Ryan Leak

Then I slowly but surely realized something else, and that was I was actually paid the least of all the other speakers.

And in somewhat of an awkward, honest moment, I asked my friend at the time, I said, hey, man, here's the deal.

If I was voted number one, why am I not paid like the number one speaker?

And are you a draw?

Are people signing up and registering for this event because they see your name on the docket?

It's lots of things that go into speaker selection and speaker pay.

And it all made sense.

But that moment forced me to wrestle with something so much deeper.

Am I going to wait for them to see me the way that I see me?

Or am I going to wake up tomorrow and get back to work and figure out ways to add value to the people in my life?

Whether it's a client, whether it's a friend, whether it's a family member.

Like, am I waiting for somebody else to value me before I value me?

And I remember there was a time where I used to be a video guy.

I actually had a video business.

That was actually my background and what I really did a lot in college.

So I spent a great deal of my career actually behind the camera, editing, producing.

I had a job where I was actually helping everyone else look good.

And then I began to begin the journey of transitioning into the speaking space.

And a lot of people that knew me as a videographer, well, they were genuinely confused.

Like, hey, you speak English?