We were lucky to catch up with Baylor Barbee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Baylor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name of my company, Shark Theory, arose from the misconception we have about “sharks” in the workspace. Too often, we refer to the shark in our offices as the hyper-aggressive go-getter that chases every deal to get results. We label them sharks because we believe that sharks operate the same way. However, if you study sharks, you’ll see how untrue this belief is.

Sharks aren’t in a hurry to do anything, yet their gills require forward movement through the water to oxygenate their blood. Therefore, progress is vital, but they’re patient at the same time. Sharks don’t’ just chase anything in their path, but rather save their energy for pursuing the prey they truly want.

The name Shark Theory symbolizes patient progress and giving our all to the great things we want in life, not settling for “good” or what’s available.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a keynote speaker and author on the topics of self-leadership, opportunity, and mental health. I primarily conduct leadership development seminars for Fortune 500 companies and high-performing sales teams. I’ve written several books including Opportunity Engineer and Wintality. I also host a 10-minute daily podcast called Shark Theory as well.

I didn’t set out to become a speaker. In 2009, I was at rock bottom in all aspects of my life and made a simple declaration to myself – I just want to be a good person. I began sharing my actual mental health struggles on Twitter and people organically related to me as they shared similar struggles. I began a weekly live stream on a platform called Ustream, (all the other live stream platforms didn’t exist yet) where I continued to share my struggles and how I was going about trying to stay positive. I started to amass a following of people who related to the message. I started getting asked to speak to youth groups, church groups, schools, and random other places.

From there I began leveraging my social media audience to find places to speak. I’d find the cheapest plane ticket to anywhere and ask my following if anyone in that city had a venue I could host a small event in. The more I traveled, the more I realized we all have the same struggles. I googled how to write a book and started releasing my own self-published books.

Over time, I evolved as a speaker and author and got asked to do larger venues and companies as I became more focused on what I was passionate about – self-leadership.

I provide mindset-related solutions to the companies I serve. With larger companies, there is a myriad of pain points related to career advancement, inclusion, and burnout. I work with teams, leaders, and corporate audiences to bring actionable solutions to helping each client develop solid self-leadership skills so that they can become effective leaders of others. The tenets of self-leadership I teach include topics such as building an unbreakable mindset, developing mental health routines, and taking impact-driven action. By working with each client to help them identify their own self-limiting beliefs and then providing a self-guided framework for growth, I build dynamic leaders capable of handling any adversity while performing at elevated levels.

When asked how he created his famous Angel sculpture, Michelangelo said, “I saw the angel in the marble and chipped away until I set it free.” With that philosophy, I believe what sets me apart from others is that I’m not really trying to teach anybody anything. Instead, I’m helping clients remove the clutter, noise, and inefficiencies they’ve acquired over the years so that they chip away the limits and self-created ceilings that inhibit growth and feel confident enough to trust their own intuition.

What I’m most proud of is the fact that my philosophies and methodologies in my speeches and books have been implemented in several companies and garnered epic results attributed to the mindset development strategies I provide.

I don’t say that to say “oh look at me,” but rather to help you look at your own life, your own experience, and realize their voice and your expertise matters. I try my best to serve as proof that voices do matter…all of ours.

However, your voice matters only if your actions precede your words. I’m always looking for ways to push the perceived limits of my mind to ensure my strategies on adversity and maintaining a results-focused approach are valid. I primarily accomplish this through racing in ultra-endurance events such as 50-mile trail run races and Ironman triathlons. While many compete in races like this, not many are 6’4 250 lbs. I race to prove that a mind, with the proper achievement-minded framework, can accomplish anything or cross any finish line. I can and you can too!
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Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I decided to speak full-time, I was beyond broke, however, I believed my message could make a difference. I believed I was meant to speak professionally and wasn’t willing to relegate that belief to “speaking on the side,” while I got a “real job,” as many would say. Since I wasn’t being flooded with speaking requests at the time, I had to find innovative ways to keep the lights on so that I could continue to develop as a speaker and remain available for opportunities.

They say it takes money to make money, but I didn’t have any money. Therefore, everyday I’d go on the Free section of craigslist and contact everyone that was giving away books, CDs, and other related media. I’d go pick them up and then take them to Half-Price books and sell them for a profit. This was part of my daily routine. It wasn’t glamorous, but it helped me stay afloat until the books started selling and the phone started ringing.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Three weeks after the release of my latest book, Opportunity Engineer, the pandemic hit and all-but killed the speaking industry. Over the course of 72 hours, I had dozens of speaking opportunities cancelled, book tour sponsors pulled out, and the government passed ordinances banning groups of more than 10 to be in any workplace. This was a deathblow for those of us that rely on audiences for our job.

However, I knew the principles of creating Opportunity from the book were true regardless of what the adversity was. Keep in mind, this is a time in March of 2020 when the whole world was panicking and being forced to work from home. I knew companies still needed productivity out of their employees as they scrambled to create make-shift home offices.

I had spent years working from home as I developed my speaking business and knew what it took to work effectively from home (here’s a secret: sitting on your couch with your laptop and the TV on in the background isn’t it). Within a few days of having ALL my clients cancel on the professional development seminars I was to host, I pivoted my messaging to offer seminars on how to effectively create a home office space so that productivity wouldn’t decline. It worked. Less than a week later I had recovered most of my clients and attracted several newer clients because of those seminars.

Your experience always provides a key to creating opportunities for yourself. During any adversity, take some time to figure out what it is you have to offer those that are panicking and lost…. trust me, they’ll pay for a solution.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://baylorbarbee.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/baylorbarbee
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/baylorbarbee
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/baylorbarbee/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/baylorbarbee
• Other: My Podcast, Shark Theory, is available on all major platforms