#6 The Must-Have Tools for Aspiring Speakers: Websites, One Sheets, and More

Welcome to Episode 6. In this episode, we're going to discuss websites, one sheets, business cards... what do you ACTUALLY need?

Over the years, I've completed a couple of different speaking courses to help me grow my business and they all taught me different things but they can also be confusing so this episode, I'm going to look at what I've found that you really need to get your speaking business growing in today's world. You might have discovered something different but let's see where we align?

I've found that you can spend a lot of time doing "busy work" as my mum used to call it. That is, looking like you're doing lots of important things but none of them actually work to move you towards your goal. Eg you might be writing a book but you won't start booking any speaking engagements until you're finished because you need the book to look smart, etc. It can take years to write a book! Do you really want to find out how long when you could already be making money from the stage? People HIDE in this sort of work to avoid the pain of cold calling or having to speak to someone and face rejection.

Ah yes, the fear of rejection... a speakers greatest enemy and one that we can hide from by doing "stuff".  

I remember when I first started speaking that I got a call from an association about speaking at their conference. We had a chat about what they did, what their members needed help with, about the business and got to know more about each other. Finally at the end of the call I asked how they found me? A friend had mentioned that they'd seen me at a small business network and had recommended me. I asked if they'd checked out my website or videos etc... nope. Not at all. They'd checked me on linkedin and just called me. 

Here's a tip: When you're on stage, none of the busy work will matter. You need very little collateral to get book to speak for free or low fee.

So what do you really need?


1. Somewhere to send people online e.g. linkedin page, landing page, website, pdf file

- you dont need fancy websites or full on productions. 
- linked in
- landing page on your business site
- new website
- even a pdf with a short link like tiny URL
- somewhere that anyone can access online
- makes you look professional
- contains background, bio, topics, photos, video (if you have any)
- clear, precise, simple to read
- sells you as the person to get to speak

2. Video of you speaking

- as soon as possible
- do some "to camera" videos of up to 2-5 min
- record a powerpoint presentation and talk over it
- hire a boardroom and record. get someone to sit in for the EYES
- use a quality microphone eg lapel mic
- phone camera is perfect.
- you can edit it on CAnva.com or any free edit like CapCut (app) 
- if you have an ipad, use imovie
- load it up to youtube, share everywhere

3. Bio, Speech title & description

- write a short and long bio
- dont include irrelevant achievments
- focus towards your topic related background
- write catch speech topics e.g. stop telling, start selling
- talk about what they will learn, how it will change them, keep it under 2 paragraphs
- you want people to salivate when they read it
- If your bio and speech title arent catchy, people will choose a different session or the person running the event, won't sell any tickets - this is BAD

Obviously there are a plethora of things you can do BUT these are the ones I'd do first. You don't even need to write the speech until you get a booking if you like. Personally I would have it ready to go in case someone calls needing you tomorrow! 

It comes down to what's essential before you start reaching out. All I had when I started speaking was my business website. I just stuck a page up on there and that was fine for at least 5 years. I did develop a range of other content like my youtube channel over that time but I didn't have a specific speaking site. If anything, bringing people to my company website helped build my brand but also helped build my impact as I had all of my client logos and testimonials there to show that I could do what I talked about.

How you go about it is up to you but... stop wasting time on busy work and get out there and start speaking!