Before you read this article:

You don't have to aim to be a professional speaker to benefit from the following article. Change is change and advice about successfully launching one income stream can easily be transferred to others.

That's not the only reason to read this article. A key element of changing course is getting and giving support to your fellow dreamers. So if you know someone who should be up in front of an audience please support their dream by passing this article along.

Picture yourself delivering a presentation or workshop to an engaged and enthusiastic audience. Now imagine strolling to the mail box to find a nice check thanking you for your time and expertise. Sounds pretty nice doesn't it? It is.

I've been a professional speaker now for over 28 years. I also frequently work with clients who want to make their living conducting workshops or otherwise speaking in front of a paying audience. Over the years I've learned a thing or two about how to succeed as a professional speaker – and what mistakes to avoid.

1. Thinking You Don't Know Enough

The number one mistake aspiring speakers and workshop leaders make is thinking they don't have enough knowledge or training to get out there and talk about a subject. If you find your dreams stymied by the common, but distorted, notion that expertise means having three degrees and knowing everything there possibly is to know about a subject then it's time to readjust your thinking.

Competence and expertise isn't total and complete knowledge, but rather it's knowing how to identify the resources it takes to get the job done. In other words, you may not know everything about male-female communication or how to give a motivational speech, but I bet you're smart enough to figure out the researchers, authors, and speakers who do and to learn from them.

A related mistake is the misguided belief that you can't possibly get out there and speak credibly on a topic unless you have an advanced degree. Of course you want your surgeon to be highly credentialed and most universities won't hire you without a doctorate. But in the vast majority of fields – public speaking being one of them – degrees are highly over-rated.

Look at talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Despite regularly dishing out “expert” (and highly controversial) opinions and advice on human behavior, “Dr. Laura” as she is known, is not a physician as many of her listeners presume. Nor is she a psychiatrist, or even a psychologist. Instead Dr. Laura's degree is a doctorate in physiology where she studied the effects of insulin on rats.

In fact, one way to counter the pressure to be credentialed is to proudly proclaim yourself to be the anti-expert. In her book “French Women Don't Get Fat,” Mireille Guilano lets readers know right up front that she's not a nutritionist, a psychologist, an exercise physiologist or any other kind of “ist.” Instead, she says, she's just a woman who happens to have observed and experienced the French diet and is sharing that knowledge with people who'd like to eat well and not gain weight.

No one can argue with your own data. Maybe you aren't a licensed surgeon but if you successfully cured yourself of some ailment without surgery, have an interest in non-traditional medicine – and are willing to put in the research time – you could certainly learn enough to speak credibly about the latest alternatives to going under the knife.

2. Letting Stage Fright Hold You Back

You'd think that someone who wants to speak for a living would have few qualms about public speaking or otherwise “performing” in public. Not true. Barbra Streisand was famous for her chronic stage fright.

As part of a college class, I was videotaped making a presentation. I was a nervous wreck. My voice was shaking, my hands were shaking. The whole nervous speaker bit. The amazing thing was no one else could tell – not even me! The person I saw on that tape appeared calm, cool, and collected.

That experience happened 25 years ago. But, you know, I never forgot it, and from that point on I've managed to calm any pre-presentation jitters by reminding myself that no one can tell.

3. Not Making Constant Improvement a Priority

Despite my early performance anxiety, I went on to deliver hundreds of presentations and workshops to audiences ranging in size from 10 to 1200. Having so much experience under my belt made me pretty confident about my speaking skills.

That is until a former employer sent me to New York City to a two-day presentation skills training. The course, which I later became certified to teach, was conducted by a company called Communispond. Being the only attendee with a speaking back ground, I felt pretty cocky as I rose to deliver my benchmark presentation.

Seeing is believing. Even if you're already an experienced presenter, there's always room for improvement. By far the best way to improve is to observe yourself in action on tape.

4. Not Being Willing to Pay Your Dues

Sometimes a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. For example, a client with little to no previously paid speaking experience balked when I suggested he seize any chance he could to get out there and hone his craft – even if that meant in some cases speaking for free. “That's not true,” he said. “Everything I've read said you should never give away your services because your client won't respect you as a professional.”

While I understood the concern, charging a fee is simply not a black and white issue. Being willing to speak for free was what launched my career as an expert on the so-called Impostor Syndrome. Speaking at conferences and at meetings of professional associations is not only a great way to test out your material but you're showcasing your work to potential paying clients – most of whom have no idea you're not being paid.

Should you continue to speak for free after you start landing paying gigs? It depends. When a large Fortune 500 company was looking for external consultants to potentially train thousands of employees on understanding issues of sexual orientation in the workplace, I not only delivered a preview workshop free of charge, but I covered the cost of printing the attendee workbooks as well. It was time and money well spent. My co-trainer and I landed the contract and a handsome per diem training fee to boot.

Speaking for free is all about getting better at what you do and about exposure. Like most things you shouldn't expect instant results. It's not unusual for me to get a speaking offer from someone who saw me speak at a conference two years earlier. In fact, I've recently received a great contract based on the recommendation of someone who saw me speak 20 years ago!

Don't think of it as speaking for free. Think of it as the opportunity to essentially make a sales pitch in front of dozens of potential clients. Besides, now in your bio you'll be able to list all the groups you've addressed!

5. Not Understanding the Speaking Business

When I ask clients who want to get into the speaking business to describe their ideal day, it usually sounds something like this:

“I see myself spending a few hours a day planning my presentations or workshops. Maybe I call a few clients to finalize any arrangements. And then my afternoons are free to do as I please.”

In these moments I always feel a little like Cher 's character in Moonstruck when she slapped Nicolas Cage in the face and shouted, “Snap out of it!”

First of all, unless you're a big time speaker, the majority of your non-speaking time is going to be spent drumming up speaking gigs. If the very thought of marketing yourself, your topic, and your expertise makes you want to run for the hills, this would be a good time to consider another field (or just wait for part two of this article where I'll talk about marketing).

Next, when you're just starting out, you will need to make a heavy investment in developing your presentation or workshop. In fact they say for every five minutes of speaking time you should plan to put in about an hour of planning and rehearsing time.

Keep in mind though, that no one is paying you to endlessly perfect your material. Once you get a good program down, as far as I'm concerned, the goal is to be able to walk in and deliver it cold. There's nothing quite like the relaxed feeling of heading off to deliver a big presentation without a care in the world because you just know you're going to nail it!

If you have something you'd like to share with the world, and you genuinely enjoy teaching others, there's no better job in the world than getting paid to speak.

6. Not Realizing What You're Really Getting Paid For

The typical response of those not in the speaking business to how much I make for a single presentation is, “Wow, you get paid that much for a couple hours of work?” Amazed as they are, at $1500-$2000 my fees are relatively low compared to a lot of other speakers. In fact, most speaker bureaus won't even talk to you unless you're charging a minimum of $4,000 a day.

If you're setting your fees based on your actual “on” time you're missing the boat. As a professional speaker you aren't being paid to talk for one hour, or three hours, or even to facilitate a full-day workshop. What you're getting paid for are a) your total time commitment and b) your expertise. Let's look at your total time commitment first.

If your speaking engagement involves travel, then you need to consider the total time involved in fulfilling your commitment. That includes the time it takes to set up the contract, get to and from the speaking venue, any pre-event set-up and pack-up time, and the time it takes to take care of any client invoicing and follow-up.

For example today is Monday. I'm writing this article from the 12:55 Amtrak train to New York City where I'm scheduled to lead a six-hour workshop tomorrow. On Wednesday I'll repeat the same program in Philadelphia . After tomorrow's workshop I'll hop another train to Philadelphia and then travel home later that night.

On paper I'm contracted to deliver two six-hour workshops. But when it comes to my actual time, my commitment began on a Monday around 10:00 a.m. and, assuming the train arrives back on time (which is a big “if”), will end when I walk in my door at around 11:00 p.m. Wednesday. Although I love California and the Pacific Northwest , bi-coastal gigs require a significant time block. Saying yes to a one-hour presentation means agreeing to a three-day commitment.

Now mind you I'm not complaining. I'm proud of the time and effort I've invested into getting where I am today. Having said that, I'm keenly aware and deeply humbled by the knowledge that I also happen to have been born at the right time and in the right country, that I was fortune enough to have access to educational and occupational resources, and that I have the emotional support of friends and family, all of which enables me to earn more money in a single day than the vast majority of the world's population get paid in an entire year.

Your actual time is only one factor in setting your fees. Although there are some speakers who bill for travel time (I'm not one of them) or who charge local client's less (which I often do), you're not being paid to travel. In fact, you're not really even getting paid for your actual speaking time. You read that right.

What your attendees or clients are paying you for is your expertise. Break this down and whether they know it or not, client's pay you for the time you've invested in acquiring that expertise which includes your speaking and facilitation skills. Or, as Dr. Bailey Jackson, an outstanding trainer and personal mentor explained it to me, “When you're up in front of a room full of people, your job is to make it look easy.”

Not everyone appreciates what it takes to “make it look easy.” When I was in my corporate job I spent months designing a new one-day workshop for my employer to resell to other companies. Before doing a nation-wide roll out, we arranged to beta-test the design with a group of local human resources professionals. The day before the big preview, I'd done a dry run for my boss and co-workers. My boss wanted me to stay to talk about some other project, but I was scrambling to get home to do some final rehearsing. To someone who'd never designed or delivered a workshop in her life, I was over-reacting. “Oh, stop worrying,” she said. “You designed the seminar so you obviously know it.”

Designing a 7-hour seminar is one thing. Standing up in front of 20 people and appearing to effortlessly juggle the content and flow of 120 PowerPoint ® visuals, a 100+ page participant workbook, a 250 page leader guide, not to mention managing the learning needs and interpersonal dynamics of a group of discerning managers and professionals is not something that comes out of the design phase. It's like expecting a screenwriter to finish his or her screenplay on one day and then star in it the next.

So, as you think about setting your own fees ask yourself, “What will it take for me to make it look easy?” Depending on your area of expertise, this could include:

~ Any training, degrees, or other credentialing you may need or already acquired

~ The time it takes to research your topic and then learn your material

~ The time involved in becoming adept at managing the dynamics of the group (which, when working with a less than receptive audience, a group I affectionately refer to as “seminar hostages” can take a considerable amount of interpersonal skill)

~ The hours upon hours of rehearsal time to become a masterful presenter

~ Plus any time you invest in continually staying on top of your subject matter

Of course each of these areas require a tremendous amount of hard work, effort, and practice. In fact on the content side alone, they say that for every one minute of a presentation, you need to invest an hour of preparation time.

The realization that mastery does require hard work changed how I thought about my own fees. Recognizing the years of time and energy I've invested in making what I do “look easy” helped me to better value my expertise and time.

So what should YOU charge? There simply is no one-size-fits-all answer here. Establishing your speaking fees depends on a range of variables including your audience, your topic, and your own background or experience. One way to get a feel for the going rates in your field is to do a web search to see what other speakers who do what you do are charging.

If you're just starting out and so feel uncomfortable setting your fees too high, then think of yourself as apprenticing and begin by charging less. You can always increase your fees as your confidence and experience grow. If you have no idea what to charge, try to get your client to name a fee first by saying something like, “What is your speaker budget for this event?” If the client puts the ball back your court, you might name a fee but also indicate a willingness to be somewhat flexible by saying, “Whenever possible I try to work within my client's budget.” You can always come down but if your prospective client responds to your fee with, “Oh, is that all?” it's too late to go up!

7. Failing to Match Your Market to Your Financial Goals

When asked how much money they'd like to make as a speaker, nine times out of ten, my clients will state a figure in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. I love people who shoot high! In reality, many speakers can and do command five and six figure fees – for a single presentation. From what I've read, financial wizard Peter Lynch gets $75,000 to speak. Poet Maya Angelou's speaking fee is $40,000. And self-help dynamo Tony Robbins charges $135,000 plus first-class travel.

While you can make a lot of money in the speaking business you have to be willing to pay your dues. Paying your dues was covered in Part 1, but in brief, includes being willing to invest the time it takes to learn your topic without, however, becoming stalled by what I call the “expert trap.” It also means taking concrete steps to become a skilled and engaging presenter.

Next you need to target clients willing to pay you the kind of fees you need to keep you in the style to which you would like to become accustomed. This begins with understanding the difference between your audience and your client.

Your audience consists of the people who actually hear you speak. Your client however, is the person or organization writing your check. If you're putting on your own public workshops, then your client consists of the paying attendees. The same is true if your workshop is being offered through the Learning Annex or another adult education program. Since you're receiving a percentage of each attendee's fee, your client and your audience are also one and the same.

Sometimes your client is determined by what it is you want to speak about. If you want to teach about how people can improve their love life or achieve spiritual wellbeing, you're not likely to find a lot of corporate or other organizational sponsorship. Here you're probably looking at individual's paying out of pocket. We'll look more closely at marketing to individuals shortly.

If you are targeting organizational clients, you should know that organizations pay based on your time verses the number of attendees. This kind of fee arrangement is commonly referred to as a per diem or per day. Many of my clients are colleges and universities. With them I charge on a per diem verses a per presentation basis. This allows these budget conscious clients to schedule up to two presentations a day making my fee more acceptable and therefore increasing my chances of being hired.

Even when targeting organizational clients, keep in mind that some are going to pay more than others. Not-for-profits, which include professional or industry associations, government, and higher education, typically have less to pay than for-profits. The solution here is to vary your rates by the type of client with your corporate rates being highest.

In addition to determining your market, your topic area impacts your fees with some subject areas commanding a larger fee than others. If you're running stress management or personal empowerment workshops, you're probably going to earn less than if you were specializing in executive leadership or secrets to making a killing in real estate.

Here again though, your experience and credentials are going to be a factor. If I were to offer a presentation on male-female communication in the workplace I wouldn't be able to ask anywhere near the mid-five figure range that Dr. Deborah Tannen gets. Why? Because while I could certainly deliver an engaging presentation on the subject, with several best-selling books on the subject, communications expert Tannen is considered one of the top experts in her field.

It is possible to make six figures speaking for conducting workshops on topics like astrology, tapping into your inner power, or esteem building for teens. To do so however means you're going to have to put in the time and effort it takes turn yourself into a “personality.” In other words you're going to have to become the “astrologer to the stars” or a nationally known leader in the field of self-esteem or well-known guru on tapping into one's inner power.

I find a lot of people are either unwilling to do what it takes to become a personality. In other cases, they simply have a hard time picturing themselves as the next Dr. Phil, Dr. Ruth, or Tony Robbins. To which I say, why NOT you?

Even if on the surface your topic doesn't seem to fit into a corporate model, you may be able to re-frame it so it does fit an organizational need. If you want to run yoga classes or do improvisational comedy, for example you could package these topics as part of an overall stress management program or even spin it as a way to help sales reps to be more productive.

Further niche market by developing stress management workshops for members of particular profession. If you target nurses for example, you can pedal your program to hospital administrators desperate to hold onto their shrinking nursing staff.

That's what I had to do with my career workshop. My specialty is helping people turn their interests into income by coming up with creative alternatives to having a job. The challenge here was finding organizations willing to hire a speaker to help their employees to quit their jobs to do their own thing. I came up with two – employers who are laying off large numbers of employees or those who offer career transition workshops for retirees.

8. Defining Your Style

Finally, to some extent your preferred audience size can impact your financial goals. In other words, if you had to choose between two speaking gigs – one is facilitating an interactive workshop for 10 to 15 people and the other is delivering a presentation in front of an audience of 200 to 1200 – which would you pick?

If you said the 10-15 people, it's probably because you like the intimacy of interacting with a small group. If you opted for the large group, it's probably because you like entertaining people. I'm happy to do either. But the setting I find more exhilarating, and personally, a whole lot less work, is the large group presentation.

How finances factor in is simple. In most you'll earn more money speaking to more people than less. This is true regardless of whether individual participants or an organization is writing the check. The exception is big name speakers like say, a Stephen Covey who can charge a small group of CEOs top dollar for a small group executive leadership retreat.

In the next issue we'll look at perhaps THE biggest – and most costly mistake – aspiring speakers make, namely not knowing how to market their expertise. We'll also look at the benefits of creating other related income streams as well as resources to make launching your speaking business faster – and easier.

9. Not Knowing How to Market Yourself

Seminar marketing is a huge topic and it's not possible to cover it all in one short article. So let me hit the high points and then tell you where you can get more detailed information.

If you're new to the speaking business, one obvious place to start is by offering your program through an adult education program. Most colleges and universities offer continuing education programs. In larger cities you'll find private programs like The Learning Annex, The Boston Center for Adult Education or The Knowledge Shop in Orlando .

There are at least three good reasons to start here:

•  It's a hassle-free, paid opportunity to refine your material because someone else takes care of marketing your workshop, covering the cost of the meeting room, and registering students. All you have to do is show up!

•  It's a venue to promote any books, CDs or other related material. We'll talk more about this shortly.

•  Even if your workshop doesn't fill, potentially thousands of people are learning about you and your business through the short bio accompanying your course description in the organization's catalog.

In fact, sometimes this kind of exposure can lead to amazing things. It was at a Learning Annex workshop in New York where a publisher first approached Barbara Sher about writing a book. Barbara is quick to admit that she was baffled as to how she could possibly come up with an entire book. Wisely the publisher urged her to think of each workshop module as a chapter. Barbara went on to write Wishcraft which has sold well over a million copies.

The bad news is, even with all their marketing, they may not be able to pull in the same numbers you could putting on your own public seminars (that was certainly true for me). And you'll still earn significantly less than if you produced your own event even if you get a good showing.

Once you've practiced on these audiences, you can always go on if you choose to offer your own public workshops. That's how I first started doing my How to Feel as Bright and Capable as Everyone Seems to Think You Are workshop ( ImpostorSyndrome.com ). Handling all of the flyer hanging and mailings, newspaper notices, venue arrangements, and registration took a lot of work, but if I pulled in 20 to 40 people it was well worth it.

A note on newspaper listings. Don't pay for ads when there are papers out there willing to run event listings for free or practically free. If you live in a large metropolitan area, it's harder to get into a big newspaper, so you may need to move to niche publications. Here again knowing your customer is key. An animal intuitive I know gets a much better response by advertising in new age publications than those aimed at pet lovers.

The other reason I never do paid advertisement is that the media will often promote your workshop for free – if you know how to gear your topic to their viewers or subscribers. To get free publicity you'll want to craft an effective press release and put together a press kit.

Don't have any “press” yet to put into your press kit? Then start with a bio, a photo, and some tip sheets or articles you've written (or paid or better yet bartered with someone to write for you). If at all possible try to tie your topic into some national event or survey findings. That's what I did. Whenever a new statistic came out about the growing number of home businesses or the trend toward cashing out of corporate America I'd send out a press release making the connection between these findings and my work.

From these humble beginnings I've since delivered this program to over 30,000 people around the country. How? As you may recall from Part 2 of this series, in order to earn serious money in the speaking business, you need to move from selling your presentation to individuals to selling to organizations. Organizations include government agencies, higher education, non-profits, professional and industry associations, and for-profit companies.

If you're thinking about going after associations check out Gales Encyclopedia of Associations found at any library. Listings include annual budget, upcoming state, regional and national conferences, publications, and contact information. A number of companies also sell association directories and mailing labels on CDs. If you're still establishing a track record as a speaker I recommend submitting proposals to speak at regional or national conferences. Typically there's no compensation but it's a great way to network, can lead to paid gigs at future association events, and since members often belong to other organizations, it can pave the way to corporate, government, or non-profit work.

If you're looking to do the college circuit, consider joining the National Association for Campus Activities at NACA.org . Another option is to contact any on-campus organizations interested in your message. For example, I do a lot of speaking for Women in Engineering programs found at most major universities.

Finally depending on your topic, you might also want to consider going after corporate sponsorship. That's what Patrick Combs did. Patrick wrote a wonderful book aimed at college students called Major in Success. Then he got Visa to sponsor a six figure college tour which was sponsored by the college's career services center.

Even if corporate sponsorship isn't your thing, I encourage you to learn from Patrick's personal experience and browse his press kit at GoodThink.com/speaking/viewspeakingtips.cfm?id=2 .

10. Failing to Tap Other Income Streams

Many years ago I bought a now out of print audio program called How to Build Your Speaking and Writing Empire featuring Mark Victor Hansen. That's where I learned that in a survey of top speakers, the number one thing they wished they'd done differently was to have developed some kind of product earlier in their career. So-called “back of the room” products range from books, CDs, audio tapes, workbooks, and so on.

I know what you're thinking, “I don't have a book!” Not to worry. There are less labor-intensive ways to create workshop-related products for sale. For example, create a participant workbook and charge each participant. Corporations are used to a paying for materials on top of speaker fees and at 50-200 dollars per attendee this can make for a nice revenue stream.

The other thing you can do is audio or videotape your program and sell the DVD or CD. Making Dreams Happen ChangingCourse.com/makingdreamshappen.htm , the 24-set CD program available here at Changing Course, is an audio version of a live four-day workshop-retreat I delivered with Barbara Sher and Barbara Winter. Even the 100+ page participant workbook is on a CD.

If you're speaking at a conference or other event, arrange to have it professionally taped. That's what I did when I delivered my 10 Steps to Escaping the Job World and Creating the Life You Really Want ChangingCourse.com/gettingstarted.htm at a conference in Florida . If it's a paying job, be sure to clear it with your client who may have stipulations about participants not appearing on tape.

In the beginning you can just burn your own CDs. As your sales increase, find a good duplication company. Most have a 100 minimum. We use DiskFaktory.com . At about one dollar per CD, which includes printing the name of your presentation and other information directly onto the CD, it's a great deal. This price even includes a jewel case for your CD.

11. Not Being Willing to Invest in Your Business

By far the BIGGEST mistake wanna-be speakers make is being unwilling to make even the most modest investment in themselves and their fledgling speaking business. Whether you're just launching your speaking career or are a seasoned pro who wants to increase your bottom line, you absolutely must be willing to invest in your own success.

On the low-cost end are books. The three I recommend are:

•  How to Make It Big in the Seminar Business, by Paul  Karasik

•  Speak and Grow Rich, by Dottie Waters

•  1,001 Ways to Make More Money as a Speaker, Consultant or Trainer: Plus 300 Rainmaking Strategies for Dry Times by Lilly Walters

All three are available in the Changing Course bookstore ChangingCourse.com/bookstore.htm .

If you're really, really ready to step into the big time and start earning “mega” speaking fees I can't say enough about the sequel to the Mark Victor Hansen program I spoke about earlier. It's called Building Your Mega Speaking Empire. One of my favorite segments is the PR expert explaining how to get onto shows like Good Morning America and Oprah. I especially love the part where she reveals the three words you never, ever want to say on Oprah and the five words you absolutely must be sure to use in order to be invited back.

The CD series features a team of experts covering everything from 52 lucrative profit centers for speakers to getting bookings. You can read all about it at

The Mega Speaking Empire covers how to get free publicity on the radio. But if you'd rather target your self-marketing campaign specifically to radio and want to fast-track your efforts. I highly recommend letting an expert like Alex Carroll teach you the ropes.

A few years ago Alex Carroll wrote a book about how to beat unfair speeding tickets. With a zero advertising budget he decided to promote his book exclusively through radio interviews. To date, he's done 1,264 radio interviews, gotten more than four million dollars worth of free radio airtime and earned over one million dollars in direct sales.

Carroll wisely packaged up his Radio Publicity Manual for purchase. You can also get a database with the names and hosts and producers from every prime time talk station in the US that have at least 100,000 listeners – 1,026 in all. To learn more visit http://www.webmarketingmagic.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=48197  

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