By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Sometimes, salary negotiations are complicated by one party or the other changing terms from the time the original discussion occurred to the time the final offer is ultimately made. That happened to me recently and I think there is a good lesson to take from it.
I was recently contacted by the President of a radio syndication firm about doing a regular podcast show on his network. He had spent time listing to my old show on BlogTalkRadio, plus visited my website and thought I offered terrific content and wanted me to do an interview show on his. He went so far as to discuss waving his usual fee for coaching to entice me to join.
A few days later, as I reviewed the contract and had another follow-up conversation with the network, the coaching fee was back included in the agreement and I became angry and frustrated. I started to investigate alternatives. I considered walking away. Then, I did something different for myself.
I said, “I need to re-think this and call you tomorrow.”
I spent time talking with my wife and sitting quietly. I thought about my modest success with BlogTalkRadio and whether having a real professional coaching me could make a difference with show quality and with syndication.
I called the next day and reviewed the reasons for the change and reviewed the terms again in minute detail. After all, my trust had been shaken.
Then I agreed to move forward with the deal.
For me, someone who was a recruiter who did things to help people and receives additional exposure for it, doing a podcast show with a network like this coached by a big name in radio offered a big opportunity for me to learn and improve. So I shifted my thinking and signed on.
Sometimes, you need to park your ego at the door and put aside your emotions to think analytically about your choices. Sometimes, as I did, you need to take a time out and gather your thoughts to do that.
That’s OK. As a matter of fact, it’s smart to do it. Doing so, in my case, allows me to syndicate the show to a very large following, obtain sponsors and earn some money from the project.
And, don’t get me wrong, if something else changes, I walk.
© Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, Inc, Asheville, NC 2013, 2021
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2100 episodes, and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
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