I've been doing some public speaking as of late. I've talked with a couple Girlscouts troops and a 4th grade elementary school class. I did these for free, and plan on speaking to other kids organizations/classes for free as well.
But this got me thinking. I bet I can use this to my advantage and actually make a buck. I'm going to check with a few of my local churches and maybe a YMCA or two to set up some speaking engagements. Have them announced to the members as a free 'Health and Wellness' seminar... But I'll mention that while the seminar is free, donations would gladly be accepted. If you like the info and feel it was of value to you, drop a buck or two in the bucket on your way out. No obligation though. Then split the proceeds with the church or Y.
I'm thinking this would be a good way to build some local notariety and hopefully drive some more paying customers my way.
Thoughts?
__________________
Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who don't.
Pro-bono work can really get the ball rolling, especially when you're just starting out.
I never did pro-bono speaking but i did TONS of pro-bono training
I can think of two trainers in my area who started out doing almost completely pro-bono training, now both own gyms, drive expensive cars ( Dodge Viper, top of the line Mercedes Benze ) and make approx 10-20 times your average personal trainers income. They both pull in very high six figure incomes... all from what started as a pro-bono gig back when they were both broke a few years ago... I mean broke as in sleeping on a friends floor broke
I also started my biz doing a lot of pro-bono work. When I did it I got a TON of new paying clients from it... it works on many levels that are too in-depth to get into here
Heres a few blog posts about it... the first is about how I trained models pro-bono to position myself as an expert and the second is about pro-bono training in general.
Not trying to be too self-promoting here but I don't have time to type out how I did it all again so I'll just send you to my blog posts about it
do a search here - somewhere JP has a post about the lunchtime wellness & fitness talks that he gives at various businesses - he also talks about networking within the local chamber of commerce to build the business contacts to make the speaking engagements
I've been doing some public speaking as of late. I've talked with a couple Girlscouts troops and a 4th grade elementary school class. I did these for free, and plan on speaking to other kids organizations/classes for free as well.
But this got me thinking. I bet I can use this to my advantage and actually make a buck. I'm going to check with a few of my local churches and maybe a YMCA or two to set up some speaking engagements. Have them announced to the members as a free 'Health and Wellness' seminar... But I'll mention that while the seminar is free, donations would gladly be accepted. If you like the info and feel it was of value to you, drop a buck or two in the bucket on your way out. No obligation though. Then split the proceeds with the church or Y.
I'm thinking this would be a good way to build some local notariety and hopefully drive some more paying customers my way.
Thoughts?
I had the same thought a couple years ago. Someone recommended a book called Speak and Grow Rich. I bought it, read it, and realized I had no interest in doing what it takes to make money as a speaker.
So when I speak or do a presentation, it's either as a favor for someone (like Career Day at my daughters' school), or because I really want to attend the event (like JP's Summit), or because it gives me a chance to attend a conference, earn CEUs, make new contacts, catch up with acquaintances and colleagues, and hear the other speakers.
I don't think I've ever been paid to speak. If the conference host picks up my travel expenses, and I get to attend the conference for free and earn CEUs, that's plenty of compensation. I've only done it a few times, but I've thoroughly enjoyed each chance to get up and talk.
There's an actual speakers' circuit, and there's a lot of money to be made on it. I've heard some of these speakers at corporate functions. Most of them are best-selling authors, and you can usually tell that they're just going through the motions to collect a paycheck and cash in on their fame.
The ones who aren't bestselling authors are often sports figures who are somehow supposed to get everyone pumped up with their tales of how they made the winning basket or coached someone to score the winning touchdown.
The rest tend to be motivational speakers who aren't known for doing anything else, and that's a whole industry unto itself. (The Greg Kinnear character in Little Miss Sunshine is an aspiring motivational speaker.)
When I worked at Rodale we debated a book proposal from a professional speaker. The entire rationale for doing the book was that people who paid him to speak would also buy enough books to give one to everyone who attended. So right up front we knew nobody would actually go out and buy the book -- people who heard him speak would get a free copy, paid for by the sponsor.
Maybe I'm just weird, but I found the whole idea kind of depressing. I mean, if nobody actually wants your book, why write it?
Don't charge them, but make them feel like they are getting something that is very valuable (because it should be), and you are giving it to them as a gift.
I speak at some business nearly once a week (sometimes more). Every single time I speak I get new members and new personal training clients or bootcampers for my trainers. Sometimes the response is HUGE!
I don't do a hard-sell presentation... I make it very fun and informative, and then do a soft mention in the end about my business and our services. In fact, I always like to give stuff away.
I'm giving away all my good tricks now, but here's one that works really well. I spoke to about 50 people a couple of weeks ago and at the end everyone was excited about the drawing for a free month at my gym. So I got everyone to fill out information and then just told them "ah heck, I'll just give everyone in the room a free month!" The cheers were deafening. I signed up 30 new members of that one gig.
It is a daily event for me to sit down with my little notebook full of potential gigs and call as many people as I can to keep lining up speaking gigs. Get them booked out for months in advance.
Two things happen. One, you are constantly in front of people, building a solid reputation and becoming the "go-to guy" in your area. Word gets around fast, trust me. Two, you get a direct result from each one of those talks. One client could potentially be worth $5K or more (based on them becoming a regular for a year). Work up to having 50 people or more in your bootcamps (which is what I do) and you are really raking it in.
So both in the short term and in the long term you win. Don't quibble over a few bucks when you have that much potential income at stake.
Most importantly though, knock their socks off! Entertain them and give them something really unique. I promise my groups that I am going to rock their very paradigms about fitness, and I usually do. It's not just getting the gig, it's giving them a great presentation that gets them talking and keeps them talking long after you are gone.
I personally think that for a gym/personal training studio, it is the best spent marketing investment you can possibly make!
JP - when you're out speaking to different companies, how long do you typically speak for? I want to do some lunch and learn type things, which would give me 30-45 minutes. I think that would be enough time to dish out some good info, but short enough to leave them wanting more.
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Those who live by the sword, get shot by those who don't.
I talk for about that. I try to leave 15 min for Q and A. I get peppered with questions all over the board.
Jim Labadie had a pretty big influence over my presenting skills. I was okay before, but I really went back and refined my product after I saw him speak one year.
One thing that I do now is to video tape most of my presentations. I hate to watch myself on video, but it is really helpful for refining my presentations and fixing any tics or quirks I have. At first I was stunned how much I say the words, "Uh," and "you know." It's rough but necessary if you really want to get good.
I look at speaking as an opportunity to get in front of people (marketing) and to given them useful info (serving, and marketing), if not inspire them (serving, marketing).
At some point, charging would make sense, but then that's deciding to do speaking as a business, intentionally, which, I think, largely takes additional planning and maintanence. For me, it's a way to serve, and a way to present myself and my product to the public, in way that they pay attention to and benefit from . . . and it doesn't cost me anything. It helps the whole word of mouth effort.
Speaking for free?
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