Professional speaking can be a very lucrative career. There’s very little doubt that that’s why the former governor of Alaska chose to quit her term of office early! Public speakers with a high cultural profile are in great demand by Fortune 500 companies, even though the self-declared “Grizzly Mama” may be too controversial for corporate venues, there is no doubt that political figures generally command the most astronomical speaking fees.
However, anyone can be a professional public speaker, although being a celebrity does help open doors that much quicker. But the world is filled with possibilities for making money speaking publicly; even a student club at a local college will certainly be able to pony up a couple of thousand in honoria – and there is no harm in beginning small, or simply doing public speaking for additional income.
In reality, many people who make money through professional speaking have long-standing full-time jobs and careers, which is usually how they come to such gigs to begin with , through these very jobs and, much more likely, full-fledged careers (not the least of which are those aforementioned political speakers). Few people solely speak for a living: those that can command the highest fees are usually well-established in other ventures, for which experience they are often paid to speak about.
So where does that leave the aspiring speaker? While not a career by any stretch of the imagination – the era of the agora in ancient Greece are long over – it is possible to get into professional speaking simply by becoming an authority in some topic. And while there’s a certain distinction between public speaking and teaching per se, many public speakers see themselves as giving instruction of some sort. The most crucial thing, however, is to do it with love, for no one gets in front of others without deeply enjoying it!
