You can be a motivational speaker without a strategy. You can do that if you only want to share your stories and inspire people. Maybe, you are a good storyteller; you’ll get invited.
Without a clear strategy, a career in motivational speaking is unlikely to feed your family.
Are you confident?
People buy your confidence. They listen to speakers who demonstrate faith in their ideas and solutions.
Wannabe speakers play small. They pick audiences whom they believe they can easily handle.
That’s what I did when I dreamed of becoming a motivational speaker.
I targeted students since I was previously a seminarian who handled retreats and recollections. I was a school teacher whose words were listened to by students. I sent letters to more than a hundred schools. None took my offer.
When I started offering my services to principals and their bosses, I started to motivate teachers. When I began training managers, I began to speak at sales rallies, conferences, and conventions.
The key is authentic confidence. No, not the “fake it ’til you make it advice” often given by those who don’t get paid to speak.
You will build authentic confidence when you spend time understanding your audience, knowing their problems, and finding ways to solve them.
Learn your trade. Be a motivational speaker who spends time creating solutions to help people. Your ability to tell a story will help you connect with your audience, but your answers will give you confidence.
Do you know your lane?
Wannabe speakers speak about almost everything. Upon listening to one great speaker, they regurgitate the ideas, then deliver the same as if those ideas are their own.
Pick your lane.
There are thousands of motivational speakers. More than 80 percent of them say the same thing. But only five percent can genuinely claim they are professional speakers.
They are speakers who have solutions to the problems of their starving crowd. Pick one elegant idea, an idea that solves your starving crowd’s problem, and make it your own.
Russel Conwell’s speech, Acres of Diamonds, was delivered more than 6000 times, and there was always a starving crowd of people who wanted to become successful.
People paid to hear the speeches of Og Mandino again and again. He picked his lane.
You can say the same for Nick Vujicic, Simon Sinek, Zig Ziglar, Chris Gardner, Eckart Tolle, and T. Harv Ecker.
You will find many motivational speakers in the Philippines. But only a few picked a lane. Be a motivational speaker who is known for one thing.
You can be a motivational speaker who can speak about any topic. Many speakers are like that. But to help more people — and become successful, then you have to pick a lane.
Are you willing to do the work?
I know a pastor who said he never prepared a sermon because the Holy Spirit speaks, not him, in his speeches. I don’t know what spirit possessed him, but he is one of the most disorganized and confused speakers I have ever heard.
Craft your speeches like you are going to speak to the people you honor and respect. People are allowing you to change their lives.
Professional speakers do rehearsals. Like other professional performers, they want to deliver their messages in the best way possible.
Winging it won’t make you fly high. Be a motivational speaker who honors and respects people.
Do you have solutions?
You want your speech to be sticky and memorable. You want to make your solutions look credible. You can do both when you convert your answers into a formula that people can follow.
Einstein gave us E = mc² because that is sticky and memorable. When explained, it is easier to understand.
Motivational speakers with original ideas may come up with acronyms. But a formula sounds like a solution. People are not looking for acronyms; they want solutions.
