Top motivational speaker reveals her fees
One of the rules National Speakers Association (NSA) members must abide by is an agreement not to discuss fees or fee ranges - as with many professional associations this prevents members forming a price fixing cartel. So it is sometimes difficult for people to realize how lucrative the professional speaking business actually is.
Not so with speakers who have not joined NSA.
This Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle features an article describing the career, and fees charged, by Alison Levine. She is a San Francisco-based motivational speaker who overcame a childhood heart condition that prevented her climbing flight of stairs to a become a world-class mountaineer. She uses business principles she picked up in a career at Goldman Sachs and put them into the context of mountain climbing. Combined this with personal stories (such as how a woman takes a pee on Everest) makes her a compelling keynote speaker. Audiences love her.
Levine reveals that she charges $15,000 for a keynote speech and the speaker bureau that handles her bookings takes around 20%. But with a grueling schedule that has her delivering 100 speeches in a year, she is on track to make $1 million in fees.
One can only speculate what Alison’s earnings could be were she to come in from the cold and join our local NSA Chapter. Here, she’d learn how to parlay her keynotes into a range of products that, for many speakers, represent 50% or more of their income. We’d also be able to connect her with top speakers in the industry who could share their combined experience of decades on the road delivering speeches. A diet of cashews and gummy bears will get you in the end, Alison!
Carlos Cruz is a life and business coach, corporate, community and personal motivational speaker, and trainer. Carlos, a former member of the US Navy, founded 


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