How to Set Your Speaking Fee Without Feeling Guilty About It

You've just finished a talk. The event organiser shakes your hand and says, "That was incredible. What do you charge?" And your stomach drops.

You mumble something about being "flexible." You throw out a number that's half what you wanted to say. Or worse, you say "Whatever you think is fair." You drive home feeling frustrated with yourself. Again.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Pricing is the number one thing Christian speakers struggle with. Not because they can't speak well. But because somewhere along the way, they picked up the idea that charging for their gift is somehow wrong.

It's not. And it's time to sort this out.

Why Christian Speakers Struggle With Money

Let's be honest about where this comes from. Many Christian speakers grew up hearing that ministry should be free. That charging for something God gave you feels like profiting from the Gospel. That asking for money is greedy.

But here's the reality. You have bills. You have a family. You invest time in preparation, travel, and professional development. And if you can't sustain yourself financially, you can't keep speaking. The calling dies because the business wasn't built to support it.

Grant Baldwin, author of "The Successful Speaker" and one of the most practical voices in the speaking industry, puts it this way: your fee is not about your worth as a person. It's about the value you deliver to the organisation that books you. Those are two very different things.

"For the Scripture says, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,' and 'The worker deserves his wages.'"

1 Timothy 5:18 (NIV)

God doesn't expect you to work for free. The principle runs through the whole of Scripture. You are worthy of being compensated for the work you do.

How to Actually Set Your Fee

Here's a straightforward framework you can work through today.

1. Know your costs. Before you can set a fee, you need to know what it actually costs you to deliver a talk. Travel, accommodation, preparation time, materials, insurance, professional development, and the time away from your family or other work. Add it all up. This is your baseline. Anything below this and you're literally paying to speak.

2. Research the market. The National Speakers Association reports that speaking fees range from a few hundred dollars for local events to tens of thousands for keynotes at major conferences. Where you sit on that scale depends on your experience, your topic, your audience, and the results you help create. Don't guess. Research what other speakers in your space charge. Ask around. Speaker communities - including NCAPS - are good places to have these conversations honestly.

3. Set a standard fee, then be flexible with purpose. Have a number you can say out loud without apologising. Write it down. Practice saying it in front of a mirror if you have to. Then, if you choose to discount or waive your fee for a particular event - a church plant, a charity, a cause close to your heart - that's a deliberate choice, not a default. Grant Baldwin calls this the difference between being generous and being a pushover. Generosity is intentional. Underselling yourself out of guilt is not.

4. Quote your fee early. Don't wait until the end of a long conversation to bring up money. When someone asks about booking you, share your fee early. It saves everyone's time. And it signals that you're a professional, not an amateur who hasn't thought about this yet.

5. Offer packages, not discounts. If an organisation's budget is lower than your fee, don't just drop your price. Instead, offer a different package. A shorter session. A virtual option. A half-day instead of a full day. This keeps your value intact while giving them a way to work within their budget.

What About Ministry Events?

This is where it gets personal for a lot of Christian speakers. You get asked to speak at a church event. They have no budget. You feel called to say yes. And you should say yes sometimes. Speaking for free or for a love offering is part of the calling.

But it can't be the default. If every event is free, you don't have a speaking business. You have a hobby. And hobbies don't sustain families or fund travel to the next event where someone needs to hear your message.

Here's a practical way to think about it. Set a percentage. Maybe 20% of your speaking engagements each year are pro bono or reduced fee. You choose those deliberately - events that align with your mission, your values, or a cause you care about. The other 80% are at your full fee. This way, your generosity is funded by your professionalism. You can give freely because you've built a business that supports it.

And when you do speak for free, don't apologise for it and don't devalue it. You're choosing to invest your time and talent. That's generous. It's also strategic - sometimes a free event leads to three paid ones because the right person was in the room.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"

Luke 14:28 (NIV)

Jesus himself used a business illustration to make a point about counting the cost. There's wisdom in planning. There's stewardship in being financially sustainable. And there's no shame in building a speaking business that allows you to keep doing what you were called to do.

Try This Today

Sit down and calculate your actual cost to deliver a talk. Travel, time, preparation - everything. Then add 30% for profit and sustainability. That's your starting fee. Write it down. Say it out loud three times. Get comfortable with it before the next enquiry comes in.

You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone

Pricing, proposals, getting booked, building authority - these are the conversations that happen every day inside the NCAPS community. We're Christian speakers who take the business side seriously because it's what allows us to keep serving. If that sounds like what you need, come see what membership looks like.