A big round of applause for the newest members joining our Inspiring Speakers Bureau Skool group! Please join us in celebrating: @Robson Santiago Vieira @Braden Eads @Halona Black @Jesse Anema @Krystal Antwine @Mark Breslin @Madhavi Vaidya @Frank Soonius @Roberta Nicholls @Dale Young @Joe Rhea @Mindy Honcoop @Nelson Leiser @Alicia Pieterse @Jennifer Lopez @Alexander Alperovich @Cory Smith @Peter Weiss @Abdulmalik Allam @Elise Krentzel @Christine Janssen @Gustav Lindeus @Victor Dedaj @Lee Roebeck @Jeff Brandeis @Michael Sinnhuber @Rehan Masood @Gary Lewis Evans @Aris Jerahian @Ayub Shaikh @Mark Gaughan @Mark Koesterer @Anika Jackson @Drew Edwards @Leslie Venetz @Peter George You are now on the path to building a THRIVING 6 & 7-figure speaking business using the "6-Figure Speaking" training program and our proven success blueprints!

Rare is it to find government funding of any type for a for-profit business, at least in Canada. But recently, I was given the heads up on a pot of dollars not for new businesses but for established Indigenous businesses wishing to upgrade and/or expand. And I applied! Today, after 6 months of documentation and questioning, I received my funding - $10,000 grant, $10,000 loan. Can you SAY new Mac?!! lol The journey continues ... and I am so very very grateful! WIN!!!

Let everyone know what your message is! Some of us here could be good referral partners!!

For those just beginning their speaking journey, for those attempting to build a business, a word of warning, taken from the pages of my first book. The Less Desirables ... (November 3rd entry from Honorary Indian Decolonized, available on Amazon.) We all know them; for they are many and they walk among us disguised as friends, co-workers, family members or partners. They are always there to remind us of what we have lost, what we can’t have or what we can’t do. Some advise us to be ‘realistic’ as a disguise for the venom they spew. Others are more blatant reminding us that we ‘screwed up’ ages ago and that our future is now the same as theirs -- bleak and dismal. They hate being alone, so they use their powers of persuasion to remind us that we are as lost and undesirable as they are. They hate to hear us discussing dreams or hopes and work quickly to destroy any ambition we have. ‘Come out and play’, they call. ‘Don’t bother working today, forget those silly dreams. Life is too short not to be enjoyed!’ they holler, and often … we listen. We trade long term happiness and fulfillment for short term satisfaction. Deep down we fear that we may never actually reach our goals, so we give in to the temptation they offer, and therefore make their premonitions come true. They are, and always will be, the ‘less desirables’, people and entities that I no longer have time for. I choose friends and partners carefully, no negativity allowed in my world, for my dreams are as sacred and as fragile as my children, and just as worthy of protection and nurturing. I spend my time with those who empower me, those who make me laugh, those who help me love every single day of my life … or I spend it alone, working on my dreams, watching as with each step my dreams become reality. I have many ‘less desirables’ in my past and their words used to haunt me, even after their existence was wiped from my life, but now I have eliminated their words as well. Their words were wrong when first spoken and continue to be just as inaccurate today. They deserve no time in my world, for they do not serve me and I will not give them that power. One day I will have the ultimate revenge … success, and I will smile as I stand in the stage light knowing full well, proving once and for all, that the less desirables didn’t know me at ALL!

TRULY behind the scenes ... a glimpse into how I work. (No makeup, no editing, just the real deal.) PS - I just posted this on LinkedIn.