I got to hear the best woman motivational speaker in the world. OK, best is relative. She is a motivational speaker who has truly attained Speechmastery. She makes $100,000 dollars a month. Yes you read right, that was not a typo.
How does she do it. What can you learn from her.
Your probably wondering how she makes 100,000 per month. As with most speakers, it revolves around the back of the room sales. Why she is able to be worth 100K should be of more interest to you.
Consider what she did that made her worth so much. When I heard her she was the primary speaker at a all day seminar in July of 2007.
Also before you let the numbers get you all excited you need to know that she spent 15 years to get here. Years of honing her skills. Years of practice.
And be aware that her motivational speaker style will not necessarily please everyone. Her style may not fit you.
One study found that the average professional only peaks after an average of 10 years in the profession. This means you will need to start out with more humble beginnings and work your way and pay your dues to become a top motivational speaker.
First, she greeted everyone. There were 50 present. She greeted each and everyone of us. She did this prior to the start of the program. She continued to greet and meet as the program progressed. Those who came late she warmly welcomed.
Even more interesting, she remembered all of our names.
This quality of training would easily worth $1000 per head. If you do the math, she would only have to do two a month. But before you start thinking you can do the same there is more.
She had a lavaliere mic and an amplifier. It seemed like it was her own. If there were any equipment problems, she had control of them. She arrived a day early so that if her luggage (and the mic) were lost she could quickly go out and rent one.
She started by telling a story about herself. This made her human just like everyone else there. She did not wear very expensive clothes nor did she wear cheap. She was modest in both value and style. She was a quite attractive woman.
Rather than accentuating her great looks from a physical view point, she accentuated her mental beauty with her ability and skill to teach, reach and motivating speech.
In her story telling she not only introduced that she had a husband but there seemed to be a sense of really being in love with him. Even if she was not, she did not show it. If your happily married, this is a real rapport builder.
She also told her age. She did not shackle herself with old fashioned taboos that have no place in our society. She was 38. She has been 38 for the last 9 years. Actually she told us her age of 47. She was a very good looking 47.
She also exuded success. She was not afraid to tell you of her success and how she attained it. More interestingly, how she came back from the humiliation and embarrassment of bankruptcy.
She did have a Power Point Presentation. However, she only used it as a supplement to what she said.
This was the first time I have seen someone use a power point presentation as it should be.
Think of it as the icing on the cake. Most use it as the cake. I am a firm believer that Power Point Bullets kill (audiences) and should be outlawed.
She was very animated.
She was motivating with out being gushy or even religious.
She involved the audience. She accomplished the interaction on several levels. One involved the entire audience speaking back to her when she asked a question. Another involved having us look to the person at our left or right and repeating something she wanted to reinforce.
She maintained audience contact. This was most notable on two occasions. One older gentleman looked to be not getting it. She stopped and asked him some questions. He responded and she took a very brief diversion to help him get up to speed.
Another evidence of her audience contact was when she used a word that referred to something not appropriate to speak of in polite society. She knew because of her audience contact.
This second instance actually broke two rules for the price of one. Speechmastery saved the day for her motivational speaking.
One rule is Universal Precautions for the mouth. What is important is not that she broke the rules. What is important is how she handled them. Be assured that some day you too will break a rule.
Universal or Standard Precautions in health care require always wearing gloves when ever handling anything that could transmit a disease. This includes things from the body, be they parts, fluids or solids. Universal precautions for the mouth involves never having in your mouth what you would not have in your hand without a glove on. Let me repeat.
Never Have In Your Mouth Any Words You Would Not Hold In Your Hands With Out a Glove or Two
But what about your baby. You might not wear a glove to clean your baby. However don't you do that in private. When dealing with anyone outside family and even then with family, except for private circumstances, never have in your mouth those words (things) you would not touch with out a glove on.
Universal precautions for the mouth is essential for motivational speaking. It is an essential aspect of Speechmastery.
Another law of Speechmastery has to do with foreign language colloquialisms.
Do not use colloquialisms unless you know what they mean to your audience
The second law she broke by using a foreign language word that offended some in the audience. Again the important part of this is that she only knew this because she had the most amazing audience contact. How could she have handled it if she was unaware.
More importantly, she handled it opposite of what any book on public speaking would ever say. Most advise to keep going and act as if you never uttered the expletive.
She was so classy. She asked, “Was that a bad word?....I am soooo sorry.” Then she moved on never to look back. This was not only classy, it was brilliant. Had she not corrected and not apologized for her ignorance, she could have alienated the minds of several in the audience and had lost them for the rest of the program.
Note...My wife and I walked out of a comedy show on an 18 day cruise because the comedian started using language we would never use. We would never choose to associate with the kind of people who use that kind of language either.
Much to our surprise, there were at least 50 others walking out at the same time. A small amount considering the size of the audience. However, can you afford to lose one customer, one listener for something you have control over?
Sometimes this motivational speaker would involve the audience one on one. Here again, she was brilliant. Her Speechmastery could be seen in how she used the words to motivate even the most timid in the audience.
One lady, perhaps middle aged if not older but older than the presenter was a bit reticent about answering a question. She asked, "Would you rather not play this game."
This was more that just allowing an exit strategy for the shy person.
By saying play and game she took it out of the life and death reality of fear. She psychologically placed it in a safe context. Do not try this until you become a master at everything else.
We never joke around about life and death matters. To a shy person, exposure could be a scary thing. Play however is not something to be fearful of.
It didn't stop there. Willing to play, she used intonation or sense stress to teach the woman how to respond and the woman did so masterfully.
She is always working her contacts. She sends thank you cards to everyone she does business with.
She never had word whiskers like "and now."
She never made any excuses. You would never hear her say "I'm not good at..."pick anything, remembering names, math, or what ever.
Please note this...if you want to be a high paid speaker you need to be worth it. You can not afford to not be good at anything.
If you truly are not good at something, then never, never advertise it.
She spends a half hour every day exercising.
She spends at least a half hour every day rejuvenating her mind. Being at the top of her Motivational Speaking career can be draining. She needs to refuel.
It comes to a simple rule that I adapted from a several thousand year old proverb written in the all time best selling self help book. The translated and adapted saying would basically go like this...
A Dead Motivational Speaker Cannot Motivate
So if you kill yourself trying to be a motivational speaker you cannot do motivational speaking. If you want to make money from speaking you need to start by taking care of yourself.
She has a credo. What is your credo?
Her credo is to always and constantly work to...
Be Better at What I Do Than the People I Lead
I am sure there is more that can be gleaned from her motivational speaking. Time will not permit going into detail. Should you ever have a chance to hear her, you will be in for a treat of a life time.
If you want to know more, if you live in the US, Canada, and perhaps soon the orient, then you will have to pick up the phone and call me. I can tell you where you can hear her next.