Resources for Keynote Speakers
How to book more and better keynotes and make public speaking a revenue engine.
HI! I’M JAY.
I’ve spent 20 years creating and refining the exact kind of thought leadership and storytelling I now help others create—not as theory but as my own daily practice. I’m not a coach with templates. I’m an advisor who serves as a practitioner-peer to experts, creators, authors, speakers, and business communicators with tons of competence who now need greater resonance.
ABOUT ME:
Former digital media strategist at Google and head of content at multiple companies, including HubSpot.
Built my own six-figure speaking business, charging consistent five-figure fees, giving 20-30 paid speeches across the US and other countries, before launching my current advisory business.
Author of Break the Wheel, a book about questioning best practices in the age of Advice Overload.
Trusted by brand partners and sponsors like Mailchimp, Wistia, Salesforce, and GoDaddy to train their teams and partner on publicly visible storytelling projects.
Featured in 3 books on public speaking and creative entrepreneurship. My story is a case study others cite.
“Jay’s a practitioner, not a consultant. He’s got frameworks and lessons from years of speaking professionally and helping some of the best in the business, but his advice is not one-size-fits-all. Whether you’re prepping for your first keynote or you’ve given hundreds, Jay will make you better.”
—Simone Stolzoff (writer for The Atlantic & The New York Times; mainstage TED speaker; bestselling author of The Good Enough Job and How to Not Know)
Watch my speaker reel:
Resources to Grow Your Speaking Business
The Key to Paid Keynotes
Don’t Go any further until you understand this truth:
Keynotes are sold backwards.
They operate on a completely inverted commercial model compared to other things you’ve sold. That’s why it can feel so hard or sporadic. Until you learn this, you’re in danger of investing time and dollars on the wrong things (which are the right things for other offerings you might sell—but not the case with speaking).
The most important metric to measure
If you’re already getting booked here and there, the next step isn’t more visibility. It’s stage-side leads.
That’s how you turn one talk into many, and make speaking more consistent.
One talk should create more.
Maximize strengths + Fix What’s needed:
Find Your natural communication Style
This is the Idea Impact Matrix. Use it to assess your natural communication style—turning what feels familiar into superpowers while consciously crafting what you’re likely to miss, given your style
The goal is to compete the impact of your ideas, not the volume of your marketing. When you matter more, you need to hustle for results less.
The impact of Your idea is proportional to its value plus its originality
Keynote speakers must deliver both at a high level. That’s what makes them transformational voices.
Don’t market more. Matter more.
Think resonance over reach.
Don’t be the best. Be their favorite.
Watch my speech about speaking (meta, I know!)
Pitching events to speak?
We use pitching strategically to get into densities of our ideal audience and niches where we’re not present, or to secure opportunities to speak at pipeline-feeding events. Your pitch should land you at an event where your signature talk can take over, decreasing the need for future pitches as you turn today’s gig into more gigs.
The goal remains “stage-side leads,” so we use pitching in a focused way to get a foot in the door only.
The goal is to get invited more, so we can Pitch less*
*Remember: Breakout speakers pitch. Keynote speakers get invited. And only keynotes are paid.
What should you actually charge?
Most speakers either underprice themselves or guess.
Pricing is about understanding where you sit in the market, what outcomes you create, and how your talk drives future opportunities.
Watch this to learn how to quote your speaking fee with confidence:
Watch Jay rework speeches in realtime
with other speakers
Reactions to an Opening Keynote
Client Success Story:
Mykel Dixon is an author, musician, & speaker booking 5-figure gigs
He worked with Jay to clarify his message, develop a stronger premise, and design his signature talk.
“Helping people articulate the essence of their ideas is Jay's sweet spot.”
“He's obsessed with going above-and-beyond to help you find YOUR unique voice, YOUR unique message, and pull it together in a way that others can REALLY hear it. Throw every bit of money you can at that guy. He's extraordinary.”