Why Speakers Get Stuck at $2K: Three Keys to Break the Invisible Barrier

“We don’t have a huge budget, but we can offer you $2,000…and a full-day pass to the event so you can connect with leaders and businesspeople who will be there.”

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An event organizer repeats the same words you’ve heard again and again. And you accept. 

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Of course, you’re happy you’re getting invitations to speak, but you feel stuck around the $2k fee range. You start to feel discouraged and undervalued. You can’t help but worry for the future of your speaking career. 

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Why is it so hard to increase your speaking fee? Will you ever be able to charge $10k, $25k, or even $50k per speaking engagement?

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One of the main reasons speakers don’t break the $2k barrier really has to do with mindset. Many of them are afraid to charge more than $2k. And that fear? Well, it often stems from a lack of confidence and a lack of preparation. They simply haven’t put in the work to generate demand for their speech. 

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You can break the invisible barrier, dramatically increase the value of your speech, and grow your demand in the marketplace when you have a clear understanding of how demand works in the speaking industry. 

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The Real Problem: You’re Marketing Yourself, Not Iterating Your Speech

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First, let’s bring some clarity to the real problem. Many speakers think generating demand is about building their personal brand and revamping their authority in the marketplace. They think, if I can just market myself more and do more outreach, my value will increase, and my fees will too. 

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They write more blog posts. They post more on social media. They invest time and money into creating a new podcast or writing a new book. They spend the majority of their time marketing themselves as speakers, hoping to get more traction for their speech. 

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Unfortunately, this approach usually leads to full to-do lists, frustration, and burnout. With few to no results to show for it. 

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You see, doing more marketing and brand-building doesn’t increase your demand if you’re not a famous or well-known speaker. Why? What’s most important to event organizers is first, your speech; then, your ideas; and then, you. Your speech is the product. 

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In their book The Referable Speaker, Michael Port and Andrew Davis remind us: “Just like any business, the speaking business is governed by the simple laws of supply and demand. Increase demand, and you can increase your fees. Craft a referable speech, and every single time you deliver a speech you will increase demand.” 

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The real reason why you’re stuck around the $2k fee range is because there’s just not enough demand to increase your fee. And what you’re currently doing to increase your demand isn’t yielding results.   

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Three Possible Reasons Why Your Demand Has Flatlined 

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If you’re struggling to increase your demand in the speaking industry and just can’t seem to charge more than $2k per speech, it’s time to take a serious look at what’s working and what’s not in your speech and speaking business. 

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Especially in creative endeavors like speaking and writing in the thought leadership world, examining and inspecting your own work can be a vulnerable process. It’s important to remember that you are not your speech, and that these deep moments of introspection can lead to powerful breakthroughs. 

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Here are three common reasons why speakers get stuck at $2k, along with three powerful keys to getting unstuck and breaking the invisible barrier: 

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#1 You’re stuck in Expertville. 

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In The Referable Speaker, Michael Port and Andrew Davis explain the difference between Expertville and Visionary Town. Expertville is where many speakers roam. In fact, it’s packed with email marketing experts, top-level leadership experts, AI experts (and just about every type of expert you can think of). They’re knowledgeable and professional; they share how-to strategies, tips, and tricks. 

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But because there are just so many experts, it’s hard to differentiate yourself and prove your value. Expertise has been commoditized. Just go online and you can find dozens of experts who’ll teach you how to do just about anything. This means there’s a lot of competition in Expertville. Supply is high, demand is low, making it very challenging to break past $2k. 

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Unless you move to Visionary Town. 

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You see, visionary speakers develop a new approach, reveal a hidden truth, and embark on a quest to find answers. Instead of just selling a solution, they challenge conventional wisdom and ask questions. They change how their audience thinks and sees the world. 

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And those are the types of speeches event organizers look for when filling their event calendars. First, they spend their budget hiring the keynote speakers and famous speakers who will fill the seats at their event (the Visionary Town people). Then, whatever’s left is divided among the 50+ breakout-session speakers (the Expertville dwellers). 

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Visionary speeches earn the keynote stage and the hefty fee that accompanies it. There are many fewer visionary speakers than expert-style speakers. There’s less competition, and more room for your message, ideas, and approaches to take root. And when supply is low and demand is high, you can increase your fees and tear down that invisible barrier.  

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Here’s the first key to getting unstuck: focus on crafting a visionary speech, one that takes you out of Expertville and into Visionary Town. 

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Crafting a compelling speech is an art. It doesn’t happen overnight. I dedicated over 100 hours to refining my speechwriting and editing skills, ensuring that my message would resonate with authenticity and impact, and I did it in GRAD | Speech Writing Mastery.

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The rigorous yet rewarding process helped me craft a speech that’s much more than just how-to tips and tricks, it’s a speech that inspires, influences, and changes how my audience thinks.