Instant Interviews_ 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life - Jeffrey G. Allen [41]
Leave them wanting more.
Tip 10: Donate the Speaker Fee
Will the honorarium change your standard of living? If so, take it. Most people do.
Those who don’t get interviewed faster and more.
A client of mine was asked to speak for a fledgling nonprofit event. The budget was tight, but they were paying for hotel, transportation, and food. It said in the invitation that they were hoping to pay a three-figure speaker fee. The client told them she would like to donate it back to the nonprofit.
When she arrived at the hotel where the event was taking place she was already a celebrity. She was even mentioned by the kickoff speaker for her “generosity.”
Okay, maybe donating isn’t possible for you. It was for her (barely), and it was a writeoff. But you’ll probably be offered only minor expense reimbursement. Consider donating it back to the organization or possibly ask them to donate it to their favorite charity. Either way, you’ll stand out as a generous, giving person.
Yes, you. People will call on you again and again. With instant interviews!
Do 25: Making Your Own Recordings
If you speak at any event, record it. It’s a sure way to even more instant interviews!
You probably won’t like what you hear. No matter. Some of the most accomplished public speakers have the same reaction. But you’re really not the best judge of this.
The best judge of this is the offeror who sees on your resume the title of your talk and the words “This was so popular that it was recorded and distributed to interested parties.” This is absolutely true.
Use a digital recorder. If you’re asked for a copy, you can easily burn one on a CD and complete a label from a stationery store with your name, the title, and the date. No serious offeror will take the time to listen through it. Anyone who does is either looking for someone to conduct workshops or has so much time that he doesn’t need to hire. Besides, the offeror already knows what you sound like.
You may well have a market for your recording. The sponsor of the talk may want to sell it to members who didn’t attend. Or other groups may want to benefit from it. These things may lead to many instant interviews and leverage your name and expertise with almost no additional effort or expense.
I was retained as general counsel for the California Association of Personnel Consultants a few years after I started practicing law. It was at the CAPC’s annual conference. That day I gave a seminar and recorded it on a little portable tape recorder.
When I returned home, I had some graphics done on an audiocassette-notebook package and ordered copies of the cassette with labels. We assembled the packages by hand for the first few months. Then the sales started taking off, so I paid my accountant’s retired mother to assemble them. I next recorded a second seminar in our bathroom (great sound, couldn’t hear dogs barking). That became the EMPLAW Cassette Series. Then my accountant’s mother started doing the fulfillment. Thousands of copies were sold over the next 20 years.
The tapes were more than a great help to those who bought it. They positioned me as an expert in the field and I received many, many calls for assistance just because of the name recognition.
With digital recording being so inexpensive, clear, and easy to reproduce, this is something you can do far more easily.
The seminar recording business is huge because there’s a high demand for industry-specific and content-driven audio. Advertising on a web site is a low-cost way to get yourself into a passive income stream of direct mail sales.
No matter what your subject is, people want to hear from someone knowledgeable. Experts are always in demand, and they get instant interviews effortlessly.
Recording any speech, seminar, or workshop in front of a few people (or not) will enable you to market yourself worldwide.
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