As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, I recently went to the National Speakers Association annual meeting. As I was looking at the schedule beforehand, I noticed that Larry Winget would be speaking that weekend. At this discovery, I practically turned into a thirteen-year-old girl finding out that she just got Justin Bieber tickets.

In life, we all have people we look up to. When I was a kid, I looked up to Magic Johnson, Bo Jackson, and other athletes, but now I look up to successful business people–especially those who have made it in the speaking and publishing industry. I definitely look up to people such as Jim Stovall, Brian Tracy, and most of all, Larry.

In 2005, I was giving my first speech as a professional speaker–with my dad serving as my interpreter–to a group of Persian women. It was a few months after I went to my first National Speakers Association meeting and my mentor Frank Miles came to give me a critique. In the hallway, Frank and I were talking shop and he told me about Larry. He had shared the stage with Larry a couple of times and Frank told me that Larry had a few speaking materials for sale on his site. The first book I bought from him was 60 Ways to Get Rich and Stay Rich in the Speaking Business. I became hooked because everything in that book and most everything that I heard coming from Larry spoke to me.

I have read almost all of Larry’s books, bought his DVDs, consulted with his former marketing manager, and drove my dad crazy by quoting Larry to the point where my dad turned to me one day and said, “Do you have any ideas of your own?” To which I replied, “I recognize a good idea when I see one.”

I saw Larry in the restaurant the second day of the conference, Friday. He was scheduled to speak on Sunday morning and I decided to wait until then to approach him because I wanted to give him a copy of my book. I also wanted to have my picture taken with him, but my camera and books were in my room. I could not wait to see him speak on Sunday.

After the morning recess, Larry was finally going to take the stage and after six years of being a fan of his, I finally got to see the man speak. Larry gave a very industry-specific speech, which he never does. I was not expecting what would happen next.

Let me digress. Over the years, I have been struggling with finding out exactly who I wanted to be represented as. Do I want to be an inspirational speaker? Do I want to be a hero? For a while, I wanted to be a business speaker who happened to be disabled. Who was I as a professional? I always knew who I was as a person, but somehow I needed to find a way to communicate who I am as a professional.

Much of Larry’s speech focused on owning a space. Larry is known as the guy who wears cowboy boots, is called “the pitbull of personal development,” and is in your face. He owns the space. He said, “Anytime someone wears cowboy boots, they think of me.”

I was blown away and I am still digesting what that all means for my business. I decided that I can own a category. I can give an audience something that they never saw before. I am the speaker who can’t speak, who is inspirational, needs a speaking partner, who has great ideas about life. That’s who I am and it’s time to put that out there more in the world.

I am really excited that I heard Larry speak. I felt that he was speaking directly to me. After his session, we all took a break for lunch and he was signing books out in the hallway. I assumed that I would get a chance to meet him, but I decided to go get a little lunch first. I screwed up, because after lunch he disappeared. I didn’t get the picture or get his book to him or thank him for everything he did for me.

I guess I got more out of it than I ever would have expected.

Timelapse - Lighthouse (Oct 2012) from IMK Digital Multimedia on Vimeo.