The Speaker Lab Podcast

Some entrepreneurs spend their whole lives hustling, allowing burnout to gradually erode their overall quality of life. Others prioritize work-life harmony early on, allowing them to pursue their passions, keep creating, and enjoy life. That’s what Tina Wells has done, with her signature “Elevation Approach,” a system for entrepreneurs which lies at the heart of her book, online course, and upcomi...

You can’t solve all your audience’s problems with one short keynote — often, you barely scratch the surface. So how do you offer your audience the next steps toward solutions? That’s what our very own coaches Maryalice Goldsmith and Jeremy Rochford cover on Episode 450 of The Speaker Lab podcast. Building your talk out into a coaching program is an incredible way to add streams of income and diver...

Amy Porterfield describes herself as an “ex-corporate girl turned accidental entrepreneur.” It’s hard to believe it was an accident! Amy runs an incredibly successful business teaching other entrepreneurs how to grow their following online. She is an author, podcaster, and occasional speaker with a special knack for building email lists and creating online courses. With that in mind, her appearanc...

One of the best feelings as a coach at The Speaker Lab is seeing our students turn their visions into reality. In episode 448 of The Speaker Lab podcast, TSL director of Student Success Maryalice Goldsmith is joined by Sara Murray from our VIP cohort. Sara came into our program with a successful sales career under her belt and a vision for her platform: “prospecting on purpose.” Sara’s mission is...

Shane Sams is a man who has taken control of his life. After a scary experience with a supervisor that got in the way of caring for his family, he struck out into entrepreneurship with his wife so they could quit their 9-5s and be more fully present with their kids. The best part is, they have dedicated their lives to helping others do the same thing through their business, Flipped Lifestyle. Whil...

Speaking is full of surprises. Even if you’re equipped with the best business plan, vision, and work ethic, things don’t always go as planned. Knowing how to handle tricky situations is something that comes with experience, but there are many steps you can take to shore up your speaking business against pitfalls. While there’s no reason to dwell on worst case scenarios, it’s valuable to have a gam...

Every week, our Speaker Lab podcast guests surprise us with all the exciting twists and turns of their journey to the stage. This week’s guest, Taurea Vision Avant, is no exception — listen in to episode 445 to hear her adventures from computer science, to network marketing, to authorship, coaching and beyond. In fact, Taurea never even saw herself as a professional speaker or entrepreneur at the...

Do you think some careers just aren’t a good fit for speaking? Think again! This week, we invited a world champion salsa dancer on the podcast. Not only is he a professional dancer, but also a veteran firefighter–we’re talking about Alex Lee, one of our Booked and Paid to Speak program alumni featured in our latest Student Highlight. In Episode 444, he shares the twists and turns of his profession...

Bobby Umar is a speaker who does it all. He writes books. He runs coaching programs. He’s amassed hundreds of thousands of followers in his social media communities. He’s done multiple TEDx talks. And most importantly, he’s a self-described doting dad. If you’re wondering how he manages to juggle so many balls alongside his speaking engagements, so are we — so he joined our founder Grant Baldwin f...

Our coaches at The Speaker Lab are equipped to guide you through your speaking journey, no matter what kind of speaker you want to be. Which means if you prefer a side room with a dozen or so people around a table to a massive auditorium, we’re here to help. Delivering motivational keynotes might look like the most glamorous choice, but many speakers build incredible careers and make huge impacts...

Speaking can be pretty intimidating for introverts. In fact, you might be under the impression that all successful professional speakers are extroverts. After all, isn’t getting up on a stage the ultimate example of being a “people person”? As a matter of fact, introverts can be great public speakers–and they often bring something unique to the stage. This week, the Speaker Lab founder Grant Baldw...

Balancing your work with your personal and family life is a challenge for any ambitious professional, but it can be especially taxing for speakers. Scaling your speaker business to the point where you can make a living takes time, and in those early “lean years” you might be traveling to every gig you can land at the expense of time with your family. Before you know it, you find yourself burnt out...

Today’s guest on Episode 439 of The Speaker Lab podcast, part of our Student Highlight series, is proof that you can become a speaker at any stage in your career, even if you’ve spent your life doing something different. William Quigg is one of those speakers – after a decades-long career in broadcasting, he found his way via sales and corporate training into the speaking industry with the help of...

Often, one of the hardest parts of the learning curve of launching a speaking business is being self employed.  Many would-be entrepreneurs have longed for a textbook that explains how working for yourself actually works. Fortunately, Jeffrey Shaw, speaker, author, and expert in the unconventional art of being self-employed, has written a book about just that. For Episode 438 of The Speaker L...

Our amazing TSL coaches do a lot of great work helping our students accelerate their speaking careers through our programs.  But beyond their great work at TSL, our coaches are people with their own amazing journeys inside and outside of the speaking industry.  This week on the Coaches Corner, our director of student success Maryalice Goldsmith interviewed coach Michelle Onuorah about he...

Every year, The Speaker Lab founder Grant Baldwin and coach Erick Rheam come onto the TSL show for an episode we call “The State of the Speaking Industry.” Grant and Erick use this time to zoom out and examine shifts in the last year and trends for the next year that affect speakers working on building their business this year. This is a chance to really dig deep into what’s going on in a variety...

Our Student Highlight series continues with a student who came to us after years of success as a therapist and academic. Dr. David Palmiter knew how to fill in the gaps between scientific research and common knowledge, specifically on the topic of achieving happiness. He had three decades of speaking experience and regularly trained other therapists. He was a hit with his audience every time he we...

On The Speaker Lab podcast, we feature guests who find their way to the speaking industry via myriad paths. Sometimes their path is linear, and sometimes the story of how they got to speaking is just as interesting as what they speak about. In Episode 434, you’ll get to hear from one of those speakers–someone who has really done it all! Lou Diamond has worked in marketing, technology, finance, and...

Do you have executive presence? It’s not just for CEOs.  According to TSL coaches Maryalice Goldsmith and Katherine Johnson, executive presence actually refers to the constellation of cues that people use to evaluate whether we have credibility, whether they see us as a leader, and how they perceive our capabilities.  Most people default to trusting nonverbal messaging when there’s a cog...

We have big news: we’re launching a new program at The Speaker Lab. In this podcast episode, Grant is joined by Erick Rheam to tell you all about our Master Speaker Program: what it entails, who it’s for, and how it can help you scale your speaking business.  This program is our first ever offering for established speakers. If you’re not sure whether that describes you, Erick and Grant give a...

When we say our programs get you results, Anne Marie Anderson is what we mean.  After decades of experience in sports broadcasting, Anne Marie realized that the speaking gigs she landed here and there could become a career. She joined the Speaker Lab Virtual VIP program with Erick Rheam in the fall and just three months later, her speaking business is booming! She shares her success story on...

We love bragging about the success of our TSL students on the podcast. Today’s guest is a real gem — he speaks straight from the heart and you can hear it in his voice!  Ryan Botner has tried his hand at several different industries with great success. Despite bringing in multi-million dollar revenues, he wasn’t in love with the results. Coaching and speaking (with the help of The Speaker Lab...

You’ve probably heard from us before that a good website is one of your two most important assets as a speaker (the other is your demo video). At the same time, once you build your website you can’t just set it and forget it! Along with that great importance comes great responsibility. You might be surprised how much your menu organization matters to potential clients, or how your font choices and...

As a speaker, there are plenty of legal issues to navigate as you build a rock-solid speaking business. Good news – Autumn Witt Boyd is bringing her expertise and experience to Episode 428 of The Speaker Lab Podcast to help you walk through what you need to know! There are many nuances to preserving and protecting online businesses, intellectual property, opportunities for trademarks, and even cre...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sit down with some of our coaches and take a deep dive into some of the hottest topics for speakers? In our first episode of 2023, Director of Student Success Maryalice Goldsmith joins Lead Coach Rick Clemons to unpack the ten biggest distractions that can hurt speakers who are trying to grow and scale their businesses. There are so many things to na...