What to Expect When Going to Your First Business Seminar
Hey there future or present entrepreneur!
Do you want your business to thrive? Then read along.
Recently I went to my first ever business and marketing seminar and it was phenomenal.
But there was one thing…
For a person who had no idea what to expect, it was truly overwhelming. And that made me feel out of place, lost, and anxious.
In this blog you will learn from my experience so you can avoid the overwhelming feeling. Make the most out of your first seminar. And grow your business as efficiently as possible.
To feel the full experience and virtually infuse your mind with the event, read along, however if you are in a “time is money” mood, then feel free to scroll down, where I have written a summary and prepared key takeaways and my biggest mistakes that I made.
How It All Went…
Imagine it’s an early Friday morning and you walk inside a huge conference center, by yourself. The moment you step inside the venue, you are hit with roaring chatter and energy from crowds of enthusiastic entrepreneurs. There are lights and huge flyers everywhere. Upbeat music blasting from the speakers. You go to the main conference hall, and like a lost tourist you start looking around.
In front of you, you see a huge stage and multiple lines of tables where already many businesspeople have sat down and patiently wait for the event to begin.
You look to your right, and there is even more chatter than you heard in the lobby. You see people, dressed up in business casual style, networking with each other, exchanging contacts and making deals.
Then you turn your head to the right and you see every stimulant you could ask for to get you going in an early morning, coffee, tea, no cocaine though. You grab a cup of black coffee. And as you enjoy your hot beverage, you find a seat and realize:
You have come to a business and marketing seminar with 500+ other people, and all of you have one common interest — you want to grow your business.
You take out your notebook and pen, warm up your wrists, because ahead of you, there are 8 hours of valuable information about 10 different topics, from 8 entrepreneurs.
The lights go off as the host walks on stage, opens the event and the knowledge marathon begins.
You listen to one speaker after another.
Some of them give you advice about the fundamentals of business — how to set goals, plan, execute, generate leads, scale the company and much more.
Others share their biggest mistakes that they made in their entrepreneur journey.
Then there are people who tell you about winner’s mindset and give you a true motivation boost.
All the time, your focus is divided between the stage and your notebook. Your wrist is putting in athlete level reps. And that’s the flow for the following 4 hours which are mentally demanding, but fly by, because that is important to you and your business.
At the end of the 4-hour stretch, the event organiser steps on stage and gives you the wildest, most energetic and value packed sales pitch. And you observe as the excitement in the room rises. You look at work of art happening in front of your eyes.
It has everything — Testimonials, value, scarcity, FOMO, more testimonials, deadline and a juicy call to action as the finisher.
Afterwards the lunchbreak begins. But even though you are hungry, you are stuck by your seat, because you need extra minutes to understand what just happened.
You take your time. Clear up your mind. And go fill up your tummy. As you wait in line to order food, the energy does not change one bit. People are talking, networking and making deals everywhere you lay your eyes on.
While you eat your favorite meal, which is fairly priced (thanks for that), you conclude that this is a completely different world. An experience that cannot be felt anywhere else.
You finish up your last bites and feel refreshed. Ready to go back and finish the second half of the event.
When you sit down, you look at the events’ schedule and notice that in the upcoming hours, you will listen to the big shots of the day — $200M company owners, millionaires who are close friend with the internet famous billionaire Grant Cardone, and marketing experts who run a highly successful agency.
It fuels you with energy. You even become emotional, feeling that because of this event you are already one step closer to your dreams. And all of which was possible for the price of around 5 Starbucks coffees.
Lunchbreak ends and everyone takes their seats. Light dim down as the final stretch of this information-packed seminar begins.
You take notes like your life depends on it. (For some, it does.) You can feel the exhaustion in your mind, ears, and definitely wrists.
For one moment you even consider leaving earlier, right before the final speech, because your brain is melting like an ice-cream on a hot summer day.
But you ask yourself one question: “How would I feel about leaving this even when I wake up?” And magically your low point disappears. You find the strength to beat the final boss and leave this building with pride.
Full of knowledge, motivation, and ready to build your dream life.
One speaker after another you work with the pen and paper. You are introduced by different concepts that you have not heard before. Your mind is racing as new business ideas and concepts pop up one by one.
And then you hear the organizer say: “Thank you for attending this seminar!”
You have reached the finish line.
As people applaud, you stand up, pack your stuff (Including the free pencil, because “I paid for it!”), and rush to the wardrobe area, mainly because you want to get your jacket without waiting in huge queues.
You leave the venue and head home feeling grateful, accomplished, and stressed because you got plenty of tasks to work on!
On your way home all you can think about is the event. When you arrive home, all you can think about is the event. While you enjoy dinner and get yourself ready to go to sleep, guess what, all you can think about is the event.
You get the point.
Before heading to sleep, you sit down next to your desk and open your journal.
And you write down the main takeaways of the day.
Key Takeaways from The Seminar
There is no “right” personality that a person must be to be an entrepreneur — In the event I saw successful businessman with the most different characteristics. They were introverted, energetic, serious, silly, cocky and borderline depressed. (Ironically, the one with the most money) Therefore don’t try to be someone else, instead focus on being the version of yourself.
Building a business is a skill — Every speaker that I heard had a completely different starting point and reasons why they began building a business, but all of them had one thing in common, they stuck with it until they became wealthy.
Take notes — You go there to learn, and taking notes make you more involved with the speakers, helps you remember information, and of course you can look back at them, because repetition is key.
Find like-minded people — The vibe in the room was buzzing with ambition and hard work from start to finish. And knowing that there are people like you in the world fuels you with energy and ideas.
Prepare to network — These events are one of the, if not the best place where to connect with like-minded people and create amazing business opportunities for both sides. So, make sure you swallow your fears and go talk to as many people as you can. Which is also my goal for the next seminar.
Get a good rest — Before attending such event make sure to have proper amount of sleep, as it will be a mentally and physically demanding experience. (Even with coffee.)
Be yourself — Be open to new ideas and experience of other entrepreneurs but remember that you are doing it by yourself for yourself. And every idea should not be taken as a commandment, but instead use them as tools to shape your own path!
Age is not a factor — It’s never too late or early to start. When it comes to developing the skill of entrepreneurship, I encountered people who are well in their seventies and some guys who were as young as sixteen. It’s never too late or early to begin.
How to Make the Most Out of Your First Seminar
Make sure you get a good night sleep.
Take plenty of notes.
Prepare to get out of your comfort zone.
Use coffee and lunch breaks to network.
Prepare an introduction pitch to use when networking.
Come up with questions and topics you would want to discuss while networking.
Have a specific goal about why you are attending the event.
Open your mind for new ideas and concepts.
Read the notes during and after the seminar.
Apply the knowledge as soon as possible.
Conclusions
As my first event it was an experience that changed my life’s trajectory forever. It opened the doors to the world of business and broadened my perspective by tenfold. And now I better understand how deep this iceberg of business is.
There were many mistakes that I made, especially with not networking enough and not getting enough sleep. However, I’ll make sure that next time I am taking the advice that I give you. I look at this first seminar as me dipping the toes in to check the temperature, but next time, you better believe that I will go full cannonball on it!
Now you have gained plenty of perspective from my experience and feel safer about attending your first business seminar. You know what to expect, how to prepare for it and make the most out of your experience!
In the following weeks, I will go in depth about 9 out of 10 speeches that I heard, as I will share notes that I took and describe these valuable concepts for everyone who is open to grow their business!
I Will Write About These Topics
10 Belief Shifts
How to grow an agency to 5M per year
The entrepreneurial/winner mindset
Where I am now and where I want to be
How to create sexy offers and get tons of leads
How to scale to 12M per year in USA
How to sell your business and cash out a large check
Most expensive mistakes when building a 200M business
How to create buyers and operate
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Thank you for your time!
Never stop trying.
-Eddie LXS
