Wealthy and Well-Known Podcast
Jun 9, 2026 · 36 min · 12 segments
Building a paid speaking career takes more than wanting a stage. In this episode, Rory and AJ share what it really takes to become a professional speaker. They talk about the reps, practice…
AJ VadenHostThis is a topic that makes me angry, is that I think the world of speaking has a lot of predatory vendors.
There's a lot of people selling the dream of become a speaker who have not actually done it.
There's a lot of people who are like, "Buy my service and I'll help you get on more stages." They've never actually done it.
There's a, this, this industry, this particular space, for some reason is fraught with people teaching how to do something they've never done, and I think it's because they make a lot of money.
[upbeat music] What do you really need to have and do and become to build a professional, uh, keynote speaking business? All things that we're gonna talk about on today's episode, along with the vast amount of improper information and misappropriated information and misconceptions and miscommunicated information there is out there on this topic.
I'm joined by my wife, my best friend, my business partner, and the CEO of Brand Builders Group, AJ Vaden.
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This is a topic that makes me angry, is that I think the world of speaking has a lot of predatory vendors.
There's a lot of people selling the dream of become a speaker who have not actually done it.
There's a lot of people who are like, "Buy my service and I'll help you get on more stages." They've never actually done it.
There's a, this, this industry, this particular space, for some reason is fraught with people teaching how to do something they've never done, and I think it's because they make a lot of money.
[upbeat music] What do you really need to have and do and become to build a professional, uh, keynote speaking business? All things that we're gonna talk about on today's episode, along with the vast amount of improper information and misappropriated information and misconceptions and miscommunicated information there is out there on this topic.
I'm joined by my wife, my best friend, my business partner, and the CEO of Brand Builders Group, AJ Vaden.