You Make It Happen (I Go Where People Send Me)

I don’t decide which countries I go to. You do.

My new one-day workshop follows an important principle:

I go where people send me.

Selecting countries and cities

Every week I get questions such as “Will your book tour come to Argentina?” “When will you visit China?” and “Why are you not planning for Norway?”

And every time my answer is the same: I go where people send me. The backlog of countries is based on the readers of my mailing list. Prioritization is based on number of readers relative to country size. Every month we pick another few countries from the top of the backlog.

I don’t decide which countries I go to. You do (if you want) by subscribing to the list. If many people from Hungary sign up then our next pick will be Hungary. If not, then I’ll go somewhere else first.

Example: France has climbed several places on the backlog in two months. That means I go to France sooner. Vive la France!

My choice for cities follows a similar process: after we announce a country, we let the readers discuss the best options. For example, people in Poland voted overwhelmingly for Kraków/Katowice and Warsaw. OK, that means I go to Kraków/Katowice and Warsaw, and not to Wroclaw or Gdansk.

It’s your choice, not mine. (But with restrictions!)

Community talks and company visits

Every week I also get questions such as “When you visit our city, can you do a free community talk?” or “Will you have time to visit our company?”

And again, every time my answer is the same: I go where people send me. In this case, the people are the participants of the one-day-workshops. Considering that they will be paying for my travel expenses, I consider it their right to discuss the free evening program after the workshop. Why should I commit to a community talk or a company visit when the most committed people prefer that I do something else that they find more valuable?

Tip: If you want me to visit your company or local community for a free talk, send people to the workshop so that they can choose that option! 🙂

For the days before and after the workshops it’s different. I reserve those for book promotion, regular work, and relaxation. (Maybe I’ll just find myself a good coffee shop and answer a thousand emails.)

Of course, I will make a note of all interesting offers and suggestions. And workshop participants will even profit from any paid speaking engagements that I get offered on those days.

No workshop = No visit

My book tour is remotely managed together with Lisette and Elinor of the Collaboration Superpowers team. Of course, none of us have a local network. We don’t know the local companies, local communities, local newspapers, blogs, or radio shows.

Here again, the same applies: we leave it to the locals. There’s a 20% kickback fee for anyone who sends three participants or more. We have flyers, we have articles, and we have a website. I am available for interviews, podcasts, guest posts, and more, as part of the book tour. And Lisette and Elinor are available for questions and remote facilitation of hangouts. That’s the best we can do: make ourselves available.

I make myself available for a whole day to facilitate a fun workshop in your city. Now you have to make it happen!

That’s right! This is Management 3.0 applied. 🙂

You want me to visit to your country and your city.

Now you need to make sure we have 8 participants or more.

If not, no problem! We have plenty of other opportunities on the backlog. Your city will simply move back to the bottom of the list. 😉

You will be paid!

When you have actively supported the workshop you have a good chance to get paid. 20% of the profits of the workshop are available for people who contribute in any way to make it happen.

• Did you arrange a podcast interview?
• Did you help us find a great venue?
• Did you get community members to sign up?
• Did you leave flyers all over the city?

We will use the merit money system to make sure all contributors are properly rewarded by their peers.

We don’t make these decisions ourselves, of course.

We pay the money where the participants send it. 🙂