The Conference Effect

I just came back from the Keller Williams Masterminds conference where I was honored as one of the Regional Cultural Ambassadors. It was quite an honor, but that's not what this blog is about. It is about the conference, though I've been to many conferences, I try to hit at least 2 a year now. This year it will be Keller Willaims, Bigger Pockets, and maybe one by Robuilt, in November he is hinting at. I find a few things really happen at these conferences. You learn, you network, and you get RE-ENERGIZED in your business

The most obvious one is you learn. These are set to teach you new strategies and tactics and you should. This learning can be overwhelming at times with all the information flying at you; it's like drinking from a water hose. Anyone who did this as a kid like me knows what this means. Most of the water goes everywhere and you kind of have to drink from the side to avoid drowning. The information here is kind of the same you have to pick out what you need. You cant learn everything. I have got two really good pieces of advice on this i the past. The first was from my coach who told me “Decide what you want to get out of the conference before you go and focus on that”. For example last your at BPcon my goal was to find my main investment strategy and I did. I focus on short-term rentals! With that one goal in mind, I was able to tune out what didn't fit me, like storage units or syndication. The second is to take 1-2 things and implement them in your business. If you do this every time your business will grow. It could be as easy as setting up a follow-up system outline there that will enhance your conversation or as complicated as a team restructures. Do something though, do not get overwhelmed and try to implement nothing. There is some proverb about chasing too many rabbits I think fits here but I forgot it

Network!!!! You all know my networking isn't to run up to everyone and try to get to know them and how they can help me but rather to find a few good connections. At this conference, I met two great people. One is a loan officer from California whom I introduced to the emerging program because I felt it fit and would really help. The other person was a guy that has a new and cool call tracking system that does recording and everything. I was talking to my print mail guy and he was interested to see if his whole company could use it. I loved that and gave this new startup company an intro and hopefully, they can work together. I think you noticed something here; I didn't ask or look for myself, I helped two people grow while I was there. That's just me and that's who I am. If you follow Go-Giver principles you know what I'm saying and how it can benefit you, but I do not keep score. The other part of networking is the people you go down with. I went down and stayed with a great group of people from my office that I was friends. We hung out after, ate together, and had some fun together. Through this, we formed a much stronger bond than we had before. We didn't just work together, we were truly friends.

This is probably the coolest thing I find at these conferences I get RE-ENERGIZED! I find that I come out of there poised to conquer the world. Yes, it's exhausting to be here running from learning to learning to networking to learning with some drinks in between, but something about the energy there gets to me. I think it's also because I was able to get out of the day-to-day grind that is our business, but I am not sure what really gets that going. If you have been to a good conference then you know what I'm trying to say.

Here's the deal if you don't go to a conference then get yourself to one a year. I suggest somewhere you can travel. Hell, do what I do and bring your spouse, get in a few days early and make a mini vacation out of it. Also, it's a tax write-off for your ticket and stays for the conference. At the tax rates, we entrepreneurs are at you need a write-off. Find what conference interests you and book it for next year, that's your homework :)