My speaking topic literally fell on top of me.  I remember waking up on June 14, 1998 in intensive care at the hospital. NSA member Steve Wilson, MA, CSP and his wife Pam Stile came to visit me. "Some speakers will do anything for a signature story!" Pam gently kidded. 
 
I managed a slight smile, but I was indeed lucky to be alive.  June 13 was the day my life changed forever.  My husband, Mark Leder, and I were celebrating our third wedding anniversary on a bicycle ride.  Suddenly a three-and-a-half ton tree came crashing to the ground, landing on top of me.  Instantly, I was paralyzed from the waist down.

Eighteen months before my spinal cord injury, I started my business as a presentation skills and communication skills seminar leader. Prior to that, I was on the faculty at The Ohio State University for 11 years, teaching courses in public speaking as well as teaching methodology.

After my injury, I couldn't imagine resuming my speaking and training business or my publishing company. I could only picture myself doing menial tasks from my wheelchair. I thought my life was wasted!

As I lay in the rehabilitation hospital, family, friends, and NSA colleagues came to see me. They sent flowers, cards, books, and e-mails. One NSA friend, CSP Winnie Ary, suggested that I keep a tape recorder by my bedside in the hospital in order to record a personal journal of my recovery.  She told me that the tapes would serve me well in writing speech material and eventually a book.  She was right!

Another NSA member, Randall Reeder, came to see me in the hospital on a regular basis.  He asked me to be a co-presenter with him for a program in September. “Are you crazy? That’s only 3 months away!” I responded, somewhat influenced by the narcotic painkillers. How could I deliver training so soon after my injury?

I’ve got to admit that when I rolled to the front of that audience in September, I was self-conscious and a bit afraid of how they would respond to me, speaking from a wheelchair. Their warm reception quickly melted away the fear, as I told them what happened to me and we proceeded with the program. Ironically, our topic was “How to Get Over the Fear of Speaking in Public.”

It took many months for me to adapt to life in a wheelchair, but I started to realize that my skills and talents were still intact, thanks partly to a robust bicycle helmet. My only limitation:  I couldn't walk.

In December 1998, I began sharing with audiences the lessons that I had been learning about dealing with change and coping with adversity.  This was the beginning of the reinvention of my speaking business.  Now, I was a motivational keynote speaker.  Nothing persuades like experience, and I have the scars to prove it!

To transition my business from predominantly delivering training seminars to delivering keynotes, I consulted with NSA business expert Mark LeBlanc and a local business consultant, Linda Steward, to write a new business plan.  The Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, a state and federally funded program, provided some of the resources to help me rebuild my businesses from my home.  Steward worked with me to analyze the market for motivational speakers (there’s always room for one more!), and helped me make the shift in my speaking and training business.

NSA members who used wheelchairs, W. Mitchell, CSP, CPAE, and the late Art Berg, CSP, CPAE, shared their speech content and encouraged me by telling how they traveled around the world in their wheelchairs. The 11 members of my Speaking Circle of NSA colleagues met monthly to encourage and guide me. I began to create new marketing materials.

My reinvention, as do most reinventions, involved a total makeover.  It may only involve taking a look at who we are and what we are doing with our lives. Reinvention starts by evaluating our degree of happiness and examining what we want out of life. Perhaps we have been in our current position or running our business the same way for too long.  It may be time for a change, or for some, change should have happened a long time ago.  This awareness starts the process of reinvention.

If you feel a need to reinvent yourself, talk with others about your situation.  Get your family, friends, NSA colleagues, counselors and other professionals to listen to you and give you advice.  Gather resources, inventory your skills and talents, and begin the process of reinventing.  Be open to new opportunities and explore the many ways your talents can be utilized in the world.