The professional speaking industry is booming! And new speakers are flocking to the industry. And I get why! Who wouldn’t want to share their message with the world? We get to help and serve and influence change, all while making money. It’s the perfect marriage of service, purpose, and monetization.
I was very fortunate to enter the speaking industry at a time when I was pretty broke! I absolutely had to figure out how to make money quickly. There was no back up plan. No nest egg, no side job, and a lot of little mouths to feed. So it had to work.
It was such a blessing in disguise! I remember attending my first training to become a professional speaker and during the lunch and dinner breaks, everyone else went out to eat together. I went to Subway and got a $5 footlong. I ate half for lunch and saved the other half for dinner. And I sat alone with my notebook coming up with a business plan for my speaking. I didn’t even have my message or presentation nailed yet! I was every bit as passionate about my message as the rest of the group. I wasn’t only in it for the money. But I knew if i didn’t make money, I’d have to quit and go do something else.
I launched my speaking business backwards of how many in the industry launch. Many new and emerging speakers start off by keeping the day job while crafting and perfecting their message. They start out speaking for free and slowly elevate into small fees, and then into bigger fees, and then into the zone they want to be in. The problem with this model is that it’s slow. And for every speaker that makes it, there are at least 10 that didn’t. It also creates professional speakers with messy back ends to their business. Yes, they can collect the 10-15K for a speaking gig. But they don’t get them as consistently as they want and sometimes find themselves in feast or famine while they wait for the next booking to come along.
I consider myself a business owner first, and a speaker second. That means I have to do the business of speaking before I actually get to go and speak. Here’s 5 secrets of the business of professional speaking that will help you increase your income as a speaker.
- Never speak for free. There are 5 ways to earn income as speaker. If the client isn’t a fit for one of them, check out the other options and see where you can earn money.
- Speakers Fee: This is where they cut you a check to speak
- Product Sales: This is where you sell books or CD’s at the back of the room
- Program Sales: At the end of your presentation you offer a course (This will earn you more money than product sales every day of the week)
- Consulting: You speak to the organization and follow up with an offer to consult with them on how to fully implement the information you taught them on.
- Training and curriculum: After speaking, you create follow up trainings and curriculum for the company.
- Gone are the days… The speaking industry has changed. In the last couple of years, I’ve talked with several big name speakers who charged 50K for a speech in their hayday and they are feeling the pinch to adjust to the new speakers world. Speakers used to get booked, show up, and deliver a great speech. Now they’ve really got to have products and programs, they need to know how to sell from stage, they need to have an infrastructure in their business. In short, they need to run their speaking business like a business. And some of them just don’t know what to do.
You need a sales system: The year I built a sales system and a sales team in my business, we quadrupled our revenue. It wasn’t a big fancy team, but it created consistency that I couldn’t do on my own. I have a lot of responsibility on my plate. When I’m on the road, I can’t pitch myself to speak. I can’t close all of the prospective clients I meet at a speaking gig on my own. Getting help on my sales team was the best decision I made as a speaker!- Strategic PR: Some speakers need a PR team working for them all the time. But most need strategic PR. Key placements in relevant publications and news media outlets that will create the level of expertise your client will value. And only go after placements and pieces that you need in the beginning. Check out this post from my archives to get more free PR.
- It’s the best industry in the world. I truly, truly love this industry. There is nothing as inspiring as standing on a stage and watching the room open up to possibility and their potential. I love talking with the audience members afterwards and hearing their moments of breakthrough. It’s wonderful! And if you have the desire to be a speaker, you owe it to yourself to really set the business up right so you can last in a competitive industry.
