it was a genuine illness. Some still don’t. My own doctor was one of them. His response to my so-called illness? He sent me to see a psychiatrist in Liverpool. If I’m honest, I found it a challenging and humbling experience.
I was ill for nearly three years, but I got to a position where I felt well enough to work part time. However, my next big challenge was this.
No one would hire me.
Why?
I couldn’t pass a medical.
So here’s what I did. I hired myself.
I was awesome at the interview. Stand out candidate, in fact.
I think the technical term to describe my employment status was self-employed. My international headquarters doubled as a bedroom in a small house on the outskirts of Warrington. In my first year of business I earned the princely sum of £2,300. That’s over a whole year. My tax bill was fairly small that year. In fact, it was non-existent.
My accountant dumped me as I was wasting his time.
But despite that rather less than auspicious start, things did gradually improve. My training and development business grew. Over time, my business evolved into speaking at conferences and team events. People started calling me a motivational speaker. (Some also said I had a passing resemblance to Dustin Hoffman – in his younger days, I hope.)
But there was a challenge. I’m not a celebrity (except in my mum’s eyes). I’ve never climbed Everest, sailed round the world singlehandedly, walked to the North Pole, overcome cancer, lost a limb or won a gold medal.
I’m just Mr Ordinary – yet I had to compete as a speaker, not only with celebrities from all fields, but with doctors and professors and multimillionaire business people. Whereas I’m just that slightly below average height guy from Manchester who bizarrely supports Bradford City and Wigan Athletic (it’s a long story) and wrote a book called SUMO (Shut Up, Move On).
But despite that I’ve done OK. I’ve spoken around the world. From Bolton to Bali, Rochdale to Reykjavik, and Todmorden to Tehran, I’ve spoken to over a quarter of a million people in forty countries to date. Some have willingly paid to hear me speak. Others were sent by their boss and clearly wanted to be somewhere else.
So how have I managed to develop a successful speaking career with such a rather ordinary, unspectacular background
Clearly, the support of others is crucial. And I’m not denying that luck will have played a part. My books have clearly raised my profile, but not to the extent that I can be described as being particularly well known. I’m not. But here’s something I have done. I’ve worked incredibly hard on two things.
First, my message – what I’m actually going to say. For me, content is crucial. Second, I worked hard at how I’m going to deliver that message. It’s been an obsession at times. But it’s reaped some rewards, and in this book I’m going to draw less upon academic theories and more upon practical experience and real-life examples that have worked for me and countless others in my profession. I’m going to share insights, ideas and practical tools you can use to help you. And the good news is you can use them immediately.
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