According to studies, the number one fear people have is public speaking. Second is fear of death. So, yeah. People would rather DIE than give a presentation. I was the same way as a kid, but my mother forced me to participate in church plays (there has yet to be a better bearded innkeeper at the annual Christmas play), sing at retirement homes, and host talent shows in our backyard. I slowly learned that regardless of how much I sucked, nobody boo'd me off stage.

Many thanks to my mother's encouragement (this is the nice way of categorizing my mother's favorite phrase: You will DO it and you will LOVE it), I can step on a stage knowing I'll survive.

Recently I had the honor of speaking at ALT Summit, a gathering of online influencers and bloggers. I was especially honored speaking to a group of creative entrepreneurs about creating a brand. It was exhilarating teaching something I'm passionate about and, let's face it, talking about building a business was far better than turning away baby Jesus during the Christmas play.

Many thanks to ALT Summit for the honor of teaching…and many more thanks to those who attended, stayed after and chatted, and didn't boo me off stage.