Show Notes
“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. Episode Resources: Speaker Business Assessment Bill Englehaupt MySpeakerFee Apple Podcasts Spotify See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
More from The Speaker Lab Podcast
"Because a plan that you make alone on the last night of the year is a wish. And a plan you build in a room with coaches looking at your numbers and speakers holding you to it. Now that is a commitment and commitments are what get you booked and paid to speak."
"The audience first plan is not really a strategy. It's a hiding place. Because posting into the void is safe. Nobody tells you no."
"I made a decision in my head, I'm going to America. I'm going to come here, build a business, live a life, get a green card, then get citizenship, do it all above board. But the decision was massive. How do I make it stick?" Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this Alumni Spotlight, Dan pulls up a chair with Julian V. Taylor — a British-born media entrepreneur who spent more than two decades building businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Julian started in magazine publishing in London, launched RedCoat Publishing in Boston, and produced television for networks like the History Channel and Discovery. Now he speaks to CEOs and leadership teams through his workshop, "Decisions That Stick," part of his broader Bold Bridge Method for working with the C-suite. Julian walks through how a couple of outreach phone calls landed him in front of Vistage groups — one of the toughest rooms there is — and what it was like running his first workshop for a brand-new group in Tallahassee after losing his voice on a London work trip. He breaks down the hands-on tools he brings into those rooms, including a Decision Contract (each participant writes a contract with themselves to keep a decision on track) and a Consequence Ladder that maps where a choice actually takes you. He also gets honest about the session that didn't go well: a third workshop with too many people dialing in remotely, a score that came back below where it needed to be, and the rule he built from it. But the real surprise? The content wasn't the hard part. Julian expected building his curriculum to be the biggest climb. It wasn't — that flowed naturally. The brick wall was everything else: who to call, who to talk to, and the hours it takes to work the phones. Dan and Julian dig into what's actually working now — from a longtime friend who told Julian poolside that his team needs exactly what he teaches, to Vistage chairs recommending his workshop to other chairs. Dan coaches on depth over breadth (go deeper into rooms you've already been in before going wider) and the 85/15 reality of speaking: maybe 15% of the time is on stage, and the other 85% is everything that gets you there. Whether you're building your first workshop, trying to crack into executive peer groups, or grinding through the middle stretch where the content is ready but the pipeline isn't — this conversation is full of practical, honest insight on what it actually takes. You'll learn: How two outreach calls to business owners in Ohio turned into three back-to-back Vistage meetings in Florida Why Julian ran his first Vistage workshop with almost no voice, and why not overthinking it helped The Decision Contract: the agreement each CEO writes with themselves, on paper, to keep a decision on track The Consequence Ladder, Julian's three-lane interstate for seeing where a decision's consequences push you Why you can't blanket-call or blanket-email Vistage chairs, and what to do instead What a low score on his third workshop taught him, and why he now turns down rooms full of people dialing in remotely The part Julian expected to be hardest (building the content) vs the part that actually is (finding planners with an event six months out) Dan's 85/15 rule: how little of a speaking business actually happens on stage Why a friend's comment by the pool and chair-to-chair referrals beat a bigger list, plus Dan's case for 30 minutes of outreach a day How speaking pulled Julian into consulting, including a succession plan for an owner whose four kids are buying the business
"The famine is not caused by the famine. The famine is caused by what you did not do during the feast."
"Undercharging is not humility. It is a positioning problem and oftentimes a confidence problem. And that confidence problem is wearing a humble costume."