Lloyd,

First, I am sorry you missed the point. The point is not you. The point is what makes a person truly motivational. This is why I did not mention your name, though I must say that you inspired me to write that entry. I am a shameless promoter too. And there is nothing wrong in creating your own brand. Go where you want to go. But again, the post entry is not about you, it is about motivation and about the motivational speakers who are my exemplars. Do yourself a favor. Read the article once again, this time take you out of the picture, forget about your emotions and ego, and you may get the point that I want to convey.

(If you still cannot see my point, I must be a bad writer. So here it is: The best motivational speakers speak with the heart and bring people to where they must go. They have burning passion, strong will, and humility. Therefore, one does not become the best motivational speaker in the Philippines simply because he says so. Anyone who has to motivate people must first forget about himself or herself and focus on people. People, not words. People, not prestige. People, not sales quota. People, not money.)

Second, I actually admire your new website. Though you still use a lot of SEOs at the backend to pepper the Internet with your name (I think this helps your credibility since you claimed to be an internet guru), I think that the new website is more authentic than the last one. This one presents you as a person and not as the master of the universe. I have nothing against you. I have really nothing against any person who is here to pursue his dream. It just so happen that you wrote something that inspired me to disabuse people about the “motivational speaker” thinking. Personally, I believe that a motivational speaker is not one with a fast-talking mouth machine or one that has the most miserable life on earth. It can be your father Lloyd, or your mentor. Or that guy in the street who just told you one thing and made you change. Research has shown that one time in the life of a successful man, someone has motivated him.

Every week, I get request from people to who like to become motivational speakers. Sorry If I offended you Lloyd, but no offense is meant. I know that you are now very popular and I congratulate you for that. In the early part of my training career (and blogging, if I can call blogging my career), I love to talk about myself. I love to tinker with SEOs and powerwords. Then one day I realized that it is not about me. It is about my audience, most of whom come to my websites and read an article which can help them- all for free. I do not need to say that its value is 40 dollars or some marketing hocus-pocus. One reader told me that she has been using my tips to teach her children good values. One director in a government agency showed me recently his collections of my articles (he printed the articles and placed in a folder), and a librarian made a book-bound collection. All hearthwarming. My readers changed my thinking. And this is what I like to share with those who dream of becoming a motivational speaker. They can always give their best by giving more attention to the audience. It is flattering to hear people say that I am the best motivational speaker they know (I always answer them that maybe they have not seen the other motivational speakers I know). We all need flattery once and a while. Rudyard Kipling, my favorite poet, always reminds me that there will always be a lesser and better person. Acknowledge all the flattery and criticisms, but remember that all these will not make you a better or lesser person.

Lloyd, my audience can make me cry. There were those who come to me who said that they were thankful for attending my workshops. That God sent them to that place to realize that there is still hope. That they were not too old or too young to dream. When they talked about themselves and how my words made an impact in their lives, their I find my true fulfillment. When a student comes to you and tell you that one day, ten years ago, you motivated her to make the most of her life, you know that you made something right in her life. Truly motivational speakers, I believe, do not even think of motivating or becoming a motivational speaker. They simply are.

Lloyd, I learned that the more I speak or write something for them without having to call their attention on how good I am, the more that they appreciate what I do. I no longer trouble myself with web traffic (the easiest way to do that is to create pornographic sites, and that’s what some speakers do– make their websites like pornographics sites– useless to readers)

Third, I made a positive comment on your site because you wrote a good article which is helpful to your audience. But that comment was done after I wrote this entry. This is an unsolicited advice, start writing for your readers and not for search engines. Now that you have already dominated the Internet with your keywords, I believe you can further strengthen your hold if you will write more about your audience, their needs, and the solutions they can use. You are already doing something like that in Good News Pilipinas, though I still feel that you are writing for search engines and not for me your reader. That of course, is a personal feeling. (I am a feeling person. I always ask myself what I felt after reading an article and not what I thought about it).

I do not have dual personality. So do not waste your time getting my IP address. I praised your article in your website because it was good. I did not do it to please you. And I did write my name there. The same can be said in this page. I did not attack you. I am just making a point and I like to do it again and again because people responded. This is a learning moment Lloyd. And I have my signature here. I never thought of commenting for the sake of commenting. I am a “student” of Seth Godin. To comment on your website and use another “personality” is a waste of time. I rather use that time creating good content.

On the contrary, I saw a page where a commentor attacked you as fake. I am not sure why the site owner made such a very short entry about motivational speakers in the Philippines, but it ranked high in Google. I posted a comment there to say that it was foul to write that comment. The site is moderated. The blog owner did not publish my comment, I believe.

I am authentic Lloyd. Even my flaws are authentic. They are not made up. Though I do not agree with your claim that you are the best motivational speaker in the Philippines, I did not brand you as fake. I think you truly believe that you are the best. I’ve just read that your influence is Donald Trump. I now understand.

But I wrote for my readers. I encouraged them to focus on their audience and not on themselves. People may say something good about you; they can say something bad about you. But keep your focus on helping them. Since this is not a contest like an American idol contest, I believe some people are ready to give that honor to Bo Sanchez, Eddie Villanueva, Mike Velarde, or Francis Kong. Or maybe Apollo Quiboloy and Eli Soriano. But there is no such claim made by these people. Be careful about branding yourself as the best motivational speaker in the Philippines. You may send a wrong message.

But no one is controlling you. Discover your path. Claim what you want to believe. You must not allow this simple guy to tell you what to think.

Fourth, I did not mean to offend you. Maybe I was just a bad writer. I apologize. Let me make amends to that. I will visit your website once and a while, and catch you doing something good. I will write it here.

And the next time I talk about motivational speaking and what I think to be bad practices, do not jump into the conclusion that I am talking about you. I criticized myself often in this blog. I suggest you read more.

Fifth, I am not your competitor and I do not consider you as one. You have your big clients, I have my small ones. I was told you are expensive, and I think you deserve it, I do not trouble myself with money for I am ready to give it. You travel around Asia, I am happy wherever I am. Someday, God willing, I will be able to tell the world my story. I may travel around the world. Write a book. Or simply, create my own NGO that will help educate the Filipinos. My immediate goal is to train more teachers to use their heart and become more “motivational” because one must first touch before he can move people.

More power to you.

You can inspire people to dream more, learn more, do more, become more.
Jef Menguin

(For the benefit of my readers, here is the link to the article– http://jefmenguin.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/best-motivational-speaker-in-the-philippines/

You are right. To be truly motivational, the audience must do what they must do.