Blog | Professional, Motivational and Inspirational Speaker

H is for HOPE….Help One Person Everyday!

November 30, 2023 by Annie Meehan Leave a Comment

H is for Hope

Today, in the ABC’s of how to grow a business we have reached the letter H, which stands for Hope. Once, during a week when I’d been hanging out with different speakers and doing things with NSA, I was thinking about all the people talking about their topics. Some were similar and others were on opposite ends of the spectrum. As I thought about it, I realized we all kind of sell and teach the same thing. Whether it is leadership, sales, customer service, or motivation, we’re all actually selling Hope.

I think when we realize we’re all selling Hope it allows us to find a better way of doing essentially the same thing, even though we each do it a little differently. I sell people the Hope that they can become the Exception. I also sell them the Hope that they could be outstanding in their customer service and leadership. I teach Hope to move from Stuck to Soaring.

We Hope that we can be better at sales than we were last year. We Hope our attitudes can actually affect how we lead and manage other people. We Hope we can learn something new, which will make our jobs better.

Hope is this thing we all need, though I’m not sure if anybody has quite enough. Hope is believing in something you don’t quite yet know. Or maybe you know, but you haven’t applied it yet. When we start to believe in the Hope that things could actually be better—and maybe even amazing—we are more likely to succeed in our goals.

However, all people get stuck at times in their life. All of us go through seasons where we feel like, “oh, I don’t know if this is working right,” and “I don’t know if I’m doing my best.” Bringing in a speaker can jumpstart, re-energize, and re-inspire the people in your audience. Even more importantly, we can show them a new path to a Hopeful way to look at and do things. If you’re looking for a little bit of Hope and encouragement to support the changes your company is going through, then try to see it as something good rather than something to fear.

I would love the opportunity to come in and kick off your next conference with a keynote presentation or lead your staff training with encouragement and Hope rather than doubt and fear. When we get stuck, our minds can take over and drag us down so rapidly that we forget to have Hope that not only will things be okay, but maybe they will be better than okay. Hope is what we sell, and it’s an exciting thing to buy!

This week, I encourage you to look back at all your past successes and then make a list of all the things you are hopeful to see happen for yourself and your business in 2024. What does living your exceptional life look like to you?

Where do you turn when you are in need of some Hope?

How do you inspire Hope in your employees, customers, or audience?

What are you most Hopeful for in the new year? We are all making an IMPACT, the question is do you use Fear or Hope to Inspire others?

HOPE….Help One Person Everyday! Thank you for that Jennifer!

G is for Give

November 16, 2023 by Annie Meehan Leave a Comment

Gratitude will lead you to a Good life

Generosity will lead you to a Great life

Growing will lead you to a Grand

In a month full of Gratitude it is so important to not just think of yourself and what you have but also to think of others and what you can give away!

This week as we continue on with the ABCs of how to grow a speaking or any kind of business, we’re on G. G is for Give. Give more of yourself, give more generously, get involved with your community, and give back. More than anything, though, find a cause.

As speakers, we can have a lot of influence in the world. We all have different things we’re passionate about. I’m not here to tell you which thing to be passionate about. In fact, I wish I could choose just one or two, but there are so many things I’m passionate about.

I think it’s really important to give back to a charity, so people know what you’re aligned with and why you’re aligned with it. Is it heart disease, cancer, AIDS, diabetes? For me, it is mental health, and homelessness because those things both personally affected my life, or the lives of family members. Thus, I care very much about them. I think when we align with an organization to give back, we remind people that life isn’t just all about you.

As a brick and mortar owner of Snap Fitness in New Prague and Lilydale, it was really important for us to get involved in the community. We would give to the sports teams, give to the schools, give to the Rotary, and give to the Chamber. Not only did we give to those inside our own community, but we were even giving to bigger state and global causes.

So, when you have the privilege of taking the platform, and somebody wants to give an additional donation, give it to your charity or your cause. There are so many foundations out there, you don’t even need to start your own to begin giving back. You just need to get affiliated with a couple of places, or even one place that touches your heart and give back, whether it’s your time, your resources, or both.

Furthermore, the minimum we can do to give is share a little bit of time on the platform, if allowed and appropriate at your venue, to share what we care about. This is why if you want to make an additional donation, if you’re looking to give somewhere, use your social media platform to help you accomplish that goal. There are so many causes and such great need out there.

We have the privilege of being influencers as speakers. By using our platform, whether it’s online or in front of our audience, to share what we’re passionate about, it reminds people to get involved. We can help fuel their passions and promote generosity to encourage others to give to something they care about. I think to be successful in business, we must always be giving back.

This week I encourage you to think about what it is you care about, and how can you give back. If you want to be successful in business, then remember, it’s not all about you. It’s about the difference you make and how you can give back. Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! As you spend time in giving thanks, remember to also give to another.

What does living your exceptional life look like to you?

What organizations or causes do you care about?

When was the last time you gave back to a good cause?

How can you use your platform to get others involved in giving back?

F is for Feelings

November 9, 2023 by Annie Meehan Leave a Comment

F is for Feelings

As we continue to work our way through the ABCs of how to grow a speaking or any business successfully, the F stands for feelings. Feelings are important. I’m all about feelings. In fact, I tell people, I wear my feelings on my sleeve. Please don’t apologize if you get too excited or too sad about something, feelings are part of who we are. I like people that show up with emotion.

I also think feelings have to be in check and cannot exclusively define us, especially if we’re going to be successful in business. There will always be someone who doesn’t like you, even if everyone else loves you. Sometimes I ask the teasing question, how many compliments does it take to get rid of an insult? For example, if an audience of 1000 people hear me speak and 999 say “You’re amazing,” and one person says, “You have ugly shoes,” I tend to think about the insult on the way home. We have to be careful about the words we absorb, and how they make us feel. Thus, feelings can be dangerous.

You have to be cautious to not let one person’s opinion affect how you feel. A number of years ago, I was organizing and leading a retreat for the first time. We had lots of great speakers and activities. At the end of the retreat, there was over 100 women there and we got evaluations. Almost everybody wrote great things about what they learned and what they loved. But there was one person who wrote in as anonymous saying, “I didn’t like the food. I didn’t like the sleeping conditions. I didn’t like the speakers.” I was devastated because she insulted everything about the retreat. My heart was broken and my emotions were leading. Even though I had over 100, wonderful pieces of feedback, I had this one negative.

At first, I thought maybe a friend did it because they knew I was a little nervous about pulling everything together. So I called a couple friends. Did you fill this out? No, did you and I realized I really didn’t know who had filled it out. It wasn’t a friend, it wasn’t a joke. I was so sad at first. I thought I wanted to put together this weekend to give this gift to somebody. I realized after allowing logic to kick in, and not just emotions, that the negative person was probably in a really sad place in their life. Maybe they were walking through something dark, and they needed someone to vent it out on. I provided them the space to do that. This is why we have to be careful to not allow people’s feelings and reactions to define us.

You see, feelings are important, and we need to talk about them and express them. In an audience, however, especially the larger the audience you speak to, there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like you. Maybe they don’t like the color of your hair, or they don’t like your PowerPoint, they don’t like this or that. For every single negative person though, there can be tons of other people that love you.

I’m not saying to ignore criticism, and especially not corrective criticism, which can be helpful in making us better at our practice or with our products or services. What I am saying is do not allow those feelings to define you. Take in the information, don’t let it devastate you, learn from it, and then keep moving forward. If you try to set up a business and be successful at business, judging everything by only your feelings, it’ll never last.

In fact, if you allow other people’s feelings about you, or even your feelings about how you feel that day, because it’s rainy or cloudy, and you can’t get you motivated to get your work done, you won’t last long. However, you should strive to let logic define your business instead of feelings. Remind yourself it doesn’t matter if everyone thinks you’re great or not, keep moving forward.

You can be an emotional person, you can be a passionate person. On the other hand, you also have to have logic in there. If your feelings define you, then your business will ride up and down just like your emotions. Get those feelings in check by acknowledging them, but don’t let them define you. Feelings, those of other people or your own, cannot define your business. If you choose to have success in your business, then keep moving forward. This week I encourage you to keep believing in yourself. I believe in you and I can’t wait to hear about the great success that you’re having in your life.

What does living your exceptional life look like to you?

Are you leading your life by feelings or facts?

Do you allow yourself to feel and express what you are feeling in a healthy way?

Do you know how to not fall in love the the good, the bad, and the ugly feelings in life, but instead just feel them and move on? #disruption #KeynoteSpeaker #choosetosoar