Professional Speaking

Professional speaking, for most people, conjures up images of standing ovations, thunderous audience applause, and huge paychecks just for getting up and talking about something you're passionate about.

In other words, professional speaking conjures up "rock star status" - sunglasses, autographs, and throngs of adoring fans.

But professional speaking is work:

First of all, there's the grueling travel involved. Have you been to an airport lately? Travel is painful and not likely to get better anytime soon.

Hotel accommodations in the professional speaking realm might mean you get a luxurious 5-star hotel suite, but more often than not, you're in a hotel room not much better than the local roach motel.

So much for rock star status, eh?

I don't want to discourage you from professional speaking; it's just best if you know ahead of time what you're getting yourself into.

A lot of people want to get into professional speaking to escape the business-world, they figure they'll parlay their experience and package it into a saleable topic to speak about - not a bad strategy, but here's an important newsflash:

Professional speaking will not get you out of the business world, in fact it will plunge you much more deeply into the business world as you will have to be chief negotiator, accountant, public relations manager, sales manager - not to mention that if you're not already a savvy marketer, you will need to become one!

Unless you've got a staff working for you, you'll have to do all those things yourself. And I highly recommend you do NOT have staff because that means even more business headaches because employees mean payroll, 1099's, worker compensation insurance, and a host of other headaches.

Professional speaking can offer terrific rewards, however: Schedule flexibility - no 9-5 (however, you should set and keep a work schedule so you don't succumb to laziness or distractions).

Professional speaking offers flexible income too, but if you're used to making a regular paycheck, it will likely be a huge adjustment to go from predictable income to irregular, unpredictable paychecks.

All in all, professional speaking is a great career, but you will have to carve out your niche. Be sure to "look before you leap" - and by that I mean do your market research carefully, and one of the most important things you should look for is plenty of competition.

Why should you hope for competition?-simply because if no one is doing professional speaking on the topic or subject you want to speak about, then there's probably not an existing market for that topic.

Keep in mind it's very unlikely that you've "invented the wheel" and discovered a niche no one else has thought of. It's possible, just not very likely.

Professional speaking offers many rewards; just make sure you've done your homework and market research first and that you're fully apprised and prepared for what you're getting yourself into.