According to our newsletter subscriber survey, nearly 40% of you said your #1 challenge in building a professional speaking career is finding paid opportunities.
In reality, I imagine that this percentage is actually higher, because not everyone here is at the point of seeking paid opportunities — when you do get to that point, it's a challenge for essentially everyone.
Here are a few common questions:
- "Do I apply to open calls for speakers? There are a zillion!"
- "Do I accept free gigs for exposure to get future paid gigs?"
- "Once I'm in talks for a gig, how do I get my full speaking fee?"
All important (and extremely common) questions.
Beyond simply identifying paid speaking opportunities, these questions loop in several additional core concepts of your speaking business, like:
- Outreach strategy (i.e., networking & pitching for gigs),
- Business model development (i.e., determining where and who your clients are), and...
- Negotiation acumen (i.e., sales & pricing strategy)
In other words, as simple as these questions seem, they are layered with complexity.
In considering how to build these topics in a way that's most valuable for you, I plan to do so over a series of emails.
For example, we would explore outreach methods to find paid speaking opportunities, recognizing that actually securing those paid opportunities is yet another topic.
But today, we will limit our scope to one of the most important (and, somewhat frustrating) questions that we need to come to terms with, before we can build a successful outreach plan, business model, or pricing strategy...
"What's more important in finding paid speaking opportunities — is it who you know, or what you know?"
The "Chicken-or-the-Egg Conundrum" of the Speaking World
I recently saw a LinkedIn post about a company who did an on-site public speaking training for their employees. As someone who also does this, I was curious who they hired.
I clicked on the trainer's profile (they were tagged in the post) — and, lo and behold, this person's profile did not indicate anything about being a public speaking coach. Instead, they describe themselves as an image consultant (i.e., how to dress, how to connect with others, etc.).
How in the world did this image consultant get a paid gig as a public speaking workshop trainer, you might ask?
Connection.
If you scroll back about 20 years in their work history, they worked as a management consultant in that same company.
I'm sure this individual has many other essential skills that ultimately secured the opportunity — don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they aren't qualified.
But if you were to look only at their business description as an image consultant, your brain wouldn't likely jump to assuming it also includes expert public speaking training.
So, here's the overarching, foundational principle we all need to accept:
Like it or not, this business is very much "who you know."
I'll very quickly follow up by saying that it's also important that you bring valuable expertise — but, in most circumstances, you get your foot in the door first, followed by proving what you know.
Take this other example:
How many times does cold outreach work, versus a warm introduction through a referral or mutual connection?
We all know this — your chances of success exponentially increase if there's a warm introduction.
Even if you have the most incredible and value-packed program in the world, it very commonly sounds like background noise in a cold outreach email.
I make this point to you because I hear a lot of resistance around the idea that opportunities are about who you know, and I understand that — we want to live in a fair meritocracy.
But just as much as this business is knowledge-based, it's heavily relationship-driven — and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can develop strategies to make this work in our favor.
The Professional Speaker's Career Journey
When zooming out to look at the long game, you'll see this:
1. Beginning Phase of Speaking Career:
- Who You Know > What You Know
- i.e., you seek others out to share what you know.
2. Accelerating Phase of Speaking Career:
- Who You Know = What You Know
- i.e., you seek others out to share what you know, just as new inquiries come your way because of what you know.
3. Established Phase of Speaking Career
- What You Know > Who You Know
- i.e., people seek you out because of what you know.
So, how do we get there? Read on...
How do we get our foot in the door?
There are some charlatans out there that know less than you but have better connections — I know it's annoying, but focusing on this is a distraction.
Or, perhaps, these individuals are simply more comfortable advocating for themselves to inquire about opportunities within their existing networks (which is a skill to learn in and of itself).
Instead, focus on getting more comfortable with tapping your existing connections — friends, colleagues, etc.
If they're truly a friend, they should view it as an honor to help, because you would do the same for them.
(It's also just plain shortsighted and silly for them to think otherwise.)
Then, work on expanding your network — both locally in-person as well as virtually online. Yes, you'll hear crickets, but you also will slowly build a high-quality group of people around you.
I know this suggestion of "tapping and expanding your network" sounds trite and obvious, but it's amazing how poorly we do this. I'll explain further below.
Tips for tapping your existing network
When we look for opportunities, we don't often think to ask people we already know. Or, we ask once, and never again.
Opportunities usually come in the follow-up, not the initial ask.
Maybe an opportunity isn't readily available. But, more than likely, even your friends don't understand what it is that you do (even if you've told them 7 times — I'm looking at you, Wendy).
Don't be afraid to follow-up periodically with your friends — they're busy, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't still love to help if you keep it top of mind for them.
And again, chances are, your friends don't clearly understand what it is that you offer!
For example, a friend of mine saw an announcement for a keynote and workshop I did on workplace dynamics between women, and so she assumed that was all that I did. I've told her before that my broader topics are on getting teams to work together better through communication and engagement trainings, but clearly this didn't stick in her mind.
People are busy. Likewise, they're often too busy to think creatively about ways to help, even though they may want to — for example, unless I tell my friend exactly what I do, the specific opportunity type I'm looking for, and perhaps even who I have in mind that I'd like to connect with, they may not see the path for them to help.
And, very likely, this will require that I do the exact same thing again in the future.
As for expanding your network, I'll quickly note that I've done both in-person and virtual networking, and that's what opened the door for me to move outside of my prior industry of healthcare into industries like HR, logistics, technology, and more. In other words, it can be done!
Conclusion...
Especially when it comes to starting and building your professional speaking career, the faster we accept that it's just as much who you know as it is what you know, the faster we can focus on creating our outreach strategy.
Stay tuned for upcoming issues on that, and more.
Loved this issue?
- Hit "Reply" and let me know!
- The greatest "thanks" would be to share this newsletter with a current or aspiring speaker who would benefit.
You can share this link with them to subscribe:
Speaker Insights Email List Signup
(Use the link above to share rather than forward this email — if you forward this email, the person who receives it can change your settings.)
|
|
Dr. Kathryn Preston
Keynote Speaker
info@kathrynpreston.com
|
