This is a question every speaker should ask him/herself. Is it really about the fame and fortune? Probably not. Watch this short video I shot in Indianapolis before I delivered the keynote at convention for hospital executives. I’ll look forward to your comments. Steve Siebold ( 4:00 )
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Steve Siebold, CSP My name is Steve Siebold. I’m an author with 1.4 million books in print, and a professional speaker and consultant to Fortune 500 sales teams on how to increase sales and retention rates through mental toughness training. My corporate clients include Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Harrah’s Entertainment, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Ingersoll Rand, etc.
Steve, this video hits home for me. I want to speak because I do have something to say. I have a lifelong medical condition that not everyone
knows about but everyone needs to know about.
The deeply emotional side if that I want to provide my wife a lifestyle she has been dreaming of since she came to America.
For myself, I really deeply care about the sad status of customer service in America and I am convinced that the solutions I have discovered would help most companies be truely committed to customer service and not just pretend to be committed
Hey Steve, Jerry X Shea here and it is nice to see “the old Steve Siebold” back on the blog. Always enjoyed these little “thought messages” but it has been a while.
Yes, I agree – every speaker needs a purpose for speaking. Anyone going into this business “to make a lot of money” ends up on a street corners with a sign that says “No one wanted to listen.”
Speak on “conviction to your purpose” and the money will follow.
I tend to think that we’re all speakers – right from the age of 1 we have something to say. Only thing is it’s only usually important enough to say it to one or two people close around us whose opinions of what we say matter to us. I think, and I may be wrong here, that there’s a point when you have something to say that you believe is important enough, that if you DON’T share it with as many people as you possibly can, it will burn a hole in you if you hold onto it. At that point you could care less what other people think of you, but care more about how your message might change people for the better. I wonder if that’s the point at which you actually become a thought-leader – an evangelist, if you will. But to get your message across effectively you need to learn the craft of speaking too…
Steve lets be honest and yes i agree with you that its not about the money that makes you or me want to do this. Its fundamentally a means to get a message across to the people that matter. Its an opportunity to help people add value to their lives and to their family’s and friends and to show them that there is hope when they might be at their lowest or hopeless. We as speakers have a gift that when employed intelligently with a high level of emotional IQ can cause people to make a shift in their lives where they once thought it impossible. Me being a part of that process is why I choose to pursue a career and a life path in public speaking. CMS
My expertise and subject is the art and science of Public Speaking and Presentations.
I’ve seen so many people held back by the ability to express themselves. I truly believe this skill can be learned and I can help.
Steve great message. I agree. Personally I tap into my father’s story of being a totally blind Vietnam Vet and becoming #2 in the nation with his former company Mass Mutual Financial Group. He once sold 45 life policies in 30 days, water skis and is an avid runner all while being totally blind. BUT……
What is MY story? I think this is what causes people to speak from the HEART and not necessarily from their heads. People love stories and as speakers we need to discover the WHY? Thanks Steve
Women need to know that they don’t need to be married to succeed, even when they have children, because the drive comes from within–not from someone else. They need to realize what they’ve done already alone, and what they CAN do now that they are aware. My job is to share that with them giving them hope, courage, and the need to know the decision they’ve made to be single is not a strike against them, but a coal beneath them. They can either let the coal turn white and subside, or they can fuel the fire to see how far they can go on their own.
That is MY job!
I chose to become a speaker because I want to help people Maximize their potential and live out their purpose! That is my purpose and I want God to say to me at the end of my life. “Well done You good and faithful servant.”
Steve,
you’ve got that right on the point.
I believe fueling my own and others basic purpose or core purpose is the essential activity to getting anything really decent done.
That purpose for me is to live an aesthetic life, be a creative soul and imbue life with magic. That’s mostly an attitude but it’s also a very clear purpose. The choice to be creative needs to be at the foremost front of my day’s choice when the pressure is on and I’d rather escape.
Thanks Steve
Hey Steve,
Can’t wait ’til you post a blog from SLC! C’mon Utah!
Hey my friend, good, good topic. My wife and I were on a date the other night and I rhetorically brought up this question because I work feverishly on building my speaking career EVERY day, and here’s what I answered for myself:
It’s an art. It’s a talent. To be able to craft words into such an artistic way that they can inspire others is the same kind of expression that musicians do in mastering the art of playing an instrument. To express oneself in the form of playing an instrument, doing a painting, or any other form of artistic expression is to reveal the heart of one’s soul. I think there is something inherent in all humans to express themselves; the trick is finding out what it is that best satisfies that desire.
I remember attending an art exhibit recently at a local university and I couldn’t pull myself away from some of the paintings by a master who lived and died a hundred years ago. How he blended the colors, applied them with his brush, and did what he did captured something that not even a camera could do with the faces he painted.
I see the art of speaking and delivery the same way, and also in playing a musical instrument. In someways, the instruments I play “say” what I cannot express otherwise. I am inspired and in awe when I listen to a masterful speaker, because such a master can inspire the masses the way a virtuoso on the violin does. What gets my “hot” button to motivate me is I think of the mastery required to be world class when I think of others I admire that can play, paint, or speak and how earnestly I want to be like them, and even more so, be ranked among them one day.
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Living, or speaking – know your reason WHY – it is the only true motivation.
Thanks for the insights Steve!
I am passionate about speaking since through the years talented speakers have profoundly affected my life. I believe it is now my duty to share with others ideas and concepts that will inspire them to do something more with their life. I view it as a priviledge and responsibility to influence someone from a platform. When I get paid for it… life just does not get much better than that.
Great video Steve, I know why I speak, because one day I realised that is what I was put on this earth to do; my life’s purpose is to help others through my speaking. You are right knowing the reason why will not alone make it easy, but it will get you where you want to be. Tony Brassington.
Steve,
You should have been a carpenter because you keep hitting the nail on the head!
I too have got so much valuable stuff in my head that I want to get out and into other peoples’ heads. When you combine great content with great delivery you can ‘move’ people, and seeing people ‘being moved’ – when you see that shift in thinking .. moves me!
Paul O
It’s not the fame or fortune.Yes, it’s a fun to speak to a large organization and get paid for it, but there to it than that!
I speak on West Point Leadership because I’ve got a compelling message to deliver that will improve my customers’ bottom line. The real thrill is seeing the positive impact you have made with your clients.
Daniel
A very thought provoking question. One I think I will adapt for Toastmasters as I am District PRO and I plan to come up with new ways to interact with the members.
Thanks
Fran