There’s a Mitch Hedberg joke about how Hollywood tries to turn every comedian into an actor. He said that’s like going up to a chef and saying: Yeah, but can you farm?

Marketing and business and writing (and a lot of other fields) are the same way for some reason. If you achieve any kind of success in them, people start to ask you to speak. Of course, at first this is absolutely terrifying. You tell yourself that you became a writer precisely because you were bad at speaking and now you’re going to embarrass yourself.

But it doesn’t need to be that way–whether you’re a writer, a businessman or businesswoman, a marketer, a coach, or anything. Because public speaking is not only nothing to be afraid of, it’s actually fun and an incredibly compelling way to spread your message.

Below are some thoughts on mastering the art of public speaking. A few of them are tips given to me by coaches, but most of it gleaned from my own hard experience as a keynote speaker. I’m sure some of these are going to be a little controversial–I’m not going to talk about affect or persuasion techniques because I think that’s all crap. I’m going to talk about how to deliver a message in a way that feels authentic and actually leaves the crowd with something they can use.

And a note on me: I think my results speak for themselves. I’m represented by one of the best speaking agencies in the world, I’ve spoken all over the world (Finland, Austria, Australia, Brazil, New York and everywhere in between) both to large crowds and very small, private groups, I’ve earned well over six figures in fees in the last three years, done a TEDx talk, addressed big companies like Google and the military, written keynotes for other people, I’ve done 10 hours live on camera, and I’m humbled that people seem to like what I have to say. I’m not saying I’m the best or even that I’m great, in fact, I know I still have a lot I can improve on. But here’s what I’ve learned so far in my many talks to many thousands of people. I hope it helps.

Most of my advice comes down to: Deeply and intimately know what you’re talking about and feel passionate about sharing it with other people. Yes, I get that there are plenty of other people making their living as speakers despite, you know, never having actually done any of the things they are “teaching” other people. Don’t be distracted by that. Someone else’s shamelessness is not an excuse for you.

Talk about what you know. Focus on improving the things that make the biggest difference, care about your craft and jump on opportunities as they come up. This will get you much further–in the long run anyway–than any other thing.

Good luck up there. I’m sure you’ll do great.