"I spent the greater part of my sales and management career with an enormous fear of failure," says Richard Fenton.  "As a result I robbed myself of achieving true success.  Now I spend each day not only accepting failure, but embracing it.  And the changes in my life have been truly remarkable." 

This is not to say Rich hasn't had his share of success!   As an account executive in the fleet sales department for the largest Chevrolet dealer in the country, Rich learned to sell and serve from a true master who just happened to also be his father. Widely regarded as the top sales executive in the automotive industry for over 30 years, Rich's dad had a profound impact on his thinking and sales ability.

After leaving the car business, Rich quickly put his sales experience to work, landing a position with Walt Disney Productions in their distribution division, responsible for selling and distributing major motion pictures around the premier market of Southern California.

Yet, deep down, Rich had a burning desire to become a professional speaker and trainer... a dream he’d had since the age of 8.  As Rich tells it, "I set up plastic dinosaurs all over my basement and invited people over to hear me talk about them.  As I recall I charged everyone a nickel to get in." Rich would spend the next thirty years about his dream, planning for it, dreaming about it and flirting with it... everything but actually doing it.  "I was simply too afraid to fail," he says.

Then, Rich found his way to the retail industry, working his way through sales positions into management and district level positions.  With professional speaking his true passion, Rich found his way to the training side of business, holding the position of Training Director for Macy's in Beverly Hills, clothing giant Hart, Schaffner & Marx, and eventually for LensCrafters, the world's largest retailer of eyeglasses.

What Rich is most proud of, however, are not his successes but his willingness to confront and eventually conquer his own fears of failure and rejection.

In late 1997, along with partner Andrea Waltz, Rich launched a business to design and deliver keynotes and breakout sessions in the areas of sales, management and breakthrough performance. Now the author of four books including, Go for No! The Ultimate Strategy for Failing Your Way to Success! Rich travels the country delivering conference presentations and workshops.