Speaker Academy

June 16, 2014 By e-Patient Dave 21 Comments

“The Big Ugly” meets Speaker Academy #19: What’s up with expense checks??

This is the latest in the Speaker Academy series, which started here. The series is addressed to patients and advocates who basically know how to speak on a subject but want to make a business out of it. I’ll try to be clear to all readers, but parts may assume you’ve read earlier entries.

I’m really not happy to be writing this, but push has come to shove. Two thirds of my expense reimbursements are past due, and fully a third of them are more than 90 days out. I’ve seen some people stretch payments at times, but I’ve never seen anything like this.

The stories I’ve been getting about “gosh, sorry, there’s nothing we can do about it” or “gosh, the only person who can write checks went on vacation” or “we only print checks on Thursdays and she was out when she came back from vacation” are familiar, but this year they’re much more common. What’s up, healthcare? Is The Big Ugly coming home to roost?

I wrote about The Big Ugly last year:

… something I’m starting to call The Big Ugly – a wave of suffering that will happen as the medical industry contracts, and everyone tries to find ways to maintain their income. Unfortunately when an industry shrinks, everyone can’t maintain the same income. As anyone knows who’s seen an industry die (like mine, typesetting; or steel in America, or what Detroit went through), it’s painful. Good people get hurt, and organizations fight for survival.

It’s interesting, because the people I work with, for the event are good and almost entirely on time with paying my fees. But expense reimbursements? They seem to go through a different approval and payment process. I mean, things get lost in the expense rabbit hole, and even my good-to-work-with friends are unable to extract them.

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June 2, 2014 By e-Patient Dave 6 Comments

Speaker Academy #18: Client Honor Roll – great and valued business partners

In #16 I said “For a small business, cash is king.” This is especially true for patients who are trying to build a small business in speaking, with no financial backing. In this post I want to “spotlight the spotless” – my clients who have honored our partnership by paying every single invoice within the agreed time of 30 days. Thank you!! A couple of foonotes before we start:

Date range: This is for events starting January 2013 and ending April 2014. (This May’s events haven’t reached 30 days yet.)
- I hope to dig back earlier, but before 2013 I was in survival mode and my records were sometimes not accurate. Meanwhile, clients – if you remind me that you paid promptly I’ll be glad to include you – just let me know!

Special honor: Some clients are so great that they’re in a special category – they paid on-site or EARLY! (And they reimbursed my out-of-pocket expenses promptly.) So I’ll start with them:

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March 27, 2014 By e-Patient Dave 1 Comment

Speaker Academy #17: “Your message did not fall on deaf ears.”

A great moment just happened, and I say “great” because it brings together two big factors in the Speaker Academy series here:

If patient voices are a cornerstone of the future of medicine (as the Institute of Medicine says), they need to be actively supported in their participation. Otherwise, the future will be built on whatever scraps people find for free.

But from the patient perspective, complaining about it doesn’t get us anywhere. As I said in Speaker Academy #6, to a committed change agent, the useful question is: “What could be said that would make any difference?”

Well, Speaker Academy pal Erin Moore just knocked one out of the park. Speaking last week at two events in DC (for free), she had an occasion arise where she spoke effectively – in fact I’d say she knocked it out of the park!

Here’s a cross-post of her news, with permission, from her blog 66 Roses. Change agents, take note.
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February 2, 2014 By e-Patient Dave 2 Comments

Finally! Composite video of my call to action at Blue Button Plus Developer Challenge (New York, July 22)

Last month I blogged that a “lost speech” had finally surfaced. It was my closing speech at an event last July, and said why this moment (this year, this series of conferences) is an essential turning point:

“The event was a conference conducted by our Department of Health & Human Services to educate and encourage software developers about the “Blue Button Plus” initiative. … which is really important for the future of health IT, and not just in America; this innovation initiative will change what patients and families are capable of.”

And I said:
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January 28, 2014 By e-Patient Dave 12 Comments

Speaker Academy #16: Getting paid (being businesslike about cash flow)

Cash is King image from Image: mobilepaymentsworld.com — Image: mobilepaymentsworld.com

Update 4/11/2014: Substantially expanded the section “submit bills electronically”
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This is the latest in the Speaker Academy series, which started here. The series is addressed to patients and advocates who basically know how to give a speech but want to make a business out of it. I’ll try to be clear to all readers, but parts may assume you’ve read earlier entries.

This post is about cash flow – an important part of being responsible for ourselves financially. In earlier posts we discussed getting agreement from your client on the value of your message and the need to get paid: Ratty Boxers, A turning point for patient voices, and Speaker Academy #15: The Contract. This post is about managing how the cash actually gets to you, because many hearts have been broken along that road.

1. For a small business, cash is king

One of the most common causes of small business failure is running out of cash. So if you want to build a business, even a small one, it’s your responsibility to be businesslike about cash flow. On About.com, Scott Allan put it this way:

Cash (Flow) Really Is King

One of the most important lessons entrepreneurs have to learn, often painfully, is that cash really is king. I’m not talking about paper money — I’m talking about cash flow. Simply put, it doesn’t matter how much money is coming in the future if you don’t have enough money to get from here to there.

Don’t plan to spend money you don’t have yet.

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December 10, 2013 By e-Patient Dave 13 Comments

Speaker Academy #15: The contract

Addition October 30, 2014: in comments a meaty discussion has started on a subject that’s related but different – NDA’s (Non-Disclosure Agreements). They rarely arise in speaking engagements but they can often be part of “the business of patient engagement.” Have a look if you’re interested.

This is the latest in the Speaker Academy series, which started here. The series is addressed to patients and advocates who basically know how to give a talk but want to make a business out of it. I’ll try to be clear to all readers, but parts may assume you’ve read earlier entries.

I’m at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 25th annual forum in Orlando, participating in a day of patient speaker training. In side conversations one thing that came up is the business relationship: getting paid. And that starts with the contract.

Do you need a contract?

Contracts weren’t important for me when I had few engagements and little pay. But when things got busy I needed structure. The contract I use (at right) provides:

A clear record of logistical details: where, when, arrival & departure, how you can list it, etc.
A clear record of finances: fee, expense reimbursement, and down payment
Who’s expected to be in the audience. (Today one speaker told of a case where she was sure an audience would be nurses, and found out at the last minute it was patient advisors!)

And of course in the rare case where a relationship goes sour, the contract records who owes what to whom. It’s not that you’ll end up in court – to the contrary, it keeps you out of court, because the rules are already in writing.

I also added sections for things that kept popping up as problems: [Read more…]