Audio Episode
Brenden Kumarasamy
Brenden is a returning guest with us, and we love it when we get the chance to speak with Brenden. The level of knowledge Brenden brings every time is incredible. Brenden is the type of person that is eager to make positive changes in our world. Communication is so essential to ensure we have a better life. When we understand how communication plays a significant role in every aspect of our lives, we can achieve our personal and business goals much more accessible. This is where Brenden can help you. Brenden has so many tips and tricks that he offers each of us on his incredible Youtube platform MasterTalk. Brenden is the person you want to help you find the art of communicating. I've included his past Dead America episode, along with all his contact links, under the link tab of this blog post. I hope that you find value in this episode; if you know someone that would benefit from our conversation, please share this episode with them.
Brenden Kumarasamy
[00:00:00] Brenden Kumarasamy: So, yes, what, what I would say, Ed, it always starts with, what is your vision for the world? So let's start there. What is your goal? What is your dream? So let's say in my case, let's use me as an example. Let's say the goal is to impact more lives with communication, which it is, right? YouTube videos, podcasting, how to get more access to more people.
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[00:00:36] Brenden Kumarasamy: the more competent they need to be. So in this case, let's say Elon Musk is one of those people, through advertising, through marketing. So now the third piece is a list of hows. How can Elon Musk help me? So we start with, why is this important for society? Why is what I'm doing important? This is my dream,
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[00:01:16] Brenden Kumarasamy: And if he says yes to that, I mean, I'm set a hundred thousand subscribers in one shot, everyone at Tesla's gonna know who I am. So that's an easy ask, doesn't cost him any money, watch a video. So go to the easiest ask and make that ask.
[00:01:34] Ed Watters: To overcome you must educate. Educate not only yourself, but educate anyone seeking to learn. We are all Dead America, we can all learn something. To learn, we must challenge what we already understand, the way we do that is through conversation. Sometimes we have conversations with others, however, some of the best conversations happen with ourself. Reach out and challenge yourself. Let's dive in and learn something right now.
[00:02:26] Ed Watters: Today, we have a returning guest with us, Brenden Kumarasamy. Could you please introduce yourself and let people know just a little bit about you please, Brenden?
[00:02:36] Brenden Kumarasamy: Yeah, of course, Ed, always great to be here and thanks for having me back on. So my name's Brenden, I'm the founder of Mastertalk, Mastertalk is a YouTube channel
[00:02:44] Brenden Kumarasamy: I started. Top of the world, master the art of communication, public speaking, and I also coach executives and entrepreneurs to be top communicators in their industries.
[00:02:54] Ed Watters: Yeah, You know what you're doing out there is very important because communication is one of those vital things in life. If you do not know how to communicate, especially effectively, you're not really going anywhere.
[00:03:11] Ed Watters: So what is effective communication, Brenden?
[00:03:16] Brenden Kumarasamy: Yeah, absolutely, Ed. So communication for me, is conveying an idea, sharing an idea in a way that achieves a specific outcome for a specific audience. So it's about how do we share, how do we convey an idea in a way that achieves a specific outcome for a specific audience?
[00:03:34] Brenden Kumarasamy: So what does that mean? That could mean a couple of things, it could be getting more sales in your business, it could be convincing your partner, your spouse, your husband, your boyfriend, girlfriend, your nieces, that you should go eat Mexican food instead of Chinese food. So communication is across a wide spectrum.
[00:03:52] Brenden Kumarasamy: So effective communication means getting the result that you're looking for, whether that's an increase in salary, whether that's increased sales in business, whether it's a better relationship with your family. And that's why I always start with this question, Ed, which is, how would your life change if you were an exceptional communicator?
[00:04:09] Brenden Kumarasamy: Start reflecting on that question because it gives you insights to say, you know what? For me, effective communication means getting what I want for dinner every Friday, or getting that extra sale in my business, I would start there.
[00:04:23] Ed Watters: Yeah. I, I love that. So when you're starting out, it's scary, especially when you're presenting. Uh, my, my heart still does the butterfly.
[00:04:37] Ed Watters: How do we actually practice to get better? Because it takes baby steps for sure to get better. Do you have some practical tips for people for that, Brenden?
[00:04:51] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely, Ed. So I always start the conversation around fear, with the following. I still have it too. Even if I'm the communication [00:05:00] expert, I got it.
[00:05:01] Brenden Kumarasamy: I'll give an example. Let's say, I mean, you're having lunch at, and Elon Musk calls me, we're having lunch and he says, you know, Brenden, I've been enjoying your YouTube videos, I'd love for you to coach me. Would I shit my pants? Absolutely. No doubt, right? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how skilled I might be
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[00:05:48] Brenden Kumarasamy: gets the knockout punch, that your message wins the match. And when you start looking at that as a spectrum, rather than removing the fear, that's when you get more comfortable and you live with the fear.
[00:06:02] Ed Watters: I like that a lot. So let's, let's say you're in the elevator with Elon Musk and he says, Hey, pitch me.
[00:06:14] Ed Watters: What do you do? And you've got a five minute elevator pitch. Where do you start? And how do you achieve that ultimate five minute pitch? Because people want it short now.
[00:06:27] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely, Ed. I mean, first of all, you gotta take me to this elevator. I don't know which elevators you got access to, but I didn't, I didn't know you were this well connected. So yeah, we are gonna have to talk after this.
[00:06:37] Ed Watters: I wish buddy.
[00:06:40] Brenden Kumarasamy: So, yes, what, what I would say, Ed, it always starts with what is your vision for the world? So let's start there. What is your goal? What is your dream? So let's say in my case, let's use me as an example. Let's say the goal is to impact more lives with communication, which it is, right? YouTube videos, podcasting, how to get more access to more people.
[00:06:59] Brenden Kumarasamy: The second piece to that question is who is going to help me achieve this goal? Who are those people? And the third piece is how can those people help me? My coach says it best, the bigger the dream, the better the team. So the bigger your dream is, the bigger your team needs to be. The better they need to be,
[00:07:17] Brenden Kumarasamy: the more competent they need to be. So in this case, let's say Elon Musk is one of those people, through advertising, through marketing. So now the third piece is a list of hows. How can Elon Musk help me? So we start with, why is this important for society? Why is what I'm doing important? This is my dream,
[00:07:37] Brenden Kumarasamy: this is who I need to support me. So the person in front of me, I'd say Elon, and the third piece is how can you help me? And the key here is to ask for one thing over and over again. So what's the easiest thing Elon can help me with? I would say, Elon, could you share my YouTube videos to your staff, to your employees?
[00:07:57] Brenden Kumarasamy: And if he says yes to that, I mean, I'm set a hundred thousand subscribers in one shot, everyone at Tesla's gonna know who I am. So that's an easy ask, doesn't cost him any money, watch a video. So go to the easiest ask and make that ask.
[00:08:11] Ed Watters: I like that, you know, most people would pitch him for money and you're actually just asking for, Hey, can you present me?
[00:08:21] Ed Watters: And I like that a lot because people notice that, people take notice. So, it's, it's been a hard road for me, learning how to really effectively communicate to people. Uh, like we started off with before the show, names are very important to me now and trying to pronounce that name properly, it's some of the hardest things I've had to deal with, Brenden. And, and take your name for instance, it's one of those names that you really have to practice to get it right.
[00:08:58] Ed Watters: So what, what is your guidance on names? And what emphasis do you give on a name in a conversation?
[00:09:09] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely, Ed. You know, Dale Carnegie says it best, the best sound that any human being can hear is the sound of their own name, right? So it's important to constantly repeat the name and say, Hey, as you notice I do this, I do this subconsciously,
[00:09:22] Brenden Kumarasamy: I'm not even doing this consciously anymore where I keep saying Ed, Ed, Ed. Oh, it's a great question, Ed, great point. So, so yes, people love to hear the sound of their own name. So lemme start with the good news, cause I like good news. The good news is you don't actually need to know how to pronounce people's last names, unless you're a podcast host, outside of this context, you can just pronounce the word, the first name and you'll be fine.
[00:09:45] Brenden Kumarasamy: So that's the great thing. The next piece to that is for,
[00:10:03] Brenden Kumarasamy: it'll take you five minutes. And listen for the one that's the most consistent and that's the right one. That's it, that's all you have to do. And, and then the last piece for names is, of course, it's hard to remember everyone's name, I'll be honest. I think the key is, and how networking should be done in general, is you gotta pour in as much energy to the best people in your network.
[00:10:25] Brenden Kumarasamy: That's what I find most people don't do is they're not strategic, they kind of just go to a cocktail. They go, who's gonna like me, let me just talk to everyone. I don't like that strategy, I like the strategy, who are my top five favorite people. And let me add more value to them, Ed, and have them introduce me to their best people. Cause chances are, I wanna talk to those people.
[00:10:46] Ed Watters: That's very valuable right there. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. And once you turn your direction from quantity to quality, it really starts changing your whole mindset. On this game, we call content creation as a podcast host, I really do believe it's extremely important for you to study and examine who you're talking with before you get on that microphone.
[00:11:16] Ed Watters: A lot of people, they like to wait and then have a prewarm up conversation. I think you really need to put the homework in just like you do with your communication. How much effort do you put in when you go into a speaking engagement to prime yourself? We talked about this last time on the episode we had with you, about that initial warmup and you go through a procedure. Could you talk to people about that please?
[00:11:50] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely, Ed. So here, here's the way I think about this and I got this from a Navy Seals guy. He said the following, we never rise to the level of the occasion, we always default to the level of our training. So lemme repeat that again, we never rise to the level of the occasion,
[00:12:08] Brenden Kumarasamy: we always default to the level of our training. So what does that mean in the context of presentations? Pretty simple, I'm not the coach who's going to tell you to drink a glass of water. I'm not the coach who's going to say, this is what, how you need to breathe, this is what you need to breathe. No, no, no.
[00:12:23] Brenden Kumarasamy: I'm always going to say do the harder thing so that the real thing becomes a joke. Do the harder thing, so that the real thing is a joke. So what does that look like, the context of my prep? I do exercises that I call the easy threes. These are three easy exercises that we can practice every day, Ed, that I don't think I shared last time.
[00:12:43] Brenden Kumarasamy: That will really help people practice on a consistent basis and to prime them more effectively for the next presentation. So the first one is called the random word exercise. Take a random word, like salt, pepper, shirt, wall, random words, and create presentations out of thin air. That's the first thing I recommend.
[00:13:02] Brenden Kumarasamy: If you can make sense out of nonsense, you can make sense out of anything. Exercise number two, question drones. We get asked questions all the time in our life, Ed, from our wife, our families, our husbands, our partners, and our podcast hosts and guests. So we always get asked questions. Spend five minutes every day answering one of those questions proactively.
[00:13:22] Brenden Kumarasamy: If you do that once a day for a year, you'll have answered 365 questions about your business, your career, your life, you'll be unbeatable. And finally number three, it's so simple that nobody does it. Video messages, make a list of people that you appreciate in your life. People pour, people, great people like Ed, send Ed a video message and say, Hey Ed, I really appreciate what you've done at this podcast.
[00:13:47] Brenden Kumarasamy: You're doing incredible work, keep doing the great things that you do. And it'll help us realize that video messages makes peoples day and creates impact.
[00:13:56] Ed Watters: Yeah, I like that. You know and that, that really creates an involvement also. People feel like they are involved with you a little bit more and that, that brings it into a personal touch
[00:14:12] Ed Watters: and that's where we all wanna really be with our guest and, and our host, hopefully. But you've, you've actually come a long way since the last time we spoke with what you're doing. Let's talk a little bit about Master Talk and you've got a new, uh, venture. Could you tell us about that please?
[00:14:36] Brenden Kumarasamy: Well, first of all, uh, Ed, you're right.
[00:14:39] Brenden Kumarasamy: You know, I'm super grateful for people like you, who really believed in me super early. I remember the last time we did the show, I think Mastertalk had like a 1000 or 2000 subscribers, I think on my YouTube channel. And today it's, it's definitely a little bit more than that. So, so thanks for, thanks for all of your support.
[00:14:54] Brenden Kumarasamy: So yes, absolutely. So two ways to, to keep in touch. The first one is definitely the YouTube channel, which is still alive [00:15:00] and going. So you Mastertalk in one word. And the second is a free training that I do on communication every few weeks. So for those of you wanna join the Zoom call, it's free, you can just come and learn from me, it's live, it's interactive,
[00:15:12] Brenden Kumarasamy: it's fun. You can register for it at rockstarcommunicator.com.
[00:15:20] Ed Watters: Yeah. You know, when we start reaching out to people for help, a lot of people get scared because they don't know the value that they'll receive, because most of the people, they want money for their coaching. Uh, this is the good thing about Brenden, you learn a lot just off of his YouTube channel. And the tips and the tricks that you'll receive is just astronomical.
[00:15:49] Ed Watters: I love what you do over there. How much time do you put in to creating videos for people about their communication skills, Brenden?
[00:16:02] Brenden Kumarasamy: A lot man, I mean, it's been, it's been seven years now that I've been in the coaching business and, and three to four years for, for YouTube. So there's a lot of love,
[00:16:10] Brenden Kumarasamy: definitely a lot of love. I, I write my content years in advance, like I'm writing 2024 right now. And because I want the best videos out there, you know, my mission at the end of the day, Ed, and I appreciate your kind words as well, is whether someone can afford a coach or not. That's not why I started Mastertalk, it's, and I'm, I'm glad that you get that as well.
[00:16:30] Brenden Kumarasamy: Is the idea of, how can we bring these tools to the world? Whether you live in Cambodia, whether you live in the states, somewhere else. How do I make sure that anyone who wants to be a great communicator at least has some information, like the random word exercise that we talked about, the video messages? They can still get started with that journey and master their communication skills.
[00:16:53] Brenden Kumarasamy: So yes, definitely spend a long time, I still do. I, I, I think the only difference now is I probably spend a little bit too much money now on the YouTube channel than I used to. But it's, it's all for the good of humanity, so might as well.
[00:17:04] Ed Watters: I understand that addiction, you know, once you catch that bug and especially when you get people reaching out and saying, you've really helped me,
[00:17:16] Ed Watters: thank you. That makes you not wanna stop what you're doing, it makes you wanna get better. And that's what it's about, Brenden. Do you have any, uh, call to action for people that is listening today?
[00:17:33] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely, Ed. Here's my call to action. It's just a question that we talked about earlier that you, people usually sidestep.
[00:17:40] Brenden Kumarasamy: How would your life change if you are an exceptional communicator? Most people, when they hear that question, Ed, they just go, oh, that's a nice question. Spend 10 to 15 minutes really reflecting what that answer is for you. Is it to be a speaker? Is it to start a podcast? Is it to have a better relationship with your family?
[00:18:00] Brenden Kumarasamy: Because communication affects every area of our life. It's not just about making more money, it's not just about getting the next promotion at work, it's every interaction we'll have for the rest of our life. It's about leading a fulfilling life, so selfishly figure out why is it that you care about communication?
[00:18:19] Brenden Kumarasamy: And once you figure out that reason, you'll do all of the tactics that we talked about today and really take action on your communication skills.
[00:18:27] Ed Watters: I love it. Brenden, you're a great communicator and you're a fantastic podcast guest. I surely thank you for spending your time here again with us on the Dead America Podcast.
[00:18:40] Brenden Kumarasamy: Hey, the pleasure's absolutely mine, Ed, and thanks for having me again.
[00:18:47] Ed Watters: Thank you for joining us today. If you found this podcast enlightening, entertaining, educational in any way, please share, like, subscribe, and join us right back here next week for another great episode of Dead America Podcast. I'm Ed Watters your host, enjoy your afternoon wherever you may be.
