This Week In Business: Why I Charge For Workshops And Seminars

I often get asked, “Why don’t you give free seminars?” I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately and here’s my response:

First of all, it isn’t true that I don’t ever give free seminars. Once a month, I do a free seminar for a business-related non-profit: chambers of commerce, Rotary, and other groups of that nature. If I get two requests the same month, I ask the person who contacted me second if they’d mind holding off. This is because I need to reserve time to do paid work so I can keep going as a business. Also, these free presentations are very general, usually introducing basic concepts as that’s what time allows (and usually what the group wants).

Everyone else gets charged, whether it’s a customized training session ($75/hour or $500, whichever is more applicable) or as a fee for a Downeast Learning workshop(between $25-$50/person). Am I just a money grubbing jerkface? Well, I might be… but even if I am, I have some good reasons for doing this:

1) It takes time to create workshops.
I spend on average of 10 hours preparing slides for a typical workshop. I usually create an outline, get feedback on it from colleagues, make slides, and then get feedback on the slides. If you’ve ever been to one of my presentations, I hope you can see the thought that goes into them!

In addition to the time making the presentation, I also write a press release, post the workshop on several online event calendars, post it over Facebook and Twitter, update my blog, put up posters, contact all the local chambers, and do other things to get the word out, probably to the tune of a couple hours per workshop.

2) It costs money to present workshops.
You’ll notice if you go to my workshops, they are held in a space that isn’t my home office. Since my house is tiny (not to mention ill equipped to handle 20ish people and their computers comfortably), I have to rent space.

This Week In Business: The Educational Edition

This week was busy at Breaking Even Communications but since I was waiting on a few different stages of some ongoing projects, I found myself with a little time for some professional development then usual. That’s right, I schooled myself!
Here’s what happened:
I attended a webinar, and actually paid attention.
Most of the time, I am quite the slacker webinar attendee. I am usually filing papers or making lunch while I listen to a presentation. When I listened to a webinar sponsored by Verizon and given by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. I made myself get out my notebook and actively listen for the next 45 minutes.
You know, paying attention really does help you get more out of things! Being a good student paid off in some new ideas for improving my product. Partnerships with complementary organizations and video testimonials anyone?
Wish you had sat in on the fun? All of the Verizon sponsored webinars are achived here. And it looks like there are a few good ones for me to go back and listen to later.
I got a couple iBooks from a school sale for a song.
Those of you who live outside the state of Maine may not be familiar with the fact that Maine has a laptop program, which gives students 6th grade and older access to their own laptop. Beginning in grade 7 or 8, students can take it home after signing a sort of “I will be responsible and so will my parent/guardian” agreement. Every few years, the schools replace the machines, which are all Apple iBooks. To make a bit of cash (but probably more accurately, save themselves from disposal fees), the schools sell them off on the cheap, in my local case $25 a pop.

Marketing Monday: The Juice 2.0 Conference

If you want to organize a good conference, take a lead from the Juice 2.0 folks! Meanwhile, if you think your business should be profiled as part of Marketing Monday, do contact me.

What I Learned Losing The Juice 2.0 Conference Pitch Contest

In my world, no news is bad news. If I have something good to say, I’ll change my status update of Facebook, tweet, write a blog, or call my mother (or all four).

It is no coincidence that I was pretty quiet online Friday and Saturday, in part because I didn’t even make round one of the pitch session. (And in part because there was no working internet connection at this conference!).

I will say that the conference was a worthwhile one to attend and that I will go back when they have the follow-up version two years from now. Here are some general observations from my two days at Juice 2.0 Conference:

 

This Week In Business: Pitch Session Edition

To many, I am known for my charm and my habit of procrastination, no more so by my sometimes copy editor/ oftentimes friend John.

I posted on Facebook that I was looking for a few sets of eyes to look at a one page pitch I was going to present this coming weekend.

“When’s it due?” he asked.

“Tomorrow,” I said. I added a little wink, you know, for charm.

He proceeded to tell me I should be more on top of this kind of stuff and that’s when I told him I had decided to go to this pitch session the day before.

Another exciting week at Breaking Even Communications!

A creative economy conference in Camden where I could get some funding for my business? Yes, please!

I will be presenting my ‘pitch’ at the Juice Conference for a chance at $25,000 in funding.
Would a little capital make me sleep easier at night? Definitely!

But just as important as winning the grand prize would be to get the opportunity to present in front of funders and get some feedback on my business. (OK, it might rock a little more to win, but still…) According to the email information I got, there are about 40 participants. Gulp. Here’s me getting my game on for Friday.

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