Daily Inspiration: “You won’t get BMW quality ‘virtual keynotes’ on a Ford Focus budget!”

“You won’t get BMW quality ‘virtual keynotes’ on a Ford Focus budget!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

This has to be the penultimate shot of my home studio voyage so far – it came from a thing I filmed yesterday. I even have shoes on! You can see the clip down below.

I love a great stage!

The quote is a direct redo of one I did a few years back with another great stage.

I know things are getting back to normal, because client inquiries ARE coming in – but it’s just like the old world!

Why is that? Because some people want what I’ve got but don’t have the budget to pay for it. They end up saving some money, but end up with a lousy speaker with a poorly delivered message that features no content and their event becomes ….a disaster.

It is to laugh! And rather than being a bad thing, I view this as a good sign that I’m on the right track with all the effort that I’m putting in.

Prior to the global pandemic, I was only doing 40 or so events a yaer. Premium priced, spectacularly focused in terms of highly customized content, and top-notch in terms of delivery and style. I’ve learned over a 25 year time span that if you have a great product, you DON”T discount on price.

In my industry, we are seeing what I call a ‘race to the bottom’ – speakers and leadership experts who don’t have a product to sell. They’re talking on Zoom in front of a bookshelf. They don’t know how to work in this new and different format. And they’re cutting their keynote to as low as 1/3 or 1/2 of their previous fee.

We are seeing this in many other industries – during a period of economic challenge, some leaders decide it’s critical to maintain market share and negate price. It usually doesn’t work well.

If you know you’ve got something to sell, you stick with your price. Because, those who truly recognize the value inherent in what you have WILL pay for it!

Here’s the video from yesterday. Enjoy!

So I Built a New Stage Set in my Basement. It’s Pretty Freaking Awesome!