Feel Confident in Your Presentation

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Danielle Hennis, owner of Make It Memorable LLC, located in Durham, NC, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I help people feel more comfortable presenting, whether that's through slide design, speech coaching, content creation, or all of the above! When you have a big presentation coming up, I can help make your content flow, make your slides digestible to the audience, and make your voice and body posture emit confidence. As a graphic designer and presentation consultant, I can help take those complicated data-filled slides and turn them into slides that resonate! I've worked with people changing jobs and preparing job talks, researchers, conference speakers, graphic design teams, e-learning groups, trainers of all kinds, oral proposals, and TED talk speakers (just to name a few).

Tell us about yourself

I am a graphic designer by trade and have over a decade of experience taking complex ideas and making them visually understandable. Previously, I worked for a research organization and helped a lot of scientists prepare for their conference presentations. The slides were often very text-heavy and not very easy to follow along with as an audience member. My supervisor at the time believed in me and let me spend time researching how audiences process information. I brought in my background in psychology and teaching and created a workshop to help the researchers put themselves in their audience's shoes and create presentations that they would be able to remember. I now have several workshops that I run that teach presenters how to design their slides, present more confidently, and rethink how they are making presentations. I love teaching and seeing the progress that each speaker makes as they progress through the workshops and apply the concepts to their next presentation, but mostly, I love when speakers come back to me and say, "I felt more confident in my presentation, and the audience was engaged."

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I started my business in 2019. Surprisingly, surviving the pandemic was easier than surviving the post-quarantine era. 2020 was hard, but 2022 felt almost impossible for a while. What worked last year no longer works, but through brainstorming, determination, and experimenting, the business has continued. By the end of 2022, the business has started to thrive, and it's a good reminder that each month will be different, projections are hard to nail down, but if you keep working towards your goal, any step in that direction is still progress.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Being a business owner is accepting that work will often be a bit of a roller coaster. Some days you're struggling up that hill, while other days, you're catapulting down at the speed of sound, trying to hold on tight to the seat in front of you. I wish I knew how to make it more of a train ride, but I haven't found the key to that yet. Being flexible makes the ride more enjoyable, though. Knowing some weeks, you'll have to work nights and weekends, but following weeks, you'll be able to take half days and enjoy life outside of work more. Remember that this month is not necessarily what next month will be like, and this year will not necessarily indicate how next year will go, so when things look rough, remember that this isn't a permanent state. When things are hard: keep throwing spaghetti, and eventually, something will stick.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Find a mentor or other people who are also entrepreneurs to talk through the problems you will have. There's no reason to go it alone just because you work for yourself. Brainstorming is better with others!
You have to wear a lot of hats as an entrepreneur: marketer, communications, accountant, admin, social media, website creator, graphic designer, etc. You can't do it all well. As soon as you have the ability to pay someone to do the tasks you're not good at or don't have time for, outsource it. But be cautious about how much money you're spending on it, especially at the beginning. As a graphic designer, entrepreneurs come to me wanting a branding package before they launch. If you're packaging products, yes, you should invest in that. If you're a consultant, I'd ask you to think about whether that's the best use of money at the start.
There will be times when it looks bleak. Go back to #1. Find your people. Brainstorm new ideas. Remember, what it's like today is not what it will be like tomorrow. If the business is struggling financially, go back to #2. What can you cut? What isn't necessary right now? Be lean in your spending, especially at the beginning. But when things are going well, invest back into the business.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website:
https://www.daniellehennis.com/
https://makeitmemorable.studio/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makeitmemorablellc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hennisdanielle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellehennis/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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