The Bill Gove Speech Workshop/Public Speaking Coaching Welcome! You've just found gold. If you're into networking, speaking, network marketing or public speaking.

	Jim Cathcart is one of only 12 speakers in the world who hold the following honors: President of the National Speakers Association (1988-1989), Speaker Hall of Fame, CPAE (1985), Certified Speaking Professional, CSP (1981), and winner of The Cavett Award (1993). Jim is also a member of the exclusive Speakers Roundtable, 22 of the most popular speakers in the world. Among professional speakers worldwide, Jim Cathcart is a leader. He has risen to the top of his profession through more than 20 years of presentations to a worldwide audience and decades of unselfish service to his profession. He believes in serving his industry as well as his customers.
GS:	How did you get started in your current line of work?
JC:	Years ago I was working in Little Rock, Arkansas at the Little Rock Housing Authority. I had no college degree and no money in the bank. I was looking for anything I could do to get ahead. One day I heard Earl Nightingale on the radio and he said, "If you will spend 1 hour extra per day in your field every day for five years you will become a national authority. I thought "Heck, I'm a government clerk, I've got 8 hours a day! I can do this by Thursday!" I decided to study human development. I became fanatical. Within a year, I went from being a government clerk to leading training sessions. Over the next two years, I conducted over 400 training sessions for the Jaycees, on my own time after work, for no pay. By 1975, I was Director of Training at a corporate headquarters in Tulsa. Two years later I was out on my own as a professional speaker and trainer. In 1974, I was selling Earl Nightingale tapes, and in 1984 he was selling mine. The album I did with Dr. Tony Alessandra, Relationship Strategies, made over 3.5 million dollars. It became Nightingale-Conant's # 5 all-time best selling album.
GS:	What were the 3 biggest obstacles you had to overcome?
JC:	Self-doubt. I had a hard time believing that I was cool enough, smart enough, and capable enough to have a career as a professional speaker. It seemed like such a huge chasm between the others and me. But by listening to tapes every single day, by people like Earl Nightingale and Bill Gove, I overcame the doubt. Lack of Credentials. I had to present myself as a reporter instead of a subject expert. Lack of experience. I had to just get out there and do it.
GS:	The famous book As a Man Thinketh by James Allen tells us when we "Conquer doubt and fear.we conquer failure." Let me ask you.What is the biggest thing you do to help you conquer doubt and fear?
JC:	I recognize that if I'm feeling intimidated, all I have to do is expand my awareness and understanding.
GS:	What 2 books have influenced you the most? Why?
JC:	# 1 is The Bible. # 2 is Lead the Field, by Earl Nightingale (audio series).
GS:	What is your greatest Bill Gove story you could share with our readers?
JC:	I met Bill Gove in the early 70's at a General Cassette corporation meeting in Phoenix. I was there to learn about a new tape album that they were selling called "Speak" with Bill Gove and Cavett Robert. Bill Gove spent about 4 hours sitting around with me, Sandy Karn, and a few other new speakers, and he told us about Dr. Kenneth McFarland, who I later got to know. Boy, did that have an impact on me - a huge impact! So I went home and told the guy I had been working with as a Nightingale-Conant distributor that I was going to join this new outfit called the National Speakers Association. He said "Jim, save your sixty bucks. That's just a bunch of good old boys sitting around patting themselves on the back." Of course today NSA has over 4,200 members.
GS:	You have already made your first million. What advice can you give the rest of us who may still be looking to make our first million?
JC:	Realize that you're not going to make it all at once. Learn to pay yourself first. Take some money and put it in an investment account and invest it very conservatively for 20, 30 or 40 years. Let it grow. Even if it's only $100 a month.
GS:	How importantly would you rank mental toughness and the ability to communicate as it relates to your success and why?
JC:	Effective communication is a non-negotiable, must have, must cultivate, skilland you're never done. Without it, you're dead. It's over. Mental Toughness comes from understanding yourself and, through that, understanding other people. Once you understand yourself and your patterns better you can manage yourself in any situation. Where are your motivations? What are your turn-offs? People ask me all the time, "Do you ever get depressed?" The answer is no. I get discouraged, upset and testybut not depressed. Depression is rooted in despair, and I know that there is always a way.
GS:	If you had to start over again.what would you NOT do again?
JC:	I would not assume that I needed other people more than they needed me. So I agreed to deals that were good for them but not for me. It's easy to get into a deal, but not as easy to get out.
GS:	What is the reason most people don't achieve their major goals and dreams?
JC:	Two things. One is they are not open to input. They assume that they have to know everything, instead of realizing that the rest of the world will always know more than they do. You should constantly be listening for outside input. The second thing is people are not really committed to their goals. They are trying, but not doing.
GS:	Who were your role models/mentors, and what was it that you saw in them?
JC:	Earl Nightingale - he gave me depth; he gave me inspiration. Joe Willard - my # 1 big client. He traded me office space to work with his agents, and it gave me a base for the first 6 years of my career. Harold Gash - He believed in me more than I believed in me in the early days. He suggested that I get into the speaking business. Dr. Tony Alessandra - I met him in 1979 when he was a college professor. We became best friends and have been ever since.

		Contact Info.: Cathcart Institute, Inc. Speakers Office 6120 Paseo Del Norte, Ste. B-1 Carlsbad, CA 92009 Toll Free: 1 (800) 222-4883 Tel: (760) 603-8110 Fax: (760) 603-8010 E-mail: info@cathcart.com Website: www.cathcart.com