We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brad Montgomery a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Brad thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
Oh, I’ve got a really good one. You’ll never believe what happened on stage. TWICE!
I was speaking at a conference in a high security Navy building. It was the kind of place where I wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without a Navy minder. Even the bathroom!
During my motivational program, I suddenly feel nauseous. I mean really, really nauseous. So nauseous, in fact, I need to leave the stage to throw up. (I’m pretty sure it was food poisoning.) Of course I am in the middle of speaking, so I ask the audience to turn to their neighbor and reflect on what they just learned. Then I literally had to leave the stage and run to the bathroom to go throw up. (Without my Navy minder, mind you.)
So there I am running down the hall, unaccompanied, feeling this overwhelming urge to hurl, wearing a badge that says I can’t run around the building without a companion. I’m trying to make it to the bathroom without being arrested, and what do I see: a guy coming out of the door and—wait for it—I threw up on him. Yep. I got him and his pants. We looked at each other for a second before I rushed into the bathroom and threw up a few more times (this time into the toilet, thank heavens). Luckily I never saw him again.
I was horrified of course, having just thrown up on someone. Who does that, except toddlers? So what do I do? Of course, I nonchalantly head back to the audience and ask them what they talked about. They didn’t have a clue what just happened so I must have done a good job. Yay me. I’m feeling pretty good at this point, thinking that was a close call, but it’s all good now.
But of course it wasn’t. At some point I realize I’m getting nauseous and sweaty again. Once more, over my shoulder as I go running out the door, I tell them to turn to their neighbor and reflect. I run down the hallway. This time is worse because there’s a nicely dressed woman between me and my goal. I can’t remember exactly what her skirt looked like because I threw up all over it. I tried to cover my mouth, I really did, but I couldn’t hold it in because it was literally a projectile vomit. (Really, the Navy could’ve used me as a WMD.)
Same as before, I looked at her, she looked at me, and I continued into the bathroom to throw up some more. Since I covered my mouth during it there was all kinds of collateral damage on my pastel colored shirt and khaki pants. So I cleaned it up but now there are water spots all over my pastel colored shirt and I didn’t know what to do. So I sprinkled water on my face, pants, and shirt. I wasn’t thinking clearly and went back to the audience looking like I just lost a fight with a water hose but I decided not to say anything about it. Own it, right?
So, this job had a lot of firsts for me. I worked in a secure Navy building. I left the conference room twice (TWICE) which is unheard of in my profession, again without my security person. I barfed twice during the program. I threw up twice on two different people in the same day. Plus no one in the audience knew about any of this, or at least they didn’t say anything to me, which was crazy to me.
And, the biggest crazy thing of all—they hired me back! Can you believe that?
Wow, that is a bizarre story. Very funny, but great that it turned out well. Hope you never eat where you ate that morning. ha ha.
Yeah. Take a note: the combo of public speaking and food poisoning is something to be avoided.
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.
Sure. I teach people how to use emotional & social intelligence to boost performance, creativity, innovation & profits. Not to blow my own horn too loudly, I can turn typical meetings into transformational events using the power of encouragement. And I can be pretty funny doing it. I started as a magician comic back in the day, I and I still do plenty of magic and mentalism shows.
I’ve worked in all 50 states and on four continents. Some of my clients include Microsoft, Verizon, the FBI (yes, that FBI) the CIA (yes, that CIA) and the IRS (where I withheld 30% of my best strategies.)
I specialize in using humor, interactivity, sound, music and visuals to ignite audiences so that they can use happiness as a tool to improve their lives and their jobs.
You can see more about me here: https://www.bradmontgomery.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Be their friend. In my business, I work a lot with various levels of coordinators that are trying to find a speaker with a great message. Most of these people are stressed and feel their job is on the line if they book a bad keynote. I find the best way to alleviate their fears and give them confidence in me is to be their friend. We have all learned proper business practices and etiquette, but those qualities often come off as cold or very serious. I find that using humor and positivity really helps ease the nerves of the person who is in charge of booking a speaker. It has helped me grow my clientele, maintain great relations, get plenty of referrals, and rock at my speaking events.
Any advice for managing a team?
This is a new one for me. I recently hired my first full-time assistant and she is awesome! However, I had a lot of anxiety about training her, managing a new employee, and providing a workplace that is productive to the business. Here is my advice: be flexible. I had all of these plans on how I would train her, what I wanted her to start working on, and different ways to maintain morale. Let me tell you, nothing went how I planned. Luckily, everything turned out in the end. I’ve learned that her motivation for working is different than my own. I’ve learned that I have improvements to make in my training methods. Finally, I’ve re-learned how important communication is. For example, I learned that she likes to have specific encouragement. Telling her “great job” doesn’t go as far as “you did really great on that sales call because your flow has improved”. The best advice I can give you is to learn about your employees as much as you can. They will tell you what they need if you create a safe environment for them to share their thoughts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bradmontgomery.com/
- Instagram: @bradmontgomerylive
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bradlaughs/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/bradmontgomery1
- Twitter: @bradmontgomery
- Youtube: @BradMontgomery1
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brad-montgomery-centennial