ONE MAN.
ONE STAGE.
ONE HOUR.
My first memory is my dad on one side and my mom on the other… fighting over who got to keep me and who got to keep my sister.
My mom won my sister. My dad won me.
The next few years were full of fear, pain, and abuse.
From leaving me alone in our trailer to fend for myself for the weekend – as a second-grader – with only $20 and the order to be brave and not call my grandma…
…to hanging out in nightclubs and bars…
…to the most dreaded nights – when the Cowboys lost (which happened A LOT when I was a kid). I knew what those nights meant, and it was nothing good.
Finally, my Grandmother rescued me and I went to live with her.
As a teenager, my Dad came back into my life and I did EVERYTHING I could think of to reconcile with him.
Church, Counseling, My grandparents and aunts and uncles pleaded with him.
Nothing worked.
So I gave up and went off to college.
Athletes like Emmet Smith and David Robinson had deeply impacted me as a child, and so I wanted to be Jerry Maguire: helping the athletes that I looked up to.
BUT… that required a law degree.
Soooo…. I went with plan B.
After college, I had a choice to take a corporate job making good money… or to take a job as a youth pastor in Hereford, Texas – for not so great money – $18,000 per year.
When the pastor of my home church asked me to be the youth pastor, I said I have no theology training… no training at all for this. I had a business degree.
He said, “I know, Pete. But you’ll love on the kids.”
I picked the youth pastor job.
On my first Wednesday night, there were 3 kids – Jorie, MacKenzie, and _______ (Man, was I off to a great start?!).
But I told the girls that we were going to grow that group. And we did.
I began bringing in speakers- authors, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms, musicians, athletes, financial advisors, health experts.
I wanted my kids to be inspired! AND, I was terrified to speak.
So, it was a win-win.
The 20th speaker I brought in was a man named Darrell Scott. Darrell’s daughter, Rachel, was the first girl killed at Columbine back in 1999.
By this time, our group had grown – we had 700 kids in the audience! (Speaking IS the fastest way to grow).
Darrell ended his presentation on a challenge, “There are people in your life that you love, that you need to let them know how much you love them because you don’t know if they’re going to be here tomorrow.”
✅ Easy. Girlfriend ✅ Best friend
But then he added, “Some of them you’re not in good standings with.”
ALL I could think about was my Dad.
Darrell was doing a second presentation that evening for parents. I was going to do whatever it took to get my father to the event. I felt like this was my last chance for a reconciliation. And to my surprise, I was able to convince him to attend the event.
At the end of Darrell’s talk, I looked around. Parents are hugging their children, saying I love you, and everyone’s crying.
Except for my father.
He doesn’t hug me or say a word.
I was crushed.
About a week later, I got a letter in the mail from my Dad.
“I’m sorry for the father I’ve been.
Here my son is having an impact on hundreds of kids’ lives and I can’t have an impact on my only son’s life. I’m asking for a second chance to do things right.”
And he told me that he loved me.
My wife and I were crying.
The power of ONE man on ONE stage for ONE hour changed everything in my life!
That was the day I dedicated my life to stages.
My first call was to Darrell.
I asked him why he wasn’t sharing his message across the world? He replied that he didn’t know how – he was trying everything he could think of.
I told him that I would figure it out. That was 2003.
Their organization had $63,000 in revenue. The first stage I booked generated multiple six-figures. By 2011, revenue was at $6.5 million.
And, in 2015, it was time to impact more people, so I started Advance Your Reach to share our system – the Stage to Scale Method – with more people. We had directly booked over 25,000 stages and generated tens of millions of dollars for our clients.
It was time to help YOU.
Why?
Because YOUR message matters.
Today, my dad is remarried – and is an amazing father to my little brother and my kids adore him! He got a second chance and we repaired our relationship. All because of 1 man on 1 stage for 1 hour.
At 10X Growth Con 2019 – it was my dad's first time hearing me speak!
He got a standing ovation!
It is our Big, Hairy & Audacious Goal to impact 1 Billion People through 1 Million Stages by 2027.
And since sharing our Method with the market in 2018, our students have booked almost 50,000 stages and impacted millions.
Together we can change the world.
About Advance YOUR Reach
Advance Your Reach helps people grow their businesses and spread their message through stages. Our mission is to impact 1 billion people across 9 sectors of influence over the next 10 years.
Arts & Entertainment
Business
Education
Financial & Wealth
Financial & Wealth
Government
Health & Wellness
Media
Religion
Pete Vargas
A Master at teaching people how to grow their businesses with stages. Since 2003, he and his team have booked over 25,000 stages worldwide–and generated tens of millions of dollars of revenue through those stages. In 2016, he founded Advance Your Reach – and walking his talk, has used stages to grow to over $10 million in 3 years, hitting the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America for the first time in 2019.
Pat Quinn
A former professional magician who learned the art of commanding a stage early in his career. With an advanced degree in brain research, Pat understands how adults learn new information. As a consultant and speaker he has keynoted the biggest conferences and spoken to audiences from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: These results are not typical. You may experience different results depending on the effort you put in, your own personality, your background, and your current business level. Our average customer that implements our strategies generally increases the number of stages that they speak on.
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