Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - Jim Knight of Hard Rock Cafe: Leadership That Rocks Episode 64

Episode Date: July 21, 2020

Jim Knight shares with us how each one of his passions have lead him to the path he is on today within the hospitality industry. He is now a leader in his space with innovative methods to yield results in teaching leadership, culture and service.  About The Guest: A Training & Development veteran for 30+ years, Jim Knight facilitates on a variety of interactive topics, including sessions around organizational culture, world-class service, building rock star teams, employee branding & engagement, performance management and T&D best practices.   Although Jim's first job was at Gatorland Zoo, he cut his teeth in the training field through the Hospitality industry, starting out as a restaurant staff-­level employee for Olive Garden and then Hard Rock Cafe. He eventually became the head of the School of Hard Rocks, running point on all learning & development functions for Hard Rock International.   Although part of a small training group that supported all cafe, hotel and casino properties, Jim Knight’s role at Hard Rock involved many facets of organizational training, including creating/managing all staff and management training materials & programs, facilitating its corporate university, overseeing management training locations, producing training DVD’s, directing company e-­Learning initiatives, facilitating leadership transitions and traveling to property locations to deliver on-­site classes & measure standards.   Jim is also the Best-Selling Author of Culture That Rocks: How to Revolutionize Your Company’s Culture, a how-to business book designed to amp up a brand in any industry. Entrepreneur Magazine listed the book as one of the "Top 5 Books That Will Transform Your Business".   Along with his business partner, Brant Menswar, Jim co-hosts a weekly podcast called, Thoughts That Rock, which includes a rock star guest and presents 2 life-changing pieces of advice in 30 minutes. Finding Jim Knight: Visit the website: https://www.knightspeaker.com Instagram: @Jimknightspeaker Listen to the podcast Thoughts That Rock Buy his book: Culture That Rocks To inquire about my coaching program opportunity visit https://mentorship.heathermonahan.com/ Review this podcast on Apple Podcast using this LINK and when you DM me the screen shot, I buy you my $299 video course as a thank you!  My book Confidence Creator is available now! get it right HERE If you are looking for more tips you can download my free E-book at my website and thank you! https://heathermonahan.com *If you'd like to ask a question and be featured during the wrap up segment of Creating Confidence, contact Heather Monahan directly through her website and don’t forget to subscribe to the mailing list so you don’t skip a beat to all things Confidence Creating! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Quite a week, not a good one. Of course, we can't have all good weeks as we know and I know that I'm definitely not alone I'm sure you're with me and that there are just some weeks that suck and this has been one of them. So the week started off normally, started off fine actually, and then suddenly, tragically, my son's puppy drowned in the pool and it has been since then the last few days have just been a complete nightmare. It's really been, you know, it's the first time my 13-year-old has suffered from grief and loss and death, and it had been unexpected. I actually, it said to him, wow, you know, at one point in a conversation I was having with him, geez, there are some things we can look to here, you know, when I first heard,

I thought it was going to be one of your grandparents, you know, and he explained to me that what I found really interesting, he said that wouldn't have been as jarring or shocking because you start to expect when people get older that things can happen, but when people are young and healthy, you don't ever anticipate that and and as much as I was trying to comfort him, you know, he was right. And I really didn't know what to say there. It's one of those interesting things. When you're 45 years old and have gone through so much, I feel pretty equipped to handle basically anything that is thrown at me. And I'm not saying that's good

because in some regards, I think it's really jaded that I've seen it all, go ahead, throw it at me, and I'm gonna handle it. But this one I just, I didn't have the words and it felt awful. So I essentially just told them that I can't take the pain away and I do understand how heart-wrenching it is, but what I could do is promise to sit with them,

to hold them, to be with them and to go through it with them. And that's what we're doing. So we actually made a great decision to leave home and go on a quick weekend trip with one of my really good friends and her son. And it's been great because it got him out of the house. It got him into the ocean. It got him on a boat. It got him on a jet ski.

It got him into activities which have gotten, you know, these little moments these little breaks of sunshine in his release his sad time right now. So I have not seen or felt sadness like this and I don't even know how long there is nothing like watching your child suffer. It is much worse than any pain that I remember for myself. Other than when I was, you know, 15, 16, 17 years old, I remember looking back, because I've been reflecting about this a lot, things seem so much worse when you're younger because you don't have anything to compare it to.

However, you know, you're in some ways more hopeful and excited for things at that age because things are unexpected and new and the whole world is new, right? So there's this immense positive and then I guess this really potential downside looming while I see it that way now that I've actually gone through this with him. I wasn't thinking about that before this happened. So time needs to pass and obviously in time he will learn to live with it and live with that idea of keeping someone in your heart and caring them with you

always and we've been talking about that although it's easier said than done when it when it first happens. One of my clients found out that this had happened and had actually seen a psychologist for someone and went to a child in his life when the same thing happened and he was talking about some of the importance being around memorializing that animal's life and and loss and you know if possible doing something even if it's just creating a picture or a portrait or something to to showcase how special that person was and that they are still there in their

life. And so we are going to do that. My son had actually asked to do that. He wants to have a giant picture of him blown up for his room. And, you know, he came up with the idea to change his basketball jersey number to the date 14, the day that he had lost his dog. And so we're coming up with some different ways to make that special and memorable and rememberable, not forgettable. And that's, I believe that's important. So I appreciated that feedback because I didn't know, again, never having gone through this with my son before. So this is life and sometimes life is just a bitch. So the day that it happened, of course, I had a full day planned of meetings and interviews and I'm back to back and my son was actually in his bedroom playing on his Xbox when I got

the call. And one of the interviews I had set up for that day was with Seth Godin who is someone I wanted to have on my show for since day one. I mean, he's the world's best and biggest marketer. He's very difficult to get a hold of and I had finally secured an interview with him that day. So wouldn't you know that happens and I first sat with my son for about an hour holding him and when I was able to get him calm, I came out to my computer to send out four emails to the four meetings I had back to back for the afternoon to cancel each one of them. And I basically set the same thing in each email I said, unfortunately, my son has just suffered a tragic loss of his dog by a sudden unexpected drowning.

And I need to cancel my schedule for the remainder of the day so I can be fully present with him. I truly hope that we can reschedule in the future and that you understand. Thank you for your understanding. I sent that basically that same email to everybody individually. And wow, you never know how people will respond, right? You don't know who people are until they're throwing in the fire until they're thrown into the unexpected and a day or two later. I don't even remember anymore because this week as a blur, I checked my email and Seth had responded immediately, oh my gosh, this is horrible. I feel terrible for your son.

I feel so much for what you're going through, absolutely wicking reschedule whenever you want, sending hugs and like it was the nicest, most supportive understanding email. And it's interesting. I've never actually met him in person. I've consumed so much of his content. I've been to conferences where he's been a speaker

and he doesn't directly know me. He knows people I know and I know people he knows. But it was so interesting to me to receive that message back. I was so grateful for it and just that gave me hope. There's good people out there. And sometimes they show up right when you need them. So that was good. So the next day I actually I had, I had a few one-on-one meetings with some of my clients and I really didn't want to reschedule with them and they were late this next afternoon. So I said to my son,

why don't you land a couch? I have this one area that's my living room and the TV rooms one giant room and I sit in there to do my Zoom meetings and Usually my son's not in that room and I said, why don't you just lay on the couch watch a movie I'll sit right here and record if you need me just wave your hand I'll get all disconnected get off the the call and he said that was fine. That would work So what was different was I was on these meetings, which typically it's complete silence in the background and now you could hear that the TV was on. I didn't care because listen, my number one priority is my son and if anyone said it was

an issue, I would just say, well, let's reschedule for another time. But no one said anything like that. However, I was on one of these meetings with one of my clients who knows me well and about 10 minutes into the meeting, he says, something's wrong with you. I don't know what it is. He said, you're off, you're upset, you're cold. I don't know what's going on with you. And I didn't want to say because my son was sitting right there. So I just said, nothing, everything's fine.

Well, wouldn't you know that person was bringing me in as a guest speaker for his company's quarterly meeting the next day? And I believe he was a little nervous because of how I looked, how I was speaking. And it was one of those interesting moments that if I had any energy in that moment, I would have laughed because I just know me and I know that, okay, I might be completely miserable right now and hanging on by a thread. However, I know that when the meeting launches in 24 hours and I have to go on and be the virtual guest speaker for this event

I will show up and this comes from lots of bad things happening and lots of difficult times in my life I have had to show up and be at conferences where everything went wrong, where someone cussed me out, where, you know, were really difficult things were going on personally for me, but, you know, the show still had to go on and you still have to get on stage. And that's happened so many times. It isn't even a thought that I wouldn't, right? And it was funny. So the next day we were driving to the keys and it was a really long car ride Four hours or something and so I couldn't get any work done and whatever it didn't matter anyway I was just concerned about my son in the back seat and getting to the hotel checking and setting up so I could do the

guest speaking for this company and so We're driving down and I'm just listening to music and listening, talking to my son and reminiscing about other trips we've had to the keys over the years and and it was actually a really good ride on the way down, talking about what we were looking forward to on the trip and got to the hotel, got checked in, got set up, set the computer up, set the wifi up, set the microphone up, you know, got all situated, and then I said, oh gosh, I got to jot some notes down about what the objective is. And what I always like to do is say to myself, what is the overall goal of this conversation, the speech that I'm going to give? And so I thought to myself based upon the feedback that I had heard from my client, because we had discussed it the day before, he really wanted to congratulate and acknowledge

the efforts of the team. He wanted to encourage them to move faster and achieve more for the next quarter, looking out Q3 and Q4, and he also wanted to address an issue that was new in their world, which was they had a new competitor show up that was just trying to undercut them in price was becoming an issue where it really hadn't been previously. So I wrote those three things down, recognize and congratulate. Number two was encourage to move fast and break things. And number three was the price conversation.

And so that's how I prepared a mention is to you because years ago, that's not how I would prepare, right? Years ago, I would have sat down and probably put together PowerPoints and, you know, I would have been nervous and not trust myself. That's not how I operate anymore. I really trust myself. Again, in all fairness, I've been in sales and sales leadership now for 25 years more than that. And so I have a tremendous amount of experience. I can rely upon and trust within me.

I will have the words, especially when I'm going into any type of an organization that is revenue generation focus, that's focused on sales teams and on innovating and driving revenue. That's my thing. So sometimes you just have to trust yourself and stop overthinking. Because I see that happen with a lot of people. It used to happen with me, but it doesn't anymore. So I had my three bullet points, and I dialed in,

and once it was on, it was on. So I was completely immersed, and thankfully, my good friend had taken my son and her son out for they went to go parisailing while I was doing this. So they were doing something fun, which allowed me to breathe and not worry about my child. And I was actually excited for him because I know when you're really down and then also you put yourself in a sort of new, scary situation like parisailing, you get so swept up in that moment, you're not really thinking of anything else. So that was, I was excited actually and I couldn't

wait to hear how it went because he was a little nervous, which I thought was good. It's like one of those opportunities to step into your fear and see if you have fun, which of course he did. So the speech went amazing. And one of the things that I addressed that I want to share with you is number one, everybody needs to be recognized and being in good companies huge

because when you're around people that are pushing you to grow and showing you what they can achieve and do, it motivates and inspires you and holds you accountable, right? Because nobody wants to show up on a team and not to live or when everybody else is. So I was acknowledging that too. I was acknowledging, you know, move fast and break things and I went back to two different times in my career. One time when I did that and felt so proud and really felt I left a legacy behind.

And one time when I didn't do that where I sort of just, you know, played to the middle and it wasn't proud and looked back and feel like that was a loss of my time, not being my best, not growing, not innovating. And life's not about that, especially these days where we know how fragile life is, the coronavirus and all the loss we've seen this year. So I talked about that, especially these days where we know how fragile life is the coronavirus and all the loss we've seen this year. So I talked about that. Then I got to the point, the conversation around price and how there is no conversation for price when you have a premium marquee product, which this company does.

They have an amazing product. And I challenged them to shift the conversation. Don't have the price conversation. In fact, focus solely on product and creating disparity between your product and the undercutters because they're not in your league. And you even allowing them to have that conversation that they are puts them in your league. So we're not going to do that. Instead, let's use some different analogies and talk about why there is a vast space and create more disparity between them. As well as people make decisions on emotion, right?

And especially now people are fueled around trust and safety concerns and poking some holes in that or suggesting. You know, fast-forward five years from now, Jim, if you buy a product based on price and find out that jeopardize the safety of your employees and or your customers, can you imagine what that would do to your brand the brand?

You have personally worked over 20 years to elevate the brand that your company has had for 50 plus years Is that worth losing over saving a couple of thousand dollars? These are the questions we really need to ask ourselves You know, so we really talked through how you could handle that price objection and I felt really good about the direction I gave them I got some great feedback and then I was that price objection and I felt really good about the direction I gave them. I got some great feedback and then I was off and done and I was so, so grateful to have that done. Oh my gosh, because I really had a heavy heart and I would just went in all into that moment and left my feelings and emotions to the side so that I could deliver that talk, which random is so bizarre, but I've done it so many times now that I knew I could do it, and you can do it too if you actually have to. So hopefully you don't have to anytime soon, because it's not fun to be having a week like

this. However, we all have them, and we will all continue to get through them. So hoping that year week is going better, hope you enjoy this next interview, and I will be right back with you. Welcome back. I'm so excited. As I mentioned, we have Jim Knight. He is the certified rock star and the craziest thing, Jim, as I mentioned to you offline, is that one of the gentlemen in my mentorship program told me I had to have you on this show because he was blown away in person by you and your speaking abilities. So I'm so grateful for you to be here. Thank you.

Well, I appreciate it. And I will say that I'm mediocre at a lot of stuff. But one thing I have a strength is I can hold an audience. So at the very least in person, you know, our good friend Warren, yeah, I'm super happy that he said that. Let's hope it translates to a podcast, right? Well, I mean, I think you're underselling yourself a little bit knowing that you actually have your own podcast and have quite a bit of of experience interviewing. So we know it's going to be good. All right, I want to start with, I grew up in the service business.

You know, I was busing tables, then I was working in fast food restaurants, then I was waiting tables, then I was bartending, ultimately leading me to sales. And I love that your story really begins and has that through line for the service industry. And I was hoping to give us some insight and how you started out.

Yeah, mine was sort of the entry level. Actually, my very first job, although I will still say it's in the service industry, was at a local theme park. So I live in central Florida. I'm in Orlando. We have a lesser known theme park called

Gatorland Zoo, which is an actual working gator farm. But you know, for 14 bucks, you can go in there and there's a whole bunch of fun stuff. I actually sold fish. I drove a little miniature train out there. I worked in the alligator boat and stricter area where we would put like a snake around some of his neck and you can hold onto a baby alligator. What is this show exotic like in real time?

It sounds like it, right? I'm sure we probably crossed paths at some point. I doubt that. Actually, my was probably a little bit before his time. But I loved it right. I'm sure we probably crossed paths at some point. I doubt that actually. Mine was probably a little bit before his time, but I loved it. I mean, just having that service mentality that work ethic really got me into working at a little Italian restaurant here in the States

called the Olive Garden. And Olive Garden was a great run for me. I did that for a couple of years. And although I was, you know, I went to school to be a musician and I was a middle school teacher for six years. My real love was in the hospitality industry and I started working at a local hard rock cafe

and that like you, I worked at a frontline position. I was just a host and loved it, but I got to touch basically 7,000 people a day doing something crazy like $35,000 hours, which is unheard of in hospitality. But, you know, your skills grow real quick. And, you know, we can certainly talk about the service industry, but I think that mentality, you talk about that through line,

it's really helped me out in any position. And honestly, I get access to a lot of data. And I'll tell you the National Restaurant Association, we'll tell you something like 65% of all Americans will work in that industry as a starting point. They may not end up there, they may, you know, might not be their career, they're going to go on to whatever it is their school major was or whatever, but you think about in this country, 65% of all people have worked in that industry, Man, it just really helps out. I think when you go on to perhaps do something else in the different industry. So you and I have that in common.

I absolutely love that industry. Yeah, it's been amazing. And it's been really good to you. How did you transition from being a server, being frontline, being in the hosting position to ultimately leading hard rocks training? I never really wanted to be a tipped employee, which like you said, as a server as a bartender, that seems to be a goal that's where the money is. And then eventually,

you almost take a pay cut to be a manager, right? Because you're on salary and you're at the best of whatever the general manager or the brand wants you to be. I never really want to be a tipped employee. Like I said, I really, I like being around people. I worked in probably the busiest restaurant in the world at that time in the early 90s. But I did think at some point I wanted bigger impact and influence. And so I did make the lead to be a manager. And I think I was very cognizant of the fact

that if I ever was to use my music degree, which I did get performance in education, and the work that I had done as a middle school teacher, that educational piece, I wanted to pull all of those levers. I knew that I was gonna have to be a manager at some point. So I did that really for only about a year, year and a half and then transcended over into the training and development world.

That meant I came out of the cafes, I was working at the corporate support center. And ultimately when my boss left to go do something bigger and better, I was just sort of a natural to move into that role and and wound up staying out of I think the 21 years I think I can add up to about 16 being head of the training and development wing and loved it and then from there, you know, just really, again, that work ethic, like you talked about Heather, is it really kept me grounded when I became a manager and ultimately an executive. And now I got a chance to, I guess, see the world and hang out with some rock stars. And somebody was paying me to do that and look and be and say whatever I wanted.

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NetSuite.com slash monahen. It sounds like you didn't know that that was going to be your career though when you started out, right? But as you were so interested in music, however, you've almost created this new arena, this edgutainer type arena, which I don't see many people doing that. Yeah, great word.

Edgutainment is exactly what we're about. You're right. You know, I really want to be a rock star. I want to be like a lot of my friend who could play and sing and I'd always been in community theater. I did when I was in high school, I was in chorus, you know, so there was a choral background and actually my degree is very formal. It's very opera, very church and community theater, if you will. So, you know, nobody invites me up onto the stage when all my rock and roll friends are out doing stuff, but I will say that performance art,

side of me, was always there, the educational side. And I knew this, when I was at college, I said, gee, for me to really make a living, I think you got to be really good at this. You got to be a monster musician. And I just, I just wasn't. I mean, I could get by, but I wasn't really just crushing it. So I changed careers. I went into children's education. And again, I really thought maybe I'm going to be a music teacher. To your point,

I think somewhere along the line, I get a chance to use both of those, but my real love was my first job. It was really working in restaurants and hotels and hospitality in general. And so, yeah, I do pull off three of those levers and I created, I think, my own sort of career path. But along the way when I was working at Hard Rock, that's where I really started to get people inviting me to sort of do a mini orientation, if you will, a little training program and come do it for their company. Started off in my backyard somewhere in Orlando, but then after that, someone's sitting in the audience, you know how it works,

other it's somebody's seasoning, then they invite you to come speak at their company and how much do you charge? And all of a sudden, that's when the epiphany for me, the light bulb went off. And I thought, geez, I think I can make a career with this. So it's funny because you do talk a lot about adversity when it comes to careers.

Other than the fact that I'm a pretty youthful looking guy, which is awesome now, but it was a pain growing up. And I'm a short guy. I'm a pretty short dude. So getting people to take you seriously, that's sort of the only real adversity that I had growing up for my career trajectory. It's always been an awesome road, regardless that it was a long and winding road. It's exactly leading me to where what I'm doing right now. In fact, I don't know that I'm going to do something else. What I'm doing right now is what I'm going to do the rest of my life. That's a great point though.

You didn't hit adversity because you were following what your real passion was. And that's one of the things that I believe, I know for myself, I didn't follow any passion of mine. You know, I went the more traditional corporate America career group because I thought that's one of the things that I believe, I know for myself, I didn't follow any passion of mine. I went the more traditional corporate America career group because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. And I know a lot of people follow that kind of linear path because they're afraid to step out of it. But it sounds like where you deviate is you never followed that traditional path.

That's right. And I talk about this quite a bit. Either if I've got some time in a Q&A, or certainly in my book, I talk about these personal culture shifts. You know, we know organizations go through stuff like this all the time. There's some type of an inflection point

where right when the company, the organization starts to plateau, they got to figure out a way to sort of get that inflection point. What's the next gate? What's the next thing? How can I get more revenue stream? How can we reinvent ourselves every seven, eight years in the marketing world? You're always told this, but I think humans got it through this. I think at some point,

my naturally followed a path. I would sort of do something for a while and then I'd figure out this is either going to be something I can add to my quiver and it's going to be a part of me. It's like stress, it's layers, right? Or I've got to completely go in a different direction and it might be completely perpendicular to where I was going. So for me, I think it was just sort of a natural step. And again, I'm using all of this. I'm using music education, hospitality to do what I'm doing.

But it certainly wasn't, you know, I didn't grow up to say I'm going to be a keynote speaker. It just wasn't in the cards. I wanted to be a policeman or fireman or a paramedic like my dad was, you know, I was following that pathway and when I went to school, I went to school with a purpose. I thought I was going to be using my degree like so many of us do and you wind up doing something else. So you're right. I'm not sure that I had this ultimate passion at the end. What I did is I followed my passions, plural, and one led to another. And now it's the perfect.

And you know, for me, it's the absolute sound check. It's the perfect setup to doing what I'm doing right now. In fact, I don't even know what the next step would be. I think this is it for me. And I'm super happy with it. That's amazing. I love to hear

that. So good for you and good for you following your passions when so many people don't. And you created your own lane by incorporating those three things. There's not going to be a lot of competition when you're combining rock, music, education, and training, right?

Because I haven't heard of anyone doing that. Well, my good friend, Brant Menzwar, who, you know, he's my co-host on our podcast. He's sort of taking the same approach and his was in more in your world. He was doing a lot of sales and, uh, you know, it was a rock star. He actually can play and perform extremely well.

He was on the road for like two decades. He's sort of taking the same approach. And I, I do see other people that will try and use some of this stuff as a, as a tool, as a crutch. They use it as sort of an element in their stuff. When it's a part of your DNA and it's just sort of authentically been a part of you, it's sure makes it a whole lot easier, I think when you're trying to partly some information

to some people, whether it's in person or like we're doing now or from a distance. I mean, now you and I are probably doing a more virtual stuff than anything else. So luckily, I think that performance mindset really does come across where the word that you use that I love, that edutainment, I think is what people need today. It can't be one or the other. I think you need both. It's hard. I'll tell you it's hard because for me virtually, I've had to make that pivot to doing virtual keynotes and it's very different not having the energy in the room, not having that connection. And even just for people having Zoom meetings, right, there is, there's that different feel. And so how can you still bring your light to the party in a way that's going to be entertaining,

however you're still imparting knowledge? That can be a challenge for a lot of people. How do you get around that? You know, it's tough. I think you're right. And I think my first natural mindset, especially when the coronavirus started happening here in the States, let me just do what I do on stage

in front of a camera at a distance. And that's not necessarily going to work because I couldn't at that time. I could still do some of it, but I couldn't show the videos I wanted to do. The more participatory things that I thought would be interesting, I could still do some of it, but I couldn't show the videos I wanted to do. The more participatory things that I thought would be interesting, I'm not really having people write things down,

I can't put my hand on the shoulder, like all the stuff that I would have done that would have made it really interesting, or more interesting, you now have to think, I've got this little box frame. And so I think to your point, my energy absolutely is still gonna be there. I'm gonna bring the thunder. I am going to be as much as I possibly can, but you got this little amount of space.

And you really can't go an hour, hour and a half chemo. It's like people are needing some 15, 20 minute bite-sized truncated pieces. So now you got to take the best of. I will say that I've gotten so much better having up to my virtual game, you know, you make sure you have the right camera, the right microphone and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But from a pure performance standpoint to what you're talking about, I still know that the audience out there, and by the way, the majority of the audience that I'm now spending more time with are pretty middle of the road industry. So I give you a quick point. I thought that honestly when I jumped from hard rock in 2012,

I thought that I'd be doing mostly hospitality stuff. Restaurant hotels a little bit of retail. I am so far from that now. It is, it is honestly banking insurance, real estate, funeral directors, am I number one clients? I do a lot of stuff with the Air Force now. So if you think about, you know, trotting out the hair and the blue jeans and the rock and roll, I'm not gonna believe it. It probably is some shock and off for people. It probably freaks them out. So there's a little bit of that entertainment

and I try and use it. However, I know exactly what they're thinking too. I gotta get past the fun, the charm, the funny, whatever it is, they need the meat potato. So to the point that you're making, you really have to find the balance. I got to walk the line to say, how can I get them to push back from the table

going holy crap? That's exactly what I wanted. That was awesome. Great use of my time. Oh, and by the way, we had some yucky yucks along the way. Versus either standing up there and do a song and dance and your funny guy or funny girl, and there's nothing of substance to it or vice versa. You're up there because of your title because of the logo, you know, that you're associated with maybe the metal letters in front of your name and you're boring as all get out, you know, you may as well have just set me the PowerPoint or or whatever the equivalent is so I think, you know, the performance that entertainment is so key to

speakers today. You can't be, like I said, one or the other. I think you got to valiment both. So how did you transition just from more of the hospitality type industry into a variety of industries? Well, I started

saying yes to everything. I mean, anybody who asked me to speak, I mean, at the beginning, I probably was only known in hospitality and again, because of the hard rock name and the fact that I traveled probably got my foot in the door in a lot of places. But I knew that somebody in the back of the room, like I said, was working for, I don't know, John Deere tractors. And they asked you to come out and speak. And then

next, it's the refrigeration association. Then it's the funeral directors association north America. Next thing you know, you're in all kinds of places and then eventually, although I was hunting and looking for engagements, a lot of them were sort of falling in my lap because the word had gotten out there and other industries. But I think it was really when I started to spend more time with speaker bureaus. I'm exclusive with the speaker bureau right now. And I don't have to do a tremendous amount of work.

I'm still doing 35 to 40 engagements a year. And I get an email every week or every other week, they're just as firm offer. Here's the engagement, here's where you need to be, here's the money, here's the topic that they picked. And that's only because we've spent enough time together and their agents know exactly what we're looking for. And if you get to the point that you've got great ratings,

now when people are calling up for the Bureau saying, who do you have? Who's your new shiny toy? Who's in this price range? Who talks about these topics? They're not just going through a roll of decks of speakers. Now, you're top of mine. You're at least in the top one, two, or three.

And it gives the agent an opportunity to sell your name out there a little bit more. So, now, some of these associations, it would blow your mind to not you, because you do this. I think it would blow your audience's mind to think, wow, there's an association for that. Yeah, and they get together. And when they do, they're looking for sometimes

an outside speaker. When that happens, I want to be their guy or their girl. I always go back to it, shocking how much we actually don't know for whatever one bubble we're living in. Mine was, I was in the media and advertising bubble. We didn't pay speakers. So I didn't know there was a speaker business. No one pays speakers there, right? So if you're living in one small world and limiting yourself to that, you're really limited on what's happening out there and the speaking business is massive. It was mind blowing for me.

The first time I took a stage and found out the person standing next to me made $100,000 for the same hour, I got paid $10,000 for. And that was a learning experience, you know, and to say, wow, there's a lot more upside here that I can start going after. So when you are looking at the topics and learnings, people are leaning into you for what are some of those,

what can you share with us? Yeah, my topics are probably the same three or four. And I've been looking to expand a little bit more. Certainly right now, why we've got a lot of things that are going on in society here in the US and actually globally. But for the most part, because people know me and I'm associated with hard rock, you're probably going to get more around the culture service, employing engagement type stuff.

All mine is branded, so it follows my book, culture that rocks, service that rocks, engagement that rocks. Right now, the real big focus and what I'm seeing almost any group is happy if you're talking about leadership. I do have a course in a webinar and I am working on my any group is happy if you're talking about leadership. I do have a course in a webinar and I am working on my next book called as you can imagine, Leadership That Rocks. And I think that that really helps me out a lot to now go back to the well, talk to some of these other clients that have already done stuff for, perhaps they've already gone through the main keynotes. Now if we get into workshop oriented stuff and you

talked about this earlier because of my training and development background, I can help people handle guest complaints or do a brand new interview or how to have tough conversations with people or maybe coach and council employee. Like all of these tactical, technical things, yes I can do that and there's probably 10, 15 of those. But really, people now are looking for great edutaining keynote speakers. And so for me, culture, service, engagement, leadership, a little bit around performance management. Those are the key ones.

But I'll tell you how there I was at an event where it just had speaker authors there. And there's a couple of communities, believe it or not, we do the same things everybody else. We get together and talk about our world. And there was somebody that was there from a speaker bureau that had been asked to come in as a keynote speaker for this group.

And one of the brand new speakers, they were just now getting started on their own. They asked that exact same question. What is it that you think audiences are looking for more than anything else? And sure enough, he said, I don't care how fancy or cool or whatever your title or your topic or what you look like. If you have the word leadership, in your session, you're going to win. People are starting to make some selections over that more

than anything else. Now, that was before, I think the things that are going on now, I think to to your podcast, your fan base, people are looking to, you know, how do I deal with diversity? How can I face my fears? How can I overcome whatever major obstacles are going on? How can I get to my goals? Like some of that will transcend regardless of what's going on today, but I think that leadership is always going to be a winner. And so I definitely know that that's a part of something that I could do. If you came to me and said, how can I increase check averages at a restaurant? Ugh, no, that is not my wheelhouse and I don't want that to be.

Somebody else probably does that much better than me. But those four or five, that tends to be my focal points. What are some of the teachings that you can share around how you take people's leadership ability to the next level? Yeah, you know, so I really focus a lot on the people that are working for you. So, when it comes to leadership, you know, there's so many books and websites and, you know,

speakers actually on this topic. So you got to pick your battles as to what you can do, but I do focus a lot on communicating. I think leaders in general think they're really good communicators when in fact they're not. Maybe unless they've surrounded themselves with a bunch of awesome people who are, they tend to hold stuff close to the vest. They don't share as liberally as we would probably like. The more that you can get down to the front line level, whatever that employee associate team member you name it, if they're in the know, all of a sudden you've created some brand ambassadors.

They're more likely to take the hill with you to get the result that you're looking for and then some because they're in the know, all of a sudden you've created some brand ambassadors. They're more likely to take the hill with you to get the result that you're looking for and then some because they're in the know. You've given them something some, you know, bigger, I think, than the day-to-day making the donuts. So I think communication is something we can talk about. And again, I'll do it in a fun way. I'll use some band-in, brand analogies. I do a lot of music orientation, but at the end of the day, the takeaway is, you gotta communicate better.

The second I alluded to, you gotta surround yourself with an army of giants. I think this is where probably some leaders do very well, at the very least, they might have a right hand girl or guy that can really whisper in their ear, almost as a mentor, even though they're doing some upward delegation, but to surround yourself with people who have your best interest in heart and can actually say, I think you're doing some upward delegation, but to surround yourself with people who have your best interest in heart and can actually say, I think you're making a bad decision,

or we ought to step back and think about this. Somebody somewhere has to have that group, you know, this group of people, whoever that inner circle is, you need to surround yourself with these fantastic people. And then at the core, honestly, I don't even care what the product is. And I say this with love in my heart, regardless of people are selling widgets, it's never about the thing. It's not even about the environment. It's about the people. It's about the humans. It's always been about human behavior. So the goal is don't focus so much on the thing. Even if you're first to the market, even if you're crushing it compared to everybody else, the goal is you got to get spectacular people. You know, if you can find some rock stars out there, they will help you perpetuate the brand for

all time. And again, I think more people are starting to focus on this today. There's just too many awesome brands out there that we can point to. But go back in time, 25, 30, 40 years ago, people like me that would throw down the, but go back in time, 25, 30, 40 years ago, people like me that would throw down the culture card and say, oh, we need to do this because it would be cool and fun and the right thing to do, that's laughable back then to a CEO.

They would be laughing at me saying, it's not tied to business results, it's not part of our strategy, but now I think you can absolutely put a little bit more, oomph, when it comes to culture, when it comes to service, and that only happens with people. It doesn't happen by accident. So those are kind of the three things.

I'd say you got to communicate better, you got to surround yourself at least from an executive level if you're an entrepreneur, a business owner, or even a middle manager, whoever the managers are below you. Make sure those core people are fantastic to help you out, but ultimately don't focus on the thing. You got to focus on getting the right people the managers are below you. Make sure those core people are fantastic to help you out, but ultimately don't focus on the thing. You got to focus on getting the right people to absolutely

bring something spectacular. You know, all the best training in the world is not going to help a bad hire. So I would, I'd spend a lot of energy on hiring. You know, and again, I guess the fourth thing might be retaining people. I won't spend a lot of time on that, but we spend so much time complaining about perhaps you don't have the right ones. Fix the front end of the employee cycle first. Find rock stars, but then of course, the second part is, hold on to them. You got to love on them a little bit more

and get them to stay with you. And then you'll be unstoppable. You'll produce herculean results. I know that's a long answer, huh? You know, cranking as much as I can. I agree with everything you said, however, because I've been in a very specific situation that is so interesting based upon what you just described, which is when the actual CEO isn't

confident in themselves. When the CEO isn't prepared to handle that person whispering your ear, listen, that's not going to work. Here's another opportunity. Here's what the team saying. Here's what's going on out throughout the organization. When you're living in, when those environments where the emperor wears no clothes, right? But no one's allowed to say it. Holy cow, get out of that company. Yeah, it's tough.

It's so funny that you say that, Heather. I usually get around four questions at the end of a session. It's usually what are their topics do? Do you do any consulting? What kind of haircare products do you use? You're like, I'm just like, I'm just like, I'm just like, but the fourth one, probably my most requested is, I'm just a middle manager or I'm a vice president.

And I'm not in charge of the thing. Can I really absolutely make a difference? And I do think you can. I spend a lot of time talking about, again, I use the language upward delegation. I think a single person with a great idea can start a revolution, a cultural revolution. That's how countries were overthrown,

that's how philanthropic movements are created. But I think that's how some tectonic shifts can happen in a culture. However, if the CEO, if the top person here, she just absolutely stinks and they're not going anywhere, it's going to be an uphill slog. And unless you're on some island in the middle of nowhere,

you can sort of create your own destiny, it's too tough. And I think you can make the best of it, but you're right. I think you gotta keep a wandering eye to say, what kind of brand would I wanna work for or create? Maybe that's where the entrepreneurial spirit inside of you comes up. But I do think that you can create your own bubble.

Listen, I had a fantastic environment that I worked in, but I had a crappy boss at one time. You know, working the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe, I worked for a general manager who just did not care for me being there because I was getting paid at the corporate sports center. I was an entity that was thrown on to this person's management team. Whenever there was an opening, I got to go and do that and travel and hang out with all the people on the other side of the planet. And then I'd come back and run shifts. And so this person just didn't like that.

And so they put me on the worst shifts possible. I had no department responsibilities. But in my mind, I thought, you know what? In lieu of leadership, I'm gonna lead. And so my shifts were absolutely a blast. I would either create contests for fun or do my pre-meetings. We call them

pre-shifts outside or underneath a piece of memorabilia or get other people and when that person wasn't around, I just had an absolute blast. But I also knew full well, as long as this person is here, I'm probably not going to be able to move up. And ultimately, I outlasted the person. That person, not even with the company anymore. So I do think you're going to struggle if the top person isn't in that same mindset. So I do think you're gonna struggle if the top person isn't in that same mindset, but I still think a single person with some great ideas, you can start a cultural revolution, no doubt.

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having lived that experience. However, I did learn the hard way and I had some bad bosses right and I said I don't care. I'm in charge of the sales organization. I can make this, you know, the best performing sales organization in the industry. And made it happen. However, you can only control and impact so much. And you just have to pay attention to what that threshold is,

because there are so many people. I was one of them that just wanted so badly to impact and create change. And, you know, just knew that it was gonna work. And when you get so excited and invest in something and know that potential you don't want to see that some obstacles actually cannot be overcome and just that one in my mind that it's crystal clear if you have a CEO at your company that is fine with toxic environments that is fine with you

know corporate BS and and political games That is the culture and you might be able to change your one department but in the end for your next move move on to another organization or like you said move on to your own create your own thing because you don't want to be banging your head against that wall. 100% I am with you 100% and we've done that both you and I have done that. Yeah, but that hasn't been easy either in that I was so used to and I know you were too. When you're in a corporate environment, you have massive teams of support and massive assistance and people you can reach out to for, you know, IT help or whatever it may be. And then suddenly going from that to working for yourself alone, wow, that's a seismic shift.

Well, and you said it best too. I think it's easy for me and probably for both of us to say one thing, but there might be people in the audience thinking, I need this job. Like I have only a specific skill set. I fell into this gig for whatever reason. I need the benefits because I got kids. You know, my husband, wife, you know,

significant other, whatever it is, aren't working, whatever it is. It's not easy to just say, it's not working for you need to bail, but to your point, I think you can have the mindset, maybe it's a year from now, the plan is, I've got an exit strategy, I'm gonna find something that I will either fall madly in love with and I'll go and work for a person

that fits my values, or I going to just start my own thing. And maybe it's two years, maybe it's five years, whatever it is, it's not easy to just say, ah, you need to bail out of the thing. But you're also going to be miserable if you stay there. You're going to look back five, 10, 15 years and go, why did I do that? Why did I spend all of, you know, you spend more waking time at work than you do anywhere else? Why would you want wanna spend time somewhere

where you weren't madly in love with it? And you didn't appreciate the boss. Listen, I worked for a Marriott residence in. I loved that brand, but I worked there as a housekeeper for three hours. I just knew that wasn't my gig. You know, I gave it my shot and it wasn't because of a person.

I just knew that that wasn't for me. I mean, the very short term I decided very quickly where I'm a long-term. I'm usually three to seven years and hard rock it was a little bit different. It was a couple decades. But in general, I had to have a boss that supported me or I'm just not going to be there long. That's just the way it is. I do think people are getting better. I think brands are getting better. It does shock me honestly when I see somebody who is still trying to muscle results and stop on people and get what they're looking for through threats and punishment and fear. It blows my mind that that still exists because the kids today, I say the kids, not just the millennials,

Gen Z, the, you know, my kids that are now working in the industries, they'll laugh at you. They will just totally just leave because they're all because they can't. If they're a rock star, rock stars can always get another gig. So I'm with you. I don't think people should be wasting their time. If you're stuck somewhere and you think you've got to have this job right now, that's cool, totally get that.

But start looking to see what is the future look like for you? Where can you start to make those moves and in six months, a year, two years from now, you're in a much better healthier environment? So the best advice. Jim, tell us where can everybody find you? Where can they get your podcasts? How can we get a hold of you? Oh, thanks for asking. Yeah, I think all roads lead to my website, which is my last name is Knight K and IGHT. It's knightspeaker.com. You'll see a whole bunch of information on there about my speaking stuff. And my book I already talked about culture that rocks. You can grab it through there. It is a

how-to business book. You know, it's got a lot of, like I said, music orientation and some fun rock and roll stuff, but I'm looking to really give people some needy stuff to take with them. My podcast is called Thoughts That Rock. And that's a free weekly podcast that I do with my co-host Brandt Menzwar. We have people from all walks of life on there. And the goal is we try and provide two pieces of life-changing advice in about 30, 45 minutes. And we've had some of our similar guests on each other's

shows on yours, Heather as well. But I'm just having a blast doing what I'm doing. But thank you so much for the opportunity. Well, thanks for being here. I appreciate it so much. And we'll be right back. I asked you to try to find your passion. And we're back. And I am answering a couple of really good questions that came in this week that I wanted to share with you. Okay, I've been getting a lot of questions on

LinkedIn DMs from people about basically I've been fired. I've been furloughed. I've lost my job due to COVID, you know, do you know anyone that's hiring in blah, blah, blah industry. And what they're saying is basically sort of, it would have been like if, when I got fired from radio, me saying, I need another radio job. All the differences I had signed in on compete, which these people haven't, it's a little different, but it would have been the same thing, right? So saying you get furloughed or laid off from X industry and you want to stay in

X industry. The first thing I respond back to everybody is why do you want to stay in that industry? Why? Is this your goal career? Is this your dream life? Were you living your best life loving every day? No, of course they weren't, right? I wasn't either. And I get it, but it's just what we know. And so often people just want to stay in the what we know. And so often people just wanna stay in the, what we know, the familiar zone, which is death zone, in my opinion, now that I've stepped out of it. So so one thing I wanna share with you is,

open your eyes and pick your head up beyond your one little bubble, your tiny little world you live in. I've done that, I've made that leap. And now I realize it's vast, what is available out there to you. But for so long, I lived in just the radio media bubble, nothing outside of it completely unaware of what was happening outside that industry.

And I really challenge you look beyond whatever it is the niche you own, the industry that you're rocking that you really feel like this is your space. Pick your head up and start learning about other industries out there. And you can do that through talking to other people, reading trades. They're so much available to you.

Just please challenge yourself to do that because I can't tell you how many these messages I'm getting right now. And I really want to challenge people beyond that. That's the opportunity to look beyond what else is possible out there instead of stay head down and just what you've been doing. Okay. So I've got a DM on LinkedIn. I'm a certified

professional life coach. I've signed with a publishing company finishing a book and right now I'm finding myself unemployed due to COVID and I'm trying to find a job but really find a career because I have a high level of income. It's not just about finding a job. It's about my career growth. This has been super hard. I'm panicking. I can just hear in this person's voice in the way they're writing. Okay, not good. This is not a time to panic. And I understand I was there. Hello, I was there. So, and I tell people that's having been there.

This is the time we've gotta calm yourself down. You've gotta breathe, find people in your life that calm you down, that support you and encourage you. Right, get rid of everybody else, claim your space, put yourself first, and let people know what you need right now I remember I said to my son right now is not the time to come to mom with issues if you need to deal with issues right now Please speak to your father. I've got to take care of myself

I mean, I really let everyone in my life know here's what's going on I need a month. I need to get my thoughts together. I need to care for myself I need to calm myself so I can find solutions. Because I know I am my most creative, my most powerful, my strongest, when I'm taking care of me, when I'm sleeping, when I'm working out, when I'm journaling, when I'm doing things that help me to feel good, whether it be Peloton, whether it be running, whether those are the things that were for me, maybe for you, it's meditation, maybe for you, it's listening to music.

I don't know, but you've got to step into whatever that is for yourself. Okay. Hey, Heather, I know what I need to do. Keep my mindset straight, cry it out, freak out, and get back up. And that's what I tell my clients. And now I'm telling it to myself. I'm a single parent, so I am falling back to fear. I totally get to respect that too. Anyway, I feel like I'm being pulled to do what I do best and really what has been my dream making the coaching business the full-time position and helping others and finishing my book, creating a speaking platform, basically a lot of what you do. I know you have had fears and challenges as well and they can relate to the haters. I've got those two. Heck yeah, that must mean you're doing something, right? Okay. I was wondering if you would have time to speak to me

about this. So I respond to the person, well tell me, I was wondering if you would have time to speak to me about this. So I respond to the person, well tell me, what is the question that you have, I'll answer to my podcast, of course. Okay, well, when starting out, I know the obvious answer is to stop over analyzing and just jump in and believe in your vision, but when faced with immediate financial needs income,

other than me saying, okay, I'll jump, but God will you provide and then hope it works out? What would be a few strategies for launching fast for an immediate ROI? Okay, so here's how I'm going to respond to that. Yes, I was in the same situation. Yes, I'm a single parent. Yes, I was panicked. I was all those things, right? So I've been there and other people have been there too. And I'm going to always go back to this. 97% of people will go to work for the 3% that had the courage and ability to leap

and figure it out along the way. That is hard. There is nothing easy about it. There is nothing safe about it. I still live in that space now and I'm almost three years in working for myself. Here I am. I'm on a weekend away and I'm in the hotel room recording my podcast, right? Well everybody else is out at the beach.

When you work for yourself, you are working all the time. And it is not easy. And it is super scary. And when the pandemic hit my entire speaking business evaporated. And I had to reinvent my company overnight. And I was petrified and I cried. And I got scared. And I got on the peloton.

And I started coming up with solutions and ideas and on the peloton and I started coming up with solutions and ideas and brainstorming and then I started posting and then I created this program and I launched my mentoring program May 1st and that program killed it and I guaranteed the results. I did 100% money back guarantee which I still offer now and in my June program I took the pricing up as I saw people were getting amazing results and they weren't even blinking at the price. And I had amazing results in June. I did the same thing in July and we're having amazing results in July and that that's when I decided I have to launch

an executive level high ticket coaching program because I'm working with C-suite executives. I'm also working with state home moms. I'm also working with salespeople. I'm working with people in a broad spectrum. But there are some people that when I am giving them strategies that they're implementing their companies, they're seeing substantial revenue gains.

Well, it's gotta be worth my time invaluable to them, as valuable to them as it is to me. So I launched my high ticket, one-on-one coaching executive coaching program, and I offer a hundred percent guaranteed money back results. And, you know, I went all in on this and now I've really begun to pivot and change my business, which has been exciting and rewarding in a very different way in this

new coronavirus way where you can't really travel, right? So there's never going to be a time until you're many years in where you've got things established. And even then, when the next pandemic hits or the next whatever hits, you're going to be faced with these challenges. You have to make the decision. You have to sit alone in the dark and decide, is this worth going all in on? Five years from now, when you look back on this time in your life, will you say, I am so glad I took a safe job, quote unquote, safe job back in corporate America, working for

someone else, or will you say say I'm so proud of myself I took the scariest leap of faith and went all in on me and here's the thing no one can make that decision for you no one you are the only person that has that answer I don't have that answer for you I'm not sure if this is the right leap for you if being an entrepreneur is what you should do only you can answer that. You need to get real with you. And so what I did was I looked at my savings, I looked at how much runway I had and I just said to myself, I need a product to sell the day that I got fired or two days later, whatever

it was. And I said, I know I can sell. So look at what you're great at, right? And lean into that. And I said, if I can find something to sell, I can make money. And that's all I knew. So I thought, okay, speed to market, I'm going to write a book, I can do that fast, I can I'll figure out a way to flip and self publish this thing faster than anybody has.

And I believe I did. And I wrote Confidence Creator, and I brought that book to market, and then I googled Howdy Sell Books. And I saw a speaking engagements was one of the top ways. And I thought, oh my gosh, easy. I'm a great speaker. I've been doing it forever. And I started cold calling businesses like a maniac.

I'd call probably 50 companies a day and offer to come and speak for free. My goal was to sell that audience everywhere I went. My book, and it worked. And so I started driving revenue. So I just went all in. And then that opened my eyes to this whole new business that I didn't know existed, the speaking business.

And then I started getting paid $10,000 of speech. Suddenly, I wasn't there to hustle the books. I was there for my speaker fee, right? Yes, the books were selling and that was great, but I was making less money on the books, a lower price and lower cost item and making more money. And then I started getting paid more for my speaking engagements. And then more referrals came in. Then I learned about agents.

And then I started pitching myself to eat. But what I'm trying to explain to you is there's levels and tears of, I didn't know any of this. I had to jump and create a product and start running with that product to learn about these other opportunities. That's what led me to the podcast. That's what led me to creating an online course. That's what led me to creating an online course. That's what led me to giving my TED Talk.

All these things I didn't know about the day that I was leaping, I just knew if I can create a product, I will find a way to sell it. So ask yourself those questions. Know this, I didn't know I was gonna do all these things. I didn't know I'd have a podcast. I didn't know I'd sign with Harper Collins leadership for my second book. I didn't know that I going to do all these things. I didn't know I'd have a podcast. I didn't know I'd sign with Harper Collins leadership for my second book.

I didn't know that I would give a TED Talk. I didn't know that I'd launch online executive coaching programs. I didn't know any of these things. And it's funny. Recently, I was looking at my website with someone and when I launched my website, my website was supposed to just be about being in the C-suite

and corporate America, because I launched it the last year I was a chief revenue officer and sharing the tips and hacks that I had created and come up with in order to break the glass ceiling to help other people do the same thing. That was it. When you launch with that initiative, let me tell you three years later, when you have a book that you sell on the site, when you have executive one one one coaching programs on the site, when you have a confidence video course on the site,

when you have a mentoring team program on the site, when you have a TED Talk on the site, when you have a speaker business on the site, when you have a podcast on the site, when you have you're getting the the gices. In three years, my company has evolved so flipping much. My website can't support it anymore. And I'm giving you that visual so that you understand the day that you leave, the day that you go all in on this. We don't know what's ahead of you.

You don't know what's ahead of you. I didn't know what was ahead of me. I still don't know what's ahead of me. I'm getting into a partnership right now with Harper Collins leadership. I've never worked with the publishing house before. This is all new. I don't know where this is gonna take me.

That's sort of the beauty of it. It's stepping into the uncertainty and finding peace in the uncertainty. It's so crazy and so completely polar opposite than being in corporate America. However, I will always go back to this. You are not safe in corporate America. I always thought I was safe.

It's well lit. I mean, it's linear BS at any point in time at pandemic and hit and half of the staff will be let go. At any point in time, you might be working for a non-visionary CEO and the company goes under, is delisted or is bought by another company. New leadership comes in, you're out. Know this. You will only ever be secure when you are in charge of driving your revenue, when you believe in yourself, when you are confident in you. I am not confident in what's

happening out in the world, but I can tell you this, I go all in on me. I am confident in me because I continue to get back up, believe in me and step into the value, the unique value that I bring. I won't have a price issue with competition because I don't have any and create that space for yourself. Be that unicorn. What is it that's so unique about you? Get testimonials and reviews and rock them.

What product and service can you sell? Can you guarantee your results? Figure out a way that you can't be beat. Step into it, own it, and flipping go for it. What is the worst that happens? And I hear you. You're a single mom, you're a single parent, and you don't know how you can handle it financially. I didn't either.

And I swear some days, I'm bad days, I start to question it again. It doesn't go away entirely, right? It's about getting back to your center. Why are you doing it? What can you do differently? How can you have speed to market? What product can you sell?

How can you showcase those reviews and testimonials and put them to work for you? So ask yourself those questions, get real with yourself and figure out what your answer is. My answer was to leap. It was the scariest thing professionally. I've ever done. However, I'm super grateful that I did it

and I'm so proud of myself. So whatever decision you make, I'm here. I'm sure you'll be with me week and a week out. I hope you keep me updated. So ask yourself that question, get real and let me know what your answer is. Okay, the next question I got was around how do you self-publish a book? Here's the thing. You guys, if you know me, you know this. I Google everything. I'm not saying I have some master cheat sheet on life. I don't know. I didn't even know how to

write a freaking book. I had to Google. Was it even legal for me to write a book if you weren't an English major or whatever? I didn't know. I was an executive and media. I didn't know if I could write a book. So the first thing was sit down being disciplined about writing and just get it on paper. Number two, hire someone ahead of you that's done it before. I hired an editor who'd written 19 books. He was way ahead of me. He helped me figure out how to map the book out, how to lay the book out, and how to improve it beyond where I had it. Then I googled, how do you self publish? I found a company called Scribe Media.

There's actually an entire episode that I did about this. So if you are interested in more detail around self publishing, go to the episode with JT McCormick and check it out because he's the president of Scribe Media. He has become a friend and really was great for me to work with. I was brand new in the self-publishing business, had no idea. I didn't have any contacts, which stunk, right? Because I just left the media world where I had a million contacts and my name really carried some weight. And then here I was as this nobody in the book business.

And things went wrong, right? The cover came out wrong. There was a delay that gosh there's so many issues that arose. However, in the end I am so proud of the book that I have. It's got three mistakes in it and done will always be better than perfect. I love my imperfect book and I love the impact that it has on people's lives and I'm super proud of that work So for me, I worked with scribe media because they offer an alacart business I already had the book done. I didn't need someone to write it for me. I found my own editor I had that done

But I didn't know how to find an ISBN number or how to upload it into Amazon or how to utilize a strategy to make it a best seller I didn't know any of those things. However, there are plenty of people out there that do people that had been in the book business their whole career, like my friend JT McCormick. So, again, if you are really interested in detail on self publishing, check out that episode with JT McCormick or feel free to just reach out to scribe media. You're more than welcome to drop my name but you know they have an ala cart option so if you want a ghostwriter they've got one for you. If you simply have a book that's done and you want them to help with the cover design they've

got that for you. If you just need ISBN layout and and uploads to amazon or if you want hard cover books they'll point in that direction so they really were that conduit for me, that middle person to help me connect the dots. Yes, I still had to pay for all of the hardcover book runs and figure out how many hardcover books I actually wanted. You know, and there are price point differences and deals around how many books you buy. And it was just navigating murky waters for me, but I'm really grateful for the direction and support

they gave me. They were a great partner. There's many companies out there. By the way, this is the one that I worked with. I thought they were great to work with. And there's plenty of others. So do your homework with and just pull the trigger, take action and bring it to life because everybody's got a book within them. And the world deserves to hear your message or at least have access to it. So make the call, check out the company, pull the trigger, bring the book to life. I'm so glad I did. And if you have not checked out my team coaching program yet

or my executive coaching yet, you can go to my website, HeatherMonahan.com. There's a drop down for my video course. There's a drop down for my team coaching program, my monthly team coaching program. You can sign up for the August program now. And there's always the ability to fill out the form and talk to me directly about the one-on-one executive coaching, which I'd love to have you sign up for. Check out my testimonials. They are amazing! All right, so I hope this episode was helpful to you.

I hope I answered your questions. And as always, you can shoot me any questions at my website HeatherMonahann.com or on any social media at HeatherMonahann. We'd love to hear what you think of the show. Please leave me a rating and review and share with your friends. It would mean the world to me. Until next week, keep creating your confidence. I'll be right here running alongside you. I hope you're enjoying this episode so far. I'm Jennifer Cohen, host the top ranking business and entrepreneur podcast, Habits and Hustle, apart the YAP media network, the number one business and self-improvement podcast network.

So most people live the life they get and not the life they want, and I'm here to change all that. My goal with each episode is to give you the habit and hustle tips you need to show up to your life better, bigger, and bolder. Tune in now, and I'll not only help you answer the questions like what do you want most in life and why don't you have it, but will also help you make it a reality. I also picked the brains of top thought leaders on how they've gone to the top and the advice they have to help you get there too.

Head over to Happets and Hustle. Once you've done listening to this episode and get one step closer to boldness, one episode at a time. A journal is a journey, a place to gather thoughts, and become the best version of you. Papier creates thoughtfully crafted notebooks, journals, and more. Gather thoughts and become the best version of you. at pap.com for 10% off your first order. That's 10% off at pap.ar.com.