Anchor 01
Your Defensible Fee Floor.
The number your credentials, tenure, and documented outcomes mathematically support, calculated through the Replacement Cost Calculation™. This is the number you stop discounting below.
Why The Stage Rate Audit™ Exists.
The National Speakers Association Antitrust Compliance Policy lists “past, present or future prices” among the subjects members are directed never to discuss at Association meetings. The policy is grounded in Sherman Act compliance. The policy is correct.
It is also the reason Black women speakers have no fee benchmark from inside the room.
Black Women’s Wealth Lab® is not in the room. It calculates the number anyway.
Citation: nsaspeaker.org/antitrust-compliance-policy.
Built for the Black woman speaker who is not new.
- You have 10 or more years of documented prior expertise (corporate, clinical, executive, founder, advisory, military, government, ministry, athletics, performing arts).
- You have been told to "speak for free," accept "non-cash considerations," or "build your reel."
- You know your current rate is wrong but you do not have the math to defend the right one.
- You are ready to end The Free Stage Tax™ in your own books.
Here is what the Stage Rate Audit™ produces.
Anchor 02
Your Verified Premium Ceiling.
The maximum your credential stack commands in tech, finance, pharma, and enterprise rooms. The fee the market will defend when you quote it correctly.
Anchor 03
Closing Language For Your Next Three Bookings.
Specific phrasing engineered to hold the floor in real conversation. Email scripts. Counter-offer responses. The exact line when the buyer says “we do not have that budget.” Receipts. Not affirmations.
Bonus Anchor
The 30-Day Repricing Action Plan.
Day 1, update LinkedIn. Day 3, send the new rate sheet to bureaus. Day 7, decline pending unpaid bookings. Day 14, send three outbound proposals at the new floor. Specific moves. Specific deadlines.
An 8-page forensic document. Delivered within 14 days.
What you receive.
- Your defensible fee floor (the verdict)
- Your credential premium math (the receipts)
- Your format-by-format pricing matrix
- Closing language for your next three bookings
- The 30-day repricing action plan
- Permanent reference document
What you do not receive.
- A coach
- A community
- A course
- A template you build yourself
- A subscription
- A friend price
$1,497. Pay in full. No exceptions.
The price is the filter. Pay-in-full is the filter on the filter. No tiers. No payment plans. No discounts. No referral pricing. Hermès does not negotiate. Black Women’s Wealth Lab® does not either.
The Stage Rate Audit™ is a $1,497 investment that typically returns its cost in a single booking conversation at the new fee. If you are quoting $5,000 and the verdict says $20,000, the Audit pays for itself the first time you use it.
If $1,497 paid in full creates resistance, the math the Audit produces will not. The filter is the filter.
Your Forensic Architect
Cynthia Barnes is the founder of Black Women’s Wealth Lab® and the architect of the Stage Rate Audit™. She is a TEDx speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice, four-time Salesforce Top Sales Influencer, the first Black woman to keynote a major national sales conference, with approximately 30 years of documented sales experience.
She ran the Stage Rate Audit™ on her own speaking record before publishing the product. The verdict: a 50 to 70 percent Free Stage Tax™ on her own books. A defensible market floor of $35,000 to $50,000. A premium ceiling clearing $100,000 for tech, finance, and pharma audiences.
The product was built because the founder needed it first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why $1,497 and not less?
The price reflects the forensic depth of the deliverable and the documented outcomes it produces. The same methodology that earns the Lab® its $25,000 Blueprint™ engagements is applied here at a domain-specific scope. The price is the filter.
What is the difference between the Stage Rate Audit™ and the Value Audit™?
The Value Audit™ ($997) is a whole-career forensic valuation across every domain of your professional output. The Stage Rate Audit™ ($1,497) is a domain-specific application focused on speaking fees. Black women in consulting or executive roles typically begin with the Value Audit™. Black women whose primary platform is the stage begin here.
Why no payment plan?
Black Women’s Wealth Lab® does not offer payment plans on any forensic deliverable. The pricing architecture is structurally aligned with the buyers it serves. Payment plans create scope drift. The filter is the filter.
What if I am newer to speaking?
The Stage Rate Audit™ is built for Black women speakers with 10 or more years of documented prior expertise. If your speaking career started before your domain expertise was established, the Beginner Tax™ Calculator (free) is the right starting point. If your domain expertise predates your speaking career, this product was built for you.
What if I am already above the conservative market floor?
The Audit confirms one of two possibilities. Either you have already done the forensic work most Black women speakers have not, or your fee floor is wrong in the other direction. Either answer is worth $1,497.
Is this coaching?
No. Black Women’s Wealth Lab® builds economic infrastructure. It does not coach. The Stage Rate Audit™ is a one-time forensic document delivered within 14 days. Engagement closes at delivery.
There is one number left to calculate.
It is yours.
Begin the Stage Rate Audit™Forensic document delivered within 14 days. The price is the filter.