As public speakers (and indeed as businessmen), most of us want to build an empire. We want to create something that we’re remembered for and to start establishing a reputation. We also want to create a situation where people are going out of their way to work with us.
If we’re able to build an empire as public speakers, we can go above and beyond making a living for ourselves, and start to build up staff and a business around us. Alternatively, if we don’t want to have employees, we can create content like books and courses that we can sell so that we never have to work a day again if we don’t want to.
But how exactly can we go about building an empire as a public speaker? Let’s find out.
This one almost goes without saying, but if you want to build an empire as a public speaker then the first step is to get good at what you do. Once you excel at that, you’ll find that your empire will almost start to build itself. Opportunities will come your way without you needing to search them out, and you’ll build a reputation as being the go-to person to talk about your subject matter.
Finding a niche is always important, because niches can be dominated by you. This goes back to what we’ve said about being the go-to person to refer to about your subject matter, because this will only work if you have a clearly defined subject that you’re an expert on. With niches, you can continue niching down as needed. For example, marketing is a wide niche, social media marketing is a little narrower and Facebook marketing is narrower still. It’s a good idea to niche down, but don’t make the mistake of becoming so niched that no one ever reaches out to you.
Once you’re good at what you do and you have a clearly defined niche that you can talk about, the next step is for you to start finding speaking gigs so that you can get out there in front of an audience. This is easier said than done, but the good news is that it’s like pushing a snowball down a hill. Once you’ve got the first couple of gigs under your belt, before you know it you’ll find that word will travel and people are approaching you.
As a public speaker, there’s only so far that you can make it on your own. After all, there’s only one of you, and so your business will only scale as far as you can take it with just yourself. That’s why it can be a good idea to launch a consultancy, because that allows you to scale your empire and to have people working for you.
This is another idea that can help you when it comes to scaling. You can only carry out so many speaking gigs in a year, and that means that you’re only able to reach a limited number of people. By writing a book, you can reach a wider audience and bring in some extra cash while you’re at it. It will also help you to establish your personal brand and promote your expertise
Speaking at events is one thing, but running them yourself is the next step up. It’s a great way to go about networking and brand building, and it will also open up more opportunities for you to speak yourself. If you’re the go-to expert in your field, you can deliver the keynote speech yourself and then invite other people whom you respect to take to the stage also.
This tip goes hand-in-hand with the idea of launching a consultancy, but actually building a business and winning clients will only get you so far. You need to make sure that you’re servicing each of the clients that you work for with the highest amount of care possible. You can’t just win clients and do an okay job. If you want word to spread and your business to grow, you need to surprise and delight your clients so that they keep coming back for more.
Awards aren’t right for everyone, but there’s no denying that an award win or two will do a great job of showcasing that you’re the best in the business. People like to work with award-winners because it provides a certain guarantee of success that you can’t get elsewhere. It shows that the industry you’re in perceives you as a leader, and basically underscores that there are people out there that think you’re at the top of the game.
Podcasts have become increasingly popular in recent years, and they’re particularly well-suited to public speakers because we’re the people who have the abilities needed to tell a story and to cast a spell on listeners through the power of our voices. Podcasts have a number of advantages when it comes to building your empire, from the fact that you can make new connections by bringing in guests, to the fact that you can use calls-to-action in each episode to tell people what you want them to do next.
At the end of the day, you’re only as good as the last thing you did, so there will always be room for improvement, even when you’ve built your global empire and you feel like you’re at the top of your game. You should always strive for improvement and continue to look for ways to boost your brand if you want your empire to keep on growing.
Now that you know our thoughts on how you can start to build an empire with public speaking, we want to hear from you. Have you been building a public speaking empire? And if so, what have you found has worked (and what hasn’t)?
As always, be sure to let us know in the comments so that we can keep the discussion going. You can also follow us on your favorite social networking sites for more. We’ll see you soon for another article!
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