As someone involved in the world of professional speaking, I see a lot of people who prey upon unsuspecting, gullible individuals with the notions of “Get rich quick!!! Be a professional speaker and make millions!!! Make $15,000 per hour!!!”

Like most things, there is a kernel of truth to this, and a mountain of but’s.

Here is the reality: there is a tiny handful of professional speakers who make seven figure incomes from speaking. There is a slightly bigger handful of people who make decent six figure incomes as speakers. And there are a ton of so-called professional speakers who make five figure incomes, often less than $50,000 per year.

Let’s look at some hard numbers:

National Speakers Association (the organization for professional speakers) 4,000 members

Toastmasters (organization for business people who happen to speak)   250,000 members.

Do you see a slight difference?

Even though I am a professional speaker and trainer and am the president of the National Speakers Association New York Chapter, I can’t in good conscience encourage most people to become professional speakers. The odds simply aren’t there.

The odds of become, say, a successful motivational speaker and making a seven figure income are, roughly 1 in a million.

The odds of being a financial planner or insurance agent who learns how to speak effectively at public financial seminars and achieving a seven figure income (or at least a high six figure income) are roughly 1 in 2.

Which set of odds do you prefer?

For most people, it is a much better strategy to become good at a real business (unrelated to speaking) and then to use public speaking as a marketing tool to differentiate themselves from competitors, acquire customers more cost-effectively etc.

So for many of you who have made New Year’s resolutions to start a new career and are thinking about becoming a professional speaker, please look at the hard numbers and make sure that speaking isn’t a better means to your ends rather than your ultimate end goal.