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Making Money as a Writer: Speaking · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyWriterLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: We've been working our way through a series on making money as a writer, and on today's episode, we're talking about a strategy that many writers want to avoid entirely, but it's one that can lead to all sorts of interesting opportunities.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I'm talking about speaking.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you, like many writers and like myself, if you label yourself as an introvert, you probably think of speaking as something that is like the furthest thing from your mind, as something that you want to avoid and you take great pains to run away from.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason a lot of introverted writers feel this way is because speaking involves interacting with groups or crowds.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: It involves standing up in front and delivering a talk.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: It involves engaging with strangers and probably some traveling as well.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as an introvert myself, all of those things are a major drain on my energy.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And for years I tried to admit to myself that they're not a drain, that I just need to work harder or I need to try so hard not to be an introvert or whatever.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I came to a point in my life where I just admitted it's just true.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's just how I'm wired, and I'm not going to fight it any longer.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain activities that, no matter how valuable they might be, they just drain my emotional batteries.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, my a good friend of mine and I were talking the other day, and we are wired very, very similar.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we were both kind of laughing about how as introverts, we're just wired so that, you know, when you get up in the morning, you understand that you have a certain amount of energy in your emotional batteries.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And with every interaction, with everything that you do in the day, specifically if it involves like talking with people and interactions and Zoom calls, you can literally feel the emotional energy level just going down, down, down.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't get alone time or if you're not doing things that recharge your batteries, it gets to like to a dangerously low point in the day where you know that if you don't do something, it's going to drop off and you're sort of going to hit the wall.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when your emotional batteries get to zero, that's a very bad place to be in because you get really grumpy and you will do almost anything to avoid conversations or any types of other things that will drain your batteries.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you relate very much to what I'm saying.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um, if you don't relate to what I'm saying, just maybe this is going to help you to kind of understand how we introverts are just kind of wired.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's because of these kinds of things that many of us tend to avoid things like speaking because we think that they are just really draining and they're a big hassle and maybe we're not comfortable with it, et cetera, et cetera.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we tend to avoid these kinds of things.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, however, let me throw a thought out to you, okay, because if you're an introvert and and you kind of think this way, let me give kind of an alternative point of view, which is just because something drains your batteries doesn't mean that you should avoid it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: It just means that you need to take advantage of those opportunities strategically and then prepare for those opportunities accordingly.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact of the matter is that speaking can be a great way to get in front of groups to test out your ideas.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can meet a lot of new and interesting people that you might not otherwise meet or be able to connect with.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, when you speak in front of groups, you can build new customers, clients, readers, or fans through those speaking opportunities.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So as you might know, I come from the worlds of church and ministry and higher education.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I was regularly speaking in front of groups on a daily or a weekly basis as part of the job.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: But as a ghostwriter and as an author, I've not spent nearly as much time in front of people speaking or teaching live.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I teach all the time, I talk to people constantly.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, I have much more human interaction now than I ever did as a teacher because uh, you know, as a college professor, you teach like maybe a couple classes a day and you have a lot of office time and those kind of things, but now I talk to people constantly.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, probably 20, sometimes 20, 25 hours a week.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on calls and engaging with people.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I've kind of regressed in my energy that I have for live interaction.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's something that I need to build back up again.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I say that because beginning this fall, I'm getting back into speaking, and it's something that I really want to make, I really want to make a bigger part of my business strategy.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to consider it or have to go all in on speaking, but I just want to challenge you with the idea that it is something that if you're an introvert, that you can do strategically.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean you've got to be out there on the road like every week speaking, like a full-time speaker, giving, you know, keynotes all over the country and traveling and all that stuff.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's great if that's what your business is.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're not wired to do that kind of a business, if you are primarily somebody who wants to stay in an office and stay in one location and focus on writing books and doing courses and that kind of stuff, that's totally great.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to dip your toe into it and just get started with speaking, I recommend doing some local events for free.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Try speaking to some business groups, maybe speaking at your library or some church events if you're a person of faith.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can just invite some friends for coffee and do a short presentation.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't really matter how you start, it just matters that you start.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm actually doing this fall.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I hope I don't leave anything out because I'm I don't have the list in front of me, but I'm just sort of taking these off uh from memory.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I'm doing an event uh actually next month at St.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Louis Public Library, where uh the author John David Mann, who's been on the podcast several times, he's actually doing doing an author event at the St.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Louis Library, and I'm actually hosting that and I'll be introducing him.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm doing that one.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm also going to I'm also going to Chattanooga, Tennessee in September to speak at the Refined Conference, and that'll be a lot of fun.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: There will be probably about 120, 130 people there for that one.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing a couple of workshops, and then I'm also speaking, uh, I'm doing a class here in one of our local libraries.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is just a free class that I'm doing uh on how to write a short book.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got a few speaking opportunities lined up this fall.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: These are all either free or one of them is actually paid.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: The the one for the conference is paid.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it basically covers expenses.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually really excited about all these because it's getting me back into speaking and live events, and um it's kind of working that speaking muscle.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: So again, if you're an introvert and you're not sort of wired as a big speaker and this is not a major part of your strategy, I want to encourage you to just dip your toe into it a little bit because speaking can lead to a lot of cool interactions.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can actually sell a lot of books when you go to speak different places, and it can be a great opportunity to promote what you're doing as a writer.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you might be surprised at how much you enjoy speaking once you get into it and sort of dip your toe into the water.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It can be a great addition to what you're already offering.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, my question for you today is do you like the idea of getting into speaking?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And do you feel it's something that could give you energy or drain your emotional batteries?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just something to think about.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, a big thanks to today's sponsor, by the way, which is write your first nonfiction book, the brand new book for my friend and business coach, Honore Corter.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as we're talking about speaking and how it can lead to some cool opportunities.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't already have a book, you've got to get a book out there because if you're speaking and interacting with people, you've got to have a book if you're a writer.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's really, really important.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you've always dreamed of writing a book, but you're not sure how to get started, this guide is exactly what you need.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And write your first nonfiction book, you'll learn the exact system that Honore has used to write many of her books.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to guess what goes in each chapter because she lays it all out step by step.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're ready to stop dreaming about writing that book and you want to learn how to do it from an author who sold millions of books literally, head on over to dailywriterlife.comslash nonfiction book to grab your copy today.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: All right, my friend, as always, thanks for listening, and I'll catch you on the flip side.