In this boot‑camp talk, Nick Prefontaine recounts his 2003 snow‑boarding accident that left him in a coma and with doctors predicting permanent disability. He describes the persistent inner voice urging him to share his story and help trauma survivors, and how he gradually began speaking at events from 2016 onward. A pivotal moment came in 2019 when a mentor introduced him to Tricia Brooke, who invited him to the $25,000 Speaker Salon in New York and later offered a $75,000 one‑on‑one coaching package. Nick made the “3‑second decision” to say yes to both offers, which he credits as the catalyst for launching his company Common Goal and developing the STEP system (Support, Trust, Energy, Persistence). The STEP framework now underpins his 45‑ to 60‑minute keynotes for brain‑injury associations and other trauma‑focused organizations, and is delivered through a video series. He highlights subsequent recognitions—features on the American Trauma Society’s Trauma Survivors Network and representation by A‑Speakers—showing how those rapid yeses have multiplied his impact. Throughout, Nick emphasizes that every major life shift often hinges on a brief, decisive moment, urging the audience to embrace their own 3‑second decisions. The session ends with an invitation for audience questions.
Chapters
Caught the edge of my snowboard as I was going off the jump, lost my balance, landed on my head. I was instantly in a coma. The doctors told my mom and dad that I probably wouldn't be able to walk or eat on my own ever again. Everybody give Nick a round of applause for being here.
Um, this morning I said not everybody knows stories that— because we always assume they do. Who is familiar with Nick's story from 2003? Okay, many of you, some, some not. So Nick, I think it's part of what you're going to talk about, but you guys can go later to nickprefontaine.com. And there's a video there of his accident and some history there in his business where he helps brain injury hospitals and rehab places and things like that. Really cool energy. So just a little preface because some people don't know your story.
Nick, come on down.
Let's do it.
I'll be talking. I'll be talking a little bit about my story for those of you that don't know. So they wanted me— they wanted me to— good morning. They—
this is just ramping up now.
They wanted me to To share my, my journey on three-second decisions and why it's so important in your journey of life. So, for those of you that don't know, in 2003, when I was in eighth grade, I'll give you the clip notes. So, 2003, when I was in eighth grade, I was at ski club with my friends. Went off a jump, caught the edge of my snowboard as I was going off the jump, lost my balance, landed on my head. I was instantly in a coma. The doctors told my mom and dad that I probably wouldn't be able to walk, talk, or eat on my own ever again. I can't even imagine What they thought, what my mom and dad thought, and I really, I really share that just because all throughout my life, I have always had this voice in the back of my head that's always telling me whatever I'm doing, whether it's in sales, in real estate, whatever I'm doing, is that. Okay, yeah, that's great, Nick. But what you really need to be doing is helping— is telling your story from stage and helping trauma survivors to— and life accident and life crisis victims to be able to thrive with the rest of their lives. So that voice has always been there. And since 2016, we've been holding events. where I've always had the opportunity to tell my story from stage and be able to share it. And it's maybe been 10 minutes here, another 15 minutes there. So I always thought, oh, okay, I'm, I'm kind of listening to that voice. Kind of. Not really. It took until 2019 when I told my story at one of our events QLS 2019, that someone approached me after hearing me share it. And she said, if you're ever looking to fine-tune your message, so that you can help the most amount of people, I can introduce you to a few mentors that have helped me along the way. I wasn't ready yet. Because I was actually in the final throes of a voice issue that I developed in 2012. It sounded like it was like there was a lot of tension and it was hard to get the words out. That's how it sounded. It didn't really feel that way. I was able, I was fine, but that's how it sounded. I didn't really have a, I didn't really have a speaking voice for lack of a better term. And it was interesting because I didn't want to have to live the rest of my life with both that voice in the back of my head and the tightness in my throat because I wasn't following my calling. I wasn't following that voice in the back of my head. I wasn't listening to it. So I wasn't ready yet. However, over a year and a half later, I reached out to this woman. and said, okay, I'm ready, what do I need to do? She introduced me to her mentor, Tricia Brooke, who became my mentor. And I share my story with Tricia, what I was looking to do. She recommended that I do the Speaker Salon, and that's where you commute to New York City for 6 weeks in a row, and then you On the final week, on the 6th week, you get to perform your 10 to 15 minute talk with up to 10 to 15 other speakers. And on the, um, live on the stage, I'm sorry, live on the, on the stage at the Triad Theater in New York City. So she said that's $25,000. And this is where the 3-second decisions come into play. That I wanted to share with everyone. So she said, that's $25,000. At a soul level, I knew I needed to do this because I couldn't live the rest of my life with the, with the tension and the voice in the back of my head. I just couldn't do it. So I had to say yes to this. Then during the Speaker Salon, Tricia pitched the idea of what it would look like. To work with her one-on-one. She said that she specializes in working with speakers to help them build out their speaker platform. I didn't even know what that was. I had no idea. She said, that's $75,000. I said, I don't have that in my back pocket. However, give me a week and I'll figure it out. Like, like, I'll, I'll find it. 6 days later, I wired her the money. The hands down, it was the best decision that I ever made. Because Tricia, working with Tricia, she helped me launch my company, Common Goal, which is leading other people through their challenge, whatever it is, and to their common goal so that they're able to thrive with the rest of their lives. That why it's so important, my work with Tricia is actually she— before Tricia, there was no step system. There was no any, any of this. The most that I'd ever spoke on stage was Maybe 15 or 20 minutes max. And that was a big deal for me. I, I, that would, that was something that took a lot for me to do. Since working with Tricia, I now share 45 and 60-minute-plus keynotes with brain injury associations all over the country and also organizations, other organizations that support individuals. That are going through trauma. If you would have told me that I'd be this is what I'd be doing prior to working with Tricia, I would have told you that you were crazy. So working with Tricia on one of our first calls, she said, "You have this amazing story. You got in a snowboarding accident. You were in a coma, and then you ran out of the hospital. How'd you do it?" I said, "I don't know. I just kept getting up every day and doing the best I could." She goes, no, not good enough. So she kept asking me like 6 or 7 layers deep to the point where I was frustrated. I was like, ah, I don't know. Stop asking me. And obviously, uh, like I shared, I was, I was paid a lot of money to work with her. It was a li— I only had a finite number of time, a linear number of calls with her. However, like I said, I think I ended that one of those first calls early. Because I was so frustrated. However, I'm so happy that we went through that process because what, what she did, what Tricia did in her work with me was able to pull the STEP system out of me. Now that's like up to 90% of the work that I do is the STEP system. And I share that and I'm able to teach it in my keynotes and also share a lot of fun, funny stories from when I was in the hospital. Also, I have the STEP video series, which kind of walks through individuals how they can develop their support, trust, energy, and persistence. All of it wouldn't be possible without saying yes with that 3-second decision. So I was actually just reviewing my journal, which I do twice a month, once or twice a month, I review my journal. I saw that a year ago, um, a few things happened. The American Trauma Society decided to feature me on their website as part of their Trauma Survivors Network, uh, my story on their website. Uh, also A-Speakers, which is an international speakers bureau, uh, have offices in New York City and all over the world, uh, decided that they wanted to represent me. And work with me. So I'm now featured on their website. And all of this wouldn't be possible if I didn't say yes in this 3-second decision. So these 3-second decisions are— I could have very easily froze, said, ah, you know, I don't know, I gotta think about it, or I gotta, I gotta talk with family, or Uh, it's a big decision, but I didn't. I said yes, and I stepped— I feel like by saying yes, I stepped into my purpose. I feel like I'm doing exactly what I was put on this earth to do. So I think we're all faced with 3-second decisions in our lives, and I think it's important that you embrace it and you say yes to that 3-second decision because That's going to affect, uh, the rest of your life, uh, the rest of your lives. I, I haven't even seen the full consequences of what that 3-second decision is going to mean for me. There's so many things that have yet to happen as a result of saying yes to Tricia and working with her one-on-one. I'm so happy I did. And I'm so happy each and every one of you is here today, joining us at the boot camp. So kind of what I wanted to share. Anyone, anyone have any questions? Give him a round of applause. All right. What? Yeah, ask questions.
One of that, once you guys said you hadn't seen or heard Nick's story yet. So let me just kind of Give you a little bit of backdrop. So I said earlier today, not knowing what part of the story he was going to tell, how I was blaming the market and blaming different things, right? In those 4 years. Well, picture, so I'm knee deep in real estate and I get a call from the school. For those of you who don't know the story, I literally know exactly where I was driving to an attorney's office. And they said, your son was in an accident and he can't be life lifted because of wind. And this wasn't in your story just now, right? I hope.
No.
Okay. So they had to literally talk about miracles. The, there's a gentleman in the parking lot that could intubate and he was one of like, there was like one or two in New England and he was in the parking lot at the mountain to save Nick. Talk about it. Talk about a miracle. Then people say, well, what'd you do for, you know, however long, 90 days in a coma and all the rehab? I don't know. We were in a fog. I drove into the hospital in the afternoon, slept with him at night. Kim drove during the day and then we passed each other. He's still alive and we didn't see each other for 90 days. Not sure where to get started? Go to smartrealestatecoach.com/getgoing for free books, strategy calls, and a whole bunch more. We're going to help you get going the wicked smart way. We've been after this for over a decade doing exactly that. Why do I share that relative to real estate? Because we're all going to get shit thrown at us, right? And we're gonna make a decision to plow forward. So couldn't be more proud of you, buddy. Thank you. All right.
Let's see what questions they have after that.
Pick Nick's brain. How's that? Nick, you can be late to the office every day. By the way, Nick came to me in— I don't know what year it was. Right after high school, right as he was graduating high school and said, you know what? I don't want to go to college. I said, okay, so we'll craft a curriculum just for you. And my wife said to him, you sure you want to do this? So I basically pulled all the mentors that I had had to date and put him through, I don't know, 2 or 3 years of seminars and people that I was exposed to. That's what we did. And he's, we've been together since then, right out of high school. And Nick was doing Pre-foreclosure door knocking in really tough areas in high school when he first got his license, and then about two years later, Kim found out and she's like, "You had him doing that? Like he was going to people's houses?" So he learned. He learned toe to toe way back then. So maybe more psych now. Another relation to you guys is what, Annette? If I can just lightly, Annette had a breakthrough last week health-wise. I, no one even knows Annette in my center of influence. I just told everybody how cool that was to see someone like you break through that. And I hung up the phone with you Saturday or Sunday. Yeah. I said, she's a different person. Like that. I get goosebumps thinking about that because that's just like the experience I had with Nick. And hopefully every single one of you in here in your own way will have the same experience if you're up for it. You guys up for that?
Yeah.
We'll have a cool experience together so I could keep going, but okay. We shift gears.
I only, I only thought I had a few minutes, so I didn't wanna, I didn't go into detail. No, that's why I'm gonna go to your site. His video there.
My brother who passed away now, uh, said he's a— he was a writer and he said, you're not videoing this? I'm thinking, I'm not thinking of videoing anything. He was in a coma. He had every machine coming out of him. But he said, video, you're gonna want it. So it's on his website, uh, everything he went through.
