Who do you speak to? What do you speak about?
My lane is still a little bit broad, but I have two keynotes that I primarily focus on. Number one is centered around the adversity advantage, using adversity to fuel your purpose, your impact, and your success. It’s a message that’s relatable to youth, so think high school and college age, but it’s a message that is also relatable to the mid-level corporate executive in the corporate space. I take that message out to both of those target audiences.
The second keynote is focused on command attention mastering communication and presentation skills, which is an area that focuses in on primarily the corporate space, think sales folks and sales leaders that are seeking to level up in communication and presentation skills.
What was happening or not happening in your business when you decided to jump into The Speaker Lab?
After spending 22 years in corporate America, speaking, one-on-one in boardroom settings, leading lots of workshops and doing keynotes in my 22 year corporate life, I started feeling this wrestling inside in regard to how can I take some of what I was already doing in corporate America, but also start to share aspects of my personal life, my personal story and journey.
That led to doing a couple pro bono engagements at men’s groups and churches in and around my city, as well as speaking into some youth associations and high school groups. And as I was going through that journey, I ultimately found myself a part of a corporate layoff. So I thought, “Hmm, instead of going right back into corporate America, which is the rational logical thing for me to do – go get another Senior Vice President job that I had to support me and my family,” I thought it was a perfect opportunity to say, “Hey, let me see if I can make a run at this professional speaking journey.”
But I recognized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to do it alone and some way, somehow I saw a post on LinkedIn in regards to The Speaker Lab, which led me to binging the Speaker Lab podcast and setting up some calls with your team to jump into The Speaker Lab journey earlier this year.
Did you have any fears or apprehensions at the start you had to overcome?
There were a number of things that came up. Number one, I just mentioned – 22 years in corporate America. So a big part of my identity was wrapped up in corporate America. I had a title, Senior Vice President, I was part of an org chart. I had direct reports. I walked in a custom suit and I was somebody and I got paid to be somebody. So to leave that behind to stand on my own two feet, under my own brand and my own firm, it took some time to work through that identity shift.
Secondly, not to mention the fact that I’m starting off at zero versus a salary and benefits and bonuses and stock options, all the wonderful things that come with being an employee to support my family. And so that was a big leap of faith.
Lastly, number three, I’ll just call this head trash; We talk a lot about this during The Speaker Lab journey and it’s something I speak on today in regards to limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome – thoughts like “Who am I to share a message? Who’s gonna listen to me?” And “Doesn’t everybody already know the information?” I share that whole curse of knowledge concept.
The Speaker Lab and the coaches and the programming and the community really were a big help in helping me push through a lot of that to get where I’m at today.
What were some of your aha moments or key takeaways from the SPEAK Framework?
One of the things that is still tough that I wrestle with today, but I understand why you all coach to it, is in regards to that Expert Positioning Statement – really giving some thought to what is the problem that exists today, and how do you solve it? Then ultimately, who do you solve it for? In my mind, that’s the biggest part of it because if you don’t have that right, or you at least don’t have a start, then the other components of the framework really don’t matter much in regards to understanding how to market yourself or how to put together a speaking agreement to figure out how you’re gonna get paid.
All of those things about the speaking business, or how you’re even gonna structure your presentation – that was something that doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger. It’s good to have a start but some of it, in my opinion, takes place as you speak and you start to finetune it. You start to get feedback from a real live audience on what’s resonating with them so that you can continue to drill down on that.
Totally. We always say how important it is to test the market. That’s such a crucial part of the process! Now we’d love to know – what have been some of your results and highlights as a speaker along the way?
I love the saying the more you speak, the more you speak. From Grant Baldwin and The Speaker Lab, that was something I heard said. The more you speak, the more you speak.
You said it a moment ago, sometimes you just have to get out there and test your messages, find places to speak, find audiences that bring in speakers or volunteer your speaking services.
I had to do a lot of free speaking engagements in different situations to record myself and get audience feedback to get to the place I am today. For example, just a couple of weeks ago I was doing a corporate talk in Pittsburgh where they paid for my travel and paid for me to speak.
In the audience were 5 or 10 representatives at other companies that came up to me after and said things like, “Oh my gosh, that’s the best talk I’ve ever heard.”
Oh my gosh, You brought me to tears three times.”
“Oh my gosh. We’re doing a national sales kickoff meeting in 2025, and I have to get you in front of my manager to see about you being our kickoff keynote, motivational speaker.”
So that one speaking event has led to so many conversations that are in the works today about not only being considered as a 2025 kickoff speaker for their company event, but they’re already talking to me about what it might look to go under contract where they would have me on retainer and use me as an in-person speaker, and a virtual speaker that they offer up to their clients and their vendor partners.
I’ve got several conversations underway with the company’s speaker bureau about being added to their list for potentially many speaking engagements, not to mention the one that they might hire me for their own company. So that’s the result of me doing one corporate event, which has led to several talks that are underway today in regard to future engagements.
The second one I bring up, I spoke to a high school just a couple of weeks ago, 800 freshmen and sophomores through federal grant money that’s provided to the state that the state then has to turn around and pour into certain high schools with low socioeconomic status, what they call Title I to pay speakers like me and programs for me to come in to speak to the students.
That one high school event that I spoke at and got paid to speak is now leading to two additional high school events that we’re working on dates here, late 2024. They may move into early 2025.
The more I speak, the more I speak, so leaning into that and the momentum that’s behind that has been really cool.
That makes me so happy to hear! Thinking of meeting you on orientation and hearing you now share how it’s been going is wonderful. Congratulations!
Thank you. Yeah, imposter syndrome kicks in right away, “Oh, that was a fluke, or that was just a couple of things and we’ll see. Let’s wait until it pans out.” But again, that brings me to the importance of community, because we talk and learn about this in The Speaker Lab and many other communities and masterminds I’m a part of. You can have great wins yesterday, but then be stuck in your own head today and think to yourself, “Well, I’ll just go back to the default path, a logical, rational thing, which is: plug in and get a salary and play it safe.”
So every time you’re really testing a boundary, I think it’s even more important to have community and have coaches that you can get stuff outta your head and really keep pushing forward.
How did it feel to be on those stages?
When I was doing the pro bono gigs, I would get audience feedback, “Oh my gosh, you need to keep speaking, you need to keep speaking,” or “I’m gonna pray over you. I see a book in your future. You need to keep speaking to keep speaking.” And so that felt good, right? Because all I’m doing is speaking, I’m sharing a message that provides encouragement and inspires people in different ways and stirs stuff up in their mind, their soul, their heart. And that’s awesome just to do something that comes natural.
But then I had to prove to myself that someone was willing to pay me to speak and do it in a corporate setting or do it in a high school youth setting where they’re paying me, where there’s a bit more on the line, a bit more pressure that comes with that. I had to prove to myself that I could do that, and that’s a big jump, right? ‘cause you’re testing the boundaries.
So to be able to do that and still get the same type of feedback and still get the same type of response and encouragement is just awesome. In fact, some people would come up and say, from time to time, “Hey, in a perfect world, what would you be doing? And I said, well, hey, I still play basketball today two days a week, but the chances of somebody paying me to play basketball is never gonna happen. So the second best thing would be if I can get up on stage and just speak from the heart, share a message that motivates, encourages and inspires people, and oh, by the way, I can get paid to do that. How awesome is that?
I’m right in the mix of that right now. It feels good, it has its challenges, but I’m riding the momentum wave. I’ve got a book…I’m gonna have a book launch early 2025. I couldn’t have told you that a year ago. I’ve got a book coming out so to think that I can say I’m a paid speaker, I’m a paid performance coach, and I’m a soon-to-be author is just awesome.
All in a year! Obviously you’ve put in a ton of work before that, but that’s a lot of amazing change in just one year. Congrats! We would love to know, what’s your new normal, what’s different about your life?
Is a new normal, as I said, 22 years in corporate America where you plugged into a system and you can climb the ladder from Assistant Vice President, Vice President, Senior Vice President. I had status, I had identity. I was getting paid from a corporation. And that’s the default path for many go to go to school, go to college, get a job, climb the ladder. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
So it’s new to have a new identity to say, “Well, hey, I’m waking up today under my own brand and I can be 100% my full authentic self.” Nobody’s telling me what to do or where to be. I completely have control over that. But that also means I have to wear a lot of hats. I have to not only be prepared to speak, but I have to market, I have to do administrative stuff, I’ve gotta do social media stuff. I’ve got to find ways to outsource and delegate, but do it in a cost sensitive way, given that I’m building a business from the bottom.
It’s a journey, but it helps us around yourself with other people that are going through that to keep you moving forward.
Who would you recommend to The Speaker Lab? What would you say to other people who are on the fence?
Well, I love the statement that you are expertly positioned to help your past self. Everything that you’ve been through personally, everything that you’ve been through professionally, your trials, your tribulations, your pain, your suffering, your adversity, every step that you took to get through it, to overcome it, the process that you implemented, you are today perfectly expertly positioned to help your past self. And there’s somebody out there today that’s in the position that you once were in, but now you’re not in it because you’re listening to this episode today, or you’re watching it today.
You’ve got a message inside of you. You’ve got a gift inside of you that’s perfectly wrapped with a bow. Christmas is right around the corner. And the question becomes, will you unwrap that gift? Will you unwrap that gift and give it to the world?
So if anybody’s ever told you that you’ve got a story or you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Hey, I’ve got something inside of me personally, professionally, that I’d love to figure out how I can share it with the world, and I’m actually a decent speaker, or I want to be a better speaker. If you’ve got some version or some combination of that, then you owe it to yourself – In fact, I’ll go so far to say it’s your duty, it’s your responsibility to share that and get that message out with the world.
I use this analogy: imagine you have a cure for cancer and it’s in your refrigerator right now. Don’t you think it’s your duty, your responsibility to take that cure for cancer outta your refrigerator and share it with the world? Well, the same thing holds true. If you’ve got a message inside of you that’s causing you to wrestle at night or as you go about the day that I would encourage you to reach out to The Speaker Lab and talk through it with someone, because you might, you might find that you’ve got a new opportunity in front of you that’s just waiting for you to say yes to.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks Lance! Anything else you want to close our conversation with?
I’ve got a couple, one-liners that I just put out there. Part of my main keynote, as I said earlier, has to do with taking your adversity. I would just suggest to the listeners and the audience to not get stuck in something and instead try to redirect that energy because you might have purpose there. You might be able to use that to impact people’s lives, which ultimately could lead to success in your life and in your business.
Number two, I would say don’t overcomplicate things. Keep it simple. Stay consistent, and then you’ll start to see the results come. To whoever’s listening or watching, keep it simple, stay consistent, and the results will come. You will achieve the results. Don’t give up. We’re all in this together.