Many people start a career as a speaker, author or coach because they are attracted to the dream of speaking on large stages, seeing their book in bookstores or having amazing client testimonials that mean they are changing the world, one person or group at a time.
You might know there’s something important you need to communicate. You might want to inspire or galvanise others into moving forward, or leaving behind things they no longer need but find hard to. You might want to change the way big organisations do things. As a speaker, author or coach, we know that at the heart of it all, you are just drawn to get your message out there to serve other people.
But the reality is very different to the dream, especially at the beginning of the journey.
What most people don’t account for is that when you choose this, as speakers, authors and coaches you have stepped into the world of the entrepreneur where all of the responsibility is on you. It’s nice not having a boss, but it’s also tough to do it alone. It’s often a shock as you actually have to run a business, which for many of you includes doing stuff you hate or at least don’t have a clue about:
· Finances — cashflow forecasts, bookkeeping
· Marketing — social media, networking, technology
· Strategy — having a business plan and being help accountable to targets
· Technology — knowing what you need and how to operate it all
If you’re agreeing with this, then a great book to read it the E-myth by Michael Gerber as you’ll identify with the technician business owners. Don’t be put off by the name, it really is an eye opener and will help you understand what you might need to put in place to help you be a business owner as well as a Changemaker. And if you really are right at the very start of setting things up, then it’s one of the best ways to spend a couple of hours to save yourself a lot of ‘slog’. That’s an investment well worth making!
Build it ‘ON YOUR TERMS’.
The likelihood is that you’ve already begun, and might even be feeling some of that overwhelm or the struggle of balancing all the needs your business has, your clients have and that you need to pay attention so.
This is where we want to encourage you to stop. Just for a moment. Stop the ‘ride’ and and take a sense check on whether you are building the right business for you ON YOUR TERMS. To help you we’ve outlined some simple questions that may give you the clarity to make decisions that mean you are in charge, rather than feeling out of control. It may also give you some tangible steps you can take, today, to build your connection with your business and put back in some ‘ease’.
We want you to be really clear on:
· How much time do you have to invest?
· How much cash will it take to build and run the business?
· Do you have the skills to complete the tasks involved?
· Do you have or know people to outsource to?
We’ve developed a checklist which you can score yourself against to get clarity on whether you have what it takes. You can get that here. Having the clarity is vital, and directs your actions and indeed takes into account the above questions.
Motivation for when you need it.
But before you do even that, we also encourage you to get clarity on your WHY and your emotional commitment to being a speaker, author or coach. So please grab a pen and paper and write these questions down for you to answer in your own time:
1) Why do I want to be a speaker, author or coach?
2) What will this career give me that others won’t?
3) Why is getting my message out to the masses important to me?
4) How much do I want to earn annually to feel fulfilled and rewarded? And do I know how to earn this as a speaker, author or coach?
5) What am I willing to sacrifice in the short term to make this career choice a success?
We encourage you to get clarity on your why and your how in order to build a successful business on your terms and we really believe the checklist and these questions will help you.Speaker INsight
We support speakers, authors & coaches to monetise their message, market their purpose and create & manage their portfolio business, ON THEIR TERMS™.