Info

The Speaker Lab

Grant Baldwin from The Speaker Lab podcast will be sharing speaking business tactics, tips, and strategies from his own experience, case studies, and interviewing the experts. Whether you're just getting started trying to get your first booking or you're a veteran speaker looking to build and grow your business, this is for you. Grant has built a multiple six-figure per year business as a speaker having presented to over 500,000 people in over 450 paid speaking gigs. We'll talk about speaker marketing, working with speaker bureaus and agents, building your platform, negotiating fees, social media marketing, networking, storytelling, humor, operating the business and so much more!
RSS Feed
The Speaker Lab
2022
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: May, 2016
May 31, 2016

Will having your own book help you land more speaking gigs? Should you write a book before even trying to land your first speaking job? And how exactly do you navigate the self-publishing waters if and when you decide to write your own book?

The man to answer those questions is none other than Chandler Bolt, and he's our guest for episode 67 of The Speaker Lab!

Chandler is the founder and visionary creator of Self-Publishing School, a site devoted to helping you write, market and publish your own book in 90 days. The site also helps you leverage that book into coaching, speaking and other gigs.

On today's show, Chandler shares how his own self-publishing success became the groundwork for the Self-Publishing School, why you should have a book at all, and why you don't have to be a great writer to become a published author. It's all here for you on this episode of The Speaker Lab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • Which comes first: your first speaking gig or your first book?
  • How do you overcome Blank Screen Syndrome?
  • What is Chandler's 3 step writing process?
  • How did he and his brother write a book in a week?
  • Why he transcribes his own audio recordings to write his books.
  • What are the pros and cons of self-publishing?
  • Why publishers only give publishing deals to people who don't need them.
  • Does self-publishing have to cost a lot?
  • And much, much more.

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 26, 2016

Have you ever wondered what it takes to host a successful webinar? My good friend and future webinar co-host, John Corcoran, offers some valuable help on episode 66!

John excels in many vital aspects of it, including marketing and networking. He's found that the webinar model is a great business model because it creates so much communication with an audience.

On today's episode, John discusses how he found webinars and how he integrated them into his business. He also breaks down how to research the topic or theme of your webinar, and the similarities between conducting a webinar and speaking live in front of an audience. John is a wealth of knowledge on webinars, tune in to hear all it all on this episode of The Speaker Lab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • The pros of using webinars as an addition to your speaking business.
  • How can webinars earn new clients?
  • What you can do to begin building a webinar audience.
  • What webinar tools are the best to use?
  • How can you promote your new webinar and who can help you?
  • The most important things to include in your webinar presentation.
  • What are the benefits you can give your listeners from webinars?
  • What to expect from the webinar we've created for you!
  • And much, much more.

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 24, 2016

Have you heard of seminar companies? Do you know what they do and if they are of value to your speaking career? Today's special Q&A will answer those questions and more about working with seminar companies.

Seminar companies are companies that present seminars for a fee. Usually they are attended by employees who have been sent by their employers to learn a specific skill like accounting, social media or finance. The seminars happen all over the country on a daily basis.

On today’s episode I’ll talk about the big three seminar companies and what my experience was like working for one. Find out what the pros and cons are of becoming a speaker for a seminar company, how to utilize this avenue fully if you decide to speak for them. Tune in to find out how the pay structure works and much more on the 65th edition of The Speaker Lab.

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • What are the big three seminar companies?
  • What would your role be if you worked with a seminar company?
  • My personal experience working with one of these companies.
  • How do you know if these companies are in your area?
  • Would you speak on one or several topics if you worked for a seminar company?
  • What a “swing” is and how it works.
  • What are the pros and cons of working with a seminar company?
  • Should you have an exit strategy if you go this route?
  • And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 19, 2016

Are you interested in speaking to youth or a school audience? On today's episode of The Speaker Lab my close friend and mentor Phil Boyte joins us to share his insights on that very topic. Phil focuses exclusively on speaking in schools, everyone from students to teachers to the district administrative team.

He begins episode 64 by discussing what speaking looks like for him. He also offers his advice on how to truly make an impact when speaking to young people, and why his assembly schedule works well in the school system.

And if you're curious about the most effective way to speak to a young audience Phil talks about that too! Based on his personal experiences speaking to young audiences, he imparts plenty of wisdom on the topics of youth and school audiences.  Listen in to hear all of it on this episode of The Speaker Lab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

Exactly how Phil got his start speaking in schools.

What are the three stages of a speaking career?

How can you speak effectively to a younger audience?

Paul's advice for finding and keeping bookings.

How can you become a "category of one"?

The difference between the success of a program and the success of an individual.

Is there money in the youth and the school market to hire you as a speaker?

What Phil has learned about maintaining a healthy personal life.

And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 17, 2016

Would you like to talk about faith or speak to faith-based audiences? On this episode of The Speaker Lab, my friend and accomplished speaker Paul Evans joins us to talk about that very topic.

Paul began his career in speaking after his first wife passed away, and was inspired by his experience with the life insurance company. Since then he has focused on positive encouragement and utilizes faith as a unique aspect in his speaking business.

Paul offers his guidance on several different topics today, including how to communicate your message differently to the various niches you will be speaking to, as well as how to tweak your talk while keeping your experiences the same and staying authentic to your story.

We wrap up the show today by discussing his financial life and by giving you a little taste of our dual training course that takes place on May 19th. Listen in to hear all of that and so much more on this episode of The Speaker Lab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • How can your unique experiences help you advance your speaking career?
  • What are the differences in the faith-based speaking market versus other markets.
  • How can you adjust your message for different audiences?
  • How best to establish your particular brand.
  • The best tactic for getting in front of many buyers at once.
  • What's better: a referral or a recommendation?
  • How to create a memorable structure.
  • And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 12, 2016

Do you have a personal story that could help others, but you aren't sure how to get it out to people? Our guest on episode 62 will share how he took his own experiences and turned them into several businesses and a profitable speaking career to boot!

Joe Sangl owns several businesses, has authored multiple best-selling books and speaks around the world.

His own personal financial journey took him from dealing with debt and living paycheck to paycheck to being a successful entrepreneur, coach, speaker and leader today. And the experiences he gathered along the way are what he speaks about and shares to help others on their own financial journey.

On this episode of The Speaker Lab, Joe talks about how he turned his early experiences and insights into courses, coaching and books. He also explains how speaking naturally arose from those endeavors. Listen in for that and so much more on this edition of The Speaker Lab.

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • How do you make the leap from having a story to sharing it?
  • When did he know his financial passion could be a real business?
  • What birthed his first real speaking opportunities?
  • Why your message will always be evolving and changing.
  • What happened in January 2008 that would become his ultimate launch pad?
  • What resource is really important to having a successful speaking career?
  • The three things a church must address to have a system that helps people with their finances.
  • Can you make a living speaking to churches?
  • And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 10, 2016

Have you been asked for your speaking fee but weren't sure how to bill for the travel aspect of your gig? Or have you ever wondered how to handle that topic when it does come up in the future?

Wherever you are at in your speaking career the issues of travel expenses is going to come up. On this edition of the show I outlined the two ways to address travel expenses for your speaking gigs, including the pros and cons of each.

I'll also share which of those two options I personally use and why. Tune in to hear it on episode 60 of The Speaker Lab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • The two ways of handling speaking-related travel expenses.
  • What are the pros of invoicing your travel expenses separately?
  • What are the main drawbacks to doing the same?
  • What is my normal travel fee and what do I include?
  • Why it is wise to include travel expenses in a flat speaking fee.
  • What is the main downside of doing so?
  • Should you let the client to book any of your travel?
  • Why I never let the client book my airfare.
  • And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 5, 2016

On today's episode of The Speaker Lab, I have a very specialguest for you! My lovely and amazing wife Sheila Baldwin is here. Ibrought her on the show to talk about what it’s really like to bemarried to a speaker.

Today we share the inner workings of our story and our lifetogether, so you can learn from our struggles and our triumphs.

On this episode of The Speaker Lab, Sheila and I talk about theearly days of our relationship and our marriage, and how we havealways made things work even when we were strugglingfinancially.

We answer a few listeners' questions, and dig into how we as afamily deal with my frequent travel, and how Sheila and our girlshave become accustomed to our crazy schedules. Listen in to hearall of that and so much more on this episode of The SpeakerLab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

Our "how we met" story.

What it’s really like in the early days of a speakingcareer.

How can your family "find their groove" when you're gone?

How can you avoid being a workaholic at home?

The benefits and disadvantages of homeschooling yourchildren.

How can both spouses stay invested in one business?

How you and your spouse can live a balanced life on abudget.

The story of why we moved to beautiful Nashville!

And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

May 3, 2016

If you are truly serious about becoming a speaker there are twothings I recommend you have: a web site of your very own andownership of your name as a domain. For example I have The SpeakerLab as well as Grant Baldwin.com.

On episode 59 of The Speaker Lab I explain why I have bothsites, and why owning the domain of your own name is so important.I also share why you'll want to create a separate web site ifyou're going to have other speakers present your materials in thefuture, and how this is similar to a franchise model.

Whether your choose to have just your personal name as your website or branch out with a program, both a domain and a site arecritical to being seen as an expert on your topic, and to gettinghired to speak. So listen in to episode 59 to hear all of that andso much more on today's edition of The Speaker Lab!

THE FINER DETAILS OF THIS SHOW

  • Do you want a potential client to hire you or yourprogram?
  • Why do I have both The Speaker Lab and GrantBaldwin.com?
  • Should you secure your own name as a web site?
  • What you should do if your name has already been claimedonline.
  • Where do I recommend purchasing domains?
  • My top five recommendations on what to do if your name is hard tospell.
  • What suffixes should you buy - .com, .net, etc.?
  • Why do you need hosting and what is my recommended resource forit?
  • And much, much more!

EPISODE RESOURCES

1