Hey Greenblasters!

Sorry for the late email today, I’m traveling from Connecticut to Toronto after a delightful speaking gig yesterday, and writing this from O’hare Airport.

I did my signature workshop “The Powerful Pitch: Storytelling with Confidence & Clarity” and the feedback was awesome:

Ok, enough bragging.

(I was just proud, and I feel like you guys are my friends that I’m allowed to brag to about my work).

The REAL thing I wanna share with you is

What getting paid to speak is REALLY like.

Now, why might you give a fuck?

Because:

• it’s extremely lucrative (when you get a gig),

• it can skyrocket your career,

• and you should know what’s involved before making a decision to go for it.

If you’re already a paid speaker, feel free read this as a therapeutic adventure.

Let’s do the ol’ Good, Bad, and Ugly format, shall we?

The GOOD:

I mean…

You get… paid. To speak. Thousands of dollars at a time. Insane.

You get flights, hotels and meals covered to fly places you’d never travel otherwise (some you might love to! I’ve been to Shanghai, Cannes and the Riviera Maya for gigs).

You build massive amounts of credibility and brand awareness by speaking onstage.

You get all sorts of leads, opportunities, and connections from the audience.

And you develop more and more personal confidence the more you do (usually).

Who wouldn’t want this, eh? I mean, what’s the downside?

(*he said, foreshadowing the next section of his newsletter*)

The BAD

It’s stressful.

Getting paid that amount of money comes with a lot of pressure to perform.

And that can be really anxiety-inducing.

Having people stare at you before you’ve won them over is nerve-wracking. It’s a lot of people’s worst nightmare.

It’s exhausting too. When I get offstage, I feel happy, but always exhausted. Often too exhausted to do everything else I should be doing like following up with all the contacts I’ve made, debriefing with the event organizer, etc.

Not to mention: traveling for work. 

While exotic and novel the first few times, it quickly becomes a grind of Ubers, airports, hotels, conference centers, and then everything in reverse like the second half of Cloud Atlas.

(Sorry if I spoiled it for you, but you really should’ve read it by now. Just read it anyway.)

“So, Will, surely that’s the worst of it?”

Nuh-uh. On to:

The UGLY

After I get off-stage, I always suffer from what Brené Brown calls a “vulnerability hangover.”

I feel ashamed and embarrassed about what I shared, and wondered if some people in the audience felt it was too much.

I worry about the way I looked, talked and acted while I was up there, sure that I looked fake, stupid, weak, cringey or even ‘gay’ (sorry to include this in a list of pejoratives, but that’s where my mind goes. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with being or looking gay, but I grew up in a homophobic culture and it still affects me.)

Then I ruminate over the feedback I got. What do you think I focused on?

I get furious at the people who didn’t sing my highest praises.

I question whether or not I should even be DOING this with my life.

I then watch too much hotel TV, doomscroll too much social media, and end up feeling like the dude from Soul after his big jazz performance.

So… should you do it?

Should you try to become a paid speaker as part of your career?

To me, the answer is FUCK YES.

You don’t have to share deep personal stories like I do (though it helps).

You don’t have to travel outside your city (though that also helps).

You can work on your demons, like I’m doing, and trust that all of your negative thoughts are just defence mechanisms trying to keep you safe, and they’re not TRUE.

You are interesting, and awesome, and have things to share. You have every right to be up on that stage if you do the work.

And you can get paid and build your business doing it.

THAT’S IT for this week! I have another vulnerability hangover from this email but I’m gonna breathe through it lol.

As always, REPLY if you liked this, SHARE if you loved it, and tell me what you’d want to read about in the future!

Greenblast… out 🚀

P.S. When you’re ready to take your speaking to the next level, consider joining my community Speaking Heroes: