Your investment includes:
A workbook and morning and afternoon refreshments.

Let’s get the facts first. Speaking for pay is one of the most financially rewarding careers today. The National Speakers Association (NSA) conducted a membership survey in mid 2007 in which 960 members participated. The process, administered by an independent market research entity was a web-based anonymous survey that used 2006 data. The results are not only reliable but also solid and great source of inspiration for any one who wants to enjoy a lifestyle that makes a difference while providing income in levels millions can’t fathom.

	The average full fee for a keynote speech, (can last 15-90 minutes) that NSA members received was a whopping $5,000 when speaking away from home and $3,800 when speaking in their home community.
	The average gross income for an NSA member from product sales (books, CDs and videos among others), service sales (coaching, consulting or mentoring) and speaking (keynote, breakout session, full or half day speaking) was $177,000. That for doing something they love. They don’t even call it a job or career. They feel it’s a mission. So they are missionaries who are rewarded greatly.
	Over 80% of independent speakers (not hired and not part of regional and/or national corporations) work from home.
What, however, the results don’t indicate is that the incomes shown above could be generated by someone working (actual time spent in-front of individual (coaching or consulting) or individuals (speaking, training and/or selling)) in no more than 100 days of a 365 year. And for sure rarely in an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. situation since billable full day work is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. That’s the truth. What this means is that those in the speaking business who have families, can, if they choose to, create a lifestyle that allows them to be with their families in the morning before children go to school and be home as the children return home. This also gives them the opportunity to be involved in their children’s after-school activities.

Speakers enjoy accelerated professional and personal growth generally unknown to the rest of the world. Research-based speakers, the ones who spend time learning the challenges and expectations of the groups they speak to or train or the individuals they coach, consult or mentor, learn lessons never covered in colleges or in books. In the eleven years I have been a full time speaker, I have been blessed to learn about and work with organizations I had never heard of.

I never knew about American football. I have not only worked with numerous teams, but also enjoyed being selected the Homecoming Grand Marshal of the successful Boise State University Broncos Football for working with the team from 1998 to the present. Like many speakers/writers, I can update my resume every three months.

The question is, would you like a career (sorry, a calling) that provides substantial income without constant sacrifice of the time you need for your family? Would you like to do something that you know is helping improve other’s lives? Would you like to be involved in a lifelong journey that introduces you to new places and opens opportunities to learn of people and their challenges and be inspired by unbelievable human stories of triumph over adversity?

Now you have some inside information of a profession that can be rewarding. Any time you get an opportunity to improve your public speaking skills, take it. That might be the beginning of your life’s fulfilling mission.

Millions of people will remember the 2010 Soccer World Cup competition for the annoying buzz of the Vuvuzelas, the French team’s theatrics, some really bad referee calls (especially two against the American and English teams) and the fact that it occurred in Africa. The team that wins the Cup will be not be remembered by the majority of those who are watching, other than players and diehard fans.

What the world doesn’t know is the story of many of the African soccer players. Those are more than individual players or teams representing their countries. They represent all boys in the villages or city streets whose soccer balls never bounce. Those boys need no referees, marked playing fields or cheering fans.
 

They are cheered by nature as they play in fields of unpredictable size and conditions. Some fields are city garbage dumping grounds while others have thorns and, rocks. Footpaths serve as improvised village soccer fields. The games played in these fields have natural break times as players stop to let footpath users pass.

Playing those games leaves permanent marks as expected when you step in those grounds on barefoot. Scars from wounds caused by broken bottles, rocks, discarded nails and other metallic objects, protruding roots or tree stumps are the “badges of honor” displayed by players for the rest of their lives.

Soccer (football) in my days was the sport for boys. This year’s World Cup has brought back memories of childhood football experiences in Kangundo, Kenya. A plastic or paper stuffed with anything soft such as torn clothes, newspapers or tree leaves and forced into a circular shape was all we needed.

Small rubber balls (Katulyu, as we called those manufactured balls) could be purchased from local shops. A second grade boy with a Katulyu controlled the world. All other boys bowed to him so they could be allowed to play with his ball.

The first time I kicked a real soccer ball rests in my heart with the same presence as the day my mother brought me my first underwear at age 13 or the day in 1970 when my father bought our family’s first radio. Or the day Dad brought me the first book I owned in 1973 to prepare for the high school entrance exam.

How God performed a miracle one day is still a mystery. Mr. Mwanza, our second grade teacher, announced that we would be playing football during PE (the word soccer had not been invented). He became more important than presidents, bishops or witch doctors to me.

Because of his benevolent act, I started paying attention in class. At the end of the term, I was number 10 in a class of 40 pupils. It was my fourth year in school but I was still in second grade and had never been among the first 39 students at the end of a term.

Over forty years have passed, but that real soccer moment remains. I see Matthew Wambua, Kiio Maingi (who eventually became the best friend I have ever had) and my uncle Munywoki kicking that ball. I see myself kicking that ball and turning my school performance around.

Having the World Cup played in Africa is letting each child who ever kicked a makeshift ball score a goal with a liberated spirit and hope for a better tomorrow.