Resources in this Episode:

Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous. This is episode number 090 with the wonderful, Elisabeth Valentine.

Elisabeth Valentine [0:07]
Hi, this is Elisabeth Valentine and you’re listening to Heart Sells! with Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:14]
I’m so looking forward to the interview with Elisabeth, this is going to be wonderful. And before we dive right in, this is my invitation to you to hop on over to https://christineschlonski.com/ Find the podcast tab and sign up for the empowerment notes. These are my notes going right into your inbox weekly with empowerment, where I am sharing stories, where I motivate you, where I inspire you, where you have all the updates around Heart Sells! Podcast, as well as what’s going on in my life. and in my business. I’m a big believer of, “If I can do it, you can”, and I’m also a big believer of taking my ideas, looking at them and thinking, “Well, if they can do it, I can do it.” So hop on over to https://christineschlonski.com/ Find the podcast tab and sign in for the empowerment notes. It’s once a week, the empowerment right into your inbox. Now we are diving in the interview with the wonderful, Elizabeth Valentine. She is a voice-over artist, singer, speaker, coach, and consultant. She has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world like Disney, Apple, Google, Fisher-Price, My Little Pony and H&M. Through her company, The Voice Campus, she coaches entrepreneurs and business leaders on perfecting their public speaking, pitching, networking and confidence skills. So dive on in with us and let’s talk about how you can monetize now and can stop having these excuses or, like having roadblocks, how to overcome them. It’s going to be a wonderful conversation. So tune in now. Well, I am so super excited to have you on today, Elisabeth. You have such an incredible story. So maybe you can give us a short intro as well. So people kind of get where you started and where you are now because I think that’s really inspirational.

Elisabeth Valentine [2:36]
Oh, thank you so much. I’m super excited to be on your podcast, Christine. So, I mean, I’ve always been a performer, I could sing before, I could talk like literally, before I could talk properly anyways, I started singing and being paid to sing when I was eight years old in the local church and I got 1 pound 50 for a rehearsal and 2 pounds 50 for service. So that was kind of my start and I loved it. So I’ve been able to monetize my voice since I was a little kid. I was performing all up through school and high school. Really my big dream when I was a little kid was to be a Disney voice-over artist and I just loved. I played Ariel from, The Little Mermaid, all the time. I’d climb up on this big rock and just sit there and go [singing] and just be so in it. But I also did the witches, I did all the voices. That’s my big, big dream as a kid. Then I kind of forgot about it because I got into music and jazz and moved to London, I was in a pop band. I kept, you know, still working other jobs as you know. But I just kept on course, with a new, I want to do something with my voice. I wanted to have that communication and connection with an audience or the people. So I didn’t really think about the voiceover stuff for quite a while. But then I was doing my music degree at the London College of Music. I remember this is actually quite interesting because I remember I was working in a pub doing my degree. But I was also touring with Right Said Fred, actually in Germany all the time, I was in Germany, so much as backing vocalist for them. And I remember going, “I want to make enough money by the end of the year from my voice. So I don’t have to work in the pub anymore.” So I don’t want to work as a bartender. A week later, they found me from the Danish TV station. I knew someone who worked there that was being broadcast from London and they’re like, “Elisabeth, we need a freelancer. Are you interested? Do you want to come and do a voice test?”, and immediately I was like, “Yes”, and then also, “But I don’t know, where they give me the time off.” So the best piece of advice I got was from the leader of the school. She said, “Always say yes and then the rest will work out”, and I’ll say, “Okay, yes, I’ll come out.” Instead of putting roadblocks I was like, “Yes, I’ll come out.” So I went to the voice tests and they were like, “Yeah, we can work with this.” My very first voice job was on national Danish television, doing the, “And next up this evening, we’ve got the new episode of blah, blah, blah.” In a way that’s crazy. I mean, it literally I fell into it. Someone reminded me and they’re like, “But didn’t you always want to be a voiceover artist when you were a kid?”, and I was like, “Oh, my God, it’s exactly what I wanted.” So I’ve now been the brand voice for that TV channel. I still am, I speak to the Danish people all the time. I do movie trailers aand it’s great, I love it. But also, then, a little bit later, I got some agent started doing some more stuff and I said, “I want to do character voices”, which are the princesses and the witches and all those things. I thought, “Okay, I’m just going to update my show real”, and I was playing around with my niece’s, who I love dearly and we were just making up characters as you do when you play with little kids. I was like, “You know what?”, I did witch and actually frightened my little niece and it was very, very scary. She was, “Oh, please stop. I don’t like it.” “Oh, sorry. It’s auntie, it’s auntie”, and I’ll say, “Okay, you know what, I have a gift for this.” I put my show real out there and the phone started ringing, Fisher-Price, My Little Pony all these toys and I was like, “Wow, this is literally my dream is coming true.” And now Disney are one of my main clients. So it’s fantastic. I kind of use my voiceover skills and expertise to quality check their Danish voices, and sometimes I do some voice things for them. I’m getting closer to that, to that role of Ariel in the Little Mermaid that I desperately wanted to be as a child.

Christine Schlonski [7:39]
Wow, what a beautiful story. I just love it because sometimes we forget about our dreams and we need a little reminder. And then it comes back to such a force that once we decided to go for it and do the right steps one at a time.

Elisabeth Valentine [7:57]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [7:59]
You will going to open up just trusting that something positive will happen, then you can really experience magic.

Elisabeth Valentine [8:10]
Oh, I mean, absolutely. And if I had just gone, “Oh, I don’t know how. Am I good enough? I’m at this. I’m like that.” I mean, I still had all those feelings, by the way. But it’s like no, you just say yes. And then you figure it out.

Christine Schlonski [8:25]
Yes. I would love to talk to you about self-worth. But I have a question before I don’t want to forget.

Elisabeth Valentine [8:31]
Yes.

Christine Schlonski [8:33]
When you were paid for the very, very first time.

Elisabeth Valentine [8:36]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [8:37]
Voice, the 1 pound 50.

Elisabeth Valentine [8:39]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [8:40]
Whatever it was, how did you feel?

Elisabeth Valentine [8:44]
You know what it felt so good. And I remember getting my paycheck. First, I actually really vividly remember getting my first paycheck. And obviously, it was it was not very much. But for an eight-year-old child, it was massive. I think also that has, I think that has influenced my mindset around being paid for my talent ever since. Because I’ve always been paid for what I was good at. It should be but I think often, especially in the creative field, I think people have a belief that “Oh, no, you have to be a struggling artist. Oh, there’s no money in the music business or no money in the creative fields” , and that’s not true. It’s about finding a way to get paid. And it’s also believing that, that what you have brings value, so you should be compensated for it.

Christine Schlonski [9:50]
Yeah, I definitely love that mindset. It leads right into the self-worth I want to talk to you about well. If you are struggling artists or struggling coach, therapist healer because I’ve seen over and over again that very heart-centered people they just want to give. And because something comes to us, our gifts or talents are what we really practice a lot and trained a lot. So we’re getting better and better and better.

Elisabeth Valentine [10:23]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [10:24]
It’s just so enjoyable to do that thing. That often we forget the business part.

Elisabeth Valentine [10:32]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [10:33]
What could you kind of what advice or what story could you share with us that if somebody is still in the situation where they are not paid well enough, tthey can start shifting their mindset and really start going for it and taking good care of themselves?

Elisabeth Valentine [10:53]
Yeah, I mean, it is that thing, it’s a cliche, that when you’re on the plane, you put on your own life mask, a mask, what it’s called. But I think you put that on yourself first before you help other people. I so related, we desperately want to help, we know we can make a difference and then we forget to look after ourselves first. One of the things I do believe it comes from a place where you haven’t actually acknowledge your own value, or your own worth, or the worth that what you can bring to another person is really valuable. I want to share this story with you that actually totally changed my mindset on this. I was in New York a couple of years ago, being coached by this amazing jazz singer. It was in the, you know, this basement, this jazz club, and he was like, in his 70s, totally Harlem, and he had the hat on, and yet the silk scarf, and he was so suave. He’s fabulous. And we were having a little chat before this before the singing coaching was starting. And, he was solace with why you’re not doing more? Why not performing more, bum bum? Just having a general chat. And I say, “Well, you know, maybe I’m not quite ready. Or maybe I’m not quite, you know, maybe I haven’t quite prepared enough. Or maybe I’m winging it.” Or, you know, just lots of, and he was, “Oh, this is the problem with all the performers”, and I would also say this is the problem with a lot of entrepreneurs or, or business people who have to sell, especially if they’re new, newly started. He’s like, let me tell you the story. So you’re there with 10 loaves of bread underneath your arms, regular toast bread, and a starving man comes up to you and goes, “Please, can I have some of your bread?”, and you look at him, and you look down at your bread, and you go, “Well, I mean, my bread isn’t quite good enough yet. But I tell you what when I have better bread, you know the really good stuff with raisins and walnuts, then you can have some of my bread”, and you walk away. From this starving man who doesn’t need your fancy bread. He needs the bread you have to give right now. He needs what product you have, the service, your skill, your gift. He doesn’t need your perfect version. He just needs what you have to give right now. And I think if you think of selling like that. But then you’re just being selfish. And a lot of us who may be shy away from sales, or who don’t maybe truly deep down feel that we have something to give that is a value and the value that people wanting to pay for. If we look at it like this, it’s like, “No, but hang on a minute, I’m being selfish. If I am not allowing this person to buy, whatever I have”, because I’ll tell you what, Christine, someone is going to need the product, the service, or the gift, or the coaching, or the training or whatever it is that you have to sell, someone’s going to need that now. And you’re still going to keep on getting better and better and better. But they need what you have right now.

Christine Schlonski [14:53]
I so agree. And that’s such an impactful story.

Elisabeth Valentine [14:57]
Isn’t it?

Christine Schlonski [14:58]
If you see it that way. It’s just mind-blowing.

Elisabeth Valentine [15:01]
Yeah. And that was how I felt. And I was like, “Oh my god.”

Christine Schlonski [15:05]
Yeah.

Elisabeth Valentine [15:07]
And now if people asked me to sing, I think, “Maybe, okay, my voice isn’t warmed up. Maybe I feel a bit crappy. Maybe I just had a cold, maybe this, that and the other whatever”, all these excuses. But you know what, if people want to hear me sing, and that will bring them joy. Who am I to be selfish, with my gift?

Christine Schlonski [15:27]
Yeah, to hold back,

Elisabeth Valentine [15:28]
To hold back. And to hold back from creating our business or bring whatever we have to the world. And I think, that mind shift should help you go, “Hmmm, okay.” And the other thing that I want to talk to you about was really getting clear on the worth, and the value of what you have to give. And I’ll share a little technique that was taught to me by one my music mentors, again, when I was going, “Oh, yeah, but I should know, should I give up the music? Should have focused on this. Should focus on that. Boom, boom, boom.” And you know, and I didn’t feel like I had very much to give at that point. And I think we all go through those. I think we all go through those sometimes, especially when you’re creative. And he said, “Okay, Elisabeth, let’s look at the evidence. Let’s look at the evidence. So did you get picked up to sing at this big jazz and blues festival?”, “Yes”, “Okay. Did they call you back and say, can you also be a special support act for the main headliner?” “Yeah, they did.” “Okay, were people engaged when you’re performing?” “Yes.” “Okay, where did people buy your CD?” “Yes” “Did the queue up to get an autograph?” “Yes.” It was like, “okay, so looking at all those pieces of evidence. Can you say that you’re no good?” No, you can’t. So I think this is really good exercises, best to do with someone. But it’s great exercise I do with my clients all the time, where we look at, “Okay, so do you know that your coaching, has that changed someone’s life for the better?” “Yes.” “Are they a happier person?” “Yes.” “Have they gotten more sales in their business now because of what you’ve taught them?” “Yes.” “We have solid evidence that what you have is valuable, so you should be paid for it.

Christine Schlonski [17:48]
Yeah, definitely. And I think the the issue or the challenges that if it comes with no effort, then it’s really hard for a lot of people to ask for money, especially hard for them to ask the price they really, really wanted to charge. So there’s still this negotiation. And I see that over and over in my clients, like how to package something. Now I got this beautiful package and I know it’s life-transforming but now what kind of number do I put on it?

Elisabeth Valentine [18:24]
Yeah. It’s hard.

Christine Schlonski [18:25]
It is hard. But I think the important thing is and I love that you just mentioned in your other story, where you were in New York and that jazz basement.

Elisabeth Valentine [18:35]
Yeah.

Christine Schlonski [18:37]
You are still investing in yourself.

Elisabeth Valentine [18:40]
Oh, all the time.

Christine Schlonski [18:42]
You were there to take classes. So it is a journey. You have your brand now but you know, with every penny or send you invest in yourself, your brand becomes fancier and fancier. Yeah. Or you know, the amount of bread gross that you can give more. I think that when once you really start asking for what you truly desire, so liberating inside, and then maybe you think it’s like, that’s such a huge investment to ask for. The first client paid it, you have that evidence.

Elisabeth Valentine [19:24]
Yeah, precisely.

Christine Schlonski [19:26]
And I figured out on my journey, the more client pays me, the more they do the work because they are higher invested, right? They invested not only with their time, their money, their emotions, they really want to see those results. So they do what it takes. If I’m really not high invested, it’s not gonna hurt that much, it’s not gonna last. I see that sometimes in myself when I buy a course. And it’s such a big investment adjusting here. That’s nice to have. I mean, object. And it’s easy. It’s an easy ask and you go for it. Well, if you’re truly honest, I don’t really remember finishing a single one of those courses.

Elisabeth Valentine [20:14]
Yeah. And that’s the thing. And also, if you charge much less than you really worth, people gonna think you’re not that good as well.

Christine Schlonski [20:27]
Yeah, that’s a good point.

Elisabeth Valentine [20:29]
Yeah. But I think, I know, I absolutely agree with with everything you’ve just said. And, you know, it’s like, we don’t reach a magical point was like, “Ha, I’m finished. I’m like, I’m done”, and then you just stop growing. Because it’s like, no, because the markets going to change all the time. I have three vocal coaches. I have one in Los Angeles. I have one in Denmark. I have one here in London. And I work with different things on them. But the one in Denmark, I’ve been the brand voice for this TV channel for 10 years now. Three years as a freelancer but the past seven, I’ve been the main voice. But things change in seven years. And I have to keep developing myself and I have to keep following on with the trends. And if I don’t have someone to coach me, and help and push me and help me get better, or maybe then my client will be like, “Yeah, Elisabeth sounds a bit old fashioned now. Let’s go. Let’s get someone new.”

Christine Schlonski [21:42]
Yeah.

Elisabeth Valentine [21:44]
You have to keep sharpening the sword, you have to keep getting better. But that doesn’t mean that you should not start where you are now. And I think that’s the thing, especially for women. I think we have, “Oh, I just need to get little bit better before I can start this.” No, you start where you are now. And and then you build and build and build. And also you build your price. I mean, I charge more now than I did, five years ago or even last year.

Christine Schlonski [22:16]
Yeah, of course. It’s evolving. It’s important.

Elisabeth Valentine [22:19]
Yeah, exactly.

Christine Schlonski [22:22]
And I think it’s might be also important that people understand it’s their business, and change the price, or the investment whenever they want. When they feel it’s, I’m giving more than I’m receiving. Well, higher your price. They can make it that it feels good for you. So that you are the one putting on the oxygen mask first. That might be that you charging not enough and it doesn’t feel good for you. You need to get to the place where you secure yourself so that you can keep giving. What I see in people is when they don’t charge enough. Then come clients, and then they get frustrated because the client said, “Yes”, and they kind of put it on the client that the advantage of them, but the truth is, you made the offer.

Elisabeth Valentine [23:20]
Exactly.

Christine Schlonski [23:21]
So it’s it started this you have the client is gonna take whatever they can get at an amazing offer, right? You don’t have stupid client. You want to make sure that you ask for the right things right at the beginning?

Elisabeth Valentine [23:35]
Yeah, no, absolutely. And I mean, I know this personally, when I’ve kind of gone, “Okay, well, maybe, okay, fine. I’ll do it for that price because I want the client”, but actually, it’s not felt good. I’ve not had the right feeling in my stomach. And I and I go much more and much more selective about the clients. I have now because I’m like, if it doesn’t feel right, you’re not the right client for me. And you know, and actually recently just had that reaffirmed with a client that it was a nightmare. It was a nightmare from start to finish. I really resented doing the work. I resent it resented the client because it just wasn’t working. Have I charged maybe four times more? I would have been okay. But, you know,

Christine Schlonski [24:24]
Or they would have said no.

Elisabeth Valentine [24:25]
They would have said no, which would have been good.

Christine Schlonski [24:28]
I know. Yeah. I would love to have that conversation. So to finish off this episode, is there a mantra you would love to leave us with?

Elisabeth Valentine [24:42]
Yes.

Christine Schlonski [24:43]
That you’re using for yourself and let us know what it is and why you have chosen it. Okay.

Elisabeth Valentine [24:50]
So I heard this mantra not too long ago, actually and I was like, “Yes.” And I don’t know who said it. So maybe you know, so that he goes, “If you want things in your life to change, you have to change things in your life”, and I just love that. If you want things in your life to change, you have to change things in your life.

Christine Schlonski [25:20]
It’s brilliant. Well, let’s let’s start the second interview with that because I definitely want to go into that list. So let us know where people can find you.

Elisabeth Valentine [25:32]
Yes, so you can find me, Elisabeth Valentine. Elisabeth with an, “S”, not a, “Z”, because I’m Danish. You can find me on all the social medias. On Facebook, contact me through Facebook. You can also find me on Instagram. Twitter, I don’t really use. On Instagram, it’s @miss1valentine because Elisabeth Valentine was taken.

Christine Schlonski [25:59]
I’ll provide all the links in the show notes.

Elisabeth Valentine [26:02]
Okay, perfect.

Christine Schlonski [26:03]
One click to find you. Thank you so much for being on the show today. It was such a pleasure, and fun, and I loved what you shared. So I can’t wait for the second interview.

Elisabeth Valentine [26:14]
Perfect. Thank you so much, Christine. I’ve really enjoyed it.

Christine Schlonski [26:17]
Thank you, Elisabeth. I just had so much fun. The syllabus and time just flew. But wasn’t that just amazing? I’m so grateful that you are listening and hope you get so much out of this. I really could picture the amazing story she shared that one of her coaches and mentors told her about the brat. That you already have what it takes that you just need to stop having excuses. I just loved it. So to be updated all the time, make sure you are hopping over to https://christineschlonski.com/. Find the podcast tab and sign up for the empowerment notes, my weekly notes to your inbox to empower you on your journey to bring to you motivation, inspiration, insights, knowledge, and also all the updates on Heart Sells! Podcast. Thank you so so much for listening. I’m so happy that you are here. And all the best till the next episode. Have a wonderful day wherever you are in this beautiful world and bye for now.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai