Steve Bryant – Thoughts on Success, Music and Media

He’s a controversial figure, but Tony Robbins’ programs helped me to turn my life around. His programs are a combination of proven, life-improving techniques. Using advice from his program, I was able to retire before age 60 and have a life I never dreamed possible when I was growing up on the farm in New Jersey.

I lobbied QVC’s buyers for years to carry Tony’s programs on-air. It took several months, but they finally capitulated. Tony went on to sell tens of millions of dollars of his self-help programs. Here’s the story of a very special live audience show I did with Tony.

I loved live audience shows on QVC. They gave me a chance to meet some of the people who kept me employed, our viewers and customers. I always had a great time meeting and speaking with our customers. I had already done a few live audience shows with Tony Robbins. Before all the shows, we laughed, shared some success stories and just had a terrific time with the audience. The QVC Theater held approximately 150 people. A perfect size for an intimate and fun get together.

At the beginning of one live audience show, I welcomed our TV and live customers to the event and introduced Tony Robbins, who received a standing ovation. Immediately, my producer spoke to me through the small receiver and earpiece that all hosts wear. He said that no one at home could hear me. There was a problem with the audio and he didn’t know when it would be fixed.

I looked at Tony and told him that our audio was down. We were on live national TV with no sound. While he was asking me what we were going to do, I grabbed a pen and started writing on the back of one of my blue cards. I wrote, “Technical Difficulties, no sound, please bear with us,” and held it up to a camera, which got a close shot so the audience at home could read it.

When they were showing the close-up of the card, I told Tony to stay with me and we would make this work. He smiled.

I asked for a bunch of blank cards and two Sharpie markers which the crew quickly gave me. I used mine to write a short message to the TV audience, explaining that we were going to use the cards to communicate until the sound was restored. Tony got into the act and wrote some comments as well. Without any sound, we had a very successful show for the almost 40 minutes the sound was out. Our on-air written notes to the viewers might well have been the first text messages, considering it was the 1990’s. I even told a few jokes using the cards.

The sound was restored with ten minutes left in the hour. We had already sold more of his programs than any other Tony Robbins’ hour. The total was nearly 2 million dollars. Tony took a moment to thank me on-air and led the audience in a round of applause. They stood again. It was one of the nicest rounds of applause I’ve ever received. We continued without a hitch and proceeded to wrap up the record-breaking show.

So, did I make lemonade or did I throw the lemons back? At the time, I didn’t think it was a big deal. I had gone through Tony’s programs many times. It taught me how to make fast, accurate and positive decisions under stress. I continue to use what I learned from him to this day. I still meet people in the DRTV industry who witnessed and were impressed by the silent show.

Life throws a lot of things at you in both your personal and professional lives. I am dismayed every time I hear a person say, “Why me?” However, once you’ve gone through Tony’s programs, the only real answer to that question is, “Why not you?”

© 2021 Steve Bryant – No portion of this or any blog can be reproduced or copied and posted on any online site or read aloud on any audio or video media without the express permission of the author.