A public speaking business is becoming more and more attractive to a wide range of entrepreneurs, marketers, authors, influencers, and even students.

This business model can be extremely powerful and rewarding if you build a brand name.

You can do this as a standalone business or add it as an income stream to your current portfolio.

You can do this the traditional way in front of live audiences on stages, or you can transition into virtual events that are becoming very popular due to the latest restrictions and measures of covid-19.

It’s a low-entry model with minimum operating costs, flexible, scalable, you can do it all alone, and you can target people all over the world.

This model has countless benefits for you and those who listen to you.

You get in contact with people in real-time, educate and entertain them on your topic of expertise, build trust and authority instantly with the power of your amazing voice, and so much more.

It can give you momentum, open up doors of opportunities, and help you become a thought leader.

People love and enjoy speaking events and live interactions and you get the chance to impact their lives.

But how do you get started? What do you need to make this a success?

So, let’s dive right in!

How To Start a Public Speaking Business

Designed with Desygner

Why start a public speaking business?

Public speaking is not just a business. It’s a form of art, actually. But as with all kinds of arts, you can get paid to do it.

And art is so important, useful, is part of our lives. The majority of people can’t live without arts, me included.

Living without art is like living with no imagination.

Now, let’s go through some of the benefits of this business model, and let’s examine these powerful statistics to help us better understand the potential.

Benefits

• People get informed by experts in their field
• People get entertained
• People are motivated to change and improve their lives
• People get together in speaking events
• People enjoy superior experiences
• Deep connections with your audience
• Easy to be consumed
• You can persuade people to do things with your speaking like purchasing your products. It’s a valuable skill.
• You captivate people’s interest in seconds with your presence and voice
• You become a better, more equipped, more effective salesperson
• You gain a competitive advantage, stand out from the crowd as a business owner
• You can pitch decision-makers and promote your speaking services
• You become more social and hone your communication skills
• You widen your horizons and build your network
• You develop leadership skills
• You become a better listener thus increasing the chances of helping people with their challenges and problems
• You boost your confidence
• Personal satisfaction comes from the reactions of your audience
• You hone problem-solving, critical thinking, and arguing skills
• You become innovative, one of the main characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
• You get to impact people’s lives, make a difference, and change the world
• Convenient model and you can work from anywhere in the world
• Visibility and authority
• Interactive
• Low-entry, minimum operating costs
• Flexible and scalable
• and so much more

Statistics

These statistics will help us better understand the current situation in the industry and will help us shape a winning strategy for the future.

• According to SpeakerFlow, 53% of event planners have at least one event they’re transitioning to a virtual format in the next few months.
• 56% of event planners include diversity goals in their speaker hiring process.
• 41% of event planners and 27% of suppliers say they would not travel for an event within the next year.
• 60% of event planners predict that small in-person or hybrid events will be most common in 2021 and beyond.
• According to SpeakerFlow again, digital products (courses, membership sites, etc.) are still extremely underutilized in the speaking industry. Despite their proven ROI, only 19% of speakers rely on digital products for revenue and only 6% rely on membership sites
• Successful speakers weren’t immune from the speaking industry downturn, as 4% of participants made $500,000 or more in 2020 compared to 7% in 2019. Although some of this decrease can be attributed to event cancellations, it also shows a reliance on in-person events for revenue.
• Even though the industry suffered, many speakers continued to give back as much as possible. Looking at free gigs, for example, 28.2% did more than 10 free gigs in 2020 vs 16.4% in 2019
• In total, only about 5% of speakers abandoned their speaking businesses, as a result of COVID. The bulk of the industry instead adapted, finding ways to grow in spite of travel and public health restrictions preventing the usual in-person events. These included building their online presence to make themselves easier to find online and creating more content (free and paid) for their ideal clients. 
• Despite the wave of event cancellations in March 2020, the majority of speakers (85% of those we surveyed) successfully transitioned into virtual speaking
• According to EventManagerBlog, in 2019, 39% of event professionals agree that ‘engaging attendees’ is the most crucial element of a live event.
• According to the same source, 57% of attendees believe that they can conduct the majority of their event objectives online
• 43% of virtual event registrants attend live, while 13% attend on demand
• The global virtual events market size was valued at $77.98 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.2% from 2020 to 2027.
• Updated in September 2020, the projected growth for meeting, convention and event planners is expected to increase 9% in the USA between 2019-2029
• 76% of current job ads demand that event professionals be capable of establishing the business value of events
• Event planners listed social media as the most effective tool for event marketing (74%), followed by email marketing (66%), their website (60%) and event registration site (26%)

Mindset/Basic Skills

Speaking in public in a powerful and impactful way is a lot more than just saying words.

Do you have the right mindset of an unstoppable entrepreneur?

Are you or are you willing to become a risk-taker, innovator, creative, action-taker, highly motivated, a decision-maker, productive, responsible, disciplined, problem solver, good listener, a leader, open-minded, a learner, practitioner, collaborative, supportive, self-confident, self-critical, self-aware, persuasive, and finally do you have the vision?

Before you speak publicly you need to feel confident, to make a truce with fear and accept it, and shy away from your limiting beliefs.

Embrace and accept failures as part of the process that leads to success, and learn from them.

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, you’ll be practicing these skills constantly as you work on your speeches and shows.

You’ll also need basic computer and marketing skills to promote your work online/offline and make connections, communication and organizational skills, be ambitious, consistent, and willing to help others.

Related:

• How To Impact The World As An Entrepreneur

• Is Money All That It Counts?

Your Topic of Expertise

You are going to speak in front of live audiences on stage and in front of your camera online.

But when you imagine the moment of you appearing in front of people, you get anxious, feel frightened, and overwhelmed.

It’s a distant moment, mysterious, unknown.

That’s why you want to speak about a topic you’re affluent with.

Your topic of expertise.

You want to sound original, authentic, and be able to move on the stage with confidence.

You want to catch people’s attention and hold them curious and engaged up until the last moment of your show.

You want to express authority and trust that’s why you want to make the best use of your voice, tone, diction, breathing, and body language.

You also want to choose a topic where you can both educate and entertain people.

Do not move forward unless you’re crystal clear on your topic of influence.

Research

Now that you are clear on your topic, you want to perform thorough research.

Research the topic, study the experts. Read books, blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos, participate in forums, communities, and networks related to your topic of expertise.

But most of all attend live speaking events and online events to get a feel of how they perform on stage or in front of the camera.

Research the competition trying to uncover their strategies and methods.

Research your target audience to know more about them and find out what they want to see changed in the industry.

What problems and difficulties do they face in their daily lives? What are their goals? What are their ambitions, aspirations, needs, and wants?

How can you get a unique angle on your topic of expertise? How can you differentiate from the competition?

Collect this data and we’ll use it later on.

Related:

• 9 Reasons Why Market Research Is Important
• 20+ Reasons Why Keyword Research is Important | Examples
• Identify and reach your target audience – comprehensive guide

Basic Principles of Speechwriting and Public Speaking

I would not recommend getting up on a stage before you practice your speech and that can’t happen if you don’t sit down to write.

All the professional speakers write their own presentations or hire experienced people for the task.

I suggest that you practice writing right away, though. 

There are many reasons for this:

When you start writing, you hone your communication skills, fix mistakes, come up with ideas, it’s a creative process.

You become better on paper therefore you’ll perform better on stage.

Also, writing your own speech is more authentic and you speak with your own unique voice, you don’t use words that other people would have used for their speech.

Your audience will appreciate it.

You don’t have to be perfect, you have to be “you”.

Now, there are some basic principles of good and effective speechwriting and public speaking.

You need a plan, a structure, a skeleton, a roadmap.

Don’t worry, everything becomes so much easier if you apply the principles of storytelling.

And how do stories work?

They have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

We need to catch our audience’s attention and keep them engaged till the last minute of our presentation. 

Every good story should have:

1. A powerful premise
2. A compelling conflict
3. A purposeful structure

The story needs all 3 elements to work together, in conjunction with each other, in a very specific way in order to live up to the potential and deliver the emotional experience your readers are looking for.

Stories come with countless benefits because people relate to stories like nothing else. It’s a magical mechanism that alerts human minds.

Stories add a personal touch and this is exactly our goal.

You can add statistics, facts, and research findings to enhance your speech and make your point.

You also need to decide on your tone. Is it a formal speech, scientific, humorous, informative, entertaining, motivational, inspirational? 

Additionally, use simple words, we want a language everyone understands immediately. Do not use business jargon or sophisticated analogies unless you want to make a point. But try to keep a low profile.

This way, your audience will remember what your speech was about.

Now, as concerns your performance in front of a crowd, keep these principles in mind:

You’re not giving exams. All your audience wants is to watch something interesting. Just like you talk with friends, this is exactly what we want here. 

Don’t pause your speech to fix mistakes that might happen. Keep on delivering the show. Be real, not perfect.

Imagine how you look on stage and how you perform. Make this a habit, a daily one. Wherever you are, take a moment to think of yourself on stage. 

Practice every day in front of the mirror, your wife, husband, friends, and kids.

Remember that you are trying to serve your audience and help them reach their goals. Your goals are not your focus, their goals are.

That’s why we started researching our audience in a previous step. We’re going to use our research findings later on as well.

Make your speech as short as possible. Don’t just speak for the sake of speaking. You won’t amaze your audience this way.

It’s better to leave something hanging than try to communicate everything you know.

It’s better leaving people wanting more than having them say…at last, this speech is over.

The Style

Is going to be a TEDx talk, a signature talk, a keynote, a presentation?

For example, TEDx talks are more personal, you don’t use notes or slides (rarely).

The language is simple and maximum performance time is set to under 18 minutes to keep the audience engaged and wanting more.

Most TEDx speakers use stories and don’t hesitate to share their failures with the crowd.

Keynote speakers are leading events and shows. They develop the key theme and set the tone.

In the majority of shows, we expect one keynote speaker but there may be exceptions with 2 speakers, one in the beginning and the other one at the end.

Keynote speeches usually last 30 minutes to 1-hour.

Guest speakers are usually hired to add value to events and cover subtopics or other areas of expertise.

A signature talk is something different. It’s your signature presentation, what you want people to remember from your brand.

You share your vision, expertise, ethics, values, point of view, and stories.

A signature talk is all about branding yourself as the go-to expert.

And you can use it to gain leads, attract investors, decision-makers, and sell your products and services.

It’s a tool you’re going to use over and over again with minimal tweaks if necessary depending on the event and occasion.

The Show

Now that you have the right midset, got clear on your topic of influence, researched the market, studied the basic principles of speechwriting and public speaking, and you’ve chosen the style, it’s time to prepare your show.

It’s time to give life to your baby.

You need to hone your performance skills.

You need to practice and immerse yourself in your new role.

Think of every appearance as it’s your first. Because it will be the first time for your audience except in some cases.

It doesn’t matter, you want to take your show seriously and perform well so that you captivate people’s attention and the audience gets excited.

This is your main goal.

Delivering superior experiences.

This is the stage where you collect all the data from the research phase and all the other phases to produce your final product.

Remember again, it’s all about your audience, not you.

And we want to differentiate from the competition and provide a new, fresh angle. We want to develop our own unique voice.

A unique selling proposition goes a long way and we have a framework to help you out, the ID experience framework that is part of our “7 Ideals” methodology.

You want to own the stage from the very first moment. Don’t say who you are or what you do.

Start aggressively and tell a story right away or use a hook or question to get attention instantly.

Use smooth transitions in between sections of your speech.

Memorize your speech so that you are free to move on stage.

Use strong body language to enhance your speech, make your point, add authority, and get people excited.

Don’t just speak, it’s a show.

Share with your audience what you want them to remember from the speech at the end of your presentation.

Play with details while preparing the show, add or delete certain elements or sections, and practice daily.

You’re well on your way to being given a standing ovation.

Marketing

So now that you produced the show it’s time to turn this into a real business.

We want to promote ourselves, the show, and build a brand name so we can get repeat business and expand our horizons.

We also want to automate some parts of our business so we can focus more on the show itself and our performance skills.

Credentials/Certificates

This step is optional but having a certificate can boost your authority and status instantly.

Many public speakers devote a few seconds to introducing themselves as experts in their fields.

They do not talk about their biography.

They share credentials and other awards, certificates, or degrees.

They do that to help the audience realize that they should be listening to their speech. 

It builds trust, bridges the gaps, and reduces anxiety in the audience.

Try to see things from their perspective.

Before the event, the attendees are wondering if they made a wise choice to dedicate time and money to attend the speaking event.

They wonder why this specific topic has been chosen among others, its importance to their lives, why this particular speaker is on the stage right now, if this is a good time to learn more about this topic, and so on.

When you stand up and share your credentials people start relaxing and you lay the ground for a superior experience.

Expansion

There are no limits on how far you can go with a business. Public speaking is no different.

There are indefinite ways to level up your game and grow your speaking practice.

You can hire people, build a team, and proceed with partnerships and joint ventures.

This way, you can take advantage of your partners’ assets, resources, and get access to their subscribers’ lists. 

You can partner up with brands that offer complementary services or even with competitors.

You can also run an affiliate program and let marketers all around the world promote your services.

Always work on your relationships with your partners to enhance and strengthen them.

Interact with your affiliates on social media (usually within private groups), dedicated web pages, share updates, offer prizes and rewards, bonuses, so that you keep your affiliates engaged.

We have a whole phase dedicated to partnerships and growth hacking in the “7 Ideals” methodology and use a variety of frameworks and tactics.

Final Thoughts/How I Can Help

This is just the starting point of an exciting career. Study the guide carefully before you decide to move forward with your new entrepreneurial project.

Public speaking is a business and it should be treated as one.

Be consistent, dedicated, and take massive action.

The world is waiting to get amazed by watching your speaking shows.

You have your own unique message to share and your own unique way to deliver it.

It’s a lucrative business model with countless benefits, and this is a perfect time to get involved with such a venture.

Want me to help you jumpstart your public speaking practice?

I’m a marketing consultant who helped hundreds of brands sell more of their products and services on the web and the creator of the “7 Ideals” methodology.

I worked with networks, marketplaces, business owners, communities, and local stores.

I helped names like Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, Jeff Walker, Nick Stephenson, Ray Edwards, Matt McWilliams, Aidan Booth & Steve Clayton, Stu McLaren,  Jeanna Gabellini, Ryan Levesque, Steve Olsher, Kim Walsh Phillips, Eben Pagan, Revealed Films, software companies like ClickFunnels, OptinMonster, Systeme, marketplaces like EnvatoMarket, Designmodo, InkyDeals, Renderosity, Dealjumbo, Snappa, communities like HopeWriters, Wealthy Affiliate, Affilorama, and on and on.

The “7 Ideals” methodology uses a holistic approach. We look at businesses as a whole, not just from a marketing perspective.

In a nutshell, it’s a value-driven customer-centric marketing strategy.

We help you run a healthy business in the most effective way. Every department in your organization should run smoothly and we’ll investigate every aspect of your business to solve issues and make improvements whenever necessary.

We examine and analyze your business in-depth and help you improve in all areas.

The method gives you a clear path, a solid strategy, a unique voice, and a vision.

The methodology helps you develop your own unique brand voice that is key in differentiating from the competition and gaining instant authority and visibility.

The 7 Ideals model gives you a unique language to interact with consumers and other brands in a powerful way and helps you create digital products that you can add to your product line.

It works for any industry and it helps you target specific audiences in an innovative way. You’ll experience high conversions and growth.

We’ll go through the 7 phases, the 7 ideals, and we’ll deploy a host of marketing frameworks to develop and hone your own unique voice, connect with prospects on a deep emotional level, deliver superior experiences via special live events that don’t exist in the market yet, build a marketing machine that produces results for you 24/7, excel as an entrepreneur, and form ideal partnerships to take your business to the next level.

That’s it, another article has finished, here on Web Market Support. I am waiting for your comments and thoughts. Till next time.