In April 2003, I attended an internet online affiliate marketing occasion on a cruise ship out of Miami. This was the third 12 months it befell on a ship after an inaugural model on land.
Over these years, I met Missy Ward at these occasions and have become convention pals. Whereas sitting at a bar on the ship in 2003, we realized we had been each sad with the occasion’s course.
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 received up in entrance of the gang and thanked me for telling him he wouldn’t should pay me the numerous hundreds of {dollars} I had earned via 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 12 months).
I used to be livid, and he stated he might 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 begin a convention nor any cash to place into it, however we wished to make it occur.
In Could 2003, we chatted on the cellphone (one among fewer than a dozen we’d have over the following couple of many years) 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 website, and so forth. So, we did all of it ourselves as a result of we had been bold and handed off.
Pondering 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 steered we do a smaller, cheaper occasion in 2003 to get the title on the market and construct some momentum.
Our website was ugly, and we didn’t have a cost processor (we used my PayPal account), couldn’t afford to include, and had no cash to lease an area. However we had been cussed, and it was going to occur.
Because it turned out, a pal talked about that the advertising and marketing division at Baruch Faculty, a number of blocks from my workplace then, allowed folks to run occasions of their house totally free in alternate for permitting a few of their advertising and marketing college students to attend totally free.
I reached out and struck a cope with them that included free A/V and all the things – we simply needed to pay to herald 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 pals to employees it, and our trade pals stepped up as sponsors and audio system.
Our little enterprise was instantly worthwhile, and folks preferred what we did. We had been offered out a month earlier than the convention.
That first occasion was a giant hit, and we rolled the success into the 2004 cruise. The folks within the trade had shifted to our occasion, and the man with the opposite occasion ended up canceling and screwing many different folks out of cash.
Within the span of a 12 months, he went from being the principle 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 folks with respect and honor your obligations, so that you don’t get obliterated by a spite retailer.
