My Journey
Can I get paid to read books?
When I was 8 or 9, I told my mom I wanted to get paid to read books. Every week, we would go to the library and check out the maximum number of books allowed. At home, I'd climb up my favorite tree that had a built-in seat and work through the pile in a day or two. Then, I'd ask to go back for more.
I even took a shot at writing a 4th book to add to L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon trilogy.
I didn't know it then, but I was already doing the thing I'd spend the rest of my life doing: living inside ideas, turning them over, trying to understand why some of them stay with you and others don't.
I started piano around the same age I was climbing that tree. Oboe came a few years later. I finished college with a degree in music and oboe performance.
Studying music honed my ability to hear and see patterns. Not just the obvious ones, but the structural logic often hiding underneath the surface.
Three years at Yale Divinity School added a different layer. Those studies also prompted this question: why do certain stories survive - not just for a season or a generation, but for millennia? In reading biblical parables and theology texts, I learned why the frame you put around a message determines whether it lands or disappears.
And underneath all of it: the idea that some messages aren't chosen. They choose you.
The prophets didn't necessarily want the burden of what they'd been given to say. They said it anyway. Elizabeth Gilbert has written about this - the creative calling that won't leave you alone until you answer it.
Patterns and Parables
The first launch…and beyond.
Fast forward to late 2004 and the email that would change the trajectory of my career. I applied to be an apprentice for the launch of Michael Port’s first book, Book Yourself Solid.
That launch opened a door to a wave of clients an award-winning book that I co-authored with Michael Port, and an opportunity to fulfill the dream I had shared with my mom all those years ago.
Since that inaugural launch, I’ve worked with hundreds of authors and thought leaders at all stages, both individually and in groups. I’ve also had a front-row seat to every trend, disruption, and opportunity in this space.
That, along with real-world experience, intel and testing on what’s required for:
Ideas to take root and transform an audience
Books to become perennial sellers
Message-driven business to grow
And, to bridge the gap between 15 minutes of fame and lasting impact.
What I know to be true
An impactful thought leader is built at the intersection of three things: a compelling message, an engaged audience, and the right strategies for that message, audience, business and stage.
Any two without the third derails the work - and results in wasted efforts and frustration. A compelling message without an audience stays private. An audience that’s not aligned with your message moves on. Strategies untethered from message, audience and business produce activity without impact.
These core ingredients, along with a compass (your Thought Leader GPS) is what’s required to play the long game and succeed - on your terms.
From Library Books to Your Life’s Work
The eight-year-old in the tree wanted to get paid to read books. She got her wish, in a way she couldn't have imagined — and the work turned out to be about something much bigger than reading.
It’s my calling - and mission to help messagers fulfill their potential in service to their audience.
When you’re called to change the conversation, you need more than a launch campaign. You deserve a strategist who sees the whole picture and helps you call the plays - big and small - as the game unfolds.
That's the work I'm built for. It's what I show up for.