Your Process

Early in my career in the early 90s I was going on a talk radio show in South Florida.

The host was well known.

Call on Mr. Sticks Mr. Stick is interviewing me.

We’re talking about the politics of the day.

He’s asking me a question about presidential politics I start to respond.

Next thing I know he pulls the microphone out of my hand.

Mr. Walker I had more respect for a Klansman than I do for you.

I hadn’t said anything that I thought was particularly remarkable or worthy of his contempt and I also think of myself.

I’m a tough person and I because I’ve been a media trainer for years already I’ve been a talk show host.

So I’m pulling the microphone back I’m pulling it back.

Yeah yeah the mistake.

What I really think before I could say anything else.

This host reaches under the table pulls out a gun.

Now do you see my point.

Mr. Walker.

It’s talk radio in South Florida.

Nobody can see the gun.

Nobody can see me.

So he’s asked me this question Do you know what I said not much of anything it was not one of my finest moments I guess at some point I finally said.

Yeah yeah I see your point.

I was a stammering pool of jelly at that point.

It was intimate.

He was going to use it I don’t know but it was clearly an intimidating tactic.

But you know what I got through the interview.

I did leave the station.

I even went back to that station two weeks later and guest hosted other talk shows.

I stayed away from that host.

I still think he’s crazy but I love speaking.

I love communicating.

I love going in the media helping other people speak to so I didn’t let it slow me down.

Here’s the good news.

Every talk show I’ve ever done since every media interview I’ve ever done since has been a piece of cake.

So that’s my story when I’m trying to motivate a group of communicators because in the world of public relations media training I’m respected.

I’m well-known so I’m occasionally a motivational speaker to that audience.

So that’s my story happens to be a true story and there’s a message to it which is nobody’s born being naturally articulate all the time.

Nobody’s born knowing how to ace every media interview I’ve had horrible interviews but I’ve overcome it to go on thousands of other talk shows and news interviews and national TV hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times.

So if I could be that bad in an interview and overcome it perhaps so can you but then I go through a process.

I have a very very specific process that I go through to help people master media interviews.

Very specific steps on how to look good on TV how to frame messages how to package messages with soundbites a process that can be duplicated by others.

It’s lessons I learned the hard way but thought about it and then systematized it.

That’s what the best motivational speakers did.

Now you may love him or hate him but that’s what Anthony Robbins does.

He gives people he doesn’t just tell the stories.

He then gives people step by step processes that they can duplicate.

So that’s my challenge to you.

What is it that you learned from your experiences that you can now systematized and make it easier for people to follow in a step by step way so they don’t have to learn the hard way.

As Warren Buffett the great financial investor and manager as one said smart people don’t learn from their mistakes they learn from other people’s mistakes.

You want your audience to learn from your mistakes so they don’t have to have the years of struggle the humiliating experiences they can be more successful faster.

So you’ve already come up with your story.

Now I want to know the process and if you need a page for this take a page for it but I want you to write down a process.

It can’t simply be work hard get in earlier and stay later.

People have heard that a thousand times it has to be something that’s unique that’s different that strikes people as oh I could do that but I’ve never thought of it quite that way.

So this is the hard part.

If you need an hour to do this if you need a couple of days to do this but if you try to rush this part you’re not going to be a successful motivational speaker so write down that page.

Now.