Getting
Paid to Speak:
The Biggest Mistakes New Speakers Make
and
How to Avoid Them
(Part 2 of 3)
By Valerie Young
If you love the idea of
actually earning money – and potentially big money – as a professional speaker
or workshop leader, then read on.
In part one of this three-part series we looked at the five biggest mistakes
aspiring speakers and workshop leader’s make. These were:
Mistake 1: Thinking you don’t know enough
Mistake 2: Letting stage fright hold you back
Mistake 3: Not making constant improvement a priority
Mistake 4: Not being willing to pay your dues
Mistake 5: Not understanding the speaking business
You’ll find a copy of this article in Issue 110 in the
ChangingCourse.com/archives.htm
If you find yourself identifying with Mistake #1 you may want to check out my
latest eBook, “How to Feel As Bright and Capable As Everyone Seems to Think You
Are: What Every Women (and Man) Needs to Know About Competence, the Impostor
Syndrome, and the Art of Winging It” at
ChangingCourse.com/impostor.htm
In Part Two of Getting Paid to Speak, we’ll take a somewhat in-depth look at two
additional mistakes novice speakers make and how to avoid them. One relates to
fee setting, the other has to do with targeting the right market.
Mistake #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!
Mistake #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.
What’s 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.
About the Author
Off the beaten path career counselor, Valerie Young, abandoned her corporate
cubicle to become the Dreamer in Residence at
ChangingCourse.com, offering free resources to help you
discover your life mission and live it. An expert on the Imposter
Syndrome, she's presented her How to Feel as Bright and Capable as
Everyone Seems to Think You Are program to over 30,000 people.
Find more articles written by Valerie at
ChangingCourse.com/articles/
| 
Imagine being
able to make
a difference in the world by sharing your message with an enthusiastic
audience. Not only are you earning tens of thousands of dollars a month in
speaker fees but you also have an excellent platform to do what the top
speakers do… generate six or even seven figures from
the sale of your CD programs or books, consulting fees and other profit
centers available to every speaker.