Five Pitfalls to Avoid When Starting a Speaking Business

Being a motivational speaker is one of the popular career options for many these days and a lot of people are enticed to pursue this career mainly because of the surprising amount of money they can make if they start to work as a motivational speaker. When it comes to starting up a speaking business, it is very important to ensure that you know the biggest pitfalls that you need to avoid when establishing this kind of business. One of the things you need to keep in mind is that this kind of business is not the right choice for you if you are not really passionate in standing and talking in front of people.

The following are the leading five pitfalls that you have to avoid – every step of the way – when you choose to work as a motivational or professional speaker:

Unclear Thinking

If you find it hard to describe what you’re talking about in just one sentence, you might be guilty of having a fuzzy focus or attempting to cover a lot of topics in one speech. The listeners might be confused too and their attention would wander soon. Whether you’re improving your presentations or you are helping somebody else to come up with a good speech, begin your creative process by writing down a summary with just one sentence.

No Clear and Understandable Structure

You have to make it simple for the audience to follow what you’re saying. They would remember the words you said better and you would as well since you deliver your ideas and information in a clear and understandable structured format. When you waffle, ramble or failed to get to the point, your listeners will soon tune you out. Think of structure as if you’ve created and are now communicating a sound process through your carefully prepared special message.

No Notable Stories

People seldom remember the exact words that you utter. Rather, they recall those mental images which were inspired by the words you mentioned. Support your key points with relevant and vivid stories. You have to help your audience to “create the film” within their heads through the use of some memorable characters, dialogue, exciting situations, lessons learned, humor, perseverance, and suspense.

No Emotional Bond

The most powerful communication is the one that combines both emotional and intellectual connections. Intellectual means attractive to educated self-interest with reasoned and data arguments. Emotions are coming from engaging the imaginations of the listeners and getting them involved within your own illustrative stories through frequent usage of the “you” word and responding to the unspoken question “What is in this for me?”. Use a high I/you fraction. You need to put your listener into the story.

Mistaken Level of Abstraction

Are you giving the huge picture and generalities if the listeners are hungry for facts, details, and how-tos? Or, will you drown them in data if they have to position themselves with the overview then find out why they must care. Get on a similar wavelength with the listeners. Fat words are those which define the large picture, ideals, goals, and outcomes. Skinny words are the minute details and specific what, who, how and when. Generally, senior management requires fat words and the middle management needs the middle words. Technical consumer and staff hotline users are all hungry for the skinny words. Research, practice, master, and learn to confidently deliver to each audience exactly what they need.

As you now see, pitfalls can be extremely costly to your speaking business, try your best to avoid these. If you brush them off, then you may find yourself out of the speaking business sooner than you think. The more you can improve yourself, by learning from your mistakes and avoiding the pitfalls of this business, the more you can show your speaking and business success potential.

About the Author: Ty Howard,
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Ty Howard Seminars^TM

Ty Howard is an internationally recognized keynote motivational speaker, organizational development consultant, executive and leadership development coach, and a national best-selling author. He is a leading authority on organizational and managerial practices that optimize leadership and employee performance and success. Ty Howard is the creator and lead facilitator of the trademarked “Untie the Knots®” Optimal Performance Process, and the author of Untie the Knots®: Freeing Yourself from Toxic Habits, Choices, People, and Relationships, as well as dozens of published articles on how to successfully plan, start, develop and grow a profitable speaking business. For more information on his intensive coaching programs and services for motivational speakers, and speaker and trainer business development, visit: http://tyhowardseminars.com/coaching_services/. Business Office Phone: (443) 982-7582.