I’ve been thinking about Learning from OPE – Other People’s Experience.

Who are the OP – Other People – who have shaped you as a leader and helped you develop your business and Home Care acumen?

There are two groups of people who shaped me and my business:

• The National Speakers Association
• My Speaker Mastermind Group at NSA KY

In 1985, a friend and former work colleague invited me to be his guest at the monthly meeting of the Ohio Speakers Forum in Columbus OH. I made the trip from my home in Oil City, PA and spent a full day with this amazing group of professional speakers. I had started my own speaking and consulting business several years earlier, but this event would change my life forever. The people I met and the wisdom they shared shaped how I would grew my business from that point forward. I joined the association, and attended my first convention in 1986.

Here are a few of the milestones along the way:

• 1986 – Attended my first NSA Convention in Phoenix
• 1990 – At NSA in Atlanta, I was in the audience when a woman from Louisville, KY who was speaking. We had a conversation, and several months later met for dinner in Louisville.
• 1992 – Married Elizabeth Jeffries, RN, CSP, CPAE, the woman speaker I met in Atlanta. I moved to Louisville, KY.
• 1993 – Earned the designation Certified Speaking Professional – CSP
• 1997 – Elected to the NSA Board of Directors
• 2002 – Elected President of the National Speakers Association.
• 2009 – Elected Chair of the Board of the NSA Foundation
• 2009 – Served as President of our local chapter, NSA Kentucky
• 2012 – Awarded The Cavett – the highest award for service from NSA

The lessons I learned over these years from other Past-Presidents of NSA, from Board members, from the amazing speakers who are members of the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, and from the other Cavett Award recipients shaped me as a professional speaker and as a business owner.

The other big milestone happened in the mid 1990’s when six members of our local Chapter, NSA Kentucky, formed our first Speaker Mastermind Group. Six of us met once a month for a full day to share ideas, solve problems, and support one another. It was the members of my mastermind group who persuaded me to focus 100% on serving the Home Care Industry. Prior to that my business was speaking and leading Executive Strategy Retreats for companies in a variety of sectors including Home Health, Hospice, Banking, Retail, as well as Hospitals and Long Term Care.

Focusing on Home Care changed my life and my business. On Christmas Day, 2002, my son Jason and I sat in his office in Reading, PA and registered the URL, www.leadinghomecare.com. Leading Home Care … a Tweed Jeffries company was born.

These are the OP who shaped my career as a professional speaker and author, who helped me learn about the business of speaking and consulting, and who helped me make the decision to focus on Home Care.