In episode #528, Eric and Neil explain how you can be an event speaker without being a household name. Tune in to hear how you can eventually earn money and a following speaking at conferences. Time-Stamped Show Notes: [00:27] Today’s Topic: How to Get Paid to Speak Even if Nobody Knows You [00:34] Neil shares the story about his early days of public speaking [01:00] He didn’t get paid at first and had to cover his own expenses. [01:26] A Harvard Football player now gets paid $25,000 for speaking gigs at financial firms regarding sales training. [01:33] The football player continuously reached out to every speaker bureau and eventually, they offered him paid gigs. [01:42] He also self-publishes books and then mails them out to the companies and people for whom he would like to work. [02:10] When you first start out, reach out to different conferences and offer your services. [02:26] The first speaking gig that Gary Vee (Gary Vaynerchuk) ever did, he asked for $5,000, because he wasn’t sure what kind of money he could get. [02:41] Now, Gary gets $100,000 per event. [03:11] Bryan Harris came out with a tool to help people get speaking gigs. [03:30] Make a prospect list to help you set your goals. [03:37] You can hire telemarketers from Upwork for about $30/hour to help you do cold calling. [03:52] It would be worth speaking for free at popular conferences, because it will help you build up your speaker resume. [04:34] Neil spoke about Wikipedia at the Search Engine Strategies Conference. He did not generate any revenue, nor did he gain any followers. [04:54] After doing a few more events for free, he eventually began to ask for money. [05:14] Go to the speaker bureau sites and see where those people are speaking, because those are the conferences that are paying. [05:25] Neil charged $5,000 for his first paid gig. [05:37] Eventually, he began charging more money. [06:03] That’s it for today! [06:05] Go to singlegrain.com/giveaway if you want to get in on a special giveaway opportunity! Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.