Hello HaveWinders! This is some very exciting news! While I have, for five years now, written and filmed and produced and, at times, spoken to inspire others to pursue a more passionate, balanced, challenge-driven life, I have not yet done so professionally. On a big stage. Well, life is about challenging yourself, right? And impacting others. So, here I go! My amazing friend, and inspirational speaker herself, Pam Wall, actually inspired me to this. And, with Phillip as my forever-cheerleader, I believe I can reach a lot of people this way and be able to work more travel in while still working. Win, win! You can check out my new speaker website here (www.anniedike.com) and even give my first five-minute storytelling clip a listen here (www.anniedike.com/storytelling-competition).
Wow, I do wear a lot of hats!? I hope you all are as excited as I am about this new Annie chapter, and I hope someday some of you may be able to watch and meet me at a speaking event. I have been working very hard to fine-tune my talks, build strong tie-ins between my sailing stories and valuable life lessons and it has been a challenge, but a very rewarding one. If you want to get a little taste of Speaker Annie, I have some more exciting news. In an effort to push myself into this and really test my talents, I submitted a five-minute storytelling clip to a competition on SpeakerMatch, to be selected and critiqued by this Hollywood story-telling guru (he has worked with the likes of Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon … whoa). And I WAS PICKED! You can listen to my clip and even register to hear Michael Hague’s critique of me live on air Thursday, July 12th at 12:00 p.m. CST here.
I’ll be waiting eagerly on the line to speak with Michael Hague on air and find out what he feels fit to do with my story: tear it up, build it up, restructure the whole thing. Bring it on Hague! I’m eager to learn! I’ll share with you all here as soon as I get some footage of myself speaking at a live event and testimonials from audience members. If any of you have and upcoming conference or seminar that you think would benefit from a few salty, motivating tales, feel free to reach out. It’s all about building your skills, adapting to changes, and finding balance while pursuing both your passions and your biggest challenges. Through challenge comes creativity, to see new strategies, new solutions, and a new, happier, bolder you.
“I’ve been told: ‘You might be just a bit young to be telling others how to live.’ But the way I see it, you don’t have to be old to die, and you don’t have to be young to live. It’s the living—challenging yourself to fill every moment with passion and presence—that’s the hard part. If I can inspire just one person to that end, then I will do it until I truly am old, whenever that may be.”
— Annie
LIFE IS SHORT. FILL YOUR SAILS.
If you would like to hear my announcement in person, and some other HaveWind news, here is a short video clip below that I put together for my YouTubers (who were curious why Phillip and I haven’t been putting out our usual informative, speaking-into-the-camera type videos in a while) talking about why Phillip and I decided to pull away from the YouTube/Patreon platform last year, the upcoming videos we are planning to make for you all this summer (dropping and reinforcing the rudder, switching to a composting head, if I can get it to fit, and plenty of other boat projects), our cruising plans this coming season, and my Speaker Annie announcement, if you want to hear it in person. Well, as “in-person” as a YouTube video can be. It’s the first eight or so minutes of this video, followed by our video from Green Turtle Cay, which you may have already seen (remember the Bucketlust cRaZiEs?!). Enjoy the Video Annie blurb!