It’s your busIness
Advice for enterprising speakers
get what you pay for. In this case, you
are paying people to represent your
brand—that is, you. Do you want to
pay people below market who will be
wearing your name and logo emblazoned on their shirts?
Build Your Own Army
If you’re a good speaker, the
demand for your services eventually will exceed your availability. When that happens, you may
have to decline some lucrative
speaking engagements and their
resulting revenues, or look for another
solution. The best and most profitable
alternative is to hire people to do your
job. You are the brand, so you need
people on your team who are as good,
or better, than you.
ten to know them and stayed in touch.
In fact, I already know who I’ll ask to
join the team next. The point is that
you must hire people who share your
values and beliefs. As the adage goes,
“Like attracts like.”
Legal “Ease”
I assess potential employees and contract trainers long before I need them,
but I won’t bring them on board if I
think their contracts will need to stipulate excessive terms. This is a potential
warning flag. Of course, there are some
basic terms that should be included in
the contract, such as “intellectual property,” “clients,” “payment” and the like,
but that’s between you, the trainer and
your legal counsel.
Think “Star Wars”
The people you send to train or make
a presentation on your behalf can’t just
be good speakers—they should be able
to exemplify your purpose and duplicate your approach. In last summer’s
movie, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,”
the clone troopers—fully encased in
hard white armor—were identical in
form, physical prowess, stamina and
mental capacity, yet they still maintained a spark of independent and creative thinking, making them well suited
to carry out military directives.
In your own business, don’t you
want the best and the brightest to represent you? Those who possess similar qualities and skills? Even before
I started hiring people, I knew who
would be a good fit. I’d met them, got-
Customer Satisfaction
is Paramount
My firm, FireStarter Speaking and
Consulting, places a high premium on
customer satisfaction, and recognizes that
clients sometimes may need to cancel
events. My team members and I view this
as part of doing business. If a client postpones an event (which rarely happens),
we move the date, change the airline
tickets, and take the day off. We don’t
bill clients who need to cancel an engagement in order to run their business. Did
we all just lose a day of revenue? Yes.
Did we cement our relationship with a
loyal client? Yes. Some readers may think
we’re crazy, but we all agree that this is
the right way to do business.
The Big Pay-off
Since I began adding people to my team,
I’ve made more money and had more
headaches—but not enough to make me
reconsider. What’s more important is
that we’re able to offer clients a wider
array of services, deliver higher value
and make a stronger impact while capturing a greater share of rewards for all
involved. Build your army with carefully
selected teammates to create your own
empire right in your own neighborhood
or even in a galaxy far, far away.
Determining Compensation
The salary or fee you pay an employee
or contract trainer will depend on your
billings and your approach to business.
I pay higher than market, because this
attracts, motivates and retains good
people who are loyal. I believe you
Wally Adamchik, CSP,
founder and president of
FireStarter Speaking and
Consulting, serves as a
consultant, speaker and
author. His book, No Yelling: The Nine
Secrets of Marine Corps Leadership You
Must Know to Win Business, was selected
by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the best
business books of 2007. For more information, visit www.firestarterspeaking.com.
