Dan Thurmon was the first professional speaker to take me under his wing and start training me in the speaking business. Though Dan had already established a successful speaking company speaking several times per week all across the nation, since our introduction a couple of years ago Motivation Works, Inc has succeeded into a Internationally recognized brand. Dan has been in the speaking business for over 16 years and is the author of “Off Balance on Purpose
Launching Successfully as a Motivational Speaker
Q. When you got started in the world of motivational speaking you actually worked for a renaissance festivals juggling. But, you decided to make the career change into professional speaking. What do you attribute your successful launch?
Dan: As an entertainer in the renaissance festivals I had to learn how to captivate and hold an audience. Though juggling was my gig I actually thought of myself more as a theatrical entrepreneur.
However, when I was driving around in my car from gig to gig or around town I would listen to Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Napoleon Hill and many others to stay motivated. But, after years of listening to the greats in the world of personal development, their messages started to become part of me. So I then began incorporating the positive messages that I have learned into my acts.
But, what really made the career change into a professional speaker successful was that it was natural for me. I had a natural passion to help other people and throughout my years of learning how to entertain an audience made me very comfortable to be in front of large numbers of people.
Is Professional Speaking Right for You?
Off Balance On Purpose
Q. How did you know that professional speaking was the industry for you?
Dan: Towards the end of my entertainment career as a juggler, I thought of myself as an entertainer with a message however I really didn’t think that people would take me seriously. I was in my early 20s when the change started taking place and my message just kept expanding. Becoming a professional speaker was just a natural progression.
Your Potential is Infinite
Q. As stated in your book, “we can never reach our full potential because our potential is infinite,” how do you suggest that we grow into that potential daily?
Dan: People have a tendency to get complacent in with their lot in life. They become content with the external circumstances that are holding them back. While others become comfortable with their wealth and their success.
The trick is to keep reading, continue to expose yourself to great ideas and to believe that you will never “arrive”. How you accomplish this is by surrounding yourself with the right people who have bigger ideas, that will stretch you to become more and do more.
The BIG Break
Q. What was your big break? Why did it come?
Dan: Luck is said to be when opportunity and preparation meet. I have had times in my career when the opportunity came but I wasn’t prepared. In the speaking business you are only as good as your last speaking engagement.
However, early in my speaking career I was giving a presentation to the National Apartment Association and there were a lot of decision makers in the room when I was giving my speech. The opportunity had presented itself: I was prepared, my fee was rightly priced, and my message was solid. The result? I had a steady stream of bookings following that day.
How to Embrace Uncertainty
Q. Your book is about embracing uncertainty and creating a life that you love. What are 3 steps that we can take to do just that?
Dan: The keys are simple yet powerful.
- See yourself as already successful. It sounds trite but having that confidence is irreplaceable.
- Bring your passions into what you like to do. You should be passionate about your job and your relationships. If you find yourself not passionate about what you are doing or the people in your life, than you have the power to free yourself from those restraints.
- Create lifelines whom you can turn to in order to emotionally recharge following a defeat or a setback.
Making the Leap Into Motivational Speaking
Q. How can the person reading this interview take the leap of faith from their job into their passion of motivational speaking?
Dan: First and foremost you have to listen to your audience. Test your ideas to see if what you are offering is what your audience would want to purchase. Does the market place need your story? Will your knowledge help the bottom line of companies?
Then bait your market. You might have the right product in the wrong demographic. If you are sold that you can deliver than ask yourself am I talking to the right people?
Do not make the leap of faith if you have not proven that your angle will work. That would be silly to do so. You have to have some sort of financial foundation laid before you make the jump.
The Importance of a Website
Q. How important is the Internet and having a great website to the success of your speaking career?
Dan: Having a website and an online brand is CRITICAL to your success. In the old days when people called you the first step was to sell yourself over the phone, then send out a VHS tape with the marketing material and follow up 3-4 days after they have received the package.
Now you almost never send out information via snail mail. Now, companies go to your website and they want to see videos. They want to know how are you using youtube? Are people watching your videos? What kind of following do you have?
Also on your site you need to have a page dedicated to how clients can implement the process of working with you. Having a website is a vital tool in your marketing kit.
Truly having a website has shortened the time frames of when people call to book a speaker for the event. Scheduling used to be 5 months out now companies are calling 2 weeks in advance and they want you to be available. If not they will find someone else.
Off Balance on Purpose
Dan Thurmon, author of “Off Balance on Purpose
Pingback: How to Become a Motivational Speaker | The Marketing Model to … | TroyMoritz Movtivational Speaker