Grow Your Visibility and Income as a Guest Speaker with Jenn Espinosa-Goswami | 139
When you think about getting visible, guest speaking might not be your first thought. However, guest speaking opportunities can not only increase your visibility but also generate additional revenue for your business.
I chatted with Jenn Espinosa-Goswami on the podcast, and she shared her valuable insights into guest speaking.
Jenn started as a health coach, but her business began to shift during the pandemic. Now, she helps other business owners feel confident sharing their message through speaking.
Jenn broke down some common misconceptions about guest speaking and more on the episode, so add this episode to your playlist!
❌ Myth: You need a special talent for speaking.
✔️ Fact: We are all speakers. If you create short-form video, record a Loom, or teach in the classroom, you are a speaker. A lot of people are scared to apply for guest speaking opportunities because they don’t know what to say or they don’t think they have the confidence, but not all speaking opportunities have to take place in a crowded auditorium.
❌ Myth: Guest speaking is about sharing the how.
✔️ Fact: Guest speaking is about sharing the why. Especially if you come from a teaching background, we are used to telling people how to do something, but the best speakers focus on the why. Why is what you have to say important? The how comes inside of your programs or offers.
❌ Myth: You need a new speech for every guest speaking opportunity.
✔️ Fact: You need a signature speech that you attune to each audience. This signature speech will have a few takeaways that remain the same with each speaking opportunity, but the stories you use to share these takeaways can differ based on the audience you are speaking to. Your signature speech shouldn’t be something that can be found on Google - it should contain your unique take and perspective on the topic.
❌ Myth: Because you are the speaker, you’re the star of the show.
✔️ Fact: Make your speech about your audience. You don’t want your speech to turn into the “Me Show” because people will tune you out. They might even find you unrelatable or hard to understand. Instead, tap into your audience's emotions, desires, and pain points to keep them interested.
❌ Myth: No one is going to pay you to speak.
✔️ Fact: There are lots of paid speaking opportunities out there. In the episode, Jenn shares how to get paid speaking gigs. A good place to start is by asking what their budget is for a speaker. If there isn’t one, you can decide if the opportunity is worth it. You can also make money from speaking by pitching an offer inside your speech, such as selling a book, program, or course. You can also encourage attendees to sign up for your email list, where you can warm them up more and then sell to them.
❌ Myth: Guest speaking only happens at big events or conferences.
✔️ Fact: Sometimes, the most lucrative speaking opportunities happen in small groups. (This was my personal favourite takeaway) Large conferences are often invitation only, or you have to pay to be there. You get to decide what type of speaking events you want to attend, such as retreats, virtual conferences, and more.
Want to learn more from Jenn? You can find her on LinkedIn and grab her free Signature Speech Template to begin planning for your next speaking opportunity!
Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @heyitsjenzaia and tune in next Saturday for more business tips and strategies!
xo, Jenzaia
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Episode Transcript:
Jenzaia: So today I have an exciting guest with me on Market Scale Grow. I am talking with Jenn Espinosa-Goswami, and we are going to be talking about getting to be paid as a guest speaker. So before we jump into that, do you want to just tell us a little bit about you and how you got started in this?
Jenn: Yeah! My name is Jenn and I've been a certified holistic coach since 2021, I believe it was when it was, but I coached way before that. I started as a health coach. So if you're noticing the name of my company in the background here, it's weightless based on my own personal experiences with losing a hundred pounds back when I was in my early twenties.
Actually, the pandemic took a big toll on me physically and I did gain a lot of that weight back. So I was in maintenance mode for about 20 years. And things happen. So just taking life as it is right now. But during the pandemic, I had an awareness that health was no longer the topic area that I wanted to serve folks.
And I served a lot of different women, usually between the age of 35 and 85. Honestly, I still have some clients in their ninth decade of life, but I helped them with lifestyle change and some of it was weight loss. Some of it was not weight loss. Then I realized I really want people to be confident in themselves.
It really did come down to confidence when it comes to making significant changes happen in your life and being a coach who loves working with other coaches, I said, well, who can I serve? and what I'm still really passionate about? So for me, that was public speaking and helping other people build their business.
So not just coaches, but also teacherpreneurs, consultants, authors. There are people who have something to say in the world and not always know quite how to say it to get people to work with them. So that is what I pivoted to several years ago. And there's a lot of parallels between being confident in how you appear.
On camera and being confident to share your message from a stage. So there were a lot of parallels there, which is why I kept the name of my business Weightless.
Jenzaia: I didn't know that whole history of your business. I love hearing the backstories of people's businesses and how they've shifted and pivoted to where they are today. So thank you for sharing that. Do you want to get started with what someone who would consider themselves a new speaker needs to know?
Jenn: Yeah. Well, first of all, we are all speakers. Let's put that out there front and center. It's a hundred percent true. If you create anything that's live stream, video, you are a speaker. Especially if you come from the teaching world, you are a speaker, you're constantly speaking in front of groups of people. That's what a speaker means. But I think it's important for us to establish that there are different types of speaking.
There's the speaking for visibility. I know you're a big fan of visibility and all the folks listening to this are big fans of visibility. So this is visibility in the sense of record, say something important, and then post it to your profile. And we do know that video gets a greater percentage of views than any other type of content you're going to publish out there.
So we're all speakers. But are we speaking in the right way to grow our business? So that's what I'm most concerned with is what is the best way to grow your business through speaking? And so a lot of people use speaking for lead generation. Those are the free dinner speakers. And I used to be one for many, many years.
Free dinner just means this person is inviting me to collaborate or to present to their membership group or to show up in front of a rotary club or what have you and share a message that's really important to that audience. So that is free dinner speaking. The biggest challenge is how do you go from the free dinner speaking where you're like, I'll show up anywhere and I'll speak to anyone who will listen to me to getting paid to be an expert in your area.
And this word expert is a little sticky for some people, right? Like we don't always feel like we know everything there is to know about our business. So sometimes it takes some time to clarify what am I an expert in? How do I create that into a signature speech? And how do I pitch that signature speech?
I think a lot of us believe that they're only paying certain people, like the celebrities, the Tony Robbins. That's not true. They're getting paid top dollar. I mean they're getting paid a hundred thousand plus For those types of speaking engagements, but there are plenty of speaking engagements That are not on a big stage that can still get you paid. So that's what I love to talk about.
Jenzaia: It's very true and I was thinking it through, because a lot of my audience is teachers, either still in the classroom with more of a quote unquote side hustle kind of business or have moved and transitioned into full time in their business. But I think that they could relate to that.
Jenn: Yeah, it depends on what type of teaching you used to do. If you teach high school, then perhaps you're incorporating some adult learning principles and things like that. But, yeah, it's really, I think that's the hardest part. I think for people who come from an education background, in a classroom of elementary school kids, you're teaching them how to do something, but that's not what you do when you're a paid speaker.
You're teaching them why it's important. So I think that the biggest misconception we can clarify straight away is to get away from teacher mode because that serves you really well. But if you're trying to build your side hustle or your business, it won't serve you quite as well in that type of environment.
So go away from the how to, and share why it's important. And then if you want the how to, that's when we engage outside of the speaking opportunity.
Jenzaia: That's a really interesting perspective shift. Does that have anything to do with, like, how you would set up a signature speech?
Jenn: So signature speech is basically your 60 minutes core presentation that you would offer for whatever audience you're seeking to get in front of. And it should be the same speech that you're using throughout your business. I mean, it can shift if your business pivots like mine did. But it's the same speech.
So here's the good news. I know you're a big fan of repurposing. I've been watching your podcast. I'm all about that. So that signature speech is your repurpose content and you can chunk it out however you want to. But once you create that core presentation, again, it's to have people think differently.
It's to bring up a question that Google can't answer. If you're out there saying, here's five steps to do this. That's not a signature speech. That is a piece of content that you're sharing. So understanding the difference between that is really important because before you get on stage, people will hire you to speak if you have a really great idea and you outline that idea very well. As a teacher, you have those skills.
You know how to organize yourself, you know how to organize what you're going to talk about, but you also have to make sure that it's customized to your audience, which is another skill that teachers are really good at because they are masters at engaging their audience. They know what it's like to look out into a classroom and have kids not even paying attention or kids running wild all over the place, right?
You know how to engage your people, but in order to Get in front of the right event planners and have them consider you an expert, you have to make sure that it's not just something they can find on Google. You want to make them think a little bit differently about your topic and bring your unique perspective to that topic.
Jenzaia: Absolutely. I like that. I feel like often there's a lot of storytelling that happens in these signature speeches. Do you notice that too?
Jenn: Absolutely. It's required. I think what people don't really know as much is, even if you have the same signature speech that you've been using for like three years, like I have, you use different stories when you get on stage.
So I might present to the National Association of Professional Organizers and I would have the same three pieces of audience takeaway. These are the three takeaways you're going to receive. But the stories I'm using to illustrate my points will differ depending on what audience I'm in front of. So that's how you make it interesting.
I am a big fan of novelty and I get bored very easily. So I cannot simply share the same story over and over and over. Repetition is good for speakers, but sometimes you need to keep it interesting for yourself as well. And when you do your research on your speaking client, you get to know what their problems are. What are their struggles? What is a case study or an example that they can really resonate with? And that's the story that you plug into it. So your stories will change and it's great to refresh your content and keep new things. Like if there's something in the news that applies to what you're talking about, or you can.
Jenzaia: I also feel like it makes you an actual human. Like, there seems to be this, like, star ness to someone who's up on a stage speaking, but if they're aware of news things that are happening right now and they have these stories that you can relate to, it brings them back to, okay, they are a person just like I am, which I think is really important to connecting with the audience and, like, really making that, that difference that a speech can make.
Jenn: Yeah, we don't want someone up there just saying, me, me, me, it's all about me, it's the me show. We've heard those speakers. They're so irritating. Please don't be that speaker.
Jenzaia: I'm sure you should have a goal for your speech, whether it's to bring awareness to you or to actually sell something, there's a goal there.
If you're doing the me show, then people are annoyed by you, then probably not going to get as much as if you're relatable and people feel like they are brought into the speech and brought into your world and that they can see themselves in you. That's my guess.
Jenn: Actually, that's your number one goal. So even if you're using stories about you, I think it would behoove everyone to take a look at the content they're sharing and notice how many use it.
If you don't have any use in the course of your entire presentation, there's some editing work you can do there to include you. You should always, after you introduce a talking point and you have a study or a story or an example, turn it back to the audience for the engagement piece. And I have a signature speech template that has a basic outline of how you can organize your thoughts and the talking points and things like that, because it's important to memorize certain pieces of your speech so you can consistently deliver the right experience.
But it's also important to keep that flexibility and transition appropriately.
Jenzaia: I really like that. How do you make that shift to getting paid? Because I know tons of different ways that I can get onto someone else's podcast or into their group or membership. But my question is getting paid, because I have no clue where I would even start with that.
Jenn: Oh, this is my favorite question of all time. So there are three times in the transaction, if you will, that you can get paid. You can get paid when you're first connecting with the event host. When you say, what is your speaking budget?
Number two, when you're on stage and you are inviting folks to do whatever with you, whether it's download my freebie, purchase my course, get my book, whatever.
The third way you can get paid is after you're done speaking, and I'm sure you resonate really well with this because you have a funnel. Do you have something that you're inviting folks to after you speak? The speaking is just part of that conversation. It's the beginning of the conversation.
So there are some people who will just not be a part of your circle. Cool. That's good. But there are some people who are like, what do I do next? And your job is to say, here's what you do next. Here's how you can get involved in my community. Here's how you can receive support for this.
So you can get paid on the back end of speaking as well by inviting folks to your community, whatever that looks like.
Jenzaia: That's good to know that you consider all three points as getting paid. I had definitely had the misconception of getting paid up front for a speaking gig and trying to figure out how to do that.
The other two feel a little bit more approachable and more in line with what I'm already doing and how I try to run my business and how I recommend through the podcast that people do like having those opportunities to come into your world. And then always letting them know, like, here's the next step.
Jenn: Absolutely. And the biggest concern I see people doing when they're speaking, especially from the stage, is they're just not comfortable inviting folks to anything.
And when it comes to getting paid to speak, here's what I have to say about that on the front end, like if you have a speaking fee. You can get paid anywhere from a thousand to 5, 000 just to show up and provide a 45 to 60 minute presentation, depending on what market you're looking at.
If you don't end up attracting anyone to your program after that, was that worth your time? It just might be, you know, you got paid for your expertise, which is ultimately what we're doing when we're growing our side hustle, our business, our passion project, whatever you call it. We want to keep offering the same thing.
So the sweet spot is you get paid on the front end through a speaking fee. You can sell from the stage. And you also invite people to your community. Of course, that's the best case scenario.
Jenzaia: This is another parallel that I think a lot of us kind of already know, but then it's hard to actually do. And that's not giving them too little or too much at the end of a presentation of any sort and finding that sweet spot where it's a very clear call to action. One specific next step instead of like you said, either just saying like, come find me, just knowing exactly what that next step is and being very clear and direct and having a journey that you're going to take them on.
Jenn: Yeah. And that's why I have my form of coaching program called sold out speaker. Because this has been the biggest challenge for many of my coaching clients is they don't know how to gracefully offer that next step or they've done all the things, but it's just not landing the way they would like to.
They're not booking clients. They're not booking calls. They're not selling books. If you put all this effort and energy into something that might make you nervous and scared and overwhelmed, then you have no response. So ideally I want you to get the best response you possibly can from your speaking.
It's great if you feel good and people are shaking your hand and giving you testimonials, but it's even better when they're referring you to other places to speak and they're joining your community. I mean, I want that for you. I want that for the listeners.
Jenzaia: Would you say that there's lots of opportunities for people to get paid?
Jenn: There are, and it depends on your business structure, how you want to approach them. So for example, I work with a lot of health and wellness entrepreneurs, so they might have a course or one on one training that they offer folks.
So they might go through places like community education. They might go places like entrepreneurial groups. They might participate in a retreat. Those are things that will pay you on the front end.
You have less control over the pricing for that, but you can certainly approach certain groups within companies, employee resource groups. You can go to sororities and fraternities and they have budgets that they're working with. So anyone who has a budget and is interested in your topic, you absolutely can say, Hey, I usually get paid this amount of money to bring this program. Do you have a budget? I mean, at the very worst, they'll say, no.
And then you determine whether, you know, the return on investment is there for you. But never hesitate when it comes to, I can get paid for this, I'm willing to put myself out there and ask the question and then determine if it's something I want to do. I still do free speaking from time to time. I'll do what's called showcase presentations.
So for example, if I'm collaborating with a summit owner or event hosts, maybe I don't want to get paid for that. Or maybe I don't need to get paid. It's me being introduced to their audience. But I don't do that as the majority of the speaking I do. So you have to approach it like a part of your business.
Probably 30 percent of the money I earn in my business is through speaking. And that's by design because that's my primary lead generation tool. So I'm getting paid to generate leads. And then I invite folks to my coaching offers from there. So just depending on what mix of business you're looking for.
If you're like, yeah, I just want to speak to get more people in my community and then sell them into something else. Totally. Okay. You can do that, but there's a whole lineup of individuals out there who are getting paid through a speaking fee. And sometimes that fee pays for all the business admin things, maybe a VA, maybe website management, things like that.
Jenzaia: I just recently learned about the concept of upper limits. And the example that was given to me in the presentation was about Tony Robbins, who at the time that the presentation was originally recorded was getting paid a million dollars a year for one on one coaching. Which is insane to me that somebody was paying Tony Robbins a million dollars a year for one on one coaching. That just destroys that upper limit that was in my mind of like, well, there's one on one coaches that I've paid 5, 000 for. Then I see them at like 20, 000 and 50, 000 and I've heard of like six figure investments, but the idea that there's a seven figure investment to work with somebody just destroyed all of that.
So I'm having very similar feelings right now. Right, like nobody will be looking for what I have to offer, but you're definitely destroying that. You said like a retreat or a sorority. Like these are groups of, I don't know, like five to 20 people potentially, depending on obviously the size of it, but those can be very small groups of people that are willing to pay, which again, just like destroyed my upper limit.
Jenn: Right. Can I share a little secret with you? The big events that you're thinking of with Tony Robbins, you know, running across the stage and things like that, those are usually his own events.
If he's bringing people on stage, they may or may not get paid for that. Sometimes the most lucrative of the speaking engagements are like five people in a room and you're doing a half day workshop for five executives in a company. Because sometimes you pay to get on a stage like that, or sometimes it's invitation only or things like that.
So it's like a reputation thing. I'm obviously not someone at Tony Robbins level, but some of my most lucrative speaking engagements are not the big stages, which is why I think it's important for us to recognize. There's a stage for everyone. I really believe this. And sometimes that stage is... What you most feel comfortable with.
For me, I feel comfortable with a smaller group. I feel comfortable with certain types of people who like to go deep in the conversation. That's my ideal fit client. So again, that's part of the goal process that we work through when someone engages with me and coaches with me. What is your goal here? If you just want to build your list, okay, we can, we can get everything set up for you.
If you want to, you know, make lifelong friends and grow your community, we can do that. If you want to get paid and then just leave. We can do that too. You can get, you can probably replace your business income through just becoming a professional speaker. If you're really intent about your processes.
Jenzaia: Is there a difference between online versus in person? Is there one that you're more likely to Like get paid for or is there equal opportunity in both?
Jenn: So personally, I prefer virtual due to being a mom and living in the midwest. I don't necessarily want to pay thousands of dollars to travel to New York or Florida or Los angeles. So it's a personal choice for me.
However, the in person events cannot be beat. They cannot be beat in terms of the energy That you receive from your audience when you're speaking, they cannot be beat in terms of the connections you make when you're there at the event. The more time you can spend hobnobbing, schmoozing, whatever, the better it's going to be for you because you're going to have a richer experience and you're going to be able to refer back to individuals you met or stories or examples of people you met.
So I love the in person event in terms of the energy exchange you get, and some of the fees are better for in person, but a lot of folks who are hiring speakers will say, okay, we'll pay for travel or we'll pay for lodging, but we won't pay you to show up on the stage.
Personally, though, if you're doing a virtual experience, you can do two to three in a single day. But if you're doing an in person event that you have to travel to, you're only doing one in that same time period. So it depends on how many things to weigh and to contrast there.
Jenzaia: The other thing, as a participant, I find myself way more present listening and paying attention to someone when I'm in person. It's a lot easier to multitask and to have the... The presentation on in the background if I'm doing it digitally.
Jenn: And there are different techniques I help people with in terms of I have something called speaker school where we work on your presentation skills. It's different when you're virtual, like how you bring the energy virtually is very different from how you bring it in person. And you need a whole box of gear when you travel to an event, because you have to prepare for technology failure. You don't have that when you're at home. You know everything is going to work the way it's supposed to work.
Jenzaia: And if it doesn't, like, I know where my rotor is. Like, I have everything I need already.
Jenn: Yes. And, there's probably going to be a technology failure if you're going to a big event. There are ways to prepare for that, and I can help you identify what that looks like, but there's, you need cords, and your own copies of things, and sending copies ahead of time, so there's a bit of stress there, because if something goes wrong, which it might, you just have to be prepared for anything when you go live.
Jenzaia: That might be another pro for those smaller, more intimate events. It feels a little bit like more things are in your control if there's just like the six of you in the room because you've also brought your own things.
Okay, is there anything else that you feel like is really important for anyone who is considering making that transition from Speaking to paid?
Jenn: Well, let's just reiterate a few of the things we talked about. So we talked about the signature speech, how that is your main foundational thing. It has to answer the question why, instead of how to. So after you figured that out, then you're like, okay, what is my goal speaking? Do I want to get paid the three different ways, all of the ways, or which of the ways would be the most return for my investment?
And then last, I would say, take a look at what you can manage within your schedule, given the way your business is structured. So for example, I worked with a client who said, I just want to speak once a month, get paid 5, 000 per month, and that'll pay for my business back end. I'm like, great, you have a really clear goal here. For me personally, I speak on two to three podcasts or events, online events every month, plus other paid events.
I've spoken anywhere from once to like seven times in a single month, because that's part of my, you know, my income. So that makes sense for me. But if you don't have that time available to do that, um, then you should say, okay, well, I want to speak three times a quarter. Great. That's once a month. And this is what that might look like in terms of how many applications to submit, what time investment is there.
So that's a really important consideration. Anyone can speak. But until you start speaking, you don't recognize how much time goes into creating the powerful program that you're promising this event hosts. So that would be the last thing I would say. And then also, just reiterating, there's a stage for everyone.
You're probably already putting yourself on stage. If you have your side hustle established that you already have an audience and that's something to pay attention to because when you submit a speaker application, they will ask you where do you hang out online and they will look at your social media platforms and they will determine if you have any ability to bring people to that event.
And sometimes they incentivize you to do that. So I'm not saying you have to have like hundreds of thousands of followers or become viral tomorrow, but if you do have some sort of platform already built, then you're already more attractive as a speaker. You're also more attractive if you have a book, if you have a course, if you've spoken before.
So these are all things if you're hesitant to command a speaking fee, understand that those things are adding value automatically. So if you already have some of those things, You are very primed to be paid as a speaker.
Jenzaia: That was a really good recap. I know that you have a freebie that you mentioned. But can you just give us a little bit more detail about exactly what it is?
Jenn: It's called the Signature Speech Template. It's how to design that 60 minute foundational program that you're going to bring to every audience you speak in front of, whether it's virtual or live. And it gives you a basic outline of how to structure your speech. It also gives you ideas for engagement, both virtually and live. And most importantly, it helps you get really clear with yourself on what your goals are for speaking.
Jenzaia: And then where's the best place if somebody wants to connect with you?
Jenn: Come find me on LinkedIn. That's my favorite place to hang out and drink some water with you. So feel free to send me a connection request. I also post my quarterly masterclasses on LinkedIn. So I'd love to see you at my next class.
Jenzaia: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me