If I say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” most of you will know what I mean. The world of speaking may be steadily evolving, but the reasons we speak are just as important and meaningful now, as they were when I wrote this article in 2017.
I know. It sounds like a silly question. But seriously, how easy is it for you to answer the question? When was the last time you thought about why you speak?
Do you remember when you first started speaking? If you’re like a lot of speakers, you very likely had all kinds of energy and were very motivated to get in front of a room full of people. Hopefully your first audiences responded positively, and their reactions further fueled your inspiration to keep going full steam ahead. It’s a very exciting time in anyone’s speaking career, but this initial stage is also known as the “Honeymoon Phase,” which generally only lasts as long as your initial inspiration/momentum lasts. Once that fades, that’s when you have to get down to the business of growing your speaking business.
Unfortunately, this is also where many speakers hit the wall. They start off great, but once they aren’t the new kid on the block anymore, event planners and coordinators want to know what else they have to offer. This next stage is often referred to as a “Sophomore Slump,” and it’s no laughing matter when it’s directly related to the speaking business you’re trying to grow.
The ideal solution is to treat your speaking business like you would any other business, complete with a business plan. The problem with creating a conventional business plan for a speaking business is that it’s hard to plan ahead for speaking engagements you don’t have yet.
Fortunately, there are ways for speakers to grow their business that don’t solely rely on traditional strategies.
- Do treat your speaking business like a business when you can. This means being systematic with your approach to tasks. For example, how much time do you put aside to work on your business per week? Is it enough time to make sure you’re always ready to say “yes” if someone asks you to speak? Have you set yourself up for success with things like an intake call sheet you can fill out whenever you’re speaking to an event planner/coordinator? These are both simple ways to make the “business” side of your speaking business easier to manage.
- Keep yourself in the loop. Too often, speakers end up isolating themselves because they think of their fellow speakers as their competition. And yes, there are people who are speaking about topics that might be exactly like yours, but that doesn’t make them your competition. It makes them your peers. Thinking of your peers as your competition is scarcity thinking. Instead, consider networking and building relationships within the speaking community. You never know who might refer you, or who you might have the opportunity to refer.
- Always keep the people whose lives you are hoping to enrich in the forefront of your mind. It’s so easy to forget to do this – especially when you’re knee deep into two months of effort with no tangible results. But it’s exactly as Zig Ziglar said, “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
‘Til we speak again….
~Beth