We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Brown, Jr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

James, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

People are placed in your life for a reason and if we have the ability to be open, listen, and implement it can change the trajectory of our lives. When I was a National Account Executive, one of my clients asked me “do you do voiceovers, we just love your voice and you should get paid for it?” My response was “no, I’ve never heard of that.” She gave me a homework assignment to research and figure out how to get into the voiceover world. I mentioned it to a co-worker, she introduced me to an agent who introduced me to a coach to produce a demo. After the village found out I was doing voiceovers, I was asked to emcee monthly luncheons of an organization I was a member of. During these luncheons, I would introduce the speakers and one particular lunch the speaker came up to me afterwards and asked “who are you and what do you do?” I explained that I was a National Account Director and also did voiceovers. He said “you need to be on stage, your introduction was one of the best I ever had, and your ability to engage the audience is something people pay for.” During that same luncheon, another client/friend indicated to me that “we needed to talk about you and professional speaking.” After those conversations, I started researching what it takes to become a speaker, taking workshops, and learning what problems I solved (what do I want to speak about) and eventually launched my speaking business. The process didn’t happen over night but every step was a in preparation for the next phase.

James, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am one of the few people in the world who had the privilege to be a collegiate track and field student-athlete. After graduating college, I spent 24 years working for a Destination Marketing Organization. I began my careen in accounting and ended my corporate career as a National Account Director. I combined my athletic career with my work experience to help people, organizations, and companies keep it in THE EXCHANGE ZONE! THE EXCHANGE ZONE is the critical area where people interact and connect. We took the lessons learned on the track (can’t drop the baton, have to keep it connected, finish the race) and share those same principles with audiences across the globe. Whether it’s sales, internal/external business relationships, customer service we have to remain connected, adjust to who we are dealing with, and do everything we can to not get disqualified so we can finish the task. As a speaker, coach, and voice artist my objective is to CONNECT with the audience it is; it is not about me, it is all about the audience.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

One thing I have always been good at is building relationships and practice, teach, and understand building relationships take time, intentionality, and work. Relationships have the ability to springboard your reputation which has a direct impact on your business and your brand. Relationships are like fingerprints and DNA, each one has its own distinctive rhythm or cadence, so I treat each one uniquely. Being able to treat people they way they like to be treated, communicate with them how they want to be communicated with, and listen intently to them has allowed me to have relationships that span years and across the globe. Those relationships have helped my reputation personally and professionally because people will put you in position to be successful, be a resource when they can, and most importantly promote you even when you are not around. The relationships starting as a child, helped pave and propel me to where I am now and for that, I am grateful.

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

Life is all about “pivots” and we should always remain flexible to do what needs to be done so we can be who we were created to be. After basketball season during my junior year of high school, my good friend Mike told me I should run track. My initial response was no because I had never run track before. After several conversations he finally convinced me to give it a shot. My first year ever running track, I became All-District and made it to the regional track meet. The basketball coach (Carlisle) and track coach (Kerley) called me into a meeting and suggested I give track my full time commitment going into my senior year. I switched from basketball to track, became All-District, All-State, received several scholarship offers, and became a collegiate All-American. This type of pivoting has followed my life. When I was in corporate America, I pivoted from accounting to sales, from sales to a voice artist, and now I am an International speaker where I help audiences keep it in THE EXCHANGE ZONE! Being flexible enough to allow others to see, share, and support my gifts then taking their advise, doing the homework, and implementing has allowed me to do things I never dreamed I would be doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jamesbrownjr360.com
• Instagram: jamesbrownjr360
• Facebook: James Brown – The Exchange Zone
• Linkedin: jamesbrownjr360
• Twitter: jbrownjr
• Youtube: James Brown Jr 360