Welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast where faith meets entrepreneurship. Each episode, we uncover the strategies, stories, and spirit-led insights that help Christian business owners align their goals with God’s call. From practical tips to real-life testimonies, we explore what it takes to build a business that honours Christ, serves others, and impacts the Kingdom.

CONTACT

• Communicate Great Website
• Youtube
• Instagram

What if the thing holding you back isn’t your ability… but your willingness to take the first step?

In this episode, Rev. Lyle sits down with Traci Poe, founder of Communicate Great, who shares how God led her out of burnout in the nonprofit world and into a calling she couldn’t ignore.

We talk about:

• Overcoming fear as an introvert
• Why action matters more than confidence
• How to grow a business without chasing hype
• The truth about consistency, patience, and God’s timing
• Using your voice to impact others authentically

If you’ve ever felt like you’re not ready, not confident, or not qualified… this episode will challenge that.

Your message matters. Now it’s time to speak.

Traci Hubbell-Poe

• “If you have a message that can help someone, you owe it to them to share it.”
• “You don’t need to fix everything at once. Make one change, then keep going.”
• “Be faithful to what God called you to do. Inaction is not stewardship.”

Rev. Lyle

• “When you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about who you can help, action becomes real.”
• “Consistency plants the seeds. Growth comes later: Pick one channel. Be consistent. Share your story.”
• “You don’t go viral overnight. Most people worked years before anyone noticed.”

Effective communication is crucial in both personal and professional settings, yet many struggle with it. In this post, we’ll explore the insights shared by Tracy Poe, founder of Communicate Great, on how to improve your communication skills, especially if you identify as an introvert. With her rich background in communication and her own journey from nonprofit work to entrepreneurship, Tracy has valuable lessons to offer.

About Tracy Poe
Tracy Poe is a communication expert with years of experience in both nonprofit and corporate environments. After years of feeling burnt out in the nonprofit sector, she transitioned to help others enhance their communication skills through her company, Communicate Great. Tracy believes in the power of effective communication to change lives and is passionate about helping others find their voice.

Why Communication Matters
Communication is not just about speaking; it's about connecting with others. Poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and missed opportunities. Tracy emphasizes that effective communication is essential for success in any field. It allows you to express your ideas clearly, build relationships, and inspire others.

Overcoming Introversion in Communication
As a self-proclaimed introvert, Tracy understands the challenges that come with public speaking and networking.

Here are some strategies she recommends for overcoming introversion:

• Take Action: The first step is to acknowledge your feelings and take action despite them. Tracy suggests starting small by speaking in front of a mirror or recording yourself to build confidence.
• Focus on Your Passion: Let your passion for your subject matter drive you. When you focus on helping others, the fear of public speaking often diminishes.
• Be Authentic: Authenticity is key. Tracy advises that being yourself is more powerful than trying to fit a specific mold. Your audience will connect with you when you are genuine.

The Importance of Community
Tracy emphasizes the role of community in enhancing communication skills. Being part of a supportive group can help you practice and receive feedback. Her Public Speakers Growth Hub provides a space for aspiring speakers to connect, share experiences, and improve their skills together.

Here’s why community matters:

• Support and Encouragement: Engaging with like-minded individuals can provide the motivation you need to step outside your comfort zone.
• Constructive Feedback: A community offers a safe space to receive feedback on your speaking skills, helping you to grow and improve.
• Shared Learning: Learning from others' experiences can provide valuable insights and tips that you may not have considered.

Key Takeaways
Tracy Poe’s insights into communication highlight the importance of taking action, being authentic, and leveraging community support. Whether you’re an introvert or simply looking to enhance your speaking skills, remember these key points:

• Take that first step towards improving your communication.
• Let your passion guide you in sharing your message.
• Engage with a community to receive support and feedback.

In conclusion, effective communication is a skill that can be developed with practice and the right mindset. By embracing your uniqueness and seeking support from others, you can become a more confident and impactful communicator.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to start improving my communication skills?
Begin by practicing in low-pressure situations, such as speaking in front of friends or family, or even recording yourself.

How can introverts become better public speakers?
Introverts can focus on their passion for the topic, practice regularly, and seek community support to build confidence.

Why is authenticity important in communication?
Authenticity helps you connect with your audience. When you are genuine, people are more likely to engage with and trust you.

Rev. Lyle:
Hello and welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast. Today I’m here with Traci Poe. She’s from Communicate Great. She’s going to share some really interesting insights with us. Traci, how did God get you started in business?

Traci Poe:
Okay, so here is a little bit of a long story, but I will try to keep it as short as I can.

I actually was in the nonprofit world for years and years and years. Back in 2022, I just could not be in that space anymore. I was sick all the time. It was impacting my mental health, my spiritual health, and my family because I was putting in such crazy hours.

I know a lot of people are in nonprofits, especially when they have hearts for other people. If it’s a small nonprofit, a micro nonprofit, people are wearing so many hats. That’s where I was, and I just had to walk away.

So I did. As I was contemplating what I was going to do next, I knew I did not want to go back to the nonprofit space. So I thought, you know what, I have degrees. I know what I’m doing. Let me go get a job in corporate. It pays well. You know what you’re worth. Again, when you’re in the nonprofit world, you are not getting paid, if at all, because you know that you’re there to give.

So I thought, well, let me flip it. I’m going to go make money, and then I’m going to write those bigger checks, because I was still giving financially and of my time beyond whatever I was doing for the nonprofit.

The more I was looking at it, the more it just made me nauseous. I just felt God tapping me on the shoulder, like, “Remember when.”

And so the “remember when” was when I was working on my master’s degree and I had to pick a project. I prayed about it, and I knew I wanted to do a workshop. Again, my degrees are in communication, Communicate Great. I built this workshop. It was on, I think, academic survival skills, but with the lens of communication.

So I advertised it with the student body, and I had a couple people sign up. Then the day came, and one person showed up.

At first I felt a little defeated. Then I thought, wait a minute, I am okay with one person showing up because massive introvert over here, shy, timid. I fought it all my life. I actually say that verse all the time, that God did not create me to have a spirit of fear and timidity. That is one of my life verses.

Anyhow, so I was working with this student and it was like light bulbs, those aha moments, going off. That just fueled me. At the end of it, I thought, this is what I want to do. I want to work with people, workshops, retreats, whatever it is, and help them with their communication skills.

Life goes on. I end up in the nonprofit world doing some of that. But when I left that last job and was looking at corporate and feeling, this is not it, and then the tap, “remember when,” was that. Like, remember that this is the dream that I put in you all those years ago, and now it’s time. Now we’re doing it.

I didn’t even know what the name of the company would be. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. I was just walking through the house one day and “Communicate Great” just dropped into my head. So I thought, wow, I kind of like it, but is it grammatically correct? Because if I’m going to be working with people on communication, I can’t have a grammatically incorrect name.

So I did searches, and I came up with three different references that said, no, it’s grammatically correct. And I was like, okay, Lord, You do know what You’re doing.

So He gave me that name, Communicate Great, which I think is fun. One of my things is no matter what I’m doing, if people are relaxed and having fun, they’re going to get more than if you’re boring them or they’re feeling stressed. So I always try to do everything with kind of a quirky, fun bent. To me, that is definitely Communicate Great.

So that is kind of how I started Communicate Great. Then, you know, you and I were talking before we hit record, and I was sharing with you that when people have a passion for something and they start doing that thing, they may not have a business background. I do not have a business background. I don’t know what I’m doing with running a company, but I know I want to help people with their communication.

You hear business people say, “Oh, you can only pick one thing. You have to niche down.” And I was like, okay, I like helping people with public speaking. I like helping people with interpersonal communication. What do I do?

So I do a little of both, but my biggest focus is on the public speaking side. And there is a whole story with that. I don’t know if you want me to go into God calling me to teach that class, but yeah, it’s God all the way. It truly has been God all the way.

Rev. Lyle:
Well, let’s talk a little bit because, again, we were talking before that and you’re a major introvert, but you come across very lively, and I appreciate that about you. Talk to us, as other entrepreneurs, other introvert entrepreneurs that are listening today. What advice would you give that person that’s sitting at home like, I’m not sure I want to get out there?

Traci Poe:
You know what? It is hard. I would say just take that step. Take that action.

One of my workshops is, I think I call it, “Video Camera Comfort Starts Here,” because so many people now are not just taking physical stages, but with the pandemic, so many people moved to virtual. Now you have virtual stages and in person stages, and I help people with both.

The first thing that I talk about in that workshop is you have to take action. So I ask the question, what has to happen before you move? They’ll give me a couple of answers, and the bottom line is, for you to move, you have to determine that you are going to get up and move somewhere. You have to take that action to do it.

So for me, sharing with other introverts like me, it’s just that encouragement of if you have a passion for something, you are only going to be able to help those other people by taking that action and getting up and moving.

So that would be my thing. Let that passion you have to help others be your driving force to get up and move.

Rev. Lyle:
I agree one hundred percent. As an introvert, you think about yourself. But when you take your mind off yourself and think about the person that you’re passionate about, that’s when the action becomes real. You start to move from your heart, not just from your head. Huge difference. Traci, what’s... go ahead.

Traci Poe:
Right, right, right, right, yes, yes. I was going to say it’s authentic at that point. That’s one of the things that I do when I work with people with their public speaking. Again, whether it’s to do content or to be on a podcast or whatever, whether it’s virtual or in person, you have to be authentic because if you’re not, the audience is going to see right through you and they’re going to shut down.

Rev. Lyle:
Absolutely. So what’s God currently doing in your business right now?

Traci Poe:
Okay, so I am in year three of my business. Let me just say, don’t be me.

Because I have really been doing this angst of fighting back and forth with moving forward with what God is calling me to do, and sometimes sitting in that timidity, I would say it’s taken me a while. There’s also a whole story about me leaving and my mom passing. So for the first year and a half of my business, I just could not focus. It was a hot mess.

So really in the last year, year and a half, I’ve really started going. What God is doing right now is He opened up an opportunity to be on the Skool platform. I had been thinking about it for a while, and excuse, excuse, excuse. Then there was an opportunity to come in for free for three months and get your community going and try it. I was like, well, you can’t beat free, right?

So I went in and I got my Public Speakers Growth Hub up and going.

Right now what’s happening is that I’m in the process of building this Public Speakers Growth Hub. What I’m finding is the members who are coming in and being active, man, it lights my fire because they are really getting it and they’re growing. Every time they show up on a workshop, they’re so excited and they’re giving me positive feedback like, this is so helpful.

So what’s currently happening is I’m getting to help people who are either fearful, have never spoken before and they’re just getting going, or maybe they’ve been speaking. I’ve got a couple who have been speaking, but they really are wanting to go that level up way, to get really, really good at what they’re doing, at that craft.

So I’m working with all of those who are kind of on the beginning end of this journey, and it’s so fun. It is so fun to watch them again having those aha moments and getting it, and watching the growth of their skills from week to week.

So right now it’s fun because I’m getting to work with people who really are valuing that they get to do this and help other people. Again, you and I were talking, my heart is to help the mission driven person, the person who knows they have something to say and who can make a difference in somebody else’s life. That’s who I want to help.

Rev. Lyle:
That’s great. For people that don’t know a lot about Skool, Skool is built on the concept of community. As entrepreneurs, we’re all solo sometimes. We’re solopreneurs, a lot of us. Having that place of community where you can connect and what I call affinity groups. An affinity group means you can have like minded people and like minded resources.

So in yours, yours is a group for people who want to get into speaking, who want to speak better. But you also probably had to share a little bit about Christianity in there, just I’m assuming based on who you are as a person.

Traci Poe:
I don’t hide my faith. I don’t hide my faith. There are people in the group that are not Christians. I don’t hide my faith. There are people in the group who have other faiths, everything from atheist to other faiths to Christians. I don’t hide my faith.

So yeah, I bring it up. It is not a faith based group. It is not. Because I feel like we are here to spread the light, and that is what I want to do with whoever comes into my circle. Not hiding my faith. I’m going to talk about God. I’m going to reference God. I’m going to say things like, praise God. So yeah, I don’t hide my faith at all.

Rev. Lyle:
That’s cool, and it’s a balance when you’re in business. Do I want to go full on and just do for Christians, or do I want to do for everyone, but still not hide my faith? And the catch is, and I love that you’re saying it like that, I don’t hide my faith.

So many entrepreneurs, they try to be a Christian in secret. Their secret identity is Christian. I’m not saying you have to go preach all the time, but having those moments where people realize this person actually believes in something greater than themselves, that’s a huge conversation. It’s a good open door conversation.

Traci Poe:
Right, right, right. And the bottom line is, if you come into my community and you know I’m a Christian and you’re just really uncomfortable, you can choose to leave. Nobody’s left so far, but it’s your choice. It’s your choice.

If you want to hear me talk about God or reference scripture, which I do quite often, especially when I know I’ve got a believer in the community because a lot of their talks are faith centered, then we’ll talk about it. I’ll say, and that reminds me of the scripture, blah, blah, blah. Have you thought about putting that there?

Because I know scripture. I’m not saying I’m an expert on the Bible. I’m really good at knowing what the scripture is, but don’t ask me where you’re going to find it. It’s in the Old Testament somewhere, it’s in the New Testament somewhere. But I know some of those really life changing verses. Like I said, some of my life verses, I know those.

It’s amazing how the Spirit just talks through you. So that happens a lot.

Rev. Lyle:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s cool.

So let’s talk. We’re going to shift gears a little bit to our business growth concepts. What are some things you’re doing in your business that are helping your business grow that might help somebody else grow their business?

Traci Poe:
So one of the things that, when I first got into business, it was, oh, you’re going to be making ten thousand dollars in thirty days. All of these people pitching their own coaching programs or whatever it is would dangle that carrot like, oh, you’re going to be big super fast.

I think a lot of people start their business and they fall into that and they believe that. I have people come to me and say, well, how can I make six figures speaking?

Well, not overnight. Probably not. Maybe weird once in a while, but the thing that I have finally settled into, and again, I said that first year and a half, it was a hot mess. I was chasing every rabbit, listening to every person, and I just needed to settle into me and pray it through and make my decisions.

So what I finally realized is it is not a sprint. It is not a one hundred yard dash. This is like a marathon. I know people use that analogy very frequently, but this is a marathon. You do the things to move you forward every day, and you make those iterations and changes.

Okay, I’ve been trying this for a while, and I would say, if it doesn’t work one time, don’t give up and shift. Keep trying that thing and maybe make iterations. After you’ve been trying it for a longer period of time, if you feel like you need to put that aside even for now, go ahead. But again, pray everything through. Pray everything through.

So I would say understand it may not happen overnight. Stick with that perseverance. The Bible talks about perseverance, that long race.

So I would say understand that. Have that mindset shift of this may not happen overnight for me. Stay the course and do the things that are going to move the needle for you. Figure out what those things are.

I am just coming into figuring out what those things are instead of doing all of the things that might help build visibility. But is visibility big if it’s not translating into conversion, if that makes sense?

So stick with it. Stay the course. Pray everything through. Make those small changes, those little tweaks here and there.

One of the things that we talk about with video, I actually did a workshop Tuesday, and one of the women asked, how long will it take me to get comfortable with doing video?

I answered, the research that I have done says you have to do one hundred videos at a minimum to start feeling comfortable.

The look on her face was just like horror, you know, like one hundred videos? And I said, well, hold on, hold on. That doesn’t mean you have to publish all of those one hundred videos, right? There is hope, and it can go fast.

So you have to do a video, watch it, make a change. Do a video, watch it, make a change. Don’t try to do twenty five changes at one time.

So go slow. Understand growth when you’re going slower is stronger. If you think about a tree, a tree that stands the test of time is probably going to grow slower than trees that shoot up really fast. They don’t live as long, and they can be pushed over by storms more easily.

So build that foundation at a slower pace, at God’s pace, because truly it’s going to happen on His time, especially if you’re surrendering your business to Him, if He’s called you to this.

So that’s my advice that I have learned. Just take your time. Make the connections. Build true, authentic relationships. Be patient.

Rev. Lyle:
Yeah, that consistency is a key because somebody gets into entrepreneurship and they post on their social media once or twice, or maybe even for a week, and they expect everything to explode. They’re going to go viral like that guy down the street.

Well, the people who went viral had been working for twenty, thirty years sometimes before they went viral. So it’s all about planting those seeds, that consistency.

So my suggestion again on that consistency factor is pick that one channel that works for you and be consistent. Share that passion. Share that story. Get that out there. That’s very important.

So what are some of those consistencies that have helped your business?

Traci Poe:
So, you know, just fortitude, honestly. That’s my thing.

Because I’ve had this question asked of me. I’ve been on a few other podcasts and that’s been asked, and it’s just, you have to wake up and make the decision. Basically, take up your cross daily and follow Me. You have to make that choice.

So it’s not like I can say, try this technique or that technique. To me, the answer is, it is a choice. You have to choose. Did God call me to this?

There are times when we question it. There are times when I was ready to just be done, like, Lord, I’m not doing this anymore. I can’t. Nothing is happening. And the next day something happens and it’s, okay God, You have me here for a reason. You have me here doing what You called me to do for a reason.

So if you know God has called you to this, then it’s just that gut thing of wake up and do it again. Do your consistent action again.

Actually, what I would say is I’m really big into lists, so maybe this is a technique. Come up with your money making actions. For instance, networking is huge. People ask me how I get the most people. It’s through networking.

So I know for me, networking is one of those things that’s going to move the needle. Come up with your list of the things that you know are going to move the needle and just check them off. Did I do this today? Did I do this today? Did I do this today?

That’s actually one of the things that I do now that I think about it. I just know what’s going to help me, and that’s what I do.

Rev. Lyle:
That’s a great word, and that’s important because if you’re called and you’re passionate, and you know God has called you into business, not taking action is not being a steward of what God’s called you to do.

Traci Poe:
Yes, absolutely. I agree. Yeah, I agree. I agree.

We’re not being faithful to what He called us to if we’re choosing inaction. And that’s not to say we can’t get burnout. You talked about solopreneur earlier. We can get burnout, right?

Jesus went off by Himself multiple times to recharge, just to be with His Father.

So I would say I’m not saying have a very skewed work life balance. Be healthy. Take care of yourself. Steward your body that God gave you. We’re supposed to eat the right things and sleep and exercise, move, all the things to keep us okay.

But don’t use that as an excuse not to do the business side of it and to be faithful in what He is calling you to do.

Rev. Lyle:
Absolutely. Good word.

So as we end here, tell us how we can get in touch with you, and then I want you to give us one little snippet, one little bit of wisdom to end our time together.

Traci Poe:
Okay, I’ve got the wisdom.

Communicate Great is my company. My Public Speakers Growth Hub is on the Skool platform, and I think you’re going to be dropping some of the links. I’m also on several different social media platforms.

I would say, and I also have, well, I don’t have a podcast for public speaking. I have other podcasts. But the Skool Public Speakers Growth Hub, my website, CommunicateGreat.online, and I have a page for the audience.

Then social media. I’m on Facebook and Alignable. I do have a YouTube channel for the Public Speakers Growth Hub, Instagram, so I’m in several places.

I actually have somebody else do my social media, so I’m not sure where all I am because I don’t look at those vanity metrics. I don’t care about them. She posts what she posts and then it’s done.

But the wisdom, here’s the wisdom. I’m going to say to you that if you have a message that you know can help other people, if you want to help other people and you have that apprehension about taking, again, that in person stage or the virtual stage, just know that yes, you can do it. You really can do it.

If you want help, I am here to help. But be faithful in that calling and know that you absolutely have a message to share that can change someone’s life.

Rev. Lyle:
Thank you for being with us.

Traci Poe:
Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.