By Thom Singer, CSP |

The pandemic hit my speaking career hard. Speaking mostly to midsize associations, the abrupt halt of live events meant my clients didn’t hold in-person meetings. They no longer had the same budget for paid speakers, and my income plummeted by three-quarters over two years. Emerging from the pandemic felt like starting from scratch. The industry had changed, with many new, younger professionals entering the scene. Many meeting planners had retired, and the new event professionals had often not hired professional speakers before.

Rebuilding my career as a professional speaker became a priority. While I had taken on a full-time job, I spent nights and weekends reinventing my speaking business. Rejuvenation of anything is not easy, and I was managing two careers at once. But it taught me that any business (or individual) can reinvent if they are dedicated and willing to do the hard work.

Recreating everything was daunting but essential. Assessing a new landscape, rebranding, and finding innovative ways to connect would be key. These experiences taught me valuable lessons about reinventing, which can guide anyone looking to start over. Here are nine key strategies that helped me and can also help you reinvent your speaking business:

1. Reassess Your Brand Identity: Take a fresh look at your brand and reputation. Ensure it aligns with the new landscape and resonates with your target audience. Your messaging should be clear, compelling, and reflective of your unique value. It takes time to reset a brand, as humans form opinions and hold to their beliefs. Getting others to see you and your business differently will take time and consistent effort. In my speaking business, it was over two years before the brand changes had any impact.
2. Leverage Digital Platforms: Embrace online opportunities. Webinars, virtual conferences, social media, YouTube videos, and podcasts are great ways to stay visible and reach a wider audience. Consistent content creation that provides value is paramount to reaching people and sharing your story. Enhance your digital presence through content that matters to your audience and keep putting it out there. The reach will be slow at first, so have a long-term vision.
3. Expand Your Network: All opportunities come from people, so make sure you are networking. Connect with other professionals, industry influencers, and potential partners. Attend in-person and virtual networking events as often as possible. Join professional associations (like NSA) to build relationships that can lead to new opportunities. As a speaker, I needed to get around to other speakers to discuss industry changes and having “speaker friends” made a definite difference.
4. Enhance Your Skills: Invest in professional development. Attend workshops, take courses, and keep up with industry trends to stay ahead of the curve. Continuous learning will keep your content relevant and your delivery sharp. During the reinvention period, I learned as much as I could. I read books, attended seminars, took online courses, and listened to podcasts. The enhanced skills allowed me to be confident in making hard business decisions.
5. Revamp Your Marketing Strategy: Update your website, create engaging content, and utilize social media to market your services. Use testimonials and case studies to showcase your expertise and the impact of your work. Many underestimate the power of marketing and word-of-mouth marketing. But if you are the best-kept secret in your industry, you are leaving money on the table.
6. Adapt Your Sales Approach: Refine your outreach tactics. Personalize your pitches and focus on building relationships with potential clients. Be persistent but also patient, as rebuilding your client base takes time. If you do not have a sales team, you must schedule time to make calls, send emails, and follow up with new leads and former customers.
7. Seek Feedback and Iterate: Continuously seek feedback from clients and peers to improve your offerings. I had several “mastermind groups” with smart people with whom I shared my hardships. They got to know me and the business I was working on to improve. Being open to criticism and questioning my habits made a big difference. Always prepare to pivot your strategies based on what works and what doesn’t.
8. Balance Your Life: Reinventing my career was all-consuming, but it was important that I also maintained my personal relationships and my health. Eating right, drinking less, sleeping, exercising, and having fun contributed to successful business improvements.
9. Prepare For the Next Reinvention: Life and business are unpredictable. Reinventing your business is not always fun and is often not something we consider before it becomes necessary. Had I prepared for the possibility of my speaking business shutting down in a pandemic, I would have been able to make changes quickly. Always be looking ahead.

If you must reinvent your business (or personal life), remember that you are not alone. Many successful people have faced similar chasms and were scrappy in how they worked to achieve new heights. Look to people who have done this before and ask for mentorship and guidance. Read biographies of how people and companies have built new bridges to easily cross previous pitfalls. And act. A body in motion stays in motion. Sitting still and worrying will not get you anywhere. As Nike says, “Just Do It”.

Thom Singer, CSP, is a professional keynote speaker and the CEO at the Austin Technology Council.