Before I started my Guru Detox a few years back, I found myself sitting in California at yet another pitch fest with 250 of my fellow entrepreneurs.
I felt so lucky to have gotten a VIP ticket for only $147 for this 3-day event. What a steal!
In hindsight, I know that the stealing had already begun.
I had just moved to New York City a few weeks before. I was exhausted. And jet lagged.
And disappointed by a $13,000 letdown I had with the event host a few weeks earlier. (Remind me to tell you about that another time. Aye!)
I took a LOT of notes over those three days. There was a lot of good info, although a bit confusing because it was presented in a way that was hard to make sense of how it all fit together.
And I met some really cool people. A guy from the UK who knows a thing or two about evolutionary psychology. A woman who’s become a business celebrity since we met. And a colleague I was excited to finally meet in person.
After the offer was made for the host’s $25,000 MasterMind and the appropriate amount of time had passed to swoop up as many sales as possible (I’ll tell you about the Guru Event Formula someday too), there were a series of guest speakers who did 90-minute talks and made a pitch for a program they were offering.
And
I found myself
in a trance
in the back of the room
pulling out my
credit card
to buy a
$1500 program
that I have never used.
I may as well have burned the money.
And the story doesn’t end there.
I bought a $1000 program that weekend too.
Which I did implement about a year later. It brought in no additional revenue over previous launches. And demolished my relationship with my community in a matter of 4 weeks. More on that another time. Sigh.
You might have done the math and wonder why I didn’t name this “my $2,647-plus-travel-and-hotel mistake?”
Hell, we could call it my $17,500 mistake. My $500 mistake. My $10K mistake. Take your pick.
It’s because I knew the event would be carefully designed for me to buy stuff. And I had no business spending a dime on a DIY program that wouldn’t immediately generate sales for me. And I mean PRONTO because I had just moved to a city that doubled my cost of living!
What can you learn from my mistakes?
1. Know the game going in.
Most (not all) events are designed to sell you something. If you justify that the cheap-o event is a networking and learning opportunity, but you walk away without a new client or an actionable plan to make money in your business without having to spend more money, was it really worth your time?
I don’t need to tell you that it’s not okay to not make money in your business. Or do I?
2. Tune in to how you learn best.
That program sitting on my shelf might have saved me tens of thousands of dollars or rescued me from certain doom if I could only get myself to implement it. But. I. Hate. Self. Study. Programs. I don’t buy them anymore because I recognize I’m a people person and I want direct access to the coach or creator of the program. Give it to me live, baby!
3. Own your decisions.
Was it their fault I bought their stuff and bombed it? Hell no! Bravo that they can sell so effectively from the stage!
Was it my fault I bought their stuff? Abso-flipping-lutely.
Learning from other people’s mistakes is a LOT less expensive – so if I can open your eyes in a way that keeps you from screwing up royally like I have along the way – I can live with my mistakes.
🙂
If’ you have a limited budget and learn best in an interactive environment, check out the one-day, pitch-free true. event on November 7 in NYC. We’ll create an actionable plan for you to sell more of a program, package or service you currently (or want) to offer. Let’s rebuild that nest egg, Sister. Save your seat here: http://thetrueevent.com
