Thank You

Thank you for reaching out. If you’ve requested access to the recorded Masterclass on Elite Paid Speaking – I’ll be sending you an email with the links very soon.

Still reading?  Here’s some info on the top 2 mistakes I see nearly all speakers making – and what to do about them.
1.  Reaching out to agents too early
Many feel that if they only had an agent, they’d begin getting more paid speaking work and at higher fees.  That’s not true.  Agents add an accelerant to increase the volume and price point of paid speaking, but you must bring the burning ember.  You must be HOT, attracting attention, and have a steady stream of speaking invites BEFORE you ask an agent to consider representing you. Otherwise, you are asking them to enter an incredibly high-risk, high-effort, unknown or ZERO financial reward situation.  It doesn’t make good business sense.  (Imagine a top Hollywood agent being approached by an actor with only a handful of low-fee or free roles in their local community theater and no leading roles, just supporting ones.  That’s what a low-demand, low-fee speaker is essentially bringing to the table when they approach an established bureau or talent agency for representation.  Don’t do it. Save your energy……. read on!)

Agents can be very selective about who they work with.  There are far more speakers seeking representation than there are available agents.  The very best agents work with those on the precipice of greatness with the potential to vault into the rarified air of the $25k – $50k – $100k+++ speaking opportunities.  I want YOU to have the same benefit of selectivity.  I invite you to read my article: Click here for the article on The Tipping Point for Speakers – which relays the milestones you should reach before you consider professional representation.  Once you reach those milestones, or are within shouting distance of them, professional representation will be an option for you to consider.

The vast majority of speakers who approach a bureau or agency have low or no inbound inquiries for their paid speaking, and/or a track record of free – travel expenses only – OR low fee (less than $10k) speaking appearances.  Agents are not the right expert for the speaker’s need at that stage.  Who is?  Those who provide strategic clarity around the speaker’s unique value proposition, core audience, distilling the speaker’s proven solution to a burning (and I mean BURNING) problem the core audience has, ensuring that the solution offers excellent ROI for the core audience AND the speaker, and why the speaker is THE most credible source for this solution.

I do this work with my private representation clients as a mandatory STEP ONE….but I also personally select up to five, ultra-serious individuals each year, who are not one of my representation clients, to go through this in-person, 2-day, full immersion process with me.  Click here for more details.  No matter how they handle their speaking (self-represented, under management with a speaker management company, or exclusively represented by an elite bureau or talent agency), the process makes it all work so much BETTER.  I’m not interested in ‘breaking up the band’ and poaching anyone else’s clients – I’m here to help speakers serious about their craft stand out in a sea of sameness.  They have a wealth of wisdom to offer – they just need to channel and develop it properly.  Once done, they ATTRACT opportunities much more readily – which is great for business.

Agents are not talent development experts — you must come with your seed of greatness planted and drawing some attention.  Agents can recognize the sprouts that have even MORE potential — and shine a bright light on them, for event hosts to see.  An agent is an amplifier of existing, excellent talent.  The result is MORE invitations at higher speaking fees so the speaker can be selective about where they invest their time and energy.

The second most common mistake I see among speakers is:  Lack of VISIBILITY.
If your followership numbers are not growing, maybe they are capped at 1,000 – 3,000 and increase at a glacial pace:  You need visibility. STAT.  No one can buy from you if they do not know you exist.  You are simply not an option if you have poor visibilty.  Reaching followership of 50,000+ on both Instagram and LinkedIn should be a CODE RED priority.  Become a MASTER of ATTENTION.  I’m working on finding proven, excellent resources to help people capture attention and grow their visibility in meaningful ways.  Stay tuned!  And please consider following me on Instagram or LinkedIn – would love to have you join the communities I’m creating there.
Links at bottom of this page.