So You Think You Want to Become a Storyteller… Getting Paid to Speak

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This Week’s Episode:

It’s 7 o’clock in the morning in Des Moines, Iowa. I’m ready to give my first ever keynote speech. My hair and makeup are done and I’ve got my power dress on. I’m ready to dazzle!

Only one thing’s missing: my bulletproof matcha tea. It’s my magic elixir that’ll turn my speech from amazing to extraordinary. I gotta have it before I walk out of my hotel room.

So I take out my Ninja® blender I’ve brought all the way from California, put all the ingredients in it (hot water, matcha tea powder, high octane oil, and ghee/butter), push the lid down, start the engines, and--poof! Everything explodes out of the blender and this sticky green goo and splatters all over me, my dress, my hair, the walls, the keyboard… everywhere.

I’m freaking out when my husband Mark runs in from the other room. He tells me, “I’ve got this” and says he’ll remake my tea while I go shower, change, and get myself together again. So he too puts all the ingredients back into the blender, pushes the lid down... and the same thing happens all over again! Everything, including Mark, gets a fresh coating of green goo.

Naturally, I start freaking out even more. But we do our best with cleaning ourselves up and leave without my bulletproof matcha tea. Even though I feel like a mess (mentally and physically), I give the keynote speech in front of 4,000 people.

As we fly home after that experience, I plan to give the Ninja® blender people a piece of my mind, tell them their contraption doesn’t work, and send it back in the box it came from. But when I go to the garage to retrieve the box, I notice something. It says that it’s for cold ingredients only and meant for chopping ingredients. That’s why it kept exploding!

Whoops! As I always like to say, things will either go well or you’ll have a story to tell on the other side of it. 

If you want to get paid to speak (with or without a pre-speech disaster like I had that day), then tune in as Mark and I continue our series on storytelling today.

In this episode, I answer questions like:

What does getting paid to speak look like? What are the different ways you can get paid as a speaker? And how can you be as effective a speaker, thought leader, and storyteller as possible?

What you will learn in this episode:

  • How to find more keynote speaking opportunities after you’ve landed the first
  • How to reframe free speaking opportunities in your mind
  • How to manufacture more opportunities once you’ve made the journey to speak in another city

A little about me:

Hi there. I’m Kymberlee.

As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I’ve had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I’ve seen what works when influencing change and what doesn’t. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That’s why I’m building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people’s lives.

Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You’ll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teaching my clients to do the same.

If you think business owners can’t tell stories or don’t have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There’s no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value.

Now it’s your turn... If you’re ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you’ve come to the right place.

Ready to be unforgettable? Good.

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Ready to be unforgettable? Good.

Free Speaker Training: Learn how to make your Talks more persuasive and captivating to hold your audience's attention longer

  • Increase your confidence
  • Build trust with prospects - fast
  • Stand out against competition
  • Captivate your audience
  • Be the one they remember
Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

You’ll also receive storytelling secrets each week from our show.
One-click unsubscribe if you don't love the free training!

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"Storytelling is an art form - and Kymberlee Weil is the master! I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the most talented creatives in the world, and Kymberlee is close to the top of that list.”

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JULIAN REEVE

SPEAKER, AUTHOR, FORMER MUSIC DIRECTOR OF HAMILTON
"Kymberlee helped me tremendously in the weeks leading up to my TED talk and afterwards. I have given hundreds of talks to audiences big and small. But the TED stage is a different beast -- every word matters.Kymberlee kept me on point, focused, and she took the time to figure out what my objectives really were and how to get me there. She is a true master of her trade and I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from her."
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JUNA KOLLMEIER

ASTROPHYSICIST, TED SPEAKER

"I thought I had public speaking down pat. As a former Green Beret, I have followed a lot of quality leaders and coaches, and I would follow Kymberlee anywhere… Especially onto the red circle."

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LTC (RET.) SCOTT MANN

GREEN BERET, ENTREPRENEUR, STORYTELLER, TRAINER, COACH, AUTHOR