Become a Professional Motivational Speaker!

Nearly all would-be and amateur speakers make the mistake of assuming that meeting planners hire speakers because they are funny, entertaining, have great stories, and fantastic stagecraft. These are all important, but they won’t get you hired.

(This is why you often see awful speakers on stages and fantastically skilled speakers bitterly in the audience.)

To make matters worse, when speakers build out their marketing materials and brand based on these false assumptions, they waste a lot of time and energy because the paid speaking engagements don’t follow (except in the cases of celebrities… my guess is that you aren’t one).

This module's video will establish the framework for why speakers actually get paid to speak. Get this correct - right now - and your marketing materials, speech, and brand will be off to a great start.

Ignore this, or get it wrong, and you’ll be fighting an uphill battle your entire career!

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Be able to answer the question, "Why will a meeting planner hire me?"

• Don't worry about creating your solutions just yet... we'll get to that.

• Read the related 'Corbin Ball' linked article

• Watch the linked bonus video

In order to have a successful speaking career, you must have a powerful marketing machine AND a great speech.

Therefore, this module is going to focus on the ingredients for a powerful marketing machine and precisely what makes a great speech. In your marketing materials, you must create mechanisms for displaying the value you’ll bring to an organization. In your speech, you must implement mechanisms for delivering that value. That is, you must be able to actually deliver the goods and bring solutions that benefit your audience members.

The elements covered in this lesson will therefore be included in your speech, marketing materials, & products.

Action Steps to Proceed

IMPORTANT: Use the action guide for this module!

• Brainstorm 3 potential hooks.

• After sitting on your hook for 48 hours, decide on the one that is most authentic to you.


• Choose a niche that excites you and that can support your desired lifestyle. (Select one of the five audience categories. )


• Craft the formula that will convey your solution.

• Review the bonus materials for further clarification.

Every successful business has something to sell. Your ‘product’ is your speech. So, we are going to focus on writing a ‘crazy-good’ speech!

You can’t create a great demo video, nor can you get referrals to paid gigs (both are deliverables we’ll get to later in this course) unless you have a great product that meeting planners actually want!

Therefore, we’re going to focus on creating a speech that sells itself and gets you referrals.

Note that this process may have elements that are similar to what you’ve previously learned about speech construction, however, there are several major elements that will be different. You must not ignore these! Pay close attention, and let’s make you a great speech!

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Write your entire keynote speech.

• Rehearse your keynote speech until you have it down pat.

• See action guide for step-by-step guidance.

• Review bonus material.

You will have 7 booked talks after completing this module. The gigs are probably going to be 3-6 weeks from today.

These will be ‘value-exchange’ speeches. In other words, you will barter your services in exchange for career-establishing building blocks.

As payment, you will be receiving 5 ‘tangibles’ and 7 ‘intangibles. Lets start building your empire!

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Get at least 15 names, phone numbers, and emails for prospective value-exchange speeches. Choose from the 7 possibilities we’ve covered.

• Track your marketing by date-stamping each completed step of your marketing sequence.

• Track your marketing in your spreadsheet by date-stamping each completed step of your marketing sequence.

• Present your 5 conditions at the same time you agree on dates and times (ensure that you can collect your value-exchange items.

• Continue this email-call-email-quit sequence until you have 7 events on the calendar.

If you’re going to make a great demo video, you naturally need great footage for that video.

Therefore, this module focuses on how to get professional, crisp, compelling footage of you while speaking.

Meeting planners want to see the results that you have a result on an audience. This is best conveyed in video format. Therefore, filming your upcoming 7 ‘value exchange’ gigs is our next step!

We’ll cover the surprisingly simple, most effective methods that range in cost from free to inexpensive.

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Choose which of the three methods (hire crew, audience, or DIY) you’ll get footage from.

• If hiring a crew, post ads. If using the audience, rehearse asking them to film. If DIY, buy the Rode smartLav+ and a Swivl. 


• Go through the bonus materials.

Think of your products as an extension of yourself and of your message.

This is why it is crucially important that you focus on getting your first product ready to go… as soon as possible.

Some speakers feel embarrassed or ashamed about selling products to audience members. This is a logical fallacy; these speakers would like to be paid for sharing their knowledge in speech form, but in book, dvd, or any other form, it suddenly becomes a sin?

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re doing something wrong by offering products to your audiences. If you create products that are actually valuable and life-enhancing, you’re helping your audiences more than you ever could with a speech alone.

So, let’s create your first product, make it have a lot of lasting value for your buyers, and let’s get you some cash coming in at your first 7 value-exchange gigs.

This just keeps getting better!

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Choose the ONE product to focus on completing. 


• Spend the next 7 days producing that product!


• Let me know what you’ve made! Comment on the module page.

• Set a price that reflects the value that you’re delivering with the product!

You’ve done the heavy lifting. Your gigs are booked and you’ve got both speech and product ready to roll. Great job.

Now, let’s talk about both what to do that will make you be a professional at your events as well as exactly how to get the ‘value exchange’ items you need from each of your events.

It’s important to note that you should do these things at all events moving forward. In other words, begin practicing them at your 7 value-exchange gigs. When you begin charging a fee, continue to do these tasks!

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Write a 3-4 sentence introduction for yourself. Type it up and print it in a large font so that it takes up an entire 8.5x11 sheet of paper.


• Adjust the testimonial & referral request form to fit your needs and make it match your style. Print off enough copies for your event.


• Decide how you will be collecting video testimonials and make proper filming arrangements.

• Write an ideal letter of recommendation about yourself. Once someone ‘signs off’ on the recommendation, write another!

• Adjust the referral request form to fit your needs and make it match your style. Print it off and give one to the person who brought you in to speak.


• Read the bonus articles.

You’ve now got several speeches under your belt. You have raw footage of those talks, you’ve been selling your product, collecting referrals and testimonials, and making an impact.

Now we’re going put these components together into a ‘teaser’ that we can put on display for prospective clients to see!

The purpose of your demo video is to prove to your target buyers that your hook is relevant to the niche and that your speech will solve their problems.

That’s the entire purpose of your demo video.

You will talk yourself up with the purpose of generating credibility as a provider of solutions. This is not the place for self-aggrandizement.

You can do this in a 2-3 minute video. Think of it like a ‘movie trailer.’

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Create your demo video’s storyboard.

• Decide on a method for editing your demo video.

• Watch the linked bonus articles and watch the 'Erin Lashley' video.

• Edit your first demo video or work with your editor until it’s completed! AKA: Finish your demo video!

It’s time to get you some photographs!

In your website - and ALL of your marketing materials, it’s the quality of your photographs that will cause meeting planners to either say, ‘mehhhh…’ or ‘yeahhhh!’

You obviously want them to say ‘yeahhhhh!’ So, let’s talk about the three kinds of photos you need and how to get very high quality versions of each.

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist prior to moving forward to the next lesson.

• Inventory the photos you already have.

• Decide what you’re missing.

• Choose one of the 8 methods to get those missing photos.

• Read the articles that you deem fit.

• Watch this video covering how to take still-frame shots with Skitch.

Congratulations! You’re there! You’ve done the heavy lifting and you’re now in an incredibly advantageous position to begin accepting paid speaking engagements.

You’re ready to start collecting those checks! It’s time to hit the ground running with your speech by creating a marketing plan so that you can begin climbing toward the $5000-$10,000 dollar per speech fee range.

Action Steps to Proceed

Complete this checklist to successfully complete this course!

• Decide on the fee that you’ll begin quoting during negotiations.

• Contact your referrals and ask them to book you!

• Begin your next SpeakerCareer course!