"Kent is engaging and dynamic. He is able to speak to the heart of almost any issue, motivating and inspiring students and adults alike to set their lives on a positive course even in the face of obstacles and challenges. 
Book Kent NOW for your next event!"

As an event planner, there are thousands of speakers you could book for your next event.  So the bottom-line question is:  Why book Kent Julian?

Here's the bottom-line answer:  Kent Julian is on a mission!

Even though Kent's an average guy...average height, average weight, average looking, average intelligence, and less than average hair, he refuses to settle for average living and leading. 

NO WAY! 

He's passionate and intently focused on living and leading WAY BEYOND his average, and he's on a mission to inspire and empower a new generation of people to do the same.

Living & Leading WAY BEYOND Your Average

Why so focused?  Why so passionate? 

Because the truth is, Kent's story is all about living WAY BEYOND his average, even though he considers himself to be an average, ordinary guy.  You see, what audiences subtly learn early on in most of Kent's presentations are some of his WAY BEYOND average achievements:

• Leading a local youth-serving program in the midwest that worked weekly with 500-600 middle school and high school students.
   
• Serving as the National Director of Alliance Youth, an organization that served 2,000 youth groups across the United States.
   
• Founding Live It Forward LLC, a wildly successful entrepreneurial endeavor geared around life and career coaching programs for young professionals.
   
• Authoring, co-authoring, and contributing to 6 books.
   
• Being passionately in love with and committed to his wife, Kathy, and together raising their three wonderful children to strive for WAY BEYOND average in their lives as well.
   

When he does speak briefly about such achievements, it's not in bragging fashion.  Instead, he genuinely uses a few personal stories to lead his audiences to a place of understanding that real success in life and leadership has nothing to do with being a Superstar, but has everything to do with discovering the secret to living and leading WAY BEYOND your average.

You see, what audiences find out about Kent later in his presentations is he:

• Grew up with a significant speech impediment (as he likes to say, it's takes less time to list out the letters he could pronounce than the ones he couldn't pronounce).
   
• In third grade, his teacher had to ask his parents how he passed the previous grades without being able to read.
   
• In middle school, he was considered an "at-risk" student because of his below average achievement scores, he was hanging out with the wrong crowd, and he made a devastating personal mistake.
   
• When he graduated high school, his SAT score was so low that colleges would not accept him until he enrolled and passed several "Developmental Studies" programs.

During these early years, Kent found several mentors who were gut-level honest with him.  They showed him that the secret to real success was not a royal pedigree or being blessed with extra-ordinary talent...it was discovering and embracing the secret to living and leading WAY BEYOND your average.  And from these conversations came Kent's core values:

• Don't Be Average—success people are not necessarily Rockstars or Superstars; they tend to be ordinary people who have simply decided that they don't want to settle for average.
   
• Everyone has a Personal Life Purpose—absolutely everyone!
   
• Finding and following your personal life purpose leads to Intentional Living & Leading.
   
• Intentional living & leading empowers people to experience REAL™ Success—or, to put it in Kent-ism, to living and leading WAY BEYOND your average!
   

So back to the bottom-line question: Why Book Kent Julian to Speak at Your Event?

Why Kent Julian?

Kent doesn't like being called a "motivational" speaker, even though his audiences rave about his ability to inspire and motivate (see testimonies below)! 

No...Kent would rather be called a MISSIONAL Speaker!

The reason?

The sad truth is too many students, educators, and leaders are living and leading average lives.  Some are even living and leading well below their average.  Since Kent is on a mission to change that reality, being called a "missional" speaker authentically connects with his heartbeat and passion.  Sure, he motivates and inspires, but more importantly, he stays true to his mission of empowering others to live & lead WAY BEYOND their average.

Not only is Kent missional, he is also MEANINGFUL!  As he often says, "As a professional communicator, I'm paid to deliver, not take.  What this means is I focus on delivering results and value , not taking accolades.  Speaker-centered presentations are not my style!  My presentations are about one thing—serving the organization that hires me.  When I focus on serving and deliver the specific results and value an event-planner requests, the accolades and standing ovations usually follow." 

Bottom-line...Kent knows his job is to serve you and meet your needs and desires.  And in case you are wondering, that's exactly what he does!

Keynote and Training Presentations
to Empower People to Live & Lead WAY BEYOND Their Average

Presentations for K-12 Educators and Administrators

TEACH (and LEAD) It Forward 
How to Lead Students from Where They Are to Where They Need to Be
(Keynote)

Good teachers focus on classroom management.  GREAT teachers, on the other hand, lead their classes forward.  And yes, there's a huge difference!  Kent debunks the myth of "classroom management" and shows teachers how just a slight change in their mind-set, actions, and heart can make the difference between just getting through the material and getting through to students.

How to Be an Outstanding Teacher 
...Even if You're Just an Ordinary Person
(Keynote/Seminar)

Let's be honest, most teachers are Average Joe's and Jane's with no royal pedigree or dramatic life story.  But that doesn't mean they can't live and lead WAY BEYOND their average and be teachers who truly make a difference in the lives of students.  Through lots of laughter and some tears, Kent takes teachers on a journey from average to beyond average and reminds each participant that it's the teacher, not the curriculum, who is the variable that matters most!

Ensure Success for ALL Students 
How to Authentically Connect with Every Student in Your Classroom in One Week or Less
(Keynote/Seminar)

Corporate Presentations

LEAD It Forward 
How to Lead by Influence Instead of Through Position or Structure
(Keynote/Seminar)

Good leaders lead companies and organizations.  GREAT leaders lead people and movements.  And yes, there's a huge difference!  Without denigrating position, structure, or administration, Kent challenges managers and leaders with a new set of leadership lenses and tools that empower them to lead their teams to better performance, more productivity, and greater job satisfaction.

Don't Settle For Strategic Planning—Go For Strategic Implementation
What The Best Companies Do Differently!
(Keynote/Seminar)

Strategic planning is all the rage! But like many self-help books, strategic plans often end up being more "shelf-help" instead of "self-help" for a company.  The reason?  Even the most strategic plan, if not implemented, means very little.  Bottom line...mediocre companies put a disproportionate amount of energy and effort into strategic planning while the best companies actually focus more on strategic implementation than anything else.  In this presentation, Kent equips leaders in the science and art of intentional implementation, as well as shares simple, but powerful tools to help them accomplish what matters most! 

I Hate Selling, So Why Am I So Good At It? 
How to Be an Outstanding Salesperson
(Keynote/Seminar)

Kent is a great salesperson without even trying.  Why?  Because his focus is on authentically serving, not selling.  Might sound like a cliché, but it's still true and few salespeople follow it.  In this powerful presentation, Kent shows salespeople how to excel in sales by doing the exact opposite of what most experts say.  Additionally, he's teach audience members how they can learn to love sales by simply not doing any more selling.  Does it work?  Kent's business has consistently grown by 30-50% every year since it's inception!   

Don't Be Average! 
The Secret to Living & Leading Way Beyond Your Average
(Keynote/Seminar)

WORK!  An Amazing 4-Letter Word if You Love What You Do! 
How to Find Work that Fits the REAL You
(Keynote/Seminar)

Do you consider your current work your calling? 

Is your work an authentic fit for the real you?

Are you using your strongest talents for at least 70% of your week? 

Are you making what you're worth ... while enjoying every moment of your work day? 

And most important, do you have a compelling life plan to get there? 

As the founder and president of Live It Forward LLC, Kent has been called "one of America's leading life and career coaches for the New Generation."  He's worked with thousands of clients through one-on-one coaching, tele-seminars, and workshops all around the country.  In this presentation, Kent reveals his powerful REAL™ Success System that he uses with his career coaching clients to help them move from average or below average work to work they love!

Tapping Into Your Leadership TEMP 
How to Build an Epic Team!
(Seminar)

Do you need your team to step it up and perform better?  Kent shows how you can tap into the wiring of your team so that you can put everyone's personality to work and use different strengths and talents to build outstanding teams!

Youth & Student Presentations

The New Average! 
Secrets to Living & Leading WAY BEYOND Your Age
(Keynote)

Just imagine...students laughing, listening, and authentically connecting with the speaker.  Why?  Because he's talking with them, not at them.  He's leading them in games they haven't played since third grade (can you say "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and Simon Says).  Then, wham!  Real life surfaces, with all its disappointment and messiness.  No overly-dramatic stories that most students, while impressed, cannot relate to.  No, these are real life stories that connect with average students because average students face such challenges everyday!  Feelings of being overlooked and unnoticed.  Feelings of failure and stupidity.  Feelings of insecurity.  Feelings of facing the reality that I'm...well...average (and maybe even a bit below average).

Students are astonished as Kent shares his story.  The reason?  Well, for one, there's a lot of laughing at real life—the kind of real life every teenager faces like passing gas at the worst possible moment or flying down a water slide totally out of control.  But all the laughter and fun isn't there just for laughter and fun sake.  As Kent opens up about the real fears and pain he felt, as well as how he allowed his insecurities to lead him to a critical mistake that almost ruined his life, students follow his journey simply because it connects to their real life.  Again, not overly dramatic...but the type of story that average students experience everyday!

A ruined life...who wants to stop there?  Not Kent!  No, he shares how a few key mind-set changes and decisions he made allowed him to live and lead WAY BEYOND his average.  And those mind-set changes and decisions...all of them were made in middle school and high school.  That's right—middle school and high school!  That's why he believes teenagers don't have to settle for being average.  Instead, they can turn all that teenage mess into success and experience The New Average!   

You're Better Than That! 
Don't Just Survive, Thrive as a Teenager
(Keynote/Seminar)

This is a great follow up to his The New Average presentation.  In You're Better Than That, Kent shares the nuts and bolts, nitty-gritty essentials of what it takes to experience real success in the real world.  He clearly defines real success, then shows students how they can pursue it no matter what their age.  This presentation is more than just motivation, it's real, step-by-step strategies and tools teenagers can use to experience success in every area of life.

What Should I Do With My Life? 
How to Graduate to a Job You Absolutely Love
(Keynote/Seminar)

As the founder and president of Live It Forward LLC, Kent has been called "one of America's leading life and career coaches for the New Generation."  His typical clients are young people—professionals ages 25-35.  Add to this the fact that Kent has worked in the trenches with middle school and high school teenagers for more than 20 years and still does so today ("in the trenches" means he works face-to-face with teenagers on a weekly basis through local organizations and as the head coach of a 165 member swim team ).  What does all this mean?  Kent gets teenagers!  Even more, he loves being with them!!

As a leading authority in the field of life and career balance, Kent also knows career coaching.  This means Kent knows how to answer the one question teenagers and college students ask most...what should I do with my life?  In this presentation, Kent teaches students how they can live a "no more Mondays" life—the kind of life where they are thrilled to wake up every morning instead of miserably trudging through the day and living for the weekend.  This is not your typical, boring, career talk.  Lots of energy!  Lots of ideas!  And tons of real answers!!

You Can Make the Grade 
Strategies to Making A's & B's Even If You're Not an A/B Student
(Keynote/Seminar)

Kent's story is one of living and leading WAY BEYOND his average, but it's also one of LEARNING WAY BEYOND his average!  

Fact:  Kent had to overcome a major speech impediment as a young boy.

Fact:  In third grade, Kent's teacher met with his parents and asked: "How did Kent pass the previous grades without being able to read?"

Fact:  Kent struggled academically throughout school until later in high school; then he really blossomed in college.

Fact:  Kent graduated college with cum laude honors.

Fact:  Kent finished his Masters degree with summa cum laude honors.

Fact:  In his last two years of high school and throughout college, Kent developed strategies for studying that allowed a below average student like him to learn WAY ABOVE his average.

Fact:  These strategies work for any student, and if followed, will guarantee A's and B's in school

This seminar teaches students success strategies that will help them make A's and B's—guaranteed! 

Warning:  All of Kent's keynotes and training programs are passionate, energetic, inactive, and designed to produce real-life results and benefits.  Side effects may include leadership development, personal responsibility, increased work satisfaction, and real success in life and work!

What Clients Are Saying!

K-12 Educators & Administrators...

One word...AWESOME!
—Diana Pena, Teacher, PSJA North High School

The top three things I enjoyed most about Kent's presentation are:  1) His energy; 2) How he surprised us and grabbed our attention by starting his talk in the middle of the crowd; 3)The Simon Says game he played.  Simply put, Kent was energetic and creative.  And I really enjoyed hearing his life story and how he learned to live WAY BEYOND his average in spite of the challenges he faced.
—Julia Osborne, Assistant Principal, Berkmar High School

It was simply the best presentation on leadership I've ever heard.
—Santiogo Reynoso, Teacher, Longfellow Elementary

Mr. Julian is a very outstanding and professional speaker.  He motivates his audience to think about real life experiences and how to parallel the experiences to improve their life.  What's more, his stage presence was top notch!  I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND him to other schools and event planners!!
—Wanda Ireland, Assistant Principal, Berkmar High School

Great presentation—absolute home-run!
—Domenica Sutti, Principal, Munoz Elementary

Very inspirational and motivating.  But not just fluff...great tools to help me focus and teach.  Every professional should hear Kent Julian speak!!  Awesome and powerful!
—Gilbert Poblano, Teacher & Coach, Eastpoint Elementary

Your stories and your enthusiasm inspire hope.  I will continue to think "Fence Posts" and "Hats" from this day forward. You have empowered many today!  Thank you so much.
—Maria Cannon, Teacher, Ridgewood School

Thank you for the challenge and tools you gave to encourage teachers to be "on the job" each day.  As you said, we never know when it will be "THAT DAY" in the lives of our students or colleagues.
—Martha Tipton, Special Ed. Teacher, Eastpoint Elementary

Outstanding, motivational, inspirational, practical, and a true home run!  You validate what we do as teachers, and you gave me a great reminder as to why I chose this profession (I know the reasons, but it's nice to be reminded every now and then).
—Julie Bell, Teacher, Laneview Elementary

Kent is an awesome motivational speaker with excellent, logical, positive ways that help teachers transform everyday students into "diamonds." His strategies make sense!  His stories are real and inspiring!!  The possibilities for students' success is real!
—Gwynn Flato, Fine Arts Teacher, East Point Elementary

The Teach It Forward presentation was engaging and energizing.  I loved the Barry Manilow and Cinnamon Roll Story—it really helped me remember that it's often the little things that matter most.  Absolutely a great job.  You pushed me and challenged me to positively change some of the ways I teach.
—Tessa Ramos, Teacher, Eastpoint Elementary

Very inspirational and uplifting!  I was brought to tears.
—Marissa Frankos, Teacher, Kennedy Elementary

Read More Testimonies from Educators across North America

Corporate...

If you ever have the opportunity to hear Kent Julian, take advantage of it!  Especially with regards to cultivating a leadership environment within your organization.  Outstanding!
—Donna Talmon, Lead It Forward audience member

I've been through a lot of leadership training.  Kent's seminar was one of the best at engaging the heart of a leader and combine it with the actual implementation of programs and plans.
—Dusty Bennar, Lead It Forward audience member

Kent is an energetic, enthusiastic, real man with a mission.  Kent connects with his audience and challenges them to take those next steps in life and leadership.
—Dave Duron, Lead It Forward audience member

The "Taking Your Leadership Temp" seminar was very dynamic and practical.  The thing I enjoyed most was seeing how each leader is different and how we can all work together with our strengths to bring about the big picture.
—Becky Rosati, Tapping Into Your Leadership TEMP seminar participant

Kent straight-shooting approach to leadership is both encouraging and challenging.  By far the best communicator at our Leadership Conference.
—Rob Baddeley, Lead It Forward audience member

This workshop was absolutely amazing!  It's chock full of information on how to deepen your leadership heart and skills.  Every leader can use it!  Don't change a thing.  I loved it!
—J.S., Taping Into Your Leadership TEMP seminar participant

This leadership experience was very encouraging, helpful, and informative.  The presenter, Kent Julian, was awesome!  We gained a lot of practical applications we will use starting tomorrow.
—Michael Williams & Mary Beth Young, SYM Conference participants

Kent was honest and transparent with his life.  And the practical applications and specific examples of how to put "being before doing" was one of the things I enjoyed most about the presentation.  The life-changing principle of "being before doing" was so clearly presented and fleshed-out that I believe I am in the process of being transformed into an "inside-out leader."
—Ronny McIver, Lead It Forward audience member

Kent has a talent for engaging his audience and presenting his message in a fun, down-to-earth, challenging manner.  We are better people and better leaders because of the challenges Kent gave.
—Ethan and Melissa Molsee

The workshop was very informative, yet basic at its core.  While walking away with many ideas and tools, the central theme and overriding message kept the important stuff easy to remember.  Kent was very personal and was very easy to understand and relate to.  I enjoyed it all!
—Chris D.

Clear, relevant, passionate, empowering!
—Dan Frank

Read More Testimonies from Corporate & Leadership Audiences

Youth & College...

Kent talks to students believing they are capable of hearing,understanding, and responding!  Some speakers focus on all the bad stuff in life and the things we need to avoid; Kent conveys there is a better way to live and gave us something to embrace rather than all the things we should avoid.
—Holly, high school student

Kent is a man who knows deep inside what he believes and is therefore able to teach a moving message. Plus, the humor he incorporates really helps break the proverbial ice and opens people up to listen.
—Chris, college student

Kent Julian is funny and inspirational.
—Leigh, high school student

Very energetic, inspiring, and informative.  A perfect balance of tons of fun and solid how-to for students!
—Pam Daniels, Teacher

Kent is a charismatic man...His stories were fused with an inspirational spirit.  The success secrets he shared encouraged those of us who desire to exceed in school to go beyond our limits and live WAY BEYOND our average.
—Khoa, high school junior

Kent’s direct approach is amazing because in the world today there are less and less people who are so real with their audience
.—Scott, college freshman

Kent is a seasoned speaker who always knows his audience and captures their attention despite the age group.  He came to our middle school and spoke in the gymnasium three times to audiences of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  Amazingly, Kent captivated over 600 students in each setting.  He was equally effective with each grade level.  Our teachers were astounded at Kent’s ability to reach into the students’ lives.  Kent is a grand slam motivational speaker!!
—Mark McCain, Assistant Principal, Duluth Middle School

Kent’s speaking is captivating, encouraging, and convicting.  I really liked how he uses a variety of creative, visual illustration to drive home points.
—Lindsey, college freshman

Kent mixes and balances fun with truth like I’ve never seen before!
—Holly, college student

Kent’s a real speaker who talks about real stuff in a real way.
—Charity, high school senior

A great guy with lots of energy, funny, lots of passion, and incredible insight.
—Christina, high school junior

Your presentation was very motivational, positive, and engaging.  The message lives up to your motto of "living WAY BEYOND your average."  Students were excited and encouraged by what you said.  I feel your presentation was right on target for our audience of 11th grade students.  Your timing was perfect and the periods of time between you talking to students and the engaging, interactive activities you did with the crowd was spot on.  I would recommend you as a motivational speaker to any school, group, or activity. THANKS!! 
—Eric Spoto, Assistant Principal, Berkmar High School

Your talk was GREAT!  I wish you would have talked more.
—Chip, high school student

Read More Testimonies from Youth & Student Audiences

Other Testimonies...

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