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What if the thing you’re most afraid to say is exactly what your content needs to stand out?

My guest today grew 41,000 followers in 60 days by breaking every “rule” about content creation—and making it feel like art instead of work.

In this episode, Vasavi Kumar shares why you should speak your truth more than ever, how she posts 3x daily without burning out, and the creative flow process that makes consistency effortless.

Key Takeaways:

• Why certainty sells—how speaking with conviction (not being mean) builds trust instantly, and the difference between being direct versus being polarizing

• The scripting secret no one talks about—how to use teleprompters without sounding robotic, why her most viral content is scripted, and the voiceover training that changed everything

• From overwhelm to creative flow—why batching on the couch with Sex and the City works, how to make content feel like art not obligation, and the “make it yours” philosophy that eliminates comparison

Connect with Vasavi Kumar:

Instagram: @mynameisvasavi

Website: vasavikumar.com/

 ____________________________________

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh: Today on the podcast, I am joined by Vasavi Kumar, who is an absolute powerhouse.

Vasavi Kumar: Not everyone is going to like you. That is okay. You don’t like everyone. That is okay too. She is author of Say It Out Loud, five Minutes talking about my dad who died in May. I know the algorithm is not gonna like my five minute video. I don’t give a shit. 

Emily Hirsh: We had an incredible conversation that will really help you create content that stands out. Create content that lights you up, that grows your business.

Vasavi Kumar:  In a matter of less than two months. Actually, yeah, two months I’ve grown by 41,000. Not every single piece of content is I hope they buy from me.

It’s just my own expression because I really wanna say it and I have an audience of people who are listening.

Emily Hirsh: You guys are going to absolutely love this conversation and get so much tactical and strategic things you can implement in your business and as a creator and entrepreneur. Embodied CEOs don’t chase trends.

They pave the way they lead from within. Move by purpose, unshaken by noise. When you are the source, you do not need permission. All right. We are live. Welcome to the show. We have known each other for a while, but really not dropped in deep before, so I can’t wait.

Vasavi Kumar:  Thank you so much for having me, Emily. I’m so excited. The last time we hung out, we were wake surfing.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. On a boat. And you were able

Vasavi Kumar:  to get up on the wake surf and I barely got up there, but it was fun trying And

Emily Hirsh: you did like a super fun thing where you actually just rode on it, right? 

Vasavi Kumar: I just rode like, I forgot about that. I was just, I was just having a good old time.

Just like we, yeah. 

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. I think you like, I don’t know what it would be called. You just like bookie boarded it. 

Vasavi Kumar:  Yes. That’s exactly what I did. I was just going for a ride and that was so you, you’re like, I’m just gonna have fun. I’m just gonna do it my way. There are no rules.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Yeah. That was great. So I’m really excited. Thank you for being here. 

Vasavi Kumar:  Thanks for having me.

Emily Hirsh: Let’s start with a little bit about you tell me wherever you feels relevant. Yeah. I know you’ve done so many things and wrote a book and Yeah. Have. So much incredible message to share, but yeah, your story and, and kind of who you are.

Vasavi Kumar:  So I’ll share a little bit about, you know, who I was and what I’ve done in the past, and then what’s really most alive for me right now.

So I’m a licensed therapist in the state of Texas. I’ve also been a coach for 15 years. I was a former TV host. I’m a voiceover artist. I’m an actor. I’ve been to culinary school. I’ve been to yoga, teacher training. I share all of this because there’s just so many different parts of me that have made me who I am today and who, and have allowed me to help people in the way that I help them, which is truly their fear of being seen, right?

Their, their visibility wounds. Really allowing themselves to put themselves out there and be seen. So I’ve done a lot of stuff that’s. Allowed me to break through my own fears of being in front of the camera, letting people hear me, see me, all that good stuff. Right now what I’m doing, because it changes as we grow and evolve, I am still a therapist.

I’m still a coach, but I am the founder of the Out Loud School, which is a global monthly membership. It is a gym. For your voice and your visibility. It is a practice space for creative entrepreneurs to come and workshop their content, get feedback on their videos before they put it out on social. Right?

Like, don’t you ever just wish before you put out a piece of content, you’re like, I just wish I could run this by someone. I just wish someone could look at this and let me know what their honest gut reaction is. So that’s what the Out Loud School is. And this is my newest creative baby that I’ve just put out into the world.

We have 67 members as I speak today, and I share this with you today. I’m just very excited about everything that we have going on.

Emily Hirsh: That’s so exciting. It’s so cool when like, all the experience that you’ve had comes into a new project Yeah. And a new place to, to support people. Yeah. And, and expand your impact.

Yeah. What would you say is like. You know, some threads of, of what you are so incredible at and your gifts that you bring through all the different things that you’ve done.

Vasavi Kumar:  I think the biggest thing that I bring to the table, I’m I, I, I will say I bring a lot of things to the table, but the number one thing is that when someone says to me, I am afraid to put this piece of content out there, or I’m afraid to be seen, or I’m afraid to, I’m afraid I’m gonna lose my credibility.

If I share my humanity with people, I’m able to not only hold space for that, but I’m also able to offer. Just different tools to help you regulate yourself so that when you get on camera, when you record that piece of content, you’re not like shaking. You’re like, I feel solid and rooted in who I am as a person.

I’m able to read between the lines. It’s not just do this post three days a week. It’s not just strategy. We have to look at what is happening underneath the hood. What is happening in our brains and bodies when it’s time for us to go be seen. So that’s what I really love bringing to the table with my clients is, is not just a deep understanding of what it feels like to be seen and have more people see you, whether you go viral, whether you have a video that reaches a lot of people or whatever, or you’re only speaking to a small audience.

It doesn’t matter. Fear is fear, right? So I, I love walking my clients through that process that I have. Which is really address it, name it, tend to the body. But do it anyway. We do it anyway.

Emily Hirsh: I love that. We do it. We do it anyways. We do

Vasavi Kumar:  it anyway. Yeah, because that’s, it’s through practice, right?

Confidence is, you can’t think your way into being confident. Confident. You actually have to do the damn thing. Right. So that’s why I’ve created the out Loud school, which is a really great place for people to practice, being seen, asking their questions, getting feedback, being witnessed, and that’s the biggest theme that I’m seeing in the work that I’m doing with people.

Emily Hirsh: And I mean content today I’ve been saying we’re all gonna be a media brand. Yes. Like creating content and content that stands out and comes from the heart. Yeah. And like has your. Signature. You’re, you’re bold. You know who you are infused in. It is, it’s not even like an option anymore. Yeah. It’s a non-negotiable for, for any brand, I think.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yes, absolutely. Like we all have, and especially if you are running a service-based business, if you’re a coach, he or any sort of provider, I mean, I know you do Facebook ads, like whatever it is that you’re putting out into the world, you’re still the face of your brand at the end of the day. Right. Even if you have a ton of people working for you, even if you’re an agency, you still are the face of your brand.

So really becoming this person that people can relate to, resonate with, and also be like, oh, she not only gets it, she’s smart, she can help me, but she’s also a real person. That is what is selling these days. What is real, right. Gives a crap about the curated feed anymore. Like, I don’t care. I mean, honestly, Emily, if you go to, if you go to my Instagram feed one of my most viral reels right now, it’s about to hit a million views.

I’m wearing my dead Dad’s Hanes t-shirt. My dad dy five months ago, and I’m wearing his, you know, Hanes t-shirt. My hair is up in a messy bun. I have pretty shitty lighting, and I’m sitting on a couch recording, and that reel is almost at a million. And I’m, and I’ve been on like, studying it from the place of like, why do people, why is this resonating so much?

And it’s just because I’m just like, I’m just being a real person sitting on the couch. What was the topic of it? The topic is how you can literally rewire your brain by talking to yourself out loud. And here’s the thing that a lot of people don’t know, that entire video was scripted. I scripted that entire video.

I have a lot of experience being on tv, writing my scripts, reading scripts. So not only was that video scripted, I was wearing my dad’s t-shirt, I’m using a teleprompter. I haven’t washed my hair in three days. I’m sitting on my couch with not a lot of sunlight on me, and it’s about to hit a million views.

Wow. And I think people resonated with it because it’s just like, I’m just sitting on the couch shooting the shit with you and talking to you about neuroscience, geeking out on the brain, talking about talking to yourself out loud. So many people felt less alone because there are lots of people who talk to themselves out loud, but in our society, we deemed that as crazy.

And I destigmatize that, and I’m like, no, you’re not crazy for doing that. This is actually really healthy for your brain. So I just wanna, you know, your audience to know, like if there’s, if they’re still sitting behind, like, I need to be polished. I need to be perfect. I need the best lighting. Yes. Have great lighting.

Yes. Put on some makeup if you want, if that makes you feel good. But what’s really gonna stand out is you and the resonance and the message, and you being real and speaking like you speak. You don’t have to all of a sudden button it up when you get on camera. You can just speak like how you speak to your best friend.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. And I mean today, especially like I see this with ads, I see it with organic. It’s like the more natural and authentic you are, the better it does. Yes. People don’t want the curated, it’s like an instant wall goes up when they, when they experience that. One thing I find a lot with clients and, and people that I talk to about creating content is when I push them to kind of go into that disruptive space of like, what do you really think about these things?

There’s a lot of fear that comes up. Totally. And there’s like this, this thought that. In order to do that, I have to be like mean. Yeah. Like they think that like I have to be mean to be disruptive. And I’m like, no, you can come from a place of love and be direct, but I would love to hear your take on that.

’cause I see that as like the number one thing people struggle with when it comes to creating standout content.

Vasavi Kumar:  People think that if you wanna stand out or if you want to have boundaries, for example, or if you wanna speak with conviction and certainty that you’re being mean. And that is because we are conditioned, especially as women, to not speak with certainty, to not speak with conviction.

We are taught to soften our edges and to be palatable and to not rock the boat. I am a very certain person when I speak, like if I don’t know something, I will say with certainty, I don’t know this right? Like I don’t have to have all the answers. I also speak with conviction because I believe in what I’m saying.

Therefore, the conviction comes through. I’m not being mean. I’m being direct. I’m just telling you like it is. And the reason why I do that, and I want your audience to hear this, is because I don’t wanna waste your time. So I want your audience to think about it this way, right? Like, you don’t wanna waste people’s time by being vague, by being watered down, by just telling them what you think they want to hear.

Like for me, it’s like, listen, I have what, maybe 15 seconds to capture your attention. Three seconds. In the very beginning, I am going to hook you. I want you to keep paying attention because what I have to say is going to change your life or it’s gonna change your business. So I want people to start looking at certainty and conviction as you are valuing someone’s time.

If you come off as wishy-washy. Like vague, that is going to activate something in, in, in the listener’s brain also. Like she sounds really wishy-washy. Why should I trust her? But when you speak with certainty and you speak with conviction, you’re, it’s like ding, ding, ding in their brain. It’s like, oh, well she’s speaking with confidence and certainty and conviction.

I can trust her. Right? And then obviously you have to follow through. You have to be a trustworthy person. Don’t just pretend to speak with certainty and conviction. But I would say lean into it. Lean into being more certain. Lean into speaking with more conviction. Stand for something that is how people will start to trust you.

Emily Hirsh: And, and when you work with people on this, what are the things that you do to start to like. Build that, I guess confidence, but really it’s also clarity, I find. Mm-hmm. People are like, I don’t know what I really think sometimes or, or they have it, but it’s so, it’s so buried what they really think.

Vasavi Kumar:  We just did this in the out loud school yesterday.

We have two sessions a month. Yesterday was a Amplify hot seat, and I was talking about hooks and I was working with members live one-on-one in a group setting about hooks. And I had them come up with something that they wanted to talk about, right? One of the women wanted to talk about grief, and so I just kept challenging her like.

What’s the edgiest thing you can say about grief? What’s the most polarizing thing you can say about grief? What’s the thing that you would say? But you would never say out loud to somebody and she was doing it in front of like 30 of the school members, and she’s like, this feels really weird saying this in front of people.

I go, yes, because you are being witnessed in your certainty. You are being witnessed in your conviction. You are being witnessed in your power, and that is what is so scary, especially for women. I don’t really know if men deal with this all the time, but especially for women, it’s like, can I really be seen in my power and not be looked at as a mean person?

So that’s the process that I was walking them through yesterday. I ask a lot of questions with my clients. I’m like, how else can you say this? Like, why are you pissed off about this? Like, why does this matter to you? I think asking ourselves these questions will help us to bring forth the truth of what we’re really trying to say.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah, and I think this is so important as creators because. I feel with ai, we’re gonna lose this. Unless you intentionally focus on it. Contemplation Yeah. Of like, what do I really think? And I saw this guy speak and he talked about, I can’t remember his name, but he’s, he’s, he’s well known and I should remember his name, but I don’t but he was like, I just sit myself in my office with no electronics, nothing.

And I just almost, except I torture myself of like, what do I really think about whatever it is and contemplate and bring that out. And he also said, you know, everybody wants to be a thought leader, but no one has an original thought. And I just feel like prioritizing that today is so essential because it’s really easy to like immediately turn to chat GPT Yes.

And then have it tell you what you think and that, that white space to do that. I believe is gonna be critical for creators to do what you were doing for your, your students. But you can also do that, you know, on your own thinking. I’m sure you do that with your content creation. I know I do that, like, I sit there with a blank piece of paper and it’s like, what do I think?

Or, I’m driving and I’m, you know, thinking things and allowing myself that creativity

Vasavi Kumar:  before I ever go to chat. GPTI. So my, I’ve trained my brain to just think in hooks and stories and it’s just, it’s just the way I’ve trained my brain. I always, for me, the way you open anything matters, right? Like your first three seconds, like how you start off is, is.

Is the most crucial part, I think, and how you end. But you know, really how you start off. So I think in hooks and before I ever go to chat GBT, I’ll ask myself like, what do I really wanna say about this? Like, what’s the thing that feels terrifying for me to say? What’s the thing that feels arrogant to say I have this real right now that’s going viral or whatever.

And I come off a little bit arrogant in the beginning. For some people I start off by saying, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but, and then I go on to toot my own horn. It’s very triggering for a lot of people to see a woman that confident and certain about who she is as a person. And I’m noticing the comments and I’m like, wow, this really pissed off a lot of people.

But this also empowered a lot of people. So my advice to your audience is think about the thing that you would like, you, you don’t wanna come off this way, but it’s like maybe that’s exactly the thing that you need to say to hook people. Like, I didn’t mean to come off as arrogant, but I came off as arrogant.

But the message still sticks. And like you should see the comments on there, right? Half it’s split. People are like, you’re so arrogant. You’re so this, I would never talk to you. You seem really judgmental. Someone else is like, yeah, I’m just like you. Like I, I totally resonate with this message. Here’s the point that I’m trying to make.

Not everyone is going to like you. That is okay. You don’t like everyone. That is okay too, right? So it’s just really about allowing yourself to play with your voice. This is something that I really attribute to my voiceover training. We have to play with our voice. Our job is to bring a script to life. So have fun with how you say things.

Have fun with how you, you know, record your hooks or, or, or start off your videos. But going back to your original point before you ever go to chatt PT, sit down and ask yourself like. Why do I give a shit about this? Why do I care about this? Why does this matter to me? And allow yourself to get a little bit revved up almost.

I get that passion out of you so you don’t sound basic and vanilla.

Emily Hirsh: I love that. And I love what you said earlier on, do it anyways. ’cause that’s kind of coming up for me is like when I talk to people about this, you can give them all this advice. Yeah. And then they still hit that point where they’re scared to hit post.

And it’s like that is the moment that it’s like you just do it anyways and you walk away from it and you’re just like, let it, let it go. And, and, and through the experience of doing that, you then get better at doing it.

Vasavi Kumar:  I wanna add to this, if it’s hard for you to hit post and just walk away, do what I do.

I batch all my content that helps me. I don’t feel like recording videos every single day. I pick maybe two days a week where I batch four to five videos. I’ll give them to my assistant, or I will go in personally and just schedule them. I set it, I forget it. I go live my life. Right? So there are workarounds to this.

It doesn’t have to be this dysregulated state where you’re like, oh my God, I’m hitting posts. Like you can actually have structure to your creativity. You can batch your content, you can write your captions with ease. You can schedule it, and then you can go live and just go, let your content do its thing.

Set up your automations. Do do whatever you gotta do. Like it doesn’t have to be this dysregulating thing. I understand that it can be, but there are workarounds to it. There is structure that we can implement so that it doesn’t have to feel like this big thing.

Emily Hirsh: So true. Yeah. I mean, yeah, social media can see.

I, I find with entrepreneurs, content creation is probably the number one source of overwhelm.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yes.

Emily Hirsh: Because it always feels like I should be doing more and on more platforms and I’m not doing enough and it’s not doing good enough. And I find, like when I do trainings, it’s like that’s, people are struggling across the board with the overwhelm of just the not doing enough, the hamster wheel of content creation.

Vasavi Kumar:  The way that I have simplified this, and I really owe a lot of this to my operations manager, Sarah, shout out to Sarah. I had a lot of offers. I had a lot of different offers because I am a recovering people pleaser and I like to please everyone and I like to make offers for everyone. We have stripped so much fat in my business.

We have the school, we have my one-on-one offering. We have another one-on-one offering. We have stopped giving so many, like one month option, three month option, six month option, 12 month option. And I’m like, I don’t wanna work with someone for one month or three months. I wanna do either six months with you or a year.

We’ve stripped out so much and it has helped. So much when it comes to content creation. So if you find content creation to be hard for you, like ask, like the question that I always ask and I, I would actually love to hear your thoughts on this, is like, where are you leading your audience towards, right?

So it’s like every piece of content is leading my audience somewhere. Whether it’s a freebie, whether it’s my newsletter, we have our, all of our funnels set up in the backend. I want everyone going into the out loud school. That is my main focus this year and next year. We just launched in October. So every piece of content is.

Is guiding people towards that in some shape or form. I have found that content creation was very overwhelming for me when I was trying to guide people to all these different places. What about you? Like, do you, yeah, and

Emily Hirsh: I think with that, it’s like you have a bunch of different ideal customers, kind of.

Yeah. Because you’re all trying to go to different offers. Someone who’s gonna go into a big one-on-one offer or a one month, one on one offer might have different Yes. You know, problems that you’re speaking to. So by being focused, you’re speaking to essentially the same person. Yeah. You know, and that allows that.

And then the other thing I add is like choose the frequency. Like make consistency the goal. Yes. Not necessarily like I have to get this many followers, or I have to get this many leads from my content. I think content definitely can be a growth strategy. I also think it’s a massive nurture strategy.

It’s like you’re, you show up no matter what. Yes. And you’re consistent and you kind of let go of the numbers. Like, yes, numbers are important, but consistency is the most important thing with content. So what’s the frequency that you can choose to create content? That doesn’t feel overwhelming and you can still show up and, and then you stick with that and you do it anyways ’cause you aren’t gonna feel inspired every day.

No. Like I think if you wait to feel inspired to post content, I mean, there’s days I have to record a podcast and I’m not inspired, but I, I’m able to still do it, you know? Because you’ve

Vasavi Kumar:  trained yourself to do it anyway. Exactly.

Emily Hirsh: To do it anyways. Like I think that is not enough. People talk about the do it anyway part, you know, we can

Vasavi Kumar:  definitely talk about the do it anyway because I feel like there’s a lot of like thinking about doing it and I don’t feel like doing it.

And I’m like, your feelings are not facts. Okay. There are days that you’re not gonna feel like getting up and showering, but you probably should get up and shower, right? Like there, there are things in our life that we don’t feel like doing, but then we’re like, wait, why am I not getting the results that I want?

So for me, it’s like when people ask me like, where do you get your motivation? I’m straight up with them. I go, listen, my content pays my bills, my content gets me clients. Like this is like a non-negotiable for me. I am in it for the long haul. This is a calling for me. This is not just a fun hobby for me.

I am running a business. I am not running like, let’s see how this works. I’m just in it. I’m gonna dip my toe like I am an all in kind of girl. If I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna be all in. So I think that that’s really, that do it anyway. Mindset. For me, I know at least it’s like if I’m all in, I’m all in.

I’m going to do it. Like my fe, my feelings are not facts. I’m not gonna let that dictate and determine whether I show up or not. But I love what you said about the frequency and consistency For me and my business is like three times a day we post. That’s a lot. Everything is scheduled two weeks ahead of time.

We have one, I always have one morning video, one afternoon carousel, and then maybe another neuroscience type video or something, but like at least three times a day we post. Yeah, that’s

Emily Hirsh: a very high volume. Yeah. And, and that’s leading to growth. You guys are seeing so much

Vasavi Kumar:  growth from that volume of

Emily Hirsh: content.

Vasavi Kumar:  Absolutely. And what I really want your audience to hear is that like the algorithm didn’t love me. Like I used to get six likes on a video. If you go back to my feed, you’ll see where my video started going viral. And I went from 19,000 followers to now we’re at 61,000 followers in since August 11th. So in a matter of less than two months, actually, yeah, two months I’ve grown by whatever that number is.

Wow. Yeah. 41,000. And

Emily Hirsh: you contribute that to the volume of content and the quality, or what do you think the

Vasavi Kumar:  The volume. The quality. And I just had one reel that took off and then I repeated the same hook and then that video took off. So one of my videos is at 908,000 views. I repeated the same hook. Okay.

And then that video is at 486,000 views right now. So don’t be afraid to repeat yourself. I think that’s another thing also that I wanna say is like. I repeat my content over and over, I repurpose my stuff over and over. If something worked the first time, I just rerecord it or I’ll ask my assistant to, you know, download, save it, and then, you know, repost it again.

But yeah, three times a day is what works for us. It has worked for me. Doesn’t feel overwhelming. We’re always two weeks ahead of time and I enjoy it. I love content creation. Like I really enjoy, it’s, it’s my way of sharing my brilliance with the world. It’s your art. Yeah, it’s my art. That’s exactly right.

I’m a CEO and I’m an artist, so I look at it as both ways. Yeah.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. So when you switched to posting three times a day, did, did, was there like a period where you were like almost punished for that? I feel like the more I post sometimes I don’t get as much views. So I wonder if like the algorithm then kind of got used to you posting that much or No, I, I

Vasavi Kumar:  haven’t noticed anything.

Yeah. I’ve noticed that a lot of my reels I have like. I noticed that one reel that I did took off and I said, I’m gonna create more of these. They’re basically daily, say it out loud mantras, right? Like affirmations that you should repeat out loud. And I’m like, this really took off. So I just started doing those daily, those do really well.

And I’m like, okay, this works. I’m gonna do it daily. And so I record a bunch of them the night before, have them scheduled and go out. But I have noticed some, you know, some of my stuff doesn’t perform well, some stuff doesn’t. But for me, like you said, it’s my art. If I feel like this is something I wanna put out there, I’m going to put it out there.

If, if I feel called to say something, whether it’s about pop culture, whether it’s about politics, my whole brand is saying it out loud. So I have given myself full permission to talk about the things that I wanna talk about out loud. And I don’t care if the algorithm punishes me or not. For me, it’s not about that.

It’s it’s about I am using my voice. I’m using my voice. The right people will resonate with it. The right people will know, like, trust and buy from me. Not every single piece of content is I hope they buy from me. It’s just my own expression because I really wanna say it. And I have an audience of people who are listening, and I’ve been doing this, whether I had 60,000 followers, 19,000, 2000, I was always in the habit and practice of just putting my stuff out there.

Didn’t matter the size of the audience.

Emily Hirsh: And that’s the key right there. Yeah. It’s like you’re committed to the process versus the finish line. Yes. And no matter what showing up, I’m inspired. I don’t, I don’t create that much content. I’m like, I should, I’ll share,

Vasavi Kumar:  I’ll share exactly what I do. I have a daily video that I post.

I love doing carousels. That’s where I story tell, I dump my entire story into chat, GPT or I’ll dump my entire thought process into chat, GPT, like what I want the carousel to be about, where I want it to lead it to. It’ll come up with my carousel. I tweak the hell out of it. Like, Nope, I don’t like this hook.

I don’t like this. I’ll edit it to make sure it’s like completely. Sounds like me. It is exactly what I’m trying to say. The emotional arc is what it is. It’s like art for me. It’s really like telling a story. Right? And then I’ll always do like some sort of neuroscience or like geeky kind of video about the brain and self-talk, and then have that lead back to my book or newsletter.

But I just, I have a lot of fun with it. It’s like, how can I share. How can I share what I wanna share in a way that benefits me and my audience? For sure. I say that to people all the time, like, set yourself up with your content that you’re, you’re doing what you love and what you’re naturally good at, and how you create it so you see a return on your investment.

So for me, like it’s very important that I get my Instagram followers off of Instagram. I want you in my newsletter, I want you on my email subscriber list, right? So every call to action that I have, I have a call to action in almost every single one of my captions. Either download my freebie, download my playbook, go to my newsletter, or I or I straight sell, come join my school for $37 a month.

I am always leading people somewhere, or I’m asking you a question or engaging with my content, like I want the return on my investment. Time investment. Yeah. Yeah. My time investment, my energy investment. And before I wasn’t really getting that, but that still didn’t stop me. I wanna make that very clear.

Like I was not getting the kind of results that I’m getting now, but that still did not stop me because this is not about what can I get from you in the beginning when you’re starting out. It’s let me get into the habit and practice of continuing to put myself out there for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So is organic social your number one kind of business driver right now?

Emily Hirsh: Growth? Yeah. I, I, I don’t know the last time I used an ad, I think I used ad maybe like in 2016 or 17 when I thought I should yeah. I, I don’t use any ads.

I love this because it’s like there’s not one right way. Yeah. You know, like I, or ads are my number one driver course. Yeah. But I’m like, I also would love organ.

You know, if you could have both, that’s the ideal. Yeah. You know, but this is just an example of like there isn’t one right way to grow a business too. Yeah. And have something work. But clearly you’ve figured out, like the volume of content I think is important. And not everyone can start there, but the quality of it and you understand the hooks and the messaging and how to be polarizing.

And I think that’s so key.

Vasavi Kumar:  And it’s also like allow yourself to use scripts. I don’t talk about this a lot out loud, but it’s like I do scripted and unscripted, so. Like two days ago, I did an unscripted video, five minutes talking about my dad who died in May, talking about grief and time. I didn’t use a script, I just talked for five minutes.

I know the algorithm is not gonna like my five minute video. I don’t give a shit. I wanna talk about it. So like, I want y’all to have that kind of freedom with your voice in your content. If you wanna record a five minute video because it is from your heart and your soul and it’s cathartic for you, do it right.

But I also have scripted videos because I don’t like wasting people’s time. I like my message to be concise and I just wanna get to the point, right, because I know that people do not have long attention spans on social media. So I do some scripted, I do some unscripted. I use the edits app on Instagram.

They have a built-in teleprompter, super easy. So I have found my frequency and I have found my flow and there is no rule book around this.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah, I love this because I would say normally I, my opinion would be non-scripted. Yeah. So you’re changing it a little bit. Yeah. And challenging me, I would bet.

Your videos, you can’t tell that you’re reading the teleprompter though.

Vasavi Kumar:  You can’t because I have a lot. I have experience doing it. That’s the key. I have experience doing it for years and I am like, I’m a voice of an artist. I’m a former TV host. Like yeah, I’ve written my scripts. I know exactly how to like look away, look at the camera, use my hands like.

The words are just coming at me, but I’m just bringing them to life

Emily Hirsh: because it still like, comes across so authentic. ’cause I sometimes see people reading a script. Yeah. And you’re like, you, you can tell they’re just like reading. Yeah. And that people pick up on Yeah. As like, oh, you know, I think there’s just a natural, like, oh, you don’t know what you’re saying ’cause you’re just reading the screen.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yeah.

Emily Hirsh: But you know how to do it. Right.

Vasavi Kumar:  And there’s it, I wanna say to everyone who maybe wants to dabble in scripts, it’s just practice. Totally. It’s letting yourself be free. It’s letting yourself play with your voice, putting your body into it. Right? Like, we don’t talk like this. We use our hands. I’m, I’m a hand person.

I’m from New York, so I’m like always flailing my hands, you know? So like, when I’m reading a script, it’s just, I’m just bringing those words to life. And this is where I, I always say this, play with your voice, play with your tone, your pitch, your inflection, your volume, your speed, like. We don’t talk like this all the time, like don’t be robotic.

Like, so it takes practice. Yeah. So don’t be defeated. You can’t sound like you’re reading. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Emily Hirsh: That’s that’s, it’s so cool. Your, your experience of like TV host and voiceover and you’re bringing this all into content creation. Thank you. And really, I mean, you’ve got these skills that so many people could.

Use Yeah. To when they create content. ’cause that’s what you need. Yeah. Like the ability to do what you’re saying with your voice and with your energy. And I mean, it is, it’s not acting, it’s authentic, but it’s like there is a a, there’s an

Vasavi Kumar:  art to it. It is still a performance at the end of the day, but not the type of performance where we’re coming off as fake.

It is still, I am still activating my audience. Right. My voice, my energy is activating my audience. That is, it is acting, but it’s not like being fake. It is embodying a persona. It is putting your energy into it. It is bringing a script to life so that when your audience listens to you, they’re like, oh shit.

I feel something. That is, that’s the whole job of an actor, right? Is to embody the character, to be that person. So when I’m using a script, I am just this person that’s like, I wanna help, I wanna help, and here are the, here’s the information, here’s the content. Like here’s how we do it. And like saying it in a way that feels friendly, conversational, but also direct and certain, and with conviction.

That’s my voice though, right? And so what I wanna encourage everyone to really pay attention to is. When do you feel the most relaxed? When do you feel the most alive? With who? Like, I have my best friend, Sylvie. I’m the most relaxed with her when I talk to her. I just like, everything just comes out right?

We all have our natural, authentic voice, and that is the voice that we use when we’re with people that we feel safe and relaxed with. You can translate that to camera too, but it takes practice. That’s why we have the out loud school.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Yeah. And so how do you in the school, like sharing a little bit of like, how would you help someone find their voice, I guess?

Like what are some tips?

Vasavi Kumar:  Yeah, so for what we, we have an actual section inside the school just for q and a and feedback and the content lab. So people will come in and post their videos and I will give them my like feedback, like, your hook was off, you talked for too long. You need to edit out these pauses.

You can, you can speed up here, like play with your voice here. So I will give them feedback. Then they will, you know, send back their video again and be like, here, what do you think of this? So they’re getting direct feedback, not just from me but from the community. Because. We are all an audience, right?

So we’re also listening to your videos and we’re like telling you how we feel watching them. So it’s, it’s, you’re, you’re kind of bearing all in the school because you’re letting people see you mid-process. So what I really wanna say to your audience is allow people to see you mid evolution. I think oftentimes, especially for social media, we feel like we have to be polished, put together, and like we have it all figured out.

But I also think there’s something beautiful in letting people see you mid evolution, mid, you know, just messy, imperfect. And that’s what we practice inside the school. So you’re sharing your videos, you’re getting feedback, you’re sharpening your voice, and you’re doing it again, and you’re doing it again.

You, that’s how you get better. That’s just how you, that’s literally the only way, that’s just, I, I was not born this way. And I will say this, I grew up in front of the camera. My father would follow me around with the camera. So when a camera comes on, I’m like talking to it like it’s a person. I’m so used to it.

It doesn’t scare me. I’m not worried. That is because I’ve been in front of a camera since I was like four or five years old, right? So it, it’s practice. It’s not like some god-given gift, it’s practice.

Emily Hirsh: It’s the only way, and then it becomes embodied in you. It becomes embodied in It’s so natural. Yeah.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yeah.

Emily Hirsh: Are some of the, the main things you see is like people talk too much or they have, like, what are some of the common themes you see reviewing content?

Vasavi Kumar:  I love this. So the, one of the things is that people get, take way too long to get to the point They have to like, give a lot of context. I call it padding.

Women do this all the time. We pad our content, we’re like, I gotta give you the beginning and I gotta give you, I gotta give you the explanation. I can’t just say the thing, just say the thing. And it also depends on the type of content you’re sharing, right? If you wanna get strap in and tell a nice long story to your audience, maybe that’s the time for you to add a little context and nuance and, and floweriness and just like give all the details.

But if you’re trying to record a 92nd video, 62nd video, get to the point, strip away the fluff.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah, it’s true in writing too. Like a lot of times you write and then you look at the beginning, you’re like, I can just delete that whole thing and start there. Yes, exactly. Like redo that. Yeah. Yeah. And

Vasavi Kumar:  I’ve noticed it’s like if I’ve ever used chat g PT to write captions, which I rarely do anymore, it’s like too long.

It’s like a dissertation. So I’m just like, Nope, we don’t need this, we don’t need this. Like, what do we actually need? I usually just let my videos do the work for me, and then I’ll do a very short caption at the end, just like a call to action. But yeah, like for, for everyone listening, watching right now, like notice where you overexplain, overexplaining is the number one thing.

And giving like heads up to people giving like a warrant, like a disclaimer before they get into the thing. It’s like, just get to the thing. And once again, it depends on, be intentional about the type of content you’re trying to put out there. If you’re putting out longer pieces of content, then yeah, take your time with it.

But if you’re like on Instagram and you’re like, I just wanna get this point across like 60, 90 seconds, whatever, then cut away the fluff.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. And I mean that with attention spans today, that’s so important. Yeah. How does AI play a role in your content creation and just like batching and how do you use it strategically?

Oh, I use,

Vasavi Kumar:  oh, I love this question so much. You’re the first person that’s ever asked me this, so Really? Yeah. You’re the first person I teach it inside the school, but like on an, on a podcast, no one’s ever asked me this, so what’s my process? So I I always wanna talk about the brain and I always wanna talk about the body.

And so I will think about, and I will pay attention to what my members are saying inside the school. I will pay attention to what my one-on-one clients are saying. And I’ll go to chat and I’ll be like, I wanna write a neuroscience back script about why visibility feels so hard when you’re blah, blah, blah.

Like, I, I will, I will take the problem, I will tell, chat what I’m looking for. Like I want a neuroscience back script and it will put in the neuroscience. I will fact check, I will do everything. Make sure like this is correct. And then I will practice saying it. And I’m like, I don’t like the way this sounds.

I would never say this. Get rid of these m dashes. I, I make it longer form, make it more conversational. Put in more filler words. I don’t ever read my scripts verbatim. I now have gotten so used to writing my scripts and reading my scripts that like, I will just improv in the moment also. But I use chat to help me synthesize my thoughts.

Like it’s like, this is what I wanna write. Come up with the script, first draft, and then I’ll edit. I’ll edit. Probably do three or four edits. And then I’ll just plug it into my edits app in the teleprompter, and then I’ll record my video.

Emily Hirsh: Schedule it simple. Like doing it simple, right in the edits app with the

Vasavi Kumar:  teleprompter is great and content is everywhere.

Think about what your clients are telling you. Think about what you are going through. Think about, you know, what your, your community members are saying or you know, whatever. And content is everywhere. My issue is never, I don’t know what to talk about. I I don’t have that issue because it’s everywhere.

Right? The same.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. It’s always, it’s like in your, I mean, you get, you, you train yourself to, like everything is content. Yes. Can be content if you choose. Yes. And the,

Vasavi Kumar:  and the other way I use chat is that I will write my newsletters and I will turn my newsletters into carousels, which kind of give a sneak peek into the newsletter.

And then I invite people to join my newsletter. So if I write like a very juicy newsletter, I will take pieces of that, turn that into a carousel and say, if you want more. C, come join my newsletter. So it helps me repurpose a lot of my stuff. Like whatever I’m saying on video is most likely what I’m talking about inside my school is most likely what I’m sharing in my newsletter.

Like everything is just kind of cohesive across. And the

Emily Hirsh: repetition, you said that earlier, that’s important. You should feel like you’re repeating yourself. I think it’s important for people to know that we know everything we’re talking about, but very rarely does somebody actually consume everything you put out and, and retain it.

Yes. Right. Like you should feel like you are repeating core things all the time.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yeah. Like I wrote a book called Say It Out Loud. Every single one of my offers has some form of out loud in it. Like, I don’t mind that it all sounds the same. I will, I say, say it out loud in almost all of my videos, like you’ll always hear me say some version of Say it out loud or Out Loud.

Or using your voice. Like, I don’t mind sounding like a broken record because I don’t ever wanna assume that new people aren’t finding me. I, my belief system is new. People are always finding me. New people are always finding me, so therefore they need to know what I’m all about. So I’m gonna be repetitive and say the same shit over and over and over again.

That’s how you build trust. I wanna be consistent and predictable.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Because you wanna have like say it out loud becomes something that then they hear it and they connect you to that and that that’s what you want. I mean, that’s how you become an industry leader.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yes. That’s, I wanna be known for, oh, if I really want to use my voice and say it out loud and I need someone to just kind of get me through this hurdle or, or just way of thinking.

I wanna go to varsity. Say it out loud. That’s it.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Yeah. So I wanna talk about now the brain science and that side of things. Yeah. ’cause you’ve got your whole background. I mean, that’s so much of your content. Yeah. And I think I saw that video about talking out loud. I saw one of your videos and I was like, I gotta get around the podcast.

I’ve been really into that. Yeah. The last few years. I’ve gone to two dispenser events now and Wow. Really into the neuroscience and the brain. And yeah. I would love, like you’re so experienced in that too, and we haven’t touched on that yet. Yeah. So I would love to dive into that. Maybe to start just any like kind of core teachings that you have around it or themes that you, you seem to be teaching a lot around.

Vasavi Kumar:  I share a lot around the amygdala, which is your fear center and your prefrontal cortex. And I talk about that when you speak to yourself out loud, your auditory cortex, which is basically you hearing yourself, you begin to train your body to get used to the sound of your own voice. Something powerful happens when you start to speak out loud to yourself.

You’re literally listening to yourself and your body in that moment is like. Oh, these words feel unfamiliar or these words feel true for me, or they don’t feel true for me. You can actually gauge your own bullshit. That’s what I always say. That’s why it’s important to talk to yourself out loud because your brain is processing it.

Your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for focus and confidence and decision making. It is distinguishing like your voice and being like, is this actually true? Do I actually feel confident about this or not confident about it? So, you know, I love the brain stuff because I was diagnosed, I’m neurodivergent, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and A DHD.

So I’ve always been very fascinated by the brain, how the brain works more. Most recently, I’ve been really fascinated just with the body, right? And nervous system regulation. ’cause I realized just how damn dysregulated I was. So I’ve been immersing myself and reading myself in all things brain and body and using that to not only just help myself, but to help the people in my school.

Yeah.

Emily Hirsh: So the, the talking out loud, like. Tell me how that looks for you. Like, or somebody on a day to day, like literally, do you have like times where you’re like, I’m gonna process something, or is it like, oh, I need to process this, I’m gonna talk out loud. Do you record yourself? Like all this stuff? I love that you’re asking

Vasavi Kumar:  this.

You’re like, you’re really getting in. So I do a lot of mirror work. I do have a 365 days mirror work prompts that I will give you the link that you can give your audience, but I’m a huge fan of mirror work. Louise Hayes used to talk about mirror work all the time, but when people ask me how do I feel more comfortable in front of the camera, I ask them, do you practice mirror work?

Because when you’re standing in front of the mirror, your mirror neurons are actually witnessing you and you can’t, your brain can’t tell the difference between your audience witnessing you and you witnessing yourself. So, when you are about to record a video, and let’s just say you’re nervous, you’re like, I don’t wanna say this out loud.

Oh my God, this feels too edgy. Don’t do it yet. Stand in front of the mirror and say the thing that you wanna say that feels a little edgy or polarizing. Look at yourself in the mirror and actually feel like witness yourself saying that thing. You’ll become less scared. You will feel less scared because your brain can’t tell the difference between if someone else is seeing you or you’re seeing yourself, you’re still witnessing yourself.

Same thing, right? So get in front of the mirror, talk to yourself in front of the mirror, say the thing that you wanna say, and this is a very practical tool for before you get on stage, before you get on camera, seeing yourself actually hearing yourself saying the thing that you wanna say.

Emily Hirsh: It makes so much sense because anytime you like do something once and then go do it again, you’re doing it better.

Like I know if I do like a specific workout and then I go do that workout again, I almost every single time get a better score because I’ve done it before. So that makes total sense. Like if you need to practice a speech or something you wanna say, and that’s how you get better at content in general.

But yeah, I never do in front of Am Mirror. I should do that.

Vasavi Kumar:  I, I think it would really blow your mind, Emily. I really do. Yeah. ’cause there’s something very powerful about seeing yourself. You can’t lie to yourself in front of the mirror. You

Emily Hirsh: can’t hide. Yeah. You

Vasavi Kumar:  can’t hide all the thoughts that you may have about yourself.

Maybe not. So nice ones may come up. Right. But I always say that my best gauge for self-esteem and self-respect. Like if I wanna know how much I respect myself, I look in front of the mirror and I pay attention to what I’m saying to myself. Oh, you don’t look like this. Or you, you’re getting old. You just say what your thoughts are.

Out loud, out loud. And then I reframe them in the moment. Oh, you’re getting old. You neck is getting a little loose. You got some gray hairs. I notice myself saying that about myself. I’m 43. I feel like I still look 36. But like, I have thoughts in my head, of course, with aging and media and all that. I’ll say those thoughts out loud.

And I’m like, you look beautiful. And I will literally say in that moment, what are you talking about? You look beautiful right now. Like I, I’ve had moments like that. I had, I had a moment like that today. Getting ready to come, get ready to come here. I had a negative thought about myself, and I was like, what are you saying?

You look fly. You look so fly right now. Like I, I, I love it. I had to say that to myself because the thoughts in my head were being really mean, and that’s why I’m able to show up and speak with certainty and speak with conviction. I, I actually posted about this the other day. You content is nothing more than your self-talk turned outward, right?

So if your self-talk is shitty, your self-talk is doubtful or, or victim, or victim complaining, it is gonna come through in your content. So the way, the reason why I’m able to speak with certainty, confidence and conviction is because of what I tell myself. This does not mean that I don’t have negative mean thoughts.

I do. I’m a very mean person. I can be very mean, especially towards myself, rarely towards other people, but especially towards myself. But it’s because I’m able to catch it, reframe it, say it, and believe it. I’m like, yep, you are fly. You are looking beautiful today. This color looks great on you, and I have to tell that to myself.

And then all the sauce just kind of silence and then I’m able to

Emily Hirsh: show

Vasavi Kumar:  up.

Emily Hirsh: I love this for so many reasons. I’m totally gonna do this. What I love about it too is it acknowledges it, and I think one thing that I have done and people do is they don’t. They have the thought, but then they’re like, let me pretend like I didn’t have that thought.

You just had it yourself. Run from it. Yeah. Yeah. And this is just like, let’s just put it on the table. Yes. This is in my brain right now. Yeah. Let’s just be real and let’s get it out so we can just process

Vasavi Kumar:  it. Just say it out loud. You’re not giving it more energy. That’s not what you’re doing. You’re not sitting there and telling a whole story about how you look this way, or you feel this way.

You’re like, this is what’s real for me right now in this moment. I feel this way. I am thinking this thought about myself. Okay, great. Then you can look at that thought and you can ask yourself, is this true? Do I actually wanna believe this about myself? What do I want to believe? We have the power to choose our beliefs, change our beliefs so that we can live a life that feels better for us.

Emily Hirsh: I love this. And you know, I also think like most of the time, and, and you probably feel this way too, it’s like most of the time people have all the answers. So by talking to yourself, you’re just kind of bringing the answers out. You know, like a lot of times when you coach someone, you’re asking them questions.

Yeah. And then they’re answering and then they already ha they already knew it. They just needed to process and like get it out. And so this kind of allows you to do that with yourself.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yes. I mean, I love talking to other people. I love getting feedback from other people, but like I know myself best, so why would I not just talk to myself?

I have all the answers, but left to my own devices. If I keep everything inside my head, everything’s gonna feel wrong, everything’s gonna feel jumbled, nothing is gonna feel clear. But when I actually speak it out loud, like I had a money question for myself the other day, like how to allocate a certain amount of money and I was gonna go to chat and I was gonna be like, lemme ask Chad how to allocate this cash.

And then I literally just said out loud, I just said it out loud, okay, I’m bringing in this much money I have to save aside for this. I gotta put aside this for taxes. How do I want to do it? And as I’m hearing myself, the answer’s coming to me. ’cause like you already know, I already know what to do. Right.

So I’m not saying don’t rely on chat, don’t rely on your therapist or your coach. Please do all the things. But I always wanna put the power back in your hands that you have the answer.

Emily Hirsh: And a good coach, a good therapist does that too. Yes. You know, and that’s, I, I, at my last event I had hats made that say you already know and, and gambling to everyone love.

’cause like love. That’s just the biggest thing. I think people, we’ve been so conditioned that we don’t have the answers and everything’s outside of ourselves and we’re broken. Yeah. That we forget that it’s just a, that remembering. Yeah. So I’m totally gonna do this. Talking to myself, I do talk to myself like for like sometimes when I’m working ’cause it just like helps me like organize, but processing thoughts.

That’s a great idea.

Vasavi Kumar:  Processing thoughts before you get ready to speak on stage, before you wanna get started with the podcast, if you’re like, how do I wanna start this podcast? Just say out loud a few times how you wanna start the podcast. Actually speak the words and you’ll start really with a lot of energy.

It’ll feel really good. Yeah.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Another question I have, ’cause this has been really something like in the last few weeks I’ve been focusing on, I’m curious your thoughts. I have been really interested in the difference between the voice of the heart and the voice of the mind. Mm-hmm. And the work I’ve done.

Like, I mean, you’ve known me for years. Like I am very, like, mind logical, you know can, can override my body, force myself to do anything. In the last several years has been like learning that connection back to the body. And I feel like I went on this journey where. You kind of like swing the pendulum and you, and you learn the body and the emotions, but you almost like go so far into it that you become those emotions and you get so into like the healing and like the trauma.

I don’t know if you see this today. Yeah. Like I think there’s a lot of like, almost like addiction to healing and trauma. Yeah. And we know like we aren’t our emotions. Yeah. We aren’t our body. We are, you know, they’re just there. Yeah. So anyways, like lately I’ve been learning to try to decipher the difference between the voice of the brain and the voice of the heart because I believe the heart always knows.

Yeah. And it doesn’t think, and it’s not the logic and the brain is the logic, it’s the strategist, it’s the analyzer. But I’m just curious like what comes up in your thoughts on that? ’cause this is like very present for me and I, I find that with entrepreneurs. And even myself, it’s like I can have that initial, like, you know, the body and the heart already knows and it’s got the initial answer and then immediately within like a microsecond, right?

Like my brain comes in and it’s like, well, this and this. And then you’re confused and, and so then you’re pulled away from yourself. Anyways. I’m curious your thoughts, ’cause this is very present for me.

Vasavi Kumar:  I love this. So the voice of the heart, it’s not even what it it’s not for me. It’s not about what it sounds like.

It’s what it feels like. The voice of the heart will always make my body feel like it is electric, buzzing and expansive. Like I literally feel my cells expanding. I said this to a friend the other day. I go, my cells feel so alive today because I was making a lot of decisions in my business and in my personal life that were matters of the heart and I was using, and I, I, like you use my mind, I love strategy.

I love to execute, I love to implement. Let’s get this done. But I, I’ve been really trying, especially since my dad has died to connect more to my heart and. What do I want? How do I feel about this? What actually feels good? Rather than what is the right thing to do? What’s the money maker? What’s the strategic thing to do?

And it’s just been feeling like it’s expansive. Like people talk about expansion all the time. We don’t talk about what it feels like. It really feels like you are coming alive like you are. You are growing, you are expanding. So I, I feel into that first, and then I make my decision and I’m like, yes, we’re doing it.

And then I let my mind take over. Yeah. Then we get into strategy. It has to feel electric for me. Like for me it is a, it is an electric buzzing feeling. There’s also periods where when it’s the voice of the heart speaking to me, depending on what it is, it can feel really calm and steady. Right? Not everything needs to feel electric.

Not everything needs to feel like a buzzing expansion. It can also feel very silent and very peaceful and very steady. So that’s what. That’s how I’ve been able to distinguish.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah, I totally agree. It’s the feeling and peace is a big one that I feel when it’s like you make that decision from that place.

And, and I think what I am, what I see in a lot of entrepreneurs in, when we talk about like the do it anyways and the you know, not necessarily, allowing that fear. Yeah. To, to dictate your actions. There’s like this misunderstanding that those feelings are coming from the heart, whereas like fear is always the mind, right?

Yes. It’s always the, the brain going, I gotta protect you. You might put, you know all those things you’re afraid of. Rejection, judgment. So being able to decipher that, I just feel, I don’t know. I think it’s one of the most powerful things that we can tune into. Yeah. As entrepreneurs is. ’cause we do have the really strategic brain, but sometimes that can become so overpowering and we just abandon our ourselves.

And eventually I think that’s where the burnout and, you know, nervous system, it’s your body’s like, you haven’t been listening to me for years. Yes. And I’m done. But in those

Vasavi Kumar:  moments, Emily, that’s where we can literally say out loud, I’m afraid right now. We should actually talk to ourself. I’m afraid right now.

Why am I afraid? I’m afraid this won’t work out. I’m afraid if I launch this, no one’s gonna sign up. I’m afraid I’m investing all this money. It’s not gonna come back to me. Okay, where is this coming from? Talk to me about it. Like, I literally have full blown conversations with myself if I don’t have anyone available to talk to me.

Right? Like if, if, if everyone on my team is busy, or all my friends are gone, or my parents are aren’t available, my mom or my sister aren’t available, I have full blown conversations with myself. So you can actually talk to yourself through those moments of fear so that you are not living a life where you are constantly dominated by your fear and running from it.

And running from it.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Yeah. And when I hear what I hear when you say that, it’s like you’re just giving it the space to be. Yeah. But you’re not letting it drive your actions. No, not at all. I think that’s the difference is like, because you are afraid, that doesn’t always mean don’t do that thing that you’re afraid of.

You know, usually. Usually your heart wants that thing. Yeah. But your brain’s like, no,

Vasavi Kumar:  that’s too new. And that’s why we have to really pay attention to both, right? We have to pay attention to what we’re telling ourself, but we also really have to pay attention to how we’re feeling in the body. If you feel your heart race, if you feel your pulse go up, if you start feeling sweaty that is not, and because you’re afraid, that is not a sign that you shouldn’t do it.

It just means you’re a little dysregulated. You gotta get yourself to a place of calm, grounded centeredness. You have to understand that this is your body expanding. You’re doing something new. It’s okay. The tingles are okay, right? We feel those tingles when we’re about to do something scary or fearful.

But we can walk ourselves through it. We can talk ourselves through it. Totally. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. Wow. This has been an incredible conversation. Do you feel like anything else that we haven’t covered that you wanna share that’s on your heart? I was actually really blown away by some of the questions that you asked about my, just how I content create and how I do that.

Because like I said, no one’s ever asked me that. So I really loved and appreciated you asking me my process because I like sharing my process because I want listeners to know, I want your audience to know, like, do what feels good for you. Yes, there is strategy. Like there are things that you can learn.

There are things that are repeatable. There are things that, that you can automate and delegate, but how you show up and the essence of how you show up, there is no rule book for that. That is, that is your God’s gift that you have, your voice that you’ve been given. Don’t waste it. Don’t squander it. You should cherish the gifts that you’ve been given and say it out loud.

Emily Hirsh: It’s so true. I mean, in, in so many things, it’s easy to get into, like, I need to fit in this box and follow Avi’s exact step-by-step process. Please don’t. Yeah. And I’m sure your process, part of it is actually pulling out of somebody. What is that unique essence of them? Yeah. Because that, that’s the magic that nobody else has.

And pe everyone wants to be authentic Yeah. And show up authentically and needs to, and it’s like that’s the way, and you know you have it. Yeah. You already have it in you and you can get, you know, strategies and and guides to help that. Come out more. But you know, it’s also cool to see like how you grew your business, how I grew my business.

It’s just an example of like, there isn’t one way to do it. You know, there’s so many different ways and, and like the boat, you know, you’re like, I’ll do it my way. Like, I say that all the time. Like people say, you know what? You have to do it this way or, or you can’t do this. It’s like, who said who said that?

Who made these rules?

Vasavi Kumar:  Because there are some like really well known entrepreneurs who have made a lot of money and are really successful. So now we think that they’re the blueprint and it’s like, that worked for them. That’s great. Take what you want and leave the rest. If something doesn’t fit for you, don’t do it.

Right. But I, I also have to really make sure and be mindful of, because there are a lot of creators that I see out there and I’m like, Ooh, I like the way they do that. So I ask myself, how do I implement this in my way? Right? Totally. So it’s not about being like, I need to do it, like them to be successful.

The question is how I love the essence of what they’re doing. How do I do this my way? So it’s, there’s no comparison. There’s no jealousy. It’s learning, it’s practice, it’s repetition.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. I mean, and I think that’s so true with anything you learn too. You learn from an expert, you learn from a master, and you take what you love from that, and then you make it your own and you embody it yourself.

Yeah. And so same with marketing, content creation, business. It’s like you learn from people who are showing you things. ’cause we don’t know what we don’t know. Yeah. So showing you new things, new perspectives, and then you go, how do I embody it? How do I make it still me and align with my values and who I am and my individuality?

Yeah.

Vasavi Kumar:  I do wanna say to answer your last, you, you asked me like, is there anything else you didn’t ask? I really just wanna emphasize like you have to have fun with it and you have to allow the creative process to be messy. A lot of my scripts that I write, a lot of my carousels that I write, I’m laying on the couch with sex in the city, playing in the background, chatting with chat, being like, you know, giving it my story that I want to turn into a carousel.

You can do it however you want, like find your flow. Laying on my couch with my hair up in a messy bun, wearing some sweats, chatting with chat, creating my content feels really good for me. That’s how I do it, right? Have fun in the process, like make it yours. That’s all I wanna say is just make it yours.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Ha. Having fun. I mean, you embody that. Thank you. From, I learned that when we went wake serving,

Vasavi Kumar:  I have to have fun, you know? And, and I have to say this, my dad taught me that he taught me and my sister that too. He’s like, what is the point of getting somewhere and being miserable in the process?

So even if we were to go grocery shopping, I love grocery shopping. Not anymore, I get everything delivered. But with my dad, we’d go grocery shopping and we’d have the best time going grocery shopping. So I just apply that in my business. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna have fun. If I’m not gonna have fun, I’m not gonna do it.

Emily Hirsh: I love that. Yeah, I love that. And ’cause you can also have fun in the discomfort and in the challenges. Yeah. I’m so glad you said that. Both can exist at the same time.

Vasavi Kumar:  Yes, yes. I’m so glad you said that because I don’t want people to walk away from this thinking like, oh, this doesn’t feel fun. I’m not gonna do it.

No. Let the discomfort and the uncomfortable thing be fun for you. You are growing, you are expanding. That is what’s happening. Your body’s literally growing, your cells are growing. Everything is multiplying when you try something new. You know? So let that be fun, like lean into that. Totally.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah.

Vasavi Kumar:  And then go celebrate and reward yourself.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. Yeah. And so you’ve talked about your, the new school, but where, where should everybody go to get more? Obviously your Instagram content? Yes. And the

Vasavi Kumar:  school you said you can go to. My Instagram. My handle is mynameisvasavi. Go to vasavikumar.com. Everything is, everything is on there. Yeah. You can join the school and I would love to have you inside the school.

It is a fun, safe, supportive space. And we are growing. I am, I, I’m gonna actually say this out loud. My goal is a thousand members inside the school. We’re at 67, so let’s see what’s you’re

Emily Hirsh: gonna do. It we’re no, we, I mean, it is

Vasavi Kumar:  already done. Yeah. Like in, in God’s eyes. It is already done. It’s just a matter of like, when is it gonna happen?

And I’ve let that go. I’m like, it will happen when it is meant to happen. And I wanna leave your audience with this as like. You are not exactly where you want to be right now, whether it’s financially, whether it’s with your numbers. Like you need to trust that what you have right now is what you’re meant to nurture and support, right?

I had this conversation with God the other day, Emily, where I was like, where are my thousand members? Like I had a, I had a moment. I was like, where are my thousand members? Like, the school is popping. It’s on fire right now. Why aren’t there more people? And I heard God say to me, I’ve given you 67. Nurture those 67.

Have fun with those 67. See what it feels like in your body to hold 67 people. 67 people have said yes to you. So that’s the season that I’m in, is like what I’ve been given. I’m gonna nurture the hell out of it. I’m gonna nourish it. I’m going to tend to it. So a thousand is coming, a thousand is already done.

It’s happening. But what can we do with what we have right here?

Emily Hirsh: This is a beautiful point because I say you put the vision out. You, you, you put that out there and you believe in it and you become the person who can have that, right? Yeah. The win and the how isn’t up to you.

Vasavi Kumar:  It’s not up to me. And Yeah.

And that’s a

Emily Hirsh: challenging thing when you really want it. Yeah. To, to to learn in, in life in general, in business. But it is so true. And it’s like in, in the moments too. I mean, you see entrepreneurs who are like struggling or they’re financially struggling. It’s like, you don’t know. I said this to someone yesterday.

You don’t know. Like that launch that didn’t go how you wanted caused us to make this decision, this decision, this decision. Like you gotta have some gratitude for it. Yeah. And trust that that’s the way it’s supposed to be. And if you can be in that place and understand you’re always gonna be taken care of.

Yeah. Everything always works out. You’ll be okay.

Vasavi Kumar:  I had this moment. Yes. It was actually two days ago. I was just drinking coffee. Checked my email. One new school member came in. Three hours later, another school member came in, and then three hours later, someone else booked a session with me, and then another annual member joined.

And I just laughed and I was like, this is the stuff I cannot predict and I cannot control. I have to deepen my faith. So whatever you choose to believe in, whatever God or universe, I mean, like for me, the deepening of my faith and the trust in something bigger than myself is what keeps me consistent. Me too.

That’s it. I don’t worry anymore because when I’m, I have never had to worry a day in my life. I’ve had a lot of stuff happen in my life, but I’ve always been provided for, I’ve always been taken care of and I can, I can attribute that to myself, but it’s definitely something bigger than me. So I trust that it’s all gonna work out because it always has and it will.

Yeah. And I’m God’s child and

Emily Hirsh: that’s what I tell myself. We. It’s so true. Yeah. And when you, when you get to that place, you’re so free.

Vasavi Kumar:  It’s a really great place to be. And I don’t always stay there, Emily.

Emily Hirsh: Totally. We’re human. Of course.

Vasavi Kumar:  And I wanna say that like do I stay in this frequency of faith and belief all the time?

Absolutely not. But when I notice myself dip, I know how to get myself right back. You have that conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Have that conversation with God. I come right back. It’s good. But it’s a moment to moment decision. Yeah. It’s not like I’m healed, I’m good. I never have these thoughts. No. It is literally a moment to moment decision to stay in that frequency of trust, faith, and belief.

Emily Hirsh: Yeah. And it’s in the little moments that you do it, it’s not, it’s not gonna happen in the big event, in the big retreat, it’s in the micro moments. Yep. A hundred percent. Yeah. Thank you so much. Welcome. This was an incredible conversation. I loved it. Yeah, you asked. Great question. Had a great time. Yay.

Thank you. You’re welcome.