Marilyn Veincentotzs

I attribute my success to my attitude, self-motivation and experiential learning. I have had many years in sales. In order to be a good sales person you have to have enthusiasm, confidence, motivation and resilience. You can’t succeed without those traits. As a motivational speaker I have lived by what I have encouraged others to do. Never give up! I live what I tell others: just get out there and do things. I've learned so much just by doing. What's been most impactful has been my experience, the experiential part. I'm more of a doer than I am a joiner. I have a natural ability to spot good business opportunities, especially service-based startups. I can just spot it if it's something that's gonna work. Throughout my career, from patenting my toilet seat adapter in the 80s with just a typewriter and no internet, to building a janitorial business from the ground up, to developing AI tools for school psychologists, I've never waited for perfect conditions. I just identified problems and created solutions. When I saw that report writing was overwhelming school psychologists and causing burnout, I didn't just complain about it. I developed a tool with my son that actually solves the problem. I've always been willing to pivot when circumstances changed, whether that was transitioning from my janitorial business when competition undercut us, or moving into education and psychology. The key has been staying focused on what needs to be done and not letting obstacles stop me.

Under promise and over deliver. Protect your name and reputation. Never Lie or Steal. Always remain professional at your place of work. You are judged by the company you keep. Be right or wrong that’s just the way it is. Work as if someone is always watching. Do your best and that will never be a problem. Never let it be that you do not have integrity or don’t keep your word. Never be late to meetings. Smile.

Don't ever let anybody get in the way of your dream. You have to know who you are and stay focused on what your dream is. The more challenges you have, the stronger you're going to become. If you have a dream, go for it, no matter what gets in your way. Whether it's a career or an idea to improve your field, stick with that dream. Take it one day at a time, but never falter, never go backwards, and just never stop. I tell people this because I've faced my own challenges and discouragement along the way. Today I met a paraeducator from China who had been discouraged from pursuing school psychology, and I shared my story with her. I told her about all the challenges I had, and she started crying and asked if she could hug me. That's what I want people to understand: persistence matters. No matter what your dream is, no matter what the challenges you see, you just keep going.

The biggest challenge in school psychology right now is that we're being inundated with paperwork and reports, which prevents us from doing what we actually want to do: help students emotionally and see the students who need us. We like doing what we do, but the administrative burden is overwhelming. This is causing serious burnout in our field, and many good school psychologists are leaving because they're fed up and disgruntled. We're very short of school psychologists, and if we continue to lose the ones that are good, we're going to be left with all brand new psychologists with no experience, which does not help our field. The opportunity I see is in using technology to solve this problem. That's exactly why I developed SPED.AI, to cut down the report writing from hours to minutes so we can get back to actually helping students. We need tools that let us focus on the human connection and emotional support that students need, rather than drowning in documentation.

My values at work and my personal life are the same. That is the only way I believe someone can be authentic and not hypocritical. I first and foremost treat others the way I want to be treated. I believe everyone is due to be respected and have dignity. No one should be treated less than that no matter who they are or their station in life. Anyone can fall from where they are or rise far above where anyone imagined they possibly could go. Dream and never stop dreaming. Enjoy every day as if it were your last. And last, let your word be your bond. One day that might be the only thing you have to barter.