Early in my speaking career, I had the privilege of working with the late Ben Franklin, a booking agent out of Topeka, Kansas. Ben and his father ran the Associated Dinner Clubs, a network of social clubs in small towns across America that were largely conservative older folks.

Ben's dad had journeyed across America in the early 1900's signing up clubs mostly in small towns. The clubs had four kinds of members- old and older, wealthy and wealthier. Ben Sr. had a deal with the clubs. He would provide all their speakers if the clubs bought the talent through him. He earned a 25% commission off the fee.

This process allowed clubs to have top notch speakers like Paul Harvey, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and others to come in and "wow" them. The Franklins would also book some "nobodies" like yours truly to come in as fill-in speakers. By combining the talent pool, the clubs could actually afford to have one or two big name speakers per year along with the rest of us.

On many occasion I followed Dr. Peale, Art Linkletter or Paul Harvey and it was particularly rewarding to be able to get higher ratings than those guys did on occasion. I was earning a whopping $250 per speech back in those days, but more importantly, I was getting invaluable experience. You haven't earned the right to speak until you've addressed a bunch of folks who had too much to drink in Boise, Idaho or Wenatchee, Washington.

I got to visit places that I never heard of and will likely never visit again. What a terrific experience! I would go on the road for three or four weeks at a time, stopping every few days to get my drawers laundered. Sometimes, I had to literally take a bus or a train to my next stop.

I was speaking on the campus or Oregon State University at Corvallis, Oregon one night and was scheduled to be in Baker, Oregon the next day. I was to take a puddle-jumper over for the trip. As fate would have it, we were fogged in, not an uncommon problem in the northwest, so I had to rent a car to drive to Baker, which is clear across the state. After an hour of grumbling to myself about having to drive, the fog lifted and I was exposed to the most beautiful scenery I've ever witnessed in my entire life- the gorge along the Columbia River.

My twin sons, Cory and Jason, were just beginning school when I was in the peak of my traveling. One year I had over 200 engagements, 90% of which were in other states.

Feeling particularly guilty about being gone so much with small children at home, I began writing to them at their school. Their fourth grade teacher, Jane Harrison, actually kept a map on the wall and followed me in my travels. I would mail my sons and her class cards and brochures from different places where I was speaking with a note about my audience and the city.

It turned out to be a terrific way for me to communicate with my boys while helping her to educate her class about different parts of not only America but the world as I've been to over 20 countries.

I never got rid of the guilt of being away from my family. My bride, Christine, was always very supportive, literally playing the role of single parent for weeks at a time.

I miss going to those far away places. My main regret was that I could not take Christine along with me to Victoria, Texas or Victoria, British Columbia.

Today, most of my speaking is within driving distance of my home. That's the nice thing about living in the meeting capital of the world- Orlando, Florida.