Who It’s For: Entrepreneurs, Senior Business Leaders, Managers, Sales Professionals, Female Leaders, and R&D, Innovation, DEI, and Other Critical Teams
How to Speak with Confidence: A Vocal Empowerment System for Business Owners and Leaders
Darlene Hawley
A practical, trauma-sensitive guide to overcome fear, clarify your message, and communicate with impact to grow your business or lead your team.
Have you ever left a meeting, a conversation, or even a networking event thinking, "Ugh… Why didn’t I say what I really wanted to say?"
If so, you’re not alone.
Whether you're an entrepreneur trying to grow your business, a team leader managing others, or a professional stepping into more visibility, learning to speak up isn’t just a “nice to have"... it’s necessary to move to the next level.
As a business, communication and leadership coach, I’ve worked with hundreds of leaders who have powerful ideas, amazing services, and perfect solutions, yet who struggle to use their voice when it matters most.
That’s why I teach the Step into Your Moxie® Vocal Empowerment System… a trauma-sensitive, self-empowerment framework rooted in psychological safety, confidence-building, and purpose-driven messaging.
Let’s walk through the five core components of this system and explore how they support entrepreneurs and leaders to communicate with impact.
1. Taming the Inner Critic
The first voice you have to speak over... is your own.
We all carry an internal voice that whispers, "Who am I to walk into this room,” You’re not ready," or "Don’t mess this huge opportunity up." This inner critic thrives in moments where we’re stretching, risking, or showing up in new ways.
I once worked with a woman preparing to pitch her business at a major event. Her content was strong, her presence magnetic… but her inner voice kept telling her she didn’t belong in the room. She didn't feel like she had earned a seat at the table.
Through our coaching together, she learned to recognize and reframe that narrative. She didn’t need to shut down the voice… she needed to understand it, soothe it, and speak from her empowered self instead.
Action Tip:
Next time your inner critic starts to take over, pause and write down exactly what it’s saying.
Look at the words on the page and ask yourself:
Is this 100% true?
Whose voice is this really?
What’s one thing I know to be true about my strengths or experience?
Naming the inner critic’s script helps you separate fear from fact so you can shift back into your power and speak from your true voice.. not the one rooted in self-doubt.
2. Understanding Physiological Sensation
Speaking up isn’t just a mindset game… it’s a full body experience.
When we prepare to speak, especially in high-stakes moments, our body often responds before our words do. We may feel tightness in our chest, a lump in our throat, sweaty palms, bright red cheeks, or shaky legs. These sensations are natural responses to vulnerability and visibility.
Learning to recognize and work with these sensations, rather than fight them, is a big part of owning and using your voice. By developing practices that ground the body and calm the nervous system, we can access our voice with more ease and presence.
Action Tip:
Try this before your next big conversation or presentation:
Take three deep, slow belly breaths. Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, hold for four, and exhale through your mouth for six.
Repeat this a few times, feeling your body settle. This simple breathing technique calms your nervous system, grounds your energy, and helps you access your voice with more ease and confidence.
3. Clarifying Your Message
You can be confident, but if your message isn’t clear, people won’t take action.
Messaging is more than words… it’s about alignment. Your voice, your story, your tone, and your delivery all need to communicate what you stand for. That means simplifying what you offer, naming the transformation, and connecting emotionally with your audience.
I often work with clients who “circle and talk around" what they do… using vague or overly complex language, even jargon words that only people i their industry would understand. Once we clarify their message, everything clicks. Confidence goes up, leads come in, and conversations move forward into clients.
Action Tip:
Grab a sticky note and answer this question in one sentence:
"What do I want my audience to understand, believe, or do after hearing me speak?"
Keep your answer short and clear enough that someone outside your industry could understand it.
If you can't explain it simply, your audience won't remember it. Practice saying it out loud until it feels natural. This will become your go-to short introduction hook anytime you speak about your business or leadership message.
4. Embodied Presence
Your presence speaks before you do.
This is about how you carry yourself. How you walk into a room. How you show up on Zoom. How your voice lands when you speak your truth.
Your authentic presence is built through awareness, breath, posture, and practice. It’s not about being "perfect"... it’s about being rooted, present, and unapologetically yourself. This is where role-play, experiential learning, and improv exercises come in… because presence is felt by others and is you showing up as your true, unapologetic self.
Action Tip:
Before your next meeting, presentation, or sales conversation, try this grounding exercise:
Stand tall with both feet planted firmly on the ground.
Take a slow breath in and roll your shoulders back and down.
Imagine growing roots and rooting yourself to the floor.
As you speak, focus on feeling the support of the ground beneath you and the strength of your posture.
This small shift in how you carry yourself can change how people experience you in person and on camera.
5. Moving People to Action
Great communication doesn’t just sound good. It creates change.
Whether you're selling a service, pitching an idea, or leading a team meeting, your words can move people. But only if you're intentional about what action you want them to take.
Ask yourself: What do I want them to think, feel, and do after I speak?
When your message is anchored in clarity, presence, and purpose, it becomes a tool for impact. You’re not just talking. You’re leading.
Action Tip:
Before you speak, take 30 seconds to visualize the outcome you want to create.
Ask yourself: What do I want people to think, feel, or do after they hear me?
What is the ONE action I hope they take?
Speak with that outcome in mind. End with a clear, direct invitation. Whether it’s to book a call, try a new approach, share their thoughts, or take the next step with you.
Your words have power when they lead people somewhere meaningful.
A Trauma-Sensitive, Justice-Oriented Approach
Everything I teach is grounded in psychological safety, trauma awareness, and the belief that your voice is power, especially for women, BIPOC leaders, LGBTQIA+ professionals, and other historically silenced communities.
We don’t need to “fix” our voices.
We need to own them.
We need to practice in safe spaces.
We need to rewrite the story that our voice isn’t welcome.
That’s why in every coaching session or workshop I lead, we create space for play, reflection, feedback, and growth. We practice speaking not just to sound good yet to feel empowered.
If you’re a business owner, executive, or rising leader who wants to grow your visibility and impact… start with your voice.
Because when you use your voice with clarity and confidence... people listen.
They follow.
They buy.
They believe.
And the ripple effect of that is a life changing.
Ready to Bring Vocal Empowerment to Your Business or Team?
Whether you’re looking to strengthen your own voice or empower your team to communicate with more confidence and clarity, I’d love to support you.
Let’s talk about how the Step into Your Moxie® Vocal Empowerment System can help you overcome fear, speak with impact, and move people to action—whether you're leading a team meeting, presenting to clients, or growing your business.
Send me a message, book a free strategy call, or visit darlenehawely.com/workwithme
to learn more.
Your voice matters. Let’s make sure people hear it.
✨Ready to Own Your Story and Attract Your Dream Clients?✨
If you’re ready to stop second-guessing your message and start using storytelling as a powerful tool to connect, inspire, and sell—then I’d love to invite you to my It’s Time to Own Your Story: Mini-Course.
In this self-paced course, you’ll learn how to:
✔️ Identify the key moments in your story that captivate your audience.
✔️ Share your story in a way that builds trust and positions you as the go-to expert.
✔️ Use storytelling across your website, social media, and sales conversations to attract and convert more clients.
Plus, you’ll get a
step-by-step workbook and
personal feedback on your brand story—so you can start sharing with confidence.
Hey There!
I'm Darlene
As a mother, wife, connector, and dream builder, I’m Darlene Hawley, the founder of DarleneHawley.com and an Executive Leadership & Businesss Coach dedicated to empowering leaders like you.
My passion lies in helping ambitious professionals cultivate their unique leadership style while crafting an authentic and impactful personal brand. Through my coaching, we’ll work together to build a solid foundation that not only inspires your team but also drives results and growth within your organization.
Since 2007, I have been committed to guiding leaders and entrepreneurs in launching and scaling their businesses with confidence and clarity.
Today, I focus on supporting women in reaching their leadership goals and living their dream lives—all while balancing the joys of raising my family and creating meaningful memories each day.
Together, we’ll transform your challenges into opportunities, allowing you to lead with authenticity and inspire those around you.
Explore how career pivots and technological advancements like AI can reshape business landscapes and personal journeys.
When you're talking but no one's listening. Have you ever introduced yourself at a networking event… only to feel like people’s eyes glazed over? One of my clients put it perfectly: “Darlene, I share who I am and what I do, but it feels like I’m invisible. People nod politely and then move on.” She had so much value to offer. In fact, she is amazing at what she did. Yet, her introduction was all over the place. Some days she was talking to potential clients, other days to possible collaborators, and sometimes even she wasn’t sure what her main point was. And that’s why it felt like no one was listening. Why This Happens It’s not because you’re not experienced enough. It’s not because you’re not interesting enough. It’s because without clarity about who your audience is in the room and what you really want to say, your voice gets lost in the shuffle of business cards and conversations. Networking rooms are full of people competing for attention. If your message doesn’t connect directly... if it doesn’t make them pause, lean in and say, “Tell me more” ... it disappears before they even leave the event. The Shift When this client and I worked together, the first thing we did was get crystal clear about: Who she most wanted to reach in the room. What those people actually cared about. How her work specifically helped them. Once she had that clarity, her introductions started sounding different... more direct, more alive, more her. And the result? People leaned in. Instead of walking away, they asked questions. They followed up after the event. They booked time with her. Because when you find your voice and know exactly who you’re talking to, you stop being forgettable. You become someone people can’t ignore. This is exactly what we’ll be diving into in Session 1 of my Attract & Stand Out Framework: Getting clear on who your audience is. Knowing what you want to say. Communicating how you help in a way that truly connects... whether you’re introducing yourself in a room or on stage. It’s not just about having the words, it’s about the confidence to say them out loud too... with presence, authority, and ease. If you’ve been walking out of networking events feeling overlooked, let this be a gentle nudge: ~ You don’t need to try harder. ~ You don’t need to stuff more into your intro. ~ You need clarity... on your audience, your message, and your voice. That’s where visibility begins. That’s how you go from overlooked to unforgettable. Think about the last time you introduced yourself at a networking event. Could the right person in the room... your dream client or collaborator... hear you and say: “That’s me. She gets it”? ________________________________________________________ 🌀 Nervous System Regulator: The 4-7-8 Reset Feeling that anxious butterfly sensation before you introduce yourself? Try this right before you speak: Inhale quietly through your nose for a count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 7. Exhale slowly and fully through your mouth for a count of 8. Repeat this 3–4 times. It only takes a minute, but it tells your nervous system: You’re safe. You’ve got this. When your body is calm, your voice comes through with more presence and power... and people remember you. ✨ Ready to stop feeling overlooked at networking events? Download my free guide, 6 Steps to Attract & Stand Out, and discover how to clarify your message, show up with confidence, and connect with the people who matter most. Grab it here »
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