Patience.
It’s not my strong suit. Is it yours?
I have a few clients who want things to happen quickly. I’ve always thought that I completely lacked patience in my business, but when I look back over my dozen years as an entrepreneur plus nearly 20 more in this industry, I realized I’ve always been in it for the long haul.
One example of patience is our podcasting efforts. I’ve been interviewing people for 7 years. Putting them out as podcasts for 3 or 4, but only committed to podcasting weekly about a year ago. And guess what…
That’s when we saw the numbers surge.
The same principle applies to blogging. Once I committed to a weekly approach, we started to gain more traction. I had been slowly making progress but the committed approach helped us crank up the numbers.
Even social media is a long haul game. We know now that it’s a “pay to play” situation. So some might roll the dice and test some paid advertising. But, I’m willing to bet that it’s the people who are consistently spending are the ones to getting big results. I know that as soon as I go all in on this idea with a long-term approach, I’ll see another bump in my numbers. And in turn, overall revenue.
I once did a Focus 40 session with a woman who wanted to see some results in the form of paid speaking engagements within 2 months of us working together. I told her that her expectations were unreasonable and would not take her on as a private coaching client.
There is nothing short term about the speaking industry. Either you are ready to do the work, plant copious amounts of seeds and wait for your harvest, or you are not. Doing the right things, year after year consistently will pay off.
If you want to be more in control, perhaps you build a fan base and run your own events. Either live or virtual, this type of approach puts you in the driver’s seat. When you compare that to the long lead times of speaking to corporations or associations, it might feel like a better bet. But here’s the thing. Even with this approach, you will still require a slow steady build of fans and patience to get your revenues where you desire.
Are you in it for the long haul?
See you soon, Wealthy Speakers!
