#213: How to Get Paid Speaking Gigs from Scratch (Even if You Have Zero Audience!)

If you’ve ever wondered “How do I land paid speaking gigs when I don’t have an audience, connections, or experience?” — girl, I’ve got you.

In this episode of Make It Visible, I’m pulling back the curtain and sharing exactly what I’d do if I had to start from scratch. 

No guesswork, no fluff — just real, practical steps to help you get booked and paid to speak.

Here's what you'll learn from this episode:

• Why clarity on who you help and what problem you solve is key
• How to find the right events and build a curated list of opportunities
• The importance of pitching yourself (and following up!)

How every speaking engagement can lead to your next one

🔥 Plus: I’ll share the two non-negotiable things you need before pitching any event organizer — and how you can learn them inside my free 3-day masterclass, “Get Clients and Speaking Gigs.”

🎧 Press play, grab a notebook, and get ready to book your next paid speaking gig faster than you think!

➡️ Join the FREE Masterclass here: getclientsandspeakinggigs.com

Drop me a line and share your thoughts!

Support the show

Meet Your Host:

Hey there! I’m Michelle Kui—Visibility Marketing and Speaker Success Coach.

I’m the founder of Elevate LifeCoaching, where I help coaches like you build a stand-out brand, attract high-quality 5-6 figure clients, and land paid speaking gigs—all by leveraging the #1 most important asset in your business (hint: it’s not JUST social media!).

My Journey into Public Speaking & Visibility

My speaking journey started early—at 9 years old when my dad voluntold me to enter a speech contest (thanks, Dad!). Since then, I became the go-to speaker whenever someone needed a voice on short notice.

From leading corporate workshops to running training sessions, I thrived where most people froze—grabbing the mic while others sat back, hoping not to get called on.

After working with hundreds of coaches, I realized a HUGE missing piece that most entrepreneurs completely overlook—and it’s the #1 strategy top coaches use to grow their business, attract premium clients, and get booked on bigger stages.

Are you using it? If not, let’s change that. 🚀

🐦 SOCIAL STUFF:

Instagram ➔ / elevatelifecoach
Facebook ➔ / coachmichellekuei
Linkedin ➔ ...

Episode Transcript

Michelle (00:00):
If you are a coach, speaker or entrepreneur looking
to land pay speaking gig, evenif you have zero connection, no
audience and zero experience,this episode is for you.
Today, I'm going to break downthe exact five-step strategies
that I'll use if I were to startover from scratch.

(00:20):
No fluff, just actionable steps.
That's going to help you tobook your first or maybe your
next couple of pay speaking gig.
So grab a notebook, let's divein.
Hey, you're listening to Makeit Visible podcast.
I'm your host, michelle Kui.
I am a visibility marketingcoach and soon to be your

(00:42):
business bestie in the coachingbusiness world.
Not knowing how to connect withyour audience, grab people's
attention and get them excitedto buy from you should never be
the reason you give up on yourdream to become a full-time
coach.
I'm all about making marketingthe easiest part of your
coaching business, so that youcan turn a passion for coaching
into a visible and profitablereality.

(01:03):
So buckle up ladies, let's getstarted.
This is something that I teachall my Signature Talk Blueprint
students on how to find and lookfor those events.
That's already hiring andpaying speakers.
Number one you can Google thisright.
Google what industry you wouldlike to speak on.

(01:25):
Look for the conference,looking for a keynote speaker
and looking at their pastspeakers whom they have invited
to the event.
That will give you some clue ofwhich type of speaker they're
looking to hire, looking toinvite.
And what you also can do ischecking some of the speaker
directory, like Speaker Hub or,if you happen to be a member in

(01:48):
the National Speaker Association.
That would be another way toconnect to these paid speaking
events.
You can also look at connectingwith other speakers who's
within your niche and look athow they got booked, and you can
create your own network thereof referral.
So what you want to do in stepnumber two is focusing on the
right event, and so you're goingto be able to shortcut a lot of

(02:11):
the frustration and these likewhere do I look?
Are they actually paying it?
What's their budget?
Am I doing this for free?
So do it more professionallyand just by looking at places
where they're already lookingfor speakers like yourself.
Step number three is you want toreach out to event organizer
with the pitch, and one of thesteps that a lot of speakers and

(02:35):
coaches are missing is tofollow up, which is another
thing that I teach inside theSignature Talk Blueprint, where
I actually provide themtemplates on how to pitch your
speaking topic and also how todo the follow-up.
Now you might have found theright event and it is time to
pitch yourself, but a lot ofcoaches and speakers they don't

(02:57):
know how to pitch, and Ipersonally myself because I have
a podcast, so a lot of time Ireceive these pitches and I'm
sitting there thinking youdefinitely need my help to pitch
.
So what you want to do is youremail needs to be short, it
needs to be clear, it needs tofocus on the actual value that
you're going to bring to theaudience that they're inviting

(03:18):
you to speak.
Keep it short, introduceyourself and explain the problem
that your talk is going tosolve for their audience.
And don't forget never, everforget to follow up, just like
when you're booking a potentialcoaching client.
You want to do the follow upand most speakers and coaches,
most of the time they don't getbooked on the first email.

(03:40):
So you want to send a secondreminder email that I haven't
heard back from you within theweek, just to follow up on
what's up with their decisionmaking.
So don't forget that.
Step number three pitch, butalso do a follow up.
Step number four is everyspeaking engagement should be
the opportunity that leads youto the next one.

(04:01):
Now here are some of themistakes I see coaches and
speakers are making they speakon one engagement and that was
the end of it.
They don't turn it into afuture engagement.
So a lot of times you have togo up to the event coordinator
or event organizer or at theevent you wanted to connect with
other organizer and ask themhey, where else?

(04:25):
Or maybe someone else that youknow would be looking for a talk
like this, who can I connect to?
If you do this right, that onespeaking engagement can turn
into five or maybe even more,without you having to pitch
every single time.
Step number five is you want tostart charging instead of doing

(04:47):
this for free.
Now let's talk about gettingyou pay for what you're worth.
A lot of the new speakers areundercharging because they think
that I need to earn their wayto the premium fee.
But if you're positioningyourself as the problem solver,
not just a speaker, then you canstart charging at a higher rate

(05:10):
sooner than later.
So if you truly dial in intoyour talk, into your messaging,
you can start charging thepremium fee rather than just
doing it for free, just talkingfor fun.
You don't need to have years ofexperience to charge your
premium fee.
You just need to have the rightpositioning, which is why I

(05:35):
teach Signature Talk Blueprint,because that one talk is your
perfect asset to create yourpositioning and making sure that
you are at the right place atthe right time, charging with a
premium fee All right.
So if I were to start all overagain, these are the five steps

(05:55):
that would totally be my roadmapto get book speaking gig all
the time.
Number one is get clear on whoyou're helping, what their
problems solve right, what areyou helping them to solve?
Number two is to focus on theevent where they're already
hiring and paying speakers.
Number three is to have a pitchand don't forget to do your

(06:16):
follow-up.
And number four is making surethat every speaking engagement
is going to lead to the futurebooking.
And number five, make sure thatyou're charging for your worth
and never, ever speak for free,thinking that your experience is
not good enough.
If you got value from thisepisode, I would love for you to

(06:39):
share it with a fellow coach orspeaker who actually needs to
hear this.
And if you're landing aspeaking gig using these five
steps, I would love for you tosend me a DM or drop it into the
comment.
I would love to celebrate withyou and don't forget to hit
subscribe or follow if you don'twant to miss any future
episodes.
Let's get you booked on thebigger stage.

(07:01):
I will see you next time onMake it Visible.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Thank you for listening to Make it Visible
podcast.
If you love this episode andwant deeper support for your
coaching business, head over toelevatelifecoachingorg and see
how we can partner together toturn your passion into a
profitable business.
I help female coaches launchand scale their coaching
business faster than ever,without wasted time and money,

(07:30):
filling the gaps in yourmarketing strategies, creating a
simple and easy to followsystem so you can accelerate on
the path of coaching businessthat you love to wake up to.
Head over toelevatelifecoachingorg and grab
a free strategy audit today.