James Brown, the old Blues singer, wrote and sang a song titled “Papa’s got a brand new bag”. I sort of associated that song with the different brands I have had in my career. For instance, when I first became a professional speaker in the early seventies, I became Mr. Lucky of the American Platform. I wrote a book titled Selling Lucky. I wrote a dozen articles for a Success Rally Magazine, I had Lucky Buck business cards with an etching of Mr. Lucky on the front. But my real trade mark was something I purchased in the attic of a very swank tuxedo shop in downtown Detroit. It was a set of tails I wore while speaking. They were green and white plaid with a fluffy shirt and bow tie. We had Mr. Lucky music. It worked and I got very busy as a speaker and my fees went up rapidly.
Since then I have had a parade of bags. When I spoke in the schools nationally I wrote the Three Robot Books about Pos the successful little girl robot, Semi-Pos who wanted to be a winner some day but not right now and Neg who was blah. Neg was the kind of critter who brightened up the room just by leaving. I became known as The Wizard of Pos. In the safety field I became The Art of Safety, then there was Almost Andy with Mayberry Parades, a play and all sorts of fun. When I did senior presentations I played the music I had recorded with a friend named Greg Brayton and I was known as The Old Man With a CD. Now since I turned ninety just recently I discovered that I don’t look so much like Andy Griffith. Not like I did ten years ago. I began searching for a brand new bag. I think I found it. Physically I need to improve my walking skills. I haven’t yet figured out how the new me will look, what clothes I might wear, how I might provide the most and highest impact service to all humankind and such. Some very profound, even spiritual choices, and I’m really excited about this new project. So far it has proved demanding, exciting and most remarkable and I will share more on this in future messages. Right now I feel so blessed to have found it. More later.
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