In April 2003, I attended an online marketing occasion on a cruise ship out of Miami. This was the third yr it happened on a ship after an inaugural model on land.
Over these years, I met Missy Ward at these occasions and have become convention associates. Whereas sitting at a bar on the ship in 2003, we realized we had been each sad with the occasion’s path.
We had supplied a lot assist to make it occur, and I used to be the highest affiliate referring attendees. The final straw for me was when the organizer bought up in entrance of the group and thanked me for telling him he wouldn’t must pay me the numerous hundreds of {dollars} I had earned by way of referrals as a result of the numbers had been tight for him to make the cruise occur.
I by no means had that dialogue with him, and I used to be relying on the cash as the only supplier for my increasing household (Kerri, child #3, was due later that yr).
I used to be livid, and he mentioned he may do nothing about it as a result of he didn’t have the cash to pay me.
So anyway, Missy and I had been chatting about it, and within the fog of many drinks, we determined we’d create a competing occasion that was larger and higher.
The one hitch was that we had neither the expertise to start out a convention nor any cash to place into it, however we wished to make it occur.
In Could 2003, we chatted on the telephone (considered one of fewer than a dozen we’d have over the subsequent couple of a long time) and determined to make it occur.
On Could 19, 2003, AffiliateSummit.com was registered. We didn’t have funds to include, get a professionally designed web site, and many others. So, we did all of it ourselves as a result of we had been formidable and handed off.
Considering again, it’s just like the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode in 2020, the place Larry David has a run-in with a man who operates a espresso store, and he decides to open a competing espresso store subsequent door.
The unique plan was to do a cruise convention in 2004 to compete head-on, however I advised we do a smaller, cheaper occasion in 2003 to get the identify on the market and construct some momentum.
Our web site was ugly, and we didn’t have a fee processor (we used my PayPal account), couldn’t afford to include, and had no cash to hire an area. However we had been cussed, and it was going to occur.
Because it turned out, a pal talked about that the advertising division at Baruch School, just a few blocks from my workplace then, allowed individuals to run occasions of their house free of charge in change for permitting a few of their advertising college students to attend free of charge.
I reached out and struck a take care of them that included free A/V and every little thing – we simply needed to pay to usher in lunch for the attendees.
We determined to set a low worth ($75 for the entire day, together with lunch) after which referred to as in favors to get associates to employees it, and our trade associates stepped up as sponsors and audio system.
Our little enterprise was instantly worthwhile, and other people favored what we did. We had been bought out a month earlier than the convention.
That first occasion was an enormous hit, and we rolled the success into the 2004 cruise. The individuals within the trade had shifted to our occasion, and the man with the opposite occasion ended up canceling and screwing many different individuals out of cash.
Within the span of a yr, he went from being the primary occasion within the trade to going out of enterprise. He topped out at round 200 attendees. On the finish of our run, we had been pushing about 8,000 in Las Vegas, and he’s lengthy gone from the trade.
There’s a lesson in there for you… deal with individuals with respect and honor your obligations, so that you don’t get obliterated by a spite retailer.