Outside of my weekly newsletter, one of the best ways I’ve been able to lend my voice and expertise to topics that continuously shift the landscape of our industry is through speaking engagements. Whether it’s a panel, keynote, or even a podcast, I always look forward to the moments where I’m able to share a few gems that I hope will inspire someone in the audience to “do the thing.” Each year, I probably take on a dozen speaking engagements, and each of them benefit my short and long-term goals differently.
As Black women-founders, thought-leaders, and creatives, it’s essential that we don’t shy away from sharing our insights publicly, knowing that it can quite literally change the trajectory of our lives. While my professional career may have started out as a journalist, taking on speaking opportunities stretched my reach much further than the articles I wrote each week.
We are all holders of a plethora of skills, and it’s pertinent to our growth that we don’t allow them to wither away in a singular space. In order for us to solidify our brand authority, we have to be willing to showcase our contributions in various ways.
Years ago, a friend of mine shared a piece of advice that completely shifted my mindset around strategic opportunities, and how they directly impact the movements we seek to make in our career.
She said, “We receive payment for the work we do in blessings, money, or opportunity.”
For those of us who’ve been doing this work for a while now, we know that our brands were molded in hustle, and often came in the form of seemingly random gigs that felt askew from the career movements we were building. It meant leaning into networking for the opportunities that would become the stepping stones to take us higher one day.
One of the easiest ways I was able to build that foundation was in my willingness to take on the “free gig.” Now, let me be clear here. As women, especially Black women, we continue to grapple with pay inequities and the lack of pay transparency. It’s important to know when free work is a strategic move, and when we need to raise our hand and ask for more; triple actually.
In this instance, however, I’m only referring to the moments where you’ve thoroughly weighed the pros and cons of the invitation, and have identified the ways it moves you one step closer to where you aspire to be.
Throughout my career, before I immediately said no to any free speaking engagement, I always weighed my options. As my friend mentioned, payment can come in many forms, and if money wasn’t the currency, then what else could I walk away with?
In these moments, I examined the two major factors:
- Audience Composition: Who’s in the room? How can I leverage my expertise to deliver insightful takeaways while expanding my network and potential client pool?
- Speaker Topic: Is this a topic I’m versed in and will allow me to solidify my industry authority? Or, if exploring a new topic, how can this diversify my area of expertise to ensure I’m able to reach a new and broader audience?
By getting comfortable with examining alternative outcomes and opportunity benefits, I’ve been able to detach myself from the presumed definition of “success,” knowing that, sometimes, the benefits of speaking on stage for free offer rewards that most would not consider. For example, just recently, by taking a strategic approach to such a calculated risk, my “yes” to a free speaking opportunity resulted in being booked for two additional engagements and three client projects amounting to $75,000 in revenue.
On my journey to booking high earning, high visibility gigs, I’ve made it an important part of my process to question the potential impacts of me being in every room before immediately rejecting an opportunity.
So, as we close off the year, and get ready for a new cycle of speaking opportunities (International Mentorship Month, Black History Month, Women’s International Month, and more), take a moment to come up with an actionable plan to strategically place yourself on the stages that will help you position yourself where you’d like to be. And if you need a brainstorming partner, I’m always down for a strategy session. Let’s chat.
A BIT ABOUT ME: Hi! My name is Pauleanna Reid. I’m the founder and chief storyteller at WritersBlok where I lead an all-women of color team of celebrity ghostwriters. As a collective, we help industry leaders and doers who are shaping the future turn their personal stories into brand assets so they can stay relevant in a noisy world, communicate to their audience at scale, and turn any conversation into a meaningful and profitable lead. Clients truly trust me with their reputations and their legacies. In fact, when they want to speak up on a hot topic and shake the room, I’m the woman they call. Many of them have me on speed dial, why don’t you?