At this point, we are certain that there is a coaching program for every service you want to provide. I mean, it’s not a bad thing if there is someone to guide you to make a business out of something you are passionate about. It only becomes bad if you do not get the value of whatever investment you make. But that won’t happen to you, since you landed on our article.
If you love speaking and are looking for help to improve your skills and also find more gigs, we are here to help. This article is a review of one of the most popular speaking programs that has been considered incredibly valuable — The Speaker Lab by Grant Baldwin (also known as Booked And Paid To Speak). But is it really what people describe it to be?
I want to be upfront before we go any further. This course WILL teach you how to speak better and get more gigs. What it WON’T teach you is how to make speaking your full-time job! If you’re looking to start your first business here, this program can’t give you the experience you need. You need the life experience of how to take a business from failing to success, or Grant’s program won’t do you any good.
My other issue with this business model is you have to CONTINUALLY be on the search for new clients. I prefer a much more autopilot business model. A business I can setup that runs without me needing to keep hustling for new clients.
Here is a much more beginner-friendly business model where you can replace your day-job all by yourself, without all the extra client hustle. On top of that, you own all the products, keep all the profits yourself, and takes less time to setup than ecommerce. I have a free video showing this business model here. My own teenagers are using this to make money every week!
Click Here to Get The Course My Daughter Used.
The course my daughter used above is a much more autopilot model than Grant Baldwin’s program. But since you are here to learn about The Speaker Lab, lets get back to our review of that:
Who is Grant Baldwin?
Grant knew he loved public speaking very early on in life. He went to Bible College so that he could get the opportunity to use his passion . He became a youth pastor and although that gave him the opportunity he wanted, he soon found out that he wanted to do more.
He quit his job when his wife was five months pregnant. He had no plans, no strategy, whatsoever. All he knew was that he wanted to do more. He spent the next couple of months figuring out how his passion for speaking could be developed into a career.
After several months, he realized the best option was to start public speaking and he started working tirelessly to build a career out of it. After booking his first few gigs, his career picked up quickly. Grant has spoken at conventions, assemblies, conferences, and several other events. He has spoken in front of an audience of over 70,000 people.
He has been speaking for over 10 years and has given over 400 keynote addresses. Grant mainly speaks on leadership, work-life balance, motivation, speaking training, and entrepreneurship. Grant is not only a speaker, he is a podcaster, author, and entrepreneur. He has three lovely kids.
Grant is the co-author of the book “The Successful Speaker: Five Steps for Booking Gigs, Getting Paid, and Building Your Platform” and hosts the podcast called The Speaker Lab Podcast.
What is The Speaker Lab?
It is Grant Baldwin’s speaker training platform that helps people launch, grow, and scale their speaking business. The name of the training program is Booked and Paid to Speak.
How Does it Work?
You can start the application process by completing the 5-minute application The Speaker Lab website. Then you schedule a call with the company’s enrolment advisors. Once they are certain that you are a good fit, you will be enrolled.
When you are enrolled, you will be added to the next cohort for the training. Once you are in, you will get access to step-by-step live training. This training is based on a success roadmap that takes you on a 90-day action-packed journey.
You will learn how much you should be charging, how to properly communicate with potential clients, how to network with event planners, how to organize high-profile workshops and several others.
You will also have weekly coaching calls with experienced coaches from The Speaker Lab. The team also gives you access to a private community of speakers; some are successful while others are just starting just like you. You get to share ideas and your journey with all these people.
The team will also create a professional promo video of you speaking and also create a professional website for you. They will also give you a tried and tested speaker proposal to help you get the best gigs. They will help you to find the first 25 gigs and then pair you with members of their team to help you find the next 75 or more gigs.
What is the Cost of Booked and Paid to Speak?
The pricing for the program wasn’t mentioned but a couple of Redditors revealed the pricing the team quoted for them. Although the pricing seems to vary a bit from one person to another, the Elite program costs around $9,000 while the VIP costs $13,000 to $14,000. The VIP is the Elite program (what was discussed above) with a few more perks.
One Redditor also mentioned that he enquired for much lower quotes and got a quote for $5,000. There are options for installment payments.
Refund Policy
The company’s policy states that, if you don’t get booked after completing the program, you will get a 100% refund on your investment.
Should You Invest in Grant Baldwin’s Program?
Grant’s Podcast has raving reviews with some people even saying that it motivated them to not give up on public speaking. That is great since we believe that this will also translate into great content for his coaching program.
His book also has lots of positive reviews and some of the users described it as practical, simple, and useful. There are not many reviews about the program itself except for the reviews on his website. However, there is one complaint on BBB from someone who wasn’t happy about several aspects of the program.
The person said he enjoyed networking with all the people he found in the group but he did not get the level of support they needed. He also mentioned that he is now struggling to get a refund.
Honestly, making a $14,000 investment should get you the support the company promises and it will be disappointing if that is not the case.
The bottom line is this, unless you are certain after talking to the enrolment advisors, you should not make this investment. But $14,000 may be relatively low for some people and if that is the case, you can go ahead and make that investment.
For other people who want to be certain before investing, you should start by listening to Grant’s podcast. There is also a free 45-minute training program, you can also check that out.
