Why Some Speakers Earn 5 Times… 10 Times… 50 Times More Than You (Even Though You’re a More Talented Speaker!)

Even the most talented speakers can struggle to earn what they’re worth. What makes it worse is that you may see less talented speakers making plenty of money. This is what you can do about it.

You’ve worked hard to develop your speaking skills.

Constant rewrites and practicing have gotten you to the point where you’re comfortable in front of an audience. You deliver your speech with emotion and offer a unique take on the issues. People pay attention to what you have to say and you may even influence a few of them to take action.

But there’s a problem.

For all of your hard work, you’re not getting paid what you’re worth.

Worse yet, you see other speakers who don’t deliver speeches with the same emotion and authenticity earning more.

You know you have the talent. So, that leaves just one key question:

How do you get paid as well as the top speakers?

There are a few factors that come into play, some of which aren’t directly related to your speaking ability. Often, it’s what you do off-stage that plays the biggest role in how much you get paid.

Before we get to that, let’s take a look at some examples of people who speak well and earn money from doing it.

Amanda’s Speaking Career

Amanda’s journey into speaking started with a simple mission statement.

She never wanted to work for anybody else ever again. Instead, she wanted to take control of her career and her life.

But it wasn’t an easy journey. While working in the meditation and teaching sectors, she realised that she needed some guidance. And she needed to start believing in her dream, rather than working in a career that didn’t make her happy.

That’s when she came to Speakers Institute. Suddenly, she found herself surrounded by a team of people who believed in her as much as she needed to believe in herself.

She found it intimidating at first and quickly found that she needed to make some changes in how she viewed herself.

In particular, she needed to raise her standards about what she thought was possible for herself. With our help, she launched her speaking career. Soon after, she launched her website, sizzle and 1-sheet and built a network of likeminded individuals. All of this helped her to make a career out of speaking and earn the money that she deserved.

She went from asking for $600 for a speaking engagement to now asking for $6000 for a speaking engagement. After the initial 6-month she is now speaking more than she has ever before and earning 10x as much.

Overcoming that initial lack of belief was the key for Amanda. Once she started to believe in herself, she opened the door to earning more from her speaking.

Warren Moves From the Corporate World

Warren has his own story to share. But his story also shares some parallels with Amanda’s.

Warren had worked in a corporate environment for the majority of his life. As a result, his experiences allowed him to amass a wealth of business knowledge. His work as the CEO of a franchise company equipped him with plenty of skills.

But he had a drive to do something new. Warren believed that his passion for his work could help him to offer more to others. In particular, he wanted to use his voice to help other people grow and achieve what they wanted professionally.

That desire led him towards the path of speaking. But he had a tough decision to make.

He’d achieved success in the corporate world and it would have been the easier option to stay with it. Warren also had to grapple with his own doubt about his abilities. The constant question of “Am I good enough?” threatened to hold him back.

He came to Speakers Institute to help him to confront those fears. With us, he gained knowledge and added structure to his message. He discovered that he does have a story to tell and that people will pay to listen to it.

Two years later, Warren travels around Australia on highly paid speaking tours. He’s also a published author with a bestselling book on Amazon in United States.

Just like Amanda, Warren faced his fears about not being good enough. Today, he earns 4x more money through speaking and has a brand new career to throw his passion into.

What Can You Do to Earn More Money From Speaking?

Both of these stories involve people who faced their fears and turned speaking into a career.

You can do the same. You just need to know about the structure that you must build around yourself to achieve your dreams. These four tips will help you to raise your asking price for speaking.

Tip #1 – Believe in Yourself

It all starts with belief.

If you don’t believe that you can achieve something special with your speaking, you’ll always struggle to earn money.

That’s the situation that both Amanda and Warren found themselves in. Their own fear and self-doubt prevented them from pushing forward. Once they overcame that and started to believe in their abilities, they started to earn more money.

It’s this belief that gives you the confidence to ask for what you’re worth. Once you know how good you are, others will see it too. And they’ll pay for you to work your magic for their audiences.

Tip #2 – Create a Network

Amanda’s points to the network of people around her as one of the keys to her speaking success.

When she came to Speakers Institute, she met likeminded people who wanted her to achieve success. They believed in her, which helped her to believe in herself. Her network offered advice and opportunities that she wouldn’t have found on her own.

A good network serves a practical purpose in your speaking career. The people you meet can introduce you to other people. Eventually, you’ll start meeting people who can present you with speaking opportunities. As your network grows, so will the number of opportunities that become available to you. Plus, you’ll start earning a reputation based on the quality of your work.

This enhanced reputation allows you to command more money for future speaking engagements. Plus, you have a network of people who believe in and can vouch for your abilities.

Tip #3 – Find Other Ways to Get Your Message Out

There are so many different methods that you can use to communicate your message. Your speaking is just one of them.

Take Amanda as an example. Once she launched her speaking career, she created a website and 2min video sizzle reel and a PDF 1-Sheet highlighting her bio, testimonials and topics. In addition to helping her to take care of the practical stuff, such as scheduling, this website acts as an advertisement. It tells people what they can expect when they book her to speak.

Warren also uses other methods. He published a book that gained a great amount of traction in the United States. By doing that, he opened the door for speaking opportunities in a new country. Plus, the reputation he gained from the success of his book means he can command more money for speaking.

Consider other methods of getting your message to the people who need to hear it. Social media, websites, your Speakers Kit, and books all build up your reputation. A strong reputation means that you can ask for more money when speaking.

Better yet, you can use digital channels to send out samples of your work. Have somebody film you as you speak and post the videos on your website or social media. Potential clients can then see your style and understand that they’re getting what they pay for.

Tip #4 – Get Coaching

Both Amanda and Warren point to the coaching that they received when speaking about their careers. In Warren’s case, coaching allowed him to build a structure around his message. The techniques he learned through coaching helped him to deliver his message effectively. For Amanda, coaching instilled her with the confidence needed to move her speaking career forward. She had her story before she received coaching. But the help that she received helped her to tell that story to others.

Another Speakers Institute client, Sean, talks about the importance of coaching too. Having lived for almost three decades with poor health, Sean had a unique story to tell. After making changes in his life, Sean had improved his health. Moreover, he wanted to show others how to do the same. Sean started engaging in one-on-one sessions with others to help them make the same changes that he made.

But it wasn’t enough. Sean felt like he wasn’t making the impact that he could.

He recognised that he needed a coach to help him to develop his communication skills. With the help of Speakers Institute, he found his voice and started to earn money from his speaking. Best of all, he got his message out to a larger audience.

The right coaching helps you to refine your speaking and define your story. This improvement in your skills helps you to earn more money from speaking.

Conclusion

Your ability isn’t the only thing that determines how much you earn from speaking. It’s crucial that you get coaching to sharpen your skills and improve your craft. But there are plenty of other things that you can do to increase your value.

Believe in yourself and in the unique value that you offer to your clients. Build a network of likeminded people who can create opportunities. Finally, use every tool at your disposal to get your message out there and build your reputation.

Speakers Institute can help you to earn more from speaking. Doing the following will help you to get started:

Come to one of our FREE Speakers Institute events.
Check out our Boot Camp brochure.
Contact our team to arrange an appointment.

Sam CawthornJune 22, 2018