“I feel like I've always been Reggie's administrative assistant with our life. So it was kind of a natural transition just to slide into that.” - Patrice Wright 

This week, Grant sat down with not 1, but 2 lovely guests to chat about building a speaking business with your spouse! You may remember Dr. Reggie Wright from Episode 471 last fall, but this week, we’re hearing from him AND his better half, Patrice.

“My first year as a full time speaker, I wanted her to resign. I wanted her to retire the first year and come on board as my COO. And that was a little bit of some tension there, because she wanted to kind of wait and see how things would play out, and that kind of put some stress and strain on things." - Reggie Wright 

Grant, Reggie, and Patrice get into: 

• 00:00 Where does the story of Reggie and Patrice start?
• 04:31 What’s your history of supporting each other in your marriage?
• 06:24 When did you start using help to scale your business?
• 10:56 What point made sense to put more time and energy into the speaking side of things?
• 14:59 Where was the tension in the decision of Patrice still holding down a full-time job?
• 16:36 How did Patrice know it was time to make the jump?
• 20:57 What habits/thought patterns/routines do you instill to focus on your family and marriage first?
• 24:37 What are some examples of setting boundaries around your time?
• 27:01 How do you balance work and rest and each other’s work ethics?
• 31:10 Reggie’s reflection on the growth process to build a business like he has
• 34:15 What should you think about before picking a support system?

“I would not be half of what I am right now if it wasn't for my wife." - Reggie Wright 

"Knowing my own worth and value and knowing what I bring to the table helps me to never feel less than or never feel like, you know, he's up here and I'm down here. We're on an equal playing field." - Patrice Wright

Episode Resources:

• Connect with Reggie
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"If you can align your expertise with a specific industry and then really bring tremendous value with a clear ROI, you're always going to win the game."

This week, Grant’s on the show with TSL legend Erick Rheam. We’re a little late to this year’s state of the speaking industry, but better late than never, right?

"It's not necessarily that budgets are cut, but what I would tell you is that event planners, they tend to be intentional with the money that they're spending. Instead of saying "I've got a $100,000 budget for this event," it's "Yeah, I've got $100,000, but I need to see a return on that $100,000."

In this episode, Grant and Erick get into:

• 00:00 Current trends in the speaking industry
• 06:06 Why do relationships matter more now than ever before?
• 07:32 How do you focus on building relationships?
• 11:20 The importance of offering a virtual service as part of your speaking business
• 15:51 The key to growth right now, even in a tough economy 
• 19:44 Why you should focus on relationships and providing long-term solutions for your clients
• 21:50 How to leverage industry expertise to prove ROI
• 26:35 What it looks like to tweak your message to withstand the test of time.
• 28:00 The importance of iterating and meeting your client’s needs.
• 31:11 How to balance other streams of income + being on stage
• 35:28 How to get comfortable creating value for clients
• 36:44 Reflections and wrap up

"Something that is not attractive is desperation. And you could tell it, you could smell it from speakers — when they're just trying to get the gig, they're trying to get the money, as opposed to speakers who are like "Hey, I want to add value and I'm willing to go on a long term type of commitment with you."

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"The hardest part is just getting started, actually, because a lot of people say, well, yeah, I've got to make it perfect. I've got to do all these slides and presentations, curriculum, all this documentation. The best thing to do is just get started."

This week, Grant sat down with Michael Patellis, the cofounder of Copecart, to talk about developing a course as a speaker.

“A lot of people, they require that discipline of being able to follow a script and follow a syllabus of, okay, I have to do this thing this week, next week, etc. And then there's others that their courses are almost independent study. So a lot of it depends on the market segment that you're in and how detailed your course is and what the skill set is.”

This week, Grant and Michael get into:

• 00:00 Why should speakers consider courses as part of their business?
• 05:19 How to think about ROI on your course?
• 08:29 What kind of structure should you put for your course? 
• 10:40 What do you recommend in terms of how your course is laid out? 
• 16:00 How do people usually market a course?
• 19:05 What other marketing opportunities are there?
• 20:12 What kind of payout are creators looking at? 
• 24:51 What leads to a successful course?

Episode Resources:

• Connect with Michael
• Check out Copecart
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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"People buy from you when they feel understood, not when they understand you."

This week, Grant’s sitting down with TSL alumna Missy West to talk about her unlikely journey to public speaking and how her speaking career has taken off over the last few years.

If you're wondering if you can overcome your fear of being on stage and be successful as a brand new speaker, this episode is for you! 

“I made six figures in my first full year of speaking”

In this episode, Grant and Missy get into: 

• 03:18 How Missy overcame fear and seized opportunities through resilience.
• 06:20 Why encouragement matters as you chase goals.
• 12:01 Missy didn’t want to become a speaker, here’s why
• 13:54 How to overcome self-doubt and criticism
• 18:18 Why you need a resilience team
• 19:54 What a resilience team does
• 22:25 What happened once you started speaking
• 27:35 How did you transition from hobby to potential career
• 30:09 What came next in terms of pursuing this as a career
• 34:13 What do you think is the difference between successful and unsuccessful speakers
• 36:58 What’s a great example of networking as a speaker
• 40:05 How do you invest in relationships to grow your business

"My resilience team reminded me, no, this is just a different stage. And everything that you've accomplished happened because you leaned into those tough moments when you were scared and you showed up anyway."

Episode Resources:

• Missy's Website
• Missy's LinkedIn
• Orca Leadership
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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“Reframing my approach to public speaking was a game-changer once I recognized I was my own worst critic.”

This week, Maryalice sat down with TSL coach Katherine Johnson to chat about all things authenticity on stage. If you think you’re being authentic on stage, this may be the wake-up call you didn’t know you needed! 

When it comes to presenting ourselves to an audience, we tend to think about the logistics, what we’re wearing, what we’re saying, etc., but we can forget about the intention and the science behind building trust and credibility with our audience. 

"If you think you have to prove you are, you're making it all about yourself, and that cuts connection. Like, if I could just say that you can feel that in your body, you have to find some ways to shift to connection."

In this episode, Maryalice and Katherine get into: 

• 03:50 Why actually connecting with the audience matters more than the words you say 
• 08:49 Why aiming for connection will change the success you experience 
• 12:19 How to set yourself up for success on the stage.
• 15:34 What are a few ways we can improve connection and authenticity on stage?
• 16:39 How does nervousness get in the way of our message?
• 20:06 The impact of energy in our pre-stage routine. 
• 25:43 How to overcome fear of criticism during talks.
• 27:07 What it looks like to get comfortable with the fear and anxiety you might feel.
• 33:14 How do you remove armor and promote connection?

“Connection matters more than anything because you can actually say something. You could be a mediocre speaker. You could be an up-and-coming speaker. You can be pretty green. But if you know how to focus on connection with your audience, you're gonna do something special. You can continue to get better in terms of your content and some of your stagecraft, but if you know how to create that connection and be authentic from the stage, that does something powerful.”

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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“In some ways, my story is a detriment. There's a pro and a con to having overcoming extreme adversity, because people feel disconnected from it. I've had people tell me multiple times after speeches, man, if I went through what you went through, I'd be as happy as you are. And I'm like, no, man, you're missing the point. The principles I just taught you are what you need to pay attention to.”

Grant’s sitting down with the creator of The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod to talk about how he got into speaking, if and when you need a book to complement your speaking efforts, and how to know if you’re living into your true passions. 

“During that time, I was really thoughtful and strategic of, like, what do I want this book to do? And one thing I wanted it to do was to get me corporate speaking gigs. I wanted to raise my fee."

In this episode, Grant and Hal get into: 

• 00:00 Hal’s early experiences with overcoming hardships.
• 05:33 Facing doubt early on as a speaker.
• 07:06 Do you have to have a massive overcoming story to make an impact?
• 11:31 How reframing challenges led to public speaking. 
• 14:38 Hal’s experience finding his early gigs and getting booked as a speaker. 
• 17:08 What it’s like to get your first paid gig. 
• 20:35 When should you start flying first class?
• 24:23 Do you need a book to launch your speaking career?
• 26:55 How do you get started and build momentum?
• 30:52 When did you know it was time to transition to the next thing? 
• 33:01 How does a speaker know they have what it takes? 

 "I got $500, which was my first ever paid gig. I was on top of the world, and it went really, really well. They loved it. And so I was able to share my story, my cutco experience, and then the lessons drawn from both of those, and then that just gave me some confidence, like, oh, wow, I can speak to a corporate audience."

Not sure if you’ll like this episode? Well, Hal’s got great advice on achieving our goals, too. ⬇️

"If you have multiple goals, which a lot of us do, then what ends up happening is you just make a dent in each one, and you rarely accomplish any single one of them because you're always scattering your time."

Episode Resources:

• HalElrod.com
• MiracleMorning.com
• Connect with Hal on Facebook
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

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 "The biggest mistake that I repeatedly see speakers make is procrastination, just waiting too long to actually start developing the content and too long to practice the delivery."

This week, Grant sat down with Eva Daniel to talk about one of the most important parts of being an effective speaker — creating and delivering an engaging speech. Eva is a speaker, storytelling expert, and communications professional, and the founder of the Speak Shop, where she helps speakers produce better content. 

"I believe that every speech is alive in breathing and a work in progress. And so we're just always making sure that, like, is it in the best order? And do I enjoy giving it the way that it is? And is the audience responding well to it in the way that I would envision them to be responding?"

This episode covers:

• 00:00 Eva’s background
• 04:40 How do you know when your speech is polished and done?
• 06:24 What does it look like to iterate on your content? 
• 11:46 How do you create a successful delivery of your speech?
• 14:06 What kind of goals are you setting for your content?
• 20:06 What is good practice when it comes to prepping for a keynote?
• 25:19 How do you nail your timing? 
• 27:23 What role should visuals have in your talk?
• 31:12 How do you leverage the room to ensure your talk is still well received? 
• 33:22 What does it look like to be prepared for all occasions? 
• 36:53 How do you become a great speaker? 
• 39:43 Eva’s contact info and resources

"My biggest piece of advice though is your goal is to internalize your content for the big ideas, not to memorize it."

Check out Eva’s episode now! 

 "Not all practice is created equal. Giving your content to your bathroom mirror on, you know, the Wednesday before the Thursday you speak is not going to be as effective as if the Friday before you'd run it through a group of three to five people."

Episode Resources:

• The Speak Shop
• Connect with Eva on LinkedIn
• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're so excited to announce the launch of our new podcast, Talk Speaker To Me!

Talk Speaker to Me will bring you 10-15 minute episodes every Thursday filled to the brim with super practical, actionable advice. If this sounds like what you're looking for, search for Talk Speaker To Me on Apple, Spotify, and subscribe for weekly updates!

P.S. Have no fear, The Speaker Lab Podcast isn't going anywhere. This is just a new way to bring you more content to help you book more gigs and grow your speaking business.

--

Welcome to our first episode of Talk Speaker To Me! In this episode, TSL facilitator and Speaker Erick Rheam walks you through exactly what his daily power hour looks like to build a long-term sustainable speaking business.

"I didn't have anything but a dream and a desire to be a speaker. I just went out and started prospecting on a consistent basis, and I made over $36,000 with no assets whatsoever."

Erick's covering:

• What is a prospect
• How often should your prospect
• What does a "power hour" look like
• How should you set up your tech stack
• What is the ideal amount of time between emails, and when should you just let it go

"The key, though, is if I do this every day on a consistent basis, then it's like a machine, it's a methodology, and it starts to bear fruit if I do it on a consistent basis."

Ready to learn a thing or two about managing your pipeline? Let's go!

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"I remember you kind of making this decision to turn The Speaker Lab into what it is today. You wanted to scale it, you wanted to grow it, make a bigger impact on people, and you really did, man." - Shane Sams

Today we’re celebrating a massive milestone on The Speaker Lab Podcast, so, here’s the deal! We invited Grant's good friend Shane Sams to interview Grant about his speaking journey, how The Speaker Lab came into existence, and what it’s been like to podcast for oh, you know, almost a decade.

As we celebrate this episode, we want to thank each and every one of you who have subscribed, listened to the show, and shared it with others over the years. We couldn't have published 500 episodes without your support. We're not going anywhere, either — stayed tuned for more exciting news ahead! 

In this conversation, you’ll get a peek behind the scenes as they discuss:

• 00:00 What was your dream for this podcast when you started it? 
• 05:36 Grant’s intro to podcasting and the start of the Speaker Lab dream.
• 08:49 “But how do you actually book a gig?” 
• 10:56 How Grant evaluated and then iterated his first course.
• 13:34 Grant’s shift from speaker to teacher, to coach. 
• 17:05 The early and long-standing speaking connections Grant made. 
• 19:44 Grant reflects on the ripple effects of the impact speaking makes for people.
• 23:55 How Grant transitioned from church work to Speaker Lab.
• 28:04 The importance of creating deep relationships to grow your speaking career.
• 31:41 Grant’s take on being genuine, helpful, and intentional when networking. 
• 34:37 Shane’s personal experience with Grant’s above-average care for the people in his network. 
• 36:32 A real story of learning from others and building great relationships that lead to growth.

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're just one episode away from the big one — #500!

As we wrap up this series, we're bringing in the best speakers we know to share their #1 piece of advice for speakers who want to get to the next level. These speakers are the best of the best — combined, they've booked thousands of gigs and made tens of millions of dollars in speaking fees.

If you're serious about growing your speaking business, this is an episode you don't want to miss.

In just 25 minutes, you'll learn:

• How to serve the people who hired you well
• Why you can make more money off the stage than on it
• Why consistency matters more than you might think
• Why you need to commit to coaching
• How to consistently over-communicate
• How to harness the power of authenticity
• And much, much more!

Get your notes app ready because this episode is full of advice you'll want to remember!

In this episode, you’ll hear from: 

Chris Ducker - Chris Ducker is a serial entrepreneur and author of the bestselling books, Virtual Freedom and more recently, Rise of the Youpreneur.Based in Cambridgeshire, Chris owns and operates several businesses, including the VA recruiting hub, Virtual Staff Finder and the personal brand education company, Youpreneur®. He is regarded as one of the top experts in the world on the subjects of virtual staffing and scaling an expert business. Chris has been a trusted international business coach, keynote speaker and podcaster since 2010 and currently spends most of his time mentoring successful entrepreneurs, as well as investing in and advising startup companies.

Erick Rheam - Erick Rheam is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. He spent five years as a Military Police Officer, nine years working for two municipally owned utilities, ten years in software efficiency sales, two years as the Director of Student Success for a professional speaking development company, and now he’s a full-time professional speaker and author. Erick travels the country helping men and women cut through the whirlwind, so they can rise above the chaos to discover their significance and live in peace.

Jamie Nolan - Jaime serves as the CEO/President of the National Speakers Association, a membership-based not-for-profit focused on helping speakers, authors, trainers, coaches and consultants to Build a Better Business and Be a Better Speaker. Jaime has a Masters degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and is also a 2015 graduate of the EO Global Entrepreneurial Master’s Program. She served as the President of the AMC Institute from 2012 – 2013, and was a member of the Board from 2005 – 2014. She also served on the Board of the Preeclampsia Foundation from 2016-2018. Jaime is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and Associations North.

Jon Acuff - Jon Acuff is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including Soundtracks, Your New Playlist, All It Takes is a Goal, and the Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done. When he's not writing or recording his popular podcast, All It Takes Is a Goal, Acuff can be found on a stage as one of INC's Top 100 Leadership Speakers. He's spoken to hundreds of thousands of people at conferences, colleges, and companies around the world, including FedEx, Range Rover, Microsoft, Nokia, and Comedy Central. He lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and two daughters.

Matt Matkovich - Matt is an ultra-marathon running, College Board recognized school counselor with a master's degree in school guidance and counseling. Matt and Phil of M&P Presentations LLC are a nationally known motivational speaking duo who are high-energy experts in cultivating confidence and promoting positivity. Their mission is to further develop self-confidence in others, model a healthy lifestyle, and consistently promote positivity through high energy presentations, social media, and their #TrainofPositivity short films. 

Phil Januszewski - Phil is a tattooed covered, Netflix baking-show flopping, high school chemistry and physics teacher with a master's degree in teaching leadership and positive education certification. Matt and Phil of M&P Presentations LLC are a nationally known motivational speaking duo who are high-energy experts in cultivating confidence and promoting positivity. Their mission is to further develop self-confidence in others, model a healthy lifestyle, and consistently promote positivity through high energy presentations, social media, and their #TrainofPositivity short films. 

Shep Hyken - Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession. Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His articles have been read in hundreds of publications, and he is the author of "Amaze Every Customer Every Time," "Moments of Magic ," "The Loyal Customer," "The Cult of the Customer" and "The Amazement Revolution." He is also the creator of The Customer Focus program, which helps clients develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset.

Episode Resources:

• Get Free Speaker Resources
• Book a Call with The Speaker Lab
• Calculate Your Speaking Fee
• Join The Speaker Lab Community on Facebook
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.