World of Motivational Speakers – Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is the Best Motivational Speaker

Vikas Jain: Many times, people ask me that Vikas, “Who is the Best Motivational Speaker” in World, in the continent e.g. Asia, United States etc., in the country e.g. Singapore, India etc. in the city e.g. Delhi, Mumbai etc.

There are many people who would respond to this question by giving the name like Tony Robbins, Les Brown etc. But let’s understand this question from different perspectives. As a motivational speaker, I am a deep thinker and I believe that pearls are always hidden deeper in the sea. Hence I am sharing the deeper perspective of “Motivational Speaking”. Though Motivational Speakers fall into various categories for ease of understanding, I have broadly created three categorizes of the motivational speaker as mentioned below.

Three categories of motivational speakers

1. There are some people who have done something great in their life and their speeches inspire you. For example, if you listen to various TED talks, you will find the speech very inspiring. But these speakers may not call themselves motivational speaker. In my case, I really get inspired by Prof. Mohammad Yunus (founder of Grameen Bank) so for me, Mohammad Yunus is the person whose speeches motivated me
2. There are other speakers who are termed “Motivational Speaker” by media and other agencies but they are actually on a mission of doing something BIG. For example, Sister Shivani from Braham Kumari is on spiritual pursuit though some of the media publications and google searches may tag her as Motivational Speaker
3. There are Professional Keynote Speakers and Motivational Speakers who are professional speakers i.e. they charge a speaking fee for their work. These may be full-time/par-time speakers

As a motivational speaker myself, after interacting with many motivational speakers, I would say no one is best as it really depends upon the target audience and their needs. Hence one speaker can deliver/cater to the specific target group and other speakers may seem “BEST” for other target audiences.

Q: How much does a motivational speaker get?

Vikas Jain: Talking about the income of Motivational Speaker, I would say motivational speaking is more of Art as compared to Science. Hence income may not be gradually increasing like the salary of an engineer. The income of motivational speakers is more like artists, where famous artists are making extraordinary income, and others may not be even making any substantial money. Though like artists, motivational speakers still pursue it as per their inspiration. In the business of Motivational Speaking, brand matters a LOT.

To give an insights about the broad range of fees charged but speakers, the speaking fee of motivational speakers may vary as below. This is just showing the broad range so you can imagine the currency of your country and these numbers will still hold true.

FREE -> 1000 –> 30,000 –> 50,000 –> 1,00,000 –> 5,00,000 –> 10,00,000 and more

Motivational Speakers, going to School/Colleges during class level events may do it for FREE or may get a small amount per hour as honorarium. On the other hand, Motivational Speakers doing corporate events for 1000+ employees of a company may charge 10,00,000 or even more for one hour of speech.

Besides being invited to corporate events, speakers can offer open house classes where anybody can join. And based on the target audience and event, tickets may vary from 500 to 50,000 and even more. Yes, there are open house seminars where the individual entry fee is said 1000 and 10000 people participating in the event. Hence 10,000,000 for that one event. One can compare this with payment charged by Hollywood actors. The more famous and established you are, the more you can charge the fee.

Truly saying, FEE is not everything that Motivational Speakers look for. Motivational Speaking is a very broad term covering various people in Industry. For Motivational speakers what matters most is the value add that we can bring, in other’s life.

In case you have any query about Motivational Speaking, you can ask the same by writing in comments below.