Most of the speakers worldwide are on the lookout for speaking opportunities that pay. There are however many more speaking events that are unpaid than the paid ones.
When you are growing your speaking business, you may want to take up the unpaid opportunities, so you can gain exposure and let your name be known out there as a professional speaker.
If you are mostly participating in cash strapped or unpaid events, you must master the other different ways you can monetize your message. It is through finding different revenue streams that one can add to your bottom line as your career starts to kick off.
Some ways of monetizing your expertise and experience include:
- Offering workshops
As a topical expert, you are probably aware that it took you some years to harness and gain all the knowledge you now possess. While you can do your level best to share all your insights with your audience in a manner that is clear and engaging, a talk that only lasts half an hour is not enough for one to sufficiently share all their expertise.
You can therefore consider offering training sessions and workshops to give your audience the needed tools that are needed to apply all the information that you have shared with them. John Lawson has talked to more than 200,00 people worldwide on e-commerce as well as social media and continues to offer workshops in different regions.
- Becoming a consult
There are quite a several organizations and companies that are searching for a consultant for guidance. It is important to note that for you to have a good income, you have to deliver the goods to get referrals and also repeat business.
- Developing an online course
Selling an online course is very scalable and therefore quite lucrative. If you put it into perspective, relying on gigs that pay is trading your time for money whereas when you develop an online course, you spend the time only once yet, you continue earning money for months and years to come.
- Writing a book
Writing a book is yet another way of helping people understand your core message. A book is a perfect way for you to gain credibility as well as establish yourself as a thought leader. John Lawson is a great example of a professional speaker who has made and continues to make millions from book writing.
- Creating a blog and monetizing it
A fantastic way to share your knowledge, as well as expertise, is through a blog. You should spend time in your blog creation so that the final product is unique and offers quality and useful resources for your subscribers. This will also increase the stream of visitors.
- Teaching others the art of public speaking
There are many people with the desire to travel and share their experiences with others or just, in general, know how to publicly speak but do not know where to begin. You can make a lot of money from one-on-one coaching as well as developing a course on public speaking that you can sell on your website.
- Organizing your events
Relying on booked gigs is not reliable as shown in the pie chart below:
After being in the speaking industry for some time, you would have picked up on what it takes to organize as well as advertise an event. You can then successfully set up workshop series in your city. You can also hire other public speakers who are willing to speak at no charge to ensure your spending costs are minimized. Although event organizing takes a lot of time as well as effort, the returns make it very much worth it.
- Adding a “Hire me” page on your website
By doing this, you avail yourself of countless opportunities. It may not even be in terms of consultation, training, or speaking, you have the chance of being offered a part in a project that you had initially never thought of. Be sure to include your testimonials, services you offer, and your contact information on your hire me page.
Conclusion
Applying these tactics will save you the frustration of not being paid to speak, and you will finally be able to monetize all the knowledge you have. What are you waiting for?
John Lawson is the best-selling author of “Kick Ass Social Commerce for E-Prenuers” and CEO of Pro Speaker Funnels a speaker marketing agency. He is an award-winning speaker Strategist, Ecommerce Expert, sought after Keynote Speaker/Trainer and all around “cool dude.”