How do you become a public speaker?

One of the favourite parts of the work I do is giving public talks (more info here). Public speaking is one of the things people fear most – some say the fear of dying is second to the fear of public speaking. That means for most people reading the eulogy at a funeral would be worse than being the one the eulogy is read for…

I know many of you might be interested in becoming a professional speaker and earning part (or all) of your income that way. Obviously there are a lot of people out there, just like there are business owners, that want to become a speaker and share their story at conferences and corporate events.

And the same as in business applies here. Imagine if you were an event organizer – who would you rather hire or get on your stage to share something with your audience? Would it be someone that is just another business owner, or would it be someone that has written a book and is a published author?

Not only does the event organiser have the opportunity to get to know you bef…