» WHY Are YOU Talking? Mystified? You’re Gonna Have A Tough Time Getting Paid
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WHY Are YOU Talking? Mystified? You’re Gonna Have A Tough Time Getting Paid

By Jackie Gordon •  Updated: 12/20/21 •  9 min read
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Have you ever listened to a speaker or watched a video and thought, “I have no idea why they’re talking.

Or, why are they telling me this?

Or, I don’t even understand what they’re talking about!”

Content creators or anyone who is speaking to the public with the aim to turning their knowledge into profit of some kind, MUST know what their motivation is for speaking. 

You must know WHY YOU ARE TALKING.

A TALE OF TIME WASTED

Early in the pandemic, a friend urged me to attend a Zoom webinar of a colleague of hers. He told me she was a powerful speaker and a killer networker who had started a bunch of BNI chapters.

He said she could be a valuable connection for me and that I’d be very interested in what she was talking about. Right now, I can’t remember her name.

I didn’t want to go, but it was early in the plague and there was not a lot going on. I thought, “Why, not?”

There were two other people there. Not an impressive turnout. One was an actor and the other may have been a chiropractor or healer of some kind. 

To this day, I have no idea what she was talking about. NONE!

At the time, I sat there for way too long. It’s a good thing it wasn’t a Zoom meeting with my video on because the look on my face was not encouraging.

I was shaking my head. My mouth was hanging open. I was alternating from a furrowed brow to wincing. The pad of paper I was using for notes looked like the cloud that follows Pig Pen in the Charlie Brown comics.

I was trying to grasp the point of her presentation. I failed.

I wondered what she wanted me to get out of being in her meeting? She failed.

I thought she may have been trying to sell me something, but it was never clear what it was.

I grappled with my itchy index finger. It kept finding its way to my trackpad and fondling the red LEAVE MEETING button on the screen.

I wanted to leave but part of me felt beholden to my friend. (READ: I didn’t want him to find out I’d done a runner.)

Finally, my index finger couldn’t take it anymore. It kicked my brain to the curb and slammed the button.

Afterward, I was perplexed and annoyed about my time being wasted.

I thought I should be coaching this speaker. I wanted to send her some feedback, but unsolicited feedback could be a waste of my energy and time. Instead, I wrote her an email offering to send some feedback and never heard back. NICE ONE!

Situations like this happen when a speaker is not clear at all. The first thing she should have been clear about and made us clear about is why she was speaking. When you’re not clear no one is going to be clear.

WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING?

This is the key question every person who wants to sell to or influence an audience must be able to answer .

The primary reason people don’t get what they want from speaking or creating content is they are not clear why they are doing it.

Experts need to know what their intention is if they want to “profit” from their audience. Most of us want to get paid for our efforts and expertise. But some speakers want to be “paid” in other ways than money.

No matter what motivates you, you gotta know WHY YOU ARE SPEAKING?

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WANT SALES INFLUENCE OR BOTH?

I’ve categorized many reasons that you may be speaking under the motivating factors of Sales and Influence. The two factors are not exclusive of each other. There are many times that they cross over. There can be multiple reasons at play.

(If you have a reason that’s missing from this list send it to me and I’ll add it.)

I thought about adding “I’m speaking because I like the sound of my voice” as a reason. LOL! You may laugh too, but I’ve heard speakers where that’s what it seemed like to me.

SALES lead to increasing your income.

INFLUENCE increases your self-worth and your worthiness to others. This can lead to creating value for yourself in whatever way you would like.

When you are clear about why you’re speaking you will know:

ENDLESS REASONS WHY WE SPEAK

As I said, this is not a comprehensive list of reasons for speaking to your audience. Your motivation may be different. You can have a primary motivator and secondary motivators as well. You may want to drill down to a more specific motivator depending on your audience. You can also have motivators that vary in levels of importance.

You want to be crystal clear about why you are speaking.

Once you know, create content, products, workshops, etc., that are in line with your motivations. You’ll be able to create an effective strategy because you’ll have a clear aim in mind.

Want to sell from the stage? Give your audience enough of a taste of what you’re selling that they can’t resist buying it.

Looking to persuade people to give to a charity? Craft a presentation that makes them trip over themselves to give you their cash.

I’ve heard people speak, even a keynote speaker, with no aim in mind. The crowd knows. You know because that’s when fiddling starts. The phones come out. You’ve lost the room. Make sure you know what you want before you face an audience.

I write down my motivators and put them where I can see them every day. It’s a good yardstick — remember those? — to make sure I’m heading in the right direction.

YOU NEVER KNOW

Serendipity is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. When you’re speaking to an audience there’s always the “you never know factor” at play. You could be speaking with a specific aim and get an opportunity to do something completely different.

I was performing my show, “The Fried Chicken Theory According to Jackie Gordon”, in Australia and got a ton of press including appearing on Good Morning Australia. An agent reached and asked me if she could represent me. WHAT?! That led to a voiceover gig for a how-to speak English audiobook for Indonesians. I’m no voiceover artist, but that was a big sale.

Expect the unexpected when you’re in the public eye but always be clear about what you want.

ARE YOU MEASURING UP?

Once you know what’s motivating you, measure your results. That way you will know in black and white if you’re getting what you want from speaking to your audience.

If you are speaking to sell your products and that’s not happening, then you need to change your strategy.

If you want to be a paid storyteller and you’re getting booked for well-paid gigs then keep doing what you’re doing.

If you’re not getting what you want you may be putting obstacles in your way. Keep one eye on what is motivating you and the other on your results.

WHY AM I TALKING?!

My motivators today are not so different from what they were when I first started speaking. Back then, I wanted to get the influence that led to sales. 

Today, I want the same thing:

When I first started speaking, my reasons teetered between sales and influence:

I craft every speech, presentation, etc., by starting with my motivator.

Don’t get in front of an audience, in real life or online, let me know when you wanna come by I’m here if you don’t know what your reason is for being there. Don’t waste your time and don’t waste their attention.

In conclusion, be crystal clear about your motivation for speaking. It’s the catalyst for delivering content that helps your audience solve their problems and for getting “paid” for speaking to them.

Jackie Gordon

I've been creating outside-the-box ways to get paid for speaking and performing since 1998 and even won awards! I've been coaching speakers to speak more effectively for years. Now I want to help them get paid for it.
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