How to Transition to a Full-time Speaker with Clint Pulver.

Welcome to Public Speaking with Peter George. I'm Peter George, public speaking trainer, speaker, and award-winning author of The Captivating Public Speaker. This week I speak with Clint Pulver about transitioning from your job to becoming a full-time speaker. Known as the Millennial Speaker, Clint helps organizations that want to retain, engage, and inspire their people. As the President and Founder of the Center for Employee Retention, Clint has transformed how organizations like Keller Williams, AT&T, and Hewlett-Packard create lasting loyalty through his work and research as the undercover millennial. For over a decade, Clint has dedicated his heart to helping organizations understand the younger generation — and the younger generation understand themselves — through living a life of significance instead of just a life of success. It's not about being the best in the world, he says. It's about being the best for the world. Here's my chat with Clint Pulver.

How It All Started

Peter: Did you want to be a speaker from a young age? How did you get into it, and how did you actually start speaking for a living?

Clint: Speaking was never something I aspired to be. When I was a senior in high school, I spoke in church, and a gentleman in the congregation heard me speak and asked me to come speak at a leadership conference for other high school students. I said no — speaking to peers wasn't my thing. Then he said he'd pay me $500. I said, when do you need me? I put together a little workshop, went and did it, and I loved it. Afterward, six schools approached me and said they wanted me to come speak. That was the start of what became a full-time career.

Youth Speaking as a Training Ground

Clint: Even after that early success, I still never saw this as a full-time career. I wanted to be a helicopter pilot and went to flight school — that ended when an eye disease took away that dream. I spoke through college, never looking at it as a career, just as something that helped pay for school and that I loved. But speaking to youth turned out to be an amazing crash course in being a better public speaker.

If you can speak in a gymnasium surrounded by 2,000 or 3,000 high school students — I call that the lion's cage — they will eat you alive if you're not compelling, engaging, entertaining, and able to capture their hearts. I learned really quickly how to do that, because there was no other way to survive in that market. That training later led directly into a successful corporate career.

The First Major Corporate Client

Peter: How did you land that first major corporate client?

Clint: My first corporate gig was Keller Williams. I was at a conference speaking to youth when one of the Keller Williams CEOs stepped in to watch and heard me speak. A lot of it started that way — I'd speak at a high school or leadership conference, and students would go home and tell their parents. Their parents were event planners, board members, or executives, and they'd look me up. It all really stemmed from the youth world. I'm very lucky — and it's been a lot of hard work.

Stage-Side Leads — The Real Measure

Peter: I've noticed there's a big difference between an audience that says "great job" and one that actually comes back to book you.

Clint: Most good people will tell you you did a good job. When you know you really killed it on stage — how you know you did an exceptional job — is when somebody comes up after and reaches into their pocket, holds out a business card, and says, "We want you to come speak at our event. What's your availability?"

Andrew Davis calls them stage-side leads. When people come to the side of the stage, backstage, or up to you at the mix and mingle and hand you a card — that's when you know you did your job as a professional speaker.

Burning the Ships

Peter: In this career of yours, you must have had some early successes and some setbacks too.

Clint: There are a lot of setbacks. I burnt the ships — I quit all my jobs, left the medical field, and jumped into speaking full time. That was scary and exciting. There were times I didn't know how I was going to pay my mortgage, times I had to consider loans, or ask my parents to float me for the next month so I could keep working toward the next gig. Financially, there were many setbacks, especially when you're trying to grow, survive, pay the bills, and invest in your business all at once. I learned quickly which investments actually return ROI and which ones don't. It's also a crash course in your marriage. The line between husband and wife and business partners is not always obvious — but it taught us quickly how to communicate, solve problems together, and make it a win-win. Because if the marriage suffers, the business suffers too.

Standing Out in a Crowded Market

Peter: How do you separate yourself from other speakers?

Clint: Every speaker needs to ask that question, because bureaus and corporations are bombarded with emails, demo videos, and "book me" messages. The first and most certain answer is: have an amazing speech. Differentiate yourself by being absolutely exceptional on stage. That can involve entertainment value — do you juggle, have you climbed Everest, what's your story? What's your content? Are you an expert? Are you an author? The three categories are educational, engaging, and entertaining. If you hit all three and create an experience — not just a speech — you've set yourself apart. Everything's about the experience now. I've done that through music. I have a drum set on stage, and we involve the audience with buckets and drumsticks. Old-school speech delivery alone isn't as competitive as a speaker who creates something memorable.

The Undercover Millennial

Clint: Five years ago I started the Undercover Millennial Program — getting hired by corporations to interview millennials in the workplace, undercover, the way Undercover Boss works. We've partnered with 180 organizations and interviewed over 10,000 millennials. It gives companies a perspective they can't get through a survey or a management meeting. And we deliver that research inside a compelling, experiential keynote that sets us apart in the market. Every keynote is tailored and customized. We have post-keynote implementation, workshops, and pre-consultation work. For companies that choose the full undercover program, we're partnering with them for three to six months to compile research specific to their organization.

Energy, Health, and the Long Game

Peter: You have a tremendous amount of energy on stage. How difficult is it to maintain that for every presentation?

Clint: It's a marathon. After every keynote, while other speakers go out for drinks, I go to my hotel room and pass out. It's exhausting — I'm under the lights, doing a seven-minute drum solo in a suit, trying to create an experience for up to 4,000 people. I've worked hard on pacing, timing, voice control, and positioning on stage. I sometimes speak four or five times a week plus workshops in between. I have to preserve my voice and maintain my health. Every speaker should have a code of health — a level of fitness, emotional wellbeing, spiritual habits, and rituals on and off the road. Because the privilege of the platform means you're up there telling people how to live their lives. You have to model what you're asking of them. I treat every speech as a Super Bowl. Doesn't matter if there are five people or 5,000.

Two Pieces of Advice for New Speakers

Peter: Knowing what you know now, what suggestions do you have for speakers trying to make the transition?

Clint: Two things. First, before you craft your keynote, go ask the potential buyers — the people who will actually book you — what they would pay a speaker to come talk about. CEOs, event planners, HR directors. Just ask. I've seen so many speakers spend thousands on a website and a demo video and three years in, they're not getting booked. Did you ever think to ask the people who book speakers what they'd actually book you for? A little market research goes a long way. When those conversations happen, you're not there to sell anything. You're there to listen. And the people who give you their time often become your first clients.

Second, create your speaking board of directors. Find the people who are killing it in this business — the ones you look at and say, "I want to be like them." Reach out. Be kind, sincere, and respectful. Most people will give you their time. And when they do, say thank you. I was the king of the Jamba Juice gift card — I'd hand-write a thank-you note and mail it after every call. Just simply saying thank you has opened more doors to guidance, mentorship, and friendship than anything else I've ever done. So much of my success came from that.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Public Speaking with Peter George. To learn more about Clint Pulver, visit clintpulver.com or find him on Instagram at @clintpulver. Are you ready to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then visit petergeorgepublicspeaking.com and let's make it happen. I'll see you next time.