How I Made My First $1,000 from Speaking

It was the summer of 2022.

I had been “speaking” for about five years as a Toastmaster at the time, but I never took it more seriously than a hobby. Something I liked doing and was good at.

But I was approaching one big project in my Toastmasters journey.

Here’s a brief overview of the it:

For the longest time, I looked at this project as an obstacle, not an opportunity.

But when I was faced with the reality of having to complete it, I had to make the best of it.

“It’s time to take this seriously,” I told myself.

I wanted to do something big. A project beyond the scope of a Toastmasters club.

So, I decided to make it the biggest event anyone from the club had done in the past five years.

“A workshop on public speaking!”

I shared my intention with the club members, and within a few days, I put together a team of three experienced members. Someone in the club referred a project to me.

One of the biggest accelerators in my hometown needed help coaching their startup founders to pitch to investors.

Fast forward a few weeks, we delivered the project and received great feedback.

I was leading the whole thing, and it just so happened that in the audience was a lady responsible for another large accelerator in the area.

After the day ended, she asked if I could give the same workshop to her startups.

Of course, I said yes!

Now I was doing all this for free, but the ripple effect kept growing and it was about to pay off.

A couple of months in, I had delivered the same workshop several times. Each time, I met new people who asked for my “public speaking” expertise.

Then, I got a call from a guy who ran one of the biggest startup accelerators in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). I had met him once before, and he reached out asking if I’d be willing to deliver a training session.

I said yes... and then, he asked the question I was waiting for:

“So, how much do you charge?”

“It really depends, let’s talk scope of work first…” I said, without hesitation (I had been preparing mentally for this moment, and I worked in sales, so…)

After some back and forth, we agreed on the following:

$1,000 USD for a 2-hour workshop.
An extra $120 for every additional hour of 1-on-1 training with the startups.

That’s the story of how I got my first paid gig.

A little bit of free work for social proof.
Five years of expertise to back it up.
A great product.
And a few lucky breaks.

But now, it’s all different.

Yes, I was lucky to close my first client like that, and they came to me. But it wasn’t optimal.

I had to find another way to go from “lucky” to “reliable.”

I had to create a system to land speaking clients without relying on luck, and do it consistently.

I found one, but ever since I moved to Canada a couple of years ago, I stopped working on it.

But it’s high time to bring it all back to life.

Soon, I will be sharing with you the ins and outs as I build my $peakerprneur business from the ground up to seven figures.

I will share everything.

How to create keynotes that are in demand.
How to find events that require speakers.
How to reach out to event organizers.
How to build a $peaker website.
How to sell with your speeches.
How to scale online and make money while you sleep.

I will share everything.

If you’re ready for this new journey, reply to this email and let me know what you’d like to see first.

Yours truly,

Mo