“Undercharging is not humility. It is a positioning problem and oftentimes a confidence problem. And that confidence problem is wearing a humble costume.”
Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this episode, Dan Irvin digs into one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes speakers make: undercharging for their talks. And not just because it shrinks your paycheck. Dan makes the case that pricing too low actually makes you harder to book.
Here’s the scene he sets: you’re on a call with an event planner, the conversation is going great, they ask what your fee is — and a much smaller number comes out of your mouth than the one in your head. Dan’s been there himself, early in his career. Inside The Speaker Lab, he’s had this exact conversation with speaker after speaker. The problem goes deeper than money. When you price too low, planners treat you differently — worse time slots, skipped introductions, ignored A/V requests. Same speaker, same talk, totally different experience. Dan breaks down the three traps that keep speakers stuck in the discount cycle, shares a story about how one “we don’t pay speakers” event turned into more than $50,000 in workshops, and walks through his own approach to the fee conversation — the questions he asks, how he frames his number, and why he doesn’t commit to a final number on the discovery call.
Whether you’re brand new and figuring out where to set your first real fee, or you’ve been speaking for years and suspect you’ve been leaving serious money on the table, this episode gives you a clear framework for pricing with confidence.
You’ll learn:
- How undercharging actually makes you harder to book, not easier
- The three pricing traps that keep speakers stuck (free gigs, comparison shopping, and fear of hearing “no”)
- How “exposure” builds the wrong reputation and trains your market to expect you for free
- Why somebody else’s fee tells you absolutely nothing about what yours should be
- The direct link between your fee and how event planners treat you — from your time slot to your introduction
- What actually determines your fee (hint: it’s not just how good your talk is)
- Why getting uncomfortably niche leads to paid gigs
- Dan’s story of turning a “we don’t pay speakers” event into more than $50,000 in workshops
- How to handle the fee conversation without apologizing, hedging, or negotiating against yourself
- The one question Dan never skips on a discovery call — and why it reframes everything
- When to adjust your fee down as a strategic choice and when to raise it
And much, much more!
“Stop discounting yourself. Your message is worth more than you’re charging for it.”
Not sure what you should be charging — or how to say the number without flinching? Take the free Speaker Business Assessment — In 15 minutes, the team looks at your positioning, niche, and assets and helps you figure out the right fee and how to present it. Dan’s on some of those calls himself.
