I began my professional speaking career in August 2006, fresh off the “Get Paid To Speak” workshop with three World Champions of Public Speaking—Darren LaCroix, Ed Tate, and Craig Valentine—in Washington DC. I was energized, inspired, and eager to leap into this exciting new chapter with no paved way ahead of me.  Those were heady days, there were very few Professional Keynote speakers in the UAE, let alone in the Middle East.   

Soon after, I landed a paid keynote at a corporate event. I used everything I’d learned from the workshop, poured my heart into preparing an inspiring keynote, and even sold an audio CD featuring myself alongside the World Champions. The ROI was solid—200% return—but then, silence. No referrals. No follow-up gigs. Just... crickets. 

That’s when the truth hit me: I had mastered the craft of speaking—but not the business of speaking. 

A couple of years later, I attended the Gove-Siebold Speech Workshop with Steve Siebold in London. That program—and the coaching that 

followed—taught me how to treat speaking not just as a passion, but as a profession. 

Here are five early mistakes that taught me invaluable lessons. 

I assumed a great speech would naturally attract more gigs. It didn’t. After that first keynote, it took six months to get another—this time, a barter deal. I soon realized: clients don’t buy brilliance—they buy solutions. They won’t notice your value unless you actively market it and position it to meet their needs. Visibility drives credibility and in turn, revenue. 

Whenever a client reached out, I’d spend hours crafting a custom keynote from scratch—7 to 8 hours of prep for a 1-hour talk. Admirable in theory, but disastrous in practice. The time-to-revenue ratio was unsustainable. 

One conversation with my coach changed my mindset: Repeatability drives profitability. That doesn’t mean recycling generic content—it means developing proven, adaptable, process driven solutions that can be tailored to client needs without reinventing the wheel every time. 

I dove into the business with 25 years of corporate finance experience as a CA and CPA. People at networking events often applauded my talks and praised my insights. But here’s the catch: those speeches were free. Compliments are not contracts. 

In the paid speaking world, clients don’t care about your years of experience; they care about how your message solves their problem. Price is directly tied to perceived value. The wider the gap between what they pay and what they gain, the more irresistible your offer becomes. 

I’ve always had the ability to speak confidently and persuasively. I assumed this natural flair would help me close deals. It didn’t. 

That changed when I started working with Ramez Helou, The Sales Doctor. He taught me that sales isn't about sounding good, it’s about communicating value. Until I learned how to articulate the ROI of my offering, I struggled to convert prospects. Once I did, high-value deals started closing—often without discounting. 

Coming from a finance background, I believed in tight control. I tried to do it all—product development, marketing, sales, delivery, admin. The result? Burnout. 

Eventually, I learned the power of delegation and outsourcing. By freeing myself from the grind, I could focus on strategy, creativity, and delivering high-impact experiences for my clients. 

Over the past 19 years, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. But each one helped shape a career spanning 2,500+ keynotes, 50,000+ audience members, and an average rating of 9.5/10. 

Want to shorten your learning curve, fast-track your journey and avoid the pitfalls I stumbled into? 

Want to build a business that is based on great products, water-tight processes, efficient technology, ROI focused marketing, value selling with each speaking gig paying for the next and driving cash flows upwards?