You never know where you are going to meet someone and hear and amazing story. Last week I was at Legoland in Orlando, Florida where I met Logan Joiner and his Dad. Logan is 11 and he is helping people facing fear. Logan says:
Letting fear take over can hold you back from doing so many things, and will keep you from living life to the fullest.
It’s quite the story of how Logan is facing fear and encouraging others to do the same. Logan has autism. He couldn’t speak until he was 4 and like so many kids with autism, he had a fear of noises whether it was traffic, kids shouting, kids playing in groups, people cheering at baseball games and basically anywhere there was noise.
Logan was afraid of people, wouldn’t look them in the eye, didn’t want to touch them, didn’t want to talk. He was facing fear every day.
When Logan was 8 he was fascinated by roller coasters. Not that he wanted to go on one because for sure, they made a ton of noise. Quite terrifying. What interested him was how the roller coasters went at set speeds on the straight sections, and on the bends. So they were predictable. He researched lots of roller coasters on the internet.
When Logan was 9 he decided to try riding a roller coaster that he had studied. Yes, he conquered the fear of the noise, by concentrating on the speeds and number of turns before they came to a stop.
Soon, he was quite confident that in practice, the roller coasters lived up to the stats. Because he spent the whole summer riding roller coasters. Now he has ridden on 193 roller coasters all over the U.S., Canada, and Ireland. His teachers allow him to travel with his father as part of his curriculum as they see how much he has changed in 3 years. How confident he has become. It is beyond anything the school knows about working with autism kids. His father says his teachers have never seen anything like it.
Now Logan is happy to engage with his fans, meet new people on roller coasters and chat with them and shake hands with strangers. He grades the roller coasters on his Logan Scream Score (LSS) from 1 to 5 and his fans follow him and meet him everywhere. He posts his schedule on his YouTube channel.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Gvz_XtH3I[/embedyt]
This is only part of the story. Logan has his own brand: Koaster Kids and a large following on his own YouTube channel, facebook page, Instagram account, website and email account.
He has earned over $2500.00 from affiliate marketing on his YouTube channel and also receives revenues from selling Koaster Kids t-shirts on his website.
Not only is Logan facing his fears, he is making it his mission to encourage others to face theirs.
The goal of “Koaster Kids” is to help people face their fears and be courageous. We encourage people of all ages to face their fears; whether it’s riding a 300 ft. tall roller coaster, or just sitting with the new kid at lunch. Courage comes in all shapes and sizes, but with courage comes a life of adventure and fun.
Koaster Kids truly wants to help you with slowly breaking through the wall that is your comfort zone.
What wise words from 11-year-old Logan Joiner. We can all learn that facing fear is the best way to overcome it.
Author Elaine Slatter is the founder of Fabulous Fempreneurship and owner of XL Consulting Group, a small business advisory, growing successful companies with marketing strategies, branding and web design.