How to Get Started as a Speaker

 

Would you be willing to give public speeches for free or for a low fee just to have the chance to get in front of your ideal customers? Among my clients, several now-highly-paid professional speakers began by giving little programs to local business people after work. The people you see talking for Ted and Tedx are not being paid – they are doing it mostly for the exposure.

A friend of mine gives two-hour long workshops on how to recover from grief. The attendees pay nothing, and he gets the meeting rooms donated to him by church and civic organizations near his home. His events are promoted via ads in the free community newspaper, on bulletin boards around town, and most of all, in flyers distributed by the church or civic organization hosting the event. At the end of two hours, many people feel a bond with him and he invites them to enroll in his comprehensive paid program.  He’s making six figures by speaking for free.

If you would like to get in on this act, there are some things you should know so you don’t waste your time, and so it is easy to attract people to you, and therefore to your business.

Question One: Who Do You Want in the Room?
The answer to that question will help you find out if this is likely to pay off for you. It begins with Business 101: Do you know who your ideal customers are?

If you know that your ideal customer is a business person between 35 and 55 years old; women with children under 12; people of a certain ethnic group; those with an interest in spiritual matters; people wealthy enough to pay you to do their taxes; or any other category, you can figure out where those people are. Spend time sketching out your ideal customers. It will save you lots of time.



As you get clear on your ideal customer (called an “avatar” among us marketing types), you will begin to understand their habits, preferences, perspectives and behaviors.  It will become easier to track them down.  (For tips on all things speaking, click here).

Question Two: Where are these people?
Now that you know who they are, you want to know where they are. Your second question: Can you identify where your customers congregate? When you are first putting yourself out there as a speaker, ask the person who brings in the speakers (called the “meeting planner”) as much as you can about the audience. Don’t assume!  Speak to groups that are mostly comprised of your avatar.

It will not help you to speak at a local garden club if your ideal customer is a male in his 30s.  Sure, there might be one guy in the room, and yes, in theory, “people are people”, but so many new speakers skip this first step and find themselves dismayed in front of a bunch of elderly folks when their topic is high-risk investments; or a room full of hip young people when they were really looking for established homeowners.

There are three ways to find out where your ideal customers are grouping together:

Ask your best existing customers what they do “for fun” and if they belong to any groups or organizations. Lucky for you, people love to talk about themselves.  Either send a survey or chat when they come into your place of business.
If you are in a business you love, you are likely more similar to your customers than may appear. What do you like?  Where do you like to go? Do you already belong to any groups or clubs that might be interested in helping you share your message?
Do research.  Go to the largest Barnes and Noble in your region and in the magazine section, pick up the ones that you believe would appeal most to your ideal customer. Buy those issues, look through them to see if you’re right, and if you are, go on the magazine’s website and get your hands on an “advertising packet” – sometimes called a “rate card”.  This will show you the demographic research that publication has invested a huge amount of money in to help them and their advertisers identify precisely who is reading their magazine.  If that description matches your ideal customer, then flip through the issue again, this time asking yourself, “Where would I find this person today?” and “What interests is this magazine serving that I hadn’t thought about?”
Question Three: How will you get in front of them?
How are you going to get in front of your avatars to pitch them without seeming to be pitching them?  (Advice on marketing yourself as a speaker? Click here). Most of your success will come from proving to them that you’re a nice, smart, approachable, knowledgeable person who just happens to have the solution to one of their problems? A little elbow grease.

Why would the places who have my customers want me to come in to speak?

Many clubs, groups and charities bring in speakers to give something to their existing members and attract more.  Like my friend the grief counselor. Think about it.  Why would a church let him take their room for 2 hours once a month to deliver a grief program to their brethren and to total strangers?

It makes the church look benevolent and compassionate.
It gives their clergy support in counseling people who are bereaved.
It helps to show they are not insular.
It gets people who may need solace and religious comfort through their doors, and those people may join the church because of this service.
It allows their brethren one more chance to build relationships, and relationships are what bring people into any kind of group in the first place – and what keeps them there.
The benefits to the church are equal to or greater than those my friend gets.  You need to find places that need you as much as you need them, whether it is to fill their monthly hour “guest speaker” slot or other benefits they will accrue.

Don’t just think about clubs and churches though.  Anywhere your avatars gather is an ideal spot, even if the “venue” (the location where a speech is presented) is not traditionally associated with speaking.

Consider these ideas:

A nutritionist or a sports medicine doctor or a relationship expert could speak at a gym or a spa
A financial advisor or tax accountant could speak during the lunch hour at a restaurant downtown
A contractor, handyman or electrician could speak at a privately-owned hardware store or lumber yard
A life coach or self-improvement expert could speak at a women’s club, a tea shop, a church, a boutique grocer’s
Do any of those spark ideas in your mind?  You may have to pitch several venues on having you in to speak, and adapt your message to suit their needs, but if you can provide a free and novel way for them to attract more business while you are attracting more yourself, it will be a win-win.

If this article has gotten you salivating, come to my upcoming free webinar called “How to Get Paid to Give Speeches” for lots more ideas whether you plan to speak for free or for a fee. We’ll cover how to prepare a speech, how to successfully approach meeting planners, and how to know what to say to get people excited about what you’ve got to share.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/277895

Customized Clothing Gets You Closer to the Fashionable World

In today's modern world, yours each and everything should be updated. When you are living in that community where people are very conscious about adapting new things, you also have to show some uniqueness in order to survive well. If you are thinking to do something new with your accessories then try to get your own custom tshirt? Why not to opt for that technology, which is not very much common and which can make you standout personality among your friends. In the fashionable world, you can make your position stronger just by having customized shirts which are no longer away from you.

Apparels are important accessories of your life without which, you cannot live properly. When you are in search of getting different type of apparel, you should move your attention towards customized clothing. Through this, you get the chance to have your own design, which you have selected for making your t shirts beautiful and attractive. Today, people have lots of potential to take out exceptional ideas and in order to give these ideas a right direction, customization has been used. With the help of this facility, people obtain myriad of benefits and get the chance to show their utmost talent and ability.

You just have to seek out a source through which you can fulfill your requirement of having inimitable design. You will observe that every eye would be on your t shirts, whenever you will show your creativity to the whole world. By living in fashionable community, you can present your personality differently because you have guts to put creative work in your own apparels. Yours every designing will take the hearts of many people, especially girls like to talk with you and will like to make friendship with you. Would you like to leave the opportunity through which you can make big circle of fashionable people?

I am sure you would never want to overlook this chance which is very much new in this world and which can make you a perfect designer. What you have to do is to choose the shirts of different colors and it is not difficult to get access of machines, through which you can have printing of any kind. Even, you can have custom polo shirt, which are not easily available at affordable rates in the market. By designing your own polo shirt, you have great chance to save your money and time.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3679020

Jewellery Making - Basic Techniques

These are the all important jewellery making techniques which are used primarily in bead stringing projects.

· Flattened crimp - this is where you hold the crimp bead in your pliers and squeeze the pliers firmly so you flatten the crimp bead shut. Make sure you have made a loop with your wire and have brought it round on itself or you won't have any loop to attach your clasp to. *tip, you must put the crimp bead on the wire first then pass the end of the wire back through the crimp.

· Folded crimp - follow the steps above, only once the crimp bead has been flattened use two pairs of pliers to slightly bend the crimp bead so it forms a slight 'v'. Then take one pair of pliers and put the crimp bead in the jaw and press to fold. Alternatively you can buy a crimping tool, but in all my years of jewellery making I've never needed one. Sometimes you will come across an item called a 'crimp end' this is a crimp bead which has a loop already on it and they are useful for making jewellery with cord or leather thing. Just use the same method for these as described above.

· Plain loop - this is usually used to form a loop in a headpin which has a bead on it. You take the headpin and trim it with your wire cutters to about 10mm above the bead, bend the headpin at a right angle close to the bead. With the tip of your round nosed pliers grab the end of the headpin where you have just trimmed it and roll to form a half loop, let go and repeat until the loop is fully formed.

· Wrapped loop - this is a more secure version of the plain loop. Instead of cutting your headpin, leave it the length it is and instead of making your right angle close to the bead, leave a gap which is just about the width of the end of your flat nosed pliers. Form your loop as above. You will notice you are left with a long 'tail', don't worry, you are going to wrap this around the wire you have left between this and the bead. Hold the newly formed loop with your round pliers so you don't bend it out of shape, then with your other pair of pliers wrap the remaining wire around the stem you have left, trying to pull it as tight in as you can. If you are left with any 'tail' once you have done this then trim it off with your wire cutters.

· Wrap a top drilled bead - make sure your bead is central on a piece of wire that is about 3cm in length, fold ends of the wire upwards so you have a triangular shape and cross the wire over to form an 'X'. Next with your pliers make a small bend in each of the wires upwards to form a right angle (keeping the triangle shape as much as you can), wrap one of the wires around the other like a wrapped loop about four times and trim the excess wire.

· Jump rings - these are another really handy item and they are used to attach materials together. They are a circle made of metal with a split through them, don't just pull them apart, you need two pairs of pliers held each side of the ring, pull one side towards you while pushing the other side away. To close, just reverse the method.

· Surgeons knot - this comes in handy if you are working with a Fire Line(TM) type of material, hemp for surfer jewellery or any material that is 'floppy'. Make first a knot as you would usually by crossing the right end over the left and then left over right but pass the last end through twice and pull to tighten.

I hope these techniques are eloquent enough for you to understand, although you may have to use your 'minds eye', it shouldn't be too hard for a creative bunch like you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2194334

Fashion World Changes to Silver Jewelry

Nowadays, with the economy's crisis, a vast number of people are now turning their back away from taking golds, platinum, diamonds as well as other types of gems compared to silver jewellery such as silver ring, earring and watch. These sterling silver jewellery are plated with platinum enhanced sterling or rhodium that in fact, gives the shiny, elegant white look as with white gold and corrosion-resistant quality which belongs to one of the rarest elements and precious metal that protects silver jewellery from tarnishing quickly.

With silver jewelry, you can flaunt the beauty inside and outside of you without compromising the quality but instead saving a big amount of dollars from your pocket. It is really advancing than purchasing other types of jewelry. Silver jewellery will not be easily look dull and tarnished as long as you know its proper care. It has the capability to sparkle and make you shine even with casual dress and casual occasion.

The fashion world of today along with the known fashion designers are now changing their big steps to the world of jewellery made of silver. With a piece of ring combined with a precious stones or other gems, you can definitely guarantee yourself a desirable look at a very affordable price. Being economy friendly of silver, men and women are now able to frequently change their jewelries according to season but even a simple set of silver jewelry like silver necklace, ring and watch can work with a day to day living or even with a grand occasion, without giving you afterthoughts of the tendency to lost it most especially in busy places at night, unlike, with precious diamonds and golds.

Fashion designers are now pursuing their steps to the world of silver jewelry. They even started to produce long gowns, shoes, casual dress and other types of dress attached or complemented with jewelries. These thing has brought back the life of fashion to our generation today. Furthermore, silver jewellery maker have even started to produce silver rings, earrings and necklaces combined with semi precious stones such as the cubic zirconia, which is low cost, durable and has a visual look closer to diamonds which complements the beauty of sterling silver jewelry. Sometimes, people misidentify it as a diamond that is why it became one of the most important competitor of diamonds today together with the silver jewelry.

Thus, silver has now started to invade the world of fashion to bring back its vanished glow. Its future is now foreseeable to become brighten up to the next years. As, we all know, most of the women today are fond of collecting jewelries. With the silver jewellery's versatile and fine feature, it is really a perfect choice for any of person who wants to shine and look elegant. So, consider purchasing now and have a collection with your jewelry box such as silver ring, earrings as well as pendants that are sterling silver. It will only cost you a few dollars unlike other precious stones and metals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3126870

Make Sure To Be Equipped With Nothing But The Right Jewellery Making Tools For Jewellery Making

Jewelleries are made with the use of correct Jewellery making tools. Thus, it is important for a jeweller to acquire various tools to make different jewelleries. Before staring the jewellery making, here are the things that a jeweller should do so as to ensure spontaneous and successful jewellery making venture.

- First of all, get a good working area where you can conveniently use the Jewellery making tools to make a jewelry. It is not necessary to have to be a bench intended for such purpose. A good, sturdy table or a cast-off desk is appropriate for the task and it can save you money.

- Place a bench clamp or pin to your workbench as you accumulate tools to make jewelry. The clamp must have a good surface for hammering upon and wooden extension on which you could brace your jewelry while you are utilizing Jewelry making tools.

- Use an opt visor for you to see the small components with which you work while making jewelry and it also saves you from eye strain. Thus, it is a very important tool for jewellery making. Generally, it can be bought at any craft or hardware stores.

- Buy various hand tools for jewellery making. It is necessary for you to have files of different coarseness to fit the various works you will be doing in the process. Apparently, coarse files eliminate more material while finer files eliminate less material. Moreover, it is necessary as well for you to acquire files varying in shape like, flat, round or even half round in order for you to work on the wide array of shapes and surfaces that you encounter in using the tools.

- Wear safety glasses for the protection of your eyes from flying metal especially when drilling, grinding or even filing. Opt to use safety glasses that have lights affixed to the frames because these ones will make you see better and not only aid rendering protection for your eyes.

- Acquire a variety of hammers when gathering tools for jewellery making. You will require various hammers for the task such as a hammer for rounding and texturing silver, bronze and gold as well as hammer for reshaping rings for instance.

- Look for various blades from wax blades for cutting wax to blades for the purpose of cutting sheet silver. Search for blades with varying coarseness, sharpness and texture to name a few. Additionally, put a scribe which is an essential tool for jewellery making for it allows you to draw your designs on the metal or patterns in wax. With the tools mentioned, you have greater chances of making good quality jewelleries.

George Kites owned and operated business situated south of the river in Myaree. We supply to a wide range of clients including professional jewellers, small to large business, educational institutions, students and hobbyists. We are working on improving our communication with clients and suppliers to bring you the latest information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6834140