Got back from Orlando yesterday. What a great trip! I almost didn’t go because I woke up Thursday with a sinus headache and felt like I wanted to stay in bed. Not a good way to feel when the main reason for going is the networking! But I packed some apple cider vinegar in my luggage and over the next day or so drank enough vinegar spiked herbal tea to chase that stuff away.
On the plane to Orlando, I met Mike Young, an attorney who specializes in Internet Marketing law. We talked all the way to Orlando, just the nicest guy. He was on his way to JV Alert, which was being held in the same hotel as the Stomper Net conference. There were internet marketers everywhere you looked! I still wasn’t feeling great so I forgot to take a picture with Mike or anybody else the first day.
Got checked in, then went downstairs and registered. Started running into people I knew within 10 minutes. Ben Mack, who I met in Baltimore. Dennis Isip, who I met in Florida and had lunch with in the Ft Launderdale airport. Gary Ambrose. Dr. Mike Woo-Ming. Dan Kelly. Robert Butwin. It was great to see people I’d met during all those trips I took last year!
Plus I met new people from all over the world — Angela Wickenberg (Sweden), Nikoforas Fokas (Greece), Kirk VandenBerghe (Hawaii) and more. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating — going to offline events is the single most important thing you can do to explode your profits and grow your business!
On Friday morning, John Reese was the keynote speaker and afterwards I went up and introduced myself and took a picture with him. Really a nice guy, surprisingly humble and down to earth.
I also met Leslie Rhodie and Jason Potash, took pictures with them of course. Ken McCarthy couldn’t make it (I think it was due to weather) and he asked David Bullock to take his place as a speaker. I had heard about Dave last summer from James Johnson over at Black Enterprise, and when I met James Scott at LeadSupreme East, I found out that he and Dave were friends. So when I saw Dave’s name on the schedule, I dragged James over to make the introduction.
That turned out great because Dave was hanging out with Sherman Hu and his lovely wife Sarah and I ended up hanging with them for the next few hours. We went to Sherman’s WordPress Blog presentation, then afterwards we all went to lunch with Don Crowther. Listening to these guys talk about business was amazing and intoxicating!
Finally managed to get a picture with Andy and Brad at the very end. I had talked to Brad on the first night but could never catch Andy standing long enough to talk to him.
All in all it was a fun trip and I’m very glad I went. Some great things are going to come out of it too — Mike Filsaime and Gary Ambrose both agreed to help me with an upcoming product. I’ve gotten to know Mike and Gary a little bit over the last year and they have both been so nice to me, real sweethearts.
Finally, last but not least, I met Willie Crawford — just walked right up to him and started talking. Another down to earth guy just doing his thing and taking care of business. I asked him for an interview and he said yes. I think it’s time to start my own radio show! Stay tuned…
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