HispanicBusiness

In exchange for landing the business, a bureau takes 20 to 25 percent of the speaker’s fee.

Top Hispanic Motivational Speakers
Speaker	Estimated annual revenues
Samuel Betances	$1,000,000
Pegine Echevarria	$435,000
Jimmy Cabrera	$375,000
Fred Soto	$350,000
Carlos Conejo	$336,000
Julio Melara	$312,000
Joachim Deposada	$275,000
Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch	$250,000
Rosita Marcano-Lopez	$75,000
Total	$3,408,000
Source: MarketData Enterprises report, "The Market for Self- Improvement Products & Services"

For the future, Mr. Conejo sees schools as a growing market. Several of the top speakers have already capitalized on the need for student motivation. Retired Lt. Col. Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch talks about perseverance, using her entrée to the speaking circuit as an example. “I started out eight years ago knocking down doors,” she says. She had retired after 20 years in the U.S. Army, ending her career as the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in combat support. At the time of her retirement, she had just been selected to become a battalion commander and was well on her way to the rank of colonel.

Instead, Ms. Kickbusch chose motivational speaking. Today she spends approximately 18 days each month on the road, making an estimated annual income of $400,000.

With a background in sales and standup comedy, Pegine Echevarria offers an unconventional presentation to audiences. “I’m competing against MTV,” says Ms. Echevarria, who mixes her message with humor about cultural issues. “The more I make people laugh, the more they retain the information that I’m giving them. And the more they retain, the more likely they are to implement the message.”

Growth of the Hispanic speakers’ circuit addresses a problem acknowledged by business and social leaders – a lack of role models for rank-and-file Hispanics.

“Who do you see at big events? Mostly politicians, celebrities, and sports figures,” says Mr. Conejo. “It’s nice to see Jennifer Lopez or Edward James Olmos, but can they speak? And can they connect with the average person? Professional speakers fill that need, and we look at the [speaking] platform not as a right, but as a privilege.”