November 19, 2020
This 22-Year-Old Motivational Speaker Has Helped Thousands Get Speaking Gigs
What were you doing at 22 years old? Partying with college friends? Working for scraps? Faced with the grueling reality that you’re now an adult and have to decide how you’re going to make a living while paying off a crapload of debt? If so, you aren’t alone.
According to reports, the average 22-year-old’s income is roughly $30,000. Kyle Dendy, however, isn’t your average 22-year-old. He has reached tens of millions of people, made six figures in six months, and has assisted more than 7,000 people in jumpstarting their speaking careers—all while running a successful PR firm and speaking nationwide. Kyle (the 22-year-old unicorn) Dendy is winning DJ Khaled style.
Disappointments Often Lead to Powerful Redirections
Dendy’s current reality may seem like a dream but it hasn’t been without its many trials. In his freshman year of high school, Dendy was a starter for his varsity team and had dreams of playing college football. In his junior year, however, those dreams came crashing to a halt with an ankle injury followed by a knee surgery that ended his career before it even began. It was during this devastating time that Dendy had a powerful redirection.
The Texas native shared, “I was in our guest room downstairs with my knee wrapped up on pain medication and for whatever reason, this recording mic was sitting next to me. In the most cliché way, I plugged it in and hit record and started sharing my heart and out came these words of inspiration and motivation.” He took this recording and shared it on Facebook and uploaded it to Soundcloud. The random pep talk was well-received. What surprised him even more though was this newfound passion.
“People talk a lot about following your passion and I think there’s truth to that. But like I would’ve told you my passion was football and that’s all I’m passionate about and that’s all I’m gonna do. When in reality one of the things that I was going to be even more passionate about, which was speaking and inspiring, I just hadn’t discovered it yet.”
Shortly after sharing this first audio message of inspiration, Dendy made up his mind that he was going to become a motivational speaker. And at just 17 years old, forced to sit still with a wrapped-up knee, he wrote his first book.
Small Speaking Opportunities Can Equal Big Wins
More determined than ever to become a motivational speaker, the 17-year-old Dendy headed to Excel and created a spreadsheet of all the local places where he could take the stage. He targeted many Rotary and Lions clubs knowing they meet regularly and may be looking for a speaker. With a list of 100 places to pitch, Dendy shot off his emails thinking he was a step closer to a speaking tour. To his shock, only one responded: the Grapevine Lions Club.
Growing up in Grapevine, Dendy was thrilled to speak there. He prepped for his big day and wore a suit, expecting for a business conference-style presentation in front of hundreds of people. “I had on my suit, I was ready to go. And I showed up, and there was one person there—and he’s mopping the floor and he has absolutely no idea who on Earth I am.” Feeling uncomfortable, he was told, “I guess you can go take a seat.” Shortly a few more people showed up, bringing the total to five attendees with a median age of 65.
“Here I am 17. In that moment, I was pretty down,” Dendy shared. It wasn’t what he expected but he quickly shifted his mindset to look at this moment as an opportunity to grow. He took the stage and shared his story passionately—the same passion that he spoke with last November for a crowd of 17,000. He believes where a lot of people get it wrong is thinking they’ll give it their all when the opportunity comes, when the truth is, the opportunities do not come until you begin giving it your all.
“Are you just doing it for the platform or are you doing it for the process? What you will find is that a lot of these emotions and excitement and awe that you think is at the top of the mountain is really in the climb.”
The ability not to discount small opportunities has led to many big wins for Dendy.
A Speaker Guide That’s Helped 7,000+ Get on Stages
After booking speaking engagement after speaking engagement, Dendy began getting questions about how he did it. When a television clip of the young motivational speaker went viral, he realized one-off responses weren’t as helpful as they could be. This is when he created his first e-course, “Speakers Secrets.”
“I was like, I got to build a course out of this. I literally filmed the first version of the course sitting in my parents’ kitchen and just screen recording.” It has since been developed more. More than 7,000 people have joined “Speakers Secrets” to date.
In “Speakers Secrets,” Dendy teaches students how to find the gold in their story, discover their niche, pitch themselves for speaking engagements, and so much more. Dendy’s clients have landed numerous speaking gigs with his information, including many TEDx talks.
The clever thing the 22-year-old did to find the students for his course was run in-your-face Facebook ads. His most popular ad was a photo his mom took of him in her backyard holding a sign that simply said “TEDx Speaker Invite.” This proved successful because in one day, he had more than 300 people sign up for his course.
Dendy’s giving nature and ability to move swiftly while providing quality content, mixed with his keen eye on data, tweaking, and testing has afforded him the opportunity to get his message seen and heard worldwide by tens of millions.
A Positive Mindset + Lifting Others = Success
There is no denying that how we think plays a key role in our success. Throughout Dendy’s journey, even in the midst of let-downs and rejection, he has always found a way to find the positive in situations, which has been paramount to his success.
From the beginning of his journey, Dendy has set his focus on assisting others to rise with him, and recently started his own PR firm, Dendy Media, where he assists entrepreneurs, speakers, and coaches to get their products and services to the masses. He noted, “One of the cool things that PR does is it positions you as an authority in your space.” As a Christian man of faith, Dendy truly wants to see everyone win.
Besides his “Speakers Secrets“ e-course, Dendy has an e-course to teach aspiring authors to go from book idea to bestselling author called “Book Launch on Demand,” both of which can be found at KyleDendy.com. To learn more about his PR agency you can head to DendyMedia.com or follow him on Instagram, @KyleDendy.