Motivational speaker Mitch Carson visited the Philippines recently for a four-day teach-in-cum-conference called ‘Speak in Manila’.
Carson has mentored 270 speakers across all professions, industries and sectors, a good percentage of whom are already self-made speakers who want to learn more.
“There’s a whole wide range of those wanting to get famous or be known through public public speaking, not only within their countries but globally. They want to get out, market themselves as good speakers and monetize on their capabilities. I help them go where they want to go and brand them uniquely in the international market. They were perceived much greater than they were before because they must have perfected their routines. What they all get to know is that speaking is all about perception. Marketing is about perception,” Carson said.
During the four days that Carson was in Manila, 20 speakers became his participants with two Filipinos on the roster. A great many flew from other parts of the world like Japan and Australia to hear him speak and listen to his formula on how to engage an audience.
One of the two Filipinos is an 83-year-old socialite who Carson met during his earlier stint as a speaker in a Manila event in 2018. “She does it because she loves it. She’s in my network. She believes in what I’m doing. I did not charge her,” he said.
The other Filipino participant is quite famous outside the country and has spoken all over the world himself.
Carson is also a well-known speaker who leads about four to five conferences all over the world each year. His “Speak” stints in different famous cities draw crowds of repeat participants and interested new speakers.
Carson had staged events in Bangkok, Beverly Hills, Cairo, Dubai, Madrid, Oman and other major cities around the world multiple times to share the formula of eloquence and substance speaking.
“I have trained some of the most elite speakers in the world. People with skills in artificial intelligence, people who have expertise in different fields, people who are already experts in their own personal way,” he said.
“I have trained people who know how to motivate other people ans those that may have the ability to sell. I have people who train public speakers in Malaysia. A student of mine was here because he wants to grow his brand online by coming and sharing his passion here. They come to me because they want to grow their brand out if their home country,” he said.
Carson provides speakers with a platform, a speaking opportunity to let the fear escape from them and conquer their stage fright. The four-day conference was actually a session of fast-track curriculum in speaking.
“I give them a stage, a platform. And before they get to the stage, I give them training. They pay in order to get paid when they go out into the speaking world. I get them prepared. I’m their university. I am their fast-track university in order to and get paid,” he said.
Carson helps speakers identify which passions turn to money and focus on the right direction.
Most speaking trends on demand is on artificial intelligence, big data, video and mobile apps. “I can get in experts who want to grow their brands. They maybe experts but they may not be experts in communicating their messages. There’s a big divide there, there’s a valley. I bridge the gap. They don’t know how to convey their message. There are lots of experts but no marketing skills so I give them the fast-track by identifying their passion and testing if their passion is maketable,” said Carson.
Public speaking, he said, is quite financially rewarding. A veteran speaker like himself can earn at least $200,000 a year just from speaking alone.
“But for celebrity speakers like Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a single speaking performance earns them $500,000,” he said, adding that he had once shared the stage with former President Clinton.
He was not born a speaker though. Losing both his parents at age 22 was too much for him that he was drawn to seductive world of alcoholism and drugs.
“I went on a downward spiral depression of drinking and drug sessions. I decided to live after being extremely drug addicted and alcoholic. I made a decision at age 23 to live,” he said.
In more than a year of wastedness, Carson got involved in Alcoholic Anonymous and had been sober since July 1984 and started in a career of motivating people to thrash the habit.
“After six months of being sober, I started speaking of my recovery and recovery from being dead. That launched my speaking career. And I became better at it, sharing my experience of overcoming alcohol and drug addiction. And then it grew and grew and then I realized that my reception in the market is pretty good. I can make a living out of it,” he said.
That transition is what has made him build a stronger wall to drugs and alcoholism. This coming July 1, 2019, Carson will be celebrating his 35 years of being sober.
“I shared about this all over the world in some 59 countries. Much of the time I don’t get paid to do that. It do that because it is my privilege to do it, it is may passion to do it. Speaking about drugs and alcohol and recovery possibilities, I do with passion but never accepted payment. I still do that whenever I’m m asked and I will never accept a penny. But I have to eat so I make money the other way. But helping others is my primary mission in life,” he said.
In April, Carson will be back for another conference in Cebu and may stage a reprise of “Speak in Manila” in July.
“I believe that Filipinos can be great speakers. The quality of their voice and they being bilingual are enough to start with. They only need a little bit of mastery through proper training,” he said.