Are you a coach or consultant in need of ideas for a good side hustle? One that will add a stream of income while simultaneously acting as a lead generator for your business? You’re in luck–there is an amazing side hustle for coaches and consultants that feeds right into the services you already offer. It contributes incredible value to your personal brand. Your entrepreneurial experience gives you a leg up.
*Drumroll*
We’re talking about speaking.
That’s right–being a professional speaker (or even just taking the occasional speaking gig) can win you new clients, enhance your personal brand, and exponentially increase the impact of your message.
Here’s how it works.
Anyone can be a speaker
You might think that speakers have to have a crazy life story to be successful, but it’s actually the other way around. Good speakers first have a great solution. Then, they use stories to help their solution stick in the minds of their audience. You don’t need an olympic medal or a near-death experience to be a good speaker. You just have to be who you say you are by offering your audience the value you say you can.
Speaking is the perfect side gig for coaches and consultants
You already regularly help individuals, small groups, or businesses address a need with amazing results. You’re basically an expert at solving a specific problem for a particular audience.
Well, that’s exactly what speakers do. Speaking is the perfect side hustle for coaches and consultants to present solutions to a broader audience with a little bit of storytelling to spice things up. And if you pitch your message well, new clients will start lining up from your audience!
Here’s a rundown of the steps you’ll have to take to get your speaking side hustle up and running.
How to pivot to being a speaker
The most effective way to launch your speaking business is by using the SPEAK Framework™. This five-step guide will help you start your speaking side gig in no time.
Integrating speaking into your business might come naturally. Telling people already in your network that you speak is the easiest way to get your first gigs. People generally underestimate the potential that their friends and family offer for getting you speaking clients. But given that people in just about every industry hire speakers or go to conferences with speakers once in a while, the odds are higher than you think.
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S–Select a problem to solve
Selecting a specific problem to solve for a particular audience is the first step to launching your speaking business. Choose an audience that provides fertile ground for future coaching or consulting clients and a topic that caters to the needs of that audience. If you’re waffling between options, this decision isn’t permanent! Try out one audience + topic combo and see what resonates.
You can’t condense all of the hard work you do to get results for your clients into a one hour keynote. What you can do is equip your audience with the tools they need to get started on solving their problem. The best form of marketing for your brand is delivering an amazing talk, so it is worth doing well.
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E–Establish your expertise
One of the most powerful tools to build trust with your audience is establishing your expertise. You don’t have to be the expert on everything, but you want to show that you’ve put in the work to master whatever it is you’re speaking about. Kill two birds with one stone and mention prior coaching or consulting projects–you’ll establish credibility and pique the interest of potential customers.
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A–Acquire paid speaking gigs
The easiest and most effective way to market yourself off the stage is by word of mouth. Leverage social media, email list, and network of friends, family, and clients by letting them know you’re open to speaking. You’d be surprised how many people you already know are hiring speakers.
As your speaking appearances win you more clients and your clients help you get new speaking engagements, you’ll be able to pursue new directions for your business. Maybe you’ll create a course with a discount for people who hear about it through your talks. Maybe you’ll be able to hire an assistant to schedule your speaking gigs while you focus on more enjoyable tasks. Either way, with speaking as your side hustle you will have a whole world of opportunities at your fingertips!
If you’re interested in learning more about how to follow these steps to speaking as a side hustle for your coaching or consulting business, check out thespeakerlab.com.
