The Speaker Lab Podcast

"Preparation feels like progress. It's not."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! After thousands of calls with speakers at every stage, host Dan Irvin has noticed something: it stops sounding like thousands of different stories and starts sounding like the same three. The names change. The cities change. The topics change. But the place where people are stuck? Almost always one of three patterns.

In this solo episode, D...

"A speaker with 200 followers and 30 conversations a month is going to out-earn a creator with tens of thousands of followers and zero conversations. Every single time."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin calls out one of the most common — and costly — mistakes he sees on speaker calls every week: mistaking a content habit for a speaking business.

Dan gets on the phone with speakers...

"Cold outreach is a great way to start — but it's not how you scale."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin makes the case that the most efficient gig you'll ever book is the one you just finished. The problem? Most speakers walk off stage, shake a few hands, grab a photo, and move on — completely missing the two, three, maybe five opportunities that were already sitting in that room.

...

"If you don't know your number before the conversation, the buyer will pick the number for you."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin tackles one of the most common — and most avoided — questions in the speaking business: what should I charge?

Everyone asks it. Almost nobody answers it straight. You've probably heard "charge what you're worth" or "it depends" — which, while technicall...

"Your story told honestly is your edge."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, TSL CEO Dan Irvin opens with a story about a factory worker named Gary — a man who worked hard, gave everything, and still got left behind when the game changed. It's a story from 1975, but it's happening right now, and Dan thinks you need to hear it.

Because the premium is shifting again. This time it's moving toward the ...

"Clarity feels slower in the beginning until confusion costs you months."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin gets candid about what it actually took to complete 10 paid speaking gigs in 10 weeks — and why none of it was accidental.

This wasn't luck, and it wasn't a hot streak. It was the result of five specific mindset shifts that Dan applied deliberately to his ...

"If you can get one paid gig, you can build an empire off that."

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this episode, Dan Irvin (the newly minted TSL CEO and new host of the TSL podcast!) sits down with Erick Rheam — The Speaker Lab's own resident speaker and lead coach — to unpack one of the most remarkable client stories we've ever told: how Erick turned a single speaking relationship into a three-year, $900,000 cont...

"So you can speak to it from a very professional level of here's what I'm seeing right now, grassroots, I'm in it, I'm doing the thing. And that's what makes this transition of you taking over and leading TSL really, really exciting. Because again, you're on the front lines, you're doing the thing."

WE'RE BACK.

Welcome to a very special episode of The Speaker Lab podcast! Today, Grant Baldwin is here to share a massive updat...

“Sometimes in today’s society, there’s a pressure to do entrepreneurship the right way. Others have the Instagram businesses that everybody makes look good, but I think everyone has their own particular situation and scenarios.”

Welcome to another episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this episode, host Grant Baldwin welcomes speaker and author Velera Wilson, a remarkable leader who candidly shares her journey from corpora...

“There’s a huge amount of progress that comes from pitching yourself and putting information out there and having discovery calls and doing events and speaking at events and fielding questions and posting on social media and seeing what people want.”

Welcome to another episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast! Today, host Grant Baldwin welcomes Shannon GaNun, a former communications professional, college professor, and now a thri...

“If you’re consistent, you may miss the event with that event planner this round, but you’re going to get it the next round, and you’re going to get the next round too because you’re going to stay on top.”

In this episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast, Erick Rheam, professional speaker and author, opens the doors to a behind-the-scenes coaching session as Connor Wentling and Michael Hidalgo join him to unpack the realities of ...

“One of the things that has helped me stay in ministry, and one of my keys that I share in my talk about burnout, is doing something new to refuel you. I’m still doing ministry thirty years later, but I find new ways to do it and that helps increase the fuel and the fire for me to do it.”

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab podcast! On today’s episode, host Grant Baldwin is joined by Arthur James, a seasoned pastor, educator, a...

“I’m a big believer in consuming what you sell and practicing what you preach…it’s a useful step on the path to understanding what’s possible and for growing in the skill set of standing on stage in front of any number of people that makes your body react and become nervous.”

In this episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast, host Grant Baldwin sits down with Melanie Curtis, a world record-holding professional skydiver, seasoned c...

“Make sure you actually believe you can follow your plan. Because if you don’t feel hopeful, then you’re never going to feel motivated, you’re never going to feel committed, and you’re never going to follow through.”

Welcome back to another episode of The Speaker Lab Podcast! Today, Grant Baldwin is joined by Adam Gilbert, the mastermind behind MyBodyTutor.com and DoneDaily.com, to discuss insights for anyone looking to bui...

“When you go to these associations’ websites, they don’t have robust staff…it’s not hard to find them. You can directly engage with them and talk to them about an event that’s coming up. You can identify, ‘You have a fall conference coming up. I’d love to chat with you and see how I can best support you on that.’” 

This week on The Speaker Lab podcast, host Grant Baldwin sits down with industry expert and regular guest...

“Everything [The Speaker Lab] does is very intentional drive, step driven, process driven, and it can fit whatever time that you can give it…So time is less relevant. Consistency is more relevant.”

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab podcast! In this episode, we’re diving deep into the realities of building a thriving speaking business while balancing a busy professional life. Our host, Erick Rheam, brings on Dr. Yvette E. Pear...

“I’ve been a caterpillar. You know, what do caterpillars do? They collect, they eat, they stock up, they build up until they get a calling that says build yourself a chrysalis. And that [chrysalis], for me, was leaving public service.”

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab podcast! Today’s episode features Marcy Grossman, whose career path took her from criminal psychologist, working in federal prisons, to Canadian ambassador in ...

“Within an in demand topic, how are you going to differentiate? There are only X number of categories of movies out there, right? And so it’s not like you’re suddenly going to invent a new category of movie, but you do want, within that well trenched category, to be distinct.”

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab podcast! In today’s episode, host Grant Baldwin is joined once again by youth speaker and entrepreneur, Josh Shipp, f...

“Once you have your go-to framework, your go-to model, and then as you innovate, few come up with new ideas, and instead of just doing away with the old one, it becomes a tool in your pocket. And you can keep building that toolbox as you go.”

This week, host Grant Baldwin reconnects with his good friend, renowned speaker, author, and content strategist Melanie Deziel. If you've ever struggled to organize your ideas, wanted ...