Adrian Starks is a keynote speaker, best selling author and chief communications officer of Connect Now Business Network. His mission is to help entrepreneurs, students and organizations and teens who are feeling stuck, uninspired or unfulfilled to become their own Change makers. And he gives them tools, some tips and strategies to get out of the rut they are in and will empower them and these individuals to find opportunities within the challenges, no matter how stressful their environment maybe. Adrian lives by his supportive Changemaker philosophy that began with the desire to help others see that they can courageously make their own changes and become their own champion.
Wow. Wow. I didn’t realize, who knew, that being in a call center is actually good for speaking, that it’s just amazing. I mean, I can see how it would. You’d be willing to want to change your life quickly, but did you find calling people and everything really helped you understand people more and your business and at least you learn something from being there?
I certainly did, Jane. What it taught me was, the best communicators are the ones who say the fewest words and they listen. So in the center, I learned very fast about I learned very fast about empathy, listening to the other person, getting the information down and then finding a way to provide assistance and to do it in a strategic way that allows me to to be on their side. So there is an interesting thing here, jane. I worked for a children’s medical call center, so imagine getting parents calling in about their children. No parent really wants to bring their child to the hospital at all. So I’m getting various amounts of emotions on the phones. I had to learn how to understand people emotionally, mentally, socially. And I did not know during this time of eight years in the call center that I was actually growing into the person that I needed to be in order to get out here in the world and to speak and to help people the way that I’m doing right now.
Wow. Wow, that’s amazing. I know, I know empathy is very important for being successful and listening for sure. So so how do you use that in your new business? Well, it’s not a new business. Maybe you could tell us how long you’ve been in your Connect Now Business Network, because it’s a very exciting idea and concept and I’d be interested in participating. So that would be great if you could tell us how you could help me.
Thank you. Simply, absolutely. So the Connect Now business network that I am a part of, I am the CCO and I am the chief communications officer. I actually do speaking within this network. And I help entrepreneurs and business owners with the power of communication. Like, what is your language sound like when you’re speaking to your clients? What is your language sound like when you’re speaking to yourself? I find that we really push personal development to the side. Now we say, oh yeah, personal development is good, we need that. But how many of us as entrepreneurs and business owners actually take it very seriously? And we work on ourselves 24 seven because we have to because we’re connecting to our business network. We believe that you are your business and more importantly, we believe about the person behind the business. So I’d like to talk to the entrepreneurs and show them this is the language you’re using if you’re trying to connect with someone. Do you believe in what you’re saying? Are you saying too much? Are you saying enough? Are you being very strategic about what you need to do in order to get this person some help? So that’s what I work with my entrepreneurs and business owners on within the Connect Now Business Network. I help them grow and also help them look at their own challenges within their business.
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