If you haven’t, be sure to read yesterday’s post introducing this series.

My previous post introduced a new series of mentoring posts to coach patients who are good speakers try to make a business out of it. Believe me, it’s not easy; effective speaking skills are only step one. This series will be about how I’ve built a business. It’s not the only way to do it; I’m just sharing what I’ve learned.

Last week I had such a mentoring call with Randi Redmond Oster, a self-described “writer, engineer and mother who is a passionate advocate for patient management reform.” She’d already been out there giving talks for free at public libraries, with strong positive feedback. Only recently did she realize she might get paid for it. She sought out experienced advice, and here we are: We talked on the phone with the agreement that she’d write it up for posting here (and on her site).

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The world is changing, in good good ways. As we start the second half of 2013 it’s a perfect time for something new: coaching patients on becoming speaker/advocates.

Times have changed. When I started giving speeches four years ago I literally couldn’t get anyone to pay a cent to hear the voice of a patient. Now that’s changed – medicine understands that there’s genuine value in seeing things from the patient’s point of view, and gollllly, some of us can even give a pretty good speech, even if we don’t work in the industry!  So as I said last winter, I’m finally making a living at it: it took three years, but I finally reached break-even.

That creates both a problem and an opportunity:

• The problem is that I’m now too expensive for a lot of events. (I’ve demonstrated my value, and I get full professional speaker fees.) (This is good; it means I get to sleep, not bounce checks anymore, etc.)
• The opportunity is that this creates an updraft, so to speak – a market for additional speakers, earlier in their trajectory, who can give a compelling speech that’s focused not just on their story, but on delivering value to the audience.

And that has led several patients to ask how I got started, so they can try too.

I’m happy to explain how I market myself. And taking a tip from Ted Eytan, I’ll mentor people via this blog, so others can benefit from the advice, and so we can discuss, to help future travelers too.

My next post will be the first in this new series. Let’s have fun!
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The first few posts in the series:

• #1: Marketing yourself (with Randi Oster)
• #2: Understanding the industry
• #3: Q&A on Sales, with Trevor Torres
• #4: Cognitive dissonance
• #5: Knock it out of the park
• #6: What could be said that would make any difference?
• #7: 2011 post “Building a career as a public patient”
• #8: My way’s not the only way, but speaking skills matter.
• #9: Your website, with video
• #10: Take off your stupid badge.
• #11: Introducing ourselves (workshop begins!)
• #12: “Slaves of the Internet, Unite!” (NYTimes Sunday Review)
• #13: Strategic freebies
• #14: Core speech elements – “Data makes you credible. Stories make you memorable.”
• #15: The contract
• #16: Getting paid (being businesslike about cash flow)
• #17:  “Your message did not fall on deaf ears.”
• #18: Client Honor Roll – great and valued business partners
• “The Big Ugly” meets Speaker Academy #19: What’s up with expense checks??
  • #19 (getting paid), continued
• #20: Message lessons from a video boot camp
• #21: Interview at Mayo with @Chimoose on the value of patient voices
• #22: Diary of an Invited Speaker
• #23: First, get into their world (presentation at CGT)

The series continues, as time allows, in the category Speaker Academy.