Welcome back to My First Stage! I’m your host, Sara Lohse, and this is the show where I get real with speakers from all walks of life about how they landed their first gigs, overcame setbacks, and built thriving businesses—and communities—through getting on stage.

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Leisa Reid, a name you absolutely need to know if you’re serious about public speaking. With over 600 talks delivered, nine books, and as the founder of Get Speaking Gigs Now and CEO of the International Speaker Network, Leisa has not only mastered the art of getting onstage—she’s built a business around helping others do it, too. If you’ve ever wondered how to go from dreaming about speaking to actually getting booked (a LOT), Leisa’s story and advice are going to fire you up.

Here’s a quick overview of what Leisa Reid and I covered:

• Her journey from starting out in 2013, landing 83 speaking gigs in her first year, and then building a machine for consistent bookings and referrals
• The launch of the International Speaker Network for collaboration instead of cold-calling
• The biggest myths around “paid” vs. “free” gigs and why she focused on lead generation instead of speaking fees
• How to develop your one “ready to rock” signature talk and why you don’t need dozens of unique presentations
• Using regional association chapters and event mapping to multiply your speaking opportunities close to home
• The wildest moments on stage—from malfunctioning projectors to unexpected tornado warnings
• The secret sauce for turning talks into clients (and what most speakers miss)
• How to sort the real gigs from the “catfish” ones and use referrals to find your best opps
• Why “brilliance hoarding” keeps you invisible, and how confidence skyrockets when you claim your expertise—and your offer

Ready to step up your speaking game after this episode? Here’s what you can do:

• Grab Leisa’s Free Tips – Visit getspeakinggigsnow.com/tips to get Leisa Reid’s five top tips for booking more speaking gigs right now.
• Audit Your Signature Talk – Take a page from Leisa Reid: focus on creating and perfecting one “ready to rock” talk before anything else!
• Map Your Opportunities – List out local associations and organizations where your ideal audience hangs out, and start nurturing those networks—referrals are gold.
• Avoid the Catfish – Network with other speakers, trade honest feedback about events, and don’t fall for the “pay to play” hype unless you know your ROI.
• Subscribe & Leave a Review – If this episode inspired you, subscribe to My First Stage, leave a review, and tell me what tip or story stood out—or who I should bring on next!

Thank you so much for tuning in. I can’t wait to bring you more no-fluff advice, wild stories, and actionable strategies next week on My First Stage!

Timestamped Summaries

[00:00-02:46] – I introduce Leisa Reid, who dives right in with her story of landing 83 speaking gigs in her first year (and the lesson in not cold-calling alone, thanks to building a referral network).

[02:46-03:45] – We talk about why her early focus wasn’t on paid gigs, but generating high-value clients through speaking, and why “what’s your talk?” should be your first question.

[03:45-05:12] – Leisa Reid breaks down why having ONE signature talk is game-changing, and how perfecting it leads to real results instead of burning time creating new talks for every event.

[05:12-07:23] – Strategies to book dozens of stages within a “50 mile radius”—and how Leisa Reid leveraged regional association chapters to quadruple her opportunities.

[08:58-09:53] – We discuss the learning curve of speaking, why you should do one talk a LOT before expanding, and how things inevitably go wrong (including tech disasters and last-minute pivots).

[12:15-13:41] – Leisa Reid shares her “worst day” stories—like the time a failed projector forced her to improvise with an easel—and why going analog can save the day.

[15:33-16:46] – What to always bring with you, from handouts and offers to “knowing your talk in your bones,” so you’re ready whether the power goes out or bees fly into the room.

[19:05-20:31] – Why there’s no “magic list of gigs”—and how mapping your ideal audience, associations, and events locally builds the “treasure in your backyard.”

[22:40-23:53] – We dig deep on why not all gigs are worth your time, how to avoid getting catfished, and why trusted speaker networks are crucial for quality referrals.

[27:04-28:55] – A real talk about “pay to play” opportunities, running events through your “resentment filter,” and what to watch out for if you’re offered a stage in exchange for a fee.

[30:10-31:26] – Why not getting clients from your talks means there’s a “hole in the boat,” and how sales strategy is an inescapable reality (even for doctors and attorneys).

[32:36-33:39] – How to create genuine visibility: get your signature talk ready, share it confidently, and watch as opportunities start to find you.

[34:09-36:47] – Leisa Reid’s top actionable tips: build your talk, know your ideal audience, get a monetization plan, and use research (and even ChatGPT) to find your first gigs.

Welcome back to my first stage. I am here with Ms. Leisa Reid. She is the founder of Get Speaking Gigs now, which is probably the most perfect title for a guest on this show. She's also the CEO of the International Speaker Network and has delivered over 600 talks, authored nine books, and is here to help us understand how we can start getting speaking gigs now. So, Leisa, thanks so much for being here.

Oh, I'm so excited to be here with you.

I'm excited to have you and I want to jump right into it because your, your brand is Get Speaking Gigs Now.

That's right.

So what, what, what's your secret? How do we do it?

What do we do? Well, it started back in 2013. I was hired by a company to get speaking gigs, literally to. To drive clients into the, you know, not drive them physically, but metaphorically drive clients into the business and take personal development workshops. And so that first year I booked 83 speaking engagements.

For yourself?

For myself. And then I delivered them. So not only booked them and delivered them.

83, 83.

I'll explain in just a minute. Dude. It's probably like, oh, that's now I have like a boatload of questions and I brought in hundreds of clients to that organization and then I would just rinse and repeat that every single year. Well, along the way I started the network, which is now called the International Speaker Network. About six months in, I thought, gosh, this is really hard to do all by myself. I want to partner with other people, I want to collaborate with other people. How do I do that? I will bring us all together. And so that really helped me create more referrals into speaking so that even though I would still get the same amount of speaking engagements each year, I'd usually do like 60, 70 a year.

I wasn't having to cold call as much, which I find a soul sucking activity for most entrepreneurs and especially speakers. So I was kind of like, what can we do that's not as painful? Like, we want to be on the stage, but we don't really want to do the heavy lifting to get there. And so then people started asking me for help in the network. They were like, how do you get booked so often? What are you doing? And I thought, oh, it's not that hard. I don't know, it's not that big of a deal. I don't know what I'm doing. And I mean, I knew what I was doing, but I didn't really think I would. Wasn't really prepared to teach other people how to do it until one day, finally, like, the 77th person.

Person asked for help. I thought, okay, I need to change my attitude and mindset around this. And I went home and I bought the URL. Get speaking gigs now. And I started writing down, well, what is it that I do? And I started cataloging it, then I started teaching it, then I started getting clients with it. And so that's the headline. And now we can dive into the nitty gritty.

Yeah, it's funny because that's basically how I came up with the show because I was always getting asked, how do I get on stages? How do I get booked on bigger stages, new stages? And I was like, I can tell you how I've done it, but I don't have all the answers. I'm just going to crowdsource and bring on other people to give those answers. So definitely very similar way to develop kind of a brand. So what. What. What was it? What are. What are those secrets?

Well, for me, and I want to delineate something just because I know a lot of your audience may be thinking, oh, my gosh, are. Their first question is usually, are those paid gigs or those not paid? Whatever. So I want to just get. Address the elephant in the room. Getting paid speaking gigs was not my intention initially because I was there to get clients, which in my world generates a lot more money than the paid speaking gigs. So it's a different strategy. Not for everybody, but certainly it's strategy that works really well for me and I really enjoy it. So there's different strategies for different.

Depending on what game you're playing. But the first thing I say to people when they ask me, how do you get speaking gigs? I'm like, well, what? I'll say, well, what's your talk? And if they hesitate, if they're not sure, then I'm like, well, that's your first step. You need to put your stake in the ground and say, like, I call it. Get your talk ready to rock. I love rock music, and I love music. And so I just say, like, it's just easy. It rhymes. But I say you have to decide what's your, you know, call to action, what's your description, what's your learning points, what's your title, and.

And make that claim. And then you have something to bring to the table because it's really difficult to be a speaker if you don't already have that ready. It's like, I want to play baseball, but I don't have cleats, and I don't have. I don't know how to throw a ball and I don't know how to, you know, go up to bat. How, how would you play baseball then? So that would be step number one. And I can keep going, but yeah, I want to give you.

Oh, sorry, say something.

I.

So you say, like, have your talk ready. So are you. When you said you did 83, I think it was talks in a year. Was that the same talk that you gave, like, over and over again?

Yes, yes. Okay, I know. So in, in my world, if you're speaking to get clients, you're meeting different people all the time. It doesn't matter if you say the same thing over and over again. And it wasn't memorized necessarily. There was a structure to it. But I didn't say the exact same words every single time. I gave the exact same points and, and, and experience.

It was an experiential learning talk. And I had the same offer. I only had one offer at that time to give, so that was it. And so it makes your life a lot easier than having to develop. I think sometimes people think they're always having to develop content, which can take an enormous amount of time. Now, if a corporation is hiring you for a specific thing, yeah, you might need to develop specific content for that event that they're paying you for. But when you are speaking in order to generate clients and you're not negotiating with a corporation about what they want, you've negotiated with the, you've had a conversation with the meeting planner, what would be appropriate for the audience. But it's a really different strategy.

Yeah. And then are these like, these 83 talks in one year? You said you're doing like 60 a year. Are these conferences or these private events? Like, what type of, like, venue? I guess, like what kind of event?

Yeah, all different. It depends on the person. So when I work with people in my speakers training academy, what we do is we customize. It depends on the person. It depends on what they want, what's their business, what kind of clients are they serving, where do they live, do they want to travel? Do they not want to travel? Are they comfortable with tech and speaking virtually or not? Are there clients at corporate events? Are they at conferences, are they at associations, are they local? So all these things need to go into the filter before you decide, like, oh, I just want to be a speaker. It's like, okay, well, who needs to hear your message and where are they hanging out? When I first started speaking, I was speaking about personal development. So in that sense, it was what I Call industry agnostic. Like anybody could.

I could speak to an association of project managers or I could speak to realtors, I could speak to entrepreneurs, chambers, business, women, businessmen, all, all different kinds of shapes and sizes of people. But my one parameter was they were going to be coming to a physical location to take this workshop. So I would have like about a 50 mile radius where I was. So as long as they were, the event was in the 50 mile radius, we were good.

You get that many stages that close to home.

Oh, yeah. Well, so this is where again, it depends. It depends on where you live. Right. So I live in Orange County, California.

Okay.

And I discovered a way to. So one of the things about me is that I, I don't like to waste time. I like to do things like shortest distance between, you know, what is it? This between two points, you know, A and B. I wanted.

It's a straight line.

Yeah, there we go. I wanted to figure out how could I get there quickly. So what I would do is I would find an association, usually would get a referral of an association of some kind, and I would typically get referred to the Orange county chapter. Well, where I live there is three other counties within an hour away. There's la, there's San Diego, and there's Inland Empire, which is not as popular as the other two. I don't know why, but it's really big county. And so I would immediately turn one association gig into. Into four.

Yeah, there we go. So sometimes people aren't thinking smart, they're working hard, not working smart. And so then that same association, maybe they have a regional event and maybe they have a statewide event that's still like within, you know, they often have events in Orange County, California or San Diego, Los Angeles. So it depends on where I. So that worked for where I lived. And now this is back in 2013. We weren't doing zoom presentations or zoom talks at that time. So.

So it was a. It was definitely boots on the ground.

We have to have our talk. And. And you say to have that one basically like signature talk. It's.

I would recommend that to start. Yeah, I think a lot of times people think, well, I have to have three. I'm like, well, if you've never had one, like, if you haven't even done it yet, how can you have three? You have to start with one at least and then do that a bunch of times. Like they're in, in your first hundred talks you are going to learn so much, things are going to go wrong. Technology is going to fail. I know one of your times you were about to go on stage, and the person before you said exactly what you were going to say. So you're like, okay, I got to change that up in the morning. Did not anticipate that happening.

When you speak, enough things go wrong. So you learn a lot just by doing. And then you start to go, oh, yeah, I have another talk here now I'm ready to develop. But if you start with three at a time and you haven't even done it yet, that's three. Three different slide decks. That's three different ways to practice that you're. It's a little. It's a lot to manage when you haven't actually done it yet.

I feel like I've been doing this wrong this whole time now because I. I like the way I do it. Like, I have a. Like, I'm a member of a platform that gives you, like, a whole list of. Basically a spreadsheet of every event looking for speakers. And I will find an event that I'm like, oh, that's cool. I'd go to that, and then I would, like, make a talk that would fit it. And I have a.

Like a Google Doc that's like 60 pages long where I just, like, keep a record of, like, all of these talks that I've put together. And I'm like, huh, that's a lot of work that I've been doing.

Yeah. So what I used to do. So the topic that I would speak on is called creating a winning mindset. So sometimes I would say, like, if I'm going to a Realtor event, I would say, creating a winning mindset for Realtors or creating a winning mindset for business owners or creating winning mindset for blah, blah, blah. Right. Engineers. And. And then I would use.

I would put that filter over that talk. Like, I would use examples if I'm speaking to realtors, you know, when you're. When you're out getting listings, when you're out getting, you know, buyers, et cetera. I would use the verbiage for that industry within the talk. So I wasn't changing the bulk of it, but I would do the nuances or change how I showed up versus how I show up in front of a group of Realtors is really different than how I show up in front of a nonprofit organization. Right. And so read the room and things like that.

Yeah, I think that that's a little more of the way that I do. Like, my ebooks. Like, I have ebooks that are why every author needs a Podcast, why every real estate agent needs a podcast, why every financial advisor needs a podcast. And that is a whole lot easier to just kind of tweak those details than starting from scratch. I really should be doing that with my speaking.

Yeah, you can even.

I'm just gonna go redo my entire strategy now.

When you probably have like, you know, segments like learning points that you could shuffle around. And now that you've got your content, it is typical when you're just starting because you're like, what content is going to land what's really valuable for the audience? And what do I really enjoy? So there's a learning curve to it. I think sometimes people think it's got to be perfect just. But there's something beautiful about going through the experience and actually learning as you go and evolving and perfecting what is

like the worst things have gone like, oh my God, like what day that, like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

One time, I mean, I. The one that comes to mind right now, I was, I. It was a San Diego event. So I, you know, drove there, got there early. I always like to get to the event before anybody else, to be honest. I just. I don't want to be there unpacking my stuff. I want to already be ready to go and deliver, you know, to greet people.

So I got to the event and the coordinator sets up her projector. And I can only imagine that maybe she was doing this big event and maybe had never done a big event before. I didn't know that. And her projector was like what you would use for the kids to put like a movie on the screen. But this was a huge conference room. You couldn't see it was. So, you know, it just was a low quality projector. Cause it wasn't for professional use.

And I realized in that moment, there are no slides available. It's not going to happen. So. So I. But I did have. I did have an easel and markers, which I. And a, you know, big pad. So I just did like old school slide projector.

I was like, I will just write out whatever I need on the. The easel to involve the audience visually. And so I just made up my slides on my easel right then and there.

That is. You just happen to have an easel?

Well, I used to use one all the time. And I actually. Yeah, so yes, I used to carry my car all the time because I would do a very interactive presentation before I even use PowerPoint slides. I would use an easel and markers and I would do this Experiential thing. This was back a long time ago. I don't do this anymore. But what's nice about not having to rely on slides is that you can give a presentation anywhere.

Yeah.

I mean what if the slide projector breaks? Isn't available, which has happened to me. Bulb goes out. Technically just doesn't work. Not my equipment. I get there and you got to be ready to go.

I always travel with my own like clicker.

Yep.

For my slides because I always like the one that they have never worked. And that's like a rule with. Yes. Back a battery.

Yes.

But it's like a rule that the one they have is just not going to work. And. But I've been to events where they don't even have one. So suddenly the entire event is using mine. And I think I've like, I've had to lend other people my computer because they, their slides were on their phone. Yeah. Instead of actually having them on a computer. And now I'm going to have to just, just start packing like a dry erase board.

Well, you know, the reality is I don't, I don't travel with an erase, with an easel anymore or dry erase board. But what I always tell people is you just want to be prepared for what is going to get in the way of you giving a great talk. And if you practice correctly, it won't matter if you don't have your slides. But if it's an in person event and the slide projector, you know, the projector. I'm so old, but you know what I mean. If the projector doesn't work or something doesn't work, you need to have handouts to make sure that they have whatever QR code or whatever that thing is that you want them to take the next step. Because if you were relying on that for your slides, you now just left with nothing potentially.

That's a really good point. Are there a few things, I think you had said that like your first speaking gig, you didn't have slides, you didn't have a book, you didn't really have anything.

Yeah.

What are the things now that you always make sure that you do have?

Oh well, even back then it's always make sure you have a way to make the sales or generate clients or whatever that is. Again, this is different conversation. If you're keynoting that that's not going to be appropriate necessarily. So you have to make sure you're in alignment with whatever event you're doing. But for me, I speak with audiences who typically like Women audiences, although I do serve men as well. But whether it's business owners or entrepreneurs are my typical audience. So it's okay for me to give an offer. It's okay for me to, you know, say, give the freebie something out that they would want to participate in.

So I would say, you just need to know your presentation inside and out. And I don't mean memorize. I don't mean read from anything. I just mean you need to know it in your bones. And I don't know if you ever saw the commercial, because I think we have a little difference in age, but there was a commercial about Tootsie Pops, and it was the owl. And this little kid says, how many licks does it take to get to the middle to get to the center

of the Tootsie Pop?

And he's like, 1, 2, 3. And he just bites into it. But it could be. It's an unanswerable question. So that's like. People say, well, how often do I need to practice? How many times? I'm like, I don't know. Till you know it. Till it's in your bones.

So that if the lights go out and there's a. Bees. Bees are loose in the building and there's a train going by, you could, like, these have all happened to me. Then you could still give your presentation without hesitation.

I think it was Scott Carson was on one of the early episodes, and he had to give a whole presentation in a blackout because they just lost power. But I want to hear about the bees. Well,

bees can get inside sometimes, and so that could cause some alarm, some havoc. There was actually. I have a better story than the bee story. I was giving a virtual presentation. It was during, you know, the COVID time, and. Or I guess it was. I don't remember what year it was, but people were doing. Still zooming in.

And it was like a hybrid presentation. So I was giving a presentation in somewhere in Texas, but I'm in California. And at one point, they're at a restaurant, and at one point they just politely say to me, excuse me, Leisa, we. Everything's fine, but we did just get a tornado warning, so we might have to go and, you know, secure. You know, be in a different secured area, the entire restaurant. But we can't leave because we're in front of a bunch of glass windows. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. And I said, do you guys want me to keep going? And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I'm like, are you serious? You're I don't know if I would want to keep listening if I was under a tornado watch, but they did.

Not to say that your content wasn't important, but is it important enough?

I know, I'm like, are you guys safe? Because that's a concern for me. Anyway, that was an interesting one.

That's so crazy. I've done like, podcasts where my whole all my power goes out in the middle of recordings. I. I haven't had anything like that happen in person. I've had like, the slides don't work, the clicker doesn't work, but I have yet to have to have an actual emergency. I think I did have fire alarms that could happen. One of my conferences, fire alarms were going off every like 20 minutes.

Oh, yeah.

That was fun.

Yes. Yeah. So. But you learn as those, those things happen, you learn. And so just encouraging everyone to give themselves grace, you know, and, and part of like, oh, well, that wasn't something I expected. But I was able to navigate and move on and the show must go on.

I'm curious, because you get speaking gigs basically in bulk, it seems like you kind of buy your speaking gigs at Costco, which is awesome. Are there any specific types of organizations that are the best to reach out to? What's maybe like an easy starting place?

Well, I think there's a myth that there's this perfect list out there, this magical unicorn list that you can get and they'll pay you. They'll just throw money at you and you can be a paid speaker when you find this magical list in Never Never land. And that is not true, at least not from anyone that I have heard. Yes, there are lists, but again, we go back to the soul sucking activity. So what I do is instead I encourage people to be really clear on who their ideal audience is, because you don't want a speaking engagement. You want a speaking engagement with the right type of audience that could potentially come and work with you. At least that's what the people that I work with want. And so what we do is we figure out, okay, what's your speaking audience, like, Avatar, look like? And again, this is where we decide, is this local? Like, do you live in the middle of nowhere where there's nothing happening? Well, then we're probably going to need to branch out.

But local is always a good place to start. Like if I lived in Chicago and I. And I'm pretending to be one of my clients right now. So I live in Chicago and I speak to people who need senior services, not the seniors Themselves, but like, their parents are aging. Maybe people, other people who work with that same population. Estate planning attorneys, maybe CPAs, maybe construction, who's helping, you know, rehab the house so that, you know, people can stay in their home, etc. Organizations that serve that type of community. So what I would do is, even though I'm in Chicago, which is a really big area and I could travel, I'm going to get the lay of the land in Chicago.

I'm like, okay, I want to know what's happening in my backyard. And this is what I call finding treasure in your own backyard. A lot of times people don't even realize there's stuff happening in their own backyard. So what are the associations in Chicago? What are the senior services associations? What are the estate planning associations? What are all the. All the different things? And then I would map out, like, this is just what I would do. I would map out, like, when are they. When do they meet every month? Do they have an event that's once a quarter, the regional event, like, what's the lay of the land? And I think a lot of times people just are looking for the speaking engagement. I'm like, well, get the lay of the land of your own backyard first.

Then you can start to decide, okay, here's what I'm looking for. Because what happens is that, say you find this magical association that wants to have you as a speaker frequently. Well, they're not going to have you there every single month. So now what you have is you have a referral for one of your speaker buddies and then they are probably going to have a referral for you and so on and so forth. So if we think of it that way, instead of just finding one, finding one, finding one. You got to look at the whole picture, not just the onesie. Twosie.

Yeah, one of. One of my episodes actually was all about referrals and how like to use referrals to grow your speaker gigs too. So, no, I love that that's something that you do. Is there any, like, step that you can think of that people just always miss when it comes to like booking gigs, finding gigs, giving their presentations?

I think they. There's a lot of noise in the world. Like, I get requests on LinkedIn and, you know, events that aren't necessarily a fit for me, events that are people are putting together is just like a cash grab type of thing. So it's the discernment of like, what's real, what's not real, what's really a good use of my time and energy. Because it's still your time and energy, no matter how you slice and dice it. You only have so much time in the world. So creating a speaker network, which, like, we have at the international speaker Network, it's like creating trusted people around you so that you can have someone to go like, hey, have you heard of this organization? What was your experience like? When I give a referral, I don't refer unless I've already spoken there before, because I don't know yet. I want to, like, be the first one to say, like, okay, yeah, don't do this one.

Or, yes, this was amazing. Let me connect you, because that's my reputation on the line as well. So sometimes people just don't think beyond that, that first one. Or they think any speaking engagement is going to be a good speaking engagement. I'm like, no, no, no. That's like dating. And every person you go on a date with is a good person. Nope, nope.

Not necessarily.

You know, especially not if you're on online dating. No, there definitely going to be some serial killers in there.

Yeah. Or just creepy people who aren't real. So you don't want to get catfished. That's a good way of saying it. Don't get catfished.

Have you been catfished by an event? I have.

Yeah. In this. I usually, you know, my. My catfish radar is pretty strong, but certainly the first time it happens is when you're. You're like, oh, you know, like, oh, we want to give you this award, or whatever, and. Or we want to. And you're like, huh, okay, let me take a look. And so I do a little research.

I'm like, no, but now I just delete it right away. But at first I'm like, what is this? So, yeah, flattery can be very tricky.

True. I think I may have talked about this on the show, but I was kind of, like, catfished. Catfished by an event. I was speaking at a real estate conference, and I'd even, like. I basically had a referral because I know somebody who had spoken at it, and even he was confused after I told him what happened, because he's like, that is not what I remember at all. I had put together an entire presentation on using podcasting for real estate agents, and I could speak to real estate agents all day about podcasting. I have specific strategies for them. I have, like.

Like, all of these things. I can do it off the top of my head, no problem. But I had my presentation all set and ready to go, and then they put me in a room full of PhD candidates that are researching and trying to get their doctorate degrees in real estate.

That sounds like a nightmare.

I didn't know that was an option.

Yeah, that seems really weird.

And good for y'.

All.

I hope you get it. But I'm not really gonna be helpful here. And so I just have to give my whole presentation. And it's also, like, the people that were going before and after me, their slides were basically like wor word documents. Mine are pink and pretty as. As is everything that I do. And I'm just like, I don't belong here. This is uncomfortable.

I cried for, like, three hours after, and I'm just like. I feel like I look so dumb because this isn't. These people have. Do. Have no interest in anything I'm talking about. Let me just get through it and call it a day.

Yeah, it's really a matchmaking thing. And I think sometimes, like, if. If I remember when I was single and someone would say, oh, I know someone who's single, I'm like, listen, that is not my only requirement. I mean, it is a requirement, but there's a lot of other things that fall out.

The bar is set a little higher.

So don't just hook me up with somebody because I'm single and they're single. But it's the same with speaking. Like, not every speaking engagement is for each speaker. So when someone's like, well, what referrals. Speaking. What speaking referrals do you have? I'm like, well, I don't. I need to know you first. I need to know, like, what your deal is.

And I also don't want to put you in a situation that you're like, oh, well, I don't want to get up that early in the morning or I don't want to travel to this place or whatever, or. This isn't my ideal audience. I don't want to set you up for. For failure either. So I'm very selective about who I match and. And why.

Yeah. And. And you had kind of touched on, like, getting paid to speak versus not getting paid to speak. I feel like the. The one that doesn't get talked about as often is paying to speak.

Yeah. Pay to play. Yeah. Yeah.

How do you feel about that?

Again, it's all about using your noodle. Like, if you. If it's going to make sense. I've made tons of money doing a pay to play option, but it's not my favorite option. You know what I mean? So I will do it if I know that absolutely the right people are in the room. If I have high trust in the person putting on the event and I know they're going to fill the event and I have a high likelihood of generating five figures and above out from that event. But. Or I'm just like, you know, what if I run it through the resentment filter? If.

If nothing works here, it doesn't work out. I get zero clients. How resentful am I going to be? I'm not good. I'm not that resentful. It'll be fun. I'll get exposure. I'm good with it. But you got to run through that yourself of like, and don't fall for the promises of.

From someone else. If you're internally doubting. This is a mistake I see people make where they, they're like, oh, I get to be on stage with, you know, this famous person or that famous. Well, you're not on stage with them. To be fair. They are probably speaking at the opening or the keynote or something. You're just like a little, you know, person in the background. But I mean, it's bragging rights.

Sure, you can do that. If that's what you're paying for, then know what you're paying for. Because that person who's the head keynote, they know how to sell from stage and they're probably going to scoop everybody up. So just don't think that like, oh, if I pay this big amount, I'm guaranteed this many clients. You're not. If you have a track record and you know how to sell from stage and you, you've done a really great job of it, then you can discern if that's going to be a good strategy for you if you're just getting started there. I honestly say no business paying to play. 0.0business paying to play.

Yeah, actually, I just got a. I had reached out to an event about speaking and they came back with like, this is a great fit for our sponsored tracks. And I'm like, probably not excited.

Yeah, it's like it's. You gotta decide. It could be, but it might. This is where you gotta run it through your own business filter. And yeah, yeah.

I think we also, like, underestimate the cost that goes along. Like, you did it in a way that everything's within 50 miles. Like, you can drive in for the event and drive home and it's not a huge deal. But even like, I've taken like speak, like paid speaking opportunities that cover my flights and I still have the entire day. I have the food, maybe the hotel and. And there's still other costs there.

Yeah.

So I've.

And your time and then you gotta get home and you're so, so that's why I say paid speaking versus not paid speaking. It's easier to get speaking engagements that don't offer a fee. It's easier to get booked. You get booked quicker. There's not as much competition. And you make money. You make right off the, like, if you, you know, you get clients, you make money. So, so usually people will come to me and they'll say like, oh, I'm tired of speaking for free.

And I'm like, okay, there's a hole in the boat there. You've been speaking for free, but you haven't been getting clients. So something's wrong, Something's wrong with your system. And getting paid isn't always what it's cracked up to be either. Like you're saying, it's like, well, you might get paid in the beginning, a couple thousand dollars, $2,500 or something, but does that compensate you for the time and effort that you put out? Yeah.

Is there something that's like the number one thing you see wrong with those systems when the people are speaking and getting nothing?

Yeah. They usually think that they're falling under the trap of like, I've got to get my name out there, I've got to pay my dues. That is, neither of those are business strategies. That's just a false, like, I'm not ready yet. Or it's, it's a way to like, block yourselves from bringing in clients and making money. The reality is if you're in business for yourself, if you're an entrepreneur, you're in the sales business. And people often don't want to admit that, but that is true. And I've had clients who are attorneys, doctors, who, guess what they don't teach in medical school or law school is sales and marketing.

So they bought this brilliance to share and then we got like, oh, you got to package this up so that you can attract clients. Now just being a doctor or a lawyer isn't going to cut it anymore. You've got to actually have a good strategy. Yeah.

And that's the hardest part. Even if you do know, like, I came from a marketing background and I can do marketing for my clients all day, but doing it for yourself is different. Different.

It is. And it's, it's weird. Little things will switch in our mind. I have a gal who reached out to me on LinkedIn yesterday. She's like, I, you know, she's a seven figure business owner. And she's like, but I did that for somebody else. Like, I built a company. It was around building something else.

Now I gotta build for myself. It's a different feeling. Even though she's had great success, it's a different feeling.

It really is. Like, it's you. Like, you love to brag on your. Like, your clients and the people that you're doing it for, but then it comes to yourself, and it's like, I'm decent at this.

Yeah. You're like, okay, if you.

If you have no one else, like, you could.

You could pick me. Yeah.

You know, I'll be your last resort option.

Like, I call it brilliance hoarding.

Oh, I like that.

Yeah, we just like, oh, I don't kind of have all this brilliance. I'm just going to sit on it in case, you know, maybe someone will want to hear it someday. What if.

If it's meant to be? They'll just find me.

Yeah, they'll find me. I'll just get visible and I'll get my name out there. No, no, no, no, no, no.

What is, like, a quick, easy way to get that visibility like that, like, you think people need.

Well, you know, it's about, like I said, getting the talk created so that you have that stake in the ground. Like, okay, once. It creates such confidence. When you have that ready, you're like, oh, yeah, everyone needs to hear that. So when I do a session with people, they're like, oh, I can't wait to share this now. Now we're moving from like, oh, my gosh, I don't know what I want to talk about to. Everyone needs to know this. Like, this is so important, and so we want to have that energy.

And what magically happens. I can't scientifically prove this, but what magically happens is when we're ready, all of a sudden, we get opportunities. People out of nowhere are like, hey, could you speak for our group? Or you might put something out on social saying like, oh, in case you didn't know, I'm a speaker now, and this is what I speak on. What? I didn't know you were a speaker. Like, oftentimes, our own family doesn't even know what we're doing as entrepreneurs. They're like, what are you doing back there? Oh, you wrote a book. Oh, you're. You have a course.

You. You have a podcast. You're. You're a speaker. I didn't know that. Like, your own family could be referral sources if they knew what you were doing. Right. It's just funny.

I the amount of times that someone has had to hand me a phone because they like the person on the phone asked me ask them what I do and they're like, I don't know how to answer that. Can you tell them what, what you do?

You're like Chandler on Friends.

Yes, he's a trans sponster and I just lost my apartment. What is your last like this is my top tip for people to get booked now?

Well, yeah, I will say I have, I have more tips I can share. So in case you didn't get any of the tips or you want more tips, go to getspeakinggigsnow.com tips and you'll get my five top tips to get more speaking gigs now. So just, just kind of a an as. So that's get speaking gigsnow.com tips. I think it's going to be in the notes as well. But I would say besides having your talk created and creating your ideal audience, you also want to monetize. Get a monetization plan. Like how are you going to monetize it? Whether some of that monetization plan might be paid speaking.

It might be. Well, how, you know, what do I charge my clients? How much is that? Okay, where could I go that I think my clients would. My future clients are going to be hanging out and start looking. Just do a quick search. I mean when I started we didn't have ChatGPT where it's just all lined up and tells you every single answer you need to know. I'd actually go search for it. So it's so easy. Just put a little note in there like what is it? Associations in your area you want to check.

You can do a search for call for speakers. Just do a little research. Not too long, set a timer, 20 minutes. You know, don't bore yourself to death. But that'll give you a lot of

answers with, with that monetization plan. Is, is there any rule of thumb for price point? Like if you're gonna try to sell from this stage, should you stick to like a small intro offer that's like 199 or is it okay to go in with like this is my ten thousand dollar package. Like what? Or does it depend on the audience?

It depends on a lot of things. It depends on a lot of things. So typically if you have a half hour to an hour talk, typically I would say you're probably better off. Like I work with a lot of coaches and people, service providers. So I would say a call is probably more likely for you to talk about what that program, or is this person a fit for your program? That's going to glean you a lot more value than the 197 that I would say. I've all sold all the sevens, the 97, the 197, 297, 397, blah, blah, blah. So it, it depends. I think a lot of people get stuck in that.

And then people think, oh, I paid 197, my problems are solved. And they don't go and do the thing, they don't go to the course, they don't do the whatever. It's more transformational. If I can have a conversation with somebody and then really dig into, like, what is the issue that they have. If I can't help them, I'll refer them somewhere else. But then at least I know, okay, we're actually going to do something. If they work with me, like in the speakers training academy or get their talk ready rock or something like that, we're going to actually do something to help elevate your message and get you further along. That's going to be way more valuable.

So instead of having like a specific offer, it's just like book a call with me to talk through.

That could be, that could be your speaker. Your what? Your call to action. It could be a phone call, it could be a quiz, it could be a freebie. It could be like, it's. Again, this is where it gets really. It depends on the person. I know that if you're. You need to be comfortable with whatever you're offering from stage, because if you're not, you will not do it.

So I always say, like, you want to be so in love with your offer, you want to marry it. And if you're not ready to marry it, then no one else is going to marry it either.

There's been a lot of, like, dating references. I like it.

We gotta keep it, Gotta keep it fun and interesting. Right?

Gotta keep it on theme. Yes. So is there anywhere that people can find you, learn more about you, how to work with you, all that fun stuff?

Yeah, you can go to getspeakinggigsnow.com and there's lots of options there. But if you want the tips, just add that slash, tips at the end. You'll get, you'll get direct access to some tips and other goodies that will be coming your way.

Awesome. I love it. Well, thank you so much for being here. This was a lot of fun. And I'm going to go redo my

whole speaking strategy all right. Take care. You too.

I'll talk to you all soon. And everyone, thank you so much for listening. Hit subscribe and we'll be back next week.