I would like to create a website with a similar theme to clarity.fm. What is the best theme - especially for the Q&A and the Category?

You could probably use any Wordpress theme that had a design and feel you like. I would use a good events plugin such as Calendarize It. That plugin makes it easy to set up a nice calendar of events. You can make specific calendars for each country, category and city. They could view them all on one calendar or filter down to specific locations. You could even enter the venue information for the events as well. It's a pretty decent plugin. You can see an example of it working here: http://tvqma.org/schedule

Tough question. Prior to 2008 it wasn't too bad but since 2012 especially finding commission-based reps has been difficult. In 2011 I created an agency for a management consulting firm. At that time I could still count on responses to ads. But in 2012 response was non-existent. I also hired companies whose specific USP was finding commission-based salespeople...and not one was able to send me serious candidates. Ads posted have been responded to with hate: "Why can't you afford to pay a wage" and much worse. Frankly, sales skills are valuable and anyone competent in selling is in demand. Most people do not believe in themselves or realize they are responsible for and create their own income. So people who can sell are going to go where they're immediately rewarded. Sure, you can try the "churn and burn" approach--one I do not advocate at all--but I guarantee you'll get stuck in a quicksand of finding, training, losing and replacing reps. I dislike being negative and not having a solution, but when the companies that say they specialize in this area can't deliver, what's left but to move on to another arrangement?

Checkout is a high-quality WordPress theme by Array built for marketplaces of any kind. https://arraythemes.com/themes/checkout-wordpress-theme/ Let me know if you have any questions about implementation, and I'd be happy to setup a call.

I've taken a quick look at your site and am happy to talk to you. Take a look at my reviews here on Clarity. Product advice is an area I provide a lot of help to Clarity members about.

There are advantages to both approaches. Using a theme such as Avada or X (my recommendation) will make the process faster and guarantee consistency, however the downsides are bloated code and potentially slow page load times. If you don't have a large or media-heavy site, this may not be an issue. Choose a theme that has a solid reputation for customer support and theme updates. Look at all the demos and be sure that you can mix and match the different elements that you like. And keep in mind that they all come with their own page builders and shortcodes, so you will need to choose a theme you want to stick with until you are ready to completely re-design. The pros of developing a custom theme are having more streamlined code and total control over the updates. The downsides would be an increased time/cost factor, a need to have someone monitor software changes and make necessary updates, and further development for future functional needs. Additional attention will need to be placed on required plugin compatibility. If you use ecommerce solutions, payment processors or email marketing opt ins, you'll need to be sure the custom code plays nice with them. Both approaches should allow you to create a totally customized design and user experience. Additional note regarding using a pre-coded theme: Be sure to check the compatibility with your required plugins as well. Most of them take the major ones into consideration, but if you aren't sure, reach out to the developers and ask ahead of time. Good luck! Feel free to contact me if I can help further. ~ Nicky