Putting a new spin on the old adage, Michael Soon Lee last night shared a secret of his successful speaking business with a dozen lucky members of the National Speakers Association Northern California chapter: “Tell ’em what you’ll tell ’em, tell ’em, and then sell ’em”.

Like many of the plutocracy of the NSA, Michael knows that speaking fees are only one of multiple potential streams of income. What he sells ‘at the back of the room’ on a literature table can easily match the speaking fee he commands. These products — books, CD’s, pamphlets, laminated reference cards and more — also sell themselves from his website while he sleeps.

Michael shared a step-by-step guide — the path to extra income for speakers smart enough to develop products that’ll entice the audience to part with cold, hard cash.

He conducted a simple five minute exercise. Asking each of us to write down topics around which we can create salable product. This exercise was a huge motivation for us newbies to get out in the marketplace with product and ‘just do it’. Paralysis by analysis prevents most speakers from passing GO and collecting $200.

Start your engines by creating simple lists that summarize an area of your subject matter expertise. (“13 ways a Realtor earns their commissions”). Give this away on laminated cards or sell them as desk-sets in perspex holders ($2.95). Add some references, sample forms, interview snippets, salient quotes and presto-chango, you’ve got pamphlets ($9.95); cue cards ($14.95); spiral-bound booklets ($19.95); CD inserts ($29.95) or 4-CD sets ($79.95). Add value to the initial content. Invest in graphics production standards that will differentiate the covers by which they’ll be judged. Pretty soon you’ll have a table of literature and can sell ‘show specials’ for $200-300 and throw in certificates for a free hour of telephone consulting to whip the feeding frenzy at the break.

Just don’t be tempted to invest years of work writing a book with all your content between the covers. Sure, it’ll build your credibility. At a price. It’ll sell for $29.95 and the trade publisher keeps 90% of this. Do the math.

My own list (drafted in a few minutes – the hard work lies ahead – making it content worth paying for):

(In case you’re wondering, this is the significance of 54 and 108. Om Mani Padme Hum, man…)

Time will tell if I have the chops to deliver unique, salable content that my audiences want. The more specific I make it, the better the payback for content they can’t get anywhere else.

Meanwhile, I’ll use this blog to test drive content, gather feedback and refine it before pushing the print button and stocking up on hard copy.

Anyone starting out in the professional speaking business needs to learn how to navigate — from where you are today to where you want to be. Last Saturday, Jim Horan, author of The One Page Business Plan gave members of the NSA/NC Pro-Track training group a personal navigation lesson to guide us on our journey as professional speakers.

Jim left corporate America in the mid-1990’s when he lost his CFO job. By his own admission, he’s an accidental author, an accidental reseller and software creator. He listened to the big and little messages the marketplace gave him. He developed his ‘One Page Business Plan’ company from a simple idea to a $20m global cottage industry. His book and CD costs him $1.95 to produce and retails for $35. It’s generated over $500K income for him. More impressively, his network of over 300 licensed trainers have brought in $19.5m in revenue. Meanwhile, his speaking engagements have paid only $50K in the years since he started. Lesson one: don’t just look to speaking fees as a sole source of income as a professional speaker!

Before working through some of the very practical exercises in his book (creating a Business Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Business Objectives, Business Strategies, and complete Business Plan), Jim encouraged us to realize that “you’re all old enough to already have the customers you want to have” and “to be known by others for something unique”. I realized I am known for writing great speeches for high-tech corporate executives and helping lower the barriers to international business.

Everyone’s business plan is a dialog or conversation that starts inside your own head. Creating the business plan is the first step for a professional speaker who wants to make a living “printing thousand dollar bills with your mouth”. We all already have plans, whether we are the CEO or a Janitor. People who say they don’t have a plan might mean:

Having a written business plan will:

Jim’s genius is in showing how the One Page Business Plan works: it’s simple, focused, readily understandable, versatile, consistent and flexible.

The components of the plan work together to help us navigate the journey of building a business:

Enough theory!

At the end of the day my One Page Business Plan for Executive Communications (rev 1.00001) was as follows:

Vision:

Within the next five years , grow Executive Communications into a successful international consulting company providing business development assistance to companies looking for opportunities to expand overseas.

Mission:

I help successful businesses embrace opportunities for overseas expansion.

Objectives (for my ‘active retirement’ years once I no longer have a W-2 job):

To achieve sales of $240,000 from 24 customers at a rate of one new customer a week for six months of the year with an average dollar engagement of $10,000 comprised of $2,000/day speaking and consulting fees for a total number 1000 of billable hours each year from 2011 onwards.

Strategies:

Plans:

Project 1: Develop this blog into articles and a book.
Project 2: Coach one business into successful overseas expansion.
Project 3: Host overseas companies visiting Silicon Valley.
Project 4: Network with successful international individuals and entities in the corporate world.

Given that this was the result of less than a full day’s energy and attention it’s a good start.

I wonder if there are other folks sharing their business plans on the web? In Blogs? Many people might feel like this is overexposing themselves. That’s so last century. The ascendancy of the open systems approach in the computer world shows the value of networking and sharing. In the business world, The Republic Of Tea is a classic chronicle of the birth of a new business that shows the value in sharing ideas.

With that, I look forward to the comments from my Pro-Track team members about my business plan!

Rob has a pointer to one of the newest analysis tools from Google – Google Trends.

It allows one to search which terms are being used most frequently in Google searches, including comparatively by entering several different key words. The frequency with which these terms have been used, going back to 2004, is then plotted on a graph.

I ran some comparative analysis that is alternately fascinating, ironic and meaningless. Endless fun and games here.

Garr Reynolds recently remarked that stand-up comedy is the most terrifying presentation skill to master. Very few of us want to try doing a set at the local comedy club, no business person really needs that experience on their resume. But knowing the right and wrong way to work humor into a business presentation is a valuable skill for both speechwriter and/or speaker to master.

But surely no mere mortal is funny enough to make audiences laugh in the way Seinfeld, Woody Allen or the talk-show hosts make ’em laugh? Many speaking coaches warn that attempts at humor in a business speech are doomed to embarrassment and failure. Audiences want the facts, just the facts, ma’am. Fun has no place in the business world, damn it! This might be true…in Germany. But in many countries, a little humor goes a long way to connect with an audience. But what to do – if you don’t have the talent or courage? Are there any sure-fire techniques to build a laugh machine to turn ’em on?

The May meeting of the vibrant (and growing!) NSA/NC Chapter was the place to be Saturday to see two masters of the comedic arts share their trade secrets.

We leaned about “The Rule of Three”; “The Call Back”; “The Topper” as well as a bunch of funny lines and plain zany ideas to plant in your next script to wow your audience. These were not the idle suggestions of amateur funny men – they were practical, tried and tested techniques to get any business audience laughing.

David Glickman – ‘Be More Funny, Make More Money’

David is a superb stand-up comic in the tradition of the best of the Borscht Belt. His tips for creating great humor include:

David shared other great insider tips. Such as using a graphics professional to create a glue-on cover that parodies a well known book with a new title the specific audience will find funny – Harry Potter and the Mystery of Hotel Banquet Pricing for a speech to a Meeting Planners Convention.

Business audiences love jokes that are customized for them. Poke fun at the competition, mention product names, use corporate lingo. They’ll love being in on the ‘Inside Joke’.

All this and more in his excellent book.

Brad Montgomery – Got Mirth? Milking Your Material For All The Humor It’s Worth

Wow! A stand-up comic who started in the business when he was 16, is a magician and he has his own blog! What’s not to like!

Brad took an analytic approach to generating mirth in front of the mike. He spent time putting our fears to rest by sharing some groundrules:

Brad gave us great tips for livening up business audiences.

Let the audience see you are having a good time.

Laugh and the world laughs with you, fail and they’ll let you die.

The Fourth meeting of the Pro-Track training sponsored by the National Speakers Association, Northern California, took place on April 22. This month’s focus was on choosing a topic to speak on.

Webster defines a topic as:

Etymology: Latin Topica Topics (work by Aristotle), from Greek Topika, from topika, neuter plural of topikos of a place, of a topos, from topos place, topos
1 a : one of the general forms of argument employed in probable reasoning b : ARGUMENT, REASON
2 a : a heading in an outlined argument or exposition b : the subject of a discourse or of a section of a discourse

The bottom line for professional speakers is that your topic must appeal to audiences willing to pay to hear you speak. We heard from two consummate professionals who had picked topics that packed ’em in.

Adrian Pearson

Ms. Pearson (I state her sex since the British mostly expect Adrian’s to be men – Adrian Mole, Adrian Cockcroft, ‘Adrian’s Wall…) is a market research expert who highlighted the importance of measuring the interest people have in a particular topic before writing the speech. Why choose to develop a topic that will be difficult to sell?

Simply ask a small sample of people to rate your subject on a scale of 1-9. Anything that scores a 6 or higher deserves your attention. Otherwise, fuggedabout it!

My homework – finding what specific topics in the area of international business and doing business overseas people are willing to pay good money to hear about.

Craig Harrison

This craigslist of ways to find your topic included:

– Ask yourself what gives you most pleasure as a communicator (shocking audiences? storytelling? inspiring them?)
– Examine what qualifies you as an expert on your topic – where does your credibility come from?
– Find out what audiences value enough to pay for – what are the hot topics they are interested in?

We then spent time developing an elevator pitch to showcase our uniqueness. He coached us to think in terms of the listener, clearly stating the benefits of what we do and inviting them to connect further with us.

At the end of the day I had the following rough draft for my elevator pitch:

I speak on the secrets of success in international business. I’m Ian Griffin and I’ve experienced first hand how to survive and thrive in foreign lands. If you want to feel at home anywhere in the world I can teach you 35 tips for productive overseas trips. Are you ready to do business, worldwide? Call me.

I’m sure I will modify and refine this over time. And at some point I might actually develop 35 tips that people will pay to hear. Meanwhile, on a scale of 1 to 9 (1 = terrible, 9 = fantastic) tell me how you rate my elevator pitch?

Wonderful blog by David St Lawrence, an ex-Sun Microsystems staffer who was RIF’d by the company a few months before I was. He has a ton of common sense to share on surviving and thriving as a ‘micro business’ outside the walls of large companies. I love his practical advice on networking, cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, blogging, overcoming barriers to success and how to reinvent yourself if you are north of fifty. Check him out.

The Third meeting of the Pro-Track training sponsored by the National Speakers Association, Northern California, took place on March 18. This month’s focus was choosing and developing a target market for your professional speaking career. Someone remarked that choosing a niche or target market was like looking into a kaleidoscope: one small twist in perspective and the whole picture changes. I felt, like some others in the room, that I had hit a wall with Pro-Track this month. There’s so many books on the reading lists, so many options to consider. Actions, as always, speak louder than words ( Blogging about things is maybe a middle way). Simply choosing an area of focus and doing something is better by far than sitting around thinking about it.

We heard from two speakers who had been doing something well for over twenty years.

Jenny De St Georges

Delivers trainings and presentations on dental practice management. The first weekend she spoke she made $20,000 and she has not looked back. Some of her tips and tricks:

Ric Giardina

I was amazed to discover that Ric and I had both worked at MicroPro back in the mid-1980’s. I was buried in Technical Support getting my start in the computer biz, he was in the executive suite as Corporate Counsel. Seems like a lifetime ago. WordStar, Control KD.

Ric now speaks on a variety of topics to corporate America: Authenticity, Balance, Community, Discipline. He moves between speaking, facilitating and training. You need an ability to do all three to succeed. He communicates the wisdom people need to succeed in a world buried in data and information. Some speakers just give you data, and leave you wondering “So What”. People pay good money to hear real wisdom. Arrive at least a day early at a conference. Hang out at the reception and use what you hear in your speech.

Ric’s Ten Thoughts on Corporate Clients:

Ric had a great reading list:

You Are the Message by Roger Ailes
Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes by William Bridges
Corporate Celebration: Play, Purpose, and Profit at Work by Terrence E. Deal, M. K. Key
Leadership is an Art by Max Depree
Your Authentic Self: Be Yourself at Work by Ric Giardina
Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
The Abilene Paradox and Other Meditations on Management by Jerry B. Harvey
The Corporate Mystic : A Guidebook for Visionaries with Their Feet on the Ground by Gay Hendricks, Kate Ludeman
The Change Handbook: Group Methods for Shaping the Future by Tom Devane, Peggy Holman
Jesus CEO : Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership by Laurie Beth Jones
Work As a Spiritual Practice : A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job by Lewis Richmond
The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge
A WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger von Oech
Managing to Have Fun : How Fun at Work Can Motivate Your Employees, Inspire Your Coworkers, and Boost Your Bottom Line by Matt Weinstein
The Heart Aroused : Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America by David Whyte

Wendy Kruger

Was with a Speakers Bureau. She ran the numbers for us. Bureaus take 25% of the booking fee. Increase your existing fees to cover this, since fee integrity dictates you have the same fee structure if you go direct with a client or through a bureau. Their speaker’s fees start at around $2,500 per speech on a regular basis before they sign with the bureau. They get a submission from someone wanting to sign with them every day of the year – over 300 annually. Lots of competition.

After not posting anything to my blog for nearly 2 weeks I have three solid reasons not to blog:

[1] A bad cold which increased my need to sleep and drink hot lemon!
[2] A sharp increase in demands on my time from my day job.
[3] Reading Naked Conversations which I found somewhat depressing in it’s recommendation to blog all the time. One of the authors blogs at 4am. Not for me.

However, the cold has cleared up and I am ready to step back into the blogging stream.

Speechwriters, Public Relations and other communications professionals need facts at their fingertips. These references have proved useful. See how they work for you.

Acronyma:
– Entries for over 450,000 acronyms and abbreviations.
Amazon.com:
– I really like the ‘Search Inside this Book’ feature that let’s you read a good amount of many books they sell.
Business Name and Tag Line Generator:
– When you want to sex up that speech title or key phrase.
Case Studies Library:
– A wonderful source of material for stories. Such as this gem:
Mark Bridges pondered his position as manager of his family’s business in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. His duties included calming a family of campers, whose campsite had just been ransacked by a mischievous black bear… There are a dozen ways to open a speech with this story alone.
Comparitech: deep web search engines for academic and scholarly research:
– A comprehensive guide to searching the 95% of the web not indexed by Google
Cutter Consortium:
– REGISTRATION REQUIRED. These materials give you “Access to the Experts” – internationally recognized experts committed to delivering top-level, critical, and objective advice from Cutter’s 10 Practice Areas.
Directory of Open Access Journals:
– This service covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. We aim to cover all subjects and languages. There are now 2090 journals in the directory. Currently, 567 journals are searchable at article level. As of today, 90686 articles are included in the DOAJ service.
Factiva:
– REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Superior online searching of hundreds of newspapers, journals, etc. Gives access to subscription-only services such as Financial Times and WSJ.
Google News Alerts:
– Sign up for custom searches in the daily news. Hint: Grab output as an RSS feed into bloglines.com or feedster.com.
Hoovers:
– SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED. Access complete company information. Check out Hoover’s Business Boneyard.
Highwire Press:
– Stanford University hosts the largest repository of free, full-text, peer-reviewed content, with 919 journals and 1,213,881 free, full-text articles online. With our partner publishers, we produce 73 of the 200 most-frequently-cited journals.
Idioms:
– Investigate the origins of idioms — for all you Doubting Thomas’s.
102 Idioms:
102 Common English Idioms with meaning and examples.
Knovel Library:
– Hardcore science facts. Where else would you find the ‘RFID Handbook’?
LibrarySpot.com:
– Links to lots of stuff. The Ask An Expert service looks interesting.
National Business Journals:
– The national bizjournals site features local business news from around the nation, updated throughout the day, top business stories from American City’s print editions, industry-specific news from more than 40 industries, advice columns, and a full menu of tools to help business owners and operators manage their businesses more successfully. There’s also easy navigation to each of the 42 local business sites. Characterized among the “Best of the Web” by Forbes magazine, bizjournals’ archives contain more than 750,000 business news articles published since 1996. E-mail offerings include daily local business updates from any bizjournals market, as well as weekly updates of industry news from throughout the country.
Newslink.org:
– Another way to keep your eyes on breaking news from Silicon Valley to the Sahara.
New Words:
– A Sampling of 100 new words added to Webster’s Dictionary in 2005: amuse-bouche, bikini wax…and more.
NoodleTools:
– How to correctly cite all this great stuff you’ve dug up.
OEDILF:
– The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form. 24,000+ limericks and going strong. Here’s one:
When writing a speech to impress,
Don’t bungle and leave off an “s.”
You’ll learn what “harass” is
With talk about asses
When that’s not what you meant to assess.
Online University – Directory of Scholarly Journals:
A list that contains resources that are available online, in part or in full, though some do require payment for downloads. “Open” journals aim to provide all their resources online and may be a great place for some research, though more professionally minded assignments should start with more critically acclaimed publications.
Refdesk:
– Since 1995, Refdesk is a free and family-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources.
How to Cite Online Sources:
– The correct way to cite online sources.
Storytelling:
– Audiences always connect with stories that fit the climate, culture and mission of your business issue without losing the spirit of the message.
WayBackMachine:
– Images, Audio and Text. Browse through 55 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago.The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.
Wikipedia:
– Best source of information on the web. Check out Shakespeare or Roy Harper or Bill Gates to prove it.
If you know of any other useful reference material please leave a comment below!

I took a great teleseminar this evening from NSA member Tom Antion. He interviewed Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff on the topic From Blog to Book

Patsi & Denise are blogging businesswomen found here . Check out their website. You’ll find a great lists of clients and projects of people who are engaged in turning their blogs into books.

They consult on:

• The Blog Squad – How to maximize marketing strategy
• Blog Crisis Prevention Program
• Build a Better Blog – Ultimate Guide to Boosting Your Business using a blog
• Blog to Book Project – they’ll guide you for $199 – $699 to deliver a book

The tele-class was on the last topic and they promised that in their tele-class we will learn:

=> How to set up an inexpensive blog in a matter of minutes . . .blogs are cheap and powerful

=> How to use your blog to help you write your book automatically…in only a few minutes a day you will knock out what previously looked like an enormous undertaking.

=> How to use your blog to organize your entire project . . . no need to agonize over chapters and such.

=> How to have your blog visitors add content to your book. . .1000 heads are better than one.

=> How to pre-promote your upcoming book in your blog . . . you can have people lined up to buy even before your book is done

and much, much more

Here’s what I heard:

Technology

They use TYPEPAD as their blogging tool – the features are flexible for business vs. blogging as a private journal. Costs $5-15/month. $150 year premium fee. They can create multiple blogs to target different niches

Background – Why Blog:

Search engines love blogs.
Double and triple blogs to your static web site.
Focus blog on specific niche or business results in keyword rich content.
200-300 word posts are optimum.
Search engines index content over & over vs. static web sites that won’t be spidered as much.
Installing on your web site requires technical skills as well.
Typepad is different URL from your static site so you have a ‘second fishing pole in the water’.
Blogger is free but does not make linking as easy – Typepad is better, more intuitive.

Blogs and Books:

Typing directly into blog easy way to compose.
Enter content as it occurs to you for ½ hr each morning, no particular order, whatever inspires you each day.
They pick off morsels and drop into an e-zine via a Word document.
Put information together in one place and people will pay for it.
Repurpose content to make money.

To start:

Do you like to write? If so,
Determine what your purpose is – who is your audience?
Start with a 30-day free account on typepad.

Turning a blog into a book:

New word: Blook = Blog-as-Book
Blooker Prize (like the UK’s Booker Prize) from Lulu.

Phenomena took off 6-8 months ago. Promote your book on your own web site.

Examples:

[1] Tom Evslin, www.hackoff.com – serialized the book on his blog, then podcast, then fictionalized web site to support book – book out even out yet. Thousands subscribe to get daily updates. Book for pre-order on amazon.com will be self-published.

[2] Robert Scobel & Shell Israel Naked Conversations. He wrote and created book as he went along on his blog. Wrote a chapter at a time and got feedback.

Commenting: Blogs allow comments (unlike website). Get permission to use Comments you’ll get from blog postings – most people flattered. Instant dialog. Ask readers for ideas and ask them for their experiences. They’ll almost write the book for you!

Example: Restaurant blog ran a contest during the Oscar’s – anyone with a clean sweep gets free entrée. Got lots of comments.

Blooks work in any niche market. eBook for any subject. People write on all kinds of subjects: Dating, Travel Agency, Photography.

Post to your blog with a partner! Collaborate.

Professionals with books generate more leads, can charge higher fees for speaking engagements.

Blogs automate the organization of your ideas. Instant content management system. Shorter postings help improve your writing – makes you to the point . Good blogging etiquette is linking to your source, good research discipline. People you link to help start word-of-mouth marketing. Build fans and prospects for your finished product. Building a platform that is public.

Can write when you are out-of-town or traveling. You can post-date entries to post when the date hits.

Issue: Why put all your content out for the public – no-one will buy my book!

Phooey! Putting it into blog does not impact sales at all. Does not matter what you’ve put out there on blog, in eCourse or sample chapters people want to see the physical book! Signed and on their shelf! The whole world is not digital. People like to read in an easy chair.

Five Features of a Blog that make it a good tool to write a book:

[1] Search engines love keyword rich content of blogs. Be sure to put keywords in the posting title. Look for ways to optimize a blog post. Repeat the key word through the blog post.
[2] Categories and Archives is an instant content management system for your post – it becomes a natural outline system.
[3] Comments enable a conversation – feedback from readers becomes part of the book.
[4] Readers can subscribe in a number of ways to get subscription via Feedblitz or RSS.
[5] Trackback and Permalinks enable you and people who read your blog to tie back to other bloggers you are writing about via ‘pings’ – an advanced strategy.

Directly exporting your blog posts and turn them into a bound book is possible – but problematic.

Blogbinders will print a soft-cover book but this won’t read smoothly.

Can’t just export your blog posts and have it read smoothly. No more than you could bind together a bunch of Word docs.

Suggestion: Print out blog posts and pile on floor to see what you’re missing. Put it in the right order. See what’s missing, tighten it up, do your transitions. Professional editor and designer can be found on craigslist, eLance etc. You need another pair of eyes to spot errors. Add Forward, Table of Content, Appendix, Index, etc.

Start with eBook just cut and paste into right order. Then move to printed book. It can stimulate a traditional book from an author who has taken this imitative.

Lightening Source will turn your text from the blog or any other files into an eBook readable on Palm and distribute on Amazon etc.

Dan Poynter has tips on book publishing
John Kremer publishes ‘1001 Ways to Market Your Books’

How to drive traffic to your blog

Write good quality content on a regular basis.
Create a Newsletter / eZine to drive people to your blog
PR Web free PR site – post press release on your blog: Submit your blog to 150+ blog specific directories
Comment on other blogs and link back to yours.
Contribute to the conversation in the blogospehere – at the very least the owner will check out your links and discover something new.
Have a name and address opt-in section
Consider Google Adsense to make money on your blog
Article Directories: Take blog post and expand to 1,000 word article and post to 150+ article directories, Examples:

http://ezinearticles.com/
http://www.articlesubmissions.com/
http://www.opportunityupdate.com/doorwaytosubmit.html

There must be a central directory of these submission sites – do you know one? Please leave a comment below if you do!

Rich Brooks is web designer has web site optimization and marketing types with lots of tips on tagging and other background ways to drive traffic.

Finally:

Do a Blook Tour: A virtual book tour on blogs. Getting publicity is difficult, so bloggers go from blog to blog talking about their book! You can do 20 blogs in one day since there’s no travel.

It was a great seminar – thanks Patsi, Denise and Tom!