I've spoken publicly over 200 times, never charged a speaker's fee, and made millions of dollars from speaking because I sell product. Sometimes it's a pitch at the end of the speech. Other times it's deals being made after the speech.
I've also sold millions of other people's products from the stage, so you don't need your product.
In fact, for most, it's better if it's someone else's product because you don't want to sell anything from the stage - you want to sell the absolute best product out there for that audience.
It's common to get paid 50% of the profits selling someone else's product because it's a rarer, more valuable skill than public speaking.
But the thing is, it's not that much different. Every speaker has to sell an audience on an idea, a topic, a conclusion - and audiences want products, not just concepts. Most speakers get an audience all dressed up but give them no place to go.
Show the audience how they can do it for free, and then give them the choice of paying a small amount to get there a bit faster, easier, or safer. The numbers are fun to play with -
you sell 50 people a $200 product, and you just generated $10,000 in sales.
It takes a bit to get going, but once you prove you can sell, you'll have so speaking options. Why? Because you profit split.
If I sell $100,000 of product at your event, you're getting $50,000 of it.
Events are expensive to put on and need monetization, often beyond ticket sales. Since there are so few people who can speak and sell, you'll quickly get a reputation as someone who can make others' money - which is the best way you can make money.
If you do it right, everyone wins.
You'll put way more effort into honing your craft and making a killer speech. Your audience will get more out of that speech regardless if they buy a product at the end, and the event host will make more money, allowing them to put on even grander events in the future.
You will also get deal flow - people coming up to you after you speak wanting to hire you for consulting, partner on a project, or any of a dozen other ways money may get made.