Dec 10
Market narrowly – deliver broadly! Notice how a cheetah gets his dinner: He carefully approaches a herd of gazells, zebras, or some other yummy herbivors… he approaches super carefully… then he picks his target – only one target out of the hundreds or thousands of …
Nov 10
Help your audience members release “negative energies” through laughter. It is a scientific fact that people who suppress laughter build up gases that will in turn make them feel bloated… and if you don’t help them annihilate those gases through laughter, those gases build up …
Jun 29
Many of us became speakers – or want to become speakers - for one of two reasons: 1. Saw some great speakers (or one great speaker), like Anthony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Seth Godin, Barack Obama…. or maybe it was a religious leader at your church or …
Jun 11
I’ll tell you in a seocnd a few ways to attract new coaching/mentoring clients, but first I just have to give “homage” to public speaking: Public speaking is the greatest way to make a living… Just think about it: you get paid for doing what …
Jun 07
“I’m sorry, I’m not really used to speaking in public.. so please bare with me…” “Hello! Can everybody hear me in the back…? We all heard such borring and no-impact openings… Never open with similar openings: check your VA equipment in advance and …
Jun 04
People do business with people they know and trust… and we agreed that one of the best ways to get people to know you and trust you is through public speaking: worksops, seminars, keynotes… That’s all true, but there’s a magical loop going …
Jun 01
“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue hapiness. You have to catch it yourself.” ~ Benjamin Franklin ~
Once you have a program in place, it’s time to stop planning and start implementing; and, fact is, you become good by practicing your skill as much as possible, and you start getting paid once you get out there and market yourself. Here are a few tips that will ensure that you’ll “Make it Happen”:
Commit to contacting 5 to 10 businesses per day [or more, if your stomach can take it], ideally in person, or by phone. Once you exhaust your local area, use the phone [I travel as far as 70+ miles to speak in person with company reps, and at imes I'l only see the receptionist... I believe that nothing is as powerful as showing up in person and letting the other person see who s/he'd be dealing with if s/he hired me as a speaker.]
Practice your skills by speaking at least once a week – ideally 2 to 4 times.
Enroll in your local Toastmasters club – or in several, if your time permits – and make your speeches related to the workshops or keynotes you intend to give at company conferences and other paid gigs. Toastmasters is the best place to mess up – not only no one will mind, but you’ll also get some constructive feedback.
Volunteer to speak at
- Rotary,
- Banks,
- Realtors,
- Car Dealerships,
- Insurance Agencies,
- Chamber of Commerce Events (contact Chambers from around your area as well)
_ Chamber of Commerce Groups (Young Entrepreneur Group, etc.)
- Health Clubs – YMCA, etc.
Many of these places have weekly or monthly meetings where they invite outside speakers. Insurance Agencies, Realtors, and other businesses might even be able to pay you a small fee… The key, however, in the beginning is to get more and more PRACTICE and VISIBILITY.
VIDEO RECORD EACH OF YOUR PRSENTATION WHENEVER POSSIBLE!!!!!! (You’ll thank me later, if you listen to me on this one…)
Pick topics that fit your audience (Time Management, Productivity, Stress Management, etc.)
Tweak your title to sound niche-specific: Time Management for Busy Realtors; Stress Management for Auto Sales Professionals, etc.
Take Massive Action – Get out there and be seen!!!
Talk for free or fee as often as possible
Put on teleclasses and webinars on your niche topic(s) (can have them transcribed and be the basis of a book or booklet)
Always collect names and grow your list
Write artices (check secret #11 on How to Position Yourself as an Expert in Your Niche)
Start a blog in your niche and write your posts “with the end in mind..” – turn your blog posts into a book later
Take massive action! If you want to make it as a speaker, you must be seen… and must be good… but most importantly, you need to get to a point where speaking is a second nature to you and can be ready to speak whenever you are needed.
If you only follow only one of the ”secrets” I shared with you - Secret #10 – you’ll already have a guaranteed success as a speaker. Often all it takes is STOP PLANNING and TAKE ACTION!
“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving, but does not make any progress.” ~ Alfred Montapert, Writer ~
Remember! If you do not have a professionally designed program, you can always get one at http://www.egSebastian.com/facilitator_kits
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May 24
Image via Wikipedia
Paid public speaking – or professional speaking – is very competitive; there are literally tens of thousands of speakers who want to make a living, or some on-the-side income, by presenting at conferences, association events, college and high school events, company training, or wherever they pay a speaker to deliver their message.
The attraction to paid speaking is understandable. An average speaker gets paid anywhere from $25oo to $5ooo per speech – be that 2o minutes or a 2-day workshop. Just multiply that by 3 or 4 per week… or by 12 or 15 per month – that is, the number of times an “average” speaker speaks at different events. That’s an income that will attract lots of flies – oups, I meant people 
So, is there such a thing as “FailProofing” your speaking career?
I’ll share a secret with you. I’ve seen many better speakers out there then I am. Yes, I’m funny and deliver decent content, but I’m not as professional as I’ve seen many other speakers – some of which, by the way, speak for free… yet, I get more speaking gigs than many of these great speakers, due to my positioning as an expert and because of my consistent marketing TO THE RIGHT NICHE.
Here are a few tips that will FailProof your paid speaking career:
Find a niche where you have some expertise… or at least some real passion and lots of knowledge
Position yourself as an expert, through articles, a very niched blog, video posts, write a book or two [they don't have to be long - but must solve your niches fears, pain, challenges, problems, etc], and ocasionally volunteer to speak at your niche related events
Market, market, market… Promote, promote, promote… Spend at least 8O% of your time on marketing your speaking. There’s a simple truth: the more you market yourself, the more speaking engagements you’ll get. The key is to market yourself to entities that can afford your fees [exception when you market locally, you can work within their budget for a reduced fee]
Develop a demo video and work with speakers bureaus. You’ll pay 2o to 3o% fee, but those are gigs that you didn’t have to move a finger to get
Treat your business like a REAL business. Imagine you are the CEO of “YOU Inc.” and bring decissions acordingly, behave acordingly, and implement acordingly.
Make sure that Your Actions are in Line with Your Goals & Vision!
Provide topics that are mandatory or highly desired, such as Diversity programs, How to Avoid Sexual Harrasment Charges and Other Litigations, Improving Customer Service, Improving Team Performance, Improving Managers’ Performance, Dealing with Difficult Customers/People/Coworkers/etc.
Talk to employees – if you have a chance – and find out what type of training did they have to go through every year. Do some research of your own on each company to find out what do they pay for year after year…. and if you have expertise or knowledge in that area, offer your services
Have a great program, so once you speak, you can easily get referrals [you can get professionally designed programs, with specific business solutions, at www.egSebastian.com/facilitator_kits]
Now I do realize that some of the above points are repetitions from some previous poionts, but I believe in the old mantra “Repetition is the mother of learning” – we often hear something once or twice and it flies right by our ears; but when we hear it the 3d or 1oth time, we finally get it and implement it.
One thing is sure: if you apply the above 7 points, you’ll be a bussy speaker with a healthy income. The key is to be consistent and keep “sharpening the saw” – keep improving by speaking as often as you can.
Let me know what you think? Do you have any questions or comments on the above points, write in the comment section and I’ll reply to each of your questions…
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May 22
I’m not proud of it, but I’ll admit it. I suck at follow-up and I probably lost 1os of thousands of dollars of speaking gig opportunities due to this little handicap.
Now 7 years after I started, I’m much better at it [and I have an assistant who takes care of most of it] and it definitely shows on the # of bookings I’m getting.
So…
make sure when you talk to a prospect and you promise to follow up, do so promptly, on the date you promissed you’d do it
the same applies if a meeting organizer – or a speakers’ bureau rep – emails you or lives you a message on the phone, DON’T put off answering those messages
when you send out marketing materials, follow up with a phone call or email to check if they received your marketing materials[this is also a good time to ask - if you haven't done so yet - if they hire outside speakers.. and when do they plan their educational programs... and mention that you'd love to be considered to provide one of those programs, if your expertise meets their needs]
after speaking engagements, make sure to send a thank you card the very next day… Plus, you can add a reminder that if they rebook you within the next 3 month, they’ll get a 3O% off your regular fee.
Trust me, these little habits can add at least double your number of speaking engagements – so soak them up and make them a integral habit of your business’ opperation [or delegate it to your assistant, if you have one]
I know many speakers who use the SendOutCards service… personally, I’m using cards designed by my own local printer; but if you are interested in SendOutCards, I have a great friend who can start you with that: https://www.sendoutcards.com/conduit [I do not get a referral fee, nor am I associated with Tarsha - she's "only" a friend].
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May 18
If you want to be taken seriously, you need to strive to project a professional image with all your marketing materials…
In the 21st Century, you won’t be taken seriously if you do not have a website; but if your website is of poor quality (and God knows I could list you a few bad examples) then you are worse of than not having a site at all… Well, maybe I’m wrong with this one; I believe no matter how bad your site is, if you have a great offering, you’ll get at least a few local engagements…
I see several mistakes that ineffective speakers do on their websites:
1. They pay an inexpensive designer to build the site and it looks “home made”… and the sad part is, the website owner cannot add content to the site at will – s/he has to pay the web designer to modify the site each time.
! – now…., if you are not on low budget, this is the way to go – except do not chose the inexpensive web designer, as you usually get what you pay for (unless this web designer is oversees and a complete professional – you can find one at www.eLance.com) .
I built most of my sites with web-based site builders, or with Dreamweaver… and recently with Microsoft Expression Web. My sites built with the online site builders were the easiest to builld, have a professional look, and one of them comes up on the top of the search engines for several key keywords (www.egSebastian.com , build with www.QuickBizSites.com — see another site that I built with www.HomeStead.com site builder at www.YouthPresentations.com )
2. They make the site more about themselves, describing qualifications, certifications, etc.; instead of focusing on the client’s benefits. If you can help your audience members improve their time management, start out with a strong headline on “Get Proven and Effective Strategies for Time Management!” Then support that headline with some great bullet points… Each bullet point should address an area that you know the pottential client would really want.
3. Putting large blocks of text with multiple paragraphs on the home page (or any page). Use instead bold, large headlines, subheadlines, and bullet points to describe your offerings.
4. Not having an opt-in box with an irresistable offer to collect visitors’ contact info. Many people get to your site by total accident… or maybe you sent them there throgh hard work: twittering, FaceBook, or other online or offline strategies. HOWEVER, if they go to your site once, even if they mean to visit again, they’ll most likely never come back. That’s why it is CRUCIAL to collect their contact info, then you are able to send them valuable tips on your niche topic, as well as shamelessly – or subtly – promote your speaking, coaching, or other services/products.
Use www.aWebber.com or www.ConstantContact.com to create low-cost professional looking eZines or newsletters. Both of these services will provide you with the code to create the opt-in box on your site. I use OneShoppingCart , which is a bit more pricey, but it provides a complete set of solutions for me, such as shopping cart, split testing for my promotions, autoresponder, upsell pages, and a ton more great features…
5. Not having your contact information easily accessible. Make sure you have a tab on your navigation that’s clearly marked “Contact Us,” as well as you should have your contact info on the bottom of each page – I think that’s the law, but I could be wrong . Either way, it’s for your benefit; you do want to be reached by pottential clients. Just be careful not to put your email address anywhere on your sites, but rather use this format: eg[at]egSebastian[dot]com (so the nasty email collection spamming robots can’t collect it from your site. Or use a “Contact Us” form that prospects fill out online and your web system will email it to your personal email inbox. Just again, make sure you require your visitor to fill in a security code at the bottom of the form to verify that they are a human being, not a robot; or else you’ll get dozens of viagra and penis enlargment promotions day in and day out submitted by spamming robots…
6. Not having a video of your speaking on your site – one that’s easily accessible. It should be either on the home page, right at the top where everyone can see it right away… or have a clear link close to the top of your main page, stating Click Here to View a Demo Video of Me (replace “me” with your name”). If you do not have yet a video, make sure to have at least a good picture of you and if possible several pictures with you in action (speaking to different audiences)
7. Too large pictures or slow loading videos. Any of these will result in people leaving your site. There are tons of speakers out there – don’t do anything to make your visitor click away from your site.
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Here’s another article on low- or now-cost website building that I wrote a few months ago: http://paidspeaker101.com/articles/how-to-develop-a-web-presence-free-or-at-low-cost/
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Ok, I took a bit of a reverse approach on how to create a professional web presence, but I hope the above points will be helpful to you. What do you think? Leave some comments below… or if the comments box is missing, click on the Comments link under the post title.
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May 13
You have a great message, right? You believe that your message is useful to your audiences… or else you wouldn’t waste your time presenting it/them… Fact is, no matter what topic you pick, chances are that there are millions of people out there who want …
May 08
Always collect the audience members’ names and email addresses. Offer them an eCourse, a hot report, a hot eBook… that ties into the niche-topic that you talked about. Make sure your offering has a hot title, such as “The 7 Little Known Secrets on How …
