“The better the foundation is, the more opportunities I'm getting to do exactly that.”
Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! This week's episode is another alumni spotlight, and it might be Dan's favorite combination yet: Matthew Sharpe is a licensed therapist — and a stand-up comedian. He put the two together in Standup Therapy Live, where the laughs do the heavy lifting for the mental health lessons. Matt works with high-stress, high-stakes professions — healthcare workers, law enforcement, corrections officers — teaching resilience through humor, complete with a “humor lab” where he makes rooms full of uniformed officers sweat bullets by writing jokes on a 15-minute deadline.
But the real story of this episode isn't the comedy — it's the business. Matt just booked out a full week of paid speaking for the first week of October, and every gig in it traces back to a different lesson from The Speaker Lab playbook: cold outreach to people he'd never met, follow-up that turned one law enforcement gig into a repeat booking, and a Department of Corrections client bringing him back to train staff from around their state. He's even had a gig land completely cold — the National Conference of State Legislatures found him through SEO he didn't set up. And then there's the lesson most speakers never learn: Matt genuinely loves the process. The prospecting, the pipeline, even the rejections. Dan also coaches Matt through a proposal that died on price, unpacking budget questions, decision makers, add-on gigs, and the “menu” of offerings that can save a stalled deal.
Whether you're still chasing your first paid gig or trying to figure out why your calendar isn't as full as your talent deserves, this conversation is a masterclass in falling in love with the 95% of the work that gets you the 5% on stage.
You'll learn:
How Matt booked a full week of paid speaking by following the process step by step
The simple cold email (“quick question — who books your talks?”) that keeps turning into gigs
How follow-up after a gig — the harvest — creates repeat bookings
Why an inbound gig from SEO is the bonus you earn for doing the work
The mindset shift that separates speakers who burn out from speakers who build
How to reframe the business side as your foundation, not the tax you pay to perform
The 85/15 rule of speaking — and why Dan thinks it's really 95/5
How Matt learned to price himself with confidence (and who convinced him to raise his fee)
Where a proposal to a doctors' organization stalled — and the budget questions that could have saved it
How add-on gigs and geographic prospecting give you room to get creative with your fee
Why offering a menu — keynote, workshop, reception comedy set — adds value for event planners
And much, much more!
“Find something new and exciting that makes you laugh every day. It just opens your eyes to new possibilities.”
Ready to build a speaking business that books itself — and actually enjoy the work that gets you on stage? Take the free Speaker Business Assessment at thespeakerlab.com/SBA and find out exactly where you are in your speaking journey and what to do next.
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