Top 10 Business Conference Mistakes

by Nicole Munoz

Going to business conferences is one of the best ways to meet other people in your industry. Those people can turn into clients, into employers, into partners or into referral engines to help you broaden your reach even further. Going to conferences allows you to get outside your world and meet people doing innovative things.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to do business conferences. If you do it the wrong way, you’ll walk away from the conference with little to show for it. In the worst case scenario, you’ll actually damage your reputation. On the other hand, if you do it right, you can walk away from a business conference with new contacts and new ideas that can catapult your career to the next level.

These are ten of the most common mistakes people make at business conferences. If you want to meet new contact, boost your brand and make the most of your time at the conference, make sure you avoid these mistakes.

Mistake #1: Not Attending the Unofficial Events

Business conferences are often accompanied by unofficial events. For example, Group XYZ might be hosting a breakfast, Speaker ABC might be hosting an unofficial Q&A session or someone might have started an informal meetup for drinks after the event.

Often time’s this is where you’ll make the best connections. It’s where people have their guards down and aren’t bombarded by vendors trying to slip them their business cards. It gives you time to chat and get to know people. This is where you can develop real friendships, rather than just exchange contact information.

Mistake #2: Not Seeking Out Speaking Opportunities

Being a speaker at a business conference is one of the most powerful ways in the world for building influence and connections. The moment you step on stage and present yourself as an expert, everyone in your industry will see you differently.

Don’t expect conference organizers to come and seek you out. Instead, build your personal brand to the point where you’d be a credible speaker, then reach out to conference hosts. Remember: Conference hosts need speakers just as much as you want the exposure.

Make sure to make contact at least 6 months in advance, preferably 9 months to a year in advance. Putting together a conference and marketing a conference takes a lot of work, so the earlier they can book a speaker the better.

Mistake #3: Not Honing Your Elevator Pitch

One of the most common questions you’re going to hear at the conference is: “So, what do you do?”

You’ll essentially have about 30 seconds to impress that person. You need to clearly succinctly and passionately explain what you do in such a way that other people want to be involved.

Don’t expect to be able to knock it out of the park just because you’re charismatic. The best elevator pitches need to be practiced and honed. Ask a colleague to help you figure out the best possible angle to present yourself in. Make sure you can say everything you need to say in under a minute.

Mistake #4: Not Identifying Key Individuals Beforehand

Who are the three most important people you want to meet at the conference? You should attend every conference with a few “key targets” you want to meet.

You might try to figure out who’s attending by looking at the speaker roster or the trade show booth roster. You can also check Twitter. For example, if you’re going to the SXSW convention, you can look through the Twitter feeds of influencers in your industry to see if they’re going.

Compile a “fact sheet” on your key targets. What might you propose if you ran into them? How can you bring value to their lives and their business?

Prepare yourself to make key connections by figuring out who you want to meet and what you’ll say when you meet them.

Mistake #5: Not Following Up Within 24 Hours

At a conference, people will literally meet and exchange business cards with several dozen people. Even if you make a good impression at the conference, their memory of you can fade very quickly.

If you make a connection with someone at the conference, it’s absolutely essential that you follow up with them within 24 hours. Just a simple note saying that it was nice to meet them or a note recapping the main points of your conversation will suffice.

Dropping them that email right away helps reinforce that you really do want to build a relationship. This is perhaps the most important conference habit you could develop.

Mistake #6: Staying in Another Hotel

Most conferences are held either in a conference center or in a hotel. Of course, staying at the hotel where a conference is held is going to cost a chunk of change. That’s why a lot of people choose to stay further away to save a bit of money.

That’s a mistake.

A lot of networking happens between the halls of the conference’s hotel. Remember: Literally hundreds of people attending the same event will be staying at that hotel. You can bump into them in the elevator, in the halls, at breakfast or really anywhere.

Staying at the same hotel as the event maximizes your chances of fruitful chance meetings. If you stay outside the hotel, you completely forgo these opportunities.

If the conference is in a hotel, make sure you’re staying in that hotel. If the conference is at a conference center, stay as close to the conference center as possible.

Mistake #7: Not Being Open to Business Proposals

If you’re going to a conference with one goal in mind and shut yourself off to other possibilities, you’re going to miss out on a lot of potential opportunities.

For example, let’s say you run a company that sells custom email marketing solutions. You’re attending the conference to meet new clients.

At one of the vendor booths is a company that’s developed a new type of email server infrastructure. They could cut your costs by as much as 20%. If you’re only single-mindedly trying to meet clients, you’re going to miss out on a huge potential money saver.

There are all kinds of people who can help you in all kinds of ways at a business conference. Go with an open mind and see how you can find win-win relationships with people there.

Mistake #8: Not Trying to Help People

At every business conference, there’ll be a handful of people who seem determined not to help people or not to reveal anything about their business. If you ask them how they get their web traffic, they might say “it’s a secret.” If you ask them what projects they’re developing, they might say “we’re in stealth mode.”

The people who walk away from conferences with real contacts and real potential connections are the people that go out of their way to help people. They reveal what’s working for them in their business. They look for ways to help boost other people’s revenues and offer a helping hand for free.

These people garner a lot of goodwill. It’s these people that’ll later land contracts, find mentors or get promoted. Aim to help, even if you can’t immediately see how it’ll come back to benefit you.

Mistake #9: Spending Too Much Time on the Wrong People

It’s important to remember that a business conference only lasts for a very finite period of time. You might have 10 hours a day for 2 days – And that’s all the time you have.

It’s easy to get sucked into conversation. A vendor who you’ll never buy from might suck you into a 20 minute demo. You might sit next to someone at lunch who’s doing something very interesting – But completely unrelated to your business. Again, you might get sucked in for half an hour.

Before you know it, you’ll have spent half the day on things that won’t truly forward your career. Yes, it’s important to help people and yes, it’s important to make connections even with people outside your field. However, it’s also important to watch the time. If you don’t see how networking with this person is a win-win for the both of you, spend a little bit of time with them, but don’t get sucked into a long conversation.

Mistake #10: Business Card Shoving

This is one of the most common mistakes you’ll see. Instead of focusing on building real connections with other attendees, people will often focus on just shoving as many business cards as possible into other people’s hands.

This is not the way to do it. A business card’s purpose is to help two people connect by exchanging contact information. However, if a reason to connect isn’t established – In other words, if a relationship isn’t built or if a win-win possibility hasn’t been explored – Then the business card serves no purpose at all.

Focus on building real connections with people. It’s much better to just make 3 to 5 real connections than to give 50 people your business card.

These are 10 of the most common mistakes people make at business conferences. Again, business conferences can be an incredible opportunity to connect and boost your business. Just make sure that you don’t make these 10 mistakes.

Conference Tips for Attendees of Traffic and Conversion Summit 2013 – Part Two

by Nicole Munoz

Conferences are fun, exciting, amazing… but if you are heading to an event for the first time…

here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of your experience!

Avoid Jet Lag at All Costs!

The first tip starts even before you arrive. When you are on the plane on the way over, be sure to drink lots of water. The ideal is one bottle every hour. I like to drink Gatorade or other type of Vitamin Water drink to not only get the benefits of fluid, but some extra vitamins in there as well! The last thing you want to have happen is to arrive and already be exhausted before the fun has even started.

Avoid Getting Sick

Whenever you are around huge groups of people and do lots of handshaking, there is a greater possibility of getting sick. Sometimes you don’t get sick at the actual event, but once you get home… right when you were excited to be getting back to work! You can avoid getting sick by taking Emergen-C or Airborn on the flight and each day of the conference. Take hand sanitizer and use it often! (Hey.. I am a mom of 7 and we go to a lot of conferences at churches… it used to be that every single time we would go to a huge conference my kids would come home and they would all be sick! So I am talking from experience!) 🙂

Arrive the day before … not the day of.

If at all possible arrive early the day before the event. Again, if you want to get the most out of the event, you are going to want to spend as much time as possible networking and meeting people! Start the party early by arriving the day before! Be sure to not hide out in your room! Get out and work in the lobby, go to the gym, and just be visible. You never know who you will meet!

Stay at the event hotel.

So yes, the event hotel is sold out as of the time of this writing… so NEXT time… book your room at the event hotel. Yes the event hotel costs a huge amount more than budget hotels… but it is worth it! When you are out late networking, the last thing you are going to want to do is to get in your rental car and have to drive to another hotel. Plus after you pay for parking at both hotels, it is almost the same price.

When you stay at the event hotel it makes it easier to run back and forth to your room if you forgot something and you can take a quick break if you are just completely exhausted! I have a MacBookPro and even though it is awesome for taking notes and working… the last thing I want to do at the after parties is carry around my huge computer!

Now if you are on a budget… and you just can’t make it work… a great idea is to use Hotwire to find a 3 Star hotel in the same area for a great price. I have done this a lot of times and have ended up paying around $60-80 a night for hotels that were renting at $180 or more! When it is that big of a difference, it is sometimes worth the extra hassle of driving. Be sure to not rent 4 Star hotels as they never have free breakfast and they charge for parking and internet access… kind of defeating the whole point of trying to save money!

Dress for Success.

Business casual is pretty much always the accepted attire at live events. If you are networking for business you are going to want to dress just a little sharper than everyone else. Pay attention to the details. Wear a nice suit jacket, nice shoes, a nice watch. People do look at these things.

You never know who you might meet and what opportunities might come your way. Be prepared by dressing just a little bit nicer than you normally do so that you can give a great first impression!

Shoes. Have comfortable shoes! Even though you will be sitting a lot during all of the sessions… the networking always happens in the hallways… and usually standing!

What To Bring

Pack light. Try not to drag around a huge purse or backpack filled with all your stuff. Use a LiveScribe Pen to take digital notes or if you can invest in a MacAir or Ipad just for conferences… you will be set!

If you are a power networker, you might not have a lot of time to eat! Bring some granola bars and 5 Hour Energy drinks hidden away to pull out when you are feeling that afternoon lag.

I like to bring a new journal just for the event so that I can have all my notes in one place for each event.

Business Cards

You need them. A lot. But here is something that no one ever tells you.

….. No one will ever call you.

The key to business cards is COLLECTING them… not giving them away! Most people never follow up after events. Determine to be different. Determine to be memorable.

Some tips for your cards:

Have matte, not glossy. People can’t write on glossy cards and a lot of times they will want to write down something on your card. (Now don’t judge me on this one! I made this mistake and have a few hundred more to give away before I can get some more made!)

Have your picture. People won’t remember whose card went with who. By having your picture on your card, you will make yourself more memorable.

Have a card made with your cell phone on it. It was at one live event that I had met some really cool people… and then they told me the next day that they tried to get a hold of me the night before to invite me to go out to dinner.. and they told me that they had tried to call the number on my card but it went to my office… Yikes! 🙂 My cards now have my cell phone on them. You could put on your cards something to the effect… if you want to text me… here is the number for texting. Or get a temporary number that will redirect to your cell phone for the duration of the conference. Most phone companies… even Vonage for example, you can set to redirect the calls to go directly to your cell. Whatever the case, make sure you can be reached!

Have cool cards. One day I will make a post about all of the different types of business cards and business card ideas. But I guarantee you one thing. I will have the coolest business card at the conference. Just find me and you will see it. I will be wearing it around my neck. 🙂

Network!

So unless you already know a lot of people… there might be that awkward moment when you find yourself standing alone in a crowd. So two things you can do here.

First, if at all possible, find at least one buddy that you can go with. If you can hang out in groups of two, then you can avoid that awkward moment all together. 🙂

Second, if you see someone by themselves, be that guy (or gal) that walks up to them and introduces yourself and begins the conversation. I have done this many, many times and have met some of the most amazing people! I remember one time that there was someone by themselves with their back to me so I did not see their badge and I walked up to them and started a conversation… the next thing I knew there was person after person joining us as they were pretty much the most important speaker at the whole event. 🙂 Nice. I have struck up conversations with people in elevators that I later realized were some of the “gurus” that everyone wishes they could meet!

Granted, you might meet a few crazies. I have! When you realize that you are talking with someone that is just not quite all there… find a way to excuse yourself!

When it comes to networking, the most important rule is: Never eat alone. There are two ways to do this. You can look for one or two people and have a lunch together… or you can be the one that gets a big table and starts to invite all the small groups of two to three to eat with you. This works well at restaurants. When it is buffet style with tables of 10 or so, then you are gold. You can just sit anywhere and network with the group. If you are at a table where no one is talking, then be the facilitator. Everyone can go around and introduce themselves and share a little about what they do. That is usually enough to get the conversation going. Be the guy or gal that looks for that wall flower and tries to involve them in the conversation. You will be looked at as the leader if you do!

In the evening, get out of your room and hang out! Don’t hide in your room.. but be sure to call it an evening early enough so that you can get enough rest to start the next day early again!

How To Take Notes

Ideally when you come to an event that is content packed, you will walk away with a ton of action ideas! I like to leave a few pages in the front of my conference journal for the action items and big ideas that I get during the conference. Also leave a page at the front to take down names and emails of people that might not have business cards! If you can type your notes even better. If possible I like to have my computer with me and keep my Skype and Google calendar open. As I learn new things that we are not doing I can either send off a quick Skype note to my team… or I can schedule a time on my Google Calendar when I can research and share further the info I just learned about. I find at least for me, that if I wait till the end of the event to come home and review my notes and then try to share things…. I have already lost a lot! The more you can put into action as you learn, the more results you are going to get from the conference! And my team knows that conference time is not break time! That as soon as I am connected, they need to be ready! 🙂

After the Event

Here is where you can easily do 1% more than anyone else. You know all those business cards you collected? Yeah. So what to do with the pile of cards. First, connect with your new friends socially. Find them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest… and connect. Send them a quick message and if possible try to schedule a time to talk on the phone to follow up on your conversation.

Second, send all of them ONE email inviting them to join your email list. Just because they gave you their business card does not mean, you have permission to start spamming them. And please don’t do what someone recently did to me. They emailed me and CC’D all of the other people.. so NOW all the other people they met now also have my email address… and since they did not meet me… they think now they have permission to send me a bunch of emails! No!

If at all possible, schedule your follow up. If you meet someone that is interested in your services or someone you want to follow up with later, pull out your calendar and schedule a time to chat. Again I love using Google Calendar for this but if you don’t have a smart phone, then here is an easy way to do this. In the front of your event journal, put in the times and dates you are available after the conference for follow up calls. As you meet people, you can schedule them in and fill in the slots.

I hope you enjoyed these tips. If you are going to Traffic and Conversion Summit 2013, be sure to look me up!

Conference Tips for Attendees of Traffic and Conversion Summit 2013 – Part One

by Nicole Munoz

So you are going to be attending Traffic and Conversion Summit on January the 18th, 19th, and 20th! Here are some practical tips to help you make the most of the trip!

Like the Facebook Fan Page here:

www.facebook.com/trafficandconversionsummit

Step One: Like the Page.

Step Two: Leave an Update on the page! The whole purpose of attending live events is to network.

Start the networking early and let everyone know you are coming!

Step Three: Share the graphic that says This Person is coming!

I have connected already with friends I have not seen in years this way!

Step Four: Find out which of your friends are going!

You can go to the LIKES and click on it and it will open into some basic Insights… the best of which is seeing which of your friends have also liked this page. Since this page is specifically about the live event, there is a good chance they will be attending too! Reach out to them via Facebook messages or post on their walls to let them know you will be there too!

Like the Facebook Fan Page here:

http://www.facebook.com/DigitalMarketer

Repeat the above steps! Be sure to check out the Likes… even though they are not guaranteed to be going to the conference, you can check out which of your friends might be more likely to be!

Finally add yourself and the friends you know are going to the FB List TCS2013 located here:

http://www.facebook.com/lists/10200261052959823

That way it will make it easy to follow the updates on everyone that is attending TCS2013! A public list on Facebook is similar to using a # tag on Twitter.

Talking About Twitter…

Be sure to use the Hash Tag #TCS2013 !

See who else is talking about Traffic and Conversion Summit!

Then be sure you are following and engaging them also!

Next… add them to the Public List TCS2013

After Twitter.. head on over to Pinterest!

Watch a couple of videos and start getting excited! Because YOU could be featured here some time next week!

Finally… head on over to the blog to read up on the latest industry news…

and be sure to leave a comment… or two!

Tomorrow I will post some tips about what to do once you are at the conference!

And if you are attending be sure to look me up!

I saw 195 People Ready and Willing To Burn a $100 Bill… Would You Have Been One Of Them?

by Nicole Munoz

Yes it’s true.

Last night while attending what I mistakenly thought would be an educational event about mindset and money management, I saw 195 people all go to the front of the conference room waving $100 Bills in their hands ready to set them on fire.

How is this possible?

How can educated business owners that are taking time out of their busy schedules and lives be so influenced in one short day that they would be compelled to do something that no rational person would ever do.

It started at around 9am. About 200 entrepreneurs showed up for an event that promised to show them how to break free from middle class mindset and enter into the class of the rich. It is no secret that we always seem to stay in the same socio-economic level as our parents. Those that can break free and go to the next level of success are celebrated. The masses look to them as examples and try to follow their footsteps. If only we could learn what they learned… then we too can be successful.. is the thought.

Throughout the day various methods were used to create an emotional experience for the attendees.

Attendees were asked various times to close their eyes and imagine past pain. To hold two fingers together and imagine they are holding all of those negative mindset ideas and then when the speaker gave the word, to imagine they were letting go of the past.

Validation with others was used when groups were formed to share what was learned. Use of repetition of affirmations as a group exercise and whole body involvement through dancing to rock music was used with the specific intent to get people to lose their natural inhibitions.

Then around 8pm or so it was time.

The speaker had everyone take out their $100 bills that they were asked to bring to the event. If you forgot you were asked to take out as much money as you had that was close to that amount or to borrow that amount from someone.

After everyone was holding out the money in the air, staff members came to the front of the room with candles, buckets of water, and a fire extinguisher. You could feel the audience cringe.

The speaker began to share what was already in everyone’s mind. That to prove that you did not have an attachment to money, you had to throw that $100 bill into the fire.

There was hesitation.

Until the speaker began to berate and yell at everyone for not wanting to participate. Stating that if you were truly serious about being a success.. you would do this.

He explained how the audience would carefully walk from their seats in a single file line slowly and in order so no one would get hurt.

He explained that you needed to hold the bill away from the security thread so that sparks did not fly out.

He explained that ladies with acrylic nails should be careful and should just let go of that $100 bill. They know from experience he said.

Staff members were asked to help those with physical disabilities.

Ready begin. As everyone began to walk to the front of the room, myself and about 5 other ladies (interesting that there were no men in the back…) stood in the back of the room.

I wish I could remember exactly what words everyone was repeating over and over but I was too busy trying to hold up my phone and share via FaceTime with my husband to fully experience what was going on. Suffice it to say as everyone was walking to the front of the room the speaker was having them repeat something like… “Money has no control over me” or “Money has no power over me”.

As everyone crowded to the front the line stopped. Everyone was crowding forward and the speaker began to say things like.. Who is going to go first? If they are not ready to go first, let the next person go. Come on, who is going to be first.

And then the speaker said … Ahhhh…. Okay okay… we are not really going to burn $100 bills today!

The audience was shocked.. and a little disappointed. Everyone after all had just gone through the emotional decision to burn a $100 bill.

As everyone made their way back to their seats, the speaker began to ask what everyone learned from the experience.

Yes I can agree that some of the lessons learned were good.

But what I want to mostly point out is … how easily we are swayed by a charismatic speaker. How easily we are ready to follow the crowd.

The icing on the cake happened afterwards when the speaker began to give out points as to how foolish the audience was to be ready and willing to burn a $100 bill. After all.. you worked hard for that money and you were ready to burn it? Rich people don’t burn money, they invest it.

A well-orchestrated experience with one goal: Show the superiority of the speaker and influence a crowd of 195 people.

I am so tired of watching desperate people try to find solutions for their circumstances that I had to speak up and say something.

How can you avoid something like this happening to you? How can you make sure that the event you are attending is an educational focused event and not a high pressure sales event?

Generally speaking there are two types of conferences.

The first type is an educational conference that charges a fee to the attendees to attend with the goal of sharing up to date information with them.

The second type is a free event where you are given some information in exchange for listening to a pitch for the speakers products or services.

I have put together a short list for you to be able to distinguish which of the two you are attending.

Signs of a High Pressure Sales Event

Free or low cost tickets to attend.
Attendees had to leave a deposit of $97 or $197 that was refunded when they showed up at the event.
Early start time of 8am.
End time is about 9pm or even until 11pm.
Sometimes: Little or no time for networking.
Excessive use of testimonial videos throughout the event.
Excessive use of clients being brought on stage as examples of success.
Stating that they don’t need your money because they are already millionaires. (Right before they try to sell you an 8k-100K coaching program.)
Use of imagery and feeling to have the attendee have an emotional experience or breakthrough.
Fill in the blank manual that brings you from point A to point B to realize how messed up you or your business is so that you will sign up for the coaching program. (Not all fill in the blank manuals are high pressure sales tools.. just when orchestrated in a specific way for a specific purpose.)
Saying.. this is not like all those other pitch fests out there… right before the speaker shows pictures of his house, car, vacation, boat, and jet.
General feeling that you learned a few golden nuggets but if you are going to succeed and go to the next level, you have to join the speakers coaching program.

Signs of an Educational Event

High ticket cost.
Soft sell product offers after the presentations such as: connect with me if you would like to learn more.
Lots of networking opportunities.
Paid sponsors. (Sponsors are not usually wanted at high pressure sales events as they would conflict with the goal of signing up people for the high end coaching program)
Multiple speakers. All of the speakers are not just from one organization.
Lots of note taking and learning going on. Attendees walk away with a list of action items they can’t wait to go home to implement.

Overall the rule of thumb is: You get what you pay for. If you pay to attend an event, you can expect to receive a quality educational event with a focus on learning. If you got a free ticket to attend, then you can expect that the organizers are going to be selling something as they need to recoup their investment.

What do you think? Please leave a comment below!

Mindset + Massive Action = Huge Success

by Nicole Munoz

September was a busy month for the team here at Start Ranking Now!

On the 7th of September, we had a booth at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. We met with a lot of local business owners and I had the privilege of hearing first hand what some of the concerns are of local business owners.

Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce

CCC Photos

On the 8th of September I attended Joel Bauer’s Passion to Profit Event.

I had two take aways… always dress sharp… and get some pictures done in the 5 poses for your info products! If you sell an info product or want to, you can learn a lot at a Passion2Profit event.

Here are the 5 poses you need to have if you are doing an info product:

Joel also stressed the importance of wearing the right colors to communicate the right message.

He stressed that if you are going to a networking event, wear a white shirt.
	If you are trying to communicate something, then a blue shirt is what you want to wear.
For charity or fundraising, follow the examples of presidents and wear a red tie.
	For conversions, you can’t do better than Mary Kay… wear pink!

On the 13th of September we attended a Social Media Workshop at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.

It was a pleasure to meet other industry experts and learn what they were doing with social media for their clients.

One of the key takeaways I learned was about how to use Pinterest for a local business.

The example given was if you are a restaurant that allows dogs… you should take lots of pictures of dogs and upload them to Pinterest. If you are a hotel with a unique location… say on the beach for example… then you should take lots of pictures of the beach! The second part of the strategy is to then do a city search for your local city and find people taking pictures and uploading them about your local area and then comment on their pictures and re-pin them to your own boards. This is a way to network and reach out to the people in your local area so that you can get them to want to come to your restaurant or hotel.

On the 14th, 18th, 19th, and 21st of September I met some amazing people meetups in the San Diego County area.

If you are selling a product or service and you want to know what your target market thinks about your product or service, you should definitely use Meetup.com to get out in the community. Most of the meetups I have attended are filled with people genuinely interested in networking and helping others. I have learned that there are some right ways and wrong ways for attending meetups. Here are some of my tips:

Always be early. You can meet the speaker and staff and even volunteer to help out or even speak at a future meetup by showing up early.
Have your elevator pitch nailed down!
Your elevator pitch should focus on the benefits of what you can do for your prospect.
Know your niche. You can’t just say you target business owners. You have to be more specific so that the other people at the meetup can help you.
Know your needs. Many times they will ask you what your needs are. At one event I said I was looking for a volunteer to help staff my booth at an upcoming tradeshow and someone ended up not only volunteering for the booth but helping me call all the leads to schedule follow up meetings!
Be genuinely interested in others. Can’t say this enough. Go with a willingness to see how you can help others and you will be surprised how your business will end up growing.
Bring plenty of business cards.
Bring an extra giveaway item for the door prize. The host will love you and you can usually speak for an extra minute.

On the 22nd I headed down to San Diego for San Diego Entrepreneur Day

where I was able to meet many of the top Entrepreneurs of San Diego. It was a fun day with lots of workshops and networking.

Then came the biggest event so far… the California Women’s Conference in Long Beach!

I had the privilege of setting up a booth and seeing a lot of old friends such as Melanie Benson Strick, Adam Urbanski, Mari Smith, and many many more! If you are going to be in California next year about this time, that is the event to NOT miss!

On September 25th I had the pleasure of speaking at NAFE (National Association Female Executives).

I spoke on: Leveraging YOU. How to leverage your time, money, and resources to be more effective and efficient.

September 27th I worked with the other volunteers at Social Fresh West

to put on an amazing conference about all of the latest social media trends. Lots of brands came such as Harry and David, GotoWebinar, Intuit, Hershey’s and more to share what they are doing today in social media.

September 28th kicked off JVAlert San Diego with Ken McArthur.

What a FUN event If a JVAlert ever comes to your area, I challenge you to attend. It is a must attend event if you want to succeed at online marketing. We are always told by the “gurus” that we need to setup joint ventures with partners if we want to succeed… well Ken makes this possible by facilitating great events where lots of these joint ventures begin. I had the privilege of speaking at the lunch session where I shared some of what we are doing today with Social Media. Was a pleasure to meet some of my online friends for the first time such as: Ray Edwards, Anita Cohen, Christina Hill… and meet many new friends!

Then finally October the 1st kicked off with a plane trip to Las Vegas…

where I met up with Jayne Hallock, editor in chief of Wedlock Magazine! We presented sessions at the WeddingMBA.com event on Blogging 101 and Blogging 102. If you are a wedding vendor this is the event to NOT miss each year!

So now it is YOUR turn! We are now in the 4th quarter of 2012

Let’s end this year on an upswing! Make a commitment to start getting out there and meeting your customers or making connections and partnerships!

My last thought is this.

If you are feeling discouraged and are at the point of almost quitting… if you feel like you cannot succeed no matter how hard you try… if you are at the point where nothing seems to be working.. maybe you are in debt… maybe your business is failing… maybe you just lost one, two, or ten clients! If you are going to turn this around, there is ONE thing you must do.

Want to know what that ONE thing is?

It is called mindset.

If you feel you are a failure and allow your mind to believe you are a failure, then that is exactly what you will be. You must turn this around and begin to focus on the future. You need to have a vision and then wait for the strategy to come that will help you to reach your vision.

If you don’t remember anything else, please remember this.

You are halfway through your story.

Huh?

You know the story? The story that all speakers have? The one where they are up on a stage and they share how they had some success, and then a trial, and then they were in thousands of dollars of credit card debt, and then they learned one thing and that one thing was enough to help them to get out of debt and be hugely successful!

Well… let me tell you. If you feel that you are at the bottom.. REJOICE! Get excited! As you are now…

Halfway
Through
Your
Story!!!!!!

Woo hoo! That is exciting news! Just imagine six to twelve months from now.. when you can finally be finishing your story. When you can share how you had a struggle and then an amazing victory.

Mindset + Massive Action = Huge Success

First get your mindset, then start taking massive action!

What are you going to do in the next 30 days to take massive action?

Please leave a comment below this post… I would love to hear about your commitment to taking massive action in the next 30 days!

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Start Ranking Now, Inc. is Available for Consultations at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce Expo 2012

by Nicole Munoz

Start Ranking Now, Inc. is one of the most well known online marketing companies in the greater Carlsbad and North County area. Nicole Munoz is preparing awesome materials, tips and strategies to share with the attendees at the expo.

49ed082c56afa6b666cc9bf4fd8f311b — Nicole giving a Training

Online PR News – 06-September-2012 –The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Business Expo 2012, featuring small businesses and essential business services based in Carlsbad, CA, and on September 07, 2012, at the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, CA, Nicole Munoz from Start Ranking Now will be available for personal consultations on how to leverage the latest features of local Internet search optimization (local SEO) so that customers can find local businesses as they shop. Local SEO has changed how the internet search engines find and rank sites, and gives businesses the opportunity to be in front of local clients. The best businesses from across the North County area are meeting to provide business owners with the products, services and support so that they can thrive in the 21st century digital economy.

Start Ranking Now, Inc. is one of the most well-known online marketing companies in the greater Carlsbad and North County area. Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking now’s CEO and founder, has assembled a global team of internet marketing experts and serves clients across the United States with website design, internet marketing strategies and integrated Social Media Marketing campaigns. The social medial revolution has changed what customers expect from companies when they access their websites – the virtual front door for any local business. So now is the time for local business owners to review their online presence and strategy.

The Business Expo 2012 gives businesses the opportunity to find key service providers and to expert service providers to connect with new clients. Nicole Munoz is preparing awesome materials, tips and strategies to share with the attendees at the expo. Based on her previous events, business owners can be sure that Nicole will come with the advice they require to energize their online marketing efforts.

The Business Expo is open to businesses across North County. The tickets cost only $10.00 USD per person. For more information please visit: http://www.startrankingnow.com/seo-speaker

About Nicole Munoz

Nicole Munoz is a mom, a missionary pastor’s wife, and lastly, an entrepreneur and business owner. She has launched three ecommerce sites, over 100 niche sites, and a successful SEO Company called StartRankingNow.com.

Her expertise and passion for the online business are well known and appreciated for all her customers and people involved in the online marketing.

Can we hang out?

by Nicole Munoz

August 29th, 2012
AFWPI

I will be speaking at AFWPI.com on the topic of “Destination Social Media: Essential Tools Every Wedding Vendor Needs”. If you are a wedding vendor in the Los Angeles area, you should be there!

September 6th, 2012
BBB B2B Networking Mixer

Come say hi at the BBB B2B Networking Mixer at Toyota in El Cajon if you are a San Diego BBB Member! It starts at 4:00 pm and ends at 6:00 pm so don’t be late!

September 7th, 2012
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce Business Expo

See our new booth at the 2012 Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at the luxurious La Costa Resort and Spa! I will be personally manning the booth from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Stop by and enter in our free drawing for a surprise gift!

September 23rd to the 24th, 2012
California Women’s Conference

We will be expoing at the California Women’s Conference! If you are a woman business owner in Southern California, this is the event you don’t want to miss! I am looking for a couple of superstar sales reps to volunteer at our booth if you are interested let me know! Don’t miss this opportunity to be at the largest women’s trade show and conference!

September 27th and 28th
Social Fresh West

If you are in San Diego and your company is doing social media, this is the conference to not miss. The lineup of speakers includes a lot of the major brands. Come learn how brands are implementing social media. I will be at this event on Thursday so be sure to say hi!

September 28th and 29th
JV Alert San Diego

Ken’s JV Alerts are like the Who’s Who of Online Marketing. If you look at old photos and footage of past events you will see pretty much anybody who is anyone today has at one time spoken or attended a JV Alert. I had the privilege of attending my first JV Alert a year ago in DC and am thrilled to take part as a panelist and a lunch presenter this year. If you have a product or a list, come hang out and network your way to success!

October 2nd – 5th
Wedding MBA

Last year I had the absolute pleasure of presenting on the main stage at WeddingMBA to about 1,500 people. This year our fearless leader Jayne Hallock will be representing WedlockMag.com on the main stage and I will be doing a breakout session on Blogging 101. If you are a wedding vendor, this is the trade show of the year that you absolutely cannot miss. Oh and if you have not subscribed to www.WedlockMag.com … just do it! You won’t regret it! Oh and did I mention you can get access to me on the webinars and forums as a member?! Join today!

October 11th – 13th
DotComExpo

If you have not heard of Ryan Lee, I don’t know where you have been! Ryan Lee is THE marketer to learn true, tested, down to earth and real tips on how to create your own line of info products. If you are considering creating your own line of products, this is the conference to be at. Oh and also if you have not joined yet, check out Ryan’s new and improved membership: www.FounderFly.com. I am a lifetime member there and am frequently answering questions on the forums. Considering that I normally charge $500 an hour for consulting, it is a complete no brainer to join!

October 22nd – 25th
OMS Santa Clara

October is a busy month! Sooo many conferences to choose from! Online Marketing Summit is one of my favorites. They have a very high standard on delivering high quality content and I have never been disappointed watching one of their webinars. If you do attend, be sure to come check out my session on the last day! I will be covering Hard Core SEO and Social Media Tools … going to be awesome! I am going to reveal exactly what tools I use and how I use them on a daily basis to manage my sites and my clients sites. This is a session you won’t want to miss!

I will be attending many more networking events, power lunches, meetups, and get togethers over the next few months. If you are hosting a conference or a meetup in the Southern California area from September through January, send me a message and I will see if I can work it in either as a speaker or just to hang out!