Ep. 130 Story Dig with Maria Romano

On your mark, get set, go.

You leave, man.

Hey there, Mark Brown. We are here going to be doing a story dig. We talked about this last week and when we talked about it, this is something new we've been doing on stage time that we've often coached members who have a story and how to make it better. But then we realized that people have ideas for stories and when we can sit down and have a conversation and dig out the critical points and elements and details, they can tell a much better story faster. Mark, I thought what we'd do this week, since you are the master of the story dig, that we would give an example.

Yeah, it's a good idea. And I'm eager for everyone to meet our guest today who holds a very unique perspective on life and a very unique job as well. And I can't wait to hear one of her stories and help her dig the gold that's found inside. Let's do this, Darren.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome 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, Mark, since you do the story dig, coaching on our live calls, and by the way, if you're listening to this, you like the idea. Hey, check it out. Join us in stage time and you can do a story dig along with Mark and the other coaches. But Mark, Maria, I don't know if you know this or not, but when I was an officiant at my sister's wedding, Maria was someone that I went to for advice and said, help. What do I do? So if you're just joining us, Maria is a relationship expert. She's an officiant expert. She has courses on how to become an officiant, and she's just an all around great speaker and an amazing woman. She has a website called True Love Knots. True Love Knots.

K N O T S Not.

So. Maria, welcome and thank you for helping me become a better officiant.

Well, you know what, thank you both for being here. I really appreciate the invite. And I've got to give you a quick backstory. The reason I got involved in actually coaching officiants is because of you, Darren.

Really?

Yes. I did not know that you didn't Know this well. When you had contacted me, you were getting ready for your sister's wedding and I thought about it and I had just getting over Covid at the time and I started thinking, I said, you know what, people do call you, why don't you just decide to go do this? And I did some research, took a great course, put together a digital course, a bunch of videos, and voila, here I am.

And as we are always fans of using story to sell our product, our service, our consulting, whatever it is, our keynote speaking. So I thought it would be really cool if we took an idea for a story. So this is a story you have not told from the platform before. Now, this can't for you. If you're listening to this, this can become a video on your website, it can become a signature story in your keynote presentation. It could take text form on your website, it become a YouTube video, a Facebook live. You could tell a story. So, Mark Brown, I'm going to hand it over to you and give you the lead.

Mark Brown, nice voice you got there. Darren, Maria, once again, good to meet you officially today for the first time. And I'm eager to hear one of your stor and the whole idea is, as Aaron says, a story you haven't told before. But it's in your head, it's in your heart. You want to bring that out and give us a little bit of a backdrop to the story and tell us what the story is going to be about.

What I'd like to share with you is a story about one of the students that I have been coaching that actually officiated her first wedding ceremony yesterday. Yesterday. It was so exciting. And, you know, it's interesting that we're doing this is because I am working on formulating my signature talk about officiating wedding ceremonies because we have been sequestered and now we're all getting back out there again. I want to be able to develop a talk that I can actually share live, which would be so great as not just live, but also from behind, from in front of the camera, too. So this story, I think it's going to be a great story.

Well, we're going to give it a floor. And how we work is at times we may stop and say, oh, we heard something there. You might want to dig deeper on that. But let's hear what you have. And I'm eager to work with you on this.

There is a student of mine that will actually, her name is Michelle. Let's back up. And she reached out to me, she said, I'm thinking about becoming a wedding officiant, but I'm not too sure. I don't know if this is going to be something that I want to do. And I said, well, tell me what you're looking to do. She said, well, I come from a public servant background. She worked. I believe she might have worked military, somewhere with the military, retired, recently married her life partner, and moved to Las Vegas. And she has an income, but she wants to add to her income, and she wants something where she basically is her own boss. She doesn't want to have to work for somebody. She is in her 50s, and she's at a point in her life, she's looking to change her path, but she wants to do something impactful. So we started talking and she decided, okay, I'm going to go. I'm going to enroll, and I'm going to take the live training with you, Maria. So she did, and it was a very diligent student. She was the type of student. She showed up all the time. Every time I had a zoom meeting, she listened to the videos in advance, like she was told, because I have a drip content where the videos come out each week, you know, after you listen to a few of them from the previous week. So she was. She was never ahead of herself. She was great. Then we started rehearsing after a while, and I wanted her to rehearse her ceremony. And as we all know, like anything else, we just not. We're not born presenters, we're not born speakers, we're not born officiants. We learn. We learn by practicing. So she went through it, and again, as a good coach, I told her she did a great job. There's things that she can definitely improve upon. So she took that, she molded it around. She goes, well, you know, I really. I really want to. I want to do this. I really want to do this. I want to go out, want to find some business. And I said, okay. I said, have you found anything yet? Put something out on Facebook, Offer to do a ceremony for your friends. Anybody complimentary. Somebody reached out to her, and she turned them down. I said, why did you turn them down? She said, I didn't feel like I was ready. I said, no, stop right there. That's the first slide I have on my videos. Rookie confidence. Don't ever let them know that it's your first time. It's your first time marrying them. Remember that. That's what I always tell my couples. So she finally decided to take a leap. I called her. I had received a Call from a lead, somebody that wanted an officiant. And I said, you know what? I think I have the right officiant for you. I called her and I got her at a low moment, and she committed. So she kept reaching out to me all week and texting me and texting me. So she performed the wedding ceremony on Sunday, yesterday. And I want to share with you what she said to me in her text. And this is a woman that she. She really. She thinks about everything. She does, and there's nothing wrong with it. She wants to make sure she's a perfectionist. She said to me, everything went great, Maria. They were very happy. I didn't mess up. What can I tell you?

And the moral of the story is.

That, right, performing a wedding ceremony can be deceptively easy, but it's not easy. But if you take the time and go through the instructions, you can definitely have the confidence to perform that ceremony with ease, making a difference, but not just in the couple's lives, in your lives as well. Because you know when you do something and you ace it, when you ace it, you feel great. But when you are not prepared, you feel, what, a little bit like I didn't put enough into it.

Wow, Interesting. Thank you so very much. There's a couple of things in the story here that I think are really, really important. And just as a principle, before I go a little deeper, as a principle, what is often very effective in story. Well, it's two things. That's one, it's the emotion that you can bring out in the story. One of our coaches here, he's a story master. His company is actually called Story Mastery is Michael Haig. Michael Haig is the Hollywood script consultant to the star. Will Smith comes to him with his script to look at. And Michael teaches us the purpose of the story is to elicit emotion. So here's a first thought for you, Maria. There are a few opportunities in your story where you can elicit emotion. I'll tell you one right away was when you first described Maria. I began to write some notes, and she came across in your story as very focused, very, no nonsense, very structured. She was a public servant, retired military, image, recently married, an image. She wanted to get some income to supplement her current income. She's in her 50s and she wanted to be impactful. So I get the image of somebody who was very driven. But her conversations with you suggest a different look. She was a bit more fearful, a bit more cautious, but also very committed. So when you tell us about her, let us hear her words. You gave us a little background, you know, I wanted to hear. She came to you, said, maria, I want to be an officiant. Because if we understand her motivation using her dialogue and feeling her emotion, then that makes the story that much more deep for us and more meaningful. So the two things were, one was the emotion. And two, dialogue. When you replace. When you strategically replace some description with dialogue and you have to be selective about this, you have to know when to do this. When you strategically replace some narration with dialogue, you transform a story into an experience for the audience. And I say selective because one of my mark isms is this. When you are selective, you are more effective. When you are selective, you are more effective. So choose when to use dialogue and be very careful to give us an image of the emotion. So my first question in my mind was, okay, of all the things Ms. Maria could do, why would she choose to be an officiant at a wedding or a christening or a dedication? Why would she choose that? The audience's understanding of that gives us a clearer picture of her heart and her motivation at the moment. You could go. You could drill down more deeply on why she chose to do that. Did she reveal that to you?

Actually, yes, she did. And you're right. I could have put that in the beginning. And that's a great idea because she came to me. She was at a wedding ceremony herself, she and her wife, and they were not really. They didn't think the officiant did such a great job. And they started talking with some other people there that were guests about officiating wedding ceremonies. And somebody had said to her, well, maybe you should just go take a course. So she googled and found me, and that's how that came about. So she has something was. There was something that sparked her when she was listening to that particular ceremony that made her think I could do a better job. That's probably what she was thinking of.

Exactly. Now, what you just did was you used her words and you added her emotion. You know what? I could do that. I can do better than that. I should pursue this. It would be a great way to really do something as meaningful, to bless other people and feel that what I'm doing is valuable. That one detail in her words with her emotion will change the landscape of our understanding. I'm going to bring Darren in here because I remember Darren had a similar line in his life where he says, hey, those guys are terrible. I can at least do that. Darren, please share your thoughts on this. Darren, please.

And remember the Purpose of the story for business, for sales, for awareness is that we want to be relatable. We want to use our characters. And by the way, Marcus, Michelle, sorry, is the character.

Maria is our guest.

True love, not so when somebody listening or on your website or listening to you speak, hears a little bit about Michelle and how she had this moment where she thought, you know what, that was kind of horrible. I felt, you might even add, if it's the truth, I felt bad for the couple because now we get she cares. Like just by saying I felt bad for the couple, like, this is their wedding day, right? This could be so much better. I could do that. And now the person reading or listening can relate to the beginning of where she was and why she came to you, which is part of the selling process. And I also, Mark, going back to what you just asked me about me, like, it was inspirational to see other people in open mic nights who are horrible. And I said I could do that. They were horrible. So you're also giving through Michelle. You're giving people hope that you can do it. What my other thing is, I want you to emphasize in all your speaking or all your marketing for this, follow my process. Follow my step by step process. And then when she's ready to quit that one time or she denies that first opportunity, that's great story right there. And then I had to remind her, just follow my step by step process. So now you're planting the seed that you have a step by step process. So at the beginning, when she comes to, you say, perfect. You got great heart, you got great energy. I know you can do this. Just follow my step by step process and we'll get you there. And I'm on your team. And then when she rejects it, you say it again. So it's an opportunity to plant that seed of you've got her now. The listener will hear it twice. People need to hear things a couple times in a story. I also, Mark, I don't know what your thought is, but I want to picture her somehow, some way even I know, because this is a true person. You might even ask permission if you can use her real name and if not, give us an image. The important thing is we as the listener can picture. Like what Mark said that, you know, she was retired military. Is that.

Yes.

Public servant.

Yeah, public servant. She was very professional and always. But something that resonates with you but allows us. Just like when I described Mark in the Mark Brown story. Six foot two, heart of gold, native of Jamaica. You can picture that. So Let us picture Michelle. Did you say she called you or.

She did. She reached out to me. She had Googled looking to learn how to officiate weddings. So I think you're right as far as being able to describe her, I can probably use the process of something like, here's a woman that I was talking to on Zoom, and she obviously reminded me of somebody that really took her. Her time to make decisions. She had glasses on. She kind of peered at me. And I loved her cute little dreadlocks that she had in her hair. I kept looking at them.

There you go. There you go. But look at. Look at you right now. You're coming to life describing her. More of your joy and emotion is coming out. Now, we know you weren't telling the story to tell the story. This wasn't a performance, but we want to point out that that just lit you up. So that part of the description is gonna help your memory and bring you back to that moment. And if you're listening to this, think moments. When you're telling stories, think moments. And the moments are connected. But going back to when she was at that wedding, you know, let her describe it. You know, so I was there with my partner at a wedding, and the efficient. Do you remember anything she described about what the officiant did that wasn't professional or.

Well, there was a couple of things, but basically she just said she was listening to the officiant and she felt as if the officiant really wasn't there. They were just going engaged. The emotion wasn't engaged. And there was one big faux pas that was a same gender wedding. And one of the things that in my step by step process is I have a whole video on the actual verbiage to use. But the most important thing is at the end of the ceremony, what do you usually say? By the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you right.

My own wife or husband. Husband and wife.

Well, that did not happen. It should have been wife and wife.

Wife and wife.

Yeah, it was husband and wife. And you know what? I've made that mistake before. This is why I teach this, because I don't want my mistakes to be your. So, yes, and that's exactly what happens. And I understand that. And that is her passion. She would like to focus on LGBT weddings. So that's her area of focus. And that's where I can, you know, I can definitely give her the tools and the right path for that.

In the moment when she's describing the wedding she was at that inspired her we need something that. It doesn't necessarily have to be that faux pas. It's okay if it is, because obviously that's a huge faux pas. But just saying the person, the officiant, didn't seem to care. They were saying the words, but I knew I could do better than that. So we want, right before the revelation of I can do that, her story to you. She has to set up the moment that she said, I can do that, which is that she was just recognizing the person wasn't all there, Mark.

Yeah. And there is a concept that Darren and I teach Maria. It's called telling the emotional truth. What that means is you will tell the truth of what happened, but you may not have exactly the same words precisely, but everything is true. Let me explain what I mean. In this particular scenario, perhaps Michelle did not use these words, but to give us an emotional perspective of how she thought, how she felt. She told you the officiant did not do a good job. It was their wedding, for goodness sake. Okay. And she could say, I know I could do that. I want to do that because I want to give couples the experience they deserve on their wedding day. I want to give them the experience they deserve on their wedding day. And you actually touched on a sub story a little while ago when you said, she told me the faux pas. They did, they made a huge mistake. I said, michelle, don't worry. Trust me. I've done it too, myself. And I know how to help you with that. By inserting that, your own vulnerability, you reveal to her that, I've been there, done that, and I have the process back to Darren's idea. And I have a process that will prevent them from happening again for you, if you trust me. So by revealing that small part of I had done that before myself, that gives her the confidence to know you aren't just saying, I will teach this from lofty. I'm not pontificating. I've been there. I've done that. And your own vulnerability as part of your story will tell your audience, your prospects, your potential clients, that you understand the entire process, not only from a teaching standpoint, but from your own experience of the mistakes you have made. And I believe that authenticity plus vulnerability equals credibility. And you gain credibility when you show your own vulnerability with authenticity. And do not say that six times fast. Right, we're going to pause here and ask for your thoughts so far, what you've said, Marie.

Well, wow. I think what you said is incredible and very powerful. And by taking and digging into the story and by Expanding really is being able to have listeners that when I'm looking to, of course, speak to, whether it's one person or several about this course, they're able to relate to me, which I think is very important as well. And you have to show your vulnerability because I think if you walking and saying that you're the expert all the time, you know, you have. You go through trial and error. We all know that a surgeon doesn't become a surgeon until they've had many surgeries. The same thing occurs with officiating as well. But I do think that, yes, there are people, and that's one thing that you want to focus on when you're trying to promote your product is there's that process where I think, I can do this. But then what happens is sometimes they'll think, okay, I can do this, and then they stop and hesitate and they wonder, can I really do this? So they need that coaching process and having your back, like Darren was saying. So you have to be able to say, you know, I'm there with you every step of the way because your success is my success, but more importantly, your success is because of you. Okay? And I'm just giving you the tools to help you get there. So I love that.

Keep in mind, too, that you can actually combine clients. Like, if something happened with this client and that client, it's the truth, but you can bring them together and condense them. And my thought is, I don't know if you've ever said this, but the advice Mark gave you, I would bring that in. And we're talking the structure of the speech. What are you going to say? In what order? When she tells you that she turned it down, that is when you bring in the idea that, you know what, I get it. You're afraid to make mistakes. This is probably not the truth, but you could insert this by saying, because remember, when you're telling this story, you're really speaking to the listener, not the person. When you're telling stories for business purposes. So you could say to her, if that officiance heart was in the right place and they were all in and you felt their love, do you think that big blunder at the end would have mattered as much? Look, I've made mistakes, but, Michelle, I can tell your heart's in the right place. When your heart's in the right place, people will forgive your mistakes. It's okay, I've made some. And then you tell that you've made mistakes and it's okay. And I'm here with you step by step. You don't just get the course, you get me and I'll hold your hand. Holding hands might be better than coaching in this type. Of course I'm with you. I'm next to you. Your words, of course, Maria, but I'm gonna be there with you every step of the way.

Mark, do you mean Darren? I can't tell the story that when you were told by Vinnie that you never turned down stage time. I can't just say that.

Nice.

You can, you can. You're welcome to.

Somebody told me a long time ago, never turn down stage time.

Amen. Amen.

You know, it's interesting, though. You again, you could say, walk with you. I'm going to lock arms with you. I'm by your side. But what you have given us here is another moment in your presentation, right? One she said, why you turn it down? And she told you, well, I didn't think I was ready. That part of the story, the emotion of what she says, how she says it and how you respond is another moment in the story because it becomes a turning point from which she. I've got all the learning, I've gotten the education. She was diligent. She was very. She was a sponge. She learned everything. She was on track, she followed the process and she was consistent. But when the time came to do it, her own doubt spoke to her. Let's hear her words. Let's feel her emotion. Let's understand not only her mind, but her heart. Why did she feel she wasn't ready, Maria?

That's a good question, Mark. I can only assume. All I heard in her voice was she just said to me over the phone, I don't feel I'm ready. I don't feel I'm ready.

You said.

And I said to her, I said, what makes you say that? And she said to me, because I haven't practiced enough. Okay, well, then let's start practicing. And it's not necessarily that you have to practice with me all the time. Maybe when you get in your car, when you're in front of the mirror, it's okay, take your phone and record, but you have to start someplace.

Okay. So she had a concern about not feeling ready. She thought she wasn't prepared enough. You give her and everybody else the tools and some ideas that will help them to prepare under different circumstances. It's funny you say that, because I know I have told people I will rehearse when I'm ironing. And yes, I do iron people. I have no problem. I love ironing it calms me down. But I can rehearse in my car. I can rehearse in the shower. I can rehearse when I'm on my treadmill. And I think Darren had told us that our dear mentor Patricia Fripp rehearses her presentations on a treadmill. And she's still going. She still does it. The point is you are giving her one more tool to make it easier for her to serve. And you could talk about that in terms of one of the methods that you teach to allow us to prepare ourselves not only when we're standing in an office somewhere or in front of a lecture and rehearsing. We can actually find ways to rehearse, different ways to rehearse where we feel comfortable. We can have our friends serve as to people in the wedding. We could do a mock wedding and have our friends serve. And there's so many things you can do. You can point out. I have a series of ideas for you to help you feel prepared. Be prepared and be confident. You'll be so confident, you'll be the most efficient officiate you can use that.

That is so true and thank you for that, Mark. One great thing about officiating is when you start out, until you become comfortable with your scripts is you can. You have your script in front of you, whether you have it in a binder on your iPad, whatever it is. That's the beauty. That's the difference than when you're going out and speaking publicly, right to talking about something. So you got. You've got that little bit of that crutch, a competitive edge, worse community. Look down, you lose your place, you go back and you just find it again. So that's the beauty of it. And there are, you know, nobody knows you're making an error unless. Unless you say the couple's names incorrectly. Other than that, nobody knows.

And that could be a point of human in your speech as well. But do you see when the moment where she really feels this fear again, which seems to be so opposed to the character we first saw who was confident, been around for a while, experienced, but she had a natural fear. And all of us at some point feel natural fear about doing something when we're called upon to do it. It gives you one more opportunity to go further. The tools, the techniques and the tips that are part of your process to help her to get through that. Indeed, help anyone who is considering working with you to get through their process as well. Thoughts, Darren?

Yes, I would suggest for this story to calling your Michelle and Having a conversation with her just to get a little more details about where she's at now. Because when you tell a story for businesses purposes, the purpose of telling the story is to show the transformation of the character that. Here's someone who just is thinking about it and here's someone who now delivered her first ceremony. And not only, and again get her words and her insights, but not only did she deliver her first ceremony, she had fun. She helped people. She became a part of this memory. Like what, what, what did it mean to her? What was, you know, again, going back to that emotion. But then if it's true, she says something like, and Maria, now I have a business that I love. Because you didn't just help her with one ceremony, you changed what she could do for a living.

Which goes back, by the way, to what you told us earlier, that she wanted to do something to supplement and have her own business. And as Darren is saying now, she feels the confidence to go forward with this. And we see a transformation because one more principal story is in a story well told, we see a transformation or change in one of the characters. In this case, certainly it's going to be Michelle. And what would be helpful is if you talk about when you go back to her first experience saying, that really wasn't a good wedding. I could do better than that. I mean, the couples, it's their wedding day, they didn't get the experience they deserved. She could then call back to that and say in her report to you, oh, Maria, I really feel so blessed because I gave that couple the experience they deserved for their wedding day. It's a callback to a previous reference. It almost ties a bow on her ambition and then her success to make it happen. Is that helpful?

Yes. Wow. Yes. This was so helpful. This two minute story you just added and added and you built on it and made all the difference.

And as you start telling it, stories evolve the more you tell them and then it's going to get tighter and tighter and tighter. But you'll leave out the parts that were maybe not as important or send the audience off on a question that has nothing to do with it. I don't know if, Mark, I don't know if you remember a couple of things she said, but when she called you on Zoom or something like that, like there were some details that you had a conversation with her. Doesn't matter if it was Zoom or Live. Now I'm picturing, oh, you do this. Unless you're trying to sell that you get Zoom support, then maybe it is important. So you gotta think of what's important. What are you trying to get across? So just know we're giving a great starting point. Go through this recording, go through this yourself, and then take down all the notes and the story's gonna be too long. My first version of my championship speech was 1492 words and I had to get it down to 750. But write out the long story in order to condense it and compress it to the best story. And happy to have you back if you want to come. After you've given it a couple times and we polish it up one more time. What was most helpful to you, Maria?

Well, for, for me, just first of all, getting the feedback from both of you is incredible as far as I'm concerned. So this is like, I'm so jazzed. Can you see me? No, but seriously, the things that you really focus on on is really taking the story and again expanding on the emotions and expanding on the listeners emotions to the story so that they can connect with Michelle. Okay. Then also connecting with me saying, you know, I. I think I want to do this with Maria. This is something, I think she would be a great coach or somebody that can teach me. Because her process, she makes it sound like it's. It's something that if you want to do this, you want to do it right. But it's a step by step process. But in just being authentic and just telling stories and being vulnerable too, I think those points were very important as well. Gosh, I'm so, I'm so excited. I can't wait to go back and hear the recording.

Guys, we're glad to hear that. There's one more point I want to re. Emphasize not only for you, but for our listeners and those who may view video as well. It is this. You can allow Michelle to do some of your marketing for you. How do you do that? Her dialogue, I said before, strategically decide what dialogue to use and you can find her best bits, so to speak. And let her words, her transformation, her confidence being built. Let her words tell your listeners, your prospects, your audience, what your service has done for her. Not only in terms of what she does, but how she feels, how she is, the sense of satisfaction that she has received from doing it, the look on the faces of the individuals after the ceremonies and the way they thank her. Let her words, her dialogue speak for you because it's a very, very powerful tool. I can try and sell you what I do, but basically you're getting a testimonial as part of the story and not a separate blog post or a separate blurb on your website. It's actually in your story. And that's powerful. Having a client story to reinforce that message to future clients and potential clients and anyone else who needs to know what you do and how you do it. Darren.

And take a screenshot. I'm assuming you have a screenshot of the text she sent you because that could go on your website. And if you're doing slides, it would be cool to put up proof and think of two or three stories. So do this same process with two or three stories and you've got a lot of your story selling right then and there. And then. So number one, screenshots. And then number two. Oh, in terms of the end, when we think of using stories to sell, think of When Harry met Sally. I'll have what she's having.

Diner scene. The diner scene. Harry met Sally. Remember that scene?

So the end of Michelle, when Michelle now has a business, she's confident she's still got a little more work to do. So she's not. It's only her first one. But guess what? The people who are considering taking your course want a step by step process. Confidence. Get through that first one. And love. Have the feeling of being a part of the memory that will last a lifetime.

And they'll say, I want what Michelle.

Is having, which is your course, which is your hand holding, which is why we tell the story.

Incredible. Oh, I love this.

And if you're listening to this, check out True love nots K N O t s. If you want to talk to Maria or take her course or have her marry you and Maria, didn't we in Las Vegas, didn't we just hit some huge milestone like a billion weddings?

Interestingly enough, we are going to be issuing the 5 millionth wedding license. We hope sometimes this month I'm going to be talking about that to the American Marketing Association. I am going to be the moderator for a panel in a couple of days on how to market love. So we are so jazzed about this. And oh, yes, you know what? We might have had Covid, but cupid definitely trumped Covid.

Yeah.

Cupid trumps Covid. Yes.

You like?

That's a nice ring to it. Cupid trumps Covid.

Yes.

And out of the 5 million, 1 million of them are still married.

We don't go there, Darren.

Okay?

We don't have those numbers, Dan. We don't. We don't want to assume. All right? Speaking of somebody who'll be married 40 years in a couple of months. That's pretty awesome. Five million weddings in Las Vegas. Well, congrats to you and what you're doing, certainly. And the work you're continuing to do and, and it is my hope that your clients will hear your stories and say, yeah, I want what she's giving Darren.

I can only hope. And I know, thank you with just what you two shared with me.

Oh my gosh, thanks for being willing to do it in front of everyone. That takes confidence, but you got a great heart. You're an amazing woman. And if you're listening to this, Please check out truelovenot.com Find out more about Maria. Also on social media, which platforms are you on, Maria?

Oh, all of them, Darren. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Starting TikTok.

And if you want a story dig yourself, you can check us out. Go to stagetimeuniversity.com become a member. Maria is a member of Stagetime as well. Or check out one of our events, stagetimeworkshops.com so that that is a story dig. Mark Brown, take us home.

I always say this. Your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it. Your story may seem simple to you right now, but if you join us at Stage Time and let us dig deep, you'll find a story from your own life that truly can be unforgettable. We'll see you next week. Bye.

Make sure you subscribe to our show.

Remember to subscribe because if you miss a week, you miss a lot.

If you like this episode, please leave us a review. If you want to get more from Mark and Darren, check out stagetime University where they provide experienced presenters a proven path and world class feedback. To become the speaker everyone is talking about, go to stagetimeuniversity.com join us next week. If you're going to take the time to prepare a presentation, make it unforgettable.