When the Student Is Ready, the Teacher Will Come

Jim Rohn said "When the student is ready, the teacher will come." I feel I'm experiencing that right now. I decided a little more than a year ago that I want to be a public speaker. I want to share my experiences and inspire people. Shortly after, I started the Jim Rohn International 1-year personal development plan with a friend, and I gingerly listed public speaking as one of my goals. Since then, I've had 3 opportunities to speak to different audiences. If you follow my blog, you've read about these opportunities and the awesome new mentor I have because of these experiences. He's calling me to task and evaluating my "performances" so I can improve.

I've been reading Rohn's 7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness, and I'm at the part where I have to list my goals. I received an email about 10 days ago about the 2001 World Champion Speaker Darren LaCroix visiting SA and wanting to teach toastmasters how to own the stage. Because Jim Rohn said to "attend everything," I didn't miss that opportunity. I feel it was life changing. I bought his smallest set, which included a book and several CDs. I've been listening to his CDs, and I've learned so much. Then, as I was still high from my success at a presentation on Friday, I was checking out the ads surrounding my blog last night when I saw something about learning how to do public speaking in 10 lessons for free. Well, far be it from me to not take advantage of that. (I just hope I didn't screw up my monetizing contract by clicking on one of the ads on my blog.) This ad was from Steve Siebold, and I signed up. I seem to be surrounded by angels who want me to succeed. It's incredible!

I ended up staying up really late listening to Steve and getting excited. Because his signup included questions about my motives for speaking, I made a list of topics I could speak about right now -- without having to do a lot of research

• Feng Shui
• Leadership
• Communication skills
• Website marketing
• Tweaking a newsletter or website to make it a bit more aesthetically pleasing
• Toastmasters

So, with these angels around me, LaCroix's 52 Weeks of Tips for Getting Paid to Speak; Siebold's 10 free lessons; David, my mentor; and Toastmasters, I'm on my way.

LaCroix says to have something to "sell." I'm thinking I'd offer a guide like 10 Tips to Improve Face-to-Face Communication. If I put it on my website and, as I build my speaking repertoire, add tips for the other topics I speak about to my website, I can direct people to my website for the next time I speak to either learn more about what I present to them or how to get in touch with me to speak.

I have several resources I can cite as well as experience I can share for the other topics. Anyway, I'm so excited . . .