Know more about this man of miracles, Venu Bhagavan who is a renowned speaker, author and coach having delivered over 2000 inspirational talks to different walks of life since 1995. Here he shares with us the various aspects of a motivational speaker.

Question : Who is your inspiration in taking up this profession and what made you realise that speaking is one job where your heart lies? Venu Bhagavan: My idol of inspiration is Swami Vivekananda. When I am appreciated and acknowledged by people whom I respect and admire, that is when my inner voice tells me that this is where my heart lies and living my true self. 

Q : What was your biggest failure and what did it teach you?
Venu Bhagavan: I consider selling my business to take up this profession in 2004 as the biggest failure of my life. The lesson I learnt out of it was that Life choices especially financial choices should be made by wisdom rather than emotion or gut feeling. But of course love is blind so the CALLING.

Q : Tell us about your greatest achievement from the past and if it is something related to your profession or outside work?
Venu Bhagavan: One of the greatest achievements of my life was selling one lakh copies of my books. It’s special because that was a goal I set for myself and I have achieved all my books together. This is totally related to my professional life. But if you ask me outside of work, the greatest achievement is ‘being a good father’.

Q : What according to you are the qualities of a good motivational speaker?
Venu Bhagavan: According to me, the most primary quality for a motivational speaker is understanding the purpose of Human Life. Then comes, keeping the energies high consistently; be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. It’s also important to possess love, compassion and care for the world around you. Next important aspect that keeps a motivational speaker going is continuous learning without which they would reach a saturation point. Lastly, the necessary quality in any kind of job is balancing the success in both the worlds, inner as well as outer world. 

Q : What are the common risks involved for a motivational speaker? How to face them?
Venu Bhagavan: There cannot be any work which doesn’t involve the risk factor; so does the job of a motivational speaker. The first and the foremost one is that it is a Self Employed Career. So people take your services when they need it, not when you need it. Hence, one has to develop other skills like Counselling (needs professional degree), Training and Coaching to generate revenue in order to consistently generate income which keeps the motivation alive for motivators. Also, one can develop other skills and competencies or build business and investment plans which can either generate passive or active incomes.

One more thing to be kept in mind is that ‘Always find authentic information to motivate’ and also develop courage by integrity and moral authority by working behalf of others. 

Q : What exactly is the starting point for this particular career and what kind of support training would you require to be able to do this job?
Venu Bhagavan: It should start off with deep desire to help others to live their true life and to the fullest of their potential which gives them everything they need in life.

Firstly, you need to get a mentor who can guide you and whom you should be able to trust. Secondly, as I’ve mentioned earlier only continuous learning can keep you going. So you need to attend a number of Learning Workshops and join training organizations like Jaycees, Toast Masters, Management Associations, Human Resource Development Organizations, Society for Training and Development etc. 

Also attend or listen to any Management, Leadership, Spiritual talks and convert them into a language your audience understands. Remember, like any other profession, you should consider your information is your product, hence you should wisely create products and services to sell. It is your passion, vision, mission and even obsession but also your profession hence you should “Mind Your Business” as many people get carried away in this profession by emotion. 

The journey of a Motivational Speaker starts from 1. Grow self. 2. Know self. 3. Know others (understand world & society) 4. Grow others (Then you can help others). 

Q : What is a typical career path in this job function and the highest level up to which one can go?
Venu Bhagavan: The typical career path includes being a Motivational Speaker, Author, Soft Skill Trainer, (Refer trainingindustry.com for more details to develop your niche area) Professional Coach (Refer International Coach Federation (ICF) for more details). The highest level job one can hold in this career is that of the prime minister or a President. 

Q : In what way does your profession help you grow or change you and also share with us your personal mission statement? Venu Bhagavan: If you ask me, your profession can help you deal your life very effectively, to an extent that world will be surprised and admire you. You can leave an impact (may be unseen mostly) in this world. 
I personally believe in and work towards my mission statement ‘Together we can build a great Nation.’

Q : What according to you is motivation?
Venu Bhagavan: The definition of motivation to me is “Helping people see a new paradigm and suddenly find a new idea, solution and insights in generating a brand new future which inspires and excites them to take actions.”

Q : Can you share one such case where a person was highly impacted by your speech and the change it brought in him? Venu Bhagavan: There are a number of such instances and I can’t just stop with one. But some of them which are really close to my heart are the following. 

One such incident was about a mother who has two mentally challenged children and she listened to my talk through media, and today she is a principal of a mentally challenged school in Warangal apart from taking care of both the children. Another special moment was when I got to know that a teacher with his colleagues started a school in Mehabobabad after listening to my talk. 

One more incident that has given me so much of contentment was when I heard that a women started an Organization ‘Council for Green Revolution’ after reading my book FIRE. It is definitely special for any writer when his book has changed a person’s life whose work positively affect the world. 
A joyful moment in my life was when the founder of an NGO ‘Vande Mataram’, which helps Govt. School children, walked up to me and told me that he was inspired by my first book THE SECRET.  Q : What would be your message for people in order to motivate themselves?
Venu Bhagavan: “All your life till now is only the preparation to live your BEST innings. If you are alive your mission is still alive and waiting for your initiative. Use future based language every day that creates a future you love. And follow as Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the Change you want to see in the world” and I suggest “BE THE LOVE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD”  Have good T.E.A every day. That is Thoughts, Emotions and Actions. And remember Problems and solutions are born together, hence life offers opportunities in the midst of problems if you see onto the other side of the coin.”

His words can have so much of impact on your thought process. His book ‘FIRE within’ has changed the lives of so many. We need more such personalities who shall stand as a silhouette for the word ‘Motivation’!