Quote: “I always saw where I am today. I always saw the vision.” Darryl Bellamy
We have a term at Speaker Launcher that we call “Focused Hustle,” and I’m sure you have heard me say before that I believe that there are 2 things you need to achieve success in the speaking industry…an unstoppable mindset and consistent action. On this episode of The Wealthy Speaker Show, I am thrilled to welcome my client and the Ambassador for Fearlessness, Darryl Bellamy Jr., to share his insight about what focus and determination can do to help you create the speaking business of your dreams.
Darryl earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and has earned kudos as a student success and leadership expert addressing audiences on campuses and at conferences and inspiring his peers to take action. He held internships with AT&T and SunTrust Bank during college, has worked for two Fortune 100 companies after graduation, and currently serves as the founder of Bellamy Inspires, LLC. He also works full-time as a consultant and recently served as a trainer with a National Leadership Training Co., where he has also addressed groups around the nation.
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Jane Atkinson: Well welcome everyone to our Podcast slash Masters class entitled The Journey to Focus. My special guest today is Daryl. Bellamy, Welcome, Daryl. Jane. What's up listeners excited to be here and talk with you all today? I'm so happy to be really walking through your path in speaking
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Jane Atkinson: sometimes probably really really positive. Sometimes there have been bumps all along the way for you, and I would love to Let's just start with. Tell everybody about your business model as it sits today, and then we'll go back to the beginning.
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Darryl Bellamy: Okay? So my current business model is, I speak mainly to youth. So we have high school college
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Darryl Bellamy: middle school. So if you're a student, usually, I fall in your purview. I speak on fearlessness. So everything I do is to help students to have more fearless moments or to have more courage. I've collected over 60,000 written fears from students across the country. All those I take, I categorize. So I'm able to understand what are those top fears and worries that are stopping our students from getting to that next level?
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Darryl Bellamy: my business is comprised of. And this is where I'm I'm probably shifting over this next year or going forward is 97% of my income is me speaking on stage
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Darryl Bellamy: So that's what's comprised, you know. Yes, yes, all of it. Mostly we'd love to see that, you know. Start to balance out, so that there's a little bit more passive being from there. I see Sterling all Hawkins just came on, and he just did the Decca event, which I'm sure you 25,000 live and 10,000 on virtual. And so that was quite a
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Jane Atkinson: okay great sterling. I hope you'll stay on after to be able to ask a question. So how many years has it been there all for you since you actually got started?
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Darryl Bellamy: So I left my 4 time job in 2,017.
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Darryl Bellamy: Right? That's around 6 years. And I decided that I wanted to speak and I started. I go, I would say, trying to speak and getting out there. My first Nsa. Meeting. what's his National Speakers Association was in 2,015, 6 or 7 years. I mean I I would, with the success that you've had. I would have guessed much longer. So so good for you.
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Darryl Bellamy: Talk a little bit about what got you into speaking in the first place. Okay? So I've always been the kid who was really big in the self development. So to go back to high school, I convinced my high school principal to allow me and a few students to go to a get motivated conference and and and get that excused. So that was in high school. The C. 6 Ziggler Colin Powell was speaking then. So I went to with throughout college
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Darryl Bellamy: was very involved in many different organizations I've I've been did like workshops on campus. So that was kind of like the seeds that were planted. God of college tried to start a business in order to help first year, students on my, on my college campus get things like food and leadership development again, going back to the teaching right? There's like these seeds that planted throughout that business. I need 100 parents to sign up. I got one pair to sign up, so that was, I was saying, one of my first failures so went back in the corporate America for 2 to 3 years.
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Darryl Bellamy: trying to figure out what that thing looked like for me, was it? I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and work for myself in one way, in some way. No, I wanted to help, but didn't know what that looked like. So went to Google typing life coaches in Charlotte. This lady popped up while speaking to her at a Panera. She's like Daryl. What are you interested in? I was like I might want to speak to students might want to get in real estate naming all of these things, and by the end of our conversation she said, Daryl, your face lit up when you said something about speaking to students. Tell me more about that. So my to her.
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Darryl Bellamy: She's it was like Daryl this Friday which happened to be you all the last meeting of the year for the Nsa. Carolina's chapter. I know I did. The Nsa. Was next Speakers Association was but that meeting that Friday was their Speaker school. That happens once a year. So that was on a Wednesday that Friday I went to the Nsa. Meeting, when that room I was the youngest at the time.
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Darryl Bellamy: Probably I think it was like 2425, and one of a few people, I would say of color in the room. So looking around that room, I was like, Oh, wow! Like, I think there's a avenue here. And luckily the person who was speaking at that meeting
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Darryl Bellamy: talked about becoming a expert in something like the most experts are able to share their message the most, and the only thing I was expert in at that time was going to college and doing that well. So one of the round tables there was about college speaking. yeah. So I went to that meeting, and
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Darryl Bellamy: after after sitting at the roundtable for the guy who was speaking about college speaking. I ended up going to Wanda, maybe like a month or so going to his. he had a little session with 5 or so speakers that I
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Darryl Bellamy: went to Raleigh to sit down in front of him. He's like, Oh, yeah, you you drove here like, because everybody there was from Raleigh. So, as you can see, that Hunter was there, I get it going. So that was kind of like that first entry in that journey, I decided at the Nsa. Meeting. I went to quit that job within a year. One of writing that first book
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Darryl Bellamy: I don't know how granular you want to go. But the first book that you wrote yes. So first book was a book to help first year, students on cause campuses to be successful, using some of the stories and some of the experiences that I had. But I wrote it in a fiction book. So therefore, students would actually kind of want to read it. So 3 lessons, you know all about
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Darryl Bellamy: relationships pushing through fear and starting early.
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Jane Atkinson: Okay, so let's So fast forward to today. You have seen a lot of different things going on. Let's talk first about your first year. You decide
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Jane Atkinson: to play your right to say I am going to be a speaker. I want to quit this job. How quickly were you able to quit your job, and what were some of the actions that you took early on that. Tell me about the hustle.
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Darryl Bellamy: Good question. So I decided at the Nsa. Meeting. I wanted to quit my job within a year. So I think that was in December. So that would been a I wanted to quit my job a year and 2 months after that day I'm nicely done. Yeah, yeah, you're in 2 months. The way I did it was I I saved up around $2023,000 over that year. That was, I was in corporate America. I was making around 80 at that time, but I was single.
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Darryl Bellamy: No, no, kids, no, you know, not married at the time. So I'm like, all right. How much, how low can I put my expenses down? Because I want to really go when that first year? Let's say that the 25,000 that first year.
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Darryl Bellamy: I I started going to. You know you start speaking for free. You start getting your gate. You start getting out there. But the way I was able to really get my foot into the space was, I went to like speaking conferences
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Darryl Bellamy: where you're able to pay to get on stage, and then you get it from the buyers. So in the college space is conferences like Aka, which is association, a promotion of college activities, and the another one is Naka But I went to Aka, which was like $2,000 a pop.
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Darryl Bellamy: 2, $3,000 a pop to get there invested in yourself. Believing this would pay off for you, and I put it all on credit cards. I put all on credit cards because I realized that that $25,000 I couldn't pay my mortgage with the credit card, so I had to look at all my expenses and know if things were to get really really bad, what expenses could I pay on credit, and what expenses could I pay in liquid cash? So I'll put on credit cards, and that's how I got some of my first gigs
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Darryl Bellamy: at like a higher level, like at 2,000, 2,500, because I was in spaces where people were looking for speakers, and they and everybody was charging around that amount. So I don't think I would have ever gotten that amount out out the gate. If I wasn't in some of those conferences.
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Jane Atkinson: Could you imagine sitting there thinking about how to pay your mortgage like, how to juggle the credit cards. And what have you could you imagine in that moment
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Jane Atkinson: where you would be today like the the fees that you're charging the numbers of engagements that you're doing every year that you would have a baby.
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Darryl Bellamy: There's a lot that's changed in your life, could you? Was that your vision all along? You mapped it up exactly like that. Yeah, I I always saw where I am today. I always saw the vision with the speaking it. That's why I'm so think like, I talked to my all the time about just being. And at some point when you hit certain fee levels.
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Darryl Bellamy: you can as you start looking at friends in different space, like I have friends in corporate. I'm getting 15,000 or 8 or 20, you know you can. You can kind of start comparing. And you know I'm not making 18 or 20,
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Darryl Bellamy: and I always have to go back to gratitude thinking about that guy with those credit cards at a conference, just trying to get a gig, and then, you know, being able to survive and be able to thrive and always sitting in that gratitude. But yeah, I always thought I would be here now, and that's my struggle now, and is.
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Jane Atkinson: I've always saw myself here. What is that next level? And now I'm struggle with figuring out what that next thing is not, and not knowing what that path is, go ahead. Well, comparison is the thief of joy we know. But what you're talking about
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Jane Atkinson: is Always looking back backwards with gratitude towards what you have built versus always living in the gap of where you are today and where you want to be. Do you have the gap in the gain? I'm gonna
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Jane Atkinson: piece. And also sometimes our next vision doesn't always come to us straight away, like what looks perfect for you. And maybe that's diversifying what you have to offer people so that you're not on the road. Quite so much. Talk a little bit about
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Darryl Bellamy: being on the road today, like, how many engagements are you doing a year?
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Jane Atkinson: 45 to 50 a year. Oh, good! I'm glad you're not like 70 or something, because that's no way. I've I've a 8 and a almost 2 year old. So I'm like, no, I'm fine. Okay. So we want to definitely have some life balance in there. So when you first started, you were talking about how to be successful for
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Jane Atkinson: first year students. And then there was an evolution talk a lot. What were some of the topics that came to you? And
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Jane Atkinson: how did you arrive at fearless inside. Which is your mainstay now?
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Darryl Bellamy: Perfect. So when I first started, it was all about student success. So that book waking up Chase was about teaching student 3 things pushing through fear the pores of relationships that we build in life in college
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Darryl Bellamy: and planning ahead. I spoke to some of my early audiences, and during the fear part I asked them to write down like, what is it that they fear? What? What is it that they're dealing with, and they world on no cards. I used to have this orange box that would take with me.
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Darryl Bellamy: I remember the first time. Bring that orange box home, opening it up like started reading some of those fears, because at that point I didn't read them live in front of students like I do now. I remember reading them and getting very, very emotional. So the d like things that people things that we sometimes keep inside things that we don't share things that students were sharing.
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Darryl Bellamy: and that was like one of my first light bulbs like this is, this is good like, and I feel kind of emotional because I realize that those students are those audience members left that space, not knowing that everyone there kind of felt the same way because I was reading some of the same ones over and over again. So that solution came. I used to take those spears, go in my backyard, burn them, and then send a video to the school with like, Hey, here are the students here. Here are their fears that were burned.
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Darryl Bellamy: I set that up with that same coach. that I met at the veneer right? I was meeting with her on a monthly basis, always investing yourself. Oh, Nicole Grier, Nicole Greer! She's one of my clients, too. No, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nicole, the cold grey or vibrant coaching.
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Darryl Bellamy: I wonder if I recommend, or are you or do? What's she working with you? It might have been the other way around. I can't it? Probably will. She's Yeah. So I was talking to Nicole, and she was like Darryl. What if you stop burning them and start using that as research
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Darryl Bellamy: and build yourself as an expert on student fear? So from that moment on, I'd never burned another one. And I now I have thousands and different boxes of one box from because I send them off and they type them up. Now, I have a team that do that. So yeah, a thousand taking a categorize. So that's what allowed me to be able to focus in
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Darryl Bellamy: and niching is so hard for everyone watching. To certain people say this, some people say don't. It's hard to figure out what to do, but I can say that it has been beneficial for me up until this point to focus on this one topic, because when people think about student fear, they often think of me.
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Jane Atkinson: and it also leaves you open to talk to different markets, because there's no market that doesn't have fair. If you're in a corporate job, you have fear every day when sitting around a boardroom table, you have fear, you know, even if you're the janitor, you have fear. And so I think I think everybody has it, and I think that'll be a nice transition for you.
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Jane Atkinson: So I want to just like the hustle. So you spent the time money to invest in yourself, not only with the coach, but to get yourself into these showcases.
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Darryl Bellamy: Talk about like the smiling and dialing and this kind of things that you did in the early days to get yourself booked. And what what is your team doing today? Even I have like 100 things that pop up my mind. I when I first started, I was going through Google by myself, looking up conferences.
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Darryl Bellamy: I brought. I think my first big investment was a thousand dollars again on a credit card. A $1,000 sales course by this guy name Grant Cardo. Oh, yes, there you go, like 7, 8 years. Yeah. So that was like my first time going to the sales world kind of like learning that. And you're right. That was
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Darryl Bellamy: keeping track calling people on the phone getting those not like
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Jane Atkinson: figuring out what agencies they were using at the time. If if they actually hire individual speakers, the follow up game. a little bit about the agency like, have there been middlemen for you in your have you worked with speakers, bureau, or agencies, or campus? Speak like, who have you booked with on this journey?
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Darryl Bellamy: So for the past 5 years I was with campus. Speak So when I think about what was able, and I for newer speakers and speakers who are think about what their next space looks like. It's kinda hard to say this
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Darryl Bellamy: when we think about jumping out there with the agency, I would say that that was the one thing that allowed me to really fuel. My career was being with the agency because I was already speaking at conferences. They saw me at a conference, and I was a feature speaker. I had already applied 2 years before that got denied the 30. I wind up getting in and that allowed me to fuel my career. But
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Darryl Bellamy: the weird thing about agencies is, I'll gonna say, or
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Darryl Bellamy: they're not really. They're not for you until you're ready for them. In a way you don't need them. So you don't need them right interested in you. So they want people to make the phone ring. It's correct. So they were. So I was able to when they when I jump into the agency. It was like fire, you know. They were able to like throw the gasoline on because I was already established, and I already knew my lane. It was able to really market me there, but for the past 5 years out, who can't? To speak to South
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Darryl Bellamy: to take a fearless jump, have a feel this moment. And now I'm fully represented by myself. So my team includes. I've an experience manager who handles all of booking, all of contracting. I have an individual who does travel. I have a virtual assistant in the Philippines to handle so many things back in. I've had mail for for last
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Darryl Bellamy: 6, 7 years and that I use a lot of contractors for a lot of different things. I have someone who I send the fears all they add them up. I have a Stanford grad who does the data for the fear? If you have a lot of stuff.
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Jane Atkinson: Okay? since we're on that kind of topic Sterling was asking about Bureau's. And what have you? So that's campus. Speak. what kind of budget? Let's talk about the range. The top end of the range of the student budget. Is this still around 7,500? Or can you go beyond that? You can go beyond it. It depends on what you're offering me.
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Darryl Bellamy: If a school or client is calling, I'm I'm usually ranging between 55 to 6 at a college high schools. especially, I call it in like the independent private school market, because I do a lot more. I do a lot more deeper work with them. I from 65 to maybe 10,000
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Darryl Bellamy: private schools have deep pockets. Yes, yes, yeah. And I've really. And I justify that rate because of what I'm giving and how much work I'm putting into with pre surveys and all those things. So in the student market.
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Darryl Bellamy: when I ask friends these days, they're they're usually around like 55 to 6, from what I'm thinking, and I'll get by talking. You probably would tell me to go even further.
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Jane Atkinson: I'm always I even standing up. and this is here to anybody. You can see where Daryl has already pushed the boundaries of the market. Everybody would always say, oh, you could never get $10,000 in the student market. Well, yes, you can. And so he's figured out a way to push the back
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Jane Atkinson: boundaries on that. And I think the next place you go will
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Darryl Bellamy: be based on what's perfect for you and what? Based on what you're offering something that's also been helpful for me. Jane is looking at programs over keynotes, especially with certain schools. So for certain schools this year, I've been able to say.
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Darryl Bellamy: like, what are you trying to achieve, asking them what the goals are trying to achieve and letting them know that that goal will probably not be achieved in a 1 h a keynote. So I've one school in California where I said, All right, you know, for one keynote is going to be 6, because I'm going to California if you were to add an additional keynote that will be at 55. So I was able to get them to sign. What's that? 11 5 instead of if they would have came in through me, or probably if I was with the agency, they would have a conference with the agency, probably wouldn't the up, so that I was able to get 11, 5,
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Jane Atkinson: over 6,000 because I was able to talk about programming and in and and let me reframe that in the terms of language, you're not selling a program. You're selling a solution. So tell me what the problems are. That's the beginning of the conversation. And then it's like, Okay, well, that's going to be difficult to do in a 45 min speech. But what if we have a longer term solution that might be helpful for you. And who knows what your longer term solution
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Darryl Bellamy: are? Gonna look like? I mean, those are I would love to talk to you about that and be a part of your idea factory there. And last thing I want to add because I'm all about giving value is giving clients to choice on what they want to choose. So in the independent school market, for example, I do.
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Darryl Bellamy: You know, I have a keynote, and I have a day. And then I have a year long program, which is 99. And I remember talking to a friend, and she was like 99 who's going to do that? And then a client looked at it, and they decided they apply for Grant and did the nineteen-nine for the year. So give give. Give your clients the option, and let them choose and don't limit their budgets. And what they want to do. Yeah. And don't imagine that you know how much they have. Everybody thinks so, education, it's going to be this, they don't. You don't know. Okay.
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Jane Atkinson: so let's talk about
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Jane Atkinson: Some of the things that you did that like really amped things up. The flash points, things that you did that you noticed the big So you talked once about campus speak for the full on the fire that was already burning. Is there another one that you have to share?
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Darryl Bellamy: what has helped you over the past 2 years. 2 and a half years is mailings.
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Darryl Bellamy: What? Mailing? Sending things to the mail? Oh, mailing! Okay, that's one of my like undercover. Big secret. Oh, don't tell anybody you're listening. Don't tell me. But yeah. So so, sending things directly to the mail, I mean, everyone's getting 100 emails a day. But if you can send things through the mail that speaks directly to that client
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Darryl Bellamy: and that's helpful. A lot of people send broad stuff. So let's just say I want to speak to more fraternities, fraternity, and sororities.
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Darryl Bellamy: I'm putting in that brochure things that speak directly to them. I'm putting testimonials from other fraternity. So already, leaders, I'm
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Darryl Bellamy: if there's a video that I have, I'm doing a QR code with a video that talks to that audience, people find value and getting something in the mail because they can put it somewhere, and they might need it now, but they'll need it in the future. So that has been very helpful for me in my journey. Okay, direct mail. Who would funk it? I love that. I love hearing that. All right. Let's talk about things that you might have done that didn't turn out to be such a good investment.
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Darryl Bellamy: What have I done? It hasn't been such an investment.
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Darryl Bellamy: I feel all the time. Me, too. I'm trying. I'm experimenting with Google ads right now, and I can say that I haven't lost money so numbers wise. I think I I put out like 16 K. This year, and I'm up, and I got like 17 k book gigs. So
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Darryl Bellamy: it's like it. But it's a. It's a rolling. But here's the thing. Let me just give you some leverage on that, because if you got 17 k worth of booked gigs and your spin up ratio is 2.5 per engagement.
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Darryl Bellamy: Then that 16 K investment is actually gonna work exponentially more for you. So and and and and talk about spin off. Is that something that you're tracking? And what are you doing to make sure that you're getting each spin off from every engagement.
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Darryl Bellamy: and it was interesting, because this morning I see what, when just woke up at 100'clock, and it's been up for about since since then I had to go like I would have in between. I was really into the systems and stuff that the majority of my business. What could be good or bad is past clients
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Darryl Bellamy: like
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Darryl Bellamy: about 60. It's like past clients. And I'm looking at referrals. I think, referrals. I think I had like 4 for this year business that came from Referrals. So actually this morning was the first time I was looking to see like, all right there, like, where's your referral business? Why, since higher and kind of like looking at certain things because you can see the numbers. But the thing is, if everyone listening and watching.
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Jane Atkinson: you don't know if you're not tracking the numbers. So you have to find a way to track. So therefore you're able to then put in the inputs in order to then figure out what the output is. Okay. So and and you're really good at numbers tracking. I remember that. okay, so if you could go back to the beginning in year one, when you're just about ready to quit your job.
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Jane Atkinson: And you know now what you didn't know then what advice would you give to your young.
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Jane Atkinson: eager self.
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Darryl Bellamy: This.
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Darryl Bellamy: the biggest thing for me, I would say, is. I was really, really when I first started, I was doing Youtube videos. I was a lot more content.
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Darryl Bellamy: And I would say, when I got with an agency and I started receiving success and flowing
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Darryl Bellamy: the grind there a little bit, you know. I got started getting comfortable in a way, and that's the reason why I left because I got to get that grind back, you know. Oh, isn't that interesting? Like you kind of felt like you took your foot off the gas pedal a little bit, and
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Jane Atkinson: it, it's interesting when you're in growth mode.
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Darryl Bellamy: just to put the blinders on. And just right. And
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Darryl Bellamy: you speak major conferences. You're having your best years ever. So you're like, I'm fine. I'm grind. I'm going. But now back I'm like I could have been even further. You could always gap in the game right? But I could even be further along if I was looking at my like Youtube channel. Now, I was on videos once a week, and then I stopped for 4 years for 4, 4, 5 years. I put it like Homo videos, but not consistent videos. I think it's like content is important. Keep doing that. I think that's a huge thing. I wish I would have probably get more content.
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Darryl Bellamy: And just so I get excited. And then I have like squirrel syndrome. I'm like. I want to write a book.
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Darryl Bellamy: and I'm writing and writing squirrel. I want to do it like Jane. When I first reach out to you, I I want to do corporate squirrel. So I get kind of distracted, even though I'm doing extremely well with the business financially. I'm always thinking about.
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Jane Atkinson: how can I decide on something and get excited about it, and even when that excitement might Wayne to keep that going, so for those of you watching, it might be a coach might be this, you know, this program. It might be, whatever those things are. That kind of keeps you on track and keeps you focus. Yeah, now, we're calling this the journey to focus. And I think it's really interesting. That focus has not come naturally to you. It's been something. But I I want to note
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Jane Atkinson: that you you blocked down on fear how many years ago.
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Jane Atkinson: and you know you have really done fear. Well, I mean inside it
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Jane Atkinson: fearless inside. It's such an amazing brand for you. I hope everybody will go and check out your website. Is it? Is it fearless inside.com? Okay, check out fearless inside.com. I mean, you really have not in an it hasn't come easy to you. But you really have focus on being that person in that market. And look at how that's paid off for you.
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Darryl Bellamy: Yes, and there's gonna be things that you do. Well that you focus in on, and we all have things that we get off track with. So, of course, as the the speaker, the leader, the I'm always gonna find the things you're about. I could do better with that. But yes, you're right, is always about giving that gratitude and being being thankful along the process. But it's about coaches from
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Darryl Bellamy: you, from Nicole, from being a strategic coach for a year to I mean that make that journey. What it is is not seeing in your head and having those conversations to kind of lead you forward. Yeah, it's really helpful to have. Sometimes it's hard to see the label when you're inside the jars, the saying for those of you listening in on the podcast tell everybody, Daryl, where they can get in touch with you.
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Darryl Bellamy: So I'm@uhpelosonside.com darryl Bellamy, Junior on Instagram. I'm on Linkedin Daryl Bellamy, jr, so shoot me an email darryl@fearlessinside.com so it's d a r y l.
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Jane Atkinson: yeah. Da r. Why, l you one l there, I don't think anything else, Jane, that you I'm so grateful for you to share with our listeners, and if anything, I think you're going to inspire some hustle out there. This is what's required, and what we like to call it is focused. Hustle like let's do the hustle. But let's make sure.
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Jane Atkinson: And and one of the things I think you were alluding to earlier was that consistency is a real key. And you know, had you continue to do the Youtube videos for those 4 years, I think you'd you'd be feeling really good about that right now.
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Jane Atkinson: Thank you for being here we are. Now, this is one of the benefits of being a part of our school, being a part of our Vip program. We are now going to close out the recording and say, thanks for listening. We'll see you soon, wealthy speakers, and we're going to open it up for our master's students. So thanks for being here, podcast listeners.
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Jane Atkinson: Well welcome everyone to our Podcast slash Masters class entitled The Journey to Focus. My special guest today is Daryl. Bellamy, Welcome, Daryl. Jane. What's up listeners excited to be here and talk with you all today? I'm so happy to be really walking through your path in speaking
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Jane Atkinson: sometimes probably really really positive. Sometimes there have been bumps all along the way for you, and I would love to Let's just start with. Tell everybody about your business model as it sits today, and then we'll go back to the beginning.
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Darryl Bellamy: Okay? So my current business model is, I speak mainly to youth. So we have high school college
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Darryl Bellamy: middle school. So if you're a student, usually, I fall in your purview. I speak on fearlessness. So everything I do is to help students to have more fearless moments or to have more courage. I've collected over 60,000 written fears from students across the country. All those I take, I categorize. So I'm able to understand what are those top fears and worries that are stopping our students from getting to that next level?
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Darryl Bellamy: my business is comprised of. And this is where I'm I'm probably shifting over this next year or going forward is 97% of my income is me speaking on stage
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Darryl Bellamy: So that's what's comprised, you know. Yes, yes, all of it. Mostly we'd love to see that, you know. Start to balance out, so that there's a little bit more passive being from there. I see Sterling all Hawkins just came on, and he just did the Decca event, which I'm sure you 25,000 live and 10,000 on virtual. And so that was quite a
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Jane Atkinson: okay great sterling. I hope you'll stay on after to be able to ask a question. So how many years has it been there all for you since you actually got started?
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Darryl Bellamy: So I left my 4 time job in 2,017.
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Darryl Bellamy: Right? That's around 6 years. And I decided that I wanted to speak and I started. I go, I would say, trying to speak and getting out there. My first Nsa. Meeting. what's his National Speakers Association was in 2,015, 6 or 7 years. I mean I I would, with the success that you've had. I would have guessed much longer. So so good for you.
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Darryl Bellamy: Talk a little bit about what got you into speaking in the first place. Okay? So I've always been the kid who was really big in the self development. So to go back to high school, I convinced my high school principal to allow me and a few students to go to a get motivated conference and and and get that excused. So that was in high school. The C. 6 Ziggler Colin Powell was speaking then. So I went to with throughout college
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Darryl Bellamy: was very involved in many different organizations I've I've been did like workshops on campus. So that was kind of like the seeds that were planted. God of college tried to start a business in order to help first year, students on my, on my college campus get things like food and leadership development again, going back to the teaching right? There's like these seeds that planted throughout that business. I need 100 parents to sign up. I got one pair to sign up, so that was, I was saying, one of my first failures so went back in the corporate America for 2 to 3 years.
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Darryl Bellamy: trying to figure out what that thing looked like for me, was it? I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and work for myself in one way, in some way. No, I wanted to help, but didn't know what that looked like. So went to Google typing life coaches in Charlotte. This lady popped up while speaking to her at a Panera. She's like Daryl. What are you interested in? I was like I might want to speak to students might want to get in real estate naming all of these things, and by the end of our conversation she said, Daryl, your face lit up when you said something about speaking to students. Tell me more about that. So my to her.
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Darryl Bellamy: She's it was like Daryl this Friday which happened to be you all the last meeting of the year for the Nsa. Carolina's chapter. I know I did. The Nsa. Was next Speakers Association was but that meeting that Friday was their Speaker school. That happens once a year. So that was on a Wednesday that Friday I went to the Nsa. Meeting, when that room I was the youngest at the time.
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Darryl Bellamy: Probably I think it was like 2425, and one of a few people, I would say of color in the room. So looking around that room, I was like, Oh, wow! Like, I think there's a avenue here. And luckily the person who was speaking at that meeting
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Darryl Bellamy: talked about becoming a expert in something like the most experts are able to share their message the most, and the only thing I was expert in at that time was going to college and doing that well. So one of the round tables there was about college speaking. yeah. So I went to that meeting, and
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Darryl Bellamy: after after sitting at the roundtable for the guy who was speaking about college speaking. I ended up going to Wanda, maybe like a month or so going to his. he had a little session with 5 or so speakers that I
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Darryl Bellamy: went to Raleigh to sit down in front of him. He's like, Oh, yeah, you you drove here like, because everybody there was from Raleigh. So, as you can see, that Hunter was there, I get it going. So that was kind of like that first entry in that journey, I decided at the Nsa. Meeting. I went to quit that job within a year. One of writing that first book
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Darryl Bellamy: I don't know how granular you want to go. But the first book that you wrote yes. So first book was a book to help first year, students on cause campuses to be successful, using some of the stories and some of the experiences that I had. But I wrote it in a fiction book. So therefore, students would actually kind of want to read it. So 3 lessons, you know all about
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Darryl Bellamy: relationships pushing through fear and starting early.
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Jane Atkinson: Okay, so let's So fast forward to today. You have seen a lot of different things going on. Let's talk first about your first year. You decide
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Jane Atkinson: to play your right to say I am going to be a speaker. I want to quit this job. How quickly were you able to quit your job, and what were some of the actions that you took early on that. Tell me about the hustle.
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Darryl Bellamy: Good question. So I decided at the Nsa. Meeting. I wanted to quit my job within a year. So I think that was in December. So that would been a I wanted to quit my job a year and 2 months after that day I'm nicely done. Yeah, yeah, you're in 2 months. The way I did it was I I saved up around $2023,000 over that year. That was, I was in corporate America. I was making around 80 at that time, but I was single.
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Darryl Bellamy: No, no, kids, no, you know, not married at the time. So I'm like, all right. How much, how low can I put my expenses down? Because I want to really go when that first year? Let's say that the 25,000 that first year.
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Darryl Bellamy: I I started going to. You know you start speaking for free. You start getting your gate. You start getting out there. But the way I was able to really get my foot into the space was, I went to like speaking conferences
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Darryl Bellamy: where you're able to pay to get on stage, and then you get it from the buyers. So in the college space is conferences like Aka, which is association, a promotion of college activities, and the another one is Naka But I went to Aka, which was like $2,000 a pop.
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Darryl Bellamy: 2, $3,000 a pop to get there invested in yourself. Believing this would pay off for you, and I put it all on credit cards. I put all on credit cards because I realized that that $25,000 I couldn't pay my mortgage with the credit card, so I had to look at all my expenses and know if things were to get really really bad, what expenses could I pay on credit, and what expenses could I pay in liquid cash? So I'll put on credit cards, and that's how I got some of my first gigs
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Darryl Bellamy: at like a higher level, like at 2,000, 2,500, because I was in spaces where people were looking for speakers, and they and everybody was charging around that amount. So I don't think I would have ever gotten that amount out out the gate. If I wasn't in some of those conferences.
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Jane Atkinson: Could you imagine sitting there thinking about how to pay your mortgage like, how to juggle the credit cards. And what have you could you imagine in that moment
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Jane Atkinson: where you would be today like the the fees that you're charging the numbers of engagements that you're doing every year that you would have a baby.
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Darryl Bellamy: There's a lot that's changed in your life, could you? Was that your vision all along? You mapped it up exactly like that. Yeah, I I always saw where I am today. I always saw the vision with the speaking it. That's why I'm so think like, I talked to my all the time about just being. And at some point when you hit certain fee levels.
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Darryl Bellamy: you can as you start looking at friends in different space, like I have friends in corporate. I'm getting 15,000 or 8 or 20, you know you can. You can kind of start comparing. And you know I'm not making 18 or 20,
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Darryl Bellamy: and I always have to go back to gratitude thinking about that guy with those credit cards at a conference, just trying to get a gig, and then, you know, being able to survive and be able to thrive and always sitting in that gratitude. But yeah, I always thought I would be here now, and that's my struggle now, and is.
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Jane Atkinson: I've always saw myself here. What is that next level? And now I'm struggle with figuring out what that next thing is not, and not knowing what that path is, go ahead. Well, comparison is the thief of joy we know. But what you're talking about
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Jane Atkinson: is Always looking back backwards with gratitude towards what you have built versus always living in the gap of where you are today and where you want to be. Do you have the gap in the gain? I'm gonna
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Jane Atkinson: piece. And also sometimes our next vision doesn't always come to us straight away, like what looks perfect for you. And maybe that's diversifying what you have to offer people so that you're not on the road. Quite so much. Talk a little bit about
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Darryl Bellamy: being on the road today, like, how many engagements are you doing a year?
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Jane Atkinson: 45 to 50 a year. Oh, good! I'm glad you're not like 70 or something, because that's no way. I've I've a 8 and a almost 2 year old. So I'm like, no, I'm fine. Okay. So we want to definitely have some life balance in there. So when you first started, you were talking about how to be successful for
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Jane Atkinson: first year students. And then there was an evolution talk a lot. What were some of the topics that came to you? And
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Jane Atkinson: how did you arrive at fearless inside. Which is your mainstay now?
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Darryl Bellamy: Perfect. So when I first started, it was all about student success. So that book waking up Chase was about teaching student 3 things pushing through fear the pores of relationships that we build in life in college
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Darryl Bellamy: and planning ahead. I spoke to some of my early audiences, and during the fear part I asked them to write down like, what is it that they fear? What? What is it that they're dealing with, and they world on no cards. I used to have this orange box that would take with me.
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Darryl Bellamy: I remember the first time. Bring that orange box home, opening it up like started reading some of those fears, because at that point I didn't read them live in front of students like I do now. I remember reading them and getting very, very emotional. So the d like things that people things that we sometimes keep inside things that we don't share things that students were sharing.
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Darryl Bellamy: and that was like one of my first light bulbs like this is, this is good like, and I feel kind of emotional because I realize that those students are those audience members left that space, not knowing that everyone there kind of felt the same way because I was reading some of the same ones over and over again. So that solution came. I used to take those spears, go in my backyard, burn them, and then send a video to the school with like, Hey, here are the students here. Here are their fears that were burned.
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Darryl Bellamy: I set that up with that same coach. that I met at the veneer right? I was meeting with her on a monthly basis, always investing yourself. Oh, Nicole Grier, Nicole Greer! She's one of my clients, too. No, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nicole, the cold grey or vibrant coaching.
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Darryl Bellamy: I wonder if I recommend, or are you or do? What's she working with you? It might have been the other way around. I can't it? Probably will. She's Yeah. So I was talking to Nicole, and she was like Darryl. What if you stop burning them and start using that as research
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Darryl Bellamy: and build yourself as an expert on student fear? So from that moment on, I'd never burned another one. And I now I have thousands and different boxes of one box from because I send them off and they type them up. Now, I have a team that do that. So yeah, a thousand taking a categorize. So that's what allowed me to be able to focus in
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Darryl Bellamy: and niching is so hard for everyone watching. To certain people say this, some people say don't. It's hard to figure out what to do, but I can say that it has been beneficial for me up until this point to focus on this one topic, because when people think about student fear, they often think of me.
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Jane Atkinson: and it also leaves you open to talk to different markets, because there's no market that doesn't have fair. If you're in a corporate job, you have fear every day when sitting around a boardroom table, you have fear, you know, even if you're the janitor, you have fear. And so I think I think everybody has it, and I think that'll be a nice transition for you.
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Jane Atkinson: So I want to just like the hustle. So you spent the time money to invest in yourself, not only with the coach, but to get yourself into these showcases.
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Darryl Bellamy: Talk about like the smiling and dialing and this kind of things that you did in the early days to get yourself booked. And what what is your team doing today? Even I have like 100 things that pop up my mind. I when I first started, I was going through Google by myself, looking up conferences.
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Darryl Bellamy: I brought. I think my first big investment was a thousand dollars again on a credit card. A $1,000 sales course by this guy name Grant Cardo. Oh, yes, there you go, like 7, 8 years. Yeah. So that was like my first time going to the sales world kind of like learning that. And you're right. That was
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Darryl Bellamy: keeping track calling people on the phone getting those not like
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Jane Atkinson: figuring out what agencies they were using at the time. If if they actually hire individual speakers, the follow up game. a little bit about the agency like, have there been middlemen for you in your have you worked with speakers, bureau, or agencies, or campus? Speak like, who have you booked with on this journey?
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Darryl Bellamy: So for the past 5 years I was with campus. Speak So when I think about what was able, and I for newer speakers and speakers who are think about what their next space looks like. It's kinda hard to say this
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Darryl Bellamy: when we think about jumping out there with the agency, I would say that that was the one thing that allowed me to really fuel. My career was being with the agency because I was already speaking at conferences. They saw me at a conference, and I was a feature speaker. I had already applied 2 years before that got denied the 30. I wind up getting in and that allowed me to fuel my career. But
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Darryl Bellamy: the weird thing about agencies is, I'll gonna say, or
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Darryl Bellamy: they're not really. They're not for you until you're ready for them. In a way you don't need them. So you don't need them right interested in you. So they want people to make the phone ring. It's correct. So they were. So I was able to when they when I jump into the agency. It was like fire, you know. They were able to like throw the gasoline on because I was already established, and I already knew my lane. It was able to really market me there, but for the past 5 years out, who can't? To speak to South
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Darryl Bellamy: to take a fearless jump, have a feel this moment. And now I'm fully represented by myself. So my team includes. I've an experience manager who handles all of booking, all of contracting. I have an individual who does travel. I have a virtual assistant in the Philippines to handle so many things back in. I've had mail for for last
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Darryl Bellamy: 6, 7 years and that I use a lot of contractors for a lot of different things. I have someone who I send the fears all they add them up. I have a Stanford grad who does the data for the fear? If you have a lot of stuff.
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Jane Atkinson: Okay? since we're on that kind of topic Sterling was asking about Bureau's. And what have you? So that's campus. Speak. what kind of budget? Let's talk about the range. The top end of the range of the student budget. Is this still around 7,500? Or can you go beyond that? You can go beyond it. It depends on what you're offering me.
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Darryl Bellamy: If a school or client is calling, I'm I'm usually ranging between 55 to 6 at a college high schools. especially, I call it in like the independent private school market, because I do a lot more. I do a lot more deeper work with them. I from 65 to maybe 10,000
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Darryl Bellamy: private schools have deep pockets. Yes, yes, yeah. And I've really. And I justify that rate because of what I'm giving and how much work I'm putting into with pre surveys and all those things. So in the student market.
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Darryl Bellamy: when I ask friends these days, they're they're usually around like 55 to 6, from what I'm thinking, and I'll get by talking. You probably would tell me to go even further.
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Jane Atkinson: I'm always I even standing up. and this is here to anybody. You can see where Daryl has already pushed the boundaries of the market. Everybody would always say, oh, you could never get $10,000 in the student market. Well, yes, you can. And so he's figured out a way to push the back
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Jane Atkinson: boundaries on that. And I think the next place you go will
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Darryl Bellamy: be based on what's perfect for you and what? Based on what you're offering something that's also been helpful for me. Jane is looking at programs over keynotes, especially with certain schools. So for certain schools this year, I've been able to say.
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Darryl Bellamy: like, what are you trying to achieve, asking them what the goals are trying to achieve and letting them know that that goal will probably not be achieved in a 1 h a keynote. So I've one school in California where I said, All right, you know, for one keynote is going to be 6, because I'm going to California if you were to add an additional keynote that will be at 55. So I was able to get them to sign. What's that? 11 5 instead of if they would have came in through me, or probably if I was with the agency, they would have a conference with the agency, probably wouldn't the up, so that I was able to get 11, 5,
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Jane Atkinson: over 6,000 because I was able to talk about programming and in and and let me reframe that in the terms of language, you're not selling a program. You're selling a solution. So tell me what the problems are. That's the beginning of the conversation. And then it's like, Okay, well, that's going to be difficult to do in a 45 min speech. But what if we have a longer term solution that might be helpful for you. And who knows what your longer term solution
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Darryl Bellamy: are? Gonna look like? I mean, those are I would love to talk to you about that and be a part of your idea factory there. And last thing I want to add because I'm all about giving value is giving clients to choice on what they want to choose. So in the independent school market, for example, I do.
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Darryl Bellamy: You know, I have a keynote, and I have a day. And then I have a year long program, which is 99. And I remember talking to a friend, and she was like 99 who's going to do that? And then a client looked at it, and they decided they apply for Grant and did the nineteen-nine for the year. So give give. Give your clients the option, and let them choose and don't limit their budgets. And what they want to do. Yeah. And don't imagine that you know how much they have. Everybody thinks so, education, it's going to be this, they don't. You don't know. Okay.
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Jane Atkinson: so let's talk about
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Jane Atkinson: Some of the things that you did that like really amped things up. The flash points, things that you did that you noticed the big So you talked once about campus speak for the full on the fire that was already burning. Is there another one that you have to share?
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Darryl Bellamy: what has helped you over the past 2 years. 2 and a half years is mailings.
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Darryl Bellamy: What? Mailing? Sending things to the mail? Oh, mailing! Okay, that's one of my like undercover. Big secret. Oh, don't tell anybody you're listening. Don't tell me. But yeah. So so, sending things directly to the mail, I mean, everyone's getting 100 emails a day. But if you can send things through the mail that speaks directly to that client
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Darryl Bellamy: and that's helpful. A lot of people send broad stuff. So let's just say I want to speak to more fraternities, fraternity, and sororities.
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Darryl Bellamy: I'm putting in that brochure things that speak directly to them. I'm putting testimonials from other fraternity. So already, leaders, I'm
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Darryl Bellamy: if there's a video that I have, I'm doing a QR code with a video that talks to that audience, people find value and getting something in the mail because they can put it somewhere, and they might need it now, but they'll need it in the future. So that has been very helpful for me in my journey. Okay, direct mail. Who would funk it? I love that. I love hearing that. All right. Let's talk about things that you might have done that didn't turn out to be such a good investment.
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Darryl Bellamy: What have I done? It hasn't been such an investment.
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Darryl Bellamy: I feel all the time. Me, too. I'm trying. I'm experimenting with Google ads right now, and I can say that I haven't lost money so numbers wise. I think I I put out like 16 K. This year, and I'm up, and I got like 17 k book gigs. So
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Darryl Bellamy: it's like it. But it's a. It's a rolling. But here's the thing. Let me just give you some leverage on that, because if you got 17 k worth of booked gigs and your spin up ratio is 2.5 per engagement.
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Darryl Bellamy: Then that 16 K investment is actually gonna work exponentially more for you. So and and and and talk about spin off. Is that something that you're tracking? And what are you doing to make sure that you're getting each spin off from every engagement.
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Darryl Bellamy: and it was interesting, because this morning I see what, when just woke up at 100'clock, and it's been up for about since since then I had to go like I would have in between. I was really into the systems and stuff that the majority of my business. What could be good or bad is past clients
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Darryl Bellamy: like
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Darryl Bellamy: about 60. It's like past clients. And I'm looking at referrals. I think, referrals. I think I had like 4 for this year business that came from Referrals. So actually this morning was the first time I was looking to see like, all right there, like, where's your referral business? Why, since higher and kind of like looking at certain things because you can see the numbers. But the thing is, if everyone listening and watching.
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Jane Atkinson: you don't know if you're not tracking the numbers. So you have to find a way to track. So therefore you're able to then put in the inputs in order to then figure out what the output is. Okay. So and and you're really good at numbers tracking. I remember that. okay, so if you could go back to the beginning in year one, when you're just about ready to quit your job.
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Jane Atkinson: And you know now what you didn't know then what advice would you give to your young.
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Jane Atkinson: eager self.
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Darryl Bellamy: This.
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Darryl Bellamy: the biggest thing for me, I would say, is. I was really, really when I first started, I was doing Youtube videos. I was a lot more content.
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Darryl Bellamy: And I would say, when I got with an agency and I started receiving success and flowing
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Darryl Bellamy: the grind there a little bit, you know. I got started getting comfortable in a way, and that's the reason why I left because I got to get that grind back, you know. Oh, isn't that interesting? Like you kind of felt like you took your foot off the gas pedal a little bit, and
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Jane Atkinson: it, it's interesting when you're in growth mode.
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Darryl Bellamy: just to put the blinders on. And just right. And
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Darryl Bellamy: you speak major conferences. You're having your best years ever. So you're like, I'm fine. I'm grind. I'm going. But now back I'm like I could have been even further. You could always gap in the game right? But I could even be further along if I was looking at my like Youtube channel. Now, I was on videos once a week, and then I stopped for 4 years for 4, 4, 5 years. I put it like Homo videos, but not consistent videos. I think it's like content is important. Keep doing that. I think that's a huge thing. I wish I would have probably get more content.
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Darryl Bellamy: And just so I get excited. And then I have like squirrel syndrome. I'm like. I want to write a book.
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Darryl Bellamy: and I'm writing and writing squirrel. I want to do it like Jane. When I first reach out to you, I I want to do corporate squirrel. So I get kind of distracted, even though I'm doing extremely well with the business financially. I'm always thinking about.
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Jane Atkinson: how can I decide on something and get excited about it, and even when that excitement might Wayne to keep that going, so for those of you watching, it might be a coach might be this, you know, this program. It might be, whatever those things are. That kind of keeps you on track and keeps you focus. Yeah, now, we're calling this the journey to focus. And I think it's really interesting. That focus has not come naturally to you. It's been something. But I I want to note
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Jane Atkinson: that you you blocked down on fear how many years ago.
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Jane Atkinson: and you know you have really done fear. Well, I mean inside it
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Jane Atkinson: fearless inside. It's such an amazing brand for you. I hope everybody will go and check out your website. Is it? Is it fearless inside.com? Okay, check out fearless inside.com. I mean, you really have not in an it hasn't come easy to you. But you really have focus on being that person in that market. And look at how that's paid off for you.
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Darryl Bellamy: Yes, and there's gonna be things that you do. Well that you focus in on, and we all have things that we get off track with. So, of course, as the the speaker, the leader, the I'm always gonna find the things you're about. I could do better with that. But yes, you're right, is always about giving that gratitude and being being thankful along the process. But it's about coaches from
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Darryl Bellamy: you, from Nicole, from being a strategic coach for a year to I mean that make that journey. What it is is not seeing in your head and having those conversations to kind of lead you forward. Yeah, it's really helpful to have. Sometimes it's hard to see the label when you're inside the jars, the saying for those of you listening in on the podcast tell everybody, Daryl, where they can get in touch with you.
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Darryl Bellamy: So I'm@uhpelosonside.com darryl Bellamy, Junior on Instagram. I'm on Linkedin Daryl Bellamy, jr, so shoot me an email darryl@fearlessinside.com so it's d a r y l.
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Jane Atkinson: yeah. Da r. Why, l you one l there, I don't think anything else, Jane, that you I'm so grateful for you to share with our listeners, and if anything, I think you're going to inspire some hustle out there. This is what's required, and what we like to call it is focused. Hustle like let's do the hustle. But let's make sure.
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Jane Atkinson: And and one of the things I think you were alluding to earlier was that consistency is a real key. And you know, had you continue to do the Youtube videos for those 4 years, I think you'd you'd be feeling really good about that right now.
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Jane Atkinson: Thank you for being here we are. Now, this is one of the benefits of being a part of our school, being a part of our Vip program. We are now going to close out the recording and say, thanks for listening. We'll see you soon, wealthy speakers, and we're going to open it up for our master's students. So thanks for being here, podcast listeners.
Highlights you won’t want to miss:
- Darryl got the speaking bug. [2:30]
- Making speaking the focus. [6:00]
- Finding your niche. [11:00]
- Time to hustle. [14:00]
- Pushing the client with value. [18:30]
- What works and getting spin-off. [22:30]
- Finding the grind…again. [25:00]
Darryl knows the difficulties in balancing a student workload while trying to plan for the future. He strives for each student to leave his programs with boldness to ignore their negative self-talk and start living their college experience on their terms. In his free time, you can find him listening to podcasts, reading, clicking the Amazon one-click shopping button, double-tapping on Instagram, and spending time with friends and family.
If you would like some great ideas on how you can create more focus in and on your business, you simply can’t afford to miss this episode!
I hope you’ll listen and learn.
Links:
Darryl’s website
Darryl’s book
NSA
APCA
NAMCA
Campus Speak
ClickUp
Darryl’s LinkedIn profile
Jane’s LinkedIn profile
Jane’s coaching options
The Wealthy Speaker School
