Written by: Jasmin Haley, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Climbing on stage and sharing your message is not for the faint of heart.
It takes guts to be seen and share your story.
It also takes an immense amount of preparation, time, and effort to build your speaking brand.
It takes hours of travel to reach a location, hours to prepare your presentation and present in front of an audience, and hours to speak with audience members after you leave the podium.
Although it can look glamorous, speaking isn’t a glide-in, glide-out cakewalk of a job.
It is about much more than building engaging presentations, delivering keynotes, and engaging your audience through storytelling.
If you want to build a thriving speaking business that is sustainable, you need to look beyond just speaking to speak and get strategic.
So what are the business strategies you need to utilize to create a booming speaking business?
You need 3 fundamentals to create a sustainable brand with a reliable income stream.
1. Authenticity
To be a successful speaker, speaking about what moves you is critical.
This is why I recommend starting your speaking business with an impactful message that lights you up and allows you to stay passionate about your business.
Why?
When your message springs from your passion, it makes enthusiasm visible in a way that moves listeners. Audiences feel your authenticity which enhances their connection with your speaking brand.
Let me say that again, authenticity is key!
My advice to up and coming speakers is to drop the cookie-cutter image and the toxic push for perfection because audiences want to start and build a relationship with YOU.
Who you are is what will set you apart on stage.
Strategically that also means you will need to design a signature program that encompasses your mission and build offers that integrate your values & showcase your gifts.
2. Consistent Brand Positioning
When starting in the speaking industry, taking any offer for a paying gig can be tempting, even when the topic isn’t aligned with your passion and topic.
Unfortunately, when we speak about anything and everything, we do a disservice to our brand.
Consistent positioning is how you can associate yourself with your topic and create a clear brand for organizers to refer to easily.
I know many of us are multi-passionate entrepreneurs who don’t want to be limited, but you do need to showcase a consistent message to brand yourself in the minds of event planners and audiences.
When I first began speaking, my passion and signature topics were centered on persons living with HIV/AIDS and how to care for them within the healthcare community.
I attended and spoke at every event associated with this niche until I became synonymous with the topic.
What was the result?
Abundant referrals and consistent callbacks.
By being consistent with my topic and messaging, I positioned my speaking brand as an authority and created a recognizable brand that gave organizers total clarity on who I served and what I could deliver to their audiences.
Specificity is fundamental to your long-term speaking success, so don’t be afraid to be precise in what you represent and selective in the jobs you accept!
3. Creating Systems Of Support
On stage, you can deliver keynotes that receive standing ovations, but you need a solid business foundation to build a sustainable income stream.
I often witness speakers speaking everywhere with no real business strategy or support system behind their speaking brand. Over time they become overwhelmed with delivering one keynote or workshop after another while nothing sustainable is built.
It’s easy to feel that lasting success is out of your reach when you're in this phase, but that isn’t the reality.
If you want to succeed long-term, you need to develop the fundamental aspects of your speaking business: systems, automation, and marketing assets that support you beyond the podium.
Investing in automation tools that allow you to give your clients white glove service, using a high-quality CRM like Honeybook, working with a productivity tool like ClickUp, and creating proprietary processes to leverage your intellectual capital will allow you to scale your business to 7 figures and beyond.
Support systems don’t always have to mean significant technology investments, either.
Strategies as simple as automating your welcome and nurture sequences for clients beginning their client journey can have powerful results for your business.
Speaking success and business longevity take planning and effort to cultivate, but with commitment, you can achieve your speaking vision and build your speaking legacy!
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!
Jasmin Haley, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
As seen in Time and NextAdvisor, nationally awarded speaker and workshop facilitator Jasmin Haley, MS, is the CEO of a consulting firm that creates transformative speakers, strengthens presentation skills & designs speaker assets.
Jasmin has been featured or spoken for in national media outlets such as Crest, Colgate, CE Zoom, Con Edison, The University of Maryland School of Medicine, the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, and RDH Magazine.
She has traveled the country as a sought-after speaker on overcoming burnout, diversity & inclusion for healthcare providers, and how to create presentations that reach the HEARTs of audiences.
