Student Success Story: Dustin Portillo

Tell us a little bit about who you are and who you speak to.

Well, thank you very much for the opportunity. And hello coaches, if you’re listening to this, I dig you. My name is Dustin Portillo, based here in Tampa Bay, Florida. Been speaking now for quite some time, most recently, going through The Speaker Lab. I knew that I needed to elevate my performance per se. I have a really unconventional background. I was a professional clown for Ringling Brothers for seven years. Childhood Dream. That led to me getting a gig as the world’s most famous redhead. And no, not Lucille Ball. I know some of you were thinking that – I’m not a Lucille Ball impersonator; it was Ronald McDonald, for corporate McDonald’s. I was in that role for about four years, and had some really incredible opportunities. The Macy’s Parade in New York City and some really great things. That led to a corporate gig with one of the largest McDonald’s franchises. And then now, in the world of speaking, I’ve had four lives. I have five more left if I’m considered a cat…I’ve been called worse. So one career has built onto the next and has really been an incredible foundation for my speaking business.

I’m incredibly thrilled that I found the Speaker Lab. Weirdly enough, I was talking to my husband about speaking full time, and then I don’t know if the internet, the Google people out there were listening, but then of course The Speaker Lab popped up. And so I clicked on it, had an incredible one hour session with Brittany, and about 50 people on there. Then, I had my call with Clinton, and that just kind of sealed the deal.

I’m glad you found us. That leads to the next question. What was happening or maybe not happening in your speaking business at the time that made you say, “The Speaker Lab is the next right move for me.”

Well, I wasn’t getting paid to speak, but I also was working in Corporate, so I had a good salary. My five years spent in corporate, I was the face of our organization, the community relations, the donating, the sponsoring, and so I built a really great rapport with a lot of folks in Tampa Bay from government to law enforcement, education, non-profits. Every level of any organization from the CEO down to the hourly crew I had built great rapport with. I was doing all these speaking opportunities, speaking on behalf of our 4,000 employees and then my own personal brand.

But then after I left corporate, when the company sold back in September of 2022, shockingly everyone didn’t know what to do. And unfortunately, my whole department got annihilated because whenever your job is to give away $1.9 million of the owner’s money every year, that’s the firs to go when the company starts to, you know, downsize. So I had a couple of jobs, and I call them jobs; they were not careers – A job is for a high school or a college student, a career is for someone who is all in and can see themselves moving within the organization upwards.

I had just these jobs that were just absolutely horrible and they, and they paid well, but I realized that it was not about the money and it wasn’t about the title. I was not happy and I sacrificed my happiness for the mighty dollar. And I firmly believe that if you’re chasing money, money will always run quicker.

I realized that, um, I need to do something that aligns with who Dustin Portillo is, where I have a bigger voice and I’m not just pigeonholed to one organization, that I can go anywhere, I can work whenever I want, and I can do business with whoever I want to, where I feel that it’s a really good fit.

How has the SPEAK Framework impacted your business and changed your trajectory?

It has not been good. It has been excellent. It has been absolutely excellent. It has been phenomenal – I don’t believe in reinventing oneself because reinventing, I believe that you’re going back and you’re starting all over again. I believe that you’re just leveling up. So every life, you know, my four lives, that I’ve had, it’s always been a level up. And so joining the Speaker Lab and learning the SPEAK framework leveled up who Dustin Portillo was and what I have to offer, and it’s been an absolutely incredible experience getting paid to speak.

Whenever I talk to organizations about me coming in, I have never had anyone squawk at the price point. I always say, “I have 38 years experience, so I’m coming into your organization and I’m giving you some of the gems of my 38 years of my life, and it’s well worth it.” I don’t necessarily say exactly that, but they have to find value out of it. It makes you feel confident. Going through the Speaker Lab has really built my confidence knowing that I can charge the prices and that people are willing to pay it. And if they’re not, that’s fine. That just means that there’s a misalignment with that organization, and I’m cool with it. Totally fine with it. But nine times out of 10 it, I have been able to go into these organizations and build off of what I’ve learned through The Speaker Lab, it’s been absolutely an incredible experience.

And anyone who is wishy-washy, on the fence, hopefully the fence isn’t spiky ’cause it’s probably hurting you. You should probably get off that fence and do it because it’s a really incredible opportunity to level up who you are and to show up for other people.

What were some of the main aha moments and takeaways along the journey? Tell us your light bulb moments.

Well, SPEAK is this acronym, and so I would have to say, probably the A: Acquire Paid Speaking Opportunities – again, leveling up knowing that you can charge that price. We all have this imposter syndrome and it’s pretty prevalent – I still go through it every now and again. But you have to reframe your mindset. And I think one of the coolest things about The Speaker Lab is I don’t know how many total students are going through it at this moment in time when we are filming this, but it is one of the greatest mastermind groups.

Whenever I go into organizations – I talked to folks a couple of weeks ago, it was 250 people, and I told him, “You all are a part of a mastermind group You all are going through the same. things within your own offices, but you all are going through these same trials and tribulations. You need to lean on one another.” 

I think one of the greatest things about The Speaker Lab is that you’re going through this with people from all over the world – really from all over the world, who are going through the growing pains of growing their speaker business. And as of right now, I’m not happy where I’m at and that is great, right? I think when you become complacent, that’s when you start to get stuck. So I’m not complacent. I always wanna be better. 

The Speaker Lab really has helped me, with the coaches – those 12 sessions have really been fantastic. I just had one last night with Katherine and she did an audit of my messaging and I’m telling you – really incredible stuff. And the price point that you’re paying is so worth it because you’re getting these 12 sessions with these coaches who are just phenomenal people and they know what they’re talking about and you can get off the call on a high. There’s no substance that can give you that high like getting off one of the calls with these coaches who know their stuff and are there to help you. They’re focused and they’re honed in on you and it’s really just been a fantastic experience.

What are some of the results you’ve seen in your business?

There’s been a couple of things. I began to write a book last year. So I already had that forward momentum. The book came out in February and that’s been doing fantastic. I have offices that are buying the book for their mid-level managers, executive teams, which has been fantastic. The Tampa Police Department just purchased a bunch of books for their leadership team last week. So, that’s been great.

I have a partnership with a local event planning business. It’s called Florida Destinations, and it’s, and the lady who has operated it for 25, 30 years, she and I worked together whenever I was in corporate, I would reach out to her whenever we were planning large scale company events for 250 people up to a thousand. And so I emailed her a couple weeks ago and said, “Hey, it’s been like two years since I’ve seen you. I’d like to catch up!” We met, and she goes, “You know what? I was thinking – why don’t we create some sort of an affiliate thing, where whenever I have conventions reach out” – because her company is in seven or eight different hotels, she has these satellite offices, and so she is considered the preferred vendor for whenever people wanna do a wedding, conference, a retreat. And so she said, “Why don’t you send me over some bullet points that I can give to all of our sales-people so that whenever we have someone to reach out to us, our salespeople can say,

‘Hey, by the way, do you all need some sort of a speaker?”
“Well, actually we do.”
“Well we got this guy and he has a really unique background”

I gave them my speaker one sheet and so they can now pitch me. So how that works is there’s my speaker fee, which they don’t touch, but then they put a fee on top of that, so say for instance, my speaker fee was 5,000, well now they’re gonna pitch me at 7,000, so they get 2000 for finding me work, per se. And then I get to keep my actual fee. So, that was just formed as of recent, which has been fantastic. Having the confidence to go in and create these affiliate relationships has been great.

Another organization out of Louisville, Kentucky operates different events throughout the year in the fast casual business, through Blooming Brands, which owns all of your Outback Steakhouses. They run different events where they bring all the C-Suite Executives in so I spoke at their event up in Kansas City in March. The CEO reached out and said, “Hey, I would love to possibly sell your book on our platform. We will do all the marketing. We would love for you to write some newsletter articles. And then every time a newsletter goes out, we will pitch you. The idea is that we want companies to buy your book in bulk. It isn’t just, you know, one book here. So 50, 60, a hundred, 200 books.” I fulfill the order. I would hand sign all of them, so I think I’ve got carpet tunnel syndrome – that’s not what it’s called – it’s called Carpal Tunnel. So that’s being worked out. I just signed the contract for that last week.

So there’s some really good things moving forward and I don’t think I would be at a place where I’m at now if I didn’t have the Speaker Lab that I’ve gone through to really level up who I am. 

In February, I successfully secured a closing keynote slot for February 8th with the seventh largest school district in the United States. In March, I gave my opening keynote to over 300 C-Suite executives within the Food & Beverage Industry. The steps and procedures I’ve learned during my time in TSL have played an integral role in this massive step forward in my career. I couldn’t tell you how many people came up to me afterwards and gave me amazing feedback on how the presentation resonated with each of them, in different ways. I sold several copies of my book, got several contacts via my QR code at the end of my presentation, and had someone approach me that he had a few keynote opportunities for me. In June, I was booked on a few local television stations promoting my book and speaking business.

And there are a lot more things that are going to happen. Things that the universe is gonna throw at me that’s gonna be like, “You know what, that’s a really good idea.” So I’m open to new opportunities and new ways of really having a bigger impact, not just here in the Tampa Bay region, but really going globally with my messaging.

We always say we wanna give speakers clarity, confidence, and a clear path forward to make an impact, so I love how much you keep talking about confidence ’cause that’s really such a key piece to being able to grow your business.

A million percent. My husband has a book that he just recently published called Confident AF so his book is all about confidence, and so if I wasn’t confident being married to someone who’s messaging is being confident, there’d be something wrong with that.

And what’s your book called? Because I know it also has a good title.

It’s Okay To Be An Idiot – and Idiot is not what you think idiot means. Idiot has really two meanings. First of all, the Clown because the Clown is also called The Fool or The Idiot, but then Idiot is also an acronym:

• Imagine your Potential
• Dream Big
• Ignite your Inner Fire,
• Own your originality,
• and give Thanks.

If you follow that five step framework, I don’t care who you are, I don’t care who you believe in, I don’t care what position you’ve got, you can be successful. And I’ve seen this from the CEO down to the person who cleans the lobby, right? You have to own who you are. And if you can’t show up for yourself, it is absolutely impossible to show up for your guests.

When I worked in the corporate world, I realized that I was always this idiot after about one year transitioning from entertainment into hospitality, going away from having a big red smile as Ronald McDonald to now wearing tailored suits, and there was no makeup to hide behind.

I realized that I was always this idiot in my newfound life, so I wrote a book and it’s all about owning who you are to show up for, for everybody else ’cause if you don’t know who you are, it’s absolutely impossible to show up for your guests to create those Kodak moments per se.

I love that you’re giving us a little teaser of your talk. You’re hired!…I know you touched on this earlier – you were speaking to someone who’s maybe on the fence, who’s considering doing The Speaker Lab. Who would you recommend to The Speaker Lab and why?

Well, The Speaker Lab is not for everyone, right? The Speaker Lab is for someone who has an incredible message and really truly wants to share it. It’s a great investment in yourself. And this is the first time I have ever dumped so much money into myself.

I bought a really nice watch three or four years ago that was close to the price point that I paid. And it’s funny because at that moment you think “that watch defines who I am,” and so I sold the watch because I found out the watch did not bring me happiness.

So this is the first time that I’ve ever dumped that kind of money into Dustin Portillo. And I would say if you have a strong message, if this is something that you truly want, that you truly need in your life, that this is a non-negotiable that you need to go after it, like I’ve said many times over – we have one life and that’s it. And the last thing you want, or I want, or anybody wants is on their deathbed – if we’re so fortunate to have one – is to go, “Why didn’t I do this?” And so I’m glad that I joined The Speaker Lab whenever I did.

Last year I journaled – I journal every day – but last year I journaled Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. And in Q1, I said that I’m really going to level up and be all-in in the speaker world. I didn’t know about The Speaker Lab at that moment in time, ’cause that was in November of 23. Then just things kind of fell into place and The Speaker Lab fell into my lap and I had my call with Brittany and then everything kind of happened. And I’m really fortunate that it did.

If you’re on the fence, again, but you have a strong message, you truly know in your heart of hearts that this is what you want to do, I guarantee it – The Speaker Lab will give you what you want. And as many people have said throughout my, now, six months going through it, 95 to 98% of your success is you – it’s you. It isn’t The Speaker Lab – they’re giving you incredible tools and resources, but if you aren’t all in, then don’t do it. You have to be all in because you’re not gonna see the success of if you don’t put the time and effort into it. Dedicate a couple of hours a day, an hour a day, going through the coursework.

Now for me, it’s the prospecting piece, which isn’t always the easiest thing, and I know for a lot of people that’s a pinch point and I’m getting better at it. So quit chastising me people, I’m getting better at it! It isn’t my favorite thing to do but I have to be in love with it ’cause if not, every time I get on there, I’m gonna be bitter. I’m gonna be angry. And you can’t do that because whenever you start sending emails out from a place of bitterness, ya ain’t gonna get much back. So it has to be from a place of love and you know, being confident that you have something to offer that group.

Thanks for sharing all that! You dropped some mindset tips in there, some encouragement for people to do the work. I loved that. It’s been such a joy talking to you. Is there anything else you want to share?

Yes, I am looking for a stack of twenties and I think Emily has it and so we’ll talk later, but with all kidding aside, I really do appreciate Grant putting this together and then really surrounding himself with people such as yourself, Emily, who can help bring his idea to life and always be building on it.

Even in the six or seven months that I’ve been through it, it always seems like there’s always a leveling up within everyone – coach wise, going through Circle, it always seems to be getting better and better and better.

And of course becoming complacent is never a good thing, so it’s great to see that you always, outta the corner of your eyes, see something happening where it’s like The Speaker Lab also is always leveling up, which you want, so kudos to that and very appreciative of everyone’s support for me going through it. Can’t wait to see what I can do next because I know it’s gonna be an incredible future.

Hopefully we’re kind of at that pivot point of your next life iteration, your Number Five.

Yes. Here we go. Let’s gooo!