The SPEAK Framework — Lesson 1

Welcome to the SPEAK Framework course. My name is Grant Baldwin. I’m the founder of the speaker lab, and we are here today to help you make an impact and an income with your message today, we’re going to be looking at the S of the speaker framework and how selecting a problem to solve is the first step in getting booked and paid.

On a consistent basis. Now we’re going to start by just giving you a high level overview of the entire speaker success roadmap that we’re going to be covering in this series. The, so we’re going to be talking about today is again, SELECT a problem to solve. We’re going to dig into that just a second. The next part of the process is P to prepare your talk.

Once you’re clear on what the problem is that you’re going to be solving, we have to be clear on how the solution is going to be provided. And actually we’re going to be talking about why this is actually your best marketing asset in your arsenal. Next part of the process is E ESTABLISH yourself as the expert.

We’re going to be talking about two key marketing tools that every speaker needs. We’re going to walk through that, uh, soon. And then also the a is ACQUIRE, paid speaking. Now, maybe for you, you’ve booked a couple of gigs before, and maybe for you, they were like word of mouth or referrals. Maybe there’s some, some friends or something that just kind of fell in your lap and listen, that’s nice when those happen, but it’s hard to build a business that way.

So what we want to do is we want to give you a. Repeatable predictable, uh, consistent process so that you can be able to book gigs so that you’re not just sitting, waiting, wishing, hoping that you’re able to magically find gigs. It doesn’t work like that. We want to give you a proven process. And then the last part of the process is K KNOW when to scale.

So one thing we’re going to be talking about today is we’re more than just speakers. We are solution providers. And so speaking is just one way to provide that solution. And so maybe for you, you’re also interested in helping people through. A book or through a course or through coaching or consulting.

And so we’re going to be talking about that. How do you SCALE your message beyond the stage? But again, today, we’re going to be starting with and focusing on the S selecting a problem to solve now. I understand that the world has, uh, has experienced something a little unusual, right? We’ve dealt with this pandemic and things are drastically improving and it’s still just kind of the, the world has been weird recently.

Right. But I want you to understand that we are still in the problem solving and solution providing business. There has been nothing that has changed about that. And so one of the things that you have to do is to speak. Is foundationally. You have to solve one specific problem for one specific audience.

So have one specific problem for one specific audience. If you get nothing else out of this series, this may be the most important thing that I have to tell you, because oftentimes. We feel like we have to speak to as many people as possible. Sometimes I’ll talk to speakers and I say, who do you speak to?
And they say, I speak to humans. I speak to people. My message is for everybody that doesn’t work and the same way with it. When we’re talking about solving a specific problem. If I ask you, what do you speak about? And you say, well, what do you want me to speak about? I can speak about anything again, that doesn’t work.

That’s not what we’re going for. So although it may feel counterintuitive when you get this, it actually becomes easier to find and book gigs. Now, let me give you an example. So, this is actually a screenshot from a local medical group. This is a variety of different doctors and you can see under each of their names, they have different specialties in the medical profession.

So let me ask you a few questions here. Who would you go see if you needed surgery? Who’d you go see if you needed surgery? You’d probably go to one of these doctors. You can see those pink boxes underneath highlighting their specialty. And these four doctors specialize in surgery. Now who’d you go see if you had a sore.

You’d probably go see one of these doctors, they specialize in family medicine. They probably deal with a lot of sore throats. Let’s imagine that God forbid you had a brain issue. Who would you go see if you had a brain issue? You’d probably go see this doctor who specializes in neurology, but it raises the question.

They’re all doctors. Like, why couldn’t you just go to any of them for anything? The same thing is true for speakers. If you’re a speaker, you should be able to speak on anything to anybody, but that’s not the way things work. The more specific. The more narrow, the more focused you are, the easier it is to find good.

Listen. That’s so, so critically important. The more specific, the more narrow, the more focused you are, the easier it is to find gigs. Now, as you’re figuring out who you would speak to and what problem that you solve. I certainly understand that that can be a tricky thing. It can be difficult to know how specific you need to be, and is this the right group?

And does this group even, or organization even pay, and you’re trying to figure out some and navigate some of those things. I totally get that one thing you need to remember those. You don’t need to have overcome something tragic in your life to be qualified, to solve a problem. You don’t need to overcome something tragic in your life to be qualified, to solve a problem.
When I got started speaking, uh, I had this limiting belief. I’m a white male from the Midwest who grew up, grew up in a pretty average middle-class family. Like, uh, I haven’t had cancer. I haven’t traveled the world. Won a gold medal. I haven’t done some crazy thing that all of a sudden would qualify me to be a speaker.

But remember, as a speaker, we are nothing more than problem solvers. So you don’t need some crazy backstory in order to be qualified to solve a problem. Now, this is also important. Again, like we talked about at the beginning that the world has been a little weird, right? But even if an organization is waiting to have a live event and some of them are, some of them may be pushing this off.

Some of them may be focusing on virtual that’s. Okay. That doesn’t mean their problem has been solved. And so I would say this, that you still have the opportunity and I won’t even say the responsibility to help serve and problem problem-solve. Let me introduce you to John. John’s. One of our students that we work with inside the speaker lab, he said this, I was feeling close with ideas for topics, but the suggestions I received from my coaching calls with TSL have helped me to really.

I don’t actually feel thank you as enough, because you helped me to locate the exact right spot for me to speak. That’s priceless. That’s what we work with speakers on a daily basis, helping them to read the label from inside the jar. It’s difficult to read the label from inside the jar, right. Because you’re so close to it.

And so it helps to have sometimes that outside perspective from coaches and industry experts. And that’s. Now in the next lesson, we’re going to be talking about how to prepare your talk and why your talk is the most important marketing asset in your speaking journey. Now, I want you to go back to the email that sent you here, and I want you to complete the homework to get the next lesson right away so that you don’t have to be waiting on it.

All right. Do the work, you can watch this video. You can pay attention, you can nod your head, but it ultimately comes down to doing the work. So get back to that email, complete the homework, and let’s keep moving forward in your speaking journey and ultimately helping you to make an impact and income with your message.