Getting Paid to Speak:The Biggest Mistakes New Speakers Make and
How to Avoid Them (Part 3 of 3)
By Valerie Young
Yes you really can make money sharing your knowledge, insight, expertise and passion as a professional speaker or workshop leader. 
In part one of this three-part series, we looked at some of the biggest mistakes aspiring speakers and workshop leaders make– like thinking you don’t know enough and not really understanding how the speaking business works. In part two we looked at other costly mistakes like not setting your fees high enough and confusing your audience with your customer – meaning the person who writes your check. Both articles can be found in theChangingCourseArchives.com
Issues 110 and 111. In this final installment of Getting Paid to Speak, we’ll look at two final challenges new speakers face – marketing your seminar and investing in your business. Mistake # 8: Not Knowing How to Market YourselfSeminar marketing is a huge topic and it’s not possible to cover it all in one short article. So let me hit the high points and then tell you where you can get more detailed information. If you’re new to the speaking business, one obvious place to start is by offering your program through an adult education program. Most colleges and universities offer continuing education programs. In larger cities you’ll find private programs like The Learning Annex, The Boston Center for Adult Education or The Knowledge Shop in Orlando. There are at least three good reasons to start here: -
It’s a hassle-free, paid opportunity to refine your material because someone else takes care of marketing your workshop, covering the cost of the meeting room, and registering students. All you have to do is show up! -
It’s a venue to promote any books, CDs or other related material. We’ll talk more about this shortly. -
Even if your workshop doesn’t fill, potentially thousands of people are learning about you and your business through the short bio accompanying your course description in the organization’s catalog. In fact, sometimes this kind of exposure can lead to amazing things. It was at a Learning Annex workshop in New York where a publisher first approached Barbara Sher about writing a book. Barbara is quick to admit that she was baffled as to how she could possibly come up with an entire book. Wisely the publisher urged her to think of each workshop module as a chapter. Barbara went on to write Wishcraft which has sold well over a million copies. The bad news is, even with all their marketing, they may not be able to pull in the same numbers you could putting on your own public seminars (that was certainly true for me). And you’ll still earn significantly less than if you produced your own event even if you get a good showing. Once you’ve practiced on these audiences, you can always go on if you choose to offer your own public workshops. That’s how I first started doing my How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are workshop (ImpostorSyndrome.com). Handling all of the flyer hanging and mailings, newspaper notices, venue arrangements, and registration took a lot of work, but if I pulled in 20 to 40 people it was well worth it. A note on newspaper listings. Don’t pay for ads when there are papers out there willing to run event listings for free or practically free. If you live in a large metropolitan area, it’s harder to get into a big newspaper, so you may need to move to niche publications. Here again knowing your customer is key. An animal intuitive I know gets a much better response by advertising in new age publications than those aimed at pet lovers. The other reason I never do paid advertisement is that the media will often promote your workshop for free – if you know how to gear your topic to their viewers or subscribers. To get free publicity you’ll want to craft an effective press release and put together a press kit. Don’t have any “press” yet to put into your press kit? Then start with a bio, a photo, and some tip sheets or articles you’ve written (or paid or better yet bartered with someone to write for you). If at all possible try to tie your topic into some national event or survey findings. That’s what I did. Whenever a new statistic came out about the growing number of home businesses or the trend toward cashing out of corporate America I’d send out a press release making the connection between these findings and my work. From these humble beginnings I’ve since delivered this program to over 30,000 people around the country. How? As you may recall from Part 2 of this series, in order to earn serious money in the speaking business, you need to move from selling your presentation to individuals to selling to organizations. Organizations include government agencies, higher education, non-profits, professional and industry associations, and for-profit companies. If you’re thinking about going after associations check out Gales Encyclopedia of Associations found at any library. Listings include annual budget, upcoming state, regional and national conferences, publications, and contact information. A number of companies also sell association directories and mailing labels on CDs. If you’re still establishing a track record as a speaker I recommend submitting proposals to speak at regional or national conferences. Typically there’s no compensation but it’s a great way to network, can lead to paid gigs at future association events, and since members often belong to other organizations, it can pave the way to corporate, government, or non-profit work. If you’re looking to do the college circuit, consider joining the National Association for Campus Activities atNACA.org. Another option is to contact any on-campus organizations interested in your message. For example, I do a lot of speaking for Women in Engineering programs found at most major universities. Finally depending on your topic, you might also want to consider going after corporate sponsorship. That’s what Patrick Combs did. Patrick wrote a wonderful book aimed at college students called Major in Success. Then he got Visa to sponsor a six figure college tour which was sponsored by the college’s career services center. Even if corporate sponsorship isn’t your thing, I encourage you to learn from Patrick’s personal experience and browse his press kit atGoodThink.com/speaking/viewspeakingtips.cfm?id=2. Mistake 9: Failing to Tap Other Income Streams Many years ago I bought a now out of print audio program called How to Build Your Speaking and Writing Empire featuring Mark Victor Hansen. That’s where I learned that in a survey of top speakers, the number one thing they wished they’d done differently was to have developed some kind of product earlier in their career. So-called “back of the room” products range from books, CDs, audio tapes, workbooks, and so on. I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t have a book!” Not to worry. There are less labor-intensive ways to create workshop-related products for sale. For example, create a participant workbook and charge each participant. Corporations are used to a paying for materials on top of speaker fees and at 50-200 dollars per attendee this can make for a nice revenue stream. The other thing you can do is audio or videotape your program and sell the DVD or CD. Making Dreams HappenChangingCourse.com/makingdreamshappen.htm, the 24-set CD program available here at Changing Course, is an audio version of a live four-day workshop-retreat I delivered with Barbara Sher and Barbara Winter. Even the 100+ page participant workbook is on a CD. If you’re speaking at a conference or other event, arrange to have it professionally taped. That’s what I did when I delivered my 10 Steps to Escaping the Job World and Creating the Life You Really Want changingcourse.com at a conference in Florida. If it’s a paying job, be sure to clear it with your client who may have stipulations about participants not appearing on tape. In the beginning you can just burn your own CDs. As your sales increase, find a good duplication company. Most have a 100 minimum. We useDiskFaktory.com. At about one dollar per CD, which includes printing the name of your presentation and other information directly onto the CD, it’s a great deal. This price even includes a jewel case for your CD. Mistake #10 Not Being Willing to Invest in Your BusinessBy far the BIGGEST mistake wanna-be speakers make is being unwilling to make even the most modest investment in themselves and their fledgling speaking business. Whether you’re just launching your speaking career or are a seasoned pro who wants to increase your bottom line, you absolutely must be willing to invest in your own success. On the low-cost end are books. The three I recommend are: -
How to Make It Big in the Seminar Business, by Paul Karasik -
Speak and Grow Rich, by Dottie Waters -
1,001 Ways to Make More Money as a Speaker, Consultant or Trainer: Plus 300 Rainmaking Strategies for Dry Times by Lilly Walters All three are available in the Changing Course bookstoreChangingCourse.com/bookstore.htm. If you’re really, really ready to step into the big time and start earning “mega” speaking fees I can’t say enough about the sequel to the Mark Victor Hansen program I spoke about earlier. It’s called Building Your Mega Speaking Empire. One of my favorite segments is the PR expert explaining how to get onto shows like Good Morning America and Oprah. I especially love the part where she reveals the three words you never, ever want to say on Oprah and the five words you absolutely must be sure to use in order to be invited back. The CD series features a team of experts covering everything from 52 lucrative profit centers for speakers to getting bookings. You can read all about it atChangingCourse.com/megaspeaking.htm. The Mega Speaking Empire covers how to get free publicity on the radio. But if you’d rather target your self-marketing campaign specifically to radio and want to fast-track your efforts. I highly recommend letting an expert like Alex Carroll teach you the ropes. A few years ago Alex Carroll wrote a book about how to beat unfair speeding tickets. With a zero advertising budget he decided to promote his book exclusively through radio interviews. To date, he's done 1,264 radio interviews, gotten more than four million dollars worth of free radio airtime and earned over one million dollars in direct sales. Carroll wisely packaged up his Radio Publicity Manual for purchase. You can also get a database with the names and hosts and producers from every prime time talk station in the US that have at least 100,000 listeners – 1,026 in all. To learn morevisit http://www.webmarketingmagic.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=48197 About the AuthorOff the beaten path career counselor, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence atChangingCourse.com, offering free resources to help youdiscover your life mission and live it. An expert on the ImposterSyndrome, she's presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable asEveryone Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people. Find more articles written by Valerie atChangingCourse.com/articles/ | 
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