I think it’s healthy to learn from your mistakes, don’t you?

And in this situation, by sharing, I might help you avoid some of my biggies.  So let’s get right to it:

FIRE, BEFORE READY AND AIM

You know I have people coming to me every day who want to book more speeches (Fire) when they aren’t really clear on what they are selling (Ready). So it surprised me when I did the same thing!

Mid way through the year, I decided I wanted to put on The Wealthy Speaker Masters event. I would bring in some smart people for a weekend and we’d have a great time. I got all the way thru to the marketing stage when I realized “I don’t know what value I am providing”. Yes, it would be fun to have an event, but “what was the point?”

So, after doing some research and seeing that a bunch of speakers were running events as well, I pulled the plug and went back to the drawing board. AND, with the knowledge that I wanted to provide some steady, and solid learning, combined with accountability, I came back out with The Wealthy Speaker University – Self Study, Bachelors and Masters programs (10-12 months).

The results? My two main programs sold out and I’ve added a great new revenue stream.
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

How can you expand on your current offerings? And when you develop them, how will you Ready, Aim, Fire?

BOOK MARKETING 101

My second blunder of the year was launching a book into a market that didn’t know me. If I had my time back, I would start blogging 3 years before launching “The Frog Whisperer” (a book on love and dating). That way, I’d have an audience, some credibility and people that know me waiting to receive the book.

I had that luxury with “The Wealthy Speaker”, but I didn’t realize how much it was worth.
http://frogwhisperer.com/

If you’re thinking about launching a book, my advice is to build your market first – either through speaking or writing.

Want to share some of your blunders?Please comment below.

PS: The Self Study program of The Wealthy Speaker University is a terrific first step for anyone wanting to launch a speaking business, or take a 3-5 year business to the next level. Drop me a line if you have any questions.

http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

For years I’ve been talking about how speaking is just one of the ways we distribute our knowledge.

We write books, consult, coach and a whole host of other things that help drive revenue. Since the economy keeps shifting, the days of the $15,000 speaker doing 50-70 gigs a year might be behind us.

We must distribute our knowledge in other ways.

For instance, the first time the economy dipped a few years back, it hit my coaching business pretty hard. That was when I developed the “club” idea. I thought “okay, if people can’t afford private coaching any more, then we’ll do it in groups”.

It was a big hit.

And for 2012, I’ve expanded on the idea even further with The Wealthy Speaker University.
http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

I tell you this for two reasons.

1) Of course, I want you to take a look at the University as a possible method for driving your business forward next year. Self serving, sure.

But 2. I wonder what your own version of The University might be? Think about what your clients want from you and work backwards from there. Do they want more time with you? Do they want training that you could provide in video?

There are many outlets for us to use to expand our empire.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: The Wealthy Speaker University has programs for 3 different levels. Please give it a look as we’ve added a bunch of cool new features. The big benefit? Every month, for 12 months next year, you’ll be moving your business strategy forward! What’s that worth? http://wealthyspeakeru.com/

In The Wealthy Speaker 2010 Update, I talked about our new approach to marketing. Our goal is to pull people into our fan base long enough to impress them (so they buy from us).

Get your PDF copy of the update here.

The success of this approach really depends on the strength of your lists, or your fan base.

When someone like Seth Godin, who’s written gobs of books, puts out a blog post or a new book people sit up, take notice, and more importantly BUY THE BOOK.

There are different levels of fan loyalty.

The EXTREME LOYALTY fan base: I suspect this is Seth’s group – they follow closely, hang on every word and purchase often.

The HIGH LOYALTY fan base: I would say this might be my base (thank you, I appreciate you) they enjoy much of your work, and a good percentage of them purchase.

THE LOW LOYALTY fan base: This group would be the least desireable. They sometimes pay attention and rarely buy from you. They follow mainly for the freebies that you offer.

Which fan base are you developing right now? Which one would you like? The more aware we are, the easier it is to make changes and improve your base.

QUICK TIP: When pulling people into your fan base via your name capture on your website, make sure that you are asking them to buy fairly early in the cycle. By providing only great value without asking for the sale, you are tee’ing them up to be LOW LOYALTY.

NEXT TIP: I’m going to introduce you to my new project The Wealthy Speaker University. There are 3 terrific new programs for speakers at all levels. We’re just putting the final pieces in place, stay tuned!

PS: If you don’t have a copy of The Wealthy Speaker, or the Wealthy Speaker System (a great value if I do say so myself) then, check it out. http://speakerlauncher.com/tools.html (See, this is me walking my talk and asking for the sale!)

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

As time whips by, the gap between old school and new school is expanding.

If you haven’t quite cottoned on to technology, you could be old school.

If you use terms like “cottoned on”, you might be old school (that’s a joke ).

If your first instinct is to pick up the phone, rather than shoot off an e-mail or a text, you could be old school.

And, if you don’t have any systems in place to pull “fans” into your database, you may be old school. The old school method of call-send-call is not nearly as likely to happen these days. Call a prospect, find out there’s a need, send a packet of information, follow up with a call. At least part, if not all, of the sales process will now be done electronically.

Now some of you might say, but the phone is very effective for me! The key is to know how your prospects work best. Many people these days prefer quick and easy communication, especially since phone calls have the ability to drag on.

In my 2011 Update for The Wealthy Speaker, I said: “Where before you might have been building a relationship by phone, now your goal is to pull people into your fan base and keep them there long enough to impress them.”

To get your copy of the update, click here: http://speakerlauncher.com/2011update.html

Pulling people into your fan base (new school style) can mean using a name capture on your website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogging.  And, of course, if you can get some phone or Skype time with your client, take it!

If you’re new school, then you’re on the right track, woo hoo! And if you’re old school, let’s hope this prompts you to identify what’s not working and make some changes to the way you do business.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: See some of our recordings on new school methodologies (like blogging, creating fame and social media). http://www.speakerlauncher.com/AudioTools.html

This is going to be a short post, but it’s a juicy one!!!

No question email communication has become a way of life. For some people, it has completely replaced the phone.

I have about 9,500 professional speakers on my e-mail broadcast list, some have multiple addresses listed with me. (See below as I need some help with house cleaning).

If you are using an address for business that is GENERIC (ie: hotmail, gmail, comcast) then you might be missing a branding opportunity with your clients. Every time they see your gmail address, they are NOT seeing your website URL. Yourname.com or yourbrand.com becomes embedded when they have communicated with you several times.

Are you missing out on this opportunity?

If so, get ‘r fixed.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers.

PS: I’d like to ask you to look at all of your e-mail accounts and see if you are receiving multiple e-Tips from me. If so, just hit the REMOVE option at the bottom of the e-mail to be taken off the list.

For years I’ve been touting the strategy of becoming known for one thing.

Focus is helpful in any business, and most of us need it in order to be our most productive. The question is “what do you want to be known for 5 years from now?”

There are people who can pull off several different business initiatives and make it look easy – these are the exceptions. These are the true entrepreneurs.

But for most, I think the umbrella helps us see our business in a nutshell and can help keep us focused. For a PDF of the umbrella click here.

The top of the umbrella is where you write in your area of focus, your expertise (what your empire is all about). For instance, you might write “Leadership Communication” at the top of that umbrella. In the white space in the middle, you’ll write in your topics. These could include various topics of speeches, books, etc., all relating back to the way you communicate as a leader. The arrows below are your revenue streams, the various ways you get your message out: keynotes, workshops, consulting, coaching, product, public seminars, membership clubs, etc.

This umbrella serves as your business model. The ideal situation is that you have only one umbrella and all of your ideas fit within it.

Some entrepreneurs may have 2 or more different umbrellas on the go. Again, that’s not easy; but stay tuned for the Frog Chronicles, I’m going to be expanding my business and I believe following my journey may provide some lessons.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

ps: If you’re uncertain about your umbrella, you might consider signing up for a Focus 40 session, an inexpensive way to gain clarity on your business model and positioning. http://www.speakerlauncher.com/focus40.html

How focused is your outbound marketing?

Many of my clients are moving into the FIRE mode because they have already completed READY and AIM.

Here are some tips on FIRING.

FOCUS IS KEY Your goal is to choose anywhere from 1 to 3 industries on which to focus your outbound efforts. You might ultimately decide that you can only market to one industry effectively, that would be fine. This focus will allow you to monitor your results and make strategic adjustments.

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHO TO TARGET? Go back through your speaking clients and see who you’ve loved working with and which audiences loved you. eg., you spoke to a large group of realtors and you were a huge hit. You might make real estate one of your target markets.

I HAVE MY TARGET MARKETS, THEN WHAT? The next step is to infiltrate. Become known to this group as an expert. How? I find that writing is one of the most effective ways. Develop articles and place them in all of your target industry publications.

Note: there is a big difference between being an advertiser and an industry expert. Go for the article, rather than the paid ad and you will be positioning more effectively. A good way to find the people in your target market is through their associations, here’s a good search tool. http://www.asaecenter.org/Community/Directories/ AssociationSearch.cfm

You can flood the market with your expertise in many different ways:

1. use social media to build your fan base within the industry
2. run industry specific teleclasses, webinars or podcasts
3. do a postcard campaign (snail mail is bound to make a comeback!)
4. pull people in to your fan base with a strong carrot. For more on this check out this blog post http://www.speakerlauncher.com/blog/?s=carrot

By using a focused and consistent outbound marketing approach, you will see results that lead to bookings.

If you’d like to share something that has worked for you? Post your comment here below.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

PS: Want to hang out with me on Social Media?

Here are my links: Twitter: http://twitter.com/janeatkinson

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Jane.Speaker.Launcher

LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/speakerlauncher

Photographer: graur razvan ionut, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

BONUS: The 2011 Update to The Wealthy Speaker is now available!

It includes up-to-date information about technology, social media and the new trends in booking speeches.

Here’s the link to pick up your update at no cost:

http://speakerlauncher.com/2011update.html

(Note: Even if you purchased your book on Amazon or Kindle or iBooks, I wanted you to have the update as well. And if you don’t have your copy of The Wealthy Speaker yet, you can still have the update – maybe it will encourage you to invest $17).

http://speakerlauncher.com/2011update.html

Also, there are 2 new coaching clubs starting next month.

Club Quick start begins on March 16th, 2011 and has 8 spots available for speakers who are NEW to the industry. If you’d like to take advantage of group coaching, check out this link:

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/quickstart.html

Club Catapult begins on March 8th, 2011 for more SEASONED SPEAKERS. We have 5 spots available in this group.

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/clubcatapult.html

See you soon Wealthy Speakers!

Letter from the Decision Maker

Dear Speaker,

When it comes to impressing me with your video, you have about 45 seconds.

When I have a list of possible speakers in front of me, I am swift with the “next” button. I don’t have time for things that don’t interest me or aren’t relevant to my work.

You might lose me if:

- In the first minute of your video you haven’t said anything. Bells and whistles don’t impress me.

- You say “hire me, I’m a speaker”. I’m looking for experts who want to help me solve a problem.

- You have distracting or poor quality footage.

- There’s no footage of you speaking live. I’m impressed by media footage, but if I’m hiring a speaker, I want to see you speaking on the stage. (And not in the 5th minute, I don’t have time!)

Sincerely, Decision Maker

The winners of the best speaking video will be announced next week.

See you soon Wealthy Speakers.

ps: Club Hybrid group coaching is just $79/month and starts this week! I have 3 spots left, check it out. http://www.speakerlauncher.com/ClubHybrid.html

Our industry lost a great speaker (and great person) this week.

Keith Harrell was a speaker who was admired and respected by many.

And his career was fascinating to watch.

Keith Harrell owned a word.

His word was Attitude.

About 15 years ago, I thought attitude was too soft of a topic to base an entire career on. You could say I had a bad attitude about “attitude”.

But Keith did exactly that. He built his entire career on one little 8 letter word. The Wall St. Journal was so intrigued that they wrote a full page about him. And because he combined that focus with his super fantastic talent, his fees went far beyond average.

Keith would want us to keep on learning, so….

Do you own a word? When people think about you, do they associate you with one thing?

A few more examples:

Vince Poscente: Speed
Mark Sanborn: Fred
Michael Gerber: eMyth
Mary Beth Kuzmeski: Red Zone

It’s not necessary for it to only be one word, but owning a word or words is definitely something for all of us to ponder.

Q. What do you want to be known for 5 years from now?

Want to share your word or words? Comment below

See you soon WEALTHY SPEAKERS (my words).

PS: And speaking of Wealthy Speakers. I have 5 spots left in my next group coaching club starting on November 4th. Check it out… http://www.speakerlauncher.com/ClubHybrid.html