How to develop a career in the motivational speaking market is a question I have been asked many, many times around the world over the past two decades.
At the highest possible level it comes down to one word - Congruence.
Have you achieved PhD status in the University of Life - the one and only true test of your ability? Have you walked the path of your philosophies?
To become a motivational keynote speaker, I believe you need to have demonstrated from your life that you have dreamed big dreams:
In 1996, having achieved a “D” grade in English in all my school exams, I set the goal of writing a best-selling book. The facts that no Irish person had written a book of this genre or that I hadn’t got a publisher or indeed that two award winning journalists told me I was wasting my time didn’t stop me from following my dream. That book became a triple best seller.
As a motivational keynote speaker,
you need to show that you have taken big risks:
In 1998, I decided to turn my back on a lucrative business consultancy to focus exclusively on keynote speaking on my three areas of expertise: Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Motivation. This resulted in a drop in my income from a six-figure turnover to less than the average industrial wage for a few years. In the process, I remortgaged my house and set sail for foreign lands! Those years of financial challenges provided the best personal training experience of my life. By continually focusing on my dream, and learning from failures, I am now enjoying working around the world, while simultaneously following my bliss.
A motivational keynote speaker needs to be personable and vulnerable – you are after all human!
Be vulnerable and share the failures as well as the successes – focusing on how you learned from both and came closer to achieving your dreams. People respond best to normal people, not robots.
Overall, a congruent motivational keynote speaker will infect audiences with his/her energy and enthusiasm. Indeed their story will bring people “to the door” without even speaking a word! Remember and always honour the Chinese proverb – “teachers open the door but you must enter by yourself.”
So what makes me different from any other speaker in the world?
My answer is simple but obscure! It’s my energy, drawn from living life to the full, and walking the path of each of my philosophies and strategies. I know my ideas work because they have worked for me at the highest possible level internationally.
This resonates for audiences worldwide who are now becoming more and more sophisticated and want someone who has learned from life, not from a book.
So what is the message for would be motivational keynote speakers?
Work on yourself. Totally engage in life. Build up an anthology of stories based on your own life, not what you may have read somewhere. Reality is so much more persuasive and life-changing for the audience.
Start the journey today. Trust me, it is one of magic and adventure.
About Kevin Kelly
Described as the "coach behind Ireland's Celtic Tiger," Kevin Kelly is one of Europe's and Asia’s leading authorities on motivation, entrepreneurship, leadership, communication, and personal excellence.
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