5 Steps To Earn $500 to $50K as a Paid Public Speaker with Dan Irvin

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we'll be breaking down the five steps to earn$500 to$50 ,000 as a paid public speaker. And to drop these value bonds, I brought to Dan Ervin and the EO Fire Studios. Dan is a high energy, fun-loving leader, consultant, motivator, author, and public speaker whose valuable insights and relatable stories of success and passion consistently set up entrepreneurs and employees across the nation for personal and professional growth.

0:37And today we'll talk about the five steps to become a successful paid speaker, message and topic. We'll talk about using a speaker agency or bureau, audience building and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Dan and our sponsors. Do you have the right mentor in your life right now? For the first time in seven years, I'm opening up a few mentorship slots for individuals who know they need the guidance and accountability to take their business and life to the next level. Email me at john at eofire.com with a subject line mentor, and we'll schedule a 15-minute chat to go over the program and see if it's the right fit for you.

1:17Dan, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Well, what's going on at Fire Nation?

1:33Dan As a professional speaker, I'd be remiss, John, if I didn't kind of dive a little bit into what I speak on and what I actually believe that is something that people disagree with in being successful. And it's this idea that being busy has currency. I think that we are infatuated with this idea of telling people how busy we are. In fact, some of the listeners that are listening to this right now might have had conversations with people today where they were just connecting with them and say, hey, how are you doing? How have you been? And our kind of a knee-jerk reaction is, I've been really good.

2:09I've been really busy, right? And what does that actually mean, right? We get caught in what I refer to this hustle fallacy. Now, don't get me wrong. I think it can be fantastic when we have a lot going on, but are we aimed in the right direction? And can we focus? One of the things I really talk on, one of the things I speak on my book is about is, can we stop doing more things and focus on doing more of the right things? And so can we get out of this idea that being busy has currency? I don't think the trajectory of your success has anything to do with how full your calendar is. I think your success pathway is how intentional you are.

2:55And so that's what I speak on. It's powerful stuff, Fire Nation. And I use the word productive a lot. When I talk to people, I don't ask them like, oh, are you busy? Like, what are you doing? I say, are you productive? And they say, yeah. I say, okay, cool. Like, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing to be productive? And then they list off a bunch of things that means they're just being busy because they're not being productive. Productive means you're producing the right content. You're producing the right actions that are getting actual results that are moving your business forward, your life forward, whatever that means.

3:26for you in your business. So are you being productive? That's the key word. Busy? That's just a lot of waste of time for most people most of the time. And we're going to be getting right into five steps to earn$500 up to$50 ,000 as a paid public speaker. And Dan, I want the five steps, the five steps to become a successful paid speaker. A hundred percent. Yeah. And so as you know I am a full-time speaker. I also am the resident speaker with the Speaker Lab. And these five steps have transformed me because this is what I use to build my highly successful speaking business. We can dive into some of those metrics if you wanted to later, but I want to walk through these five steps.

4:13And at the Speaker Lab, we refer to them as the Speak Framework, the roadmap to growing and developing a paid speaking business. Now, it's an acronym. It spells out the word SPEAK, S-P-E-A-K. And the S is where it all begins. And I'll just high level this with you. But it's where it all begins. The S is selecting a problem to solve. And so this is actually where a lot of people fumble. They mess up. They don't do this well or right. And then it has a trickle down effect. If you don't do this first step well and right, then you're not going to have the outcomes and success that you want. And so most of the people that I speak to that think that they're already down the path, they're not.

4:54They just they want to speak on too many things to too many people. And when you're a when you want to be a generalist, you want to talk on a lot of things. You're not a specialist and you're not you're not perceived as one. You're not presenting as one. And so the first step, selecting a problem to solve, is all about identifying what's that core topic. Then once we have that lined up, the other four steps are just kind of automatic or operational at that point, because step two, the P is prepare your talk. This is actually developing your number one marketing asset as a speaker, which is a great talk.

5:27It doesn't matter what else you think you need in marketing. It's not social, it's not a website, it's not a demo video. Those things can be important, but your number one marketing asset as a speaker is a great talk. And as a speaker, you need one great talk. I always like to tell people, if you feel like you need more than one, you didn't do step one right or well. So one great talk. Once you have that dialed in, step three is the letter E, which stands for establishing your expertise. Establishing your expertise. Now, a lot of people look at this and they say, well, I'm the expert, Dan. I'm done with that step, right?

6:00I go, no, no, no, no. If you told me you're the expert, I would believe you. But that's not what this step is about. This step is event planners who hire speakers how they see you. Do they see you as the expert? And so this step is all about what are you presenting to them so they see you as that. So this is where we talk about your website and your demo video. Specifically, you've got to have those two items, but the packaging on them has to be phenomenal. And we talk about the more of that, but it's really those two assets in the packaging. The fourth step. Now, this is everyone's favorite step.

6:30It's my favorite step. It's the A, acquiring paid speaking gigs. And John, I'll tell you, coincidentally, it's also my wife's favorite step. This is when the checks start coming in the mail. and we love checks in the mail. And so this is really that process and systems and business side of growing and developing the business, right? And so the first three steps are more kind of the art of speaking, if you will. This fourth step is when we transition out of that into kind of the science or the business side of speaking. So the processes and the systems and the templates and the, how do you actually start building the business?

7:06We build all of this out of the speaker lab. And the fifth step, I like to refer to this one as an optional step. It's the K, know when to scale. This is really okay. Now that you have the foundation of speaking, what else do you want to be offering? Do you have a book? Do you do coaching? Do you do consulting? Now, a lot of people that we work with at the Speaker Lab are already doing some of those things. And so it's really okay. Now that you have that foundation, let's start layering in some of these other things that you're doing so we can get lift on all of those other things. Fire Nation, five steps to become a successful speaker.

7:36I just want to talk about number one, this is S, this is selecting a problem to solve. And I'm not saying Dan agrees with what I'm about to say, because I'm usually a little more harsh than most people. But the reality is this, so many individuals that I deal with when it comes to creating their podcast, their talk, their product, their service, they essentially say, I just have a story to tell. Like my life, Like I just have this crazy life. I just need it. I can, I just want to tell my story. I want to share my message with the world. And I'm like, everybody has a message. Like everybody has a story to tell.

8:07Like everybody does. Like we all have dramatic events in our past and struggles that we've overcome and things that have taken us down. But what the listeners want, what people that are consuming your content, your product, your service, what they want is you solving a problem they have. I just can be honest with you. That's what people want. That's what they care about. So yes, your story might be sad and then happy and then sad and then happy again, and it might make them cry and laugh. And that's all well and good. But at the end of the day, if you're not solving their problem, they really are not going to care that much.

8:40Now, Dan, I want to talk about message. How do we refine our message and know actually what to speak about? Just real quickly, what you just said is so powerful. As speakers, we tell stories to move people, right? We tell, we tell stories to connect with people, but event planners that are going to hire us, that are going to pay us. They don't care about that. They want to know if you can solve the problem of their audience. You nailed it head on. I love that. Thank you for that. And so how do you refine the message and know what to speak about? I'll tell you around that first step is that the way I like to talk about it is that passion wins, passion wins.

9:14I can't tell you how many people come to me and they say, all right, Dan, well, just tell me what's in, what's already like, what's the topics? What are people hiring speaker for? What are the top five? And I'll just convert to that. I'll just deliver that message. And I don't know about you, John, but I've been at conferences. I've been at events where I see speakers on stage and I'm like, in my mind, I'm thinking, do you even want to be up there? Because it doesn't appear that you're having a good time. And then I've also seen the complete opposite of that, where I'm like, man, this person's on fire about what they're talking about.

9:45They are passionate about what they talk about. And so really identifying that message and what you speak about is what we like to start is what are you excited about? What lifts your spirit, your soul? What gets you pumped up? What's that impact that you really want to have? Now, does that mean that we can just talk about something that we're excited about and we can go get booked and paid for it immediately? Sometimes, a lot of times, but not all the time. And so sometimes it requires us maneuvering the message a bit or positioning the message a bit. So it presents to events as the problem that they have.

10:20So that way you can actually connect with them and then you can move them with your stories. But you've got to be able to convince the event planner that you can actually solve their problem. And so the way we start, we don't start with what's the popular topic. We start with what are you passionate about? Now let's maneuver that into market fit. Fire Nation, it's incredible how much value that Dan is packing into a short amount of time. But I want to just clarify, we only have a short amount of time. This is a podcast episode. We keep things clean. We keep things tight. But we are doing an amazing joint webinar.

10:53We're going to be getting together and we're going to be creating an amazing presentation, an amazing webinar, packed full of this type of content for you. And it's all free. And this is where we're going to be able to expound and expand upon all of these ideas. and you need to visit speakerlab.com slash fire, speakerlab.com slash fire. Sign up for free. Join us for a much deeper dive into this. And Dan, we're going to talk for a couple of minutes at the end of the show about this. So I'm literally giving you 30 seconds now. Why should Fire Nation tune into this? Oh my goodness. Well, first of all, it's free.

11:31We love free things, right? But more importantly than that, I'm going to be live. This is not me recording something And I'm going to be there answering your questions, connecting with you. I actually have a lot of fun on these webinars. It's one of the things that I really enjoy doing, but we're going to be walking through that. Those five steps I mentioned earlier, I'm going to take a deeper dive into that. And then I'm also going to talk about the number one stage winning asset that we've worked with speakers that have gotten paid up to 30, 40, $50 ,000 without a website and a demo video. Only those.

12:03So we're going to be talking through that process. and because we're partnering with you, John, and your incredible Fire Nation, we're going to have some additional opportunities that only they're going to be eligible for. It's going to be fun, Fire Nation. It's going to be fun, speakerlab.com slash fire. More content, more value bombs coming your way when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Have you ever tried speed dating before? It's quite an efficient way to see if you click with someone and I'm a big fan of efficiency, but I'm also happily married, so I don't need speed dating. But as a business owner, What if there was a feature like speed dating only for hiring?

12:36In other words, you could meet several interested qualified candidates at once, all at a designated time. Well, good news there is. It's Zip Intro from Zip Recruiter. You can post your job today and start talking to qualified candidates tomorrow. And right now you can try Zip Intro for free at ziprecruiter.com slash fire. Zip Intro allows you to quickly assess great candidates for your job via back-to-back video calls. All you have to do is pick a time and Zip Intro does all the work of finding a scheduling qualified candidates for you. Enjoy the benefits of speed hiring with new Zip Intro only from Zip Recruiter, rated number one hiring site based on G2.

13:12Try Zip Intro for free at ziprecruiter.com slash fire. Again, that's ziprecruiter.com slash fire. Zip Intro, post jobs today, talk to qualified candidates tomorrow. Question for you, Fire Nation. Do you have the right mentor in your life right now? For me, mentorship was everything from when I was just getting started in podcasting, webinars, course creation, book writing, you name it. I hired a mentor to guide me every step of the way. For the first time in seven years, I'm opening up a few mentorship slots for individuals who know they need the guidance and accountability to take their business and life to the next level.

13:52It's a three-month program and together we will achieve massive results. If you're interested in learning more, email me at john at eofire.com with a subject line mentor, and we'll schedule a 15 minute chat to go over the program to see if it's the right fit for you. That's john j o h n at eofire.com. But only if you're prepared to ignite. Dan, we're back and listen, once we have this presentation that we love, where do we go? Where do we look to find events that pay speakers? What's that next step? Oh, there's a lot of thoughts around this. The most recent stat that I saw, in fact, I saw this morning, there's a little over 5 ,200 events happening every day that need speakers.

14:38Think about that. 5 ,200. That's a lot. And does that mean that every one of those 5 ,200 events are going to hire me? No. But I've got to be able to position myself to be able to connect with them. And in order to do that, you just need a systematic process to follow. And one of the ways I look at this is that consistency wins. You've got to have a consistent systematic process that you can follow each and every day. So that's something that you can do every day. Now, I'm a common efficiency guru, John. My background, before I started my speaking business, I was a COO. And so I think operationally.

15:16So if something can be done faster, I promise you I've thought through it. And so the way I operate now is I spend about 20 to 25 minutes a day prospecting. That's it. Because I have all the systems and processes in place to create that efficiency. And also, I want to create a business where I can do it every single day. I do it six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and 20 to 25 minutes a day. You know, one of the ways I like to look at this is that every time I read that book, The Tortoise and the Hare, guess who wins every single time? Tortoise. Tortoise wins, right? And so a lot of people think like, if I just come out of the gate firing and running and going hard and I'm going to plug in six, eight, 10, 12 hours a day, we get burned out.

15:57And so what can I do consistently to get the outcomes that I need? So slow and consistent beats big and inconsistent. Fire Nation in Puerto Rico, we call it the Tortuga. That's the tortoise. That's the turtle. And there's no shame in that. They are beautiful creatures. They live a long time. Now, I want to talk about audience building, Dan. do we have to write a book? Do we have to create this really amazing, successful podcast? We have to build a huge social media following if we want to become a speaker. A lot of people think that. We think that, right? Well, Dan, I'm not a social media influencer.

16:32How could I be a speaker? Let me tell you right now. If you went to go, and I mean, I'm kind of embarrassed to say this, but not really. I'm actually kind of proudful to say it. If you went to look at my social media, it's pretty bare bones because that's not how you get booked and paid. People that get booked and paid, it's because they have a consistent process, not because they're flashy on social media. We think that's the way to do it, or that we think that we need a book, or that we think we need to have all these other certifications, all these things. You don't. We get confused that we need that.

17:03What you need is a process, right? Something that we can do each and every day. When you have those things, the book, podcast, the coaching, the consulting, great. It's a great way to scale, expand, promote the message and your impact, but it's not the way, it's not the consistent effort that's going to get you there. I can't tell you how many people that call me that we work with here at the Speaker Lab that say, well, I have a book. I thought that was going to be the thing. So I wrote another book. I've talked to people that said they wrote five, 10, 15, 20 books, and they're still not getting booked and paid.

17:34And I said, yeah, because it's not the way, it's not the process. You don't have a system. You're trying to shortcut the system. You've got to create a foundation that will elevate those other things, those other impacts that you're already having. So no, you don't need any of those things. If you have them, they can be assets if you utilize them correctly with creating that foundation. Fire Nation, you're hearing from somebody who's been there, who's done that, who has the receipts to prove you can make real revenue. That's right. Real revenue, being a speaker. Now let's talk about building the right relationships because Because if you do get that speaking gig, if you put in the work and you get that speaking gig and you crush it because you follow the process, you follow the steps, how do we turn that one speaking gig into more?

18:18I love it. And this is the fun part of speaking, in my opinion, the connecting, the engaging, the delighting. I mean, I got into speaking. A lot of people get into speaking because they want to be on stage speaking. But here's the interesting thing, John, like if I'm lucky, five, maybe 10 % of my actual time is on a stage speaking. All the other things leading up to that that got me on that stage is the lion's share of what we do. So when we're actually delivering the content, it's our time to shine. Right. And so not only do I want to delight the audience, but I want to delight in every aspect is actually one of my core values.

18:56I have eight core values that I live by. And delight is one of them. I want to delight individuals in every interaction. In fact, I tell my event planners often, I tell them, how can I be the best vendor that you ever work with? And so, and then they give me some ideas, but I tell them I'm going to over-communicate at every step of the process. None of the clients that I work with, the event planners that I work with are ever wondering what I'm up to because I have a whole process. I even have a timeline of events email that I send them to let them know, okay, here's the dates where I'm going to be booking my flights.

19:26Here's the dates I'm going to be booking my hotel. Here's our pre-event. I mean, everything is over communicated. And then at the day of the event, John, I am bringing the energy. I am bringing the fun. I love this idea. Every time I step on a stage, I don't get nervous anymore. It doesn't matter if there's, in fact, I have a gig and in 10 days, it's going to be a little over 2000 people. I don't get nervous anymore with people that are out in the audience. What I get nervous about, if I even do, is that am I mentally in a spot to over-deliver for these people. There's this quote out there that I love that you probably heard.

20:00It's been attributed to Maya Angelou. People don't remember what you say to them. They don't remember your content, but they sure as heck remember how you made them feel. So I want to make people feel something and feel encouraged and inspired. And when they think about someone that's really, truly passionate about what they do, they think of me. Dan, the time is now. We have reached the point where we're going to do a deeper dive into just how amazing this presentation, this webinar is that you are creating for Fire Nation. It's going to be incredible on a lot of levels. It's May 28th. If you want to learn more Fire Nation, you're going to speakerlab.com slash fire.

20:37Sign up for free. And guess what? If you get there, you're like, oh, I can't make that time. I'm busy. Well, number one, remember, you're not busy. Hopefully you're being productive during that time. But sign up anyways, because they will be sending you the replay that you can watch at your leisure. But you want to be there live, if possible, because you'll be able to ask Dan questions. He will answer them directly. There'll be some probably live action bonuses. So you want to be there for sure live. But again, sign up irregardless because you'll get the great content sent your way. And even if you are there live, you're probably going to want to watch the replay.

21:07I mean, it's going to be that good. So Dan, take us home. Why does Fire Nation need to be there on May 28th to watch you present? Well, I'll tell you right now, if you enjoyed anything that I said here, if you want to take your message to the next level. If you want to have greater impact, I want to show you how to do it. And I want to show you how you can do it and get paid really well to do it. What would it mean for you to get paid to do your marketing? To get paid well to do your marketing, get your message out there and get your content out there and to be able to offer all the other things that you're doing, maybe a book or coaching or consulting or whatever it is that you're also offering and get paid well to do it.

21:45That's why you're going to want to join me. Additionally, this isn't, I'm not lip service here. And like, I might ask, answer your questions. No, I dedicate a good chunk of the time there to answer your questions and connect with you. And so, and we have some real actionable content that we're going to be rolling through. And so, and also it's personal experience for me. And so I'm going to be sharing with you what I currently have going on. Like I just mentioned in 10 days, I'm going to be out with a couple thousand people. I'll be talking to you about what's currently going on in my business at that time.

22:13And what's going on. In fact, I got an email this morning from an event planner that's saying, Hey Dan, how can we continue the relationship. So I talk about what's actually happening in the trenches through a process that you can duplicate. You're not going to want to miss it. Come join us. Fire Nation, speakerlab.com slash fire. Because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with D-I-N-J-L-D today. So keep up that heat. And for links to everything, all you need to do is visit eofire.com, type Dan to the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up.

22:45And Dan, I want to say thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value to Fire Nation today. And for that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you so much. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Dan for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you an entrepreneur on fire who is looking to share your message with the world? If yes, we are now accepting applications for entrepreneurs on fire. To learn more about becoming a guest, visit eofire.com slash guest and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Do you have the right mentor in your life right now?