Team building trivia supplier

It’s been almost two weeks since I last published a post here on my blog. Readers who follow me know that this is highly irregular; in fact, since I started blogging seven years ago, I can’t think of a single time I’ve gone this long without putting something up. Why haven’t I been writing?

Because I’ve been absolutely SLAMMED.

This has easily been the busiest two weeks I’ve had since launching TrivWorks nine years ago, and since I started producing trivia team building for corporate groups almost twelve years ago. Since the middle of January, we’ve had nine gigs.

NINE.

We had one in New Jersey, two in Connecticut, four in New York, one in California, and one in…Idaho, of all places! I executive produced all of them, and personally attended/emceed two of them (California and Idaho – I couldn’t pass up a chance to say I’ve been to Idaho). This is coming off an incredibly busy December, and what’s shaping up to be a crazy February/March as well.

What’s particularly exciting for me is that during this busy period, we have (or soon will have) utilized a huge chunk of our corporate event entertainment and company team building offerings, going through almost our entire arsenal if you will. Not only have our professional trivia emcees and corporate game show hosts gotten to deliver the full range of our fun interstitial activities in between trivia rounds (head-to-head trivia bouts, minute-to-win-it style physical challenges/party games, and team vs. team karaoke), but our “Special Talent” emcees are being put to use as well! Illusionist/mentalist Ryan Oakes was tapped to emcee one of the recent Connecticut gigs, NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan will be leading an NYC team building trivia event in February, and comedian Christian Finnegan will be leading a post-dinner corporate entertainment activity in March.

It’s an exciting time around here, no doubt!

As a business owner, you will certainly not hear me complain about how busy it’s been. Then again, as a human being who has basic physical, mental and emotional needs, I’ve been…BUSY. So busy, in fact, that outside of work and family obligations, I really haven’t had time to do much else, blogging or otherwise.

How busy has it been? Well, take my usual workday (which I wrote previously about here), and just extend it. I’m usually up at 5:30am anyways, but these past two weeks I’ve inched that wake-up closer to 5am. Any extra time I can create for myself before my wife and kids wake up, that’s time I can use – or rather, need – to get things done. I am then working for the ENTIRE day, often glued to my office desk for hours at a time, forgetting to even eat lunch. After the kids have come home and gotten tucked into bed, I return to my desk and stay up until midnight or longer, finishing whatever project is on my list so that I can start the next one – at 5am the next morning.

What am I getting done, exactly? As the CEO, COO, CMO and CFO of this business all rolled into one, my responsibilities fall into several distinct categories. Here they are in a nutshell:

Executive Production

For most of our corporate trivia events, my role is executive producer. It is my responsibility to oversee all aspects of every gig, from the moment a client signs on until after the event has concluded. This includes administering contracts, conducting customization calls, assigning/scheduling emcees and staff, and being available to service clients with ongoing counsel. It also means overseeing the development of trivia materials: question researching & writing, custom answer sheets, PowerPoint slide decks, run-of-shows and more. I must also keep the flow of information constant between my clients and staff. Much of this can be mindless, rote administrative work – but I believe busy work does have its benefits (which you can learn more about by reading this article). 

Emcee/Onsite Production

When I am personally producing or emceeing events – as I did in two states last week – the demands on my time are even more strenuous. It is up to me to handle all of the onsite production needs: printing, stapling, downloading, uploading, securing prizes and other materials, etc. As was the case with my Idaho gig, it also means travel, and all which that entails: booking flights & hotels, setting itineraries, packing, getting to/from the airport, waiting around the airport, learning new venues, meeting new people and so forth. It’s a lot – especially because my other responsibilities don’t simply stop because I’m on the road!

Sales

It’d be one thing if I only had to worry about executing gigs which are already booked. However, as my fellow entrepreneurs know, you’re only as good as your last sale – which in practice means, you must ALWAYS be selling. While I attempted to find salespeople a couple of years back to take up part of the workload, I’ve found that there’s really nobody who can sell TrivWorks like I can; no one is as passionate or invested in this company as I am, and no one knows the ins and outs of my unique value proposition and various service options like I do.

So, yeah – I’m a sales team of one.

Calls come in, Email inquiries come in, I’m the one who responds to them. Even when I’m buried up to my eyeballs in gigs as I was these past two weeks, I always make time to respond to new business leads, no matter how busy I am. It may mean a 20-minute phone call with a prospect when I’m on deadline, or putting together a detailed proposal document when I’ve got other timely things to send out the door – but I do it. My business depends on it.

Marketing

I also ensure that my marketing operation remains robust and constant; with the exception of my recent lapse in publishing blog posts, I never take a break from my other promotional channels, even when my days are already packed solid. I’m still working diligently to get press coverage, back links, referrals, reviews, testimonials, follows, retweets, you name it. Anything that will help build and strengthen my brand.

New Projects

Of course, all of the above is just me treading water. In order to truly build TrivWorks into the greatest corporate team building trivia vendor and live game show entertainment company out there, I have to constantly be innovating. I need to expand beyond my comfort zone, to push myself beyond where I am and strive to do novel things.

Even in the midst of all of this insane client work these past couple of weeks, I’ve still somehow made time to push forward on several exciting new initiatives I’ve got in store for 2018. I’m not quite ready to unveil them yet, but I definitely will be soon – especially now that I’ve finally got some time to take a breather!

Family

Of course, I can’t have this businesses be my ENTIRE life. I have a wonderful wife and two adorable small children who need me as well. Mornings and evenings are for them, as are weekends and holidays. Sure, I can duck away as needed to take a phone call or send an Email, but by and large any serious work which needs to be done waits until regular businesses hours, the wee early hours, or the late hours.

So yes, it’s been a very busy time for me over here. But busy is good! I’d much rather have my hands full, than be twiddling my thumbs, waiting for something to happen. I’ve got a brief reprieve for the next week or two, but then it’s off again (literally) as I head out of town for another yet gig, and gear up for the next wave thereafter.

It’s going to be a really good year, I can feel it!

For another related article on trivia team building, click here.