Fringe Benefits & Perks of the Job

Many jobs come with "fringe benefits" such as health insurance, 401k, and paid time off. Other jobs have "extras" like access to health clubs, flexible spending accounts, or similar things. Then there is what I like to call "industry specialty benefits" such as free movies if you work at a theatre or chocolate if you work at Hershey's. While working in the speaking industry I have found that the industry has its own "industry special benefits. The one fringe benefit I have found to be most interesting is the opportunity to talk with, meet, and work with a variety of interesting athletes, celebrities, authors, and other all-around incredible people. Most recently I had two great experiences simply because of working in this industry. The first experience I had was when I was able to go to a major league baseball game and watch the game in a suite with entertaining corporate comic and author Jeff Havens. We had an event scheduled to take place during the day at the ball park and they offered us tickets to the game after the event. It was fun learning more about Jeff and how he came into the industry and it's always fun to watch a baseball game with a natural comedian! The second great experience I had came only three days later, and was with Bill Rancic, who won season one of "Apprentice" with Donald Trump and now has a reality show called Giuliana & Bill on the E! channel. He took our entire office out to NARA Sushi for the evening. It was a lot of fun getting personal encouragement from Bill and to hear stories that would not be shared except on a first hand basis. Mr. Rancic told us a unique story of how he helped three children in Haiti during a time of crisis, which showed he is much more then a businessman - he is also a humanitarian! Being associated with people like the ones mentioned above and getting access to special events are some of my personal favorite "persk" of being in the professional speaking industry. We are able to partner with people that very few people have access to and many wish they did. I cannot wait to see who I will meet in the near future and what stories I will hear next!