This Small Business Event Rocked My World

I’m finally getting caught up on sleep and getting back into the groove of things after being gone for several days to attend the small business event Exposure & Profit in Toronto Canada which was put on by my friend Kelly. It was an honor to be a part of her first event and watch it all unfold. Great speakers, great attendees, lots of learning, laughing, pictures, and late nights – exactly what I hoped it would be.

Kelly promised to make the small business event introvert friendly and she did…even if I did have to get up on stage, stand in front of a podium, use a microphone and introduce myself for 90 seconds 😉 I was so out of my comfort zone I wanted to run the other way (I actually did attempt – ok so I was just pretending – to head out the door instead of up to the stage. It was a great way to get everyone to laugh and loosen myself up a little. But even though I was nervous (sweating, shaking, voice quivering kind of nervous), I actually liked doing it. It’s kind of fun and empowering to be in front of a room full of people ‘demanding’ their attention.

Anyways, I really enjoyed learning from all the speakers. Here is who they were and what they spoke about. (Note: click on images to see full size)

Nicole Dean – She talked about something that she is passionate about and something she does so well, “Making The Web & World A Better Place.” I just adore Nicole. She is a sweetie and so kind and caring. She’s always been as authentic online and she is offline.

Justin Popovic – I was thrilled he was speaking at Kelly’s event. Back in February when I was at NAMS I wanted the chance to listen to him/talk to him and I didn’t get the opportunity to do so. He spoke about “Your Content Is An Extension Of You.” I enjoyed his presentation very much but the best part was hanging out with him afterwards doing a duck lip selfie…let’s just say I need to practice those duck lips of mine 😉

Derral Eves – I have one word to sum this man up…WOW. What a kind, caring, heart of gold, passionate man. He taught us all about “Harnessing the Power of YouTube: Creating, Targeting & Converting with Video.” (I definitely HAVE to step out of the comfort zone and start doing video!)

Connie Ragen Green – I was excited to meet Connie. She’s a client I did some work for in the past so it was awesome getting to see her in person and learn from her live. She gave a talk on “Extended Deep Dive: Self Publishing to Grow Your Business Exponentially.” (Yep, one more thing I need to start doing!)

Alice Seba – It was fun meeting her in person. I’ve known Alice online since the beginning of my business which was 8 years ago. To finally meet her in person, was awesome. She taught about “Better Relationships and More Sales Through Strategic Email Content.” I can build the relationships, but I struggle when it comes to email marketing so her presentation was right up my alley and exactly what I needed to hear!

Dan Morris & Rachel Martin – I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Dan in person before, at my very first NAMS when he forgot his luggage, had to go buy new clothes and walked around all day with the tag on his shirt. He is crazy fun. I got to meet his business partner Rachel for the first time too. She’s sweet and friendly. They spoke about “Know What Your Customers Want & Give Them More.”

Ronnie Nijmeh – while he wasn’t a speaker, he was an advisor during Friday’s mastermind session. I was thrilled to meet him in person.  He was so nice and meeting his wife and their adorable little guy was fun too! (Just realized I didn’t get a pic of him!)

I could write a list a gazillion miles long about the event but I’ll keep it short and sweet.

So, here are some (too many to list!) of the golden nuggets I walked away with.

1. Video is now mandatory! (This is a quote that came from Derral. And let’s just say, if anyone should know, it’s this man!) 
2. If you’re always satisfied with where you’re at, you’ll never go any further. 
3. Self-publishing gives you greater opportunities (it’s a stepping stone to them).
4. What would the AWESOME me do? (If you want to read more about this, check out my recent Facebook post about it – it really changed my life!)
5. Email is the glue in your marketing.
6. “Money didn’t change me, people did.” -Kelly McCausey
7. Would a CEO do this? (ask yourself this every time you go to do a task)
8. “She saw my magnificence when I didn’t.” – Nicole Dean
9. What type of impact are you going to have? Negative or positive?
10. “When in doubt, embrace discomfort.” –Justin Popovic

Those are just a very few of the nuggets I took away! This small business event was awesome and I really hope she’ll do another one in the future…soon!

And because of this event, here are just a few things I’ll be working on:

• Doing video and incorporating that into my business. – yikes!
• Joining toastmasters to work on getting over the fear of public speaking! – double yikes!
• Blogging and emailing consistently so I become a ‘habit’ to my people. – triple yikes!

Basically to sum it all up – this was AWESOME and it rocked my world 🙂

If you’d like to see more pictures from the event, check out our Facebook event hashtag here.

Until next time…

The AWESOME Tishia 😉