Hello Readers! Every once in a while, I experience an uptick in questions about how I got into my career, especially the speaking side of things. While I won't pretend I'm doing everything right (nor do I think there is one "right way"), I thought it might be helpful to lay out my strategy over the last 2.5 years.
But first, the career recap...
Spent several years volunteering as a health educator during undergrad
"Officially" entered healthcare as a paid health educator and then shifted to hospital management as I finished my MSW/MBA and a 2-year administrative fellowship
After a decade or so, left healthcare to found my training company
Dabbled in public speaking and discovered I love it!
Full disclosure: I started performing at age three and spent years and years doing mostly unpaid work as a performing artist (while paying for various training for said unpaid work); this foundation needs to be acknowledged because it majorly contributed to what may look like a relatively "quick start" as a speaker.
Here's the philosophy I've taken so far to make speaking a more central part of my career:
Get in reps. LOTS OF REPS.
I've had a lot of well-meaning people in my life tell me I'm working too hard—that I should price talks significantly higher and do far fewer events per year.
Transparently, I'm still learning a lot about practice management, including how to price my services fairly. However, in light of my professional development goals, I don't agree with the strategy of majorly reducing my volume yet, and here's why:
When you're developing expertise in a skill, you need repetition.
I've been spending every Saturday drilling particular skills in a mastermind group. Then, I spend the following week refining that skill over about 15 events before I deliberately start working on the next skill. This rhythm has been working really well for me.
So, sure, you could attempt getting just a few higher-paying gigs per year (and maybe you're already at a level that justifies that). However, if you're newer to professional speaking and/or want rapid skill development (moving you toward expertise in defined areas), you need to put the reps in to get there. In short, be prepared to work.
Seek out the experts. (They may not be professional speakers.)
You can learn a lot from other speakers, AND you can learn a lot from other disciplines, too. Who's the best at what you want to learn to do?
For example, about a year ago, I took stand-up comedy with Second City because I wanted to get sharper, faster, and more nimble with my humor as a speaker. It was a humbling and fantastic professional development opportunity, and I can feel it paying off daily.
This isn't a new strategy for my professional development. I've spent my entire career seeking expertise in a way that has seemed "out of the box" to others. However, as a speaker, I'm more certain than ever that this is the right call to differentiate yourself in a competitive field.
Plant seeds... and then be prepared to wait.
Certain aspects of my career have been easier to launch. (For instance, you want to be an instructional designer? Apply to a bunch of freelance jobs, and you'll probably get your start soon if you've got a decent foundation.)
Speaking hasn't been that instant for me.
For those who've followed me since the start of my company, you've probably witnessed a ton of content get released, primarily through LinkedIn. I was also scattering videos on freelance sites, my website, etc.
I learned that to get booked, people needed to see me speaking, even when I was operating on a somewhat crappy webcam. It was also important that I talked about subjects I deeply cared about because... if you build it, they very well may come.
It's not unusual for someone to reach out who saw me speak six months to a year prior. Sometimes, they don't even recall what they saw me do, but they remember my name and return with a job opportunity.
If you want to be a speaker, I legitimately wish you early success. But, if your launch is anything like mine, you need to prepare for a booking pause. That doesn't mean you're passively waiting for people to find you. You're constantly planting seeds.
What else?
Scroll down and drop a question below. I'll do my best to help!
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