Q: I am starting a workshop that uses traditional acting techniques to help women break through the glass ceilings they face in their lives and perform to the best of their ability every day. Should I find a marketing company to help me build this business?
--G.G, Staten Island, N.Y.

A: Every entrepreneur faces the challenge of needing to become proficient in two major areas: You've got to be good at what you do and have great material, plus you have to be able to sell your product or service. If you have the budget to pay a marketing company, by all means go ahead. If you're like most startups and haven't got a nickel to spare, don't despair. Spend your money on brochure designers, direct-mail material, and a Web site, and learn to market yourself. You know your product best and are more passionate about it than anybody else could be anyway.

Experts say that it takes at least five years to really develop a reputation as a workshop leader, since you're selling an intangible -- your expertise and advice. "At the beginning, you have to be willing to do a lot of speaking for a chicken lunch at Kiwanis meetings or the local businesswomen's association," says motivational speaker Vilis Ozols, president of Ozols Business Group, in Golden, Colo. "But if you're good, you'll make the contacts you need to get real bookings."

There are two ways to make a living as a speaker or workshop presenter, Ozols says. One is to go to the general public and try to fill a room with people who will pay $100 or $200 to hear your advice. The other is to leverage your presentation so it appeals to a corporate market and target conferences, seminars, and business meetings. "The public format is high-risk, but also high-reward," Ozols says. "If you don't do everything just right, it can cost you a bundle, and you won't recoup your costs. But if you have name recognition, good marketing, and a great topic, it can be very lucrative."

The less risky option is to take your workshop on the conference/convention circuit. With your subject matter, it sounds like you should start by targeting groups of professional women and female entrepreneurs. "If you're targeting entrepreneurs, it's going to be tough, because most of them can't pay much. You'll need to produce some related videotapes, audiotapes, and maybe a paperback book that you can use for back-of-the-room sales, which is a huge part of how most speakers make money," Ozols says.

In fact, writing a book summarizing your material is a sure-fire way to build credibility and provide yourself with a dynamic piece of sales literature, says Keith Ellis, a speaker based in Arlington, Va., who specializes in goal-setting. He wrote a book, The Magic Lamp: Goal Setting for People who Hate Setting Goals, three years ago and published it himself. Last year, he sold it to Three Rivers Press, an imprint of Random House. "If you don't want to -- or feel you can't -- write a book, you'd better question your expertise on this topic. If you expect people to pay to listen to you, you'd better have something compelling to say that you can turn into a book," Ellis says.

He also feels that a Web site, well-indexed on the major search engines, is a must for an independent workshop presenter. "If you get listed the right way with the appropriate search engines, your Web site will bring women who want your services right to you," says Ellis, whose Internet page is at www.selfhelp.com. If you aren't sure how to get your site listed on Yahoo! and half a dozen major search engines, hiring a Web marketing/positioning specialist would be a good investment, he says. Put helpful content and maybe a newsletter on your site and use it to advertise your seminars as well as any books or tapes you have for sale.

Check with your local speakers' bureau, which will market your workshop for a fee to people looking for conference presenters, and with professional seminar companies, such as CareerTrack (www.careertrack.com) and SkillPath Seminars (www.skillpath.com). These companies market seminars to corporations and the general public and will sometimes pay you a royalty and/or hire you to give your workshop at one of their events to supplement their current offerings. Ozols' Web site, www.ozols.com, includes information and articles on how to get into the business via public-seminar companies. One caveat: You'll need to be established as a trainer/presenter before you will get noticed by these companies.

Corporate trainer Thomas W. McKee, owner of Advantage Point Systems Inc. (www.advantagepoint.com) of Sacramento, Calif., sends out an inexpensive, one-page newsletter about four times a year to a mailing list culled from people he meets at networking events and speaking engagements. He has the same content in a free online newletter that goes out to people who subscribe through his Web site. "It keeps your name in front of your potential clients and offers information that will be helpful to them," he says. He also writes articles and submits them to trade journals, Web sites, and association newsletters.

McKee says that when he started out, he got tremendous help by joining his local chapter of the National Speakers' Assn. The group is based in Phoenix (602 968-2552). Their Web site, www.nsaspeaker.org, provides information to aspiring trainers on how to market themselves, develop and sell products, sharpen their presentation skills, and join local chapters.

Another group, the American Society for Training & Development, www.astd.org, focuses on workshop development and training and provides information for human-resources managers, as well as leadership and networking opportunities for potential trainers and workshop leaders.

Finally, read Speak and Grow Rich, a book considered the bible of the industry, written by Dottie and Lilly Walters. You can order it and a host of other resources on starting a workshop business from scratch at the Walters' Web site at: www.walters-intl.com.

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