5 Ways to Monetize Your Speaking Business During Coronavirus Travel Restrictions

One of the greatest attributes of being a professional speaker is that we are used to expecting the unexpected. At live events, we experience everything from having our scheduled speaking time cut down because another speaker went over time, to last-minute changes in our content or the ever-popular technical failure. Navigating these challenges almost seems like an unofficial form of hazing for emerging speakers, as we continue to educate, inspire, and support the audiences we are called to serve. Dealing with unexpected change is part of the life of a professional speaker.

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has challenged the leadership of companies and organizations around the world, as we all struggle to balance the needs of our stakeholders. Every industry connecting to the speaking business, including travel, hospitality, meetings, and event planning, has been significantly impacted. Out of an abundance of caution, to slow the spread of the virus, many companies have heavily restricted business travel, canceled meetings, and conferences for the next 1 to 2 months and implemented work from home policies for their employers. We even saw the unprecedented cancelation of one of the largest conferences in the country, SXSW.

In the face of this rapidly changing landscape, it can be easy to feel like things are beyond your control, however, at Black Speakers Network?(BSN), our philosophy to the speaking business remains that we don't wait for opportunity – we create it. So instead of allowing fear, panic and anxiety over what is coming next paralyze us, instead here are 5 Ways to Monetize Your Speaking Business During Coronavirus Travel Restrictions: 

1. Do a PODCASTING BLITZ: According to Podcast Insights, there are well over 900,000 podcast shows today, and that number only continues to grow. Also, over 45% of podcast listeners have an annual household income of over $75,000. Do you think there is a pretty good chance that your target audience who can pay for your products and services are listening? At Black Speakers Network, we have found that podcasting is one of the fastest ways to get in front of your virtual audience. Since you can conduct a podcast interview just about anywhere, these opportunities are within reach for just about all speakers, regardless of your level of experience. Why not set an aggressive goal to explode the number of podcast interviews you do this month? How will your speaking business change if, for example, you spoke on 4 podcasts per week for the next 4 weeks? If conservatively speaking, each podcast only had 150 listeners, after a month, you would have spoken to 2400 people! When is the last time you did a speaking engagement to 2000+ people? If only 10% (240) of those people signed up for one of your programs or brought your product, how would that change things for you? You will be surprised at the momentum and income that you generate as a result.
2. Level Up Your COACHING & CONSULTING: If you have not had the bandwidth to work with people in the past because you have been busy speaking, now may be the perfect time to offer some limited one on one or small group coaching to your audience. You may be wondering, what's the difference between coaching and consulting? One of the best definitions we found was in a Forbes article where Consultant Rose Cartolari stated that "a consultant is usually a subject matter expert who provides technical and professional advice to clients based on their significant understanding, knowledge, and experience. A coach, however, helps clients find clarity and answers and assists them in understanding how to move forward in achieving their goals and grow personally." With these working definitions, you can start to determine how best to brand your services, but the point is, you have knowledge that people want, and people have a desire to work with you directly. Also, don't forget about past clients. People whom you have worked with before may need you for a higher level of support over the next few weeks. Just be sure to set clear expectations on when your program opens and closes, who your ideal clients are, and realistic desired outcomes. Stay in your lane. If you already have demonstrated results in your business, or you have helped others create results and can walk people through your process, then you may be ready to serve your audience as a coach or consultant.
3. CONVERT instead of CANCELING events – Okay, you had to cancel your event due to coronavirus, that's a bummer! However, if you have already started a registration process for your event, then that list is now a valuable asset for your business. The people signed up for a reason, and while experience and networking is a big part of any event experience, but so is the content you provide. Besides, many people likely won't have the option to go to live events in the coming weeks anyway. So, before you start canceling and clicking the refund button, offer to host a virtual event. It does not have to be the same format or the same length of time as your live event; in fact, it should probably be much shorter. However, if people signed up and you have their money, it also means that you have their attention. So why not leverage it to deliver some value still. Before offering a full refund, how about add in other bonuses for people who convert to your virtual experience. Sign up for a Zoom account and get your virtual events rolling. 
4. DROP a new DIGITAL Product: Most speakers who read this are less than 6 working hours away from having a new digital product ready to sell. Not 6 months, not 6 days, not 6 weeks – but 6 hours! My very first product was a $5 PDF download called "51 Online Resources to Find and Book Speaking Engagements". Was it the best-looking PDF in the world? No. Was it perfect? No. Did I make hundreds of dollars on it? Absolutely. Even if you don't have a website, you can use single product platforms like Send Owl. With Send Owl, you can sell anything digital - whether that be software, audio, eBooks, videos, codes, or any other digital file. If you want to give it a try you can use our BSN affiliate link to sign up: https://www.sendowl.com?r=BSN (Yes, BSN will get a small percentage if you sign up, but that's what we all should be doing!) Sometimes, we just need to get out of our way. DONE is better than PERFECT, and I can guarantee that people are ready to pay you RIGHT NOW for a digital product that solves a relevant problem for them. You may have been writing a book for the last 4 years, but you can record an audiobook on your lunch break, literally. Stop playing and start publishing. 
5. Leverage Your Network with Affiliate Marketing: I used to think that making money while you sleep was just an overused cliché by network marketers. That was until my first experience waking up to a PayPal payment for one of my first affiliate partners. This payment was a commission for a product that I did not make, sold to a customer that I did not know personally, for a transaction that I did not even know was happening. Affiliate marketing is the process of getting a percentage of sales for promoting products or services for another company. Every company has a cost associated with finding new customers, so instead of paying for advertising, affiliate programs allow brands to pay you directly for new business in the form of commissions. Commissions can range from 10% to as much as 50% or more for products and services. If you have a sizable network of loyal followers, then just integrating a hand full of select affiliate marketing programs can be very lucrative. I have engrained affiliate programs into our business model for Black Speakers Network for several years, and it is by far one of my favorite ways to earn revenue because it is a win-win. Affiliate marketing could be a great secondary income stream for you. It may not be enough to replace your income right away, but how great would it be to bring in an extra few hundred per month by just sharing the products and services that you are already using with your network. To do this effectively, here are some of my recommendation for leveraging affiliates:

a)    Promote what you already use – if you have a service that you like and regularly use, just reach out to see if they have an affiliate program. If so, you can typically sign up within a few minutes, there is no cost to join, but you will get a % of sales for the customers who purchase something using your link. I don't believe in going out of your way to finding companies who offer affiliates, but rather, look at the services that you are already using. That way, it is organic. The people you refer would want to know that you use and endorse what you are sharing. My biggest advice here does not promote or support brands that you don't believe in.  

b)   Be transparent about your affiliate partnership – there is no need to hide the fact that you have an affiliate relationship with other brands. If people trust and support you, they should want you to benefit financially from helping them connect with other companies that can solve their problems.

c)    Limit your partnerships – I believe that a small number of valuable and well-aligned affiliates in your network is better than trying to manage dozens of collaborations. You also don't want to create the impression that all you are doing is selling other people's stuff. I like getting paid for helping other people win. If I am not the person to do it, then the next best thing is to get you connected to the people who can.

d)   Create an Affiliate Program – Just like you have people who you would be happy to promote, you likely have many people who are ready and willing to share your amazing products and services. If you are new to affiliates and don't have one in place, start small and simple. Be intentional about asking how your customers heard about you (you should be tracking this anyway). Pilot a referral program with a few people and see how it goes, you can always tweak it and expand it later.

We have no idea how long the coronavirus will be around. However, one lesson this crisis has hopefully shown everyone is that having multiple streams of income is no longer an option!  

I'm confident that if you can come up with many more than five ways to monetize your speaking business without ever leaving the house. If you are looking for more resources and information to monetize your speaking business, we have an entire section dedicated to the topic in our book: Speak Up! The Ultimate Guide to Dominate in the Speaking Industry. The digital version is available now for only $5 over at www.SpeakUpTheBook.com

Speak Up! Your Audience Awaits…

About the author: 

Brian J. Olds is the Founder & President of Black Speakers Network (BSN), a membership-based professional speaker development and empowerment company whose mission is to equip, connect and inspire the next generation of Black Professional Speakers. Brian specializes in empowering rising professional speakers to create clarity, streamline systems, and cultivate the relationships needed to reach the unique audience they are called to serve. To connect with Brian directly, visit www.BrianJOlds.com, or connect via LinkedIn or Instagram.

For more tools and resources to start or grow as a professional speaker, visit www.BlackSpeakersNetwork.com Speak Up! Your Audience Awaits…

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