Free coffee made me BRAVER

Hey Reader,

I’m sooo grateful you chose to spend a little time with me!

Here’s a little ‘trick’ that changed my life…

Free coffee made me braver.

The barista’s eyebrows shot up like I’d just asked for her kidney.

“What are the chances I can get this coffee for free?”

She blinked. Twice. Then laughed and said, “Zero, dude. That’ll be $4.75.”

I handed over my card, grinning like an idiot, because here’s the thing: I didn’t actually want free coffee. I wanted something way more valuable.

I wanted to stop caring so much about hearing “no.”

Because let’s be honest, when you’re standing in front of people — whether it’s on a stage, behind a microphone, or in a Zoom room full of tiny boxes, you’re not really scared of public speaking. You’re scared they won’t like you.

That they’ll judge you.

That you’ll get rejected.

And that fear? It smells.

People can sense it from a mile away.

It’s like when a salesperson starts with “Excuse me, do you mind if I explain this to you?” You can practically see them shrinking as they talk.

You know what else they can sense?

When you open your mouth and immediately apologize for existing.

“Sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I share this idea?” Ugh. No. Stop that.

The fastest way to kill that fear is to make rejection “boring”.

You’ve gotta hear “no” so many times that it becomes background noise.

White noise. Elevator music.

That coffee shop trick works because it forces you to hear “no” in a low-stakes situation. Nobody’s going to deck you for asking.

Worst case, they think you’re weird for thirty seconds and then forget you exist.

Best case, they laugh, you laugh, and sometimes they actually say yes.

I once had a barista ask if I had a big social media following. When I said yes, he grinned and replied, “Leave us a great review, and it’s on the house!”

Do this enough times and something magical happens.

The word “no” stops feeling like a personal attack.

It just becomes information.

Data… Not a reflection of your worth as a human.

And that confidence? It shows up everywhere!

In your presentations. Your podcast interviews. Your pitch meetings.

So yeah, go ask for Free Coffee!

Ask strangers if they want to be friends (OK, maybe not that one).

The point is, get comfortable being “uncomfortable”.

That’s the energy I help people tap into. If you’re a business leader, podcaster, speaker, or anyone who needs to sound confident in front of people (without faking it), I can help you get there. Grab my free Coaching.

(Link below)

Stellar Marketing Quotes

“Speak the way you’d speak to one person—because that’s how most people listen.”

Roman Mars

“If your marketing needs to trick people, your product needs work.”

Katie Martell

I believe managing circus clowns might be easier than this!

I haven’t talked about this a lot, but three separate times, I was not only a DJ,

I was the station “Program Director”.

Besides ‘picking songs’, I dealt with stuff like…

The McDonald’s coupons were disappearing faster than we could print them.

Turned out our evening guy was driving the station van through the drive-thru, ordering six Big Macs using the promos we were supposed to be giving away on air!

Not his finest moment, but also NOT the weirdest thing I dealt with as Program Director.

There was the overnight jock who thought “late night shift” meant “late night social club” and kept inviting female “guests” to the studio between 1 and 4 AM.

Then our midday and afternoon guys borrowed the van for what they called “promotional outreach”. They were really just cruising around trying to meet “Babes”.

They returned it on fumes with a mystery stain on the carpet I’m still trying to forget. (think old chili dogs + margaritas)

The “jock meetings” alone were like herding caffeinated squirrels.

Imagine a circus clown meeting, then multiply the energy by ten and remove all adult supervision.

Managing Radio personalities is like herding cats who all think they’re the star of the show. Because technically, they are.

You’re dealing with people who get paid to have opinions, crack jokes, and talk about themselves for hours. It’s organized chaos with a microphone.

But here’s what nobody tells you about managing creative people who perform for a living: the best ones weren’t naturally good at it, Reader.

The guys (and girls) who became legendary On-Air personalities?

They started out stammering through weather forecasts and botching sponsor reads. They got better because someone showed them how to actually communicate instead of just filling dead air with noise.

Most of the personalities I had to fire weren’t terrible at “talking”.

They just never learned how to make it about the listener instead of themselves.

The ones I promoted? They got it.

They knew when to pause, when to push, and when to shut up and let the moment breathe.

If you’re a business leader who needs to command a room, a podcaster trying to stand out, or a speaker who wants people hanging on every word, that’s exactly what I help you nail down. No fluff, no theory, just real skills from three plus decades of making voices matter.

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