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Megan Walker (00:00)
Hello and welcome to Healthcare Online. My name is Megan Walker and today our very special guest is Vanessa Sciacca. Hi Vanessa, how are you?

Vanessa Sciacca (00:07)
Hi Megan, I'm good thanks, yeah.

Megan Walker (00:10)
That's good. Vanessa is a really experienced speech pathologist who is embarking on a new direction with an online course and some training. And so I thought I wanted to bring Vanessa on to just, you know, share with others who are, you know, practitioners, clinicians and therapists who are also considering heading in this direction and just hear from Vanessa, what some of her experiences have been and what she's put in place so far. So Vanessa, do you want to kick us off and tell us about your traditional practice? Like who you help and who you serve, and then what you're working on with your, at the moment, side hustle.

Vanessa Sciacca (00:47)
Sure, thanks Megan. Yeah, so like you said, I'm a speech pathologist and I've got about three plus decades of experience and probably more in the past decade or so. I've worked in private practice and I work with a lot of people with voice difficulties. So that's, yes, like you said, the traditional one-on-one come into the clinic and see me and we go through assessment and therapy and I'll give them education about voice care. that's the traditional way I've worked. ⁓ But yes, since finding you, Megan, it did make sense that I was not thinking about the other possibilities. And maybe a lot of other health professionals who might be listening to this podcast can relate to the challenges of finding staff. And I think that was the very first drop of the pin or I'm a light bulb moment if you want to quote another cliche of just the challenges that I was having. have a speech pathology practice on the Central Coast and it can be hard to get speech pathologists. So it was always that challenge of where do I find my next staff member? So yeah, and when you spoke about that when I first heard about you, that really made me think, well, yes, I don't have to be looking to making my next step another staff member, my next step could be making a course.

Megan Walker (02:20)
That's really interesting. Everyone's got a trigger why they've come to this type of. And I like it. We know we've talked about in our group, you know, burning platforms or desired positions. So you've kind of had a foot in both, isn't it? Like hard to get stuff is a motivator. And then also this new area that you're exploring, I think is very intriguing to you. Tell us about what you're wanting to do with your online course.

Vanessa Sciacca (02:23)
Look! Yeah, so it is exciting because ⁓ it is it's always doing something new and innovative and thinking about well how how else can I do that? So ⁓ like I said it is related to voice. It is for professional voice users and I think one of the hurdles Megan is oftentimes when people hear professional voice user which is a term we use in speech pathology they think she's just referring to or she's just referring to voice over artists or singers perhaps. But a professional voice user really the definition is someone that has to use their voice for their career, for their job, to make their income. So it might be an auctioneer, it might be a teacher. I mean, yes, it could be those other traditional areas, but it could be a clergy person. It could be a psychologist, you know, the list goes on, but it could be any one of those people is if you need your voice for work, you're a professional voice user.

Megan Walker (03:49)
And if you don't have your voice, you can't do your job.

Vanessa Sciacca (03:53)
Yeah, yeah. So a lot of people have difficulty with their voice not lasting the day. I hear it quite often, my voice is fatigued by the end of the day, or if the voice is just unpredictable and they might need to go and excuse themselves. I hear a lot of people are clearing their throat a lot during the day and, and we know that clearing the throat and coughing are not very good behaviors for the vocal folds. So, there's lots there behind that, they're the typical things that I see that people who use their voices at work suffer with. The unpredictable voice, the voice getting tired, the throat clearing, and even coughing with some people, which we know during COVID became quite socially unacceptable.

Megan Walker (04:44)
terrifying. ⁓ produces a lot of anxiety doesn't it because if someone thinks my gosh I'm gonna be on interviewed on radio or I've got to give a speech at a conference there's the presentation nerves but we don't think about the performance nerves so that's a big issue for people isn't it?

Vanessa Sciacca (05:04)
Yeah, definitely. Like you said, it could be those really big things like presenting at a conference, but it could just be taking a phone call. If you're a receptionist and you know you have to pick up the phone and your voice is not performing at that time, even something simple like answering the phone could be nerve wracking as well. Yeah. If you're a teacher and you have to run up to class, that could be nerve wracking that your voice really wasn't very good the day before. So what's it going to be like today, especially at the end of a week as well. yeah, like I said, so it could be just those little things that day to day what your job involves. might be talking at a meeting, a team meeting. So, and if you're a leader in a team meeting, you're the one probably talking the most and we want to get across a professional, confident persona. yeah, yeah. So definitely nerves and it's interesting you mention nerves and anxiety because we know nerves and anxiety affect voices as well.

Megan Walker (06:05)
Bigger picture. ⁓ I learned something every time I talk to you. And I think this is a bigger area that impacts more people than they would realize. So it's good to have these conversations to get people going. yeah, actually I worry about that. And it's not just the stage fright. It's that. ⁓

Vanessa Sciacca (06:23)
Yeah, and to know that you're a professional voice user as well.

Megan Walker (06:28)
Yeah, to claim that title. Okay. So you run a busy practice. You're a busy person. What, and it, you know, there's no doubt about it. takes time to pull together an online course. What have you discovered in going on this journey that would be useful for other practitioners, clinicians and therapists who were thinking about like, have you learned so far that maybe you didn't know a year ago?

Vanessa Sciacca (06:55)
Well, lots of things. lots of things. I think but to narrow it down with yourself, you've really kept bringing us back to who it is that you are serving. And it doesn't just mean, oh, well, a professional voice user in my mind, is what is that? Who is that person giving them a personality? And the other thing is also just

What do they want? What problem are we solving for them? What do they need at the end of the day? So that's sort of, you can get this big overwhelm and, but at the end of the day, if you keep pulling it back to that, it's, I liken it to having values on it in a company. If you're always going back to your values, it will help you solve any problem. So the same thing, if I keep bringing it back to what does this client or person want from my course at the end of the day? that brings my focus back. ⁓ Yeah, so I would say, and just also Megan, just your step by step, he's a framework, he's a checklist. So not only just having this big overarching step by step framework, but also checklists and having the videos to always go back to and go, and sometimes I might go back and watch 10 minutes in the middle of a video because I knew it's going to answer that very specific question that I needed at the time. So that's just invaluable.

Megan Walker (08:32)
So glad. Thank you, Vanessa. I love that you've got. that gave me goosebumps when you said always coming back to your audience, because I think sometimes people approach online courses as ⁓ and I'm not saying this is the majority. This would only be a small group. But some people have spoken to say, look, I want a course because I need another income stream. I want to create a course that's going to make the most money and it'll make money when I sleep. And that's all well and good. that's you know, everyone has different drivers for why they're doing this work. That's totally valid.

But when you lose sight of the audience, then the course loses its urgency and we don't buy things unless we feel like we have a need for them. Money's tight, isn't it? Okay. Yes. There might be all I need that pair of shoes. I also had a need for it, but with courses it's like, unless that's going to solve a problem. And in your case, that's a brilliant problem.

Vanessa Sciacca (09:13)
Mmm, I can relate to that one.

Megan Walker (09:30)
Because that's people's careers. That's the longevity of using their voice in their whole life and in their profession and in their creative pursuits. Like you've attached it to something that is an absolute demonstrable need. And I love that you communicated that with anyone who's listening because it can't be a nice to have. It's got to be much more of that have to have and then it will sell. So yeah, that's so cool. I love that you've really latched onto that and

And then everything we do is, well, is this in service of the audience or not? And it cuts out a lot of the, no, I'm not going to dance on Tik Tok with fingers because that's not, it was not me. And it's not our audience. then it eliminates a lot of crap.

Vanessa Sciacca (10:10)
And you used the word longevity too and that's at the heart of what I'm also talking about is longevity of your career. So I'm not just saying, well, let's just get you through the day or let's just get you through the week or even the month. Let's get you through your career. So if you are someone that's building up practice or if you're building up your reputation as a solicitor or if you're building up your reputation, as I said, like someone who's moving throughbthe church as a clergy role, anything, as an auctioneer, that's something that you've put your energy and your time and let's face it, your money into and you want to be able to do that in one year's time, 10 years time, 20 years time. So that longevity of career is also at the heart of this as well.

Megan Walker (11:07)
Yeah. So it's interesting, isn't it? The deeper rationale, like getting into the problems that the audience faces and being able to attach your course with not just the surface issues, but those deeper, longer lasting. Yeah. It's the iceberg, isn't it? Like, what are they really, when they say, you know, I'd love to have a strong voice. What are they, what's really understatement and all those things you just said.

Vanessa Sciacca (11:29)
Yeah, so if you, I mean, I think of a client that I have in my practice and she has a very successful, she does NLP training. So people that want to learn to be NLP practitioners. And she, before she came to see me, she had to get people to come and stand in for her and that cost her money. So she was not only having to pay for a venue ⁓ and where she would have done the training, she then had to have someone, people coming in because her voice was notblasting, her voice was rough, croaky, breaking up and so she would do 10 hour days and ⁓ yeah she'd have to get people in to talk for her so that was another cost to her but you know she's back on track now and she comes in with this beaming smile on her face and Nessa I did a three day course and I talk 10 hours each day and my brain just goes that's great.

Megan Walker (12:27)
Great!

Vanessa Sciacca (12:28)
Part of me also goes, did you not talk the minute you finished? She no, no. She put a lot of time and effort and money into her reputation and that was sort of looking a little bit rocky. because of what we went through and what she learned, she's back on track.

Megan Walker (12:51)
Yeah. So good. And because the participants in the room have paid to hear that presentation, if it's all scratchy and they start to feel anxious as an audience member.

I know I know how I had a flu once and I delivered a presentation on the lifestyle benefits of having an online course and I was so unwell and one of the and probably that you know you think you're gonna get lots of negative comments but you don't really get a lot no and but I did get one this guy said you're you're espousing lifestyle benefits of having an online course yet you are so unwell and it's the same when you you pay money you go and see a speaker you don't want to hear them

Vanessa Sciacca (13:22)
Well...

I think people are there for you. They want to hear you. They care. And they want you to give a really great presentation. They're there sort of cheering for you. yeah. But that's when your anxiety kicks in because you know that you're not. Your voice is not representing you. And that would be another part of this. Your professional persona is about your voice. And if it doesn't represent you because you're clearing your throat,

You crackly, you rough, yeah.

Megan Walker (14:05)
And so you've done a couple of big steps on this journey that I just am so delighted in. And I would like you to talk to these because it might sound like, okay. I'm just going to go and get a professional photo shoot. It's going to get my website started. And it sounds like easy peasy, but this is a lot of guts that it takes to getting a photo shoot. Can you tell us about that experience?

Vanessa Sciacca (14:33)
Yeah, well look, I ⁓ always try to think, well, what's at the bottom of this? And I think it's just surrounding yourself with really good people. If you want to do something, I want to do it well. And I'm not a genius in everything. So you've got to find the genius. You being one of the genius. ⁓

Megan, I have a genius photographer and yeah, I have used her previously, but just she is, she was brilliant. So having a fantastic photographer. know that you say we don't always have to have a full production team, but I think for a website, that's when you do get the best. Yes. And then of course, the lovely Karan, Stace Ruff, has really helped me with putting the website together again, I wouldn't have been able to do that. And if I tried, I would still be working on it. she, with her Story Brand expert approach, it's actually amazing. I think about everything in Story Brand. So yeah, I'm writing a job, I've written a job ad recently for another speech pathologist and I said use the Story Brand approach.

Megan Walker (16:18)
Okay, we recognize you, we see your challenges, we can help you in three easy steps. And this is how we get started. And it's just such a, a cleaner way of communicating, isn't it? That is matching the person with what they want and need.

Vanessa Sciacca (16:36)
Yeah, and recognising what their journey is and what role you play in it. And it completely flips how you look at things. Because I think you look at a lot of websites and say, we do this and we provide that and we are this. And this, the person that is reading it is not, they're not seeing themselves in there. But this is completely flipping it and saying, Do you experience this? Do you experience this? And immediately the person goes, oh, yes, I experienced those things. And then the journey goes from there. You're not putting, they're the hero. It's not you. You're your guide.

Megan Walker (17:18)
Yeah, we're the guide and we're in service of those people and their outcomes.

Vanessa Sciacca (17:22)
And soon as you hear that you go, that makes so much sense. So thank you to Donald Miller.

Megan Walker (17:29)
Thank you, Donald Miller for allowing us to borrow that and it fits so beautifully with healthcare because we want people to be the hero of their journey. We want them to have agency and not just sit there and languish and suffer and be a victim. want them to step out of discomfort and thrive. So what a delight.

Vanessa Sciacca (17:49)
It really serves that client like everything is client centred care. Yes, it's a bit of a buzzword, but it really is the facts of how we should be working with our clients. the client centred care is what problems are you having? How can we help you solve it? We're not the heroes, you're the heroes because you're going to take yourself through this journey. Because ultimately, I see healthcare outcome is this person can ultimately independently manage their problem, whatever that might be. I'm there for a little bit of the way to show you the path, but ultimately it's for you to independently manage your problems that you're needing to have solved. to ⁓ dip in, be the guide and then dip back out again so that person can independently solve whatever issues they have is I think the ultimate of being a healthcare provider.

Megan Walker (18:45)
That's so well said. I love that. That gives me goosebumps. Can we find your website? Now, I know some people will be listening to this, so it's not going to be a visual medium for everyone, we'll have the video available. Can we share your screen, Vanessa, and show what you've created so far? Would you be happy tothere we go. so Vanessa this is your beautiful website that's a sneak peek because it's not quite live yet. Yeah. Do you want to just scroll through and tell us what you like about it?

But like how, though it's you've worked with clients to help them, when you read that as the reader, that's actually what I would get out of working with So it's very clever, isn't it? It's positioning it again as value for the reader.

And again, it's not here's Vanessa and here's a list of conferences that you've been to. It's actually like and it's further down the page.

And again it's backing up that how you can help the reader. It's not you know this is Vanessa and she's done it look how wonderful you she's done this and this and this. It's actually like turning that around to saying yes I've got all of that but it's in service of your need.

Fantastic. It's looking so good. It's so inviting and it's so clear.

Love it. So going through this experience of having your lovely photos done and then having this written and built, what does that mean for you now in terms of your next steps? How has that set you up?

It's real.

Yeah, ready, ready to go. love that. So I'm, I'm going to predict that by the time this video goes live, that this will be live so people can go to Vanessa Shacker.com and start following you because so many people listening will be professional voice users. So go and have a look at Vanessa's gorgeous website and see what she does. And Vanessa in wrapping up, what's your advice to other therapists and practitioners, clinicians who have a traditional practice?

various different reasons they're you know wanting to do something slightly different but they they want to still be able to use all of that amassed wisdom what's your advice to those people?

I love that it's like those macro forces that happen to you and then you can do something here that is for you.

Yeah, so good. it's and not to, you know, not that the driving factor is dollars, but this is more profitable than having a book. You know, often we get to a point in our career and we think, maybe I should put all of this in a book. So I've got a legacy. Well, it's pretty hard to make money on a thirty nine dollar book when you see when you see a dollar from every sale.

Whereas this is gonna have a bit of a better bang for buck in terms of same amount of workload Yeah, so Vanessa thank you so much for sharing your journey You've really open, you know, you let us see behind the curtains and it's not instant this journey like I find some even take 12 months to psych themselves up to put their face on anything and I really understand that so thank you for your bravery and your you know

just being so lovely and open with us and sharing your experience. And can't wait to see all of those auctioneers and conference presenters and whoever else getting more life out of their voice. So thank you.