instant authority — photo credit: cafemama via photopin cc

We live in an age where it seems everyone is an author, speaker, consultant and, yes, authority on something.

Now, having said that I am fully aware that I happen to be an author, speaker, consultant and self anointed authority. I’ve been at this gig for twenty-five years now and in the last few I’ve become somewhat of an overnight success.

In case you’re not a long time reader here I’m attempting sarcasm.

Everyone wants to be an authority, but not everyone wants to do the work.

Becoming an authority in your town, your field or your network means different things to different people, but in the context of business it often means more exposure, higher fees and a much smoother path to marketing your goods.

The part that’s often left out of that equation, however, is that it takes work, it takes vision, it takes a plan and it takes showing up every day for a long time and talking about the exact same thing.

It takes a willingness to put yourself out there because you truly believe in a point of view, it takes writing even when no one is reading and speaking, even when no one is paying you to do so and, one more thing, it takes practice – lots of practice.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Paul Evans. Paul has been teaching people how to be better speakers and performers for more than a decade. In fact, I purchased one of Paul’s training courses almost fifteen years ago.

Evans teaches people the skills to be better, more engaging speakers and in this session we talked about just what it takes to make speaking an essential tool in your authority building toolbox.

It’s easy to call yourself a speaker, it’s a lot harder to be a speaker that moves people to action rather than boring them to tears.

Among other things Evans shares his tips for how to avoid becoming a human tranquilizer!

Practice, hard work, longevity – it all happens one day at a time.