How To Build A Team Around Your Speaking Business

If you thought that starting a business was all glitz and glam, think again my friend. You have to do all the unsexy things to get your business off the ground. And trying to do it all by yourself can be exhausting! Face it you just can’t get everything done by yourself. That’s why you need to know how build a team around your speaking business.

No matter how many long hours you work and no matter if you’re working on Saturdays and Sundays and holidays you just can’t be a one man show, you just can’t. You won’t be able to scale your business that way. That way you’ll never get nowhere. Plus, you will burn yourself completely out by trying to do everything by yourself. There are some things that you just might not have the expertise to do that should be left up to someone who does.

If your on a budget start out by hiring someone part time to help you in your business. Make a list of everything that you do in your business from daily. What are the things that are repetitious in your business? What are you doing over and over again and can be passed off to a team member. Before you hire that team member, make sure that you have a written out a process documented for them to follow. You know how to do the task but you need to document it down so you can pass that off to a team member. You will have to train them in the beginning but if you have something written down that they can refer back to they’ll not have to come back to you and ask you  questions. 

You might be wondering who should you hire first? That’s a great question. There’s quite a few people that you can hire first, but that depends on where you’re struggling the most and the things that you’re doing and need to get off of your plate the fastest. 

I’m going to give you five suggestions of people that you need to have on your team to help you build your speaking business. I feel that hiring this person FIRST will free you up tremendously.

Hire A Virtual Assistant/ Support Person

For those of you who don’t know what a Virtual Assistant is, s/he is someone who specializes in offering administrative services and works from the comfort of their home. So you are not responsible for their insurance or equipment, because they are business owners. What exactly are some of the things a Virtual Assistant can do for your business? These are just a partial list of what s/he can do.

• answering phones for you
• returning phone calls
• make travel arrangements for you
• manage your calendar
• find speaking engagements for you
• build sales funnels
• lead generationon
• ship out your books
• write blogs and place them on your website

Make sure when you hire in a Virtual Assistant that s/he willing to work together as a team and that they are a good fit for you and your business. That’s very important. And only you know what is a good fit for you. Start out by giving them a 30 to 90 day trial to see how they worked out for you and your business? I know some businesses owners have a problem letting go of their tasks and trusting someone else to do what you used to do but you have to learn and trust how to let go and hire some much needed help

Hire A Copywriter For Your Team

Do you like to write? Let me put it another way are you good at writing copy? Copywriting is a special skill that everyone does not possess. You can learn it but the shortcut way for your copy to be written is to hire someone who already knows how to do that and loves doing it. Believe it or not, there are people who loves to write copy and they are great at it. Some people are born with that gift of knowing how to write and use words eloquently. 

What a copywriter does is they create clear, compelling copy to sell your products, educate and engage consumers. They can write your website copy, blog posts, product descriptions, email blasts, banner, advertising, newsletters, white papers, and copy for all your social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and others. Now do you see how much time you could save by having a copywriter on your team? Unlike news or editorial writing, copywriting is all about getting the reader to take action. The action might be to purchase something, to opt in, or engage with a product or service or company. Copywriters are often referred to as a salesman in print.

Hire A Bookkeeper For Your Team

If you’re struggling to keep your head above water, you probably don’t have time to keep up with your financial records. Not only do you not need to keep up with your financial records, you need to keep up with the laws that change every year. Tax deadlines are quite strict as well. You have so many things that need to get done and doing the books is usually never the priority for any small businesses. So deadlines can slip under the radar. To the keep the taxman happy, and to stop you from paying any additional fines a bookkeeper will make sure your records are accurate, so you are always prepared for taxes.

A bookkeeper also will make sure that all your financial records are up to date. It’s their job to make sure that any inconsistency between the books and your business accounts are accurate and make sure that any problems are resolved quickly. You don’t want to go into any  financial trouble with the government. A bookkeeper can stay on top of your business accounts daily for all your transactions by keeping track of every sale or purchase and using software to do it all. It’s much easier for them to keep an eye on your cash flow.

Hire A Graphic Designer For Your Team

You can make your own graphics if you want to. But if you are a graphic design challenge, I would not recommend you doing your own graphics. There are all kinds of graphic sites out here you can use like Canva. I don’t know if it’s the number one but it’s a very popular site that people go on and create your own graphics. It’s great. But are you good at creating graphics on Canva. The last thing you want to do is have your graphics look amateurish.That’s that’s not what you want to put out. That will bring your brand down, and you don’t want to bring your brand down. People will judge you on that. You want your graphics to be professional, and in your brand colors and fonts. It’s very important that your graphics are done professionally. I can’t stress that enough.

Graphic designers are very visual people who create visual concepts by hand or by using computer software. Graphic designers use ideas to inspire and form or captivate consumers through both physical and virtual art forms that include images, words or graphics. If you’re not ready to invest in a graphic designer, to be on your team, or you need graphics done from time to time, you can go to places like Upwork and Fiverr to create flyers, business cards, social media, graphics, graphics for your website, or whatever you might need. Make sure that you check out their work and make sure you read all the reviews that people have said about them before you make a decision. If you just need graphics made from time to time, and you’re not ready to bring a graphic designer on to your team full time or part time for now check out those two sites.

Hire A Stylist/ Image Consultant For Your Team

This is a team member you probably didn’t think about. If you are a woman speaker, you need someone to do your hair and your makeup, especially if you are hosting a live conference or doing any live events. A stylist can make you look very professional, polished and put together. A stylist will access your body, your personal and professional image, your lifestyle, and will work with you to create a  wardrobe that will fit all your needs. And they help you to to become organized in a way that will streamline your day to day life. A stylist is a godsend, especially if you are not good at putting colors, patterns and outfits together. Not everyone has an eye for that. And some women do hate to go shopping.  A good stylists can save you time, and help take away wardrobe stress.

Hiring a stylist can be an investment, but it’s worth looking into. That’s somebody that you don’t need on your team every single day but you do need to have a stylist that you can depend on and go to, when you need one. A personal stylist will help you to put your best foot forward. And when you look good, you feel good.

Now men don’t get jealous. You can use a personal stylist to. Most men are lost when it comes to style. What can a stylist do for you? A stylist will help polish up your image and they will help to put you together. A stylist knows how to figure out your true personal style, no matter what size you are, or your lifestyle. Now wouldn’t you want to be that man when you walk into a room or when you take the stage with a roomful of people all eyes are on you?  They don’t know what it is about you but they know you just look right and look good. That’s what a stylist can do for you, man!