How to Make Public Speaking Your Career (Stop Waiting to Be Picked)
Talent is not enough. The difference between broke orators and millionaire speakers is not skill—it's distribution. Learn how to market yourself.
Here is the hard truth about the speaking industry: Talent is not enough.
The world is full of brilliant orators who are broke. The world is also full of average speakers who are millionaires.
The difference is not skill. The difference is distribution.
If you want to make this a career, you need to fire the "artist" in your brain and hire the "marketer." You are no longer a person. You are a product on a shelf sitting next to thousands of other products.
Why should anyone reach for you?
The Schwarzenegger Blueprint
When Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Hollywood, agents laughed at him.
They told him his body was "too weird." They said his accent was "scary." They said his last name was unpronounceable. They told him to change everything.
Arnold refused. He understood marketing better than they did.
He realized that his "flaws" were actually his Unique Selling Proposition (USP). He didn't try to be another smooth American actor. He marketed himself as a spectacle. He positioned himself as the only option for a specific type of role that only he could fill.
He didn't wait to be discovered. He created a market where he was the only supplier.
You Are a Media Company
Most aspiring speakers treat marketing as an afterthought. They think, "I'll focus on my speech, and the gigs will come."
Wrong.
You need to operate like a media company that sells a speaking product.
Your Website: It is not a biography. It is a landing page. If it doesn't have a "Book Me" button in the top right corner and a video of you speaking within 3 seconds of scrolling, burn it down.
Your Socials: Stop posting photos of your lunch. Post clips of you solving problems. If you aren't publishing content, you don't exist.
Your Niche: "Motivational Speaker" is not a niche. It is a commodity. Market yourself as the specific solution to a specific pain. "The Expert on AI implementation for Law Firms" gets hired. "The Future Guy" gets ignored.
The "Best Kept Secret" Trap
There is no award for being the "best kept secret."
If you are humble, you will be hungry. In this game, visibility is validity. When an event planner sees you everywhere on LinkedIn, they assume you are expensive. They assume you are good.
Perception creates reality.
You need to be shameless about promoting your wins. Did you speak to a room of 10 people? Post a photo that makes it look like a TED Talk. Crop it tight. Write a headline.
Signal success before you have it.
The Product Must Match the Hype
Marketing brings them to the door. Performance keeps them inside.
You can hustle your way into your first gig. But if you get on stage and bore the audience, your career ends that day. Marketing gets you the first check. Competence gets you the next ten.
Don't let your marketing write a check that your skills can't cash.
Ready to build a speaking career? We help you build the product that lives up to the hype.
