There are two common ways to pursue a speaking career. One is to keep your present job, take the classes necessary to learn your new craft, do lots of talks for free (local schools, Toastmasters, etc.) and then eventually get picked up by some marketing firm when you're ready to make the leap (Pryor Seminars, Inc., PadgettThompson, CareerTrack, etc.). The down side here is you're always an employee getting paid an employee's wage. The upside is you never have to worry about marketing an event. The only marketing you'll be directly involved with is just selling hard product during the show. Someone else books you and they, of course, make the lion's share of the profits.
The second is to hook up with a training firm looking for marketing and training talent who will then assign you a territory, work your butt off marketing their stuff while teaching you the ropes. The down side is again you're an employee making an employee's wage, you'll be tied to their products for X amount of years, and you will probably have to sign some form of a noncompete agreement (so you'll have to wait a bit to market yourself or other products). The up side is you'll get a sure income (as secure as in any dealership), and learn the most important part of ANY business, marketing. Your employer, however, will still be making the lion's share of the profits.
We offer a third alternative to these here at BLU, Inc. and My Success Company. We look to build marketing partnerships that will last for years to come. Most other companies want to hire you as an employee, limiting what you can market, teach, make, and where you can go. They are usually always "looking" for new people too, as limiting someone tends to shorten working relationships.
What we look for is someone willing to "never graduate" and start out marketing as well as training. We encourage our associates to build their own marketing and training firms in association with Bottom Line Underwriters, Inc. We will show you the ropes of marketing an event without limiting you to marketing just our products. The territories you develop are yours to market our products and events as well as any others you see fit to (including your own). You'll be able to piggy-back on our reputation and resources while building your own separate business. You'll also make the lion's share of the profits for the events that you market. NO, there are no start up costs or fees that you pay us. We both benefit from your development and marketing efforts and we see it as a way of getting into territories that we aren't currently in yet.
As our marketing strategies require speaking and training skills, we will also help you to develop the skills necessary to be a professional speaker and trainer. Skills such as Adult Learning Strategies, Speaking Skills, How to Build Curriculums for Adult Learners, How to Write Workbooks to get Results, Publishing Strategies, Presenting Skills, Proper Use of Audio/Visual Aids, Multimedia Presentation Skills, and Train the Trainer Skills, to name most of them. (The best trainers are constantly attending classes on these subjects. They are offered by our firm as well as companies like Padgett-Thompson, Pryor Seminars, Inc., Nightingale-Conant, CareerTrack, and others.)
Finally, we'll help you through the entire publishing process, benefiting from our contacts, our reputation, and our processes, to help get your own work published.
All three methods for breaking into the speaking industry will take a leap of faith on your part but all change does. Doesn't it? If you'd like to pursue this further with us, or would just like more detailed information, simply contact us here, editor@bluinc.com, leave us your contact points, and we'll get you hooked up with the right person.
Even if you pick the two more common paths, contact us anyway, and we'll provide you with the necessary signposts (direction and referrals).
Toll Free: 1-888-My Success
Fax: (503) 638-0602
P.O. Box 1218
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
E-mail: editor@bluinc.com
Copyright © 1998 by Bottom Line Underwriters, Inc.
