Hello, my friends, and welcome to the Live Inspired podcast Monday, morning moments with John O'Leary.

I'm going to kick off this one with a quote from my dear friend, Benjamin Franklin.

Here's what Franklin said.

He that is good for making excuses, is seldom good for anything else.

It might be hard to hear, my friends, but I think there's a little bit of truth to it.

Some 18 years ago, I visited with a man who refused to make excuses,

and maybe in doing that positively changed my life. Let me tell you more about it. Nearly two decades

ago, I was struggling mightily as a fledgling speaker with little confidence in myself.

I had no audience to speak to, trust me,

no clarity of message to deliver, trust me, no revenue to collect, trust me, and no real

chance of succeeding in this business. Despite the hopelessness of it all, a friend mentioned

that I should meet with an international speaker who also by chance

lived in St. Louis. Although apprehensive to reach out and contact someone as successful and as

busy as John Foppy, I finally gathered the courage to dial his number. John answered

and was delighted to speak with me and he suggested we meet for a cup of

coffee. During that meeting, John shared the best practices that he had learned during the previous

two decades of speaking. He poured into me with shortcuts that he learned along the way,

pitfalls to avoid, and even provided some

personal contacts to reach out to.

Even more important than the tactics of how to grow a speaking business, though, he gave

me belief that it was possible.

As our meeting ended, I stood up, walked over to him, thanked John, and gave the man a big

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