Hello, there!
In my many years of experience helping speakers and coaches grow and build their businesses, I’ve gathered a lot of resources to help emerging speakers ease their way to the spotlight, literally and figuratively, of course. And there’s a lot of this content on the internet already. But something I don’t see many people talk about enough is the one big issue that stops emerging speakers from becoming successful, so I decided to write a series in my blog to tackle the basics.
I want you to understand and get practical tips, taken directly from my Clarity Masterclass and my resources for emerging speakers, so you can prepare yourself and turn those one-time speaking gigs, and ‘speak for free opportunities’ into an actual business that pays the bills.
Let’s get right into the first one: the #1 roadblock that stops emerging speakers from becoming successful
Most emerging speakers start their journey full of ideas. They have a message they just need to get out there for the world to hear, and more times than not, they are right. But, when we go and ask them why would someone hire them to speak? What problem are they solving for the audience? That’s when most beginner speakers freeze.
The reality is that we all have some good stories to tell, and many of us could be great speakers, but we simply can’t get the right people to listen. If we don’t have a clear understanding of what it is we are going to say and who are we going to say it to, and why they need to hear it then achieving our goal of creating a sustainable speaking business is going to be very challenging.
To make the road a little less difficult for you, let me give you a few of the most practical tips I could gather from my experience and masterclasses.
Tips to become a successful emerging speaker
1. Get your message straight
To become a successful speaker you need to have a message that goes beyond personal stories. People love to hear other people’s experiences, but that will only get you so far when it comes to making a business of speaking and it might not be enough if your stories don’t convey a deeper meaning or relate to a broader topic you can explore in different ways.
Find whatever it is you are an expert on and break down that topic into smaller pieces for starters. If you can talk about this topic for more than ten minutes and hold someone’s attention without going over the same arguments, you’ll know you have something to say.
Then, you can add your personal and unique experiences to give your speech more meaning and also make it unique.
2. Marketing is one of the most important parts of your business
Know this, if you wish to become a paid professional speaker: marketing is your best friend to achieve success.
And why is that? Simple. To get you consistent, paid speaking opportunities, you have to build your brand and get known as an expert in your topic by those who hire speakers, and one of the best ways to do so is to have a good marketing strategy.
I’ve already covered a lot in the topic of marketing for speakers, so I encourage you to check my articles on content marketing for speakers and creating a social media marketing strategy to improve your presence in the digital world.
3. Speak to one audience at a time
I’ve found that, when I ask emerging speakers about who they are going to talk to, they provide me with a short, almost single sentence, description of their ideal listener. Some say ‘Well, I talk to entrepreneurs like me’ or ‘women in their 40s’. Or even worse “everyone needs to hear my message”.
These descriptions are too broad and general that you might end up talking to a lot of ‘entrepreneurs’ or ‘women in their 40’s’ that don’t really connect with what you have to say.
When you market to everyone, you resonate with no one because the message you are sending ends up being way too generic.
Take your time to create a more detailed profile of your ideal listener, that person who needs to hear your message and will likely hire you multiple times.
4. Think of speaking as a business, not a gig
If you are an emerging speaker who wants to succeed in the industry, you have to start thinking about it as a business and not as a one-time gig.
In order to make a business of your speaking, you have to put a lot of effort into creating a solid vision of what you want to make of it. Why do you want to be a speaker? What do you want to contribute? How can you scale it?
A lack of clarity regarding your business is the #1 roadblock emerging speakers find when they are just starting their journey, and it can cause you to lose tons of money and time.
I have created the Clarity Masterclass specifically to help emerging speakers craft a clear message and align their strategies with their business goals to ensure success.
This is a comprehensive masterclass that consists of three modules where we’ll define ideal clients, pain points, and competitors to create a message that stands out and positions your name in the industry.
Find more about the Clarity Masterclass here and get started on your speaking business. I’m excited to see you become a successful speaker and, hopefully, count us in on your journey.
Don’t forget this series will be ongoing in my blog, and you can always comment or ask us what we should talk about next.
