When should I agree to a Referral Fee for a Speaking Engagement?

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

A client asked me this question about referral fees from a new online radio talk show:

I was asked to be a guest speaker on a (new) online radio talk show. In the contract she is asking for 25% of any profits made from the talk. It is to be paid upfront before my information is passed along to the interested person. Is this normal?

Well – I took a quick look at the contract you forwarded — and the contract doesn’t seem well thought out. Also — the fact that this is a “new online radio talk show” – suggests that there isn’t an established or affluent audience already in place. You (and the other speakers) will be essentially promoting the radio talk show for them.

The contract also suggests that “the audience/client” pays her FIRST – to get into contact with you. THEN she forwards 75% of that fee to you. BUT since this is a potential lead and no sales have been conducted – the pricing model is (at best) muddled. And if she doesn’t already have an established or affluent audience, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason or ROI.

It would make better sense if she charged the client a flat fee for connecting the client to you – then forward you 75% of that – as well as the client’s contact information. The 75% fee to you is in reciprocation for your time and talk. Or she could charge you a flat fee for each name/lead –but I don’t like that strategy for you. What would stop her from sending you un-vetted names just to get the flat fee per lead? Without additional data on her past success or her clients past success – this doesn’t seem attractive – as it is currently organized.

If you still want to do business with her:

If you still want to “help her out” – you could offer to do 1 talk show for her at no charge (your regular speaking price is $1500)– just to help her get started.

You can offer to pass this speaking contract along to other coaches for a referral fee of $10 for every speaker that signs up for her show (she pays you for you helping her out). “If no one signs up – she doesn’t have to pay you anything. She would only be paying you from the profits she is making from the other speakers” 🙂 This is the same logic she gave to you regarding her referral fee and marketing services.

KEEP YOUR ROI IN MIND AT ALL TIMES.

When approached to participate in a referral program of this nature – where you are provided stage time in return for % of your sales – make sure you understand and ask the following:

1) What is your current audience size? and income level of the audience? (I want to make sure your audience meets my target market).

2) What is the general sales that your speakers make from being on your program? What is your history of your speakers success? Can you show me the numbers and testimonies of your speakers’ success from participating in this business model? (I want to understand my ROI)

3) Since you seem to be using your “marketing skills, networking abilities, and PR experience to help grow my business” – as a reason for speakers to participate; I need to better understand your success in PR and marketing. How do you actually find the customers? What is the guaranteed minimum audience numbers? What are you actually doing for that rate? and can you guarantee a minimum of affluent audience members for my talk? Can you share your client’s success story and testimonial?

4) If I am expected to market your programs (i.e. passing this along to other speakers) – do I receive a referral percentage for finding customers for you? Or are you expecting the speakers to promote your program for free while you are expecting them to pay a referral % to you?

5) How influential are you across your fan base? How many people can you currently reach; AND do they actually take action when you speak? Having 1000 friends that don’t participate isn’t much of a selling point.

6) Does your audience pay a subscription-based-model for this valuable content? If so – what percentage of the fee does the content providers receive? I normally receive $1500 for a talk. What are your plans for compensating speakers for their time and preparation – as well as their valuable intellectual property?Anyway – as a business coach; I look for the ROI. So – the answers to the above questions will give me enough information to make a good business decision about your program.

The bottom line: There IS A cost for me (and other established and influential speakers) to appear on their program. IF they are a start-up and don’t have the business metrics to show past success, then it is the content and speakers that will be helping them out to building their business. If they are well-established, then it’s going to be these business metrics that will attract influential speakers.

A savvy business owner should not hesitate to ask these important questions.

Optimize career for learning or responsibility?

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

I currently work at a small web design agency with a team of 5. I’m the sole marketer where I do all digital marketing for clients.

This includes SEO/PPC, some social media, and everything else growth marketing related. I love the autonomy, the people I work with, and ‘owning’ the entire digital marketing role and department.

My only complaint: clients are really small (e.g., electricians, attorneys) and I’m itching for something more challenging and complex.

However, I am learning a lot. Work-life balance is amazing at the agency, allowing me to take on MOOCs and side projects where I’m learning to code.

Recently, a large public company offered me a PPC Analyst role where I’ll manage a 10MM ppc campaign. Glassdoor reviews mention poor work-life balance. My brief pros & cons analysis of take the job offer:

PROS
+ higher salary
+ more prestige and responsibility
+ learning, yes, but very focused on SEM in one particular vertical

CONS
+ 50-60+ work weeks
+ less time for MOOCs, self-study and side projects
+ possibility of low job satisfaction (culture, politics)

=== My question ===

What would you do? Do I continue working at the agency where I’m comfortable and can have the autonomy to master what excites me.

Or take the job offer with more responsibility and pay but at the expense of narrowing my career focus and skill-sets too much.

Like many professional in your situation, you seem to think there is only two options for you: Stay where you are or go to this possible low-satisfaction job.

There are rarely only two options to any situations. So – why can’t you continue to search for a great job that fits all your requirements? Why can’t you be the one to define and propose more complex and challenging projects? Why can’t you take a more active role in bringing in more high-profile clients? Why can’t you present at various conferences and client trade show to better expose yourself as an expert or authority in your field of interest? Why can’t you step-up your marketing of the Product YOU – so that you create additional opportunities for yourself?

Also – are you sure this new job is a 50-60+ week job with low-job satisfaction? Or are you just making assumptions?

You are ultimately responsible for your own time and project schedule. If your salary is based on a 40 hour week – then your salary is based on a 40 hour week. If you decide that you want to limit your general work week to 40 hours a week (giving you some space for MOOCs, self-study and side projects) – just outline your project schedules more realistically. Take more ownership of your personal business commitments and schedules. As long as you provide realistic expectations on your deliveries – you can still schedule space and time for everything that is important to you. Although there will be times when you need to work the extra hours; if you are consistently working overtime and the weekend – then you lack the appropriate project management and time management skills.

If you feel that if you don’t put in 50-60 hours a week to receive advancement – then you are choosing that over the other things. Figure out what you really want; decide what are the imperatives and non-negotiables – and design your life accordingly

**Note: If you consistently work overtime and weekends to conduct regular workplace business, then you have no buffer time to accommodate project emergencies. If your project is constantly hitting emergencies, then your risk analysis and project management skills need to improve. If you would like more information or training in this area, please reach out to me.

Regardless of what your ultimate decision (staying in your current position or taking the higher-paying job) – you have the power to design your own career exactly the way you want.

I know your situation is different. Why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? And then I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward. To schedule an appointment, book it HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

3 Ways Project Managers Can Anticipate, Avoid and Mitigate Problems

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

What separates the good, or the great, project managers (PM) from the just so-so?

The answer: How they handle problems when they arise and they prevent them from derailing deadlines and the budget. Some of the top issues projects frequently face are:

Problem No. 1: Team members not knowing or understanding what their responsibilities are, not owning their part of the project.

Problem No. 2: Meeting deadlines.

Problem No. 3: Scope creep.

Problem No. 1: Team members not knowing or understanding what their responsibilities are, not owning their part of the project.

The PM is responsible for effectively conveying the project scope, goals and individual team member’s responsibilities. The best way to assure that your message has been conveyed is to ask each team member to paraphrase the goal and their part/responsibility/role in achieving the goals. They need to also paraphrase the consequences of not achieving the goals – not only for the company but for their careers as well.

Depending on one-way conversations like email and memos will not assure that your team understands their role. Creating presentations and status reports does not fully verify the team’s ownership.

Implementing one-on-one manager’s meetings will increase transparent communication between the employee and employer. Adding one-on-one project manager meetings with the various managers on the projects will do the exact thing for the project.

Problem No. 2: Meeting deadlines.

Meeting deadlines is one of the critical skills of a PM. The first step, of course, is to create deadlines and milestones. Milestones are the mini-deadlines used to stay on course. It is critical to associate a customer-releasable deliverable at every milestone. The deliverable can be as simple as the requirement specs, a presentation, a prototype, a demo, an update, early alpha or beta versions, etc. By delivering early and often to the clients does several things:

Keeps the clients involved and gives you early feedback on how your features are matching your clients’ expectations. The product needs to match the client’s need and not your design. You are building the product for the client’s use; therefore, it’s imperative that you get the clients’ perspective along the way.
Forces the team to work on the quality of the deliverables all along the way.
Can continually provide the clients with their minimum requirements (to get them moving forward on their tasks) while you continue to enhance the product for future releases.

Another tool is risk management. There are various ways to manage risk. Risk Management and Risk Analysis incorporate contingency plans for high-probability/high-impact issues. Taking the time to visualize what “could happen” in the project, then sorting which items are most likely to happen with a high-impact to the project. Those items you put contingency plans in place.

Training every member of the time on good estimation skills will have a profound effect on accurate schedules. I have an article and presentation on the 12 Tips of Realistic Scheduling To download the article, register HERE.

Creating a Recovery Protocol Chart is also useful in meeting deadlines. The 12 Tips of Realistic Scheduling talks more about the Recovery Protocol Chart and Change Management in general. To download the article, register HERE.

Problem No. 3: Scope creep.

Change Management is the tool that you implement to eliminate scope creep. Once you have a well-defined feature set and requirement documents – any deviation of those requirements go through a Change Management process. CM outlines the consequences of the request including level of effort, resource requirements, delay in schedule, affect on other dependencies (identify any change reaction), quality issues or budget concerns. Once all these things are clearly outlined, the team can make a better decision in moving forward with the change.

Creating a Recovery Protocol Chart is also critical in reducing Scope Creep. The 12 Tips of Realistic Scheduling talks more about the Recovery Protocol Chart and Change Management in general. To download the article, register HERE.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

How would you handle an employee resigning during a critical time period?

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff. I have a knack for turning big ideas into on time and profitable projects.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

My client came to me desperately when an employee of his resigned last week with only one month notice. His resignation came very sudden and suspicious. This is because in the upcoming 2 months there are many critical deliverables that need to be done by this employee. The resignation comes in three forms – a) we cannot deliver in time; b) the employee is running away from responsibility; c) even if we get new person in fast, there is still learning curve required.

My client is at loss, he started the recruitment process immediately, but we knew it is not easy to find someone exceptional very fast. I’m in a very tough position as well, as I feel his pain and understand he needs to find someone to fill the position as soon as possible.

What will you do if you face the case?

The first thing YOU should do is not to feed his panic. This is no different than someone having to leave for an emergency, or the team accepting another high profile project when the team already has a full plate. In short – this is a project management issue. And you should approach the client in a calm manner.

And – in my opinion – it’s not logical to try to force the “leaving employee” who is already burned-out and has a short-term mindset train another expert and complete 2 months of work in 20 days. I don’t feel that’s a winning game plan. Instead of having your short-term employee complete his work; devise your hand-off plan. Have this employee document their current processes and items left to-do. Determine which team member will be handling the remaining to-do items. Those team members are now part of the hand-off process. They take over “now” while the short-term employee is available to consult.

I don’t know the industry or market you are working with – so these other solutions will be general in nature. Setup an appointment with me to discuss more detail solutions that are better aligned with your specific situation.

Regardless of the industry, your schedule will be affected. You will need to either add resources, reduce the project scope, add time or reduce the quality.

There are several project management options:
1) Reduce the scope of the deliverables to fit the current resources.
2) Reduce the complexity of the solution to fit the current resources and talent.
3) Release early and often to the end-client (your client’s client). Give then end-user early drafts, demos and releases as the project progresses. Because the end-user is frequently receiving and reviewing the progress, they can tell you which features they really need by XX date, and which features they can wait on. Then schedule the features as the user needs them (versus all at once).
4) Studies show that end-users only use 36% of the entire product. Find out the features the end-user are actually going to use and postpone (reschedule the others for maintenance releases).
5) Accept the knowing that the product is never “done” – there are always going to be maintenance and improvement cycles. Make better use of the rolling delivery cycles.

Last tip is to never make someone “indispensable” – always have pair-training, pair-testing, and a buddy system. I am not recommending that everyone has to be able to do the same things at the same quality. But you should have various team members knowledgeable about other people’s areas such that they can stand-in or help out.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

How can you choose the most appropriate job title when wearing many ‘hats’ in your company?

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

How can you choose the most appropriate job title when wearing many ‘hats’ in your company?

As a very new small business, anyone I bring on to my team is going to be responsible for more than one area of expertise. How can I name or define their positions when they are going to be doing much more than one thing?

Regardless of the title – you should have a full job description and even a Personal Business Commitment (PC) Plan for each of your employees (SMART Goals for the coming year). Their PBC’s should be based off your PBC’s and shows specifically how their role and responsibilities will help you achieve your PBC’s or SMART Business Goals for the coming year. Then during your quarterly performance reviews, you can easily measure their performance against their yearly goals – and give the appropriate tweaks and encouragement. Explicitly spelling out their roles and responsibilities is slightly different that giving their position a title. If you need help creating PBC’s, lets chat.

When giving titles, I recommend select a title that best supports or helps achieve their business goals. Consider the end-user of their business cards. For example – if you have a employee that is a developer, but he also goes on the road with the Sales Staff to setup the demos and man the trade-show booths; I would give him the title of Subject Matter Expert or Technical Sales Engineer. Something – when given to the customer assures the customer that he is knowledgeable about the client’s use of the product as well as encouraging the client to call them about making the sale.

What if your project manager also does the accounting and bookkeeping for your small business? This person also answers the phones and fills in as the receptionist. Although this person wears many hats, the title on their business card should be Project Manager, because affluent clients receiving that business card are more apt to carry on business dealings and conversations with the Project Manager over a book keeper or receptionist.

If you only have one sales person on your team and they also man the tech support line, their title on their business card should be Sales Manager – because an affluent client feels more important talking to the Sales Manager – than either sales person or a technical support person. They feel that the Sales Manager can actually get something done in the company.

Think about your business goals – and which title (from their many hats) is going to support bringing in the money.

Also – there is nothing wrong with creating multiple business cards with the different job titles. Then you give out the appropriate card at the right occasion. I don’t recommend doing 1 business cards with all the titles like: Project Manager/Developer/Tester. You want to present clarity, confidence and expertise to your potential client. Showing them that you are a jack of all and master of none will defeat the purpose.

How can a company plan for growth in this upcoming business year?

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

How can a company plan for growth in this upcoming business year?

Plan | Proceed | Progress are important steps to growing your business. If you don’t have a plan, your growth patterns will only change with the market trends. What steps can a business take this year to grow their business to next level?

One recommendation is to have a visible and published Company Vision and Mission statement that is bigger than yourself. Often times – if even if you have a plan – your growth patterns will change with the market trends. This is because — even if you have a business plan – you really don’t have a long-term Company Vision and Mission statement. Having a bigger picture vision and mission statement allows you to manage your plans with the changing market and technology growth – and still stay on target.

For example: Which company vision and mission statement give you more room to grow: To provide quality training for DBA and IT Professionals.

SWWUG.org: Our mission is to provide relevant news and information on data management, collaboration software, development tools and cloud computing to help information technology (IT) professionals succeed in the field. Our goal is to be the largest community-driven site that focuses on enterprise technology.

Which mission statement will provide long term direction for the crew? Even though the second mission statement is Bigger Picture – it is also more focused. It contains both breadth and depth.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

We’ve come to the end of this episode – Once again – this is Laura Lee Rose – At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Until next time – relax and breathe – everything is unfolding perfectly.

How should you handle email objections that don’t correlate with your requests

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

How should you handle email objections that don’t correlate with your requests?

I recently emailed a prospect for a meeting since we’ve spoke before and he gave me a specific date to reach him in the Spring time. Although it’s a little early, I figured it would be helpful to have a pre-project meeting to get acquainted so he’s comfortable with me when Spring time rolls around.

Despite emphasizing I only intend to meet as a introduction to working together in the future, the prospect replied he doesn’t need anything right now but will “keep me in mind” for the summer.

How do I handle my response professionally from this point? Is he carelessly reading my email or not interested in my services?

How would you approach these conversations differently in the future?

My recommendation is not to focus on making the sale — but focus on building a relationship with this person. Start learning what he is interested in, invite him to relevant (relevant to his business) networking events, offer to introduce him to potential clients to his business, suggest he meet some people in your network that may be good matches for his business. Work the relationship. People do business with people they know, like and trust. Allow him to get to know you.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

We’ve come to the end of this episode – Once again – this is Laura Lee Rose – At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Until next time – relax and breathe – everything is unfolding perfectly.

How do you learn to let go when outsourcing to others

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

How do you learn to let go when outsourcing to others?

I have grown my business as far as it can go. I currently outsource on a limited basis. I have found it difficult to let go and let others do their work. No one else seems to be as concerned with deadlines as me. How can I fix this?

A good tool to use is a well-documented Statement of Work or contract. In this contract between you and your vendor – you clearly outline the expectations including the amount of work to be delivered, quality of requirements to be supplied, time-lines and the consequences of not meeting the quality metrics and/or timeline. For example, if they meet 100% of their commitments, they receive 100% of the fee. If they are delayed – their fee is affected by missed deadlines.
Another way to ease your fears is in the interview stages. Make sure you ask your vendor about their project management techniques. Understand how they plan to keep the project on-time and meeting your quality standards. Clearly outline your acceptance tests (acceptance tests are actually things you are going to review or test before accepting the task as successfully completed). Discuss what they plan to do if/when their deliverables do not pass your acceptance tests.

By clearly articulating your expectations, providing them the resources that allows them to succeed and outlining the consequences of not meeting the goals — you will be able to let go and allow them to do outstanding work.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

We’ve come to the end of this episode – Once again – this is Laura Lee Rose – At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Until next time – relax and breathe – everything is unfolding perfectly.

Is it better to take a bad job with a good boss or a good job with a bad boss?

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

Currently I’m working with a good boss but the job isn’t that great (because there is no future there and pay isn’t that great). I recently found a good job (pay is good with medical insurance, commission and bonuses) but the boss there is stupid and nightmare to work with. What is my better option?

The false premise is that there is only two options: good boss in a bad job or a bad boss with a good job. There are an abundance of other opportunities. If you haven’t created your Individual Career Mission Statement – do that now. Start 2015 with your Career Mission Statement and your Individual Development Plan (your SMART goals on how you are going to achieve your Career Mission or your career goals). Your IDP (individual development plan) should include both your professional skill goals as well as your income goals.
Since you have a great boss – include him/her in your career goals. He/she will have a different perspective on what’s available or even what is just around the corner for this company. Work with your mentors, coaches and even external recruiters to verify which skills are outdated, which skills need polishing and which skills are going to be in demand.
If you are not networking with other people outside your department and even outside your company walls – start doing that. Attend professional association meetings, local conferences, networking on linkedin.
Spend more time defining and going after what you really want to be, do and have.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

We’ve come to the end of this episode – Once again – this is Laura Lee Rose – At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Until next time – relax and breathe – everything is unfolding perfectly.

Should I separate my personal and professional values?

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Laura Lee Rose

Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose. I am a speaker and author. I am an expert in time and project management.

At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.

Today’s comment came from a busy professional.

If a business or organization asked me for web and reputation services should I deny to work with them if I do not personally agree with what they do? Example: I don’t believe in their business practices or the credibility of their product. On the other hand, I am running a business and need work to keep growing my business.

If you believe that this business or organization is the only show in town – then I see your dilemma. But we both know that it’s not.
On the other hand – we want to make sure you are discounting them for the right reasons and in the right way. One way is to clearly articulate your company vision and mission statement; as well as stating the kind of company that you want to work with. Try clearly itemizing the attributes of your target client. For example: I work with high-quality, high-integrity based corporations that focus on customer satisfaction. My clients succeed because they are ready for success.
If you clearly articulate your company mission statement – then you will attract clients of that caliber.
Once you make your goals and expectations known — and (for example) this same company that you say have credibility issues – still want to work with you, you now have a foundation or baseline to work from. You can now comfortably and diplomatically point out any discrepancy between what they are currently doing and what they actually want to be doing (because they have told you their company mission is the same as your company mission). You can help them achieve both your goals.
On the other hand – if this same company doesn’t want to work with you because of your mission statement and goals – then they are the ones refusing to work with you and not the other way around.

With enough notice, it would be my honor to guest-speak at no cost to your group organization.

I have a monthly presentation on “how to say YES to everything but on your own terms”. To sign up for the complimentary course, go to www.lauraleerose.com/Say-Yes

We’ve come to the end of this episode – Once again – this is Laura Lee Rose – At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into the business you love to run.

Until next time – relax and breathe – everything is unfolding perfectly.