285 – Hair she is: Tom interviews Mikki Williams

Episode 285 – Mikki Williams
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey, everybody it's Tom here with episode two hundred and eighty five of Screw the Commute podcast. I'm here with Mikki Williams. Wow. Wow. She is a Hall of Fame speaker. That's the highest possible designation in the world for speakers and the just so wonderful, wonderful lady. She's also a TEDx speaker and she was chosen as one of the best speakers in the country by meetings and convention magazine, along with Tony Robbins, Bill Gates and Jay Leno. Wow. Wow. I'm going to bring her on in a minute now. Hope you didn't miss Episode 284. Jeff Mendelson was here. He's the host of the one big tip podcast. And plus, he went independent from working a job in 2009. And independent means he got his butt fired. And most people will tell you that that was the best thing that ever happened to him. So he had a great story about a worldwide digital marketing company. He started in the lifestyle business that he enjoys today. Now, how would you like to hear your own voice here on screw the computer? Well, if the shows helped you out at all in your business or giving you ideas that help you start a business, well, we want to hear about it. So visit screwthecommute.com and look for a little blue bar on the side that says send voicemail. Click on it. Talk into your phone, your computer. Throw in your Web site and you'll get a nice big shout out on a future episode of Screw the Commute. Now make sure you grab a copy of our automation e-book. This e-book has saved me seven and a half million keystrokes. We actually figured it out kinda couple years ago and helped me take a handle up to 150000 subscribers and 40000 customers without pulling my hair out. So we sell this book for 27 bucks, but it's year free for listening to Screw the Commute podcast. So find it at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. While you're at it, grab a copy of our podcast app at screwthecommute.com/app. And we have videos on how to use it and screen captures so you can take us with you on the road. Now we're sitting here in the middle of this pandemic and you know, the work from home searches on Google are just going crazy. Now, I've been preaching this since 1996. All right. I started selling on the Internet. Nineteen ninety four. And a lot of people say, well, wish I would have listened to you. Well, yeah, you sure do. Because I haven't noticed anything going on around here. My business is the same as always. So this is what could happen to you if you learn these skills. And I have the only licensed dedicated Internet marketing school in the country. It's IMTCVA.org, and you can check it out. You can give me a call. It would be a great legacy gift for any youth in your life and a grandchildren, children, because it's a highly in demand skill that you can get in about six months rather than five years in college. If you're lucky, learning how to protest and then big debt, then all that crap that goes along with regular traditional colleges. So check it out at IMTCVA.org and give me a call.

[00:03:41] All right, let's get to the main event. Mikki Williams is based in Naples, Florida. She's an award winning speaker for Vistage International and that's the world's leading executive organization. And she's the master chair of two of their peer advisory boards in Chicago. She's a global celebrity speaker, a transformational storyteller and noted in Forbes as one of the most sought after executive speech coaches. And she's creator, does all kinds of cool stuff of speaker school, keynote kamp, and this is my favorite when the Mikki Mouth Club and she's got a one woman show. She came, she wore and she conquered, performed at Second City in Chicago. Mikki's spoken in every U.S. state, every Canadian province and every continent except Antarctica where she can't wear her stilettos. Ahh poor her. So, Mikki, are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:04:44] I thought you'd never ask.

[00:04:46] I've been thinking about it for a long time. So how you been, kiddo? You know, what I hate about you is you just never age. That really sucks about you. What's up with that?

[00:04:57] That's a heck of a thing to say. Tom when people can't see me. So thanks for that.

[00:05:00] Oh, they'll see you in the show notes and they'll look you up too after this episode. There's no doubt about that. So. So tell our budding entrepreneurs what you've been doing now and then we'll take you back. I don't really know all your history of how you came up through the ranks. So tell us what you do nowadays.

[00:05:20] Well, nowadays, it's interesting. I was just telling a group of people involved with Vistage, as you mentioned, this the world's largest executive that we've a rule in. My executive group's called. And this rule was in place before all this happened, called the T. Rex Rule. It translates to adapt or die. And if it proceeded itself in terms of the pandemic, which now you could say it's the same thing, it's pivot or die. Everything is been my thing. I have quickly pivoted my speaking, my coaching, everything that I'm doing, my speaker schools all gone virtual and I'm busier than I have ever, ever been. And having a blast as I'm not traveling and I'm loving it. I'm loving being all I'm loving the whole shtick because all the Tom.

[00:06:04] Yeah, I've heard about that too. That's right. Cell phone.

[00:06:09] Go back to watching it. I forgot some things never change. So, yeah. Isn't it nice to get out of that travel.

[00:06:20] Oh my God. I love it. I really do. I mean, I much I really love home and hearth anyway. I don't know it from my brand being outrageous, but I do. I'm a domestic goddess when I'm not out there on a stage, I'm home cooking and cleaning and doing all kinds of homemaker's stuff.

[00:06:36] Oh well I stop over my house if you if you have any extra capacity because I don't do any of that crap.

[00:06:44] My I pivoted my whole life so this is not new to me. I mean it, you know, started my early life in my twenties when I had a tragedy that caused me to change and turn my life around. I was a you know, I dreamt of the house, the kids, the white picket fence, the whole bit. And at twenty nine, I became a widow and, you know, arguably killed in a car accident. A two year old child. No job, no money, no nothing. And, you know, I used to say it was interesting, Tom. I always used to say, well, I had no choice. And somebody once in my speeches said to me, yeah, you did every choice you could. I had a lifelong pity party, but you chose to get up and do what you've done. So I kind of look back on it differently. And I didn't have a lot of skills. There was no MBA in the briefcase. There was no Harvard degree. I was a gym teacher and a professional dancer before that. Wow. I just built my businesses. So somebody said, well, what are you going to do now? I don't know. Jason, my son was two. I had to make money. So I started teaching dance and then someone else. Well, you're a good cook once you start a catering business and then I go, well, I don't know anything about business. And then I said, you know, ignorance is blind. So I just kept starting these businesses and they kept working. And after a while I realized I'm an entrepreneur. And after that came about, I think I'm on my eighth business now.

[00:08:06] Wow. So how did the speaking come about?

[00:08:10] You know, that's the most interesting one, Tom, because nineteen eighty seven I sold my last business, which was a health club, and every single time I went into a new business, I kind of had one foot in the old one and one foot in the new one. In other words, I always knew what it was going to be. The first time in my life I had no clue. After the sale of my business, what I was gonna do next. An interesting story, which I hope try to compartmentalize it because it all happened in one year. I said, all right, if I don't know what I want to be, what if I back into it? What if I come up with the objectives that I want this next career to provide for me? Because I don't know what it is. And I came up with four objectives. Okay. Number one was travel because I had never really travelled. I was always tied to my family or my businesses. Number two, I know this is not shocking for you, but for those listening or don't know me, it was glamour and I wasn't going to be sitting in a dentist office or ception is nothing wrong with those jobs. But I wanted something glamorous. Number three, it had to involve people because I'm a people person, love people. And number four, it had to have unlimited financial opportunities.

[00:09:18] In other words, there was no financial glass ceiling. I could make as much money as I wanted based on my talent and my drive and my efforts. And not because an industry dictated you only get this far, you know what I mean? Right. Yeah. So with those four objectives, all of a sudden I said, OK, now what? So I sat down and I provided a piece of paper in half. This is a true story, not a very sophisticated method, but this is what I did. And on the left side, I put those four objectives. And on the right side, I started listing all my talents, hobbies, interests, passions, skills. And I had eclectic mix of of dance and catering and fitness and and all of a sudden I got this. Aha. And I should say all of a sudden, because this was of course over a year, I'd had to pick it up, put it down, pick it up. And one day I got it destinations. We're opening on the West Coast, and I thought, well, I'll open one on the East Coast. I have food service, I have fitness, I have entertainment. And I said, well, what don't I have? Well, I don't know the first thing about running a hotel. So I go back to college to get my master's degree in hospitality management. They give me half my master's from life experience.

[00:10:27] So now I'm kind of in my 40s and I'm thinking, well, I don't have time to climb the ladder and realize I got the ladder against the wrong house. I want to go see if I like hotels. So I start pimping myself out to hotels in PR and whatever I could do. And I really did like hotels. And I said, this is great. This has got travel. It's got glamour. It's got people. Oh, it does not have money. And then finally, the corporate structure starts at the front of the house, back in the house, go up the ladder. And I said no. This time around, mid-life, I want it all. So I started networking with the people in the hospitality industry. And I say, what else do you do? And in hotels and some somebody said, well, we do meeting, planning. And I said, Well, well, what's that? Well, you know, we get wined and dined at these fabulous resorts because they want us to bring our conventioneer. I said, oh, my God, where do I sign up for that? So I quickly learned, whenever you want to learn about an industry, you find the trade association. You know this, right? So I look it up and I fly to Washington, D.C. I get certified by ASCAP American Society of Association Executives. And plus, I'm a meeting planner.

[00:11:33] Ok. So now remember, this is all one year, right? Well, we start planning meetings and again, you know, me, Tom your listeners may not, but I am really not a behind this.

[00:11:43] Right.

[00:11:45] So now I start networking with the meeting plan is to say, well, what else do you do besides plan meetings? And they say, well, we hire speakers. I well what do you mean. And they said, you know, people who speak at conventions. I said I always did that when I was in fitness. I spoke at the fitness convention and I was. No, no, no. You were an industry speaker as well. I don't understand. Who who do you hire? Well, we hire professional speakers. I said, well, what's the difference? Well, professional speakers get paid a lot of money.

[00:12:10] That was all it took, was it?

[00:12:13] I was living in New York at the time. I again look for the trade association. So I went to the National Speakers Association New York chapter and I guess cliche, cliche, alert. I was home.

[00:12:26] And what year was is 1987. Okay. I started third in ninety one. So. And then so how did it go there in the beginning as a pro.

[00:12:37] Oh my gosh. That one is another story as you can imagine. Well initially I was like every other speaker. What do you speak on? What do you think my answer was? Tom everything back. Back. Good. And then somebody asked me a question that I nec actually use today. When people call me a really poignant laser like question, they said, well, what do you know that people will pay to hear, huh? I thought that was a great question. But wait, it doesn't end there because I went home and I thought about it. I said, well, I've run already six businesses at that point. So I know that marketing and I know get sales and I know about this and I know about that. I come back and they say, what do you speak on? And I'd rattle off this list of about 10. And I see people glaze. And I was OK. I was an expert in all those things. But still, you know, I kept hearing, find your niche. Find your niche. Well, you know, I've been to can create a contrarian's right since day one. So I didn't start a niche. I started as a generalist. And I then I saw industries niched me, and that's how I started to really get laser focused on it. But I don't know Tom if you can even remember when you joined. I am I am not your normal looking person.

[00:13:44] I was going to ask you about this this brand, but I want to go along with the idea.

[00:13:49] When I first started, I went to eighty seven different industries in the first five years and I didn't I didn't want to know either I could do all this stuff, but once I did NetSuite, things got a lot easier because I didn't have to customize Tom I did well as a general is not really because at that time I had an inspirational talk and I gave it all over the world because it just fit everybody.

[00:14:12] It really was a speech that fit everybody. And then as I started to customize some topics, I found industries that fit in them. But I still I was a general. I built a career based on that.

[00:14:25] All right. So tell me about the hair she is. How did this evolve? Well, if you are male, what it is, first of all, see, I know what you look like and I know all this stuff telling hair.

[00:14:35] Now, it a lap car I used to have. Yes, I had big black hair. I mean, big weave. I was Dolly Parton on steroids. Yeah. I mean I was I never met a sequined I didn't like. I am convinced if I wasn't born a girl I would have been a drag queen. You know, I've always been outrageous. It's who I am. Oh. So I'm buoyant and I've experienced the same discrimination that people do for politics, religion, everything else. People, especially at NSA, did not take me seriously, like she'll never. Make it, she'll never make it. Look at the way she looks. She's not corporate America. But, you know, I've been used to that my whole life. I mean, it's kind of what fuels me because I know I got the credibility.

[00:15:15] And people I'm sure people still go to my Web site and go, wow, I'm a good picture right now of feathers hanging out. I.

[00:15:24] But you know what time. And here's the best answer from people listening. It's who I really am. And I think that's the secret to anyone's success. If you can be authentically you and be comfortable, whoever you are, the people who get that will stick around and there'll be important ones. The ones who judge a book by its cover first say they go away. That's fine with me. It certainly didn't slow me down at all. You know, and if they did, I didn't even know they existed. And, you know, when I built the brand, it was interesting because, you know, people always ask me about how do I build such a strong brand. I built a brand before they had a term for branding. I did because I just paid attention to what everybody said. Oh, the speak with the big hair to speak with the earrings, with the shoes. She's outrageous. Outrageous. I kept hearing that I exploited it. So outrageous became my brand. My mantra is be outrageous. It's the only place that isn't crowded.

[00:16:13] Yeah, that's that's worked. I get her e-mails every week. I think maybe a couple of times a week. And I always chuckle and think of you where so many I get thousands of e-mails a day really. And they just pass by people I kind of know. But who cares? But you stand out in the crowd. There's no question about it.

[00:16:34] Yeah. And I think that's been part of the success of the brand. And not because I'm trying to. Again, I go back just to I am just me being me. And so whether it's feathers in my hair or sequins for a corporate audience, I just don't. It's just what I do. And I've had fun along the way. And 33 years later, I guess I've done OK, I guess.

[00:16:55] So tell people how you work with them now, how you work with people.

[00:16:59] You know what's so interesting about that time I started thinking about that? Because even though I still do speak, I limit the amount of times that I do most of my business. Now, is it divided under that Mikki Mouth Club umbrella and I started doing speaker school about twenty five years ago, which I still do.

[00:17:16] And of course, now it's going to be virtual. But I've always done executive speech coaching. I have Accountability Academy, I have Keano Camp I about rageous ATA's and I have a Vistage speaking and Vistage chairing. And so I still do about eight different businesses. And I love the fact that now I am helping other people achieve whatever success they want in the speaking industry or helping business people do better presentations or helping executives tell better stories. And it goes all the way back to my dance days when I was a performer on stage and loving the applause. And you'll get this as a speaker, loving the applause on stage. And then eventually I'm a choreographer and then I'm a teacher and I'm in the wings watching the ones I've taught performing on that stage. And I'm enjoying over even more. And I'm finding the same thing now. Isn't that funny? Tom full cycle, you know, been on a stage. So many platforms around the world love the applause, but now love when I coach someone or someone, graduates speakers school and writes to me and tell me about the success they had, it's just the coolest feeling. I love it. It's it's definitely my legacy. It's what I love most.

[00:18:22] It is true. You hear a lot of the stories when I was coming up of how you touched people's lives that you don't even know. I remember Naomi Rotis platform was like the privilege of the stage.

[00:18:34] That's a privileged platform. That's the one in my entire tenure.

[00:18:38] Yeah, it was a there a one I remember so and I can especially relate to you because I've also been a kind of a maverick through like my I have the longest running Internet seminar ever. There was about three of us in the beginning and I don't know what happened to those guys. It was the longest continuous running, but it's called bootcamp instead of bootcamp because I couldn't possibly do what everybody else was doing.

[00:19:02] There's border caps. So I called I went to that time bucket.

[00:19:07] Were you sitting on your rear end making all this money? And I've done I mean, like 11 countries around the world, except in England, they maybe call a bump camp.

[00:19:17] Try. I'm going to try to do an article before you because I don't have to worry about the letter. Exactly. Probably. Well, so, yeah, I'm still having fun now.

[00:19:27] I told you I heard you just say you need rattled off a bunch of entities that you teach in Keno camp and so forth. But did you just say that you looked at those like different businesses? You said there's like businesses. Tell me about that.

[00:19:42] Well, you know what's interesting about that time, especially in the speaking industry, you'll appreciate this. I remember when 9/11 happened. Lot of our peers went out and they went out of business. All they did was speaking. And you you survive for a different reason, but almost the same reason I did MSA baby multiple streams of income. And because at that time I was also involved with Vistage and I was chairing and I was speaking for Vistage and. Selling some products and doing other stuff. Yeah, I did fine during that. And it's really almost the same thing now. So I have always built all my businesses on leveraging them in as many different directions as I can. So they're all under that umbrella of the Mikki Mouth Club, which is under Mikki Williams Unlimited. And they're separate their debate, but they're all linked together. I don't have shiny object syndrome over here. I'm not selling magnets on the side or fighting me. Every one of them seeds, another one. And they're all standalone, but they all can go in sequence, too. And that's what's the beauty of that.

[00:20:39] Yeah. I just didn't think you would start a separate LLC or corporation for each one. That's what I was driving. Yeah. So they're all. Yeah. They're all clearly related.

[00:20:50] Visions or whatever you want to call them, but they're all different income streams. And that's the main point.

[00:20:55] Yeah. Because I was preaching that preaching that people wouldn't listen. They just wanted the ego trip to be an onstage. And then when there was no stage. I mean. I mean, I know I remember that time vividly. I mean, everybody was numb for about a week, you know, even my business, like it was just sitting here numb. But then after that, you know, we are do business in 40 countries around the world. So. So business has picked up like nothing happened then. And recently, I haven't been on the stage. No, I won't say on stage, but I haven't been on a plane in two and a half years of, like, thrilled to death about it.

[00:21:33] You know, we pivoted then, you know, that's the buzzword now. But whatever it is then we've doing now, it's the same kind of thing. But, you know, you here's the real difference, Tom. You hear speakers all the time, say, oh, I don't want to do the business. I just want to speak. Yeah. And I used to hear that with dancers, too. You know, my dance studio was featured in the money column of USA Today and it was gone. How is she doing that? I'm running Misuzu School at the dance because I've always had this mindset. I'm not running a dance school. I'm a business person whose services dance. I'm not a you know, I'm not a speaker. I'm a business person who happens to speak. Right. Everything I've done is always preceded by my mindset of I'm a business person and then I offer a certain kind of service. But when you start with, I'm a performer and I want to do the business well, why do you wonder then why you're not making money?

[00:22:24] Yeah, I think so common. I mean, other than the one entity I was doing some of the big ones, I quit speaking to authors because so many of them just say, I'm just saying I just want to write, I just want to write or creative people like that.

[00:22:41] You know, it's it's you see time you and I are are the same and opposite. In some ways you're leveraging was through products and those type of things. And that's a fair statement. And I was just the opposite. I hate products ever traded on it. Like you said to me before, when I do a podcast, I'll be at every interview. I don't want to do my own back. What I love. And that's what's brought me the success.

[00:23:03] Yeah. But I will caveat that a little bit, because you do hear a lot of people telling other people, just do what you love and the money will come. Well, that's not always true.

[00:23:15] If people have to want what you what you love or or you're gonna do a lot of, you know, working on the side of the job because nobody wants it. So you're a business person who took what you loved and made it palatable and made it something that people wanted to pay for that's different.

[00:23:35] Yeah. And I do believe do it. You love the money will follow. The money will follow if you do it as a business.

[00:23:41] As a business. Yeah.

[00:23:44] Because I know so many people, they're just brilliant in what they do. And so they put ninety nine and a half percent into what they do and a half a percent grudgingly into marketing and then they wonder why they're, it's not working. So it's funny.

[00:24:00] I had a speaker today from the New York chapter actually called me. She wanted to know about becoming a listed share and she was asking me out of all the things I've done, what do I like the best? And my answer is usually what I'm doing now, because I've been asked that question career, Erica, but I really do almost out of everything. Love my Vistage chairing more than anything. And I'll tell you why.

[00:24:21] Explain what that is. That everybody.

[00:24:23] Yeah. So there's twenty two thousand members of Vistage around the world. It's invitation only selection based. It's four companies, typically one million to the billions. And they they meet small groups of about 12 to 16 executives of non-competitive industries. That's what makes it unique. It's one point, a trade. And they they hear speakers, they do retreats. They process each other's business issues and opportunities. So phenomenal organization. And it's been around over 60 years. So I started with them as a speaker, which I still am for twenty five years. And eighteen years ago, someone nominated me to be a chair. So I run two of these executive peer advisory boards or think tanks, whatever you wanna call. What I love about it, again, Tom my legacy is built into it, I love the fact that I am part of helping people achieve business and life success. But this is what I really love. Let's face it, Don. Someone called you right now and said that we need to give a speech an hour. Yeah, I could probably do it and not break a sweat. Right. And probably the same for me as well with leading and chairing all these executives who I believe are smarter than me, wealthier than me, more experienced than me. I feel it's incumbent upon me to challenge them and stay one step ahead. And that keeps my saw a shot. I have to keep learning and growing and that's what I so love about it. Besides the results they get that I enjoy. I love the fact that it motivates me to keep learning and growing.

[00:25:52] Absolutely. I've got to take a brief sponsor break. When we come back, we'll ask Mikki what a typical day looks like for her. If there is such a thing and not counting the pandemic or so before or after that with what she does every day and how she stays motivated. So, folks, about 20 years ago, I kind of turned the Internet marketing guru world on its head. Guys like me at my level were charging 50 or a hundred grand upfront to teach this kind of stuff to business people. And I knew a lot of these guys. Once they got the money, they wouldn't do it. Do the teaching anyway. So I thought, you know, I'm a small business advocate and I don't think this is right. This is putting those people in bad positions and they're not getting any value out of you. So. So I kind of made everybody mad by flipping the switch in that I charged a relatively small entry fee to my program. And then I took a percentage of their profits that was capped so they wouldn't be stuck with me forever. So for me to get my 50 grand, they had to make 200 grand. Well, guess what?

[00:27:02] People really like this. And seventeen hundred students later in 20 years still going strong and has a lot of unique features where people spend an immersion weekend in my retreat center and shoot video in our studio and all kinds of great stuff like that. But probably the biggest thing about it is that nobody at my level will even talk to you, let alone teacher. So. So our whole program is based on one on one tutoring, where you can talk to me and my entire staff of experts on a one on one basis by appointment or me by emergency anytime. And it's been the most by far double dog dare you to find anybody that's had as long as running a mentor program as successful as this one. So if that interest you have in some one on one training for this kind of to learn this lifestyle kind of business on the Internet, then check out greatInternetmarketingtraining.com. And then give me a call. There's no high pressure sales here. There's no machine gun that's twisting your arm. But it's super, super high value and a reasonable entry fee. So check it out. GreatInternetmarketingtraining.com. Plus, you get a scholarship to my school. I was telling you that you can gift it to somebody that you love or care about, and it'll be one of the best gifts you ever gave them. Trust me.

[00:28:33] All right. Let's get back to the main event. Mikki Williams is here. She is a worldwide speaker, a fantastic woman, an inspiration to many. So, Mikki, what's a typical day look like for you?

[00:28:47] Well, I wish that wasn't typical. I don't wish there was a typical day that would be boring. When you're running as many different business as I am, everyday is completely different.

[00:28:58] Well, give us a little bit of lifestyle. Like, do you get up early? Do you work out? And what do you do?

[00:29:04] I get up and go in that regard time. Yes, there is a system, a method to my magic between five and seven. I get up early and catch up on emails because like you, I must get a thousand, you know, five to seven. And then I have breakfast and then I take my morning walk because now I live in Naples, Florida, and that's Chicago. I love the walk and then the gyms are closed. So I come back here and do some my own workout stuff and then I basically start my day probably around, oh, I don't know, ten o'clock or so. And then it's just filled with, you know, responding mostly to things. Some creating things, but mostly responses to I'm signing up for Speaker's school. What do you got for coaching? How do your things work? Tell me about the Mikki Mouth Club. So it's always different. And most of it, of course, is virtual. So it's phone calls. It's online. I've been doing tons of these podcasts, webinars, etc., and I've had to work on some of my stuff because I'm going to be offering my first virtual speaker school and doing it because go for twenty five years. And so, you know, the material has to be reviewed. I've been doing my speeches online. Things had to change. So I keep busy with a lot of different things every day. And I also love my own personal projects and stuff like that and putting together scrapbooks and pictures and various things like as I said, I'm a homebody and we're building a new home. And I'm speaking to the pool people and the kitchen appliance people and gardening people and stuff. Yeah. So I'm quite busy.

[00:30:35] But that's good, though. It seems like it's going to seem like a dumb question because you're such a go getter. But how do you stay motivated?

[00:30:44] I think I was born motivated, Tom. You know, I love life.

[00:30:49] I love people. I do go back to that tragedy in my life as saying I think because his life was snuffed out so early in life that I started to embrace life at a level that was larger than life itself, the more so than average people. You know, just like now during this pandemic, people have come to value family and value time and all those things. I think I got that gift early in life. And I think that's part of what's always driven me and part it inspires me. And it just turned into a love of life. And people I for my stage and age, I have incredible energy and I think it's a combination of the inspiration gives me energy and the energy gives me as great as a little girl.

[00:31:31] Were you entrepreneurial?

[00:31:33] I was. So, you know, I was raised by a single mom who really instilled in me that I was enough. I mean, she was phenomenal in terms of just affirming everything about who I wasn't, what I did, no matter what I did. And that's probably why I grew up such an independent only child, outrageous person. I just believe it was OK to be whoever I was. And I just remember as a little girl buying, I mean, most you won't even know this probably too young. They used to have things called wallpaper books where you went to a paint store. There was a book where you'd flip pages of different wallpapers. And I can remember literally getting those books with my mom and building making furniture out of them for Dollhouse and all the wallpaper. So I was always creative and I was always and I you know, I took dance lessons and piano lessons and I was involved in all kinds of activities. So, you know, Mom wanted to make sure I had a full life. I did ice skating. I mean, you name it, Broadway shows travel overseas there with us.

[00:32:32] No, but again, an only child with one parent. And I just had the most full life that anyone.

[00:32:38] She is kind of still with us, I guess.

[00:32:40] Yeah. So she's always like my my dad. Yeah.

[00:32:43] He's he's sitting right here talking to you.

[00:32:48] Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us. Very inspiring for all the folks out there. Just go get it. Don't sit there and wonder about it for years. Go learn how to do stuff. Go learn how to be a meeting planner. Go how to learn how to be a speaker. And don't wait. That's that's the greatest message we can take from today, is you just went and did it.

[00:33:09] Yeah, and I think it goes back to when I always told this to people, I was kind of forced into making decisions and choices. By that defining moment and my gift to my audiences, I think especially with that first inspirational speech Tom, was to let people know you don't have to wait for anything to happen to make a decision today to do what you want to get tomorrow. And, you know, what's the worst thing that can happen? Well, it did to me. You don't have to wait for that. You can use this talk or our time now or anything to just make the decision and do it.

[00:33:41] That's for sure. And so. So, yeah. So folks out there glovers screw the commute if you've been thinking about it for two hundred years in the most people are in the corporate world, wish they were in business, but hardly anybody does anything about it. Do something about it. Even puts aside us all to get started, you know, go do something. And that's the message we'll take away from the fantastic Mikki Williams. So thanks Mikki for coming on.

[00:34:07] Tom, can I just share as a last thing if anybody wanted to get in touch with me, my Web site.

[00:34:12] Yes, absolutely. Yes. My next question. Yes.

[00:34:15] MikkiWilliams.com. Don't be scared when you get to it. I've already warned you, but you can e-mail me from the Web site. And also I have my virtual speakers school coming up May 28 to 30th. So if he's interested mad or any of the other things, I just love to hear from people. That would be great.

[00:34:31] Absolutely. All those links will be in the show notes and. And. Absolutely. People will flock over there because this this is a fantastic lady or I wouldn't have her on the show. That's for sure.

[00:34:43] Mutual admiration society.

[00:34:47] All right. Thanks. And we'll catch everybody on the next episode. See ya later.

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