Long Range Planning

Wednesday February 19^th, 2014 – Gurnee, IL

   One of the most difficult – yet very necessary – aspects of the entertainment business is to have a long term vision and work steadily toward distant goals that are far off into the future. There is usually no shortage of daily chores to keep one busy along the way, so finding time can be tough.

   In my world it’s extra tough, just because I have so much going on. I have several projects I am working on at any given time, and that tends to slow things down even more. I’m too far into this to drop everything, so I’m choosing to team up with others and help delegate what I need to do.

   I couldn’t do a newsletter by myself, and I know it. Eric Feinendegen is helping me get that up and running, and there have been several annoying glitches that have slowed it down. If I didn’t have him, I’d either have to shut it down or allow everything else come to a complete standstill.

   A lot of my projects have come to a complete standstill, and frustrating as it may be what can I do but focus attention on the daily tasks? I’ve got all I can handle to keep myself solvent for one more month, but if I’m ever going to get out of that meat grinder there has to be a plan in place.

   If I don’t work on the big picture, it will never come to be. But if I don’t tend to the daily grind, I won’t survive to shoot for the big prize. How cruel is that? The answer is to carefully divide my time between both, and stay as close as humanly possible to those parameters. It’s the only way.

   Working on things that aren’t on the immediate agenda requires discipline, but I know it needs to be done so I’m including it whether I like it or not. One of those things is polishing my speech for corporate events. The last thing I want is to go up with a half baked rambling unfinished talk.

   I worked diligently to prepare for my first booking last month for Coldwell Banker Realtors in Brookfield, WI, which by all accounts went quite well. I was happy with it for a first try, but I’m not naïve enough to think I don’t need a LOT of improvement. That was just a start, and to really move ahead I need to keep working on it constantly – especially when I am between bookings.

   Tonight I had dinner with my speaker friend Todd Hunt who was kind enough to have watched my full video several times and make notes – five pages of them. His extreme attention to details is what he’s known for, and I listened intently as he went over his list of well thought out points.

   Our roles were reversed, as for several years I have been helping him add humor to his speech. I’m his ‘fresh eyes’, and can see where the jokes go. It’s been a work in progress, and he’s used it to build a solid product. Now he’s returning the favor, and I can see how beneficial it really is.

   I don’t have any speeches booked in the near future - or far future either come to think of it. It wasn’t really necessary for Todd to make his critiques tonight, but he was available and took the time to make notes so I took the time to listen. It was worth the price of dinner and much more.

   Todd was dead on with his observations as I knew he’d be. I’ll add what he said, and then hear what Eric has to say as he’s a speaker too. I’ll bend and shape and tweak until my next booking - then I’ll do it again. And again. And again after that. I’ll have to find time, but I will. It’s crucial.

Long range planning requires discipline - especially when daily life gets hectic.

Without needed help from Eric Feinendegen, I wouldn't be able to have a monthly newsletter to build a base of fans and people to book me. That's long range planning.

Todd Hunt is helping me polish my corporate humor speech. He's worked years on his own, and it's one of the very best anywhere. www.toddhuntspeaker.com.