Episode Summary

Why do so many capable speakers never gain momentum or consistent bookings?

In this short solo episode, John Ball breaks down the single biggest block that stops speakers from becoming successful professionals. It is not talent, confidence, or credibility. It is the habit of overthinking and under-acting.

Drawing on years of coaching speakers and working inside the speaking industry, John explains how planning becomes a comfort zone, why “being ready” is often procrastination in disguise, and how real progress only starts when action meets reality. If you want to treat speaking like a business rather than a hobby, this episode will give you a sharp reset.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview

02:09 The Main Obstacle for Speakers

03:05 The Importance of Taking Action

06:30 Navigating Challenges and Imperfections

11:30 Building a Speaking Business

17:54 Conclusion and Call to Action

Visit https://strategic-speaker.scoreapp.com to take the 2-minute Strategic Speaking Business Audit and find out what's blocking you from getting more bookings, re-bookings, referrals and bigger fees. There's a special surprise gift for everyone who completes the quiz.

Want to get coached for free on the show? Fill in the form https://forms.gle/mo4xYkEiCjqtz9yP6, and if we think your challenge could help others, we'll invite you on.

For speaking enquiries or to connect with me, you can email john@presentinfluence.com or find me on LinkedIn

You can find all our clips, episodes and more on the Present Influence YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PresentInfluence

Thanks for listening. Rating the show 5* on Spotify helps their algo recommend the show, so please take a moment to follow the show and leave a rating.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Strategic Speaking Business Audit

Take this quick quiz to find out where and why your speaking business is leaking opportunities.

Yesterday, another coach asked me to sit in on their group coaching call.

2

It was, and it was really great.

3

So Ryan, thank you for

inviting me onto that.

4

But whilst I was there, Ryan asked me

a question, and the question was this,

5

what did I think as a speaker and as a

speaker coach for many years, was the top

6

reason why most speakers don't advance

and get success as professional speakers?

7

My answer to that question is what

this episode is going to be about.

8

It's gonna be a bit of a shorter episode.

9

So we're gonna dive into it, but hopefully

it'll give you a bit more clarity.

10

Uh, one of the main obstacles

that speakers tend to face.

11

In fact, uh, I'm gonna share with you

how it is that I can tell whether a

12

speaker is gonna be successful or not.

13

Usually, most of the time, within less

than five minutes of talking to them.

14

So welcome to Professional Speaking

the show for speakers who want to

15

master the stage, book more gigs

and treat speaking like a business.

16

My name's John Ball.

17

I'm keynote speaker, a strategic speaking

business coach and a standup comedian,

18

and I'm here as your guide on the

journey towards speaking Business Master.

19

Welcome to the show, and if

this is your first time here,

20

welcome, great to have you here.

21

And if it's not, welcome back.

22

If you have been listening to the

show before and you're not already

23

subscribed, please make sure you do.

24

And if you're new to the show, well,

you might want to listen to a bit

25

before you make the decision, but I

hope by the end of the episode you

26

will make that decision to subscribe.

27

I will say this, to help sweeten the

pot for you, I have an interview with

28

the amazing Maria Franzoni, who's

a former speaker bureau owner and

29

amazing top level speaker coach that's

coming out at the end of this week.

30

I also, just recently today, in

fact, interviewed David Newman,

31

CSP, who is an incredible speaker

and mostly now just coaches and

32

consults for professional speakers.

33

He has amazing books like Do It Speaking

and his new book Market Eminence,

34

you would not want to miss them.

35

It was a great recording, an episode that

I'm gonna be going back and replaying to

36

listen to all the stuff he said 'cause

there was some absolute gold in there.

37

So if that doesn't whet your

appetite for subscribing to the

38

show, I don't know what will.

39

So the question was this, what

is the number one reason why most

40

speakers struggle to succeed?

41

What is it that stops them

from getting over the edge?

42

And my answer was pretty simple.

43

Too much thinking.

44

Not enough action.

45

Too much thinking, not enough

action, because the reality is most

46

speakers probably don't get to the

reality of speaking gigs or getting

47

well paid for speaking because they

spend way too much time planning.

48

They live in the planning zone.

49

They live there until they lose

all momentum, until they just

50

figure that nothing's happening.

51

So they might as well

focus on other things.

52

The money's running out, whatever savings

they had, if they weren't working in

53

the meantime or other stuff's going

on with their job, that they're just

54

gonna pay attention to that now because

the speaking isn't progressed enough.

55

'cause spent all their time in planning.

56

It's a comfort zone, sadly.

57

I said to you that I could generally

tell within less than five minutes

58

of meeting a speaker whether or not

they would be successful or not.

59

And this is from years of coaching with

people, and certainly saw it in my time

60

with the Speaker Lab as a coach there as

well, that the main trait would be we'd

61

get onto a call with somebody and within

a couple of minutes I could tell whether

62

they were champing at the bit, whether

they just wanted to start prospecting,

63

even if they didn't have a talk title

yet, even if they didn't really know

64

who the audience was going to be, they

didn't have their abstracts or any actual

65

assets that they could use at that point,

they still wanted to start prospecting.

66

They still wanted to start reaching out.

67

That is a pretty good sign that

someone's gonna be successful, and

68

that would generally be people who

had some sort of sales experience

69

and background, although not always.

70

Not always essential as well.

71

Certainly that's not mostly my background

or some more recent years with sales

72

experience, but before that, not so much.

73

So I don't think it's critical factor,

but it's a great mindset to have because

74

they're less afraid about getting out

there and getting rejected or having to

75

figure out what's not working and what

would work instead, get the feedback

76

from people good and bad, that's gonna

help you get to your end destination.

77

Here's the thing with the planners,

they like to think things so carefully.

78

They want to have all

their assets ready to go.

79

They want their speaker

page looking perfect.

80

They want their abstracts

all fully completed.

81

They want their talk topics and titles

validated, and they want their coach

82

to tell them all the good things.

83

But if they're not actually doing

the outreach and prospecting.

84

They haven't got much of a chance

because here's what happens.

85

You end up delaying the real action,

the real activity that will get you

86

results for the sake of planning,

for the sake of having everything

87

perfect as it's ready to go.

88

You know that thing as it, Mike Tyson,

he said that, everyone has a plan

89

till they get punched in the face.

90

At some point, if you do get

started with the real work of

91

getting booked as a speaker, you're

gonna get punched in the face.

92

You're gonna get, not literally,

you're gonna get the rejections, you're

93

gonna get the slap downs, the lack of

responses, you, the things that are.

94

Sometimes disheartening the people

who don't want to work with you.

95

That's all going to happen

and a lot of people don't want

96

to have to deal with that.

97

But it all gives you feedback and then

you'll get booked and you'll get feedback.

98

And some of it's gonna be great and

some of it's not gonna be great.

99

And you have to learn from that.

100

We have to go through this thing

Seth Godin calls it the Dip.

101

Great little book.

102

We have to go through the dip.

103

Even if you've done the most perfect

planning to launch yourself as a

104

speaker, it's not until the rubber

meets the road that you're actually

105

going to be able to figure things out.

106

Because even with everything

done in advance, you are

107

gonna have to reconfigure.

108

You might have to pivot,

figure other things out.

109

You'll see things very clearly that

aren't working, and you'll see what is.

110

You'll get feedback that you don't like.

111

You'll get feedback, but you love, you'll

get all sorts of things coming back to

112

you that are gonna help to direct the

journey that you take as a speaker.

113

And, but none of that happens if you stay

stuck in park, stay stuck in neutral.

114

Stay on the ground at the airport,

your plane never taking off.

115

You know, I think of when a plane,

let's say a plane's going from London

116

to New York, and you look at the flight

map and it looks like a straight line.

117

London to New York.

118

Yeah, it's really straightforward,

but we probably, most of us know this

119

by now, that most planes spend a lot

of their time getting knocked off

120

route by winds, by blowing, blowing

around a bit and maybe having to move

121

around a little bit to avoid other

planes coming in other directions,

122

make sure they have plenty of space.

123

All these sort of things can take

them outta that straight line.

124

So they're moving in all other

directions, but consistently,

125

constantly readjusting so that they

can still get to the end destination.

126

And there might be all sorts of

turbulence and challenges along the way.

127

That's life.

128

That's what happens.

129

But you still do everything you

can to get to that end destination,

130

and it's never a straight line.

131

So I would say don't even

try to start perfect.

132

Start imperfect, because it's

never gonna be perfect and

133

it's gonna be, you know what?

134

If you write a book and you send it

to a publisher and, you want to get it

135

published by a publisher, and they might

come back and if they like it and want

136

to publish the book, they're probably

gonna tell you that they want all sorts of

137

rewrites and they want to change this and

change that and do this instead of that.

138

And your Precious Darling

Baby book that you've created.

139

Is going to be completely changed

from what you had envisioned at

140

the start because you went ahead

and completed it without having the

141

industry feedback from a professional

as to what their expectation

142

would be for that kind of book.

143

I'm gonna forget the name of the

author here, who came up with the

144

concept of Kill your Darlings.

145

But you do often have to do that.

146

So maybe start before you

actually create them, and then

147

you don't have to kill them.

148

You can figure things

out as you go because.

149

You're not gonna have it all

figured out when you start.

150

So imperfect action really is far better

to go for and start figuring it out.

151

Perfect as you go.

152

Make things better as you go.

153

Know that you'll never

really hit perfection.

154

There's always gonna be a

level beyond where you are.

155

That's not the goal, but

perfecting absolutely is.

156

But it only can happen when you start

really making things happen, and I'll

157

say this, throwing out all sorts of

content, throwing all the, as Courtney

158

was talking about last week, throwing

all the spaghetti pasta in Italy at

159

the wall in terms of content and social

interactions on social media, and

160

seeing very little results from that.

161

It's very common for a lot of speakers.

162

We are trying to cover all our bases

and do everything, and yet you get so

163

little yield from it that it ends up

becoming disheartening, disappointing

164

because you don't really see the

results that you would be hoping to see.

165

These things are nearly always slow build.

166

Organic growth is nearly

always slow build.

167

It requires some patience.

168

It requires a will.

169

It requires you to know that this

is what you really want to do.

170

I got asked, by a friend recently,

knowing that I had done theater studies,

171

drama at university, amongst other

topics, why didn't I become an actor?

172

I said, well, look, I loved doing it.

173

Just didn't think I had what it

takes to become a professional actor.

174

Did I have talent?

175

Yeah, some.

176

I, I was better in comedies than

pretty much anything else, which,

177

uh, sort of gave more, maybe more

understandable as I look back.

178

One thing was I didn't think, I

didn't really think I was attractive

179

enough to become a professional actor.

180

I wasn't sure I had the talent.

181

The deal breaker for me was this, I

figured to do something like that.

182

I had to know for myself that

I couldn't do anything else.

183

That nothing else would make me happy.

184

That this was the, this was it.

185

This is the thing that I really, really

want to do above everything else.

186

And I just didn't know that.

187

It just seemed like a nice, fun

thing that if someone wanted

188

to pay me for doing that.

189

Great.

190

But it, no.

191

Otherwise I was just.

192

Probably gonna have fun and be happy

doing some amateur productions.

193

And now I'm happy doing my speaking gigs

and comedy nights and things like that.

194

So it's all worked out.

195

But I think this is as this can be similar

for our lives now, is like a lot of the

196

reason why people don't go forward is

giving them a lot of what ties people

197

into this not really taking action is the

imposter syndrome is they're thinking,

198

they're not attractive enough, thinking

they, they're not interested enough,

199

not experienced enough, not enough

of an expert in what they're doing.

200

All sorts of reasons rather

than actually getting started.

201

You are giving people the reasons

to reject you before you even go out

202

there and do it, and yet you know that

this is what you really want to do.

203

The alternative is going back to the

thing that you wanted to get away from,

204

the thing that you never want to go

back to, and that's not too appealing.

205

So how do you start taking

the right kind of action?

206

I often will talk about this.

207

You need that business engine, and

it's not the sexy stuff of speaking.

208

This is all the stuff that happens

off stage, behind the scenes.

209

You in your office or in your

coworker's space or wherever you are

210

working from, coffee bars, whatever.

211

Doing the research, doing the

prospecting, using your CRM, following

212

up with people, doing the reach out,

finding out who's booking in your area.

213

Looking through feedback from previous

events that you've done and making

214

improvements to what you are offering.

215

Getting a coach to make sure that you

can fix whatever opportunity leaks you

216

have in your business right now, and

make sure that you are really not just

217

mastering the stage, but getting as

many bookings as you can and achieving.

218

The top level of income that you can

for the stage that you're at currently,

219

and I don't think we can generally

do that too easily by ourselves.

220

We need some external lies on what

we're doing, and you might say, oh

221

yeah, you would say that you're a coach.

222

You want us to come and be your client.

223

So I say, you can be my client,

you can work with someone else.

224

I just want you to get the help

that you need to get to get

225

to where you want to get to.

226

I can do that for many of you

and, other coaches can as well.

227

Maybe you prefer to work with Maria

Fran if you can afford her fees.

228

'cause she costs a lot more than me.

229

Maybe you prefer to work with David

Newman, who I was just talking about.

230

He does all these courses.

231

You might have to travel, travel for

some of those, but there are other

232

people who do those programs as well.

233

I don't, I'm okay.

234

If you don't choose me to

be your coach, I'll survive.

235

But if you do.

236

I'm one of the people who can help you

to do that, but I think we all need

237

those external eyes on what we do.

238

We need something more than

AI to give us feedback.

239

We need someone who can watch

us on stage and or watch us on a

240

podcast interview and give us the

real feedback that we need to hear.

241

Was, talking about this recently, about

a podcast guest who, some people, some

242

of the guests I have on the show are

not always very aware of when they're

243

talking too much or when they're not

really leaving gat for the speaker, for

244

the host where they're making it almost

pointless for the host to be there

245

or where they're just oversharing or

overexcited or not coming across well.

246

As a host, generally you're not

gonna feed that back to people.

247

They don't appreciate it,

it's not what they came for.

248

And even if they ask for it,

some of some people do ask for

249

feedback, you wanna be polite.

250

They've just given up their time and their

energy and to come and share with you.

251

So they're not the people

to give you feedback.

252

You need this passionate feedback from

someone who doesn't owe you anything,

253

from someone who you are paying to

give you that feedback that you really

254

need to hear, tell you good stuff,

tell you we're doing well, and help

255

you enhance, but to tell you what's not

going well, to help you course correct

256

for the things that you can't see

because we all have blind spots as well.

257

I think the biggest blind spot I see

for most speakers who are not really

258

progressing and moving forward is

that they're too focused on creating

259

content, trying to go viral online,

trying to create YouTube videos,

260

trying to, have the podcasts or

whatever else to get them the results.

261

I've just been creating a program for

strategic podcast guesting for speakers,

262

and I think it can be a great strategy

for getting yourself out there and, and

263

certainly if you're a speaker who does

other things than speaking as well.

264

Even better.

265

It's a bit, not always so easy, but still

possible to get speaking gigs through

266

your podcast appearances, if you show

up the right way, but you then have

267

to know how to show up the right way.

268

You can't just show up and wing it

and hope that it all works out or that

269

somebody likes you and I say, oh, I

should bring them in as a speaker.

270

This idea that we're gonna get

spotted or other people are just

271

gonna pluck us outta obscurity.

272

Who needs to be let go of nearly

everything you'll get is gonna come from

273

you being excellent at what you do and

being out there doing it in the world.

274

Now, I know that a lot of speakers

will tell you that they get most of

275

their business free referrals, but they

still have to build up to a level where

276

they're getting the referrals first.

277

And if you haven't got that

kind of momentum, you have

278

to start building it out.

279

But even when you do, even when

times are good, you still need

280

to keep that engine tuned and

going, keep the follow ups going.

281

Speaking is a business, it's not

just the case of where when you get

282

to a sufficient level of speaker

celebrity that you can stop.

283

Even famous people who do some speaking

work still need to work, still need to

284

put some fuel in their engine to get more

things happening, to get more bookings

285

if they're relying on speaking income.

286

So there are things to think about, but

hopefully this gets, gets some clarity

287

as the number one thing to focus on doing

is stop planning or stop overplanning.

288

Because he might as well just go and

sit in the park or the garden and

289

stare at the sky, because it's not

gonna get you where you want to get to.

290

It is time to get focused on action.

291

Yes, you need some kind of plan,

but you need the kind of plan you

292

could write on the, on a Post-it

note or the back of a bar napkin.

293

You only need enough strategy to be able

to start moving forward and taking action.

294

You do not want or need to

have everything figured out.

295

I hope this message hits home and I

hope it's valuable to you as well.

296

I even find myself telling myself

this sometimes because it's

297

such an easy trap to fall into.

298

We have to keep taking action.

299

It has to be real world action.

300

It has to be putting ourselves into

the danger zone, the discomfort

301

zone, where we meet reality that

where we can get rejected, where we

302

can get feedback that we don't like.

303

That's all how we grow

and start to figure out.

304

It's the path to excellence.

305

It's the path to the stage of speaking

that we all want to be at, and we

306

have to take those biz as being

part of the journey, not as being

307

something we hope we can avoid.

308

Alright, I'm gonna wrap things up then if

you have a speaking business right now.

309

I hope you do.

310

That's good reason to listen to this show.

311

If you haven't already taken

the two minute speaker quiz

312

audit, do go and take it.

313

It's gonna help you figure out where

the leaks are in your business, and

314

if you want, we can have a little

chat about how to help you fix those

315

opportunity leaks to make sure that

you are rising up in the right way.

316

If this show has inspired you to some

kind of action, if this show has hit

317

home for you in some kind of way, or

maybe poked you a little bit and then,

318

oh, I'm a little bit uncomfortable.

319

But yeah, you're right.

320

Let me know.

321

I'd love to hear that.

322

I'll be honest, I'm desperately

looking for five star reviews

323

on Spotify at the moment.

324

If you have Spotify, look for professional

speaking and the podcast there, and,

325

you will have to listen to I, you

can listen to the trailer, you can

326

listen to at least a couple of shows.

327

I think you have to listen to at least

30 seconds of a few shows, and then

328

it will let you leave a rating for.

329

Please go there and leave us five stars.

330

It's gonna help people.

331

It's, it actually encourages

Spotify to recommend the show to

332

other people in similar areas.

333

Um, it is your word of mouth, your

referrals, your recommendations

334

that help this show to grow.

335

We are growing.

336

It's a slow and steady journey,

one that I'm very happy to see has

337

been increasing fair bit recently.

338

So for those of you who have been

coming to the show and sticking around.

339

Thank so you've been getting

from, and I look to you again.

340

Time on professional speaking.

341

Bye.