The Top Motivational Speaker Interviews: Colette Carlson #6

Last updated on October 16th, 2018 at 09:43 am

Motivational speaker, Colette Carlson, will tell you the most successful businesses grow from, and are sustained by, mutually-beneficial relationships. Your success is in direct correlation to your ability to connect with others. Many people communicate, yet few truly connect.

Is your big dream to be a top motivational speaker like Colette Carson? This article is professional speaker interview number six of my series “11 Top Women Motivational Speakers Share Their Best Advice” featuring motivational speaker, Colette Carlson.

For my “what it takes to be a motivational speaker” series, I cornered eleven of the most powerful women speakers, and I got them to share their best secrets on what catapulted them into public speaking stardom.

Each speechmaker in this series shares their best speaker business success advice. It’s important to learn the new rules of success today! Today’s interview is special because this speaker’s topics are leadership, sales, communication, wellness, and women leaders.

I asked my speaker interviewees to each answer ten questions. Since their answers are so informative, I’ve broken each speaker and their responses down into individual pages because once I put their answers together here–it was too large of an article (10,000 words) to load on a device like a smartphone.

This 6th interview is with Colette Carlson.

Colette Carlson is a human behavior expert and CPAE Hall of Fame motivational keynote speaker who inspires organizations and individuals to connect and communicate in real and relevant ways. You can read Collette’s full bio on her website, here.

The Top Motivational Speaker Interviews – Interview #6 of 11:

Colette Carlson

Q-1: What made you want to be a motivational speaker?

A-1: I’m a teacher at heart who loves that speaking plays to my passion of helping others grow and learn while holding me accountable to do the same.

Q-2: From the time you decided to become a motivational speaker, how long did it take for you to start making a living at it?

A-2: Years. I was still young without a clear message or platform so I cut my teeth working for professional sales trainers Tom Hopkins and Brian Tracy.

Then I decided I needed corporate experience so I became a National Sales Trainer for a major corporation, and suddenly I was also a wife and mother. This tortoise took time off to raise my daughters before jumping back in on my own.

From that point, it took a few years before I was earning an income comparable to my prior salary.

Q-3: Name 3 things you are really great at as a motivational speaker.

A-3: 1. Making others feel comfortable,
2. Communicating with heart, and
3. Playing.

Q-4: What was your biggest mistake in the business of being a paid public speaker?

A-4: Not realizing upfront how much “business” goes into the business. Even though I have both a bookkeeper and an accountant, just keeping track of my payroll taxes is taxing!

Q-5: What was the one thing you did right when you started as a motivational speaker?

A-5: The smartest decision I made was to attend National Speakers Association meetings from the beginning, and continued to attend as a guest during the years I was home raising my daughters.

The relationships and education I received by showing up at annual conventions was and still is, priceless.

Q-6: What do you think is the hardest thing about having a motivational speaking career?

A-6: Realizing that the time you’re actually speaking is minuscule to the time you will spend on all other aspects of running your speaking business.

Q-7: What is your favorite type of audience?

A-7: Women. We’re cut from the same cloth, so you can get deeper or sillier faster.

Q-8: The motivational speaker business can be stressful. What do you do to stay sane?

A-8: I’m sure my sweetheart would tell you some days I’m not, but I keep it in perspective and live a life of gratitude.

When all else fails, I drink wine with funny friends.

Q-9: Motivational speaking takes a tremendous amount of work; how do you balance your personal life with your speaking career?

A-9: I don’t believe in daily balance. In fact, in my programs, I encourage people to find a balance over time. So, if I’ve been running hard for a chunk of time, I simply stop and go play with the people I love.

Having said that, I take advantage of airport layovers to reach out to friends and family to catch up. With my own college-age daughters and sweetheart, I block time to do something they enjoy one-on-one.

It’s not easy, and it will never be so I accept this as part of my career choice.

Q-10: What advice would you give to women who have decided their big dream is to be a motivational speaker?

A-10: Similar to raising children, it will be the toughest job you’ll ever love.

Be clear on your message, hone your skills, and run your business like a business.

There is plenty of opportunity for everyone, so go for it!

———-

On behalf of 8WomenDream and myself, I would like to thank Colette Carlson for providing these generous answers to my ten motivational speaker questions.

I believe that women motivational speakers are worthy of recognition and celebration. I much appreciate Colette’s time and assistance in getting her answers to me about her public speaking business and her work-life balance advice.

Thanks again, Colette!

Kelly Swanson

Next Up: The Top Motivational Speaker Interviews – Interview #7 of 11 Cindy Pierce

Previous: The Top Motivational Speaker Interviews – Interview #5 of 11 Jessica Pettit