How I became a successful speaker

Hey friend,

This week, my first ghostwriting project, The Successful Speaker, comes out. This was a collaboration with Grant Baldwin, the leading expert on what it takes to build a successful speaking business. It was a lot of fun, but what I didn’t expect was how much it would make me a better speaker.

I always wanted to speak for a living, but it wasn’t until I actually wrote a book on speaking that I accomplished it.

Funny, isn’t it? It took writing a book on speaking to become a successful speaker.

While writing this book, I began to understand a few key lessons on what success as a speaker actually looks like. I guess what they say is true: teaching is the best way to learn something.

To learn those lessons, click here to read and listen to this week’s post.

Here’s a summary:

If you want someone to care about you, you first have to care about them. The best way to get booked or paid for anything is to find a way to solve their problem. You have not because you ask not. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask people if you can help them. With speaking, this meant I had to be bold and offer to speak all kinds of events even when I wasn’t sure if I was a good fit. This resulted in over two dozen gigs. The best marketing is people seeing at work. This past year, I spoke a lot and posted on social media and on my blog about it. I talked about it on my podcast. And the result of my talking about it was that people asked me to do more of it. Most people are unaware of the work that you do, because you don’t talk about it nearly enough. This is called practicing in publish and just might be the most effective marketing strategy a creative has in his or her tool belt.

In other news, I’ve been hitting up the podcast circuit. Here are a few places I’ve recently done an interview:

Artists don’t have to starve - Idea to Value: This was a fun chat just on the idea of the starving artist myth and how to get your work out into the world and get rewarded for it. Managing Leadership Anxiety: Jeff Goins: This was a very interesting and deep conversation the delved into creativity, psychology, and spirituality. We talked about self awareness, trauma, and all kinds of “fun” things. On the Path of Self-Discovery with Jeff Goins: This was one of the most esoteric interviews I’ve ever done, a fact of which I am quite proud. If you like the “woo,” you are going to love this.

I also recently published this article on Medium: 8 Steps You Must Take to Write a Book - Better Marketing - Medium.

That’s it for now!

Hope you have a great week. If you have any questions about writing or creative work, if you’re feeling stuck, please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know how I can help!

And be sure to pick up a copy of The Successful Speaker (you can get a free copy of the audiobook when you order here!)

Best,

Jeff
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