Hi Scott,
“Hands up if you want to come on a trip with Dad to the … GOLD COAST?” I yelled.
All hands shot up around the family dinner table (apart from Liz, whose arms were firmly folded).
“And what about if we went to … Hawaii? Who’d want to come along with good old Dad?” I roared.
“Oh me! Me! Me! Pick me, Dad!” shrieked my eight-year-old, pushing his hand higher than his three siblings’ hands and almost dislocating his shoulder in the process.
“Well, I’ve just signed with a speaking agency and they’re putting me forward for corporate keynotes”, I told the kids.
Blank stares.
Then again, I haven’t done a paid gig since I became a dad – by choice – so my kids have no concept of me being a public speaker (or having a career away from the farm, to be honest). So I explained that we’d be heading to some pretty fancy places. Sometimes on a plane. And we’d stay in fancy hotels. And have a fancy buffet breakfast. And after the speech we’d go somewhere awesome … like Wet’n’Wild!
“I’m doing 10 speeches a year”, I announced, like I was Willy Wonka.
(Yes, my decision to do corporate speaking is largely motivated by the opportunity to peel off one of my kids and spend some rare one-on-one time with them – Disneyland-dad style.)
So I’ve spent a hundred hours or so creating a speech for big corporates, but I’ll give you the guts of it:
Basically, since writing the bestselling book in Australian history, I’ve had thousands of people write to me and tell me what they got out of it. Patterns emerge. Here are the three things that people say really moved the dial for them.
First, it was the buckets (of course).
Second, it was the clarity of the Barefoot Steps to instantly know what to do next.
Finally, it was doing the Barefoot Date Nights, where people actually changed their financial lives.
(Okay, so there’s a little more than that, of course, but that’s the gist of it.)
The really cool thing about doing this speech is that it inspires people to start doing them again … and, at times like this, that’s a bloody good thing!
The only problem?
Thus far, it’s the mining companies that have shown the most interest in booking me.
“So, kids, who wants to go to the middle of nowhere and sleep in a donga with Daddy?” quipped Liz.
No hands went up.
Tread Your Own Path!
P.S. I actually love talking to miners (even if my minors don’t want to come). In fact, on my last speaking trip I ended up on the front page of the Kalgoorlie Miner after landing in the local jail (speaking to the soon-to-be-released prisoners)!
P.P.S If you’re a big corporate with a conference coming up (Hamilton Island? Hawaii? Heck, I’ll even take Wollongong at this stage), click here for more details on booking me as a speaker: www.barefootinvestor.com/speaking.