How to Find and Maintain Excellence in the Speaking Industry with Jon Acuff
Mar 4, 2025
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Jon Acuff, a renowned speaker and author, dives into the intricacies of excelling in the speaking industry. He shares insights on transitioning from a solopreneur to a business owner, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and community engagement. Jon discusses his successful speaking model, the balance between keynote speeches and longer training sessions, and how pushing beyond comfort zones fosters growth. He also addresses the challenges of honest self-assessment and shares strategies for creating engaging content, including live events that enhance audience interaction.
Constantly facing challenges that exceed your current skill set is essential for maintaining excellence in the speaking industry.
Transitioning from a solopreneur to a scalable business model through partnerships can unlock new growth opportunities and enhance sustainability.
Hosting live events allows speakers to foster deeper connections with audiences while showcasing their expertise and enhancing community engagement.
Deep dives
The Key to Booking Paid Speaking Gigs
To secure more paid speaking engagements, it's essential to focus on creating a powerful marketing asset that showcases one's value. A notable example is cited where a speaker booked over $36,000 in gigs before even having a website, underscoring the power of effective marketing strategies. The podcast details a live training opportunity designed to teach aspiring speakers how to craft this marketing asset, emphasizing that understanding how to present oneself can drastically enhance booking chances. This practical approach enables speakers to prioritize what truly matters to get noticed and hired.
Transitioning from Solopreneur to Business Owner
A significant theme discussed is the transition from being a solopreneur to establishing a scalable business model. One guest speaker reflects on their decision to partner with a president to expand their business reach and capabilities, realizing that collaboration could unlock new opportunities. By admitting the need for assistance, they illustrate how allowing others to join the journey fosters growth beyond personal limits. This transformation emphasizes the importance of team dynamics and strategic partnerships in enhancing business sustainability.
The Value of Engaging Live Events
Live events serve as a unique platform for speakers, granting them the opportunity to connect more intimately with their audience. The excitement surrounding organizing a live event reflects a deeper commitment to personal engagement and community building within the speaking space. These events allow speakers to showcase their expertise over more extended periods, enabling thorough exploration of topics and enhancing audience interaction. By experiencing the wealth of knowledge available in a live setting, attendees can glean insights not only about speaking but also about building their own successful events.
Overcoming Challenges in Public Speaking
The podcast emphasizes the need for speakers to continually face challenges to keep their skills sharp and relevant. One speaker discusses the importance of regularly stepping outside of their comfort zone and embracing new experiences to avoid stagnation. They clarify that it's essential to differentiate between boredom and burnout, as many individuals mislabel the former as the latter. By recognizing areas that require improvement, speakers can elevate their craft and maintain a fresh perspective on their presentations.
Setting Goals for a Remarkable Life
A key focus is on the necessity of setting clear, achievable goals to lead a remarkable life, particularly in the context of public speaking. The speaker introduces a system that they created for transforming procrastination into productivity, using their personal experiences and research to back their methods. By outlining relatable problems and providing simple solutions, they advocate for self-empowerment in goal achievement. This structured approach is designed to motivate others to take action and make meaningful changes in their lives and careers.
“You have to regularly find things where the challenge exceeds the skill set."
In this week’s episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast, speaker and author Jon Acuff joins Grant to talk about the challenge of maintaining excellence as a speaker and the importance of continually pushing yourself beyond your comfort zones.
Jon also took the time to break down his successful speaking model, primarily focusing on keynotes and the occasional longer training engagements. There are pros and cons to every speaking business model, and Jon talks through what has worked well for him over his extensive speaking career. Additionally, Jon talks about making a transition from solopreneur to business owner and how he brought in a partner and president to scale his business and reach a larger audience. This transition was driven by Jon's desire to take his business to another level, prevent boredom, and not hide from potential growth.
Moreover, Grant and Jon also discuss the challenges of being honest with yourself about strengths and weaknesses and focusing on areas where you can excel. The conversation shifts to Jon's decision to host a live event, including insights into how he has navigated planning, content creation, and incorporating various elements like engaging stories and audience interaction.
Finally, Grant and Jon touch on the variety of potential business expansions Jon is considering, including workshops, masterminds, and enhancing social media presence while balancing personal enjoyment with business requirements. Overall, the episode provides great insights into Jon's speaking career, his strategic business decisions, and the meticulous efforts that go into creating meaningful content and events in the speaking industry!
You’ll learn:
How Jon built a successful speaking career
What goes into hosting a live event
How to master speaking business structure
How to balance your speaking career with personal life
Ways to improve your content and delivery at live events
How to continue your personal and professional growth
And much, much more!
“How do I create enough value for an audience where they feel like they got a deal at a high ticket event?