The 6 Step System to Book More Paid Speaking Gigs with Dan Irvin

The Speaker Lab Podcast

The Speaker Lab

Authors, Public Speakers, Public Speaking, How To, Marketing, Smallbusiness, Coaching, Education, Entrepreneurship, Speaking, Business, Side Gig

4.8 • 575 Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dan Irvin was laid off of his C-suite position just as COVID started taking off. He took it as a sign to start the speaking career he had long been considering. Between pandemic-induced chaos and his own inexperience with the speaking industry, his first efforts were, in his own words, “dismal.” Fortunately, he discovered The Speaker Lab, which helped him systematize his business to the point where he is now speaking over 50 times a year on top of working as a member of the TSL team. Dan joined us for episode 454 of the TSL podcast to discuss the step-by-step processes that help him succeed.

To really succeed as a speaker, you need a plan. Having a plan will get your family and friends in your corner when you first launch your business as well as showing future clients that you are serious about what you do. Dan has used careful strategy and repeatable systems to turn his speaking business into a well-oiled machine. From time management to email followups, putting systems in place will set you apart from the many wannabe speakers who are fueled by enthusiasm that lacks consistency. Furthermore, automated systems that work for you when you’re not even paying attention help you free up valuable time to spend with your loved ones.

One of Dan’s systems that will interest many speakers is how he evaluates whether to take on unpaid gigs. Many clients with tight budgets can still offer value that can’t be quantified in monetary terms. At the same time, if you get a reputation for speaking for free, nobody will want to pay you! This is a question that boggles many speakers…after all, at the start of your career, you have very few options! Dan and Grant have all the answers for you on this episode, from how to decide if an audience is the perfect fit to tough conversations with clients who can’t pay you.

You’ll also learn all about:

Dan’s tried-and-true contact strategy that connects him with the best leads.
Why quality of leads matters more than quantity.
Why you should start with one signature talk rather than a suite of talks.
How to use your time if you have just 30 minutes a day for your speaking business.
How to balance your love of travel with missing your family at home.
Which parts of your speaking business should and shouldn’t be outsourced.
How to decide on software tools to automate your tasks.
…and so much more!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Fran, Graham Baldwin here.
0:01.4	Hey, what if I told you that there was a single marketing asset that you could use to book tens of thousands of dollars in paid speaking gigs before you even have a website?
0:10.2	Well, that tool exists.
0:11.4	And Dan Irvin, one of the speakers on our team, used it to book over $36,000 in speaking gigs without a fancy website or any social media presence.
0:19.6	Even better, we're going to teach you exactly how
0:22.1	to create that tool for your speaking business in under an hour. For a limited time, we're going to
0:26.9	be offering a free live training on how to build and use this marketing asset to start booking
0:31.9	paid gigs in just a few weeks. If you want to hear more, go to thespeakalab.com slash marketing.
0:38.5	That's what you got to do is go to the speakelab.com slash marketing and we'll see you there.
0:45.4	Hey, what's up, friends? Grant Baldwin here. So glad to have you here listening to episode
0:52.7	454 of the speaker lab podcast. Once again this week, I am joined by a speaker who not only works with us here at the Speaker Lab, but also runs an incredible speaking business of his own. We're talking with my buddy Dan Irvin today. Now, Dan started out with us as a student and then actually joined our team a couple years back after a career in the corporate C-suite. Now he is speaking more than 50 times a year to leaders and executives about intentionality, teamwork, and sales growth. Dan and I have a lot in common when it comes to our families. Our wives both happen to be hairdressers, even though I don't have any hair. I don't need your judgment right now. We both have three kids, and despite the busy life of a speaker, we like to maximize
1:27.7	our quality time with our loved ones. So if you're a parent or struggling with balancing,
1:32.4	traveling and speaking gigs with time with your kids, Dan and I are going to talk a little bit
1:36.1	about our experience and finding that balance. Dan is a systems guy, and we are all about systems
1:41.3	here at the speaker lab. You just cannot get away from building solid
1:44.7	systems if you want to launch a sustainable, successful speaking business. Dan's going to share
1:49.6	what the process is like as a student in one of our programs for putting in the groundwork
1:53.8	for those essential systems with our speak framework, from task management to prospecting to email
1:58.3	follow-up systems and repeatable methods that will get you
2:01.1	greater momentum than relying on pure enthusiasm. For example, with a systematized contact strategy
2:07.1	that you can really focus on quality over quantity of your lead generation, which is a process
2:11.7	that Dana is going to walk us through step by step. Dan is also quite the expert whenever it comes
	...

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