Email this article to a friend

I’ve just returned from a speaking whirlwind tour of Washington DC, Ireland and Australia. The trips were amazing. I felt in-the-moment… and I feel fortunate that I’ve found my passion in life.

As you can imagine, being out of town for three weeks, there’s ton of work that I couldn’t do while speaking and traveling almost everyday. Although I’ve been hard at work catching up, a remarkable thing came out of my mouth that grabbed my own attention.

Other than taking care of customer orders and live audiences, my top business priority is my own personal growth & education. How about you? Do you invest in your own education?

I found out that Alan Weiss, PhD and Patricia Fripp are doing a workshop this weekend in Las Vegas. It was an easy decision to go. A true no-brainer. Though I’ve purchased several CDs, I’ve missed their seminar for many years because of my speaking schedule. Alan is also doing a special seminar on Friday, and despite the piles of work sitting on my desk… I’m still going. There was never a doubt in my mind.

Someone asked me, “What’s Alan speaking on?”

My instant reply was, “It doesn’t matter… it’s Alan.”

If I want to work on my speaking skills, I get coaching from Fripp. If I want to improve my business tenfold, Alan Weiss is the guy.

“I’ve never had a mentor ‘nice’ me into growth.”

Alan Weiss, PhD is direct, dead-on, and absolutely brilliant. People pay thousands of dollars for a few minutes of his advice.

If you don’t know the story… for years, at the beginning of my speaking career, I would take Alan to lunch with a list of business questions in hand. He would rip my thinking apart, make me raise my fees, and each time he’d tell me my thinking was limited and short-sighted. It would take me a few days to recover, but once my wounds had healed, I realized that he was absolutely correct. Alan is the mentor that inspired a quote you may have heard me use from the stage:

I know there are some speakers who came to my session in Australia that took some direct feedback from me. I hope they have healed and now see the value in what I gave them.

Though Alan has never candy-coated any feedback, I trust his intentions. I know the advice he gives is in my best interest. Alan’s advice constantly rings through my head…

“You are never as good as you best speech,
and never as bad as your worst.”

“Make it easy for the buyer to buy.”

There are only a few people that I go to and take their advice to heart, even if it hurts. I know they will make me better. I’ve heard Alan speak many times, even on the same subject, and I’ve never walked away without new strategies and a better understanding of his ideas. I know his programs are so content-rich, we can’t possibly hear it just once and absorb it all.

It doesn’t matter what Alan is speaking about — if I can, I’ll be there.

Are you willing to hear the tough feedback? Are you enough of a student you watch the same program several times in order to absorb more? Who do you go to, to transform yourself? Are you willing to consider their advice? Who is your Alan?

Stage time,

Darren LaCroix,
2001 World Champion of Public Speaking

P.S. What’s The Odd Couple? Want to join me this weekend? Click here for details!