This is the sixth lesson of the ‘Get Started As A Speaker' email course.

Today, we'll look my favorite (and easiest) way to find speaking engagements and opportunities.

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At this point, you know the why, what, and who for your speaking business. You’re building a killer talk that will take audiences on a journey to a destination you want them to arrive at. You’re working on your website and demo video to let people know you exist.

Now what?

Did you ever see that movie Field of Dreams? It’s a great baseball movie, but the most famous line from the movie was...

If you build it, they will come.

And as much as wish business worked like that, the reality is that it doesn’t. Just because you have a website, demo video or a great presentation doesn’t mean anyone cares or that anyone will magically stumble across you.

It’s time to go out and find speaking opportunities and let decision makers know you have a solution to their need for a quality speaker.

The most successful marketing I’ve done is identifying potential clients and reaching out to them, not waiting for them to find me.

The best potential clients are those who already book speakers. It’s much more difficult to convince an organization or group to book you if they’ve never booked a speaker before. But if they’re used to bringing in a speaker, it’s much easier for you to get your foot in the door. I can’t stress enough how important this is in the beginning.

Because of this, the best places to start are conferences and association events.

So how do you find these?

Google.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you wanted to speak on the subject of ‘dog training.’ I would go into Google and I would search for phrases like...

• “dog training conference"
• “dog training association”
• “dog trainer conference"
• “dog trainer event"
• “[STATE] dog training conference” (Side note: state/regional/local events are generally great places to get started because they are smaller and lower risk for you as a speaker and for the client hiring you.)

When you start searching for these keywords, you’ll start to come across some of these existing events around the subject or topic you speak on.

Your biggest investment in doing this will be your time.

Another way to find existing events is to look up other speakers who are speaking at the kinds of events and to the types of audiences you want to speak to. Then you can check their recommendations page for testimonials of places they’ve been or some speakers may also post their calendar of upcoming events they’ll be at.

Those can be great sources of leads for you to find events that are already hiring speakers on the subject/topic you want to speak about.

Can I be honest?

This is the part where most speakers give up. Why? Because it requires commitment and hard work. Waiting for the booking requests to magically come in just doesn’t work. You have to be willing to hustle and find the opportunities.

At this point, let’s say you’ve found some potential opportunities that you would be a good fit for.

Now what?

If you’re someone who hates the idea of cold calling and having to sell yourself, then you’re in luck. I don’t recommend that at all.

What should you do instead?

I’ll tell you in a few days, so keep an eye on your inbox

Here's today's assignment:

Lesson 6 Worksheet: How are you going to find opportunities?

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