We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephanie Scheller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
Designing and producing educational events for small business owners has a lot of nuance that is unseen by the majority of outsiders. Beyond the fact that putting on events is about so much more than putting together a great line-up of speakers and content to attract attendees, one of the biggest misconceptions is the speaker fee system. Speaker’s time is valuable. The more time they’ve put into cultivating their speaking skill and designing content that is unique and helpful, the more they tend to charge. The more notorious they are, the more they charge. These speaking fees can run tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On top of venues, catering and staff fees, putting on real events gets expensive quickly.

To make it work, many event producers will select one major speaker that receives a large fee and stands as the attraction to the event and then set up a relationship where other speakers actually pay the event producer to speak at the event and/or are required to give the event producer a portion of the sales generated at the event with a guaranteed minimum of revenue share. This creates a situation where the other speakers are trying to ensure they walk away with a solid ROI and are more focused on creating a sales environment than one where the attendees receive actual value.
Both scenarios create events where the producer is more focused on putting butts in seats to ensure the speakers who paid will have a large enough audience to generate sales than anything else.

It has established a world where too many events end up being a waste of attendees times because only partial information is presented and hour long sales pitches add stress to our lives that we don’t need!

Not every event is worth thousands of dollars in admission, but the events that are less than a few hundred are rarely worth anything at all. Check out the event producers history of events, testimonials and put weight in where the people you respect are spending their time and money and give those a go instead!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I believe that one of our biggest differentiators is that we leverage my knowledge of psychology and how the mind of the entrepreneur works to design events that empower the business owner to take action and actually implement what they learned during the event. I don’t know any other event producers that discuss that aspect.

But we truly put thought into every little thing for our events from what goes into the swag bag to how the speakers are lined up to when the breaks take place, how long they last, what kind of food is served, etc.

For example, at the start of every event, there’s always this rather awkward moment where attendees are sitting around making small talk and asking inane questions of the people sitting next to them while waiting for the event to start. Especially with the pandemic that has hit the event industry in the past few years, there’s a lot of hesitation about connecting with others and anxiety in general.
So at our most recent event at time of writing, in January 2021 (yes, at the height of the Omicron spike), we started everyone outside in the courtyard with tacos & mimosas and opened the doors to the actual event space only 15 minutes prior to start. When attendees walked in, there were branded Connect-4 games on the tables.
It set the entire event off with a warm atmosphere and attendees who were comfortable with who they were sitting next to, and therefore more comfortable to engage with the speakers and MC. The atmosphere was absolutely electric.

More importantly, it eliminated the need for the brain to worry about whether they were being judged or ‘unsafe’ in any capacity and allowed the attendees to focus on the content and how to apply it in their businesses.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh man! In no particular order we would definitely have to visit the following places: Picnic at Lost Maples along with a hike through the canyon and a stop at the Apple Store for some of their famous 4lbs apple pie and ice cream on the way back.
At least one afternoon at the bookstore, finished with dinner at the Whiskey Cake, a farm-to-table restaurant that always has a fantastic menu, and the most unbelievable whiskey cake you’ve ever had!
Tre Trattoria for delicious, house-made Italian food behind the San Antonio Museum of Art and with a stunning view of the riverwalk.
Saturday morning would definitely be spent at the Pearl Farmer’s Market with lunch at Botika afterwards – an Asian-Latin-American fusion restaurant that is always mindblowingly good.
At least one trip out to visit my horse and soak in the beauty of the Texas Hill Country.
An afternoon and evening sipping wine, munching charcuterie, and writing at Wine 101 in Old Town Helotes.
A trip to Fredericksburg and then along the wine country of Texas, culminating at Garrison Bro’s Distillery.

And there would be lots and lots of long afternoons curled up in the window seat together writing!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Oh man! So many people! My Dad for sitting us down as kids and making us listen to him reading the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. My Mom for giving me space to cry about how the company I worked for was mistreating me and my team by jerking our chains on commissions for more than nine months, And then, my Mom again for being the one to point out that I needed to get out of there and opening the door for me to start my sales training company, the business that enabled me to replace my full-time income in less and five-months and walk away to become a full-time entrepreneur.
Mike Michalowicz for seeing something great in me, for participating in our events and taking the time to record and send me videos that have served as constant points of encouragement. But also for writing and putting out there books like Profit First that have radically changed how I run my business and enabled me to create profitable events, that don’t require sales from the stage to stand out!
For Courtney and Susannah and Rachel for standing with me, believing in me and encouraging me…and staying on my team when I wasn’t the greatest leader for myself or them and learning how to be a better person all around.
To Li Hayes for working tirelessly to help me negotiate with incredible speakers to get them to participate in our events and keep the magic alive.
To my husband Matthew for being part of my time, constantly. When I doubted myself, questioned my ability or wanted to give up, for being there and believing in me enough for both of us. But also for being more than willing to set aside the time we once spent on dates for me to invest in the business, and always being someone I knew I could lean on whenever I needed.
I guarantee there are more people…but these are the ones forefront in my mind!

Website: www.growdisrupt.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/successsteph/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniescheller

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuccessSteph

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuccessSteph

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCawUs3izlqqSDSyi7MhNr4Q

Other: https://www.thestephaniescheller.com/

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