I teach storytelling ... so here's mine
Where to start my entrepreneurial journey ...
How about when I was 16 years old. I wanted to be a mobile DJ ... you know the guy who played music for weddings, homecomings and bar mitzvahs. So I got two turntables and a mic and learned to rap like a ... sorry a little RUN DMC for you.
I was doing Direct Response Marketing before I knew what it was. I would go through the wedding announcements in the Sunday paper, then look up the brides address in the white pages phone book (this was pre internet!) and send them a letter with a demo tape. Oh, and I also belonged to a string quartet as well so I offered those services too.
I built a small business which took me through college... where I was brainwashed into believing I need to get a job.
I started working in Oil and Gas for 12 years, but always had the bug to build a business of my own.
I dabbled with a few, including a shutter and blinds business, a software rail tracking business, photography and even event planning.
It wasn't until I found my passion for fitness that I went full in.
In 2008 I quit my oil and gas job and purchased an existing personal training facility. I quickly doubled it (before assessing the need for it). And tried to be everything to everyone. We had gym memberships for $25 a month, personal training, pilates, group classes, bootcamps, and nutrition programs. I couldn't manage it all and the expenses were piling up. I quickly went broke within the first 6 months.
I had to learn how to sell. Which I didn't like.
But I realized that selling was a process and if you follow the process each and every time, ask the right questions then you will make the sale. As a bonus, when you tell personal stories along the way you make an even deeper connection with your prospect.
So I started to sell - with heart. And I sold a lot!
I increased our revenue from $100,000 the first year to $500,000 the second year of business. It was BANANAS! That was also the time when I decided to simplify the business, because I ended up spending most of that gross revenue on operating it. NOT Smart. But once I simplified it was great!
By year three the business was basically running by itself and I decided to work with a consulting company coaching other fitness professionals how to sell, market and manage their fitness business.
This is when I also learned to fly airplanes.
I also travelled about 200,000 miles in 3 years all around the world putting on workshops and selling from the stage. In fact I sold about $4 Million worth of the coaching program in that time.
That's when I learned that telling stories will help you SELL MORE.
So that brings us up to now. I've sold my fitness business and now teach service providers how to connect more deeply with prospects, ask the right questions, and sell more of their products and services by doing it all with heart and authenticity. AND I LOVE IT!!
I'm the little one on the left with my two big brothers, Mark and Dan. We're in front of our family van, which my father "customized".
One of my first attempts at advertising my fitness business. Very expensive fail.
This was the Bridal Extravaganza show. One of the BEST marketing ideas I've had. We signed up brides for our "wedding workout" and upsold them to training. It was great and generated over $30,000 in business over the 4 years I had a booth there.
Me at the Guiness Brewery in Dublin... one of the best steaks I've ever had! This was after presenting to a group of fitness professionals in Dublin.
So what about the personal side of Tom?
I have my private pilot single-engine land license, and I have a SCUBA certificate, but I don't have a driver's license anymore... at least I'll be safe for the apocalypse. I live in Taipei, Taiwan, as an ex-pat. I can speak enough Mandarin to order a beer and have a simple conversation (我是美國人 - I am American). I've had several personal relationships that had never worked out for one reason or another, and I was married for 7 years when California first allowed same-sex marriages. Unfortunately, that didn't work out either, and we were divorced in 2015. Right before the Supreme Court ruled for Marriage Equality across the country. Ironic.
I love to travel and I've spent extended periods of time in 10 different countries. In 2018 I documented my first extended period in Mexico City Check out the episodes here: 30 DAY EXPERIMENT and later created a documentary called The Digital Nomad Experience where I interviewed digital nomads living in Thailand.
So that's my life's story in a few paragraphs. I hope you have a better sense of my story and what drives me to help more entrepreneurs be successful in their businesses and their lives.
Me at the Small Business Development Center conducting my Dramatic Impact Story workshop. It was such a thrill to be able to help the business owners tell their stories better
I love to travel and being silling. Here I am in Xochimilco Mexico. It's a small suburb or Mexico City where you rent a small boat and with your friends and family float around the canals
I absolutely love flying. It is a great hobby which keeps my mind active and reflexes sharp
I now have a sales process!
Working with Tom was a breeze, he was able to redesign my sales process, implement technology which made tracking easy and delivered all of the scripts and worksheets electronically as well as in a cool binder. Now training my staff on sales will be super easy... he is even going to do the training for me!
I am connecting better with my audience now.
Tom, thank you so much for pushing me to tell my story, a story I haven’t been comfortable telling people before. I could tell I was connecting immediately with the audience when they put their mobile phones away and never stopped looking at me. I made such connection with the audience from the Signature Story we worked on. It was hard to do but I’m so glad I did it! Not only did I have a great connection with the audience but I was also able to get 2 more speaking gigs as well as several new clients.. .even though I wasn’t able to sell from the stage!
I made $25,000 in one hour!
I worked with Tom to create a selling from the stage presentation for a conference where I was speaking. Over the course of several sessions via video calls he helped me craft my presentation structure, worked with me on stage presence and most importantly HOW I spoke to my audience. Needless to say it was a great success. I had 20 potential buyers in the audience and walked away with $25,000 in new business. Not bad for an hour on the stage. Tom made the process very clear and easy. I’ve presented at tons of conference, but never to sell from the stage, it is a much different process and I’d highly suggest working with Tom if you want to make your next presentation sell!
Our close rate increased with just a few tweaks
We worked with Tom on our sales presentations and it was absolutely amazing. When you do something over and over again you lose sight of what can be improved. Tom reviewed our sales presentation, shortened it and made it much more impactful and helped us on the delivery of the presentation as well. I didn’t realize how important 'HOW you say it’ is! We were so focused on WHAT we were saying. We had a pretty good closing rate of 65% before working with Tom, but after our close rate shot up to 85%, which is huge for our business. If you want to help more people and make more sales, Tom is the guy to work with.
My story really captures the audience now!
Tom did an excellent job of taking a story of mine in making into an amazing speech. He was able to help me with the outline and give me an excellent opening statement. He then got into the details of what would grab the audiences attention. He coached me all the way through until I felt confident that my speech would be awesome. I would recommend Tom to help with anyone who is interested in crafting an amazing motivational or professional speech.
I'm able to inspire others with my childhood story
For the past few years I have been wanting to share my story to inspired people but I was afraid to talk about myself, concerned that I will be all over the place and not get to the point. I was ashamed to talk about it. Tom helped me focus and gain perspective on how to tell the story effectively.
I broke down few times in the process but he was very kind and patient with me. He was right there from the start to the end and held me accountable for my homework.
Tom is a real treasure. He carefully crafts words with sensitivity and creativity. He responds promptly and quickly to emails and phone calls. He is professional, extremely competent and a joy to work with. It would be a mistake to work with anyone else without giving Tom a look first. I recommend him without question.
I got standing ovation, high and powerful positive emotion in the room when I was speaking and more organizations are now reaching out to me to come speak to them! My Video (at 3:40)
