Christie JungeA Plus Solutions Inc. · CEO | Profit First Professional

How I Got Paid $3,000 to Speak to 2 Students

12 Aug 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:41

In this monologue, Mike Michalowicz recounts being paid $3,000 by Drexel University to speak to an audience of just two students, describing the experience as both humbling and a test of his commitment to public speaking. He then shares a step‑by‑step strategy for turning any campus speaking engagement into a powerful marketing and credibility engine. First, he advises securing a student journalist to cover the event and request a backlink from the university’s website, turning a small talk into valuable SEO exposure. Second, he recommends reaching out to professors in the relevant field, using the speaking gig as an entry point to introduce his books, which can lead to course adoptions. He cites successful examples at Ivy League and top‑tier schools (Princeton, Harvard, Pepperdine, Stanford, Columbia) where his books such as The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, Profit First, and Pumpkin Plan are now part of curricula. The overall message is that even the smallest speaking opportunities can be leveraged for extensive publicity, networking, and academic endorsement when approached strategically.

Chapters

go to Drexel. I'll never forget, I arrived, students like, we're so excited for you to be speaking on entrepreneurship. I didn't have a book or anything. They said, oh, here's the envelope. Open the envelope, there's a check for $3,000 from Drexel University to me. I remember my hand shaking like, holy, I'm getting paid to speak. And it's this beautiful auditorium. Like, this is amazing. I can't wait to go on stage. So sitting there, I put the money in my pocket, it feels great. I go on stage, 2 students. It was the most embarrassing thing, but I got paid. And I remember just sitting there saying, this is the ultimate test of my commitment to speaking. So yeah, it's humbling, or maybe even humiliating that no one Is there, but I gotta give my best speech ever. And I just did everything I could to do the best speech. The 2 kids were texting, they were there out of obligation, but I got paid. But there was another kid that came. This is the next tip. Once you have your gig lined up, tell that student president or whatever, I would love for the journalist from the school paper to be there. Journalist shows up and I tell the club, my goal is to meet with this journalist, tell them a little about the event, but really to promote your club so your club's gonna get some exposure. When I meet the journalist, I tell 'em about the event, the club, and then I say, by the way, would you backlink to me? Student newspapers as of 20 years ago, 15 years ago, They all went online. They used to be printed papers. So now Drexel University says, speaker Mike Michalowicz comes to Drexel University, talks on so-and-so. Here's his link. I'm getting a backlink from Drexel.edu to Mike Michalowicz. I did this at Princeton. I did this at Harvard. I have these Ivy League EDUs who paid me also pointing back to me. Then I would ask, who are the professors on this subject? That's how I met Zarek Bohosian. He's a professor at Pepperdine. I met him this way. He said, I love this subject. Now I had books. He said, we'd love to teach your books. Pepperdine started teaching The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, but they teach Profit First, Pumpkin Plan. I think 4 of my books are now at Pepperdine and Colton College and Stanford and Columbia. My books are being taught there.