A Speaker’s Life Should Be …
People become professional public Speakers in a variety of ways and for numerous reasons. You yourself may be one of the tens of thousands of people in the world who have decided they have a message so important that you must be a professional Speaker – no matter what. If so, you’ve chosen a profession that can be challenging, difficult, sometimes disheartening and just plain discouraging. It doesn’t have to be, though. It can be very rewarding and give you the life that you have dreamed of. So, don’t lose heart, read on for some encouragement and inspiration about how to make your Speaker Life what you’ve always wanted it to be.
A Speaker’s Life Should Be … Impactful
If you got into professional speaking because you have a message you must deliver to your audience, then you’re in it for one of the very best reasons. Like Elizabeth Clamon who said she wants to “encourage others to be relentless and resilient in their lives.” You want to make an impact on the lives of those people in your audiences. You want to leave them with solutions to their problems and point them in the best direction to live their own best lives. A Speaker who simply goes through the motions and is in the biz solely for himself will eventually burn out and hit a wall of failure. Speakers are, at their core, impactful people who are also givers. When you give a speech, you’re not just giving out words, you’re delivering wisdom based on experience that can change lives in countless positive ways. That’s how you connect with those listening to your message.
A Speaker’s Life Should Be … Interconnected
When you make those connections, you are building relationships. You, as a giver, are helping others and in return, you are getting to live your dreams and support yourself and family with your speaking business. When you focus on the connections and relationships, because you are helping others, you are building a solid foundation for your business through word-of-mouth – the very best kind of advertising. Beware of being false here. When you are authentically interested in the well-being of others, you are blessed in return. Staying focused on only WIIFM (What’s In It For Me), eventually kills your momentum. People sense a person with self-serving motivations and it turns them away. Real connections come through genuine care and concern for those you are working with and for. The rewards that follow are a natural outgrowth of your willingness to give.
A Speaker’s Life Should Be … Rewarding
Don’t get me wrong. It’s perfectly okay to be in the speaking business to get paid. While I have programs and processes that help you get paid and build a great career when speaking for free, I want you to get paid what you’re worth, for sure, every time. The rewards from speaking aren’t always purely monetary though. What if you could fund a clean water project in a third world country? How about being successful enough to donate your time mentoring school kids on how to stay off drugs and out of trouble so they can go to college and achieve their own dreams? Or what if you could teach others to have a voice of their own so that they can stand up for themselves when needed? Money is one the most hollow and fleeting motivators, so your speaking career needs to be about more than the bottom line in your bank accounts. Bottom lines need to be positive and healthy, of course. But your career in speaking needs to feed you on a spiritual and moral level so that you can feed others, too. Like Charli Jane member Marietta says, “My business growth and ability to spend time with my family is aligned with helping others do the same thing.”
A Speaker’s Life Should Be … Organized
You just can’t do everything you’ve been called to do if you’re not organized enough to present yourself in the best light to planners and potential hiring parties. You have only a few minutes to grab their attention and convince them to reach out to learn more about what you can do for them and their audiences. If you aren’t set up to present a professional image online, and then follow that up with a professional image offline, you might as well stop everything now until you are. You have to have a foundation of a gig-winning platform to be able to build your speaking business and career. If you just jump in without the right website, social strategy, onesheet and leads management system, you’ll hit that wall again in overwhelm and it will affect your ability to deliver from the stage when you do get hired.
A Speaker’s Life Should Be … Legacy-Focused
What do you want people to say about you when you’re gone? Let’s have a headstone moment here. What should yours say about you? What will your legacy be? We all want to make our mark in the world. We want to make a difference and leave this place better than we found it. Successful Speakers are uniquely gifted for making the world a better place. But what will you do that will outspan your lifespan? Define your legacy well before it’s time to leave it behind and be prepared to have a powerful motivator in your life.
A Speaker’s Life Should Be … Yours
You’ve got your message and that’s step one. You might need help fine-tuning it, and honing your other speaker business building skills, but that’s okay. Everyone starts somewhere. The important question to ask yourself is this: Are you ready to set your doubts aside and overcome your difficulties so that you can start achieving at the level you are meant for? If so, then let’s work together to get you there.
If you aren’t sure where to start, or you’re feeling stuck, my Free to $10K Speaker training video is for you. In it, I lay out how you can reach your financial goals so that you can reach your life goals and dreams.
Start today and see what your Speaker Life Could Be.