SPS 277: Speaker 201 Masterclass: Building An 8 Figure Speaking Business with Josh Shipp

people I've ever met in my life .

If you've never met Josh , he's a former at-risk foster kid , turned youth advocate and speaker . He's spoken over 2 million people live . He's got a viral video with over 50 million views which I think my mom occasionally texts to me when she sees it . That's sweet . It's an awesome , awesome talk .

He's written multiple books , obviously , one of which we talked about last time on the interview . He's been on Oprah . He creates , I mean , great companies . He's created an incredible company , multiple top U speakers and U Speaker University . He was kind enough to be , I think , if I'm not mistaken , the first ever person to book me to speak at an event .

Oh , here we go . I mean so . Always a place in my heart . If it wasn't the first gig , it was the first paid gig .

Obviously , we've talked about booking speaking gigs a lot on the podcast , so today I really want to go advanced and this is a speaker 201 kind of masterclass . So buckle up . If you want to speak , if you're already speaking or you want to scale your speaking , this is the guy and hopefully we can learn a lot in this next little bit .

So I guess I'll start a little bit generic and broad , but then we'll quickly ratchet it in here . Josh Sounds good . First off , why , speaking from your vantage point , why is it something that authors should do and that entrepreneurs should do to either sell more books or grow their business ?

I did my postgrad in public speaking at Harvard and so the first 10 years of my career was being front of stage , did over 1,200 speaking gigs . Books the book now sold over a million copies on a bunch of fancy media did a major television show that was executive produced by Oprah .

So everything that I sort of would hope and dream that would happen from speaking happened , that I sort of would hope and dream that would happen from speaking happened . And then I sort of pivoted to booking gigs for upcoming speakers , for upcoming talent . I looked this morning before our conversation . We have booked today 5,170 paid speaking gigs .

Now something I always want to be very candid sort of overly candid on where my expertise lies and where it doesn't . So my expertise is booking gigs in front of audiences that are either students or adults that work with students .

So some of these things that I will share I would say would be , say , 70% , applicable to a corporate audience , to a business audience . You're going to need to do a little bit of contextualization .

Not everything I say will be a fair copy and paste , but I can tell you speaking is such an accelerant to getting your message out there , to booking more gigs , to raising your platform . However , you've got to be very thoughtful and strategic .

Just like you teach about books , you've got to be very strategic and thoughtful about every single element that makes up the speech the speech itself , the demo video of the speech , and then how you go about booking the gigs themselves .

And some people would say , hey , this is the most important thing you can do and this is how you get in front of a decision maker . Where do you lie on that ? How important is it and how do you make a good one ?

Our team , our agency , we did a survey of over 1,000 decision makers and we asked them one of the questions was how do you end up making the decision on which speaker that you hire ?

Now , over 60% of them answered with one of the following three responses Either I saw them speak in person , someone I trust saw them speak and then emailed me , texted me , gave me a phone call , said hey , you got to have them at your event , at your school , at your organization , or I saw a video of them speaking .

Now , I know at the onset you said this is a bit more of a 201 conversation , but let's acknowledge the challenge . If you're in a 101 situation , in the 101 situation , two out of the three of that decision-making rubric you're probably not going to have the benefit of , you're not yet going to be out there enough speaking where you can benefit from .

Either there's a decision-maker sitting in your audience or that decision-maker is one phone call away from the decision-maker , which then means all the more even important for the 101 or the 201 , which is absolutely nailing what I would call a demo video , which is essentially sort of a movie trailer of your speech . Chandler , am I able to share my screen ?

I have a storyboard I'd actually like to show you . I'd like to kind of break down what I would call sort of a storyboard of a perfect demo video . So I'm going to paint what would be the ideal situation and , of course , do the best with what you can .

But you just heard it in the evidence that and even with that second category of person we said you know their one decision , their one phone call away from the decision maker , even that person is going to need to watch your video . Okay , so let me just give a real word example .

Let's say I'm sitting in an audience watching Chandler speak and I don't know him . Now , if I'm the decision maker , I can sit in that audience , be like hey , that was a great message , it was practical .

I have an event , I am the sole decision maker , I can walk up to him , introduce myself , get his information and I have the authority to book him from A to Z . Now , if I'm one person away , that means I got to call my boss and I got to say , hey , boss , I saw this guy , I think he'd be great for our people and the boss is going to go okay .

For the most part I trust Josh , but at the end of the day I'm risking my reputation . Listen to me very carefully Over 5,000 gigs booked . This has been a big unorthodox epiphany that I've had , which is , I used to think event planners were risking a check and sure , to a certain part they are , but they're really risking their reputation .

I think about you , chandler . You recently had the I forget exactly what you call your event , but the event where you bring together folks around self-publishing . Think about the reputational damage not only you would face but also your brand would face If someone came in .

They were oversellsy or they just didn't really deliver much value or they didn't stay on message . So I imagine , even for you , chandler even maybe you wouldn't articulate it that way you are being thoughtful and careful about your brand's reputation and your own personal reputation . Do you think that's a fair case that I'm making Very fair , yep , okay .

So now let's circle back . If I got to say to my boss , my boss , the first thing he's going to do is Google the speaker I mentioned and want to see a video .

Because if I come to him and say and want to see a video , because if I come to him and say Chandler was incredible , he's going to want to see in that video , oh , I agree , chandler seems incredible . Okay . So even in that category of decision , kind of branching , it's important . So if you're watching on YouTube , you can probably see this .

If not , I'll kind of John Madden it and talk you through this . So we're going to talk about , kind of the ideal setup for your demo video . Now , a couple of things about filming your demo video that I see 99% of speakers well-intended get wrong . Number one you need to mic yourself . Duh , you know that . You also need to mic your audience .

Okay , if you watch any comedy special and you pause certain moments , you will notice that they have what are known as shotgun mics pointing at the audience , have what are known as shotgun mics pointing at the audience , and that is so that they can have a separate feed .

That's capturing laughter , applause breaks , let's say it's like a comedian that works dirty , those groans that you get from an audience . It's kind of quite satisfying part of the back and forth of the comedian .

This is so crucial for you as a speaker because , as a decision maker watching that , I want to know okay , if he tells a joke , do I see that audience , just like right there with him ? If she makes a key point , do I hear that ?

So that is really key because otherwise you'll have those key moments you don't hear it from the audience and as a decision maker , I go oh , they think they're funny , the audience doesn't . Oh , they think they're clever , the audience doesn't . All right , so that's an unorthodox thing , easy to miss .

Another one know in advance where you're going to film , what the background will be and therefore what sort of clothing you're going to wear . I've seen a lot of speakers . They're in front of a blue stage , they wear a blue shirt , difficult to see them . You're so excited to film the video , you hired a videographer . Don't screw it up with that .

Two other things here don't screw it up with that . Two other things here Any key statements you have in your speech if the day of your filming , you fumble upon these words . So , for example , if I was filming a talk , I speak to adults that work with students . One of my key lines is every kid is one caring adult .

Away from being a success story , let's say I accidentally kind of flubbed a line . Well , that is such a key line I know needs to be in my video , though it would be a bit awkward in front of the live audience , I'm just going to pause and , almost out of emphasis , I'm going to repeat it again so I get a clean take .

It'll be slightly awkward for the in-person audience . You can kind of play it off as I need to hammer this into your head , but it's crucial for your video . And then , lastly , before we get into the storyboard , let me paint the ideal scenario of where to capture your talk .

Ideal scenario this is the wish list In an auditorium or theater , like a nice venue , where the capacity is quite full , meaning 300 seat auditorium , 300 bodies in the room , not a 300 seat auditorium with 85 people in the room . Not a 300-seat auditorium with 85 people in the room , because if again , your perception determines your reception .

So if I'm a decision maker watching that video and I see tons of empty seats that's going to 3% kind of ding you in my mind of like , oh there's , there must not be something particularly compelling about her content , about this individual's message , and , ideally , if you can do two back-to-back speeches .

So , for example , you know again , I work with schools , so I often have this luxury setting up one of my speakers hey , it's an 800 person , 800 student school , 400 person auditorium . We're going to do two back-to-back , we're going to do grades 9 and 12 , then 11 and 12 , because then you get two takes of everything .

Okay , so those are some unorthodox things that are pretty easy to miss . Now let's go through the storyboard . You've filmed your full hour keynote .

Go through this storyboard . You've filmed your full hour keynote . How do you direct your editor ? I see so many speakers go well , I need a higher quality videographer . You do , and then I'm just going to trust them with the edit . You are an idiot . Don't do that . Do not do that . You are the director of this film .

The videographer is your director of photography , that's it . Their job is to make it look good . The video sound good , the audio sound good . You know your audience . You know your decision makers , you know your message . You are not going to leave it up to chance for them to control your trailer . You need to . So four components .

I would say the ideal length and , chandler , feel free to jump in here , interrupt me any of that , troll me , whatever you need to do , okay , the ideal video , I'd say , is about five minutes in length . In the introduction , 15 seconds . This is where you can have a montage of things to build credibility .

So if you've been on Good Morning America or whatever you could have again , just spend 15 seconds a montage of those clips . She's been everywhere . Look at the authority , the credibility , look at all these still images of different types of stages and groups she's speaking in front of .

And then component two you need three to four minutes , very lightly edited , of your most A-plus , phenomenal content . This is the key and the most important part of your video . Again , they're risking their reputation . You need to show me the thunder , you need to bring the heat immediately . So literally starting at minute 16 .

As a decision maker , I should be freaking , inspired , taking notes , emotionally , moved by what I am seeing in front of me your very , very best content . Now you might you know skepticisms I hear here . Well , if I put the best stuff , why are they going to book me ? This is not your audience watching this video .

This is that decision maker , that sole person backstage somewhere that has the authority to put you in front of the 500 . This isn't going to spoil your speech . This isn't you know . So you need your best stuff in here . It doesn't have to be chronological , it doesn't have to be a logical through line .

We've seen movies , trailers and you go oh , that part in the trailer . It seemed like it was the start of the film , but actually that's towards the end cuts . Otherwise , they think that you can't hold the audience for long periods of time uninterrupted and keep them engaged . Uh , you know .

So now we're sitting at about three minutes and 15 seconds to four minutes and 15 seconds in your five minute video . Next movement we're going to pull in some testimonials . Now , your , your instinct here might be let me interview people in the audience . No , okay , remember you mic the audience . Remember you have B-roll of the audience . So I see them laughing .

I heard them clapping . I see them clapping . I get that they were bought in . Okay , what I need to hear from is another person like me , the decision maker , who risked their reputation , the impact of their event and that check to bring you in and that it was a phenomenal experience . So we want to hear directly from that person .

That is a sort of archetyped I think would be the right word of the typical person that books you . Okay , so let's take it back to my world . A lot of our speakers work with K through 12 schools .

So I don't want to hear from the 11th grader that he thought it was hilarious or moving , and I don't even want to hear from the English teacher , though no doubt she's terrific . I want to hear from the superintendent , the principal or the assistant principal . That is largely our decision maker , our customer .

I want to hear from that lady with the PhD and the suit , and I want to hear her get hyperbolic and say I've been in education for 20 years , we've had a lot of folks , but let me tell you , okay .

And then lastly and this is just kind of a 15 second bookend , just a conclusion of this could be kind of shaking hands , kissing babies , signing books , these sorts of things , and then , just , you know , I like to have a clear tagline here of who you , of your name and what it is that you do .

So , for example , it might be something like you know , I'm Josh Shipp and I inspire adults to understand the power of one caring adult , something like that . So that's kind of the storyboard and the breakdown of an ideal demo video . Chandler , maybe any questions you have about contextualizing . I'm more coming from the education world .

You're more so coming from the business world . Is there anything in here you would push back on or you would go ? Maybe that doesn't work in a business context , or any question you might have of how to contextualize it to a business context .

I want to maybe take 30 seconds on the structure of the speech itself , and then I want to go into booking gigs , both first gigs for authors and then beyond that , and we'll do a little case study . Okay , you're going to have to tase me .

It is way easier and there are a lot of courses and programs and gurus that are incentivized to get you to focus on the marketing aspect a bit too early .

And there are a lot of great courses out there , but some of them you might want to question why they're getting you to do that a little prematurely or , as a speaker , why they're getting you to do that a little prematurely .

Or as a speaker , it is a thousand times psychologically easier for me to send a cold email or heck , even , a cold phone call than to do the internal excruciating creative work , and sometimes you bring personal baggage on stage . So you're trying to be inspiring but your bitterness is leaking out .

I'm telling you the top three most important parts are getting your speech right , because I told you , the number four is the demo video , but the better your speech is , the better your demo video is going to be . So then when you start doing lead generation and you say , hey , could I speak at your event

? Take a look at this video , then that video that they see is going to be all the much better because you did the excruciatingly horrific , terrible work of making your speech phenomenal . Now we start the 30-second clock . Here's to me kind of the elements of a phenomenal speech .

I always like to number one , be very clear about who my audience is , what my topic is and what is my message in one sentence . So again , for me it'd be every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story . Then I have that as a North Star to make sure . Does my introduction point to that ? Do my main points point to that ?

Does my conclusion point to that ? In the introduction , this can be about 10% of your speech . I like to think of this as me , we , you , me first grabbing their attention . This is often self-deprecating or throwing yourself under the bus for the good of your audience , telling them how this was a challenge for you .

You figured something out , your turning point , okay . Next , we it's important . I see so many folks . You know I go around . When I spoke to students I went around telling my kind of foster kid story . Well , if I'm speaking to 500 kids , not every kid is a foster kid . So this we moment .

You have to shift and show them how is my really specific story also relevant to you , even if you're not in foster care and you don't know anybody in foster care . And with this you need to prove it with data , not more anecdotes . So you need to say you know what this percentage of people blah , blah , blah .

You know either maybe they haven't been abandoned by their parents , like I was , but they feel abandoned and alone . And then you start shifting towards you and this is where you kind of tease what your main points are . Hey , here's what I'm going to walk you through today , because this is not just about my soppy foster kid story .

I'm going to tell you one , two and three . Those become mile markers for the audience so that they know where they are in your message . Imagine when you pull up Google Maps and you type in a destination . At first . It gives you that overhead view . You see the line . It kind of gives you an estimation of the length of time .

You see the bird's eye view of where you're headed . That's what that is . So before you hit start , you get into the depth , the turn by turn of the message . I want to know where I am in your message at all times , and so you do that by just teasing . In one sentence we're going to talk about watermelon , strawberries and grapes .

First , let's get into watermelon , okay , and now you get into your main points . This is 70 80 percent of your speech . Uh , here I just think problem , here's the story . Solution , here's what I figured out . Advice here's the advice validated by research , don't just be anecdotal .

And then action here's something you can specifically , uh , pragmatically do to implement the advice that I gave you . All right , so you wash and repeat that for your main points . The conclusion quickly summarize the main points you visualize . Imagine what's going to happen if you do what I say or don't do what I say .

So you can cast the optimistic point of view . Or in some points , you need to kind of sober the audience . Or in some points you need to kind of sober the audience and kind of spook them and scare them a little bit .

Right here I like to thank the person that hired me and then if I have something to pitch I don't always in my context I'm going to pitch it right there . You know , if I've got an hour speech , I'm doing a pitch at the 55 minute point Because by that point I've just blown their minds for 55 minutes . So I have absolute authority and credibility .

I don't got to do any NLP nonsense or trickery to get them to buy whatever it is that I want them to buy , because I've delivered honest to goodness value and whatever I'm going to pitch is incredibly on point with whatever my message was . But I don't end with the pitch .

Then I need , like I like , to end with like sort of an uplifting , heartwarming story so that I know that was 30 seconds , Chandler . I know it was Maybe inflationary and an inflationary 30 . We are in an inflationary environment .

So two things to do to book your first handful of gigs . I mean first you should do some practice gigs at like stuff that you can get up and speak for free in your local community . So Toastmasters , local church , like hey , can I speak to your youth ? If the message is appropriate , anything free where there's a gathering of 10 or more people doesn't matter .

I would argue you could even go live on social media to begin to kind of work out the kinks of your message . So you're ready to eventually film a thing , those first 10 gigs . Two things . Number one it needs to be . You don't have speaking credibility yet , but you probably have reputational credibility .

So your first 10 gigs have to be most likely someone local and someone that already knows , likes and trusts you . So that's the pond you're fishing out of . It's admittedly going to be quite a small pond , but that is the only pond you should be fishing out of for your first 10 gigs .

If you try to go wide too quickly , you're going to be discouraged and you're going to go to folks prematurely when you should have waited until you had your ducks in a row . Now what do you send those folks ?

Just because I know Chandler and I don't yet have a video doesn't mean I should be sloppy about the way that I approach him and say hey , could I be on your podcast or your next author event ? In lieu of a demo video , I would put together a beautiful , thoughtful one page PDF . That is a bit of an outline of a message I'm thinking about .

That's hyper contextualized to his audience . You know like hey , I know you have an author event , I know you got great folks on this . Here's a very specific aspect of kind of the speaking industry that I could cover . Here would be my main points . You know , actually , here's sort of a resource I've doodled up for folks and pitch it hyper contextualized .

So this is not a one page . I'm blasting out to a bunch of different people and kind of hoping and praying that it works . I'm going to , you know , does this person know me ? Do they like me , do they trust me ? And then can I have a thoughtful overture . Speaking is all about persuasion , right , because Chandler risks his reputation and a check .

If he was paying me . You're not going to get paid the first 10 gigs before he knows if I'm any good . Right , he would book me for his event today , september , but his event might not be happening until January , so he's not going to know until January whether or not he made a good decision .

So anything I can do through this PDF to be like bro , I'm coming in hot , the oven is preheated . I have thought through exactly how I'm going to deliver value . I'm not just being sloppy and say , hey , you know me , like , put me on your stage , like , look , I have done the work .

Here's what I want to share to your people that even by reading that PDF , you're going to go . Oh yeah , yeah , this is a gap in our conference and I think this would deliver value . You do that . You do that well , you can book your first 10 gigs .

Uh , you know , 60% of folks said I saw them speak , someone I trust saw them speak or I saw a video of them speaking .

That tends to be more about your ability to kind of emotionally regulate a roller coaster of a crescendo towards the end of your speech . You know , if your client uses hyperbolic language best ever been doing this for 10 years people were hounding me about how amazing you were . Do you have offers on site ?

Do you have people chasing you down on site , giving you their business card , their information , telling you about their event ? That's when you know in the net promoter score , you know seven or eight , right , they don't move Below seven . They spread bad information about you . Nine to 10 , they , on your behalf , spread the word . This is how you know that .

And then also , do you have the Beatles effect ? Do you have a line of people wanting to buy your book , get you to sign the book , take a selfie , ask you a question ? If you have those sorts of things happening , you know you're crushing it . Now , getting that referral specifically from the person Well , I'm sorry .

Let me say one more thing about the audience . I would say at that 55-minute mark . So if your goal at an event is to get more gigs not necessarily to sell a book , but if it is specifically to get more gigs , at that 55-minute mark I would say , hey . I imagine there are a handful of you in here who have the authority or are planning your own event .

That's one of my goals . If that's something that would be helpful to you , this message , come forward With these folks . I don't like to do the QR code , scan this , fill out a form . Again , they're risking their reputation . You're going to be working intimately with them anyway .

I want them to come forward , give me their information and I will kind of track them down . Now , circling back to that decision maker , it's next to impossible to do this on the front end of the booking Because , again , the event hasn't happened . They don't know if you're going to blow their mind or not .

So what we do at this is a scale so this is a bit more 201 , is that we have a four question survey that goes out the day after the event . So timing is very important Because if that person is on a high from your talk . They're going to be on a high very quickly after that event .

So a survey goes out and if on that survey they rate the speech a nine or a 10 , we do two things . Number one , we generate a discount code to book another speech within the next six months with either the same speaker or one of our other speakers . And then secondly , we ask for an introduction at that point .

Okay , so if someone rates nine or 10 , the goal there is get more business . If they rate seven or eight , our goal is not to try to get more business , it's to learn what didn't go well . What kind of underwhelmed you . So I'm not trying to resell that person .

If it's a six or under and out of our 1,200 gigs a year , I would say we have five or six of these we refund them , we give them the money back . We say we wanted this to be your best speaker ever . That didn't happen from your perspective . Here's your money back . I hope you trust us again in the future .

Okay , so that's kind of the three categories of people and that's based on the data and the evidence within the net promoter score . Now a bit more analog you will notice , if you murder on stage , that person that brought you . They're going to chase you down within a half hour of your speech . And then I go oh my gosh , that you know .

We thought you were going to be good , but that , my goodness , at that point you start going hey , that means the world to me . How often do you guys have this event ? Is it always the same ? Then you can start to . Then they are basically saying well , for the love of God , would you please resell me ? Would you please resell me ?

So if that happens , I try to begin to seed that conversation Again . That's not being manipulative . It's like they risked their reputation I murdered . Now they're circling back and saying please , how can we engage you more ?

Both I I look at this separately maybe . Maybe that's the wrong way to look at it , but okay , because I feel like I was doing maybe 20 , 30 , 40 gigs a year .

I'm like , all right , I want to narrow that way back , but now I'm at a point where , okay , I'm I'm down to do a lot more for bigger audiences , which I think those opportunities are there , but I haven't been super strategic about all the stuff you're saying and really positioning myself as a speaker . So it's almost like doing a little bit of a reset .

So , anyways , back to the question how would you look at me booking more gigs for me specifically and booking more gigs for our speaking team ? Like ? What would your approach be ? What would you focus on that sort of thing ?

for you to do ?

So with those folks , instead of you trying to pitch yourself to the indecision maker , your goal should be to pitch yourself to the two dozen reputable speakers bureaus out there . Close a certain percentage of the reputable ones , be picky there . There are some shady ones out there .

If you're not intimidated by the other speakers on the bureau , then you should probably just exit that website and look elsewhere , but thoughtfully try to get them on board .

Because when we talk about that reputational risk , particularly in the corporate and business world now this is anecdotal Again , I'm not an expert in the corporate space , so only trust what I'm about to say 70% .

But my understanding there is that in the corporate world , bigger budgets , even higher risk reputationally , I would argue they're often less open to individual speakers , pitching them or kind of pursuing individual speakers , and instead they have a handful of bureaus they work with . They've had longstanding relationships with and they just go .

Hey , the last folks you sent us , you know , michelle Poehler , kyle Shealy they killed it for us . Who should we have this year ? You know , give us a half dozen names and we'll choose a few . So , chandler , if your answer was 24 more gigs , then I would say you need to go the bureau route , earn those folks' trust .

And if you go that route , it can't be what I understand the current model is , which , to you , the importance is getting self-publishing out there , doing a pitch , these sorts of things . That's not how those bureaus are paid . That's not how those agents at bureaus are paid For them . It's about the check at the gig .

So , even though that's not your priority , you would need to make that your priority for at least booking that gig Now , because it's a hired gig . Not all of those gigs would allow you to pitch and again , that could be something you say hey , I need to know in advance , because you're the $20,000 check .

I mean I'll take it , but I really want to be able to appropriately pitch at the event and if they're not going to allow it , then I'll just bow out ahead of time . Now for your situation .

You said 15 or so I would say you need to set up teams and processes of probably one to two people to do this in-house , because 15 gigs a year and you're going to need to be kind of picky , like turning down the $20,000 check because they won't let you pitch , that's going to irritate a bureau .

Bureaus aren't going to be on board for that , even if they're . Like . This guy does a good job . I like him , I like his profile , the ink stuff , the business he's built , but there wouldn't be enough meat on the bone for those bureaus to kind of quote waste website space or proposal space pitching you .

So I think you need an internal team that can go after leads , go after events , target the ideal events . And then the good news is , if you were working with a bureau and they didn't want to book you , they're going to book one of their other reputable speakers . With your situation , you can use Chandler as the bait , right ?

And then the branching logic becomes is this a perfect event for Chandler ? If so , let's move forward with Chandler . If not , let's downsell one of our other speakers . But I wouldn't lead with the other speakers because you're going to have kind of the most shiny reputation and stuff that will grab attention . Um , you know , and then we can .

You can focus just on having one killer demo video putting your profile out there and then , if it's not a fit for you , uh pitching one of the other speakers on your team .

They're just kind of hunting for hey , okay , let's find , let's find events in Austin , dallas , houston , san Antonio , or let's find big entrepreneurial conferences which we haven't been able to find , kind of like an aggregated database for that . Any tips on that side of things .

There's a variety of ways , but I think the two that would probably kind of give you the most fruit is number one look at speakers with other similar profiles , messages , and go , okay , let me , using the Wayback Machine and bracketed Google queries , let me find a and AI , let me find a list of you know 300 events that these names might not be the relevant

ones , but Gary Vaynerchuk has spoke at and Alex Ramosi has spoke at , so sort of like . You know folks that are like , okay , I feel like I'm kind of in that lane , you know . So that could be one thing . What events have those folks spoken at ? And you know , I think I would be a good follow-up offer .

So that's a way to go about it , and another way to go about it would be unfortunately there's no lookalike generator for a , you know , for corporate speaking gigs , but you can kind of force it Meaning , you know , if you think about the gigs you've done over the past few years , I would . I would start with a nucleus of the 12 perfect events .

So you go , here are the 12 events . Like I loved speaking at it , it brought in good business . The the decision maker was super happy . I had a great time . My goodness , if I could have 15 of these a year , I would love it .

So I would start with that nucleus and then I would focus on job title of that decision maker and I would start doing cold database searches of that industry . This job . Show me more people like that person who was the person that brought me into the event and begin to kind of whittle from there .

That will get you like a nice meaty , sizable database that you can start to make overtures at .

More than a hundred K a year in gigs in the youth and education space , we're not a great fit for you . If you're doing that kind of thing , reach out , we can triple your business . Easy , no problem if you're the right kind of folk .

If you are in the youth and education space but you're just getting started , youth Speaker University is , as you noticed in this conversation with Chandler , it's just like I am . It is neurotic , it is OCD . It is incredibly methodical and incredibly exhaustive and step-by-step .

If you're like man students or adults that work with students , I would say our thing is 100% a fit for you and you can kind of do it yourself until you get to that level and you need an agency , or congrats , you don't need an agency , you're killing it on your own . I'll be happy for you .

Either way , I think my parting words of wisdom that is contrary to a lot of what I see kind of preached in the speaking space is like you've got to think of yourself as a singer , songwriter in the music business and step one is you got to get that speech incredible . You've got to get that speech incredible . Be patient with that .

Don't start trying to film the demo video too soon . Don't start trying to market yourself too soon . Make the product extraordinary and then start to move forward Places . I get inspiration as the creative side of the speaking business myself . I love watching one-man shows ,

another gentleman's one-man show . It's like my mother's Jewish , my father's Italian and I'm in therapy . They , for 90 minutes , hold an audience and take them on an emotional rollercoaster . Now , yeah , they don't teach you a thing , but they take you on a rollercoaster .

Stand-up comedians phenomenal at presenting information , with all sorts of tones , all sorts of angles , all sorts of personality styles . And then preachers . Even if you're not religious man , you watch a preacher . The visuals will be stunning . You watch folks like TD Jakes , stephen Furtick , craig Groeschel .

You will see different personalities , but you will see engaging presentation , clear takeaways , stunning visuals that back up their message . You know , soak yourself in that and get your speech in a phenomenal spot . That is your product , that is what you're selling .

Then , when you go out , you will have much greater success because , at the end of the day , folks are risking their reputation . So let your speech be worthy of someone risking their reputation on first .