Learn how to become a big money speaker
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- Played basketball in Hawaii
- Moved to LA
- Had no idea or plan to speak
- Was making $7/hr working at a video store in L.A.
- He listened to people who said, "just follow your passion," but it doesn't work unless you get booked
- You need to bring business processes to your passion
- Most speaker associations are a load of crap with advice like "cold call 100, and you'll get ten interested"
- Did 2-3 talks, then 30-40 then he crushed it
- You need to be a great marketer
- The 8-ball of speaking is reaching the people who control the budgets. Nothing else matters.
- Corporate speakers go after training coordinators, casino
- Colleges have budgets (student activities, Greek life, residential coordinator, youth conferences)
- You have the youth market (K-12), colleges, corporate: make your speaking material unique for each of those
- He has one talk that fits three themes with different titles in Corporate
- Success/Motivation
- Sales
- Leadership
- This 3X's his chances of getting booked
- He has five talks for colleges
- Incoming
- Out-going
- Leadership
- Success In College
- College athletes
- This 5X's
- One talk for youth where he's paid as a keynote speaker
- He does more direct mail than anyone
- Event coordinators don't go to Facebook to find a speaker
- No speaker shows up in the mailboxes of these decision-makers
- He'll validate their addresses
- He has zero competition because nobody mails
- He'll do 10,000 mail pieces
- 1,000 will be interested
- 100 will retain him for $20,000
- Don't do postcards
- His contacts tell him not to send little postcards
- He sends a 6-page brochure in one big sheet
- Rent the right list and drive them to a landing page where they can see a video of you as a speaker
- Customize the mailout for the market
- They'll call and book him
- Coordinators worry if you can relate to their audience, not that you can speak well
- These are for fee-paid talks
- Slides should enhance your presentation, not be your presentation
- Your face and your hands should be your main tools
- Planners will ask for local people to keep fees down
- Destination planners will give them a list of the local providers
- 20,000 conventions per year are held in Vegas
- Sales and Marketing coordinators of hotels—he got to know them and got listed as a preferred vendor (incentivize them)
- 15 years ago, he walked into the Portland Convention Center with a bunch of big names like Michael Jordan ($150k) vs. James's $5k, and he was the only one who got a standing ovation
- To make more, package yourself better to be perceived as being worth more
- When you're starting, you speak anywhere for any price
- Everyone undervalues themselves
- Ask for what you want
- He started earning $20,000 when he decided to ask for $20,000
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