This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey friends, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School, Chris Guillebeau here. Let's talk about whether hiring a speaking coach is a worthwhile investment for a small business owner. And we're gonna talk about a small business owner in particular who called us up. She's from Rhode Island.
But what if you would like to try public speaking for money? Well, of course, our questions from callers and listeners, interesting people all over the world. They're also reflective of our interesting audience from all over the world. So I know a lot of people would like to do public speaking. We've talked about it from time to time.
What's it look like? How much do you get paid and so on? Do you need an agency? And so in this case, Emma, our caller, we're gonna look at whether this investment is the right move for her because you do in fact have to pay if you're going to hire a speaking coach. But let's consider how public speaking could impact her entrepreneurial journey.
And perhaps you, or at least somebody else out there, should I hire a speaking coach? That's today's question coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi, Chris. I'm Emma from Providence, Rhode Island. As a new entrepreneur who's working on a sustainable clothing line, I'm finding myself in situations where I need to speak publicly at local community events and small business forums.
I'm not a natural public speaker. I often feel nervous. I'm seriously considering hiring a speaking coach to help improve my skills. Is this a worthwhile investment for a new entrepreneur like me, particularly for the growth and outreach of my business? How significant is public speaking in building a personal brand and networking?
[Music]
Emma, listen, I'm always gonna give it to you straight. Our long-time listeners know I'm not afraid to share opinions. Like I always want people to do what's best for them, of course, so ultimately, if you end up going a different direction, completely understand and respect that. But my opinion is that hiring a speaking coach might not be the best or most strategic move at this stage of your journey. Speaking coaches, not all of them, please don't send me complaint mail, but they tend to be kind of like freelance publicists in that it's not really the best way to get publicity for your business.
So just as I don't usually encourage people to hire publicists, I don't think you necessarily need a speaking coach. I think what you wanna do is focus on growing your business. And as you grow your business, you will get more opportunities, you'll get more experience, and you will naturally grow as a speaker. And it's not to say you can't learn from a coach, but I think you can also learn a lot on your own. And the biggest challenge that most public speakers have is getting gigs.
And the coach doesn't necessarily help with that so much. So I also understand you say like I'm not a natural public speaker, I often feel nervous. Well, I am the same way. And I just got better at it by doing it. I still feel nervous, but that's not really something to overcome.
It's just something to kind of work with and such. So again, in my opinion, I don't know that you need this. I think you need to focus on growing your business. And lots of other opportunities and improvement will come along the way. But of course, do what's best for you.
Listeners, if you have a question or an alternate opinion, that's fine too, sidehustleschool.com. We've got notes for every episode. This one's 2604. We've got a new episode coming out every single day. Gonna talk to you next week about retro arcade game cabinets, about a recording setup, about YouTube, about email lists.
So much more is on the way. So thanks so much for being out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
