The Possibilities Seem Endless (and the Motley Fool’s Analysis of Peloton is Wrong) — My husband and I were just having a conversation about investing in Peloton. …

How to be perceived as a professional and why it matters. When working through a bureau or agency, professionalism is an important key for a speaker to be successful in this industry. It seems like this goes without saying, but you’d be surprised at the gamut of professionalism one sees in this field. I’ve seen a level of professionalism as poor…

How to craft and deliver a speech. — As a professional speaker, preparing your speech and delivering your speech is more than standing in front of a room and speaking or reading from note cards. Often times, folks are paying you a lot of money to speak to their audience. From one audience to the next the expectations…

Know Your Audience Stop rolling your eyes. I can see it now, “Oh brother, this again.” Don’t brush this one over. It’s easy to categorize your audience into their known titles: sales team, college students, the board of directors, major donors, C-level executives; or include their demographic makeup such as…

What’s your shtick? What’s unique about you? What’s your thing? — Every professional speaker has a thing — a shtick. Their thing happens to be true and able to be summed up in a sentence or two. Captain Scott Kelly was in space for a year. Liz Murray went from Homeless to Harvard. …

If you are among the ninety-five percent of startups that fail, chances are you should blame Ken Segall. You see, many years ago, folks from Ken’s agency* found themselves sitting across a from Steve Jobs, who challenged them to capture Apple’s brand in a simplified message. They did, “Think different.” (*Ken…

Keep in Mind — 1. Your innovation has to be disruptive relative to something else. What is that something else? Some examples -Netflix was disruptive relative to Blockbuster -iPod/iTunes was disruptive relative to Sony Walkman/CDs -Amazon is disruptive relative to Barnes & Noble -HPs inkjet printers are disruptive relative to laser printers -Uber is disruptive relative to taxi cab…

Let’s give disruption the respect it deserves. There are so many books with advice on how to startup, run lean, iterate, raise capital, and do more faster. Most of these books are great. Some are exceptional. All of these books contribute to a startup team’s wealth of knowledge and will…