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Carol Cox:
How can you get paid to speak?

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That's what we're looking at in part three of

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our series Booked Without Burnout.

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On this episode of the Speaking Your Brand

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podcast. More and more women are making an

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impact by starting businesses,

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running for office and speaking up for what

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matters. With my background as a TV political

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analyst, entrepreneur,

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and speaker, I interview and coach purpose

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driven women to shape their brands,

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grow their companies, and become recognized

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as influencers in their field.

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This is speaking your brand,

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your place to learn how to persuasively

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communicate your message to your audience.

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Hi and welcome back to the Speaking Your

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Brand podcast. This is your host,

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Carol Cox. As you know,

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speaking is incredible for building

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visibility and credibility.

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But at some point you wanted to also bring in

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revenue. You may not just want to speak,

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you want to get paid to speak.

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So how do you go from free talks to earning

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$2,500, $5,000, even $10,000 for keynotes and

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workshops? That's where we're going to look

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at today. This is part three of our new

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series on how to land more speaking

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engagements without burnout.

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Part one was about outbound strategies what

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to do when you pitch yourself.

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Part two was inbound strategies.

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How to set yourself up so opportunities come

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to you. And now in part three we're looking

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at how to make the leap into paid speaking

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engagements. Because here's the truth.

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When women get paid to speak,

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it's not just about the money.

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Although of course it is also that it's about

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modeling equity, owning our expertise,

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and changing expectations of what leadership

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looks like on stage, including who gets paid

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to speak. So I'm going to share with you

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three specific strategies you can use to

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confidently ask for fees and get paid.

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Strategy number one know when you're ready to

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charge. And here's the thing.

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It's probably sooner than you think.

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So here's what I tell my clients when they

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ask me, when am I ready to start charging?

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Or I don't feel like I'm worth getting paid

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to speak yet? If you've delivered your talk

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enough times to know that it lands or you've

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done enough speaking, whether it's virtual or

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in person and workshops count in addition to

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maybe what you consider conference

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presentations or keynotes.

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If you've done enough speaking that you feel

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comfortable in that role.

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If you have a framework or a methodology that

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provides transformation,

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not just information.

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And if you have some social proof,

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photos, testimonials, video clips,

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if you have these things,

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then you're ready.

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The biggest obstacle I find to getting paid

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to speak is ourselves.

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We put these expectations and limiting

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beliefs on us that someone else deserves to

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get paid to speak. But we don't.

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But we do. For example,

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I remember one of my clients and she's not

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alone. She had been speaking for free for

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years. And again, if you look back at the

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past two episodes in this series,

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there can definitely be a time and place to

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speak for free. So it's it's not never to

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speak for free, but there are instances where

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it does make sense to get paid.

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Well, the first time this client asked for a

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fee and she was hesitant to do so,

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she really didn't want to.

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She landed a $5,000 workshop.

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She had been ready for a long time.

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She just needed to give herself permission to

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ask and to receive.

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So that's strategy number one.

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Know when you're ready to charge and most

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likely you already are ready.

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Strategy number two position your value,

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not just the talk itself.

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This is where many speakers get stuck.

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They describe what they do as a presentation.

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But event organizers aren't investing in a

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presentation. They're investing in outcomes.

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They're investing in an experience for their

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audience that makes them look good and makes

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sure that the audience raves about the event

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or the conference and wants to come back.

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So instead of saying, for example,

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I give a talk on leadership,

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say something like, I help leaders build

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teams that innovate faster and retain top

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talent. See the difference?

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One is information giving a talk on

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leadership. The other is transformation.

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Helping leaders build teams that innovate

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faster and retain top talent.

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This is the same thing that you do in your

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business with the services and the programs

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that you market is focus on that outcome.

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Focus on the transformation that you're

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providing to the audience for that event.

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This positioning moves you out of what I call

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the expert trap and into thought leadership.

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And that's what event been organizers paid

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for. Strategy number three is to make sure

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you know what your pricing is when asked,

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so that you can say it back with confidence.

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There are different ways that you can

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structure your speaking fees.

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You can have a flat fee for,

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say, a keynote or a workshop,

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or you can combine things together.

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Maybe you have a speaking and a consulting

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package that goes together,

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or a speaking with some additional training

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along with it. Here's what I often see that

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different types of places pay associations

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will often pay $1000 to $5000.

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Corporations tend to have bigger budgets,

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so they'll pay 5 to $15,000,

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maybe more for conferences.

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If you are a breakout session speaker in,

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say, a multi-track event,

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they may pay an honorarium,

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but most likely not.

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Oftentimes you'll just get a free ticket to

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that conference. So if you get an inbound

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speaking requests. Someone has found you and

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they reach out to you and they're interested

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in having you speak at their event.

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Perhaps they mention in their message that

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they have a speaker budget,

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or they want to know what your speaker fee

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is, or even if they don't mention a fee at

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all. The key is to schedule a phone call or a

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zoom call with them.

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So often what I think happens is that you'll

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get that imbalance speaking request,

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and then you just send back a reply with,

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oh, here, here are some of my topics and

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here's my fee. Or maybe you don't mention a

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fee at all. And then it kind of just dwindles

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from there. Instead, think of it as a regular

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lead for your business.

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You want to get them on a consultation call

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because you want to learn more about their

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event. What makes a successful speaker at

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their event? What have successful speakers

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look like in their past events?

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What do their audiences look like?

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What their audiences want?

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What kind of experience is the event looking

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for? Once you collect that information,

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then you'll know number one are you a good

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fit for their event?

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And then number two you can position your

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presentation. See.

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Strategy number two that we just talked about

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as that transformation you're providing for

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the audience not just information.

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Then during that phone call or zoom call they

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may ask you what is your speaker fee.

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And then you can confidently tell them

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whatever it is, whether it's $2,500,

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$5,000, $7,500, $10,000,

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whatever it happens to be,

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you can confidently say that back to them.

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You can also ask them,

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what is your budget for speakers?

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Sometimes they'll go ahead and tell you what

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that is, and then you can decide if it's a

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good fit for you and for that event.

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Sometimes if you ask them what is your

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budget, they may come back to you and just

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say, well, we don't really know what,

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what is your fee? And then you can go from

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there. So it is a negotiation.

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So get comfortable with your negotiating

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skills. The worst thing that happens is that

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you quote something high.

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And it is just way more than that that they

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have a budget for or that they're comfortable

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pain. And so that's not necessarily a bad

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thing, especially if it involves travel.

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It may not make sense for you to travel.

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Leave your business. Leave your family for a

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fee that's not high enough to compensate you

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for that time away.

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So it's okay if it's not a fit,

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but just be excited that you're getting these

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inbound speaking invitations,

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and you're going to collect data,

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and you're going to learn what type of fee is

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in alignment with these different types of

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events. So let's do a quick recap.

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Number one, know when you're ready to charge.

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And I think you already are.

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Number two position your value around

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transformation not just information.

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And number three package and price with

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confidence. Remember getting paid to speak is

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not just about adding revenue.

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It's about stepping fully into your thought

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leadership, owning your expertise,

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and setting a standard not only for you,

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but for other women speakers out there too.

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If you would like to work with us to create

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your compelling signature talk,

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position your value, escape the expert trap

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and step into thought leadership and build a

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strategy that leads to paid opportunities.

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Join us in our online Thought Leader Academy

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program or at our one day in-person Speaking

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Accelerator workshop in Orlando.

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You can get the details on all of our

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programs and workshops at Speaking Your

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Brand.com under the Work with Us tab.

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In the next episode, we're going to wrap up

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the series Booked Without Burnout,

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and I'm going to talk about should you Ever

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pay to speak.

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So we just covered getting paid to speak,

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but is there a time and place where it

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actually makes sense for you to pay to speak

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somewhere? And what would that look like?

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Make sure to hit follow in Apple Podcasts or

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Spotify so you don't miss next week's

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episode, as well as future ones.

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Until next time, thanks for listening.