When you are scheduling an interview, seeking a consultant or deciding on an event speaker, what is your #1 criteria? It is probably deep expertise and real-world experience. Find my resume on LinkedIn.
As the founder of HowStuffWorks, I know how entrepreneurship and venture funding works. I also know a great deal about how our world works. I have visited dozens of factories, done hundreds of interviews and written thousands of articles. I am in a unique position to help you understand your problem space, create a vision of the future and find a path to reaching your goals.
Scheduling an interview with Marshall Brain
Whatever your topic, chances are very good that I have written an article about it or have a directly related experience that I can share with your audience in a lively, entertaining way. I have written thousands of pieces for HowStuffWorks.com. I have appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, the Dr. Oz show, CNN, MSNBC, Modern Marvels and many others. I have hosted the show “Factory Floor with Marshall Brain” on the National Geographic Channel. I have been interviewed for hundreds of different newspaper articles, magazine articles and radio shows. To schedule an interview, please contact me here.
Consulting
Perhaps you need a solution to a specific problem. Perhaps there is an obstacle that you would like to move out of the way. Perhaps you need to regain momentum or find a new way to think about things. I have had a number of experiences in my career and in my life that may be useful to you in your current endeavors. For example:
- I am the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and grew it from zero to a multi-million dollar company. Are you interested in starting a web site, building a large-scale web site or growing your web presence? Are you interested in getting an idea off the ground?
- I have written thousands of articles on how things work and have developed a national reputation for explaining things clearly, simply and in a way that makes things interesting and appealing. Would you like to explain your product, service or brand to the world in a unique and inviting way? Would you like the world to think about you and your offering in a different way?
- I have started businesses that have generated millions of dollars in revenue as described here. Are you starting a company, thinking about starting a company or working to grow your company?
- I have hosted a prime time show on the National Geographic Channel called “Factory Floor with Marshall Brain“. Do you have questions about the industry or interest in creating a new show?
- I have written more than a dozen books (see Amazon). Do you have questions about writing or self-publishing a book?
- I have appeared on a number of national television shows including the Oprah Winfrey show, Good Morning America, CNN, Modern Marvels, etc. Would you like help preparing for an appearance?
- I raised millions of dollars in Venture Capital for HowStuffWorks.com and am also an angel investor. Are you getting ready to approach investors and need help crafting your pitch?
- I have led software development teams as large as 30 developers. Do you have a large software project that needs acceleration or would you like help scoping and planning a large software project?
- I have helped teams transform from stalled to agile, making the team’s shared goals and dreams a reality. Do you have a team that is not meeting its full potential or that is in need of assistance?
- I am excellent at finding creative solutions to tough problems, especially in the software and product realms. I have toured dozens of factories and have written about hundreds of different technologies. Does your company have an intractable problem that needs a SWAT team approach to solve it, or is there a point of pain holding you back?
- I am an angel investor with Triangle Angel Partners. Are you thinking about angel or VC funding and seeking advice, organizational help, assistance crafting your pitch or a board member?
- I am currently teaching a course in entrepreneurial innovation at North Carolina State University. Are you an entrepreneur looking to move to the next level?
- I am a business coach helping entrepreneurs and executives reach their highest potential. Please see the next section for details.
I work with individuals and teams in start-up mode, established entrepreneurs, small companies and large enterprises. If there are ways that I may be able to help you achieve your dreams, let’s talk about the possibilities. You can find my contact information here.
Coaching
93% of the Global 1000 companies in the United States use executive coaching. Why? Coaching enhances goal achievement. Because coaching increases insights. And coaching improves focus, leading to better results.
So, what are your highest aspirations? My goal as your coach is to help you to formulate your vision of the future and then move toward that vision with purpose. Tom Landry put it this way:
“A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.”
One thing I would add to Landry’s quote is that a good coach can often help a person see well beyond the present situation. Many people have constrained their vision to fit within the boundaries of a fairly small box. In many cases the ideal coach can break down the walls of the box and significantly expand the horizons for the client.
The goal of a coach is to help individuals and teams to reach their highest potential. To quote one book on coaching, a coach helps the individual to produce his or her best work. While a coach cannot do the actual work (for example, an athletic coach does not do weight training on behalf of an athlete), the coach is able to help build a shared vision of excellence and then bring that vision to life. A coach helps to make sure the work has purpose, is pointed directly toward the goals and is being done as effectively as possible.
I offer business coaching as a service to entrepreneurs and executives. My goal is to help you become a more powerful and effective human being. This is accomplished by building a relationship that allows me to understand your strengths, weaknesses, preferences and values. Within that relationship we together understand your current position and create a vision for the future. By understanding the vision and the goals, we create strategies for reaching your goals, make the decisions necessary for achievement and understand/eliminate barriers that could prevent progress. In addition, I can help you to see and understand things that may currently be invisible to you.
Speaking at Your Event
Do you have an upcoming convention, corporate event, distinguished speaker series, graduation ceremony, school assembly, fund-raising drive, award banquet, TEDx event, etc? Are you looking for a entertaining, energetic speaker for your event? I am a nationally known speaker who has appeared on a number of television shows including the Oprah Winfrey show, Good Morning America, CNN and Modern Marvels. I have hosted a prime time show on the National Geographic Channel called “Factory Floor with Marshall Brain”. I am the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and grew it from zero to a multi-million dollar company. I am the author of the extremely popular How to Make a Million Dollars. I have written more than a dozen books on a variety of topics (see Amazon).
I would love to help you make your event memorable and exciting. You can find my contact information here – please give me a call.
Script Validation Services
Are you writing a TV or movie script, a book or an article? Is accuracy essential? When engineering, scientific and factual accuracy are important, I can help you by reviewing your work and identifying problem areas.
Or, perhaps, you are willing to ask the audience to willfully suspend disbelief up to a point. However, you are only wanting to take that suspension to a certain threshold. Perhaps you do not want flights of fantasy to be too jarring.
If so, I am here to help. As the founder of the HowStuffWorks web site and a person who has personally written thousands of pieces on how things really work in the world around us, I can help you to achieve whatever level of accuracy you seek. You can find my contact information here.