Many business owners have success developing their businesses using public speaking. It is a good way to get many people to "know, like and trust" you all at the same time.

But how do you become a speaker that earns income and builds your business by speaking?

Here are five tips to help make it happen for you.

Tip #1: Determine Your Target Market

You need to focus on the topics in which you have expertise. This is critical. You aren't an expert at everything, so picking one particular target market to focus on is crucial. For instance, you might focus on motivating salespeople or business owners.

You've been invited to teach a group of people either at a seminar, webinar, chat room or other online event. Great...congratulations!

You know your material and it's a fantastic opportunity to grow your business. You have your topic and the date is set. Now what? How do you plan what you’re going to talk about?

With a little bit of creativity, you can leverage what you already do and have to create an excellent online speaking presentation. Here are 6 tips to help you do that.

Tip #1: Gather Your Materials

Chances are you've already written an abundance on the topic already. Maybe you have articles, blog posts or even reports and books on the subject. Or maybe you've created a few videos.

Gather all of the information you've already created on the topic. Chances are you're going to repeat much of this information during your speech so why reinvent the wheel and make more work for yourself?

If you've paid your dues as a beginning public speaker, maybe it's time to "think big" and find some speaking engagements that involve a bigger audience—and a bigger paycheck.

You can begin to play a bigger game as a public speaker by first positioning yourself as a professional expert, then by looking for increasingly larger venues and events.

Follow these tips to work your way up to the big time!

Positioning Yourself as a Professional Expert

Before you book the first paid speaking engagement, make sure you’ve done all you can to present yourself as a polished, professional expert speaker.

Start with your website. If you haven't already, you'll want to add a page for your speaking services. Make sure the copy is as clear and dynamic as you can make it. Hire a professional copywriter for this task, if you can; it's an investment that will pay off many times over in speaking fees earned.

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." – Napoleon Hill

Ask any successful public speaker how to achieve your goals and the first piece of advice is likely to be, "Think positively." Positive thoughts are your key to achieving your dreams and goals in your speaking career. While being positive isn't the only ingredient and characteristic necessary, it is an essential one.

Positive thinking starts with you.

Often we look at what we want to achieve in our speaking careers and we’re able to think positively about the goal or the process—but we're unable to think positively about our abilities.

What topics do you do well on when speaking? Rather than focus on what you're not so good at, spend time focusing on what you are good at. Enjoy and relish your strengths. These strengths are what will catapult you to your speaking success. Instead of thinking "I can't or I won't be able to," think, "I can, I will, I am able to."

How do you get started when you're new to public speaking? Where can you find that "right audience?"

Lots of places, it turns out! Here are a few to consider—some well-known, some you may not have considered before.

Think Local

Before you aim for the speaking "big leagues"—national professional meetings or TED—think local by looking at service, professional and social organizations in your city or town. This is an especially helpful strategy if you're just starting out with public speaking.

Going local has a number of benefits for new and nervous speakers. The gatherings are generally much smaller and held in more intimate, less intimidating, venues. You may even know a few people in your audience, which will help reduce nervousness. Also, local gatherings generally require shorter talks, which will also help with stage fright.

There is no more effective marketing than powerfully delivering your own message to a rapt crowd.

And yet far too many solopreneurs shy away from presentation opportunities due to a fear of public speaking, a fear of putting themselves “out there” before an audience of people that may or may not receive them warmly.

Fortunately, there are effective ways of conquering those fears and putting a presentation to work for your business.

Follow these tips for each of the three stages of a great presentation to have a successful, confidence-building experience when you speak.

Preparing Your Presentation

Start as early as you possibly can—months in advance, if at all possible. There's a reason the list of tips for this section is much longer than for the two sections that follow it. That's because when it comes to presentations, preparation is everything!

• Tailor your topic to your audience. If you're given a specific topic, try to find out as much as possible about the people who will be in attendance and brainstorm possible angles on that subject that will speak most directly to them.

• Narrow your focus: aim for no more than three main points to be communicated. The more tightly you can narrow your presentation to the most pressing points, the better you'll be able to capture and keep the audience's attention.

• Create a short, 15- to 20-word summary of your main point. This isn't necessarily something you'll end up using verbatim in your presentation (although you can if it's particularly effective). It's more a way to check your focus. If you can't state your message succinctly, keep narrowing it down further.