the audiobook version now. So it’s paperback, hardcover, audible and an e book. So you’ve got all options now. And I really enjoyed voicing my own book, people would say to me, are you going to be are you going to record your own voices, and of course, I’m going to record my own voice. Yes. And then the other thing that I think would be helpful for people to know about is Brunner academy.com, which is my online learning platform. And I do have my flagship public speaking course on there called How to be a rockstar public speaker, which helps people really go from some of the very simple things that you need to learn that a lot of people don’t even think about, as you know, a game when it comes to public speaking, and bringing them all the way up to how do they put their story together. And this is for anyone who has to do any kind of public speaking. And I like in public speaking to being on a podcast or being on a panel presenting a speech, or even a pitch to a client, even giving a wedding toast. And now because of the book, I have added four other courses that I’m calling the dare collection. They’re aligned with the book, they’re not based on the book, but they’re aligned with the book, dare to rise above tough times, dare to go for your goals. Dare to shift from procrastination to motivation is there to find peace of mind, which is a very simple meditation, mindfulness course. And those are all very simple courses. So I would encourage people to do that. And of course, my my own podcast, which is on all the major directories, so they’re there. I’ve given you the whole spiel.

Achim Nowak  41:53

Please mention the name of your podcast one more time. Certainly

Liz Brunner  41:57

live your best life with Liz Brunner. And maybe that’s your fourth act.

Achim Nowak  42:03

And just that name itself is a wonderful ending. I, I love what we spoke about, but maybe on the deepest level, I just so appreciate your spirit and energy. And I am not surprised that you’re wildly successful because of who you are. So thank you.

Liz Brunner  42:19

Oh, thank you so much. I came it’s been delightful to spend this time with you. And I really hope your listeners will continue to listen to your show, and give themselves permission to not only own who they are. But take that leap of faith and create that next act for themselves. All right.

Achim Nowak  42:39

Thank you so much, Liz. Bye bye. Like what you heard, please go to my fourth act.com And subscribe to receive my updates on upcoming episodes. Please also subscribe to us on the platform of your choice. Rate us give us a review. Let us all create some magical fourth acts together. Ciao