Ep. 125 Your Firsts

All right. Hey there, Mark. Your first now. Ed Tate, you're joining us. You're here with us. We thought it'd be fun to just talk about your firsts. We all get great stories, but this is about our listeners and their first. But we thought maybe we'd inspire them when we realized how embarrassing our own firsts were. Mark.

Well, I gotta tell you the truth, man. I can remember the first time I got paid. But I'm going to hold off on that story until I say hello to Ed and tell our audience. Buckle up, listen in. Because you know what? Maybe our firsts can help inspire and inform your first. Let's do this.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to to the Unforgettable presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story, and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation, Ahas. Let's dive right in.

All right, let's get this out of the way right up front. So we, we. We're brothers, we're friends, we talk about things when we bring up your first. Of course, Ed Tate went a different direction.

It's a family show. Come on, guys.

It's G rated.

All right.

No, not about that first. These are speaking related firsts. So if you want to be on. Oh, okay. That's a different podcast.

The light bulb went on.

I'm gonna change.

So, Ed, this was actually inspired. Last time we had you on, you started talking about first time you got paid and realized how inspiring those stories can be to other people. So if you're out there, if you want to be unforgettable, you got to have some first. And they might not be pretty if you heard my speech, my story, talking about Dr. Goddard's first launch, first rocket launch only went 41ft high. And the New York Times made fun of them and. And took them 50 years later before they retracted the statement. But look, it's going to happen. You're going to make mistakes, you're going to be embarrassed, and people are going to make fun of you and they're going to say, see, I told you you can't. And we're here to tell you we sucked too. So.

Hey, wait, no, wait, hang on a second, Darren.

You mean like, I did not. I have never.

Go ahead.

Right?

Do you want to talk about your first block on the st in front of Toastmasters.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

And we're back.

But, you know, we have fun, but please understand, sometimes we even share our. Our bad stories because we want you to understand that there's a first time for everything. And as Ed would say, it isn't a matter of if. It's a matter of when something will go wrong or you have a bad. A bad experience. And, Darren, I gotta give you credit because for decades now, you've been sharing your stitches story of your first time doing standup. And you talk about that. You share the video. I don't know why you want to show yourself in parachute pants, but you do. But you.

I cringe every time. Every time I see those pants.

But here's the truth behind all of this. We are willing to share our first Good, bad and indifferent and ugly. Because we know at some point you will have a first. That is often unexpected. But the question is, what can we learn from our firsts? And how can we take the experience. Good, better, ugly, and. And make the next one better, not only for ourselves, but for our audiences? That's important.

Yeah. And think about this. You can't have a second without a first.

That's right.

You can't have a second without a first. So, Ed, let's start with you and everyone. Just talk about that first. What? We have visuals.

Hey.

I had to go into the archives, but this represents my first paid speaking engagement. It says the Foothills Parks and Recreation District, the children's program. Now, I've told this story before, but I'm going to. I'm going to. I'm going to tell the story again. But I just occurred to me, I also had another first with regard to that story. So a lady by the name of Ruby Newell Legner, who is a past president, National Speakers Association. I'm a member of this, the Colorado Speakers Association's academy, which is for aspiring speakers. And she says, hey, Ed, I've got a paid gig for you. It's for $50 for this group right here. I'm thinking, like, cool. And what they wanted was leadership. I'm a former executive in a computer industry, and I was going to be teaching teenagers leadership for middle schoolers. That's not my jam.

But anyway, the hall monitor and the bully in the hall. There you go.

So, anyway, it was originally supposed to be 30 minutes. Have you ever heard of Scope, Creep? Any guys?

Yeah.

So after we agreed to $50, it turned into three and a half hours.

Whoa.

And well over 69 hours worth of work. And after just a day before I'm supposed to give the presentation, they wanted to cut my 50 fee in half.

In half?

In half. Okay.

Had they seen help?

And I pushed back.

Nice.

And there's a couple lessons here. Number one, let's. I'm going to park that pushback lesson for now.

Yep.

But I remember at the time I was an executive in the computer industry making, you know, deep into the six figures. And I'm looking at this 50 check in the parking lot of the Foothills park and Recreation District. And I said to myself, I've never worked so hard for so little money. I said to myself, well, this is going to be a hobby or I've got to get paid more than this. So I literally made a decision at a parking lot that I'm going to raise my fee to $2,500 the next time. And much to my surprise, not only did I get it, but I also got a better class of customer.

And.

And then when I did the 2500, I raised the 5000. And then I. From 5000, I raised the 7500. And I stayed at 7500 for a number of years. I. I had the altitude sickness. But let's let me bring you back to pushing back. I pushed back against that organization. I did not know if they were, you know, they were going to fire me or, you know, take the money, but, I mean, not. Not give me the money at all. But it came in handy about a decade later when I got my first really big contract. My first big contract was $350,000. I had negotiated with a. I'm not going to say because they haven't given me permission to. To name this particular company. But I dealt with the owners directly, and they said, hey, let's hire Ed. It was for leadership development program. It's going to be for. For several years. They told me to contact purchasing to process my paperwork. So I contact purchasing, and the guy from purchasing is not going to honor the contract. He's going to. He's just like, well, you know, we don't pay. Like, for example, one of my terms was that I'm giving them a discount. So they paid a full fee in advance for the first year. He says, we never do that. We don't do this, we don't do this, we don't do this. And I was so angry, and I was so upset. And I remember I lived in harbor island in Tampa, Florida. That was the first and only time I've ever walked. I've done 10 laps on that little island. I was, I was so angry and I was so upset. And then all of a sudden I had this aha moment. And the aha moment was, hmm, maybe they should hire this purchasing person to deliver the program. But that gave me an idea. It's like, wait a minute, I was hired by the owner. The owner is the one who said to hire me. So I did a couple things. Number one, I wrote back this purchasing agent. I said, number one, from what I understand, this is a critical program for the company for the next several years. If you did not honor my terms, I will not be on the plane. I will not send you any of my materials, I will not show up, and you will have to explain to the owner why this is the case. Now the other thing is, I said, according to one of the things you said that your company, I looked on your website and you said that you honor small businesses. Well, the only way you can honor small business with your terms is to help put small businesses out of business. I literally went to their website, got, got a copy of what they say, how they honor small businesses. And I put, I embedded that into the email. The money was wire transferred into my account 24 hours later.

That was the first don't mess with Ed.

Well, I mean, like, I had to push back.

Sure.

And I said to myself, wait a minute, like, you know, I'm not going to. I literally said to myself, I'm not going to take this. I also thought about the world from his perspective. He's purchasing. That's his job. He is paid to make sure him and hr, they're paid to make sure that vendors are paid the least. That's, that's how they're paid their bonuses. I know for a fact, because guess what? When I was an executive, that's what we did for our purchasing people. So I did make him. I said, okay, how can he win? I says, I'll tell you what I'll do is this is a three year program. I will lock in this fee not only for this year, but also for year two as well. So that way he got a win. But again, that was, you know, this right here, my first time pushing back, pushing back from $25 and keeping my $50 helped me a decade later when it was far more significant money on the line.

Yeah. And I think that that $50 has been worth hundreds of thousands to you because it was that one lesson that you carried for you. So for everyone, if you're listening, that first, first, there's so much value in it. Your experience, just multiply it, whatever that is. Yeah, Everybody's talking about $50, but he's also talking about $50,000. He's talking about pushing back and owning where you're at and the fact that it was way too much work for that amount of time. But he had the experience. Mark, your thoughts?

The lesson here, one lesson here for me is this. We may have a first. And, yeah, it was my first speech. Great. My first time getting paid. Great. But what other lessons can that first teach you? And what have you learned from the experience that you can apply later on in life? So don't limit your first to just an event or an occasion, but how can that first inform and educate you going forward as you build your career and you become unforgettable, not only for what you provide on the platform, but how you run your business? Good thought.

I also thought of another first from that. That initial story from Foothills. It also taught me, moving forward, to get very, very clear about expectations. So initially it was supposed to be 30 minutes. It turned into three and a half hours. So what I've done from that day forward is like, for this fee, it's, you know, for 30 minutes, it's this fee, and for this volume of time, it's this fee, and for this volume of time, it's this fee. That first experience taught me a lot. Thank you for. Thank you for that insight, Mark.

Mark. Mark's first fee, first paid speech.

Well, the first time I got paid, it was a free gig. What? Yes. My first time I got paid was a free gig. I had agreed. I had won the Toastmasters World title, and somehow my name was traveling within some circles in Westchester County, New York, where I lived. And I got this call to speak at a luncheon for a particular organization. It was a freebie. It was a small group, maybe 200 people. That small now, I guess, to me. But it was huge then, and I knew what I'd talk about. And I wrote my speech and I took my lunchtime and I hopped in my car and I drove a few minutes down the road from Reader's Digest, and I delivered my free presentation. And I got a standing ovation. My first standing. Oh, right. And it was great lunch. And I was about to leave, and the individual who ran the program came to me, beaming. She was so thankful. She said it was a great talk. It was so meaningful. Thank you. You. You hit it out of the park. Thank you so much. And she shook my hand, gave me a greeting card, and of course, a thank you card is Always nice to get. I get to my car, open the card up, and inside is a crisp, brand, brand new $100 note. Somehow they found a hundred dollar bill. They put it in the card as an extra thank you. It's a free gig. But I had a hundred dollars cash money for a free gig. I was eating. I was splurging that night. Boy, forget Burger King. I was going to Carrabba's or something like that, right?

Apple Peck.

I'm in high cotton now.

Yes, we'll have an appetizer.

Exactly. Outback Steakhouse. But the point being, that was unexpected for me. It also taught me a powerful lesson, which I did not get at the time. That was 27 years ago. The lesson is this. When we perform well, do good work, and make what we have to offer unforgettable, the rewards might exceed your expectations. When you become work and become unforgettable, the rewards can very well exceed your expectation. I will never forget that first payment on a free gig. It was part of my experience, which is will remain with me forever.

And you made more than. Than I did on my first gig.

And no one tried to cut it either. Well, look, my fee was. My fee was free. That was a bonus, right? If you are unforgettable, the rewards can exceed your expectations. So I'm thankful for that day and for that organization that taught me that powerful lesson. Darren.

Yeah, I tell the story many times because it's part of my content. But if you're listening to this, my first time for a pay or for a fee was I had delivered a workshop, and it was at a Toastmasters convention. It was just a breakout session, teaching people humor. And I had a woman, her name was Bethany. She walked up to me and she said, hi, I'm the. I run a conference for the New England Recruiters group and would love to have you as a keynote speaker. How much do you charge? And at that point, you know, I was doing standup. I was getting 50 bucks a set. And I'm thinking, I don't know. But I had heard in the corporate world and speaking world, they pay a lot more. And I just didn't expect this. So I'm calculating as much as I can, and I'm like, 75. And the woman's face goes blank, and I'm like, am I being greedy? 65. 65. Well, it turns out I found out later on that the comedian who had. They brought in a comedian to do the keynote speech. His name was Rich Seisler, and he got $1,000 the last year. And people said, Darren, you should have got $1,000. I couldn't handle $1,000. Are you kidding me? I didn't sleep or pee for a week. Like before that presentation. That was 75 bucks. I had to do an hour by myself. This breakout session I was co presenting with someone I had never done an hour before. And so a few lessons here and if you guys have some insights, please add it. Number one, I got what I asked for. $75. That's all I thought I was worth at that time. That's all I thought I was worth. And so if you're just getting started and you want to be unforgettable, start where you're at. Push your belief a little and you'll earn your way into it. But at the same time, just be where you're at and it's okay. Yeah. If you're kidding me, if I got $1,000, I couldn't handle that. My self esteem, my self worth was not at that point. So it's okay. But I did it for 75. I over delivered. They were thrilled. I don't know what they did with the other $925 that was in the.

Budget, but somebody went on a cruise.

I lobster too, I guess.

But it was okay. It was, it was okay. And I didn't know what the fees were, so I had no idea. So part of the experience, NSA and Toastmasters and my professional speaking buddies, like you, you learn by talking to them. But I thank God for that first because that first went really well and it led to a computer user group the next year. This woman was also on a committee for computer user group. And I did so well for the 75 that I did get a thousand for the user group the following year. And I came back three years and ran out of machine material after that. But, but anyway, it was a first step. Ed.

Well, you just reminded me of the first time I was represent. I was represented by a speaker's bureau exclusively. So that's another like, you know, if you're successful all of a sudden, dear old, doing your first bureau gig, that's kind of scary. But, but this bureau wanted me to be the represent be representative. Represent me exclusively. So which, which we experimented with it. I remember I stopped by their offices one day and one of the salespeople had a sheet of paper on their cubicle wall. And I said, well, what's this? And this is our fee structure. On the bottom it said $5,000. On the top it had $750,000 and they had all fees in between. And I said, like, how many times do you get somebody for $750,000? He says, well, that's usually reserved for presidents and celebrities and things of that nature. I says, okay, tell me what's. What's the fee on here that you guys get the most? And they said, it's $35,000. Now, at the time, my fee was 7,500 bucks. I said, okay, who's that person? A guy by name Michael Abrashoff. I know Michael because we had actually worked together, and they booked him 160 times a year. So you do the math. 160 times a year times 35,000. A lot of money. Anyway, my fee, which at the time, I was having altitude sickness, remember, 7,500 bucks. I'm thinking, like, I'm charging way too much, too much. The police are going to be coming at any moment. You know, I was second from the bottom on that sheet, and they booked me maybe a half a dozen times. So the higher your fee in this case, Michael, $35,000. He gets booked 160 plus times. And Alan Weiss, who, who has influenced all three of us, says, there's always. There's always someone who has. Who's got a bigger boat. And what he means by that is there's always a customer out there who will pay that fee. There's always someone who will pay that fee. My coach, a lady by name, Melissa Lorter, says, do not assume what other people are willing to pay. Don't make assumptions about what other people are willing to pay. Charge your value. Charge what you're worth, if you will.

Okay, if you're not sure what you're worth, ask around. Start, plant a stake, and then just build from that, wherever that is. You might do one speech and then raise your fee. You might be two, and raise it a little. But look, we're just telling you, we get it. But there's a lesson. As you can hear, there's several lessons in every first, but you got to have that first. But we had anxiety, too. And, guys, I want to ask you about your first time you got on a plane to give a speech. It's one thing to be the local person and the local convention. I remember hearing this from Dave Fitzgerald when he said that first time that he got on a plane to do a comedy gig. And I started thinking about it. Mine was right at my 30th birthday. I was 30 years old. And this. I've never, ever got another speech as a result of this. But Ed if you remember and mark the old NSA guide where they're just, it's just a membership guide and they send it out to event planners. And I know they do it differently now, but it was a physical. Well, I actually got this first speech. Somebody found me in there from that and I was panic stricken and I didn't have a lot of content. So I did extra research to get to know the people. And I'll always remember it was the first time for me when after I gave the speech, and this is one of the reasons we all do this, I gave the speech and I'm walking through the hallway. Now I'm an introvert, so I don't usually talk to people. And it was the first time I remember this woman. And I was humorist at the time, so I was a motivational humorist. I'm walking in the hallway and this perfect stranger, this woman turned, saw me and smiled. That never happened before, you know, quiet, shy, introvert. But she had seen me on stage and my impact on stage had made her smile some of the stories I told her and hit her. So when she saw me just walking in the hallway like that was a moment that was a first I will never forget and I cherish. And then it went really well because I over prepared. It was Panama City. And guys, I don't know if I've ever told you this or not, but I kid you not, I can do this and I kid you not. I went to check out of the hotel and get a cab to go to the airport. And they said, and I quote, I'm sorry sir, we have no cabs left today, but we have a stretch limo here for you. I got into the stretch limo, I kid you not, okay. In my mind exploded that little gang of mine. If they could see me now, they wouldn't believe it. I didn't believe it, but I literally, that song popped into my head that it was a coming of age speech for me. And I know we've all had them. How about you guys? What are some stories around your first get on a plane speech?

I was fortunate enough to be hired by a training company. And the training company was called Career Track. And at the time they were the largest training company in America. And I' ma tell you, Darren, I don't remember what the first one was because they used me. So many times that year they all kind of merged together. My first time I spoke for them was 125 years. I mean 25. It felt like 125 years. 125 times. And that was the first time I, I flew so much that year. That was the first time I actually made it to the maximum level on a premier executive with United. So that was a first for me. I thought, I have really, really made it. You know, you know, we get to board the plane first, you know, the peasants come later. Exactly, exactly. You know, Yeah. I was that person that, you know, I used to stare at and just like scowl at. I was just like, now they're scowling at me. It's like, oh, this is what it feels like. Okay, let's see. I did programs for them. It was foots up first time supervisor and some of their leadership courses. I do recall a session with the University of Maryland and it was, that was my first on site. So we have public seminars where we just did the same content over and over and over again. But when you did an on site, that was a customized program, that one like Darren scared the daylights out of me because like, someone had seen me and they said, hey, we want this guy to come back to our organization. And it was on leadership. We didn't have an opportunity to actually interview people and prepare them, you know, prepare for the session there. So I get there and I'm just stressed out because I want to customize this program. And I just walk in, I say to them, okay, what do you guys want to talk about today? Because, you know, again, I'm a former executive in the computer industry. I've had thousands of people work for me. So we took out a flip chart marker. I wrote down the topics that they wanted to talk about, and before I knew it, eight hours later we were done and they asked me back two or three different times. That was the first time I did an impromptu eight hour presentation. No prep. And here's the lesson. I was able to rely on my experience, my background in terms of talking about the challenges I've had as a leader, et cetera, and things of that nature. So that was a first for me, getting on a plane for an on site. I did not sleep well the night before because we didn't put in that prep work like what Darren's talking about. The prep work. Prep work leads you to. It leads you to comfort, if you will. I wouldn't say comfort, but it makes you relax. Familiarity. Yeah, you're somewhat prepared. That session, I remember thinking like, oh my God, I'm just going to crash and burn. This is going to be terrible. And when I just asked them that question, hey, what do you want to talk about today, I'm here to discuss this specifically for you. And I think after I answered one or two questions, the audience felt that I knew what I was talking about, and we went from there. Mark, what about you? Your first time hopping on that plane?

Well, my first flight, probably to California back in 1998. I had been giving talks in junior high schools, and I was driving 11 states. I was based in New York State, and I was driving as far north as Vermont and far south as Maryland. And at one point, I got hired to travel across North America to give talks in schools. At my heyday, I was giving 200 talks a year, but my first one was to California and to be on a plane and to go to a hotel and get a rental car. They told me, well, when you get a car, we're going to Hertz and get hurts. Never lost, so you don't get lost. The old Magellan GPS system back in the late 1990s.

Wow.

And I remember calling David Brooks, said, david, my job's going to require me to travel, to fly, to get a rental car and go in hotels. Should I get a frequent flyer number? He said, get all of them hotel points. I said, I have an Abis, I have a National, I have a Hertz. I had a Thrifty Blue Chip. I had Continental, I had US Air, all of them. And I became Platinum on Delta at one point. I was American for a while. And I know you've been the United guy for, like, a trillion miles on United Airlines. I literally have a document somewhere in my files that lists every hotel, every hotel membership number, my status for hotels, for airlines, and for cars. It never occurred to me it might come in handy. Well, now I'm what's called Titanium Lifetime Elite on Marriott. And they give you, literally, a titanium card, which means, I am. Yeah, I'm titanium. It meant I've spent over three years in Marriott Properties.

I think. I think Ed has the knee. The titanium knee.

Point being. It was a first for me, and then my first. My first request to travel internationally, I got to go to Canada in 1996.

Whoa.

Somebody wanted me in Canada. Can you believe that? And then the first time I got a request to travel outside North America, it came by email at my desk. And I saw the email, and I literally pushed away like this. They want me to fly to Hong Kong, and they'll pay all my expenses and give me an honorarium. What I was so. These first really shocked me, but the lesson I got was, if you work at your craft and become unforgettable and build a reputation for yourself. You will get that first call to go to a foreign country. You will get that first email saying will you please come and speak to us? And Darren, you and Ed have done what? A European tour. That was the first for you guys doing a European tour together. What was that like for you as first?

I made rock concert T shirts for us and listed all the cities.

You did European tour?

Yes, yes, yes.

Wow, that's awesome.

I just wanted to have fun. And we gave one to each of the event planners.

That was a great deal.

Yeah, but see again your reputation and the quality of work. You said earlier, Darren, that you over delivered. I hope that didn't go by too many people. To be unforgettable, you want to have a good product but you want to over deliver to give the meeting planner or the client a really reason to not only hire you back but also refer you to somebody else. And that's important. So yeah, we can say Ed and Darren did a European tour. That was nice. I did one to myself a couple years ago, European tour. My wife came with me which is kind of cool. They paid for her to come with me.

What?

That was nice. The invitation never comes unless you are good enough to unforgettable to give them a reason to bring you. So while we share our story, we don't want to. We're not bragging here to make you feel oh, these guys have traveled the world. Yeah, we've had that blessing. But it came at a cost and the cost was working our tails off to become unforgettable and to deliver value to every client everywhere, across all these continents. And one of my first was going to South Africa with Ed for a conference there as well. But that also came from our reputation and the work we did to be unforgettable.

Yeah, I'm going to take a quick detour here. Add to a frip first. Do you remember the first time Fripp got you and me gigs and we were speaking at apa? Those oh my. Oh, those of you don't know Patricia Fripp, one of our mentors, a legend in the industry. When she recommends you to APA and you're going in to speak to apa, you could offer me a million dollar check. It's not going to be as much pressure as having to frip natize your audience because your butt in front of frip is on the line. I remember Ed walking up to you. We both got there the night before and we get there, woke up the next morning I'm like, do you sleep? No.

And that is the American Payroll association, right?

Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

And it was pressure, like incredible pressure because now your mentor puts faith in you and you've got to deliver when you have a mentor. Sometimes we put them up on that pedestal and sometimes it can be good because it forces you to work harder. I know you and I both nailed it because we had to or we would no longer be in the industry. But do you remember any of that, Ed?

Oh, man, I do. I definitely remember that as well. That was quite stressful. And we've both been back on numerous occasions because, you know, of that over, you know, preparation, if you will. So I do want to take a detour back to something that Mark talked about. First international trip. And I'm going to say two things. My first one was, I guess technically it was to Canada. I had a unique opportunity. I had actually applied to speak at this venue, this organization, the year before, and I got a rejection letter. So the following year I actually won the World Championship of public speaking. They invited me back, etc. So I began my speech by reading my rejection letter and the audience was cracking up. They just thought it was absolutely hilarious. And I just said, hey, how do you like me now? I told them in advance what I was going to do. I wanted, I didn't want to throw anybody underneath the bus and they were, they were great sports about it. But my first international trip was to Australia. So the year I won the World championships, the year 2000, they actually had the Olympics in Australia. I got a chance to go to the Olympics. And not only did I get a chance to go to Olympics, I got a chance to take my eight year old son. And David is with me. And the thing he's the most excited about is we get to the hotel, he flushes the toilet and he says, dad is true. It swirls in the opposite direction. So that's out of all the things we get picked up by a car, you know, from the, the Olympics, you know, we get all the special treatment, etc. And that's the thing that my son.

He'S 8 years old. I get it, I get it.

I tell you what though, when it comes to firsts, I also want to ask everyone to think about this. Sometimes it's good to take a risk and do something different. Because part of my first going to Canada back in 1996 included the first time I chose to open my presentation in a foreign language to serve my audience, I chose to tell my opening story, which means Only in French. And I got my first standing ovation after two minutes because I gave that. I told my story in French. It was risky. I worked at it, got a coach to hire. I had a coach. I told the story out, she translated, and we worked on it for weeks before I went and delivered it. But the risk paid off. And I believe that people who still remember that 26 years later that I did that. But think about the first time you have taken a risk as a presenter, and even if it didn't work out the way you wanted to, how did you grow from it? What did you learn from the experience? So be willing to take that first risk. It might just change your life. If you're a toastmaster and you've considered a speech contest, do it. The worst thing you can do is learn something from it, not lose the contest. You will always learn something. Take that risk, because that first may lead to other firsts that can transform your life, your experience, and your impact.

Well, actually, Mark, the worst thing you could do is not learn from it. But if you go in with the learning mindset that I'm going to take a risk, I'm going to learn something from it. And what we're all saying is we've all made those mistakes, but the lessons have served us for our careers. And I think you guys know Po Kim Chong from Malaysia. He's from Singapore. Singapore. When my first international presentation was for In Malaysia, in Kuching, and I was, I'm afraid to. I don't like flying, but I do it. I get used to it. But going international, that's like, you know, I'm sitting there watching the gps when you see this land and this land, and, you know, if anything happens right here, they nobody going to get you. Like, that was. I'm like, oh, it moved a little. It moved a little. But the biggest lesson came because of a mentor. Some of you, I think both of you guys know Rick Siegel, who, after I won the world championship, he's like, darren, you need a program, an audio learning system on how to be a better speaker. And that wasn't my subject. My subject back then was humor and motivation. And so I had learned how the pros make them laugh. And I had a book Laugh and Get Rich. So I had a book and an audio program, and I'm going to shrink wrap them together. I'm going to fit as much in my luggage as I can. And he's like, darren, speaking. People want to know about speaking. I'm like, ugh, there's enough programs out. They don't need another one. And he would not shut up. And finally I'm like, fine, I'm just sick of hearing this. So I realized I had all my recordings from the speech contest, from my speeches at the different levels. And when I was working on it and going up the ladder and there's a lot of lessons there and a lot of bad mistakes. And so I was like, well, I guess I like putting together programs. So I put together a program called Speak Like a Champion, inspired by Ed Tate's how to Go from Free to Fee and then become a World champion. I don't remember if that was the title of yours, but I put together a 4 CD set and I brought it, I shrink wrapped it. For those of you who are too young to know, shrink wrapping. And this was the old days. I had burned the CDs one at a time in my laptop, one at a time. And then I had those sticky labels where.

Label Stomper.

Yeah, stomper, Exactly.

I had one too.

Yeah, Put the sticker up upside down and it centers it and kunk. And then you have to make sure you spread it out but you don't want to mess the ink up. And I got a shrink wrap machine. It's kind of like a big hair industrial size hair dryer with the little bags and anyway, I brought it there and brought it with me and huge lesson thanks to brother Po Kim Cheong. He was my helper. And I sold out of that program before I even went on stage. And I realized I had a new subject that became my number one revenue stream. That's what people wanted from me because that's where my credibility was more so than in the humor and things like that. Hey, there's one of them right there.

Made a difference. Derek David Brooks. Darren Lacroix with Hair and Mark Brown. Copyright was 2002. 20 years ago we did this.

Yeah, that's why I was like, oh, I gotta make some more product people like this. But it was a big aha. Just listening to my mentor and then letting the audience tell me what they wanted rather than me trying to figure it out. So a lot of firsts along the way. One I wanted to mention too, Ed, specifically to speak to, is that you. Ford Sakes, Mark Sanborn, David Brooks, all worked for a public seminar company before you became well known keynote speakers. And I know you talked about it just a second ago, but I think a lot of people just think we went from nothing to boom, being speakers. And we don't realize we need our first sea legs by getting real life. Stage time. Can you speak to that?

You say stage time. Stage time. Stage time. And the, the blessing of working for career track is I got a lot of stage time. Again, I, I did full day seminars using someone else's content. But I got a great piece of advice. I think it was from Mark Sanborn who said, always test out some of your own materials, test out some of your own stories in front of these audiences. Which is something I did on a regular basis. I have no regrets about that experience. And the other thing that I needed, you know, I had incentives. Again, I'm coming from corporate America. I'm, I'm an officer in a large corporation, so I'm well compensated. And my wife at the time, Kathy, was not, she was not happy about like, you know, $50 for three and a half hours. One thing I also learned how to do this experience. It taught me how to sell products from the front of the room, et cetera. So that's another skill that still helps me to this day. To this day, it still helps me with regard to that. So there's a lot of skills I learned, I got from that process. The other thing too, I also learned that I didn't want to do that.

For a long, long time.

And I literally almost got killed one day. So we used to do these, we used to do these tours and that is you would fly into one city and you would drive to 3, 4, sometimes 5 cities, like a different city every single day. And sometimes these cities weren't very, very close. So you've, you've been on your feet all day. I'll never forget, this was at central Illinois. I flew to my alma mater, Champaign, the University of Illinois. So I started there and there's four or five other cities. And I think I was driving to Peoria, which was about 60 miles. So I've been on my feet all day. Mentally, I'm a little exhausted. It is exceptionally hot. I think it's like 110 or 15 degrees, humid, etc. My rent a car, I didn't have a highest status as Mark did.

So he was only boron. He wasn't titanium yet, exactly, you know.

So I really did have a really, really good car. And I literally, I'm driving over a bridge. I can see the hotel. I can literally see the hotel. But I must have been tired and my eyes closed there for the grace of God. My head hit the horn. The horn woke me up. I am actually in the other lane of oncoming traffic.

Yikes.

Wow.

I swerved to the left, I swerved to the right. Thankfully, nothing happened. And I'm literally in between that median, between the highways. I stood there, I stayed there for at least 40 minutes because my heart literally almost popped out of my chest. And I made it. I made a choice and I made a decision. I said, I've got to do this differently. I've got to do this differently. And unfortunately, we have had several members who work for Career Track and other seminar companies as well, where they weren't as fortunate, you know, so that was a, that was a choice, that was a decision, but it gave me, I have so many fond memories, I have so much experience. The biggest lesson I got, there's nothing that I can't handle on stage. That's what I got from all that stage time. One time in Dallas, Texas, there was a tornado and we lost power. However, the facility where we were, the tornado passed quickly. It was still sunny, but we had no power. But the audience was still there and they couldn't go anywhere. I didn't have PowerPoint accessible to me. I said, but hey, I know this program cold. I says, if you guys like, let's teach it so, you know, flip chart, paper, whiteboard. And I taught the entire course. No electricity. And I also get referrals from other people out of that organization who later on hired me as speakers. And the, the experience I got from that is there's nothing, I got the confidence, there's nothing I can't handle on stage. And, and I got that from stage time. Stage time. Stage time. Working for a public seminar company.

And in response to that, a thought for our listeners, slash viewers who may see this on YouTube, YouTube someday down the road. You have no idea when you have your first time having to improvise and to adjust your presentation because of technology, because of circumstances, because of weather, because the venue got changed. I can't remember the first time my venue got changed at a school. Real quickly I use PowerPoint. I mean, all we do, a gymnasium or an auditorium. They said, no, we're going to bring the whole school. I get there. We're going to bring the whole school out. And the only place to, to do that at 9am is in our commons area amphitheater outside in California at 9am on a sunny day. Guess what does not work outdoors at 9am on a sunny day in California. PowerPoint blank screen is totally washed out. And I gave my 45 minute program without PowerPoint, I did what Ed did. I said, guys, you got me. Here we go. At A table, a chair, a desk, a chair, bottle of water. And we went for it, and it was wonderful. If we panic, oh, no, I don't get PowerPoint. Oh, no, I didn't have that right. Prop. Oh, no. What will I do? Professionals. If you want to be unforgettable, you find a way. And I don't know when your first time is going to happen, but like a boy scout, be ready. As Ed always says, it's not if, but when. Aaron.

Yeah. On your journey to be unforgettable, you're gonna have a first time. The PowerPoint doesn't work a first time. The electricity doesn't work a first time. The microphone doesn't work the first time. The fire alarm goes off. First time they don't read your introduction. First time they put in the wrong power. Like you're gonna have a lot of. It's part of the process. The purpose of this episode is let you know you're not alone. You're gonna make mistakes. The whole world will not know what happened that one day. It doesn't make or break your career. It's what you do with it. It's if you learn from that lesson that truly will make you become unforgettable. Guys, let's wrap this up here. Wanna honor your time and our listeners time. Final thoughts on your firsts. Ed.

Darren, you just reminded me of a fire alarm story again. My first time going to Australia, I was not prepared for the time change. And so my keynote was at night. And I did everything I possibly could to keep my eyes open. I finally make it to my hotel room and I'm thinking, I am so thankful. And I crash. Anyway, I'm so tired. All of a sudden I hear this. The sound. I'm thinking it's the alarm. So I keep smashing the alarm, but there's nothing there. Anyway, I look up and I notice on the ceiling that there is a light flashing. And I'm saying to myself, okay, I'm a different country. That's a strange place for alarm, but okay, all right. And I am. I'm so exhausted. I am so tired. I jump on the bed, attempting to push the button on the fire alarm. And then all of a sudden, the curse me, it's a fire alarm, hoping.

No one has seen me.

So, anyway, if you travel internationally, prepare yourself for the time zone, Mark.

My simple thought is this. There are firsts in your career, in your life as a presenter that you have not seen, okay? But be prepared for all of them. And the way to do that is to become not good, not great, but unforgettable.

I'll see you next week.

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