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The One Exercise You Need to Do Before Setting Your Speaking Fees

You've decided to be a speaker and build your speaking business.

Now the universe is going to test you on how badly you want it.

You send out a pitch and get a “thanks but no thanks”, or you send out a pitch and you hear crickets.

You're in the middle of a negotiation for your speaking fee and they say “Sorry, we don't have any budget to pay you”. They're going to be times where you need to have the cojones to walk away and say no to speaking gigs.

It takes tenacity and fortitude to make your speaking goals a reality. How are you going to do this?

The best way is to go through this exercise that I make all of my clients do before they start pitching, setting their fee or even get on a call to negotiate their fee. It's even a great exercise to have in the back of your mind right before you're going to step on stage and nail it.

While I make all my clients do this exercise, it's hard for them. Heck, I'll be honest. When my own coach made me do this same thing for my business, my stomach literally turned with anxiety.

Before I tell you about the exercise that you should do before setting your fees or pitching or getting onstage I wanted to invite you to the Get the Gig Kickstart. It's a five day challenge where you'll be taking five small actions to figure out how you're going to get paid to speak, why people should hire you and write and send out a pitch. If you're ready to build your speaking business, book more speaking gigs and get paid, join below. 

Now let me tell you about this exercise you should do before pitching or talking about money.

I call this exercise “Why I am Awesome”.

Did you just roll your eyes?

I know when I first did this I rolled my eyes. Did your stomach tighten up a little bit? Did you think, “Ah, I don't want to talk about why I'm awesome. People will think I'm bragging and I'm just too big for my britches.”

Yeah, I felt that way too, and so do my clients. They end up hating me a little bit at first for this activity but then they love me later because of the confidence it gives them when they're booking speaking gigs.

How to create your Why I am Awesome list.

The purpose of it is to think about all of the experience you have, all of the education you have, all of your accomplishments and awards. Write it in one document where you can see it.

Need some help?

All the Accomplishments & Experiences that Make YOU Awesome

Some areas to think about for your Why I am Awesome list could be education and experience. When I did this for myself this was easy. I have a Ph.D. in communication. I've been speaking for over 29 years. I feel really comfortable stating those credentials.

Start with your education, but then move on to the time you've invested in perfecting your area of expertise. The time you have spent learning how to be a great speaker, or writing a great speech. The hours dedicated to learning more about the speaking industry. Think about the awards you have won, big or small. The books you've authored. The articles you've published. The places that you've blogged. Think about your blog itself and how many people read it from different countries around the world.

The next area to think about is what obstacles you have personally overcome to be the person you are today. What have you overcome to be the expert that you are today,  to be the speaker that you are today. What have you overcome to get to this point? This is all internal. All of the things that we've done.

Now start to think about how your work has impacted others. I encourage you if you don't already have one of these to create a love file. I have one in my email inbox and it just gathers emails from people when they like my work. I put it in the love file. Go to your love file and read what people have said about you and your work.

What Results Do You Get For Clients and Audiences?

Finally, think about the results you get for your clients and the audiences you speak to. What are they able to do after experiencing you that they weren't able to do before?

For me, this is the hardest place to own because there is a little voice in my head that's just like, “Oh well they would have done that anyway without you.”

But it's not true! Seeing the results you've created for your clients and the audiences that you speak in front of is very empowering when you're in a sales situation or negotiating or pitching your speech.

For me, I've had clients negotiate their highest speaking ever after working with me. One of my speakers gave her first keynote speech ever and earned $10,000.00 from that speech.

This one is hysterical. I helped someone create a keynote speech. He then turned it into a documentary and the documentary  was nominated for an award in Germany.

There are all kinds of results that I've gotten for my clients that I have to own. You have those results as well.

When you have this list of undeniable reasons why you're awesome, it's easier to get into that mind space of “I am worth the fee I'm stating.”

You are worth way more than the fee that you are stating when you are in the negotiation process. Way more. Believe it.

Be confident. Root yourself in your awesomeness. Tell me why you're awesome. Do it. You can go to the Rebel Speaker Facebook group. Go to www.DrMichelleMazur.com/group and brag a little bit. There is nothing wrong with bragging and telling people why you're amazing at what you do. That's the place you have to come from when you are building a speaking business.

Create your “Why I'm Awesome” list right now. Every time you pitch your writing,  or you're about to deliver that talk, or you're going to state your fee, look at that list. Remember all that you've accomplished and do it. Make the ask.