Episode #607

How to Get Booked When You Don't Have a Track Record

With Bill Englehaupt

“Constancy of purpose says we’re in, we’re locked, we’re going until we get to a point where we have sufficient data or an understanding of what we’re doing that we need to make a change.”

Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this episode, Dan sits down with TSL alumnus Bill Englehaupt — founder of Auditology and a 30-plus-year veteran of financial services audit. Bill works with CPA firms and Fortune 500 internal audit teams to root out what he calls “the hidden factory”: the invisible, below-the-line work that quietly eats organizations alive.

Bill’s speaking business had been dormant for months. Then he submitted a proposal for a national conference in Las Vegas, got the nod, and walked into a breakout room with more than 200 people — his first talk back after a long dry spell. He’s also an author twice over: his first book, Managing the Hell Out of Your Audit, became the springboard for Auditology, and his brand-new second book, The Productive Auditor, just hit Amazon. He didn’t wait for anyone to hand him credibility. He stacked proof: one book, one webinar, one talk at a time.

Whether you’re trying to crack the chicken-and-egg problem of getting booked without a track record, wondering if writing a book is worth the time, or just trying to stay consistent when outreach feels like shouting into the void, this conversation is packed with real-world tactics from someone building it right now.

You’ll learn:

  • What “the hidden factory” is and how Bill turned a 30-plus-year audit career into a speaking niche
  • How he landed a 200-person breakout session at a national conference after months of his business being dormant
  • Why writing a book gave him “a platform to stand on” — and why you don’t actually need one to get started
  • The chicken-and-egg problem: what to do when event applications ask for experience you don’t have yet
  • How webinars for continuing-education content providers became his lower-barrier proof engine
  • How to turn one strong talk into a demo reel
  • Dan’s five-week contact strategy and why most responses come from email three, not email one
  • Why Bill calls the book “an avoidance activity” — and how to catch yourself dodging the real work
  • W. Edwards Deming’s concept of “constancy of purpose” and what it means for speakers chasing shiny objects
  • The 30-day win Bill is actually chasing — human-to-human contact, before any booking

And much, much more!

“Well, for a speaker, it’s just stick to your plan, right? I think that’s the one main thing. You know, if you’ve got your power hour, get your power hour going. If you’re, you know, having trouble getting your follow-ups going, stick to the plan.”


Ready to stop guessing and start building your own proof-stacking plan? Take the free Speaker Business Assessment and find out exactly where you stand.

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About Bill Englehaupt

Bill Englehaupt is the founder of Auditology, a consulting practice helping audit teams work better, and a 30-plus-year veteran of financial services audit whose career includes director roles at global firms. He works with CPA firms and Fortune 500 internal audit teams to eliminate what he calls the hidden factory — the below-the-line work that eats up time, money, and profits. Bill is the author of two books, Managing the Hell Out of Your Audit and The Productive Auditor, and speaks at national conferences and webinars on audit transformation, productivity, and continuous improvement.

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