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Undergroud Online Seminar’s Final Day: All good things must end, and so ends the Underground Online Seminar 2010, better known as UG 6.  Like all conferences I attend, this coference’s greatest asset to me, was for 4 days, I worked. Every day, I had my computer(s) with me at the conference. Every day, I was thinking about my business, and doing things (being active) while the talkers talked. This fact alone - getting me to actually “work” for several days in a row, is amazingly worthwhile.

Try as I might not too, there’s very little chance that I won’t make serious money due directly to attending this conference. Darn it … I’ll probably have to work now too.

This conference, like prior conferences, continues to confirm that there is no one (or very few) whom work as little as I do, and have such a stellar quality of life and income. It’s a mantra preached by everyone, yet practiced by few. Yes, there’s a lot of people doing well here, but they are certainly working quite hard for it. I don’t mean to imply I never work. I do. And when I do, it’s pretty hard. Yes, I work as well, but not nearly as hard as most, for significantly more gain. I think people often lose sight that the greatest benefit of this internet lifestyle is the freedom that it provides, and a distant second is the income.

I suppose, from the outside, it might appear that I’m not networking enough and not meeting enough people, or engaging enough (and, that’s undeniably true). I consider this, in large part, a failing. It’s strange, earlier in life it was a challenge for my shy personality to break through. I relished pushing my boundaries. Nowadays, perhaps I’m simply too lazy - and the driving force of meeting new people has really been tempered by me valuing my time SO MUCH. So, perhaps, I don’t meet as many people, or get engaged in the conference enough.  I do try to engage the people whom talk to me, and always introduce myself to those around me.  I didn’t say anything to Yanik this time, but if he read’s this, Thank you - I had fun.

However, the real benefit for me, in these conferences, is the fact that I actually DO work the four days that I am here. I’m constantly online, and constantly engaged, for the whole four days of the conference. Regardless of the speakers, the contents, and what’s going on around me, this alone is worth the price of admission.

That’s not to say that the speakers were not great. In fact, at this year’s event, I think overall, we had the best number of extremely good speakers. Underground Online Seminar 6 did rock. Yes, there were some “misses”, and at one point, I did fall asleep face down on my laptop drooling, but by and large I was very impressed with the overall level of presenters.

As always, I would not recommend this conference for beginners. The level of speaking, and the topics covered, for the most part, is valuable to high six or seven figure businesses. A newbie would get very little here, and perhaps get discouraged.

Things I accomplished at Underground Online Seminar 6? Well, I bought an Ipad (and perhaps, was the only one at the conference to get one, based on the lack of responses to my tweet). I got the top of the line one, because I love the idea of always being connected. It surprises me that, in this day and age, people don’t have a wireless anywhere card (for $40 a month - or whatever it is). Most notebooks have them built in, and it’s truly a life changer (and money saver) for the internet entrepreneur. It was a game changer 6 years ago, it was a necessity almost immediately - and little has changed. I require them for conference attending.

I heavily tested social marketing and web 2.0 services, and tried to use my twitter, facebook, foursquare, hootsuite, and other tools fully and completely. After doing this for a week, I am renewed in my belief that web 2.0 and social web marketing is a complete and total time sink, and while fun, is not a good use of the internet entrepeneur’s time. Of course, you’re mileage may vary, and this is very dependent on your niche(s). Shoemoney stated that he got 30 percent of his recent sales via twitter.  That’s … interesting, but not applicable to the public at large. I will NOT be returning to my Hootsuite account, and agree with John Reese that it’s a total and complete waste of time, with limited ROI in limited niches.

A word about having your PC with you at conferences and seminars. I believe in instant application. If I get an idea, or hear a proposal, I don’t wait to implement it. I do it right away. If I hear a website on stage, I go there. If there’s a tip or product to mention, I research, and/or buy it, on the spot. If a speaker comes up to stage, I can do instant research on them. If you attend conferences, you must have a notebook and a connection.  The successful internet entrepreneur has to be a do’er. The faster, in this day and age, the better. I don’t wait to apply what I’ve learned … I do it right then and there.  As I’ve said before, the only reason I got into this was because at my very first conference, I enacted changes to my website at night, and got to see the effect and changes on the very next day - all at the conference.  After that, I was sold …

And finally, I got to stay at a very cool new hotel. I’ll be doing an event here later this year in one of my niches, and wow. This place is great. It’s huge. It’s stunning, and it’s fairly nice. It’s almost “normal”. Let me explain. I’m not a fan of DC. I can’t find good food here (I’m a foodie), and overall, I find the city rundown and fairly crime ridden. It’s a shame, but I don’t like to come here, because it’s simply not nice. I’d rather go to Bethesda. That being said, this new hotel area is “almost” what I’d consider nice, and this hotel is the best service I have ever received in Washington DC.   Still can’t get a good meal, but I can at least get a good nights sleep.  Just saying …

I listened to exceptional speakers, and rarely felt sold. Yes, I paid, in advance for Underground Online Seminar 7, or UG7. I’ll be there. Will you?

Late Breaking Update: The security line at the airport was stupidly long, and completely inept, which is how I would, unfortunately, rate most of the city. I’ve lived here twice in my life, while working various jobs, and … Jeez, I’m just not a fan. Hate being negative, but that line … argh …

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MC (MarketingCrazy)

PRIOR POSTS ABOUT UG Part 2: http://bit.ly/9O3dGw

PRIOR POSTS ABOUT UG Part 1: http://bit.ly/bOcYwR

FLIGHT AND PRE DAY: http://bit.ly/aa5NvU

Report from last year: http://www.marketingcrazy.com/blog/2008/03/

PPS - Yes, I know my blog is not up to snuff, and I don’t have links to Facebook or twitter. In addition, this site, after years online, isnt’ close to being ready to launch.  All links are dead on the main page, and all the content is placeholder. That being said, I have a feeling, this year is the year. Perhaps writing it down will force some form of accountability. We can hope … Until that time, best way to reach me is via email, info@MarketingCrazy.com

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Well, I am in three big niches, but the only one to really talk about today is Dance. The others are not widely known, or public, so people can’t readily discover them, but in dance, and salsa dance in particular, I’ve clearly made my participation in the niche known.

In fact, I dominate it.  Dominate is a big word, I know, but … it fits. In every metric that matters, I absolutely crush everyone around me.  I would say… I’m likley 10x larger than my nearest competitor, That’s a big discrepancy. You’d think I’d be happy about that wouldn’t you? Guess what! I’m not. I have very few whom I can actually partner with. 

It’s not even that hard for me to dominate. I should have to work harder to do what I do. I am willing to work harder to do it. Hell, I even want to work harder to do it. But in this niche, it’s doubtful that I’ll have to - for many reasons. If I had competitors, on any level, I’d have partners. I don’t actually believe in competition as a bad thing. Sure, I suppose it’s not great to lose a competition, but in my heart of hearts, I am simply not a competitive person. I like to win, sure, but I don’t seek out competition for the sake of it. I seek out…partners!  I want partners. I want people in my niche that I can work with. I want people that want to make a difference.

First, as in all my niches, people seem to have no grasp of exactly how big we are, what we do, and how we do it, and they simply aren’t inquisitive enough to ask.  I can’t even remember the last time we were approached for any kind of partnership or deal. That’s both a good and bad thing from a business perspective. I’ve been able to be the major and completely dominant player in one of my niches (and a major player in the other two), without anyone actually knowing about it. Isn’t that incredible? If you don’t know why that’s important, that’s ok, we’ll get into that later, but regardless, isn’t it interesting that people don’t know who I am, nor what I do, nor try to reverse engineer my business?  I mean… this is big business, you think people would try to do that huh? You think they’d simply want to partner with it, be part of it, come along for the ride… but no. Nothing!

Once again, I’m not saying this to gloat. Once again, quite the opposite. I’ve often been bummed and dissapointed at the lack of professionalism in this specific market, and the typical artistic disdain for all things "business".  It’s ironic that all too often, that disdain, turns into shoddy products, and ripping off their own customers. I’ve often yearned (yes, yearned) for other people whom might raise the bar, whom I might work with, whom were similarly motivated to do great things.

It’s hard to find people passionate about things. Really, anything! Passion is hard to find. Passion with a desire for business is a harder thing to find. And passion in business that is not motivated out of greed, or the singular desire to make money, is damn nigh impossible. Unfortunately, I fall into that group. Sure, I’m motivated by money, but I’m far more motivated by a desire to reach people, to improve lives, to actually leave a positive mark on society and people’s day to day existence. Perhaps that’s why I can still do what I do…

Yes, every now and then people popped up. There was even one Yanik Silver follower whom did some really great things, and whom I admired and helped me up-my-game. However, he’s long since left the niche. Moved on to greener pastures? Perhaps. However, one or two people out of hundreds, if not thousands, of people that are in the niche? That’s a small percentage is it not?

And guess what? It applies to other niches as well.  Yep! It’s both part of my success and a reason for my personal failure, that I haven’t created more competition for myself, started more people on the road to success, created competitors so that I might partner with them.If you’ve read the MarketingCrazy into, you hear me briefly touch on it. It’s part of the reasons I am entering my new niche - the marketing niche, and the business building niche. See, I can even publicly state my next niche, I am certain in my ability to be a major player. However, whether that translates into a known player, or simply a powerful one, remains to be seen.

Am I crazy? Will I be a victim of my own success? Will I create a young apprentice who’ll then rise up and take me down (ok, too many Star Wars episodes).

Why Do I dominate my Niche(s): Because no one else cares to, and those that might, either do not have the skills they need, or do not have the correct motivations to last.  I’m going to fix that shortly … or at least give people the ability to fix it themselves. My question is - how many will rise to the challenge, even when it’s handed to them?

Why Do I have no Real Competition: In business, especially small, niche based business, you better be fast, agile, and belive in partnerships. That’s the way to growth. I am a big believer in the JV. In my other niches, it is the prime reason for my greatest successes. In the dance niche, it barely exists (affiliates obviously not included).