My 2011 TEDxAlbany presentation about how stuttering taught me to embrace being weird and helped me start a business. [You can find a video of the presentation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jTjYI_l8cg]

1. What Stuttering Taught Me About
Running A Business
Lisa Barone
@lisabarone

2. Who Is Outspoken Media?
• Internet Marketing Company
located in Troy, NY.
• Founded in 2009 with my
partner Rhea Drysdale
Our job is to make YOU louder
and more outspoken on the
Web.

4. New challenges force
you use what you
already know.

5. An Intro To Being Weird

6. My Entry Into Being Weird
• Just 1% of the adult
population stutters.
• 80% of adult stutterers are
male.
That makes me a freakin’
unicorn

7. My Entry Into Being Weird
Stutterers display higher activity in the area
of the brain that controls speech movements,
making it difficult for the brain to process the
information and account for the correct
movements.

8. Getting My Groove
Voice Back

10. Like a business…
• I was fearful of standing out or attracting too
much attention
• I hid behind a mask instead of showing
people who I was.
• I was limiting my voice because I didn’t
believe I deserved one

11. The Benefits Of Being A Stutterer
• I understand the power of voice better than a fluent
speaker.
• My struggles allow me to better relate to the struggles
of others.
• I only have to meet someone once for them to
remember my name.

12. The Benefits Of Being A Stutterer
My stuttering makes me memorable. And
because I am memorable, I have a
platform.

13. Stuttering taught me how to run
a business because….
Stuttering taught me how to
embrace weird & make weird
work

14. Weird didn’t always work…

15. Weird is how you
stand out in a
crowded niche.
Weird is how you
become memorable
and build a platform.
Weird is new
normal.

16. Making Weird Work For You

17. Making Weird Work For You
Step 1: Accept that you are weird.
Because you really are.
And it’s really okay.

18. Making Weird Work For You
Step 2: Pinpoint what makes you weird
• What is it you do when no one’s watching?
• What part of your life or what hobby do you have that
you’re not quick to tell people about?
• If you had a superpower, what would it be?
• What did you love or do as a kid that you now suppress?

19. Your weirdness can be rooted in
• An experience
• A character trait
• A physical trait
• An odd passion
• Extreme extrovertness OR
introvertness

20. Making Weird Work For You
Step 3: Find a way to use it.
• How can you make that weirdness work for you?
• How can you magnify it in a way that will speak to
your customer needs?

21. Making Weird Work For You
Create your
Blogging Superhero

22. Making Weird Work For You
Your blogging superhero is a heightened
version of you, emphasizing your most
marketable traits, while de-emphasizing
your traits irrelevant to your business.
How can your weirdness make you more
marketable?

23. We need to stop giving “weird” a
negative connotation.
The success of your business rests
on your ability to stand out and be
memorable.

24. Forming Outspoken Media

26. Weirdness In Motion

27. You can laugh but…
• Snooki NYT best-selling author
• The Situation $5 million+
• Jenny Book and a bronzer
• Ronnie Product endorsements
• Sammi Perfume
• Vinny/ Pauly D Clothing lines

28. BIG FINISH!

29. A word from Dolly Parton
Figure out who you are, and then do it on
purpose.
-- Dolly Parton
It’s your oddness that makes you interesting
and what will drive people to your business.

30. Thank you…
lisa@outspokenmedia.com
@lisabarone