4 - Get published and training for speakers and MORE!

I'm the author of the book FROM THE SOAPBOX TO THE STAGE, an Amazon best-seller that reached the number 2 spot in it's category . One of the many techniques for getting hired to speak to groups is to get published. To get started on this, create an image of who your ideal audience members would be and then list the problems that they deal with on a regular basis. Then write 500-word artcles (essays) that feature solutions to these problems. Once you get the first few written, get them published. In this podcast episode, I share an unconventional way of getting your articles published.

The interviewer for SPEAKER SERVICES asked me how I usually deal with rejection when submitting my articles and I offer up an interesting idea for doing just that. Also included in this podcast is the topic of training. The interviewer asks me if speakers need training and I quickly respond with YES THEY DO, and then provide two different types of training and how to achieve them.

There is much more in this episode, including how to get hired to speak at conferences and how to effectively collect email addresses of the people sitting your conference  audience. And speaking of conferences, check out my Amazon book for this very topic, HOW TO BECOME A CONFERENCE SPEAKER.

For more help with professional speaking, get the book FROM THE SOAPBOX TO THE STAGE, available on Amazon. Copyright 2025  Bill Corbett and The Get Paid To Speak Podcast. All Rights Reserved.

Transcript

0:04

Hey everybody. Thanks for listening to and downloading this episode of the Bill Corbett Get Paid To Speak Podcast. This episode is pretty cool because this is part two in the interview that I did with Susan Levin's, speaker Services. My book from the soapbox to the stage had just come out and they were interviewing me because they were interested in learning more about my book and my background and my history. So this is part two of that hour long interview that I did with them. Some of the things that are packed into this one are pretty interesting. First of all, I talk about how I engaged a magazine editor. See, I was sending articles to them hoping that they would, I was hoping they would run my articles and maybe even turn into a column. They weren't responding, so I came up with a really cool idea, which actually turned into me getting my first syndicated column in a magazine. Something to pass on to you that you might be able to benefit from. In this interview, I also talk about rejection. How do you handle rejection when you're trying to get people to hire you, when you're trying to get magazines to carry your articles, and you're just getting rejection letters? What to do about those and how to stay motivated. The other thing is the interview asked me about my passion. She could tell I have passion in what I was doing, and she wanted to know, what do you do about that passion and how do you let it burn brightly? We talked about that. Then she asked me an interesting question about, does a speaker need training? And yes, they do, and there are two types of training that I'm going to talk about that are pretty easy to get and help you in your pursuit as a speaker. One of the things that I really talk about here is Toastmasters. It's a very inexpensive way to get the skills you need for the stage. Then she asked me about how do you find speaking gigs? How do you go about getting these assignments and you? And then she asked me about, once you do find these, you get on stage. Then how do you take advantage of conferences? And when you're there, I talk about some of the best techniques that you can use when you're trying to get back on the stage. Again, getting invited back again or being referred to other conferences. Finally, she asked me about collecting email addresses. Should you do that? Should you not do that? What are the rules on that? And finally, about speaking for free. So there's a lot packed into this episode. It's only running about 15 minutes long, so it's easy enough to digest and listen to. I hope you enjoy this episode on how to become a speaker, some tips and techniques that you can't pass up. I was raising my kids in the eighties and nineties. There was no real soapbox. And of course, there was no internet yet or no web. So what I did was I discovered that there was a parenting magazine in the city. I sent my articles to the magazine for several months with no response. I sent them to local newspapers with no response, which is usually what happens. And. Then I got an idea. I contacted the main editor of the parenting magazine and called her up and I said, I would like to buy you lunch in exchange for your expertise. Tina caught her at the right moment and in the right mood, and she was kind of enamored, and she said, really, you want my expertise? And I said, yes, you've got obviously a lot of experience in publishing and writing, and I can use your advice. So she ended up meeting me, not knowing who I was. I brought copies of my articles. I said, I would love some advice from you on how I can get these published. So she went in to tell me the best way to send a cover letter. Query letter, right? And. She ended up sitting there reading my articles and she said, wow, these are really good. And of course, the rest was history. Before I knew it, she contacted me and said, would you like to run your articles? Yeah, that's great. And if I'd been that editor, I would've said, would you like to do a column for us every magazine? Yeah. See, because I think your passion really drove you because yeah, I mean, it is hard to break into magazines unless you can write a powerful query letter, but you just called her up and did it. And that's the way that you often get through, even in today's world. I think. You're right. A lot of people are afraid to do that. They're so afraid of rejection, they're afraid of being told no. That kind of stunts their ability to move forward and to reach out and ask people. For example, I wanted a lot of endorsements for my book. I knew I wanted that, but I would have to contact people. I did. I contact a lot of people, a lot of celebrities, very few responded. I did get a lot of nos, but I did get a lot of yeses. And of course, the front end of my book, I have all my endorsements. I want to ask you some other questions that you cover in your book about whether speakers need training and stuff like that. But I think a very good tip for people from your expertise and your personal experience would be how do you deal with rejection? Because if people are going to start a speaking business, I think that is a major fear. I know Susan Levin and I run into it in terms of trying to teach speakers to be more proactive. And how do you deal with rejection when you make those calls or send out those inquiries? Well, actually, I collect them. And. I actually post them up on my bulletin board that somebody actually took the time to respond. And I think that's better than not getting any response at all. At least somebody took the time to say, no, we're not interested in this. I don't let it bother me. And it's really hard to do that, but you just have to keep lean on your passion, let your passion take over and just keep doing it. I once heard a sales presentation years and years ago where they said You might have to knock on 100 doors before you get one. Yes. Yeah. It's a numbers game, right? Yes. It's what life's about. And those who are not willing to sit on the sidelines must endure the no and not let them affect you. That's true. Yeah. At least you're in the fight, you're in the war sort of thing. And. I think a lot of us are surrounded by do nothing. People, people who wouldn't do that, who wouldn't pursue that because they're afraid or it's too hard, it's too much work. I chose not to be a member of that group. And I think that the thing I saw right away that I think makes your book different and you're teaching different is that you do kind of base it on following your passion. Because if passion is driving you, then you're going to probably work through a lot of the obstacles that would stop other people, don't you think? Yeah. It's all about enduring your passion creates endurance, because when that fire is burning in your belly, you're able to withstand rejection or disappointment or delays. If I come up with an idea and I pursue it and I make phone calls or send emails, and I get no responses, my passion is burning so bright, I'm just onto the next thing. And that makes a huge difference. Well, do you think that anybody can go out, let's say someone wants to speak. Can anyone do it or do you think they need training? There's two types of training you need to develop your expertise that your passion has ignited, but you also have to develop your ability to master the front of the room, and that means you have to get over your nervousness. If you are an introvert, you have a bigger battle to believe it or not, I'm an introvert. Really? Yes. And it was such a battle, but I believed in it and I kept going through the training. So of course, I believe in Toastmasters International, one of the best kept secrets ever, because it's nonprofit and very inexpensive. So anyone who ever wants to work with me, I always tell them, you have to go get into your local Toastmasters club, because even if you just go through the motions, the more often you get up in front of a group, the more often you endure valuation, the quicker you develop and you develop your confidence. And that's the key. It's your confidence not. Necessarily. Knowing exactly where to place your hands or your feet. I mean, that's all good too. But the biggest reward from walking away from Dale Carnegie or Toastmasters training, anything like that, or even college classes, is the confidence. The more you do it, the more confident you feel. And what happens is people see that confidence, they're more likely to see that confidence in you than anything else you're doing. Then they're going to be confident in you, and the result is you'll get invited back because the big reward for speakers is how often are you rehired or invited back to speak. Is Toastmasters a way to get free training? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because even though it's inexpensive, 60,$70 a year to belong, if you don't have that kind of money, you can still always attend meetings and learn by watching because you watch by other people learning, and it just has incredible results. So if you want to participate though, there's just that kind of once a year fee, and then you can. Yeah, it's actually twice a year. Most chapters collect 35, 40 bucks twice a year to belong. I've been a member now for 20 years. Wow. I've started chapters. I've managed chapters. I've also been district officers because I just believe in it so much and it's really helped me is being an introvert to get over that fear of standing in front of the room and mastering the stage. Oh, that's really amazing. At this point that you're still so involved in it. I think it must be really, really good. I would think. Very good, very good. In fact, I wrote about it in my book. I even sent one of my query letters to Toastmasters International to see if they would endorse my book, but of course, they can't. Do. That. They would not pick one speaker book over another, but at least I got a nice letter with their letterhead from them. And that's been my collector's file. Yeah, as a writer, we used to say, the thing with rejection letters is I always tell people, start your collection today. We also used to say, buy a bird as an alternate. You've got the cage. So walk us through the process more here. So let's say someone has their presentation together, and now how do they learn how to find the gigs? How do you find the speaking gigs? Well, then it goes back to knowing who your audience is and figuring out where they go to learn. Where do they go to listen? Where do they go to hang out? A lot of them go to either association meetings. A lot of people belong to different kinds of organizations, and a lot of these organizations or associations either have meetings, member meetings, conferences, training events. The best way to find out, of course, is to figure out what does your audience subscribe to on the internet? And of course, today compared to when I was starting, it's just amazing. You can find organizations Just about for anything across the country or the world, I suggest you subscribe to their website, subscribe to the Association of newsletters, and as I did originally, attend a conference and get to know who's who. And most importantly, watch for the RFPs for conference presentations because it's a great way to start. Conferences are usually loaded with presenters, and they're looking for people and they don't want the same all people all the time. So they love new faces, new blood. These organizations make writing a proposal really easy, so you don't even have to know how to write a proposal. They fill in the spaces on their website thanks to the web and to fill out a proposal, form an application about Be ready with an outline that you created in your first articles or speeches and take that plunge show up at the conference because there are conferences all around us. You don't even have to travel far to go to a conference. They're just down the street from you. But you got to get up and get seen and get heard and get the experience in the practice to delivering your speeches. And the other good part about the conference is a lot of times they have evaluations. So you'll get the feedback to determine if what you were talking about was a viable topic, if people enjoyed it, if they liked it, because they're going to be very brutally honest in their evaluation forms. Forms. What do you think about if you actually do that? Some people say get lists of the audience members and then approach them and see if they would like to have you speak at their events, or is that something you do at all or. It is, but you have to handle it carefully. Because. The last thing that conference planners want is you selling anything or now because of email and the traffic, the amount of traffic, people are a little sensitive and shy about giving out their email address because their box will fill up with all kinds of junk. Yeah. They don't want to be spammed. They don't want to be spammed, they don't want to be sold to. So you have to be very careful. So what I do is when I speak to groups, first of all, I ask my conference planner if I can give something away. And so I love to give copies of my book away or my DVDs and CDs, other products, I was speaking to a women's group one time and my wife helped me construct a bunch of little gifty bags that I wouldn't have any clue to how to do, but she knew how to do that and to have them to give away. And in exchange, I give everyone a slip of paper or they can tear off the bottom of their handout that has a place where they can fill the information, get either my wife or an assistant to walk around and collect all the slips, and then we do a drawing at the end. And they love the win prizes. So the more prizes you can offer, the better. And then you tell them, you decide to give me your email address on that form, you will receive my newsletter. You have to tell them that you're doing that because you could get into trouble if you are taking their email address and not letting them know that, and then they accuse you of spam. So we have to be very careful of spamming, thanks to all the big, I should say, not upfront marketing companies. Right. Which is getting kind of more and more, we're getting spammed so much more because people are trying to monetize the web so much more these days. But now you offer a lot of tips for people becoming professional speakers. What are some of the other things like let's say someone now is starting to speak, should they speak for free, do you think in their area first? Is that a good way to start or. Yes, it's a very good way, especially when your confidence is low, you're not really sure what to charge. The best thing is to get the experience speaking and to speak for free, to get yourself known out there. It's like companies that give away free samples. It gets their product known. So many organizations that you can speak for free, and of course you can start right away with civic organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary and Lions Clubs. These organizations are out there doing really good for the community, and they have meetings and they love to be up on all the latest information. So whatever information that you can provide for your expertise, they love to hear about. I've spoken to all those groups and I would talk about problems with children because a lot of 'em are parents or grandparents and they love to get free information, but you got to make sure that you don't try to sell them anything. That is one sure way to get the scarlet letter, to get the blacklist that if you're going to try to sell to somebody, you want to come across ready to help rather than to sell. Right. And of course, I guess there's two things about that I would think. One is you don't want to speak for free and have it be like some of these timeshare people, you know what I mean? It's like you go to their free presentation, but they're really trying to sell you a timeshare. So I think that's what you're saying. But on the other hand, if you speak for free, is it okay to sell? Like say, if you have a book, can you sell it at the back of the room? It depends on the organization you're speaking to and whoever is your contact at the organization. It's always a good idea to ask 'em in advance and say, is it all right if I sell at the back of the room? And some will come right out and say No, and I'll still go speak because I'm going to get the exposure that's a whole room full of people who may not have heard about me. Well, that could one day see something about me in the news or somewhere and go, Hey, we saw that guy, and that may move them to go to Amazon and buy my book or products. I always encourage speakers. You just got to focus on giving to others and less On trying to sell. Now, of course, you may have to draw the line as you start doing more free events, you may have to either turn someone down when it's time to start charging, and I've had to do that several times and it's really hard to do. There's one group that I've used to speak for just a couple hundred dollars because that's all they had, and they keep asking me, and I finally had to say, I'm so sorry. This is the minimum that I could accept to do your event. However, if you would like, I can find someone who could speak for that price range or for free, whatever it is. So that's another way that you can give if you have to draw the line for an organization or just because it's time look around you and who in your network is coming up through the ranks like you did that may be able to help out with a related or similar topic and be ready to offer those people up to those that you have to say no. And the amazing thing is if you do it politely and you're professional and you're calm about it and you don't burn any bridges, that organization could eventually come back when they do have grant money or a budget and say, you know what? We can now pay your fee. Thank you for listening to this episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. There was a lot packed into it. If you would like more help and more information on becoming a speaker and getting paid to speaker, try going to bill corbett.com. I've got information there on my books and CDs. Also, you might want to download, or if you have a Kindle, get a copy of my book from the soapbox to the stage, from the soapbox to the stage. A lot of what I talk about in this podcast is in that book, it gives you the guide on how to develop yourself as a speaker, how to develop your material, and how to get paid, how to get hired, how to get called. There's a lot packed into this episode. I hope you enjoy it as I start working on my next episode. See you shortly.