Welcome, Toastmasters!

What Toastmasters Doesn't Tell You about Earning Money as a Speaker

You joined Toastmasters to become a better speaker. You've earned your CTM, people have been telling you you're pretty good. And now you are getting some new ideas about your future. Put yourself in this picture...

You're on a stage in a darkened hotel ballroom in a well-known resort city. In front of you is an audience of 1200 people eager to hear what you have to say. The TV camera in front of you puts your image on the large screens left and right, so even the people in back can see you clearly.

You open with a story that grabs attention, then toss in some humor that brings laughter and a little applause. Inside, you feel that glow of confidence that comes when you just know you're at your best.

The meeting organizers have invited you here because you're an expert. Your recent book is on the business bestseller list, and when your presentation is over you meet with the crush of people in the back and sign copies for those who want to "take you home."

You relax into your first-class seat. This has been a profitable day -- low five-figures -- and you've picked up a couple of good leads for future consulting work. That family trip to Europe is looking a lot closer.

We have had friends who have built their skills in Toastmasters, maybe won a speech contest or two, and pictured a future like this. But it never happened.

Why? Because Toastmasters is not enough. While it does a fine job teaching the fundamentals of being a good speaker, Toastmasters doesn't teach you what you need to know to have a career like this.

Yes, you have to be good on the platform. But there's so much more.

Positioning yourself in the industry and marketing to corporations and associations ... understanding how to find and break into high-fee markets ... growing your business in difficult times ... creating books and products so you get paid while you sleep ... putting state-of-the-art technology to work for you.

You're not going to learn how to build a speaking business in Toastmasters. So where can you turn?

SpeakerNet News.

What is SpeakerNet News? It's a place where more than 5,000 speakers -- many of them top professionals -- turn every week to share ideas, tips, and advice.

SpeakerNet News is a free weekly email newsletter sent each Friday to professional speakers, consultants, trainers, and authors. Each issue has reader-submitted tips to help you build your business -- from sales and marketing to technology, from working with an audience to writing your book, from resources (printers, editors, Web designers) to public relations.

See a sample issue. Subscribe to the free newsletter.

SpeakerNet News is a community. You can post a question in the newsletter, and have answers sent to you by a number of readers who have had to resolve that same question.

The community's generosity has led to the Compilations section of this Web site, which is a collection of tips you'll find nowhere else. It contains responses to more than 130 questions people have posted in the newsletter.

SpeakerNet News is a resource center. We interview the top professionals in the field, on topics you care about, and make those interviews available in live teleseminars and in recordings. We have an extensive catalog of recordings covering all aspects of starting and growing your speaking business.

Where do you start?

First, subscribe to the free weekly newsletter.

Then, have a look at the catalog and find recordings that will be most useful to your current career.

Next, check out our special report Speaking Successfully: 1001 Tips for Thriving in the Speaking Business, a collection of the best tips submitted in the first three years of SpeakerNet News newsletters.

Finally, be an active part of the community. We encourage you to "pay your dues" for the newsletter by sending in two tips per quarter (less than one tip a month!). When you learn something that you think your fellow speakers could benefit from, send it in. It's this generous sharing by our readers that has kept SpeakerNet News going every week since 1996.

We welcome you to SpeakerNet News. Through SNN, you will be able to take what you have learned in Toastmasters to the next level.

Rebecca Morgan and Ken Braly
Co-publishers, SpeakerNet News

P.S. If you are starting a speaking business, here is a collection of recordings we think you will find most useful.