The Chicago SBI conference was priceless

by Ashley Cotter-Cairns
(Hudson, QC, Canada)

For those who attended, the Chicago SBI conference was priceless.

Aside from the near-certain brain damage going 67 hours without sleep did to me (too exciting to sleep!), I came away from the conference with:

- Renewed determination to implement what I had learned
- Dozens of new contacts; heck, let's just call 'em friends!
- A new appreciation for pizza (who needs crust when you can replace it with cheese?)
- New light through old windows: just when I thought I was getting pretty good at picking traffic-generating keywords, Louann's advice showed me I was missing a TON of traffic. That's going to be repaying my conference fees for decades to come
- A feeling of self-worth and desire to succeed: nothing like meeting so many like-minded people who want EACH OTHER to do well, as well as achieve success for their own sakes
- Lessened isolation: working from home can feel really solitary, but now I have all these great SBI friends to interact and exchange ideas with
- A desire to relearn and embrace social networking concepts

No matter what level you're at, you will come away from an SBI conference with something more than you expected to as you arrived. Looking down the list of topics before I went, I thought, "Okay, there's one I could miss" -- and yet, I'm so glad I did not skip a single topic, because it humbled me to realize how much each and every person had to teach me, even about topics that I thought I knew inside-out.

Thank you all. I loved, loved, LOVED this experience! I'll be in Tampa, even if it means hitch-hiking my way down the east coast.

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Nov 02, 2015
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SBI conference was priceless NEW
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Sep 30, 2015
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SBI conference NEW
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Oct 03, 2010
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I miss SBIers!!
by: Cath Andrews

Firstly thank you to Kim and Mary for organising this event. It takes a huge amount of time and energy to organise a well-run conference, and the fact that this went so very smoothly is a testament to the amount of time and energy both these lovely people put in.

This was my third SBI conference and my first in the States. I echo what everyone else has said here : these conferences are the most amazingly brilliant (or awesome of you insist!!) experiences you can have. Just to know you can chat with people who actually understand what you're talking about without their eyes glazing over is such a relief - but there's so much more.

Learning from others who are far more experienced than I, but also sharing tips that I and others may have picked up despite our inexperience; coming back with really practical, down to earth things to do which I know will improve my site and my income; getting to know a lovely, lovely group of people and being constantly amazed by the genuine desire of everyone there to be positive and help each other - not just at the conference but afterwards too.

I know Conferences don't come cheap. But if you're wondering whether you can afford it you need to ask yourself, can you afford NOT to go? One (at least) of our group had gone to enormous personal sacrifice to get to Chicago and is confident that the sacrifices he had to make will be repaid in full.

I flew from the UK to Chicago. Was it worth it? - Every single penny. I met a great group of people, made friends for life, learned masses about my e-business and am loving the contact we're continuing after the event's over, where that sense of shared ownership and positive thinking is not just continuing but growing.

Will I be in Florida? I'm retired, as is my husband, and if I'm honest it will be a struggle financially. How do I view that? - as all the more incentive for me to work on improving my site, using all I've learned in Chicago.

All the above plus sun and more two foot long American steaks - what do you think??

As someone once said - just do it!

Oct 01, 2010
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LOVE my SBI conferences!
by: Wendy, retirement-online.com

I have attended all USA conferences and always come away with a long To DO list and oodles of new friends. I just love connecting via SBI!

I have SBI friends all over the nation -- and all over the globe! ALL willing to help another SBIer to succeed in this e-business world. The networking aspect of conferences is phenomenal... absolutely!

You can't imagine THREE DAYS of talking to SBIers, folks who talk the language you do, folks who are cheering on your successes (no matter how small they are... they get it where your family and friends simply don't. If you stand in the conference room with a bunch of SBIers, you also can't hardly hear yourself thinking -- about the constant SBI-chatter of their voices. It's thrilling!

See you in Florida, Spring 2011, here I come!

Oct 01, 2010
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Going to Tampa
by: Anonymous

Take my word on this one. If Ashley's going to Tampa...You'll want to be there!!

Aside from an amazing sense of humor...this guy emulates the "pay it forward" motto of SBI!

Ashley, when do you ever sleep?

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