In this episode of the One Small Change Podcast, host Yvonne McCoy is joined by Sylvain “Sly” Haché, who shares his extraordinary journey from corporate burnout and self-destructive habits to a life of purpose, clarity, and entrepreneurial success. Sly discusses the transformative power of asking the right questions, the lies we’re told about happiness and work, and the pivotal role of authentic public speaking in personal and business growth. Listeners will hear practical tips for overcoming fear of public speaking, breaking free from limiting narratives, and embracing curiosity and resilience on the path to creating impact.

Guest Bio:

Sylvain Haché, known to friends as Sly, is a public speaking expert and former chronic stutterer turned international speaker. After a life-altering moment, he left behind self-destructive habits and a corporate lifestyle to create a business helping others communicate with confidence and authenticity. Sly has developed systems and algorithms that have supported entrepreneurs and thought leaders in crafting compelling messages, overcoming stage fright, and achieving financial freedom through public speaking.

Chapters:

00:00 "Exploring Change with Sly"

05:05 Life Transformation Through Marketing

08:39 Crisis of Career Expectations

12:10 Curiosity Over Judgment Transforms Outcomes

16:14 Overcoming Stuttering with Confidence

18:31 "Humble Lessons in Training"

20:22 Tailored Confidence-Building Strategies

26:23 "Encouraging Curiosity and Engagement"

27:50 Embrace Change; Stay Curious

Quote from the Guest:

“The only way to escape the cycle of suffering we all seem to be stuck in is for each and every one of us to learn to deal with our emotions and our states of mind without hurting any sentient beings, including ourselves.”

Links

Go to https://www.nextlevelpublicspeaking.com/newsletter and subscribe to the newsletter to receive bonuses.

Welcome to the One Small Change. I am so glad that you decided

to spend some time with me again this week, and I am thrilled

to be with you on this journey of exploration and

transformation. I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring

almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience and

passion for discovering growth through the power of

seemingly one Small change. And this week,

and you know how I. You know how I love pronouncing people's names, right?

This week, we are talking with the amazing

Sivan Hache. So because

so many of us get this wrong, he is graciously letting us call

him Sly. All my, all my friends call me Sly. Just, that's,

that's my nickname. So. So

I am really glad that you're here. And we were joking that, that we

both had crazy days, but that just means that our adrenaline is going

and we've got lots to share. So tell my audience, my

audience about yourself and what was the change that

changed your life and your business.

So happy. Thanks for having me here, Yvonne. This is amazing.

I love the name One Small Change. Because I was

thinking, what's one, you know, for everybody? You listening? There's

many different things. What's one little thing? And I was thinking about this.

There's one question I asked myself when one day

that changed everything. One little question

changed me from a drugged, out of my mind,

corporate atheist.

I asked myself one question and I turned into a clean.

No drugs, no alcohol, spiritual entrepreneur.

Boom. In one second, I went from one day,

drugs, alcohol, bad habits, cigarettes

every day and junk food to the next day, no

drugs, no alcohol, clean, clean diet, waking up

at six in the morning, Kundalini, breathing exercises, and having spiritual

revelation. And when I asked myself that small question,

a lightning bolt hit me on top of the head like a flash

of lightning turning. Bam. And at that time, I did not

believe in God. So it's not like I was praying or anything. It's

just a simple question. I don't know if you've ever been in that situation.

You listening to this, where you look around

and you say, wait a minute. I've done

everything they told me I should do to be happy. I

mean, I've checked all the boxes. Okay, that ain't it.

Okay. I've done everything. I've been

everywhere. I've achieved every goal I set out to do.

I'm winning. This is it. Yet I was

so miserable, I had to do drugs in the parking

lot on the way out of that job just to

wash it away from my soul. One night

after supper, I Asked myself, man, I just kind of looked

up a little bit and I thought,

this can't be it. There has to be more

to life than this. Yvonne that

single thought, the realization of how big of

a lie I've been, I had been lied to.

And the automations of robots climbing the corporate

ladder, whatever that was,

snapped me out of it bad in one

second. And it went from this to then,

long story short, creating a new public speaking system

that helps people get overstayed fright and we've created multiple six figure days

from the stage. Well, first of all, I just want to tell you I am

so glad you had that thought because otherwise you wouldn't have been here. But

secondly, I think that happens to more of us than you think. It may

not be those exact words, but I think there's something,

you get to a certain point in your life and you go, there's got

to be more. Wait a minute, I would, I was

meant to be more. And you know what my specific question was?

My specific question was, what do I want to be

remembered for when I die?

Because I felt like I wasn't living that life. And

when I thought about that and I, you know, and now I've kind of refined

that question to what's the energy that you want to be remembered

for? Right. And that's what helped me to lose almost

£200. What's

the energy you want to be remembered for? What's the classic quote? People forget what

you say, how you said it, whatever, but they won't forget how you made them

feel, right? Yeah. So energetic

was one of my words. I wanted, I had no energy at that point.

So tell us, tell us once, once you had that

lightning bolt, how did that change everything

else? Well,

I mean it's a cliche, but it

literally changed everything from the diet

to the sense of self, to what I think I

am internally, to what I think I can do, to the behavior,

to how I generate income, to, to what I do in life, to who

I associate with, to how I dream, to how I think,

to how I write, literally everything.

So it

led to us creating a company

in the personal development market,

meaning all the gurus, the healers, the

shamans, the crystal ball reading ladies, the chakra people, the

motivational guys, the filter water filter people want to help people

and change the world. They would come to us and we had a, at the

time, a huge marketing list for the time. And

I was, since I had a marketing degree, I was writing all the marketing

copy and all the, the messaging for these People. And it

turns out when people are not trained in marketing, they always say the same thing.

So people don't know what's unique about them. The unique selling

proposition, how to position it to the marketplace, how to match

the, their message to the market in a way that's congruent with them. So I

would write their messaging for them. And this

had to come up with messaging on the spot for everybody at

once is the messaging algorithm that I've developed for the

speaking system. And the first time we had a six figure day was back

then. This was 2005. Six ish. And the first time

someone. Because usually we would take what they would say I

would make into a compelling message and send it by email. One of the,

one of these people said, I want to make an event and

I will sell an offer from the stage. So we worked on that together

and this was the first time I realized, oh, wait a minute,

if you put people in a room and you make notice

with your face, a number of people in the room

will buy your offer and you can make more than a hundred thousand dollars in

a day. Sign me up for that.

This was at the time, so this was a revelation to me where

otherwise you would have to break your back

over time. Like we've had people, we've, we've

had a guy, this must have been like two years ago now. An

engineer. Think of all the work it

takes to become an engineer and then get

the engineering degree, get a job,

drive in traffic all day, go to a job, stressful,

bad eating, stress all day, come back in

traffic week after month after month for a year. This

totality of his income. He made more money from this.

Made more money from a 20 minute talk, Yvonne, than his whole

previous year as an engineer. And he did it twice

in three months from 20 minute talks. I, I did

not know this before. Somebody had. I don't know, I don't know if. Did you

learn that in school? They didn't teach me that. So the,

it became clear to me that the skill

of putting words, stories, messaging and

angles and aligning it with the messenger so it fits with the market

in live room and in live environments was a thing that

could create financial freedom for the people who could do it. But I

think the thing that, I think the thing that is so important

is I want to kind of go back to,

you know, we were lied to. Right? In the

sense, in the sense that, you know, you, you get educated,

you work a job, you know, you check all the boxes and stuff.

That's not the kind of world that we're in anymore. The other

thing that I think is so important is

that in so many jobs you don't. You

typically, you do what you can do, which

are, you know, because once you, once you kind of make the decision that you're

going to be an engineer and you've invested that time,

you keep going down that path, it's very rare

that you see somebody go, I'm an engineer and

tomorrow I'm going to become a ballet dancer or something. I mean,

do you know, it's kind of like you're kind of caught in that, that path.

Sunk cost. Yeah. And, and you don't

get to be who you are. You don't get to do the things that really

light up your soul. Especially not in a 9 to

5. At least I never did. Well,

you said it well, Ivan. That world does not exist anymore.

Things are changing so fast now and changing

faster. I took a note because you made me think of an article. I read

this years back. Now it's even worse. Years

ago there was an article here in the newspaper that said, okay,

employers were complaining because here they are

advertising a job for a six figure job,

a six figure cushy corporate job.

And one of the, the requirements is a degree in

such and such thing, a four year degree. The problem

was four years ago there were no degrees

in such and such thing. The problem.

So engineer, I know an engineer. You may think about this,

a guy who graduated in 1975 as an engineer.

So by the time he graduated, what he had learned was out of

date. That's in 1975.

My uncle, I believe is the last generation of

people that could go to school, get a

job, go up the ladder in one place, one institution,

retirement and live a good life is 88 or

89 right now. That's it. Anybody younger than

this, there's no more working at one place, one job.

It's not, it's not, it's not A thing doesn't exist. And you know what?

One of the things that I say to people is even if you're not an

entrepreneur, your value

is you. And you need to get as much, you know,

whatever that corporation is offering that's going to improve,

you know what you can do that's portable, that you can take

with you, you need to do. Because you're not going to be at that job

for 30 years. You know, you're going to have. And, and you're,

and I think that's the other thing about,

it's really important. I Mean, one of the things that. One of the things that

changed me incredibly was a course

that I took on positive thinking. And, and, and

the part that really hit me hard was

the I. And this is distilling it down to, like, idiot

language. Not, not the great stuff that was taught in the course.

But we tend to be stuck in a rut, you know, because of our habits

and our beliefs and stuff like that. And so you go to, you, you

default to the same thing all the time. And

he said, if you can stop yourself, when

you're getting ready to make a decision, you come on to something new and say

to yourself, am I being judgmental or am

I being curious?

And I was like, oh, my God,

so many times I was being judgmental. Like, we're not supposed to do it that

way. Why would they? You know, when I

shifted that to can I be curious first,

wow, it just changed everything. I mean, we

had a, we had somebody who came into a meeting, and all of us were

standing there like, this guy is an idiot. What? Why is he even here?

Right? And afterwards, I thought about that, and I was

like, okay, why do I think he's an idiot? It was

like, because he's talking about things that have nothing to do with what we're trying

to do. Well, wait, we haven't figured out what we're

trying to do, so no wonder he doesn't know what we need.

And when I finally backed into it, I was like, you know what? When

we figure out what we're doing, he's got the expertise to help us.

So. Yeah, and I think, you know, that applies to. Let's go back to

speaking, because speaking has been an amazing thing for me.

You know, I, I've always been a speaker. You know,

just, you know, I, I, I tend, you know, I spoke when I was in

high school. I was an exchange student, and so people asked me to come speak

about that. I had a blog talk radio show

for three years, but I never really thought about speaking

to groups of people or two people. So luckily,

you know, in a bad way. Luckily, the COVID came. So now you can speak

on Zoom all the time. You don't have to travel all these places. So I

get to speak in some amazing places. But I think

what people don't understand. Is.

When you're talking, people don't want a robot.

They want somebody who's authentic, that they can

relate to. And I find that the more I speak,

the more unscripted the goofier I get,

and the more fun I'm Having, you know, and so you

should start speaking everywhere. You know, Kimberly Crow says, if somebody

hands you a mic, take it, say yes.

Yes, absolutely. So. So you had an interesting thing you

had to overcome in terms of speaking.

Well, it couldn't make sounds with my face. Chronic

stutterer. Like no sound

would come out of. I was a regular kid, normal kid. And

then I went to school one day, something traumatic happened there

and I came back that day and I stuttered for 20 some years.

Terrible. So I cannot even imagine

doing what I'm doing if had I not overcame

that. But it gives me a superpower because I've helped people from 18

to 81 years old get overstage fright. So when somebody comes in and

says, oh, you don't understand, I'm 57 and I've been

shy my whole life, I don't think I can speak in public. I got you,

boo. I helped the German engineer who was 81 years old.

So you think you're setting your ways at 57 as a creative

or somebody close to their feelings and I help an 81 year

old German engineer. I got you, boo. So

the ability to not be impressed by

the people you're helping is problems.

So back up. If you're impressed by your client's

problems, you can't help them. So since I started off

way worse than anybody that comes to me for help

as a chronic stutterer and I've helped

people worse than their situation and I coach people that

are further along what they're even dreaming of becoming. Most people

don't want to be international keynote speakers or TV hours. Most people want to just

speak with confidence when they have to.

So since I went, I was worse off than

you probably are. If you're listening to this and you're not a chronic stutterer and

I've helped people worse off than your situation. If you're younger than 81 and

not absolutely terrified,

this gives me a power of not being afraid.

So as your, the legs are shaking and you're freaking out and I'm coaching

you, the fear comes in and bounces off.

And when you see that this reaction is possible, it

does something inside of you to go, oh, you just snap out of it. Of

course we have the techniques and the tools. Last time I counted it was under

140. Some tools on helping with that. But

the main thing is to keep the main thing,

the main thing. So when it comes to speaking,

the goal is not to speak to impress. The goal is not to

fish for compliments. The goal is not to say people say, oh my God, how

brilliant you are, are beginner.

Communicators speak to

feel understood, speak to say the way they want to say it. And

they work on diction and pronunciation and they count their ums and their

oz and all that nonsense, which is good to remove, by

the way, but it's not the main focus. Great. Communicators

communicate their understanding. So when you get in front of

an audience and you're not self conscious and you're focused on them and you speak

about their view, their pain, their problems. Well, like

Yvonne was saying, they added, somebody come in and he's talking about something else

that they want. That effect you never want on stage. So you

cannot be in tune with what people want,

need. And like, if you're not

focused on them, and if you're focused on you, you can't be focused on them.

So that's kind of step one. Well, you know, I used to,

I used to say to people, if you put yourself on a pedestal,

you're going to get knocked off, you know,

because, you know, there's an evidence. And I had some really

humbling experience when I was doing workforce

training. I would, you know, with the, all the higher ups would, you know,

decide what we were going to train on. And then you would show up today

and I'd say, what do you expect? Why are you here? And they would go,

because I have to be, which

is a rough audience. And I would say, okay, this is what

we're gonna, this is what we're training on. And I'm gonna make sure that you

can use this in your personal life as well as, since you have to be

here, let's make sure you get something that you can actually

use, you know, and, and so that's

connecting with your audience, you know, what do they, what do they need?

Right. That happened to me again when I went to, I was speaking

at some kind of, you know, community college, and

I was like, why are you here? And almost everybody raised their hand and

said, this is the only thing that wasn't filled.

And I, and I said, well, where, where did you want to go? And they

said, we wanted to go delegation. I said, how about this? I know a little

bit about delegation. How about if I give you 10 minutes on delegation and then

I get into my talk? And they were like, yeah, that's great, you know,

but let's do this before we run out of time. Let's talk about

your free gift. Some actions that entrepreneurs can take. And

I particularly think that speaking is One of the

best ways to get visibility. So any tips that you can

give to help people overcome their hesitancy to

speak would be great.

That's a lot. I asked you a lot. So

tips to overcome the hesitancy depends on who, who

I'm speaking to and who you are. Because if you're speaking to someone

who is socially awkward, even one on one,

somebody who's terrified of their own reflection in the mirror, someone who

cannot even look one person in the eye, shake their hand and

be frank and honest, that person,

the way you help that person communicate with confidence on

stage is so drastically different than the person who

is confident one on one. No problem there. One on one. I got

you, boo. We're good to go. Straightforward,

honest, ideas flowing, know

how to calibrate, know what's going on, know how to land their points. But

when they walk on stage, they shrink into a smaller version

of themselves and then they deliver a shitty speech. Well, that's

so different. Oven I guess

I'm asking is some big picture questions. So for

instance, for me, I think

that people need to understand that when they speak

it's not going to land for everybody. And that's okay.

But you know, what you want to do is be the most

authentic person that you can be when

you're making that delivery that, that, that you are ahead of some people

and you are behind some people right in the information

and what you're going to give. So there's. Okay, so in that, so that

concept is okay, that concept we have a thing

called the Natural Leader Creator. This is a training I've

led on, on zoom

multiple times. And when I led the

Natural Leader creator, not one time has it not happened

that somebody's in the audience crying. Yvonne, People

like this, this is the best speaker

training I ever had because tears of,

tears of liberation and joy. So this would be fun.

So this was not planned. Go to

nextlevelpublicspeaking.com click on newsletter.

And when you subscribe to the newsletter, you get a bunch of bonuses. The

five mistakes that rob your profitability on stage. The

one step public speaking, confidence checklist, weekly

tips and tricks. It's I just got one the other day. Again, people respond

to this like, oh my God, this is amazing. I got people that are trained

by reputable organizations reading my newsletter saying,

man, you're the real deal. Who's this guy? So you're gonna get this, but

don't even, don't even think about this. It's going to give you a link,

a membership Go in the membership. It says free trial, resources

go down. Okay, not this. Not. There's. There's so much stuff in there.

Like, better than some people charge you for. No, not this,

not that. Okay. Oh, Here. And click on Watch the

Natural Leader Creator. It's going to do something inside your

mind that stops the damn. Who

am I to speak to them? The underlying secret fear of

imposter syndrome. And who am I to speak to them? Eradicated.

Gone with a free thing you got because of Yvonne here

called the Natural Leader Creator. Enjoy.

Fantastic. Okay,

we've covered so much material. Is there one or two

other things that you want to say to entrepreneurs about speaking to build their business?

So we. We talked about you. Did you have another freebie besides the one you

just gave us? I got more to that I know what to do with.

All right, so if they go and look in the free trial, there'll be things

you can try out and stuff, but definitely the. The. The. The leadership

one. So

for those again, who are hesitating about speaking,

is one other thought that you want to give them. That

it's the invisible layer of the business world.

Think of any leader you

admire. Think of anyone. You watch their videos, dead

or alive. Find me a leader that has not

master speaking. It's.

It's not an option. It's par for the course. If you're terrified,

work with us or somebody else. Work with who you want.

Swallow a pill. Not drugs, but swallow the pill of the. Of the fear and

the shame and the embarrassment. Have somebody that can help you through

this with a proven track record of getting people on stage and having

them succeed. It's not even funny.

Now more than ever. What I'm saying was true 20 years ago.

Now with the age of AI, AI can and will do everything

for you, except it will never be able to put your pants on in the

moment, the morning. And walk on stage with confidence. Sorry. It will

broadcast you in the multiverse. It will film you in a hologram and

transfer what you say. It's gonna

put automatic captions, it's gonna put a filter so your skin

looks younger, whatever, but it won't be able to put your pants

on and walk on stage with confidence. Sorry.

Ah, Take my breath away. All right, so

I'm gonna take your breath away. When was the last time you did something new

for the first time?

Something new for the first. For the. For the. For the first time.

Yeah. Give it your best.

Something new for the first time. Last time. I don't even know.

It could be I didn't. I did a new kind of meditation today.

Well, that's good. After dinner. Yeah. A new type of meditation with the

spine here. You got a new revelation around here in the spine.

Ta da. So I say that because

I want people to keep being curious and trying new things and speaking

is definitely. If you haven't tried it, you definitely need to

start small. Do a LinkedIn Live. Do you can control

your own stage, which is a wonderful thing. Start that way

before you get on somebody else's stage. So I have to give the

commercial and that is I hope

everybody will subscribe, share and engage on

about this podcast on social media. And the reason I do it

is I want to give back to my community. I want to

expand people that they have contact with. I want to grow

a vibrant community and fuel your quest for growth and impact.

So I hope that you'll continue to join me for the one small

change and that we embark on this journey together. And

one of the things that I want you to do is I want you to

grow your vision into a bold vision and take advantage of

innovative possibilities. So sly. Do you have any

last words of wisdom for us? Words

of wisdom is the same

for everyone. Is the only way

to escape the cycle of suffering we all seem to be stuck in

is for each and every one of us to learn to deal with our emotions

and our states of mind without hurting

any sentient beings, including ourselves.

That's true. And I would say to you,

you know, one of the things that people don't tell you is that

change is uncomfortable. It can be simple, but it's

not always easy. And it requires resilience

and courage and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone.

And I want you to stay curious so that you can keep on

growing. And I hope that you will join me again for the one small

change as we embark on this journey of a bold vision

and innovative possibilities. And until the next

time, I want you to stay really curious.