Dealing With Unpaid Speaking Invitations
As your notoriety as a speaker grows, you will almost certainly be invited to speak for no fee at other peoples’ seminars, at conferences, and similar places. I have one basic rule about such invitations. I accept them only if they allow me to sell my products from the podium during the event.
Unless you’re allowed to sell products, don’t do the gig. With your own events, you control the show so this isn’t a problem. The only exception to this rule would be an organization where you feel the exposure would be so beneficial that it would be stupid to turn it down.
In my own case I can only think of three places where I would go for a no-fee, no product sales arrangement. One would be with the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT). The second is with The Young Presidents Organization (YPO). And the final one is as a faculty member of the Income Builders International Free Enterprise Forum.
