A Blog By Speakers, For Speakers.
Don’t Let Public Speaking Leave You Tongue-Tied
By Harvey Mackay, CPAE I am, first and foremost, and will always be, an envelope salesman. My business card says so. But more people probably know me as an author and speaker – which evolved from my sales career. Who knew? Regardless of the title on your business card, everyone is a salesperson whether you want to admit it or not. Why? Because from the time you get up in the…
Should You Attend the Reception the Night Before You Speak?
By: Courtney Ramsey, CSP I read a thread recently that stopped me mid-scroll. The topic wasn’t new, but that didn’t make it any less relevant. It was about whether speakers should attend the reception the night before they present. I paused because this is one of those things I still debate… every single time. I’m that speaker sitting in my hotel…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 7)
Part 7: Tracking Your Past Helps Predict the Future By Cara Silletto, CSP Do you know how you actually win business? What are your top three lead-generating activities that bring in new gigs? How do people go from seeing you speak to booking you years later, if they weren’t ready to call the moment you…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 6)
Part 6: Logistics: The Art of Being “Easy to Work With” By Cara Silletto, CSP As a former association meeting planner myself, I’ve learned there is a secret in the speaking industry: planners will blacklist speakers who are a logistical nightmare, even if they’re fabulous on stage. Being “easy to work with” is a critical…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 5)
Part 5: Build Your Marketing Engine By Cara Silletto, CSP Many speakers treat marketing like a fire extinguisher: they only grab it when their business is on fire. But if you want to build a well-oiled machine, you have to treat marketing like a garden. You don’t just water it once a year; you have…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 4)
Part 4: Leading vs. Lagging: How to Predict Your Revenue Before It Happens By Cara Silletto, CSP Are you looking at the right numbers? Most speakers look at their bank account at the end of the month to see how they did. This is a Lagging Metric. It tells you what happened in the past,…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 3)
Part 3: Your CRM Is Your Satellite Brain By Cara Silletto, CSP Ever said one of these? “I have a CRM, I just don’t put everything in there.” Well, systems are only as good as the data you enter, so that’s a bummer. “I just use a spreadsheet, and it works fine.” I’ve never seen…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 2)
Part 2: The DWMQA Cadence: How to Prevent Your Business from Breaking By Cara Silletto, CSP “I’ll make the sales calls after I update my website.” Those are the famous last words of a struggling business. The problem isn’t that you don’t know what needs to be done; it’s that you don’t have a set…
Foolproof Flow: A 7-Part Series (Part 1)
Part 1: The Solopreneur’s Paradox: Why Discipline is the Only Path to Freedom By Cara Silletto, CSP We’ve all been there: It’s 2 p.m. on a Tuesday, and you’re out running errands. You tell yourself it’s the “perk of being a speaker”—the flexibility, the freedom, the “creative” lifestyle. But then you realize you haven’t hit…