I like to comment on blogs or Why Don't You Start a Speaker's Bureau

Google Alerts tells me that one of my books was mentioned on someone's blog, so, before getting down to other work, I take a look and leave a comment. I think that's a pretty good practice for people like me and it's one of the assignments I give to students in my WriteSpeak classes, so I usually attempt to do it at least once a day.

As usual, I waxed prolix, so after tweeting the URL so others will look at the nice blog (as a courtesy to the blogger, who is trying to find some kind of business to start) I have adapted my comment and 'repurposed' it as a post on the Life of a WriterSpeaker. (It bothers me when a word I don't like is the best word to use, but 'repurposed' wins today.)

I'm pretty sure it won't be of much use to the person who has the blog, to be honest. I think they want to sell sporting goods. But, hey, we do what we can.

Ah, but now I must first tell one of my dad's favorite jokes, since I see that what I've done is a perfect example of it:

It's nighttime and a man walking down the street sees another man searching for something at the foot of a streetlight. The first man tries to help with the search and asks, 'What did you lose?'
'I lost a quarter,' says the searcher.
'Oh. Where did you drop it?'
'Over there, in that dark alley.'
'But that's 30 feet away!' says the first man. 'Why are you searching here?'
'Because,' says the searcher, 'this is where the light is.'


MY COMMENT TO THE BLOGGER:

Thanks for including I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, as well as the other book I'm familiar with (and like very much), Barbara Winter's Making a Living Without a Job. I think we both come from the same place regarding starting your own business: keep it small and creative, if you've got money, don't risk it.

I never had much capital to invest and banks weren't interested in single moms with 2 little kids and miniscule child support, for which I can only thank them. Smith and Hawken authored a book I read some years ago, don't have it now so I hope I'm getting that 'Smith' part right, but it said loud and clear, 'Don't borrow money.' Their idea is that you develop your wits by relying on ingenuity.

I agree with another comment that every startup takes a huge amount of work which is one reason I advise basing a business on something you enjoy doing. The other reason is that, if you love something, you're probably gifted at it. That means you have a fine chance of standing out from the crowd and will benefit greatly by rattling some pots and pans to let the world know you exist. (Like having a blog, and commenting on other people's blog).

For my part, I always loved service businesses. No overhead, no inventory to speak of, and if the motor sputters out while you're flying, you can land anywhere, gas up cheaply and take off again. If I didn't know which services I could provide, or didn't want to provide any, I'd ask people to give me some specific ideas. On that premise, I shall give you one specific idea:

This morning, in your position, I believe I'd start a speaker's bureau of some new and fabulous kind, hitherto unheard of. (I have no idea what that would be, but if I needed ideas, I'd head right over to my bulletin board (www.barbarasher.com/boards), go into the Wishes and Obstacles forum and open a new topic with this:

"Wish: to start a speakers bureau of some new and fabulous kind, hitherto unheard of.
Obstacle: Can't imagine what that would be."

Thousands of Sherboarders might see your wish and obstacle, hundreds might jump in to answer it. People love to help people on the Internet (as evidenced in the thoughtful comments you're getting here) and the people on my boards are very smart and generous.

I'd also go to #IdeaParty on Twitter, and ask the same thing (shortening the words 'Wish' and 'Obstacle' to their first initials to save space). #IdeaParty brainstorming is hottest on Thursdays, but it's always open and, after a little wait, you'll get, umm, a few more people than my bulletin board can provide (like a couple million), some of whom might be curious enough to scare up some interesting information for you.

Then, if I were you, I'd head over to HARO (HelpAReporter.com) to see if I could find some speakers to interview and I'd return the favor by helping to publicize them on a blog. They'll tell you what they need, what they're not getting, what they wish was available.

(I might wait until I was launched before sharing *all* my new information with the world, but then I might write a book and call it 'How We Started A Speakers Bureau and Made A Fortune.' :-) No one in any of my classes has ever picked that subject so the field might be wide open. :-)

For more information, you might search google for 'motivational speakers' which will take you to loads of websites. Once there, find out who one would contact in order to book them, and then find the website of that bureau. See how they operate, who they handle, where they brag about placing their speakers.

You might want to book speakers at teh same places, focusing on on the spillover, the really great speakers who don't often get hired by big corporations. Established bureaus aren't usually interested in such people. (Another reason I love tiny businesses with low operating costs: you can get fat on what falls off the big boys' tables>)

Or you might want to handle the whole structure differently, in some original, hitherto unimagined manner, such as a co-op, or a wiki (I don't really know how that would work, actually) or some model that isn't the same old lemonade stand. (A great place to get unexpected ideas is Springwise.com (New business ideas spotted around the world). In fact, I think Springwise itself is a great model for a speakers' bureau (Unusual speakers spotted around the world). Like, um, those free bicycles in Amsterdam - you take one and ride it to where you're going and leave it there and someone else takes it from there. (I'm getting a picture of two or three speakers standing by a bicycle rack. Not good, but I'm sure you can do better.)

Back to the real world: for informational interviewing, I'd contact college and university booking agents. They're usually students and often very willing to share their information about (or complaints with) speakers bureaus.

On the other hand, it kind of looks like you might want to sell sporting goods and if so, disregard every word I've said. I like to come up with micro-business ideas after my morning whopping cup of strong coffee, just to use up the extra caffeine.

In case anyone who reads this comment cares, I find big businesses to be mostly a bad influence on our world, and pushcart or kitchen-table businesses to be the delightful, creative heart and soul of it. I'm pretty sure you want to start a small business, so, whatever you do, I wish you all the luck in the world.