Being a motivational speaker is the culmination of another profession or line of specialty, oftentimes of authorship and coaching. Therefore, it comes with a lot of prerequisites that you have to do and master at some point to reach your desired destination. Nobody becomes a motivational speaker in a snap. The best ones in the world built their reputation for years before they were able to start filling venues to the brim. Along with that are promotional and networking efforts to help them spread the news of their expertise.
Speaker ship is a business, and there are proper steps to launch it with enough momentum. Here are five of the essential ones:
1. Choose a line of specialization.
Like in any career, a speaker needs to be a master of something to become a leader. There are different kinds and reasons for motivation, and you have to find yours. You have to be as specific as you can to establish yourself as a true expert and be able to target a particular audience.
Does your expertise lean towards spirituality, leadership, business, or self-esteem? Are you more confident to talk about everyday life challenges, struggles in business, sexuality, beauty and fitness, or overall well being? Pick one niche and widen your knowledge in that area.
2. Choose a style
This is the best time to think about the style of motivational speaking you want to start and the core principle you want to share. Your style is apt to be your own brand—your image.
Do you want to be the spiritual kind? Do you want to create a formal and business-like image? Do you want to be hip and reach the masses? Do you want to be witty and use humor as your primary attraction? Whatever you choose, your style needs to reflect your personality.
3. Create a channel
After pondering about the type of speaker you want to be, you need a channel to inform the world about it. Most of today’s world-renowned motivational speaker started with authorship, such as Stephen Covey, Anthony Robbins, and John Maxwell. There are those who started working in the same industry where their audience belongs, such as Robert Kiyosaki and the late Zig Ziglar. There are also those who belong to an unconventional background but ended up giving motivational speeches at some point in their careers, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin. Hence, you need to be someone in your own right before you can market yourself as a motivational speaker.
You can choose the traditional way and publish motivational books before you can go to the next level of speaking, but that normally takes years. You can choose a more convenient way of self-publication, typically through the digital publication of eBooks. Almost all motivational speakers have their own websites and social media accounts to make them more accessible to their audience. You are encouraged to do the same.
4. Build a network
There is no best way to market yourself but through word-of-mouth, or in today’s internet era, referral. You need people to recognize and start talking about you. That is possible if you can successfully build a network of audiences that will help you with promotion.
What novice speakers would normally do is join organizations that allow them to give speeches for free. At the same time, they earn valuable connections that can lead them to bigger audiences and more sponsors.
5. Get an agent
Finally, once you have established yourself as a talked-about motivational speaker, you need an agent to formally assist you with promotions, negotiations with potential sponsors, and management of fan-base. It is better to delegate and just focus on your speech when you already have a lot of things to take care of.