Hi! I’m
Nicholas Strand
From behind the scenes of global tours to life's deepest challenges, I've discovered how one choice can transform everything. For 16 years, I've managed million-dollar productions where every moment matters. But my most powerful lesson came from my late wife Brianna, who showed me through her battle with cystic fibrosis that when we choose our attitude, we create our life.
Today, I help people transform how they show up in their biggest moments. Because whether you're managing a team or navigating life's toughest stages, success starts with a choice.
From Stadium Stages to Life's Greatest Tests
When you've managed million-dollar productions where every moment impacts thousands, you learn something powerful about showing up. When you've stood beside those facing impossible odds, you discover something deeper about choice.
Losing my mother to cancer, my wife Brianna to cystic fibrosis, and facing my own battle with Bell's Palsy—all of it reinforced one truth: transformation starts with how we choose to show up. These aren’t just stories of survival; they’re blueprints for breakthrough.
From global tours to life’s hardest moments, I’ve seen firsthand how one choice can change everything. Brianna’s message, "Choose Your Attitude, Create Your Life," became more than inspiration—it became a proven formula for resilience and success. Today, I bring these battle-tested principles to organizations and individuals ready to redefine how they show up in their biggest moments."**
This version keeps the weight of personal experience while making the message flow smoothly and feel even more impactful.
A commitment to guiding others through transformation to their greatest potential.
Why Nick Strand?
People don't just need inspiration - they need transformation. My journey through loss, resilience, and renewal offers proven principles that transform how teams and individuals show up every day.
These aren't just stories of survival. They're practical strategies drawn from real battles and breakthrough moments, showing people how to turn their daily choices into defining moments.
Building Entrepreneurial Dreams from the Ground Up
Dreams don’t become reality by chance. They transform through decisive action and strategic choice. Each challenge I’ve faced, in building my career from global crew management to leading high-stakes productions, has shown me that success isn’t about perfect conditions. It’s about consistently showing up, even in imperfect moments.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
The most profound tests don’t always show up in boardrooms or on the business stage. Sometimes they unfold in hospital rooms when I lost my mother to cancer and my wife, Brianna, to cystic fibrosis or in moments of personal health challenges like Bell’s Palsy. The key takeaway from these challenges? True power lies in how we choose to respond and show up, no matter the adversity.
Where Stories Meet Strategy
These aren’t just personal stories; they are universal truths about human potential in high-pressure environments. From transforming setbacks into growth opportunities in business to leading through crisis, my journey has equipped me with principles that shape organizational performance and leadership strategy. The strategies I’ve developed aren’t just for surviving, they’re designed for achieving breakthrough results.
The Power of Early Choices
Some dreams begin in unexpected places. Mine started with watching my father's hands transform simple wires into possibilities. While others saw Garth Brooks commanding the stage, I saw the magic happening behind the scenes. Every early morning and late night in the high school video program taught me the same lesson: transformation happens through consistent choices.
The Future Farmers of America became my first real stage for impact. As a video director and production manager, I learned that technical excellence isn't just about skill - it's about serving a greater purpose. Each event showed me how one person's choice to show up differently could transform an entire experience.
College wasn't just about earning a degree. It was about creating opportunities. From building a live entertainment department to producing the Murrow Symposium Awards Ceremony, each project proved that when we choose to push beyond comfortable, we create breakthrough moments. This mindset opened doors I never imagined, leading to my first tour just one week after graduation.
These weren't just steps in a career. They were lessons in the power of choice - lessons I now share with others ready to transform their own stories.
The Art of Showing Up
Excellence isn't about perfect conditions - it's about perfect commitment. Since 2007, I've lived this truth across continents and cultures, working with legendary artists who taught me: impact comes from how we choose to show up, especially when challenges arise.
Every tour brought its own tests. Different languages, diverse teams, demanding schedules - each situation proved that transformation isn't about circumstances. It's about choice. Working with artists like Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, and Dave Matthews Band showed me that true excellence happens when we choose our attitude in our hardest moments.
These weren't just professional experiences. They were masterclasses in human potential - lessons that now serve others in their own moments of choice.
The Loss of
My Mother
Some teachers show us how to live through how they face death. My mother was my first and greatest guide in the power of choice. Her work ethic shaped mine. Her compassion taught me to see beyond surface stories. Her strength showed me what it means to stand tall in life's hardest moments.
In 2012, as cancer waged its war, she demonstrated her final and most powerful lesson: courage isn't about conditions - it's about choosing how we show up through them. Those months by her side transformed my understanding of strength. This wasn't just my first profound loss. It was my first profound lesson in how attitude shapes everything that follows.
The Loss of a Super Human
Sometimes life's greatest messages come from its briefest moments. Brianna entered my world like a force of nature, showing me that true power isn't in perfect circumstances - it's in perfect choice. Together, we turned her battle with Cystic Fibrosis into a platform for impact, proving that limitations only define us if we let them.
For ten years, I witnessed someone choose strength over struggle, purpose over pain, impact over illness. Her message "Choose Your Attitude, Create Your Life" wasn't just words - it was her daily demonstration of human potential. In 2017, when Cystic Fibrosis claimed her physical presence, it couldn't touch her lasting truth: we always have a choice in how we show up.
This wasn't just a loss. It was an inheritance of purpose - a message that now serves others in their own moments of choice.
Paralyzing Wake Up Call
Sometimes transformation arrives disguised as crisis. In August 2019, waking up with half my face paralyzed wasn't just a medical emergency - it was an invitation to deeper purpose. Bell's Palsy became my own test in choosing attitude over circumstance.
Those five weeks of forced pause revealed something powerful: our greatest setbacks often become our strongest setups. While my face was paralyzed, my purpose crystallized. Brianna's message found new life through my book "Loving Someone Who Is Dying" and the birth of Choose Your Attitude®.
This wasn't just recovery. It was revelation - proving that every challenge holds the seed of transformation when we choose to see it differently.
When Message Becomes Movement
Crisis reveals character. When COVID-19 suspended the entertainment industry for 500 days, it tested more than careers - it tested choices. In this forced stillness, Brianna's message "Choose Your Attitude, Create Your Life" evolved from personal mantra to universal truth.
Each day of uncertainty proved what she always knew: our power lies not in controlling circumstances, but in choosing our response to them. This wasn't just about surviving a pandemic. It was about discovering how attitude transforms everything - from how we face our challenges to how we serve others through theirs.
These weren't just lessons learned. They became principles proven - now serving others in their own moments of choice.
Strength Beyond the Physical
Sometimes the heaviest weights we lift aren't in the gym. After losing Brianna, I discovered that transformation requires more than motivation - it demands daily choice. What began as a way to fill empty hours in hotel gyms evolved into a laboratory for human potential.
Each rep, each set, each choice to show up proved the same truth: strength isn't built in perfect moments, but in choosing to push through imperfect ones. The gym became more than therapy - it became tangible proof that when we choose our attitude, we create our reality.
This wasn't just about building a better body. It was about forging a stronger way of being - proving that every challenge, when met with the right choice, becomes a catalyst for transformation.
Where Purpose Meets Impact
Life's deepest lessons often arrive through others' battles. Supporting friends through addiction, divorce, and profound loss revealed something powerful: every story of survival holds seeds of transformation for others. These moments weren't just about offering support - they were about discovering purpose.
The principles tested through personal loss, proven in physical transformation, and refined through life's biggest challenges now serve others in their moments of choice. This isn't about avoiding life's tests. It's about transforming them into testimony that serves others.
Brianna's message "Choose Your Attitude, Create Your Life" has evolved beyond inspiration into a proven pathway for change. Through sharing these battle-tested truths, I witness daily how one person's choice to show up differently can transform countless lives.
This isn't just about creating my life anymore. It's about helping others discover their power to create theirs. Because every person holds the potential for breakthrough, waiting to be unleashed through the simple, profound power of choice.
Each transformation I witness confirms what Brianna knew: when we choose our attitude, we don't just create our life - we inspire others to create theirs.
Choose Your Attitude®
Crafted from performance-grade materials that work as hard as you do. Every piece is engineered with strategic motivation, placed right where you need it most. Tested by warriors who battle anxiety, depression, and life's toughest challenges. Built to remind you of your strength when your mind says quit.
Join a community of fighters who choose to show up differently every day. Share your battles. Celebrate your victories. Inspire others to find their strength.
Speaking, Workshops &
Other Events
Some truths transform everything they touch. Through powerful keynotes and immersive workshops, your people discover how one choice can change everything that follows. These aren't just presentations, but blueprints to show audiences how to turn their daily choices into defining moments.
Main stage keynotes ignite possibility. Interactive workshops turn inspiration into action. Team consulting creates sustainable transformation. Each experience, whether in person or virtual, delivers battle-tested principles that help people choose differently in their biggest moments.
Because transformation isn't about waiting for perfect circumstances. It's about choosing to show up differently, right where you are. When your people need more than inspiration or are ready for real change - I'm here to show them how.
One on One Transformation
Some journeys require a closer walk. For those ready to transform how they show up in every arena of life, these one-on-one experiences turn principles into practice, challenges into strength, and choices into breakthrough.
Whether through life design or physical transformation, each path leads to the same truth: when we choose differently, we create differently.
Contact Nick
This isn't just coaching. It's your battle plan for life.
Ready to level up? Reach out to Nick for talks, life coaching, and fitness coaching that’s designed to push you beyond your limits. Every session is crafted to motivate, challenge, and build the mental strength you need to conquer anything. Let's take the first step together.