Jeff Soelberg: Amputee Motivational Speaker

Good friend lost 3 of the fingers on his right hand.

When I was younger, Jeff Soelberg was a friend with my mom. I remember when I was about 7 years old he was visiting and he had just won a ribbon for running a race. Him as a male figure doing things was cool and inspiring to see at my young, fragile age.

He offered to give it to me if I could beat him in a race from our driveway to a tree down the sidewalk and back. Couldn’t have been more than a 100 feet.

Me being competitive and a fast runner, I took him up on it. Of course he beat me.  Then we immediately rematched. And, what do you know… I “won.” (Pretty sure he let me.)

A bunch of years went by between my mom divorcing, marrying, divorcing, and didn’t see Jeff for a long time.

About ~15 years ago I received a random email. It was from Jeff.  This was before social media, and he guessed my email based on finding my website online and we reconnected.

Grabbed lunch a time or two and stayed in touch.

Then his work accident happened. If you want to know the full details he’s done an amazing job sharing his journey on his profile.

He’s taken what others would deem as tragedy and turned it into opportunity. He’s now retired from the traditional 9-5 rat race, has set fitness world records, and is a motivational speaker to amputee audiences.

Helped him launch a website a while back, and now he’s taking his new purpose in life to a new level.

He just published his book, “Pointed in the Right Direction.”

If you’ve ever written a book, you know how big a part a book is of the author’s life. It’s a huge undertaking and commitment of time and emotions. I imagine twice as much so on such a topic as his.

He wrote a kind now “Thank you for being the example that you are. I always knew that you would go places.” And in checking out the book, he gave me a shout out.

Bit surreal coming full circle, inspiring someone that was an early inspiration to me.

Thank you, and congrats, Jeff.