e-Patient Dave

Power to the Patient!

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A turning point for patient voices

Patients Included badge

In February I announced that after three years of struggle I’d reached breakeven. This has made new things possible – for instance, an office outside the home. It also makes possible a new policy for pricing my speeches.

This is a significant moment, so I’m breaking this into two posts: today the background, tomorrow the new policy.

Prologue

It’s been an uphill climb. Like many before me I’ve had many requests to donate my time: “We’d love to have you speak, but we don’t have any money” (or hardly any).

I’ve had to insist on being businesslike so I wouldn’t go out of business. This led to some interesting discussions, e.g. my most-commented post ever, on this site: “Should consumers be regulated?”

I want to do everything I can to foster the growth of this movement, both by changing the business climate and by helping others step in. So there have been issues to think about and manage, both on the business dimension and in the progress of the “movement,” if I can call it that.

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Speaker Academy, #2: Understanding the industry

Straw island on Lake Titicaca, from http://www.oocities.org/mr_rev2001/titicaca.htm
From http://www.oocities.org/mr_rev2001/titicaca.htm

Yesterday’s post closed with “no matter how compelling your story, it ain’t about you, and it ain’t about me: it’s about understanding your audience and their concerns. That means there’s work to do. Take along a lunch.”

Soon we’ll get into specifics of how to present yourself to your market (the people who might hire you). But first, it’s essential to understand the world those people live in. This post continues the notes Randi Oster took from our call last week.

Again, my comments are indented italics, like this. (The picture at right is explained below.)

Lesson #2: The healthcare “ocean” is huge and diverse. Learn what matters to each audience.

[Read more…]

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Speaker Academy, part 1: Marketing yourself

Randi Oster
Randi Oster

If you haven’t, be sure to read yesterday’s post introducing this series.

My previous post introduced a new series of mentoring posts to coach patients who are good speakers try to make a business out of it. Believe me, it’s not easy; effective speaking skills are only step one. This series will be about how I’ve built a business. It’s not the only way to do it; I’m just sharing what I’ve learned.

Last week I had such a mentoring call with Randi Redmond Oster, a self-described “writer, engineer and mother who is a passionate advocate for patient management reform.” She’d already been out there giving talks for free at public libraries, with strong positive feedback. Only recently did she realize she might get paid for it. She sought out experienced advice, and here we are: We talked on the phone with the agreement that she’d write it up for posting here (and on her site).

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New series: “Speaker Academy” – becoming a patient speaker

The world is changing, in good good ways. As we start the second half of 2013 it’s a perfect time for something new: coaching patients on becoming speaker/advocates.

Times have changed. When I started giving speeches four years ago I literally couldn’t get anyone to pay a cent to hear the voice of a patient. Now that’s changed – medicine understands that there’s genuine value in seeing things from the patient’s point of view, and gollllly, some of us can even give a pretty good speech, even if we don’t work in the industry!  So as I said last winter, I’m finally making a living at it: it took three years, but I finally reached break-even.

That creates both a problem and an opportunity:

  • The problem is that I’m now too expensive for a lot of events. (I’ve demonstrated my value, and I get full professional speaker fees.) (This is good; it means I get to sleep, not bounce checks anymore, etc.)
  • The opportunity is that this creates an updraft, so to speak – a market for additional speakers, earlier in their trajectory, who can give a compelling speech that’s focused not just on their story, but on delivering value to the audience.

And that has led several patients to ask how I got started, so they can try too.

I’m happy to explain how I market myself. And taking a tip from Ted Eytan, I’ll mentor people via this blog, so others can benefit from the advice, and so we can discuss, to help future travelers too.

My next post will be the first in this new series. Let’s have fun!
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The first few posts in the series:

The series continues, as time allows, in the category Speaker Academy.

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I’ve hung out my shingle – at last!

Photo of my first office signI’ve reached a milestone: after three years, my startup has reached breakeven. For the first time, I’m not living hand-to-mouth.

So I’m now able to have my first little office outside the home. I can go to work, and I can come home from work. See sign at right: my name, and my motto, “Let Patients Help.” I’ve hung out my shingle.

Thank you, clients and sponsors.

Words can barely express my gratitude to the people who helped me get started, through their early support when nobody had ever heard of me, and as far as I know nobody ever paid to hear a patient speak at a conference.

Who was first to offer me pay for a speech? Kent Bottles MD (@KentBottles), who at the time [Read more…]

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The flak evangelists draw

Edited 7:45 pm – saved some content for a later post

I need to get this off my chest. I know to some it will sound like whining. Well, it’s my blog and my life, and on my blog I get to express myself.

One of the challenges of this path I’ve chosen – evangelizing in social media, starting with no business model – is that the more visible I’ve become, the more people have…

  • …plucked at my sleeve saying “I know you’ll love this – I just wrote it- please read it” or “please review it.” Truly, I wish I could, but I can’t. Sometimes it breaks my heart. But it disgusts me when people get mad at me or interpret it as me not caring. [Read more…]