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Here I sit, music blaring, conference doors just opened, at the Frank Kern List Control event. Boy, are there a lot of people here. It’s definitely sold out. The event is about to start, people are swatting big balloons around the room, and the excitement level is very high.

Can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen. The pre-day was great, and the social happy hour last night was great. I didn’t realize the Shopping Cart Queen, Christina Hills, was hosting it. I guess I’ve been going to these things now for so long, I’m bound to know someone. Had a great time at the cocktail hour, and made many new friends, and yes, even a few business contacts - and perhaps even a salsa condiment. No, really. A salsa condiment …

Ha, they just got on stage, total rockstar opening for Frank and Trey …
They are now throwing out Easter Eggs with cash into the audience … Alright then …
More soon …

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Ok, days before the conference is actually starting, and I have to say San Diego is a beautiful place. I left rainy SF, and the temp. here is a cool 70 (and everyone is complaining about how cold it is). The downtown is plenty of fun, and tonight - there’s salsa dancing (how cool is that), a few blocks from the hotel, at Cafe Sevilla.

So, today, I’m going to try and network a bit, and sit down and read the two books Frank sent out as primers. One, Life’s Golden Ticket by Brendon Burchard, and the second is The Wolf of Wall Street. Interesting selection of books. I may try to download to my Ipad for easier reading (hadn’t though of that til’ now).

Ok, 2 minutes later, just did it. Found the Golden Ticket book (and got it) on Ibooks, but the other one is not on Ibooks. I suppose if I had downloaded the Amazon Kindle app, I may have been able to do it. That would have saved a bit of luggage!

Anyway, there’s my plan. Read, prepare, and mindmap the new (top secret) business. This last task has eluded me for many months - hopefully the new locale will get me jump started. This, combined with a copious amount of coffee, ample sunlight, and the occasional walk around downtown San Diego, will keep me plenty busy. Oh, and there’s a Nobu across the street. Really, how cool is that?

Are you coming down to the Frank Kern List Control Seminar? If so, drop me a line at info@marketingcrazy.com

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I’m here! Yes, I know it’s like 4 days early, but I left the cold and damp weather of Northern California for the sunny and warm weather of San Deigo, and I type this by the pool of the Hotel …

The List Control seminar is fully booked from the people whom plunked down the 2k for the List Control course. I was not able to even secure an extra ticket for my employees or girlfriend, according to support (and yes, I offered to actually simply pay for them, and was … denied). That was really disappointing, as I had hoped to bring some employees along, and let them relish in the party and learning atmosphere of it all. This conference will definitely be full, and I’m hopeful the attendees will be first rate.

Like most conferences and seminars, this one offers me a chance to get away, live like a king for a week, and ideally, make serious business progress. As I explained to a friend, I typically work in spurts, setting up automated internet businesses in a very small time frame, and then moving on quickly. It’s not that I’m lazy (we know by know, I’m quite the opposite), but I do have a short and quick attention span, and I realize for me to implement anything, it has to be done immediately, and completed fully, within a short time frame (typically three weeks).

We received the schedule, and Frank termed is a weekend of debauchery, cleverly disguised as a conference. I have a feeling it’s going to be a great experience. These conferences always seem to energize me, and leave me with, at best, a new business, and at worst, a solid promotional strategy.

I’m a solid internet marketing kool aid drinker of many years, and I have drank Frank’s kool aid, as I have ingested many others. However, over a decade myself, as an underground full time internet marketing guru has left my vision a little clearer than most, which is to say; even though I have ingested the kool aid, and signed up for the program, I think I can really offer a clear vision of what the average person will really get out of both the course, and the seminar. I look forward to sharing that opinion with you, after the seminar.

My equipment list for this seminar includes, the 3G Ipad, Macbook Pro (13), Iphone, Blackberry, and backup Thinkpad (because I still use Frontpage for some websites). I’m a veritable walking electronics store, but I am prepared, and eager to find out what’s in store for the week.

I’d love to connect with people similarly down for the List Control seminar, or holdovers from the Ed Dale Coming Home event … drop me a line, info@marketingcrazy.com.

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Well, in a nutshell, here’s why I will NOT be going to the Ed Dale Coming Homee conference, and why I will be attending the List Control conference, and a quick marketing lesson …

First, some background, I’m not the normal conference attendee in that I have complete freedom to choose when and where I go to conference, and money can safely take a back seat to location, fun, and yes, even content (and yes, that sadly tends to rank last in my list). As I’ve said before, I mainly go to seminars to recharge my batteries, and to give me a strong push in productivity. Typically, while I may not learn a ton, I tend to meet a few good people, and always tend to have skyrocketing productivity, whenever I attend a seminar or conference. It’s always worth it…

Ed Dale has a conference in San Diego this weekend, and Frank Kern is two weekends later - both in San Diego. The first, called Coming Home, I’ll pass on, and the second, List Control, is “free”, with the purchase of Frank’s product.

I attended, strangely enough, Ed Dale’s and Frank Kern’s last conference, which they did together in San Diego a few years back. I remember it well, because … well, I didn’t like it very much. I didn’t get very much out of it, and thought it was poorly run. That being said, I actually didn’t hold that against them (everyone can have a mis-step every now and then), and I follow Ed Dale and Frank, obviously, and have purchased a lot of their stuff. As for Ed Dale, I’m an immediate edge member, purchase every course Ed does, and think he’s quick funny, bright and straightforward as an internet marketer.

However, after having been to a prior Ed Dale conference, bought every course he’s done, and been a current immediate edge member, I simply don’t think I should pay the same as a brand new student of his. No, it’s not about the money - as he is asking a relatively small amount for the conference - but it is about how you treat your customers. Internet marketer’s by and large, have a horrible way of forgetting about their customers moments after they’ve made a purchase. I’ve felt this way again, and again, and likely, if you are reading this blog, and a compulsive course buyer, you’ll know of what I speak.

So, when I asked if there was an alumni rate, a special, a discount, or anything, it kind of sucked when I was just treated like everyone else. I was simply told to go to the main page if I wanted to attend. I mean, isn’t ANY seminar an easy way to give a thank you to your customers or even a small discount of appreciation? Would it have cost anything to have a special discount page, or even a thank you page for registration, aimed towards past customers? Should every conference do this?

In short, the answer is yes. You’ll see this done again, and again, in many conferences - and I’m a supporter of it, because it DOES work. Even a small discount, or treatment that makes you feel like you’re treated slightly better for being a customer, or an active follower, really hits that psychological trigger of appreciation. I’m a strong believer in this, and you’ll see this spread throughout my marketing.

For example, I have a seminar coming this summer. Over 1000 people attend (and no, it’s not in the marketing niche). However, this seminar gives me the ability to appreciate my customers. I give them special rates, and bonuses, if they attend. I let them know I have not forgotten them, and quite the opposite, I remember their purchases from years ago, and continue to pile on thanks, and bonuses. It gives me the opportunity to thank those whom have purchased from me, and I take the opportunity firmly. I want my customers to feel special, and know that they are treated special as well.

So, no “Coming Home” for me it seems. No problem. If I start off by not feeling appreciated, I can’t see how I’ll feel any more appreciate when I get there. That being said, I understand, Ed probably would have acted differently than, perhaps, the customer service rep whom I talked to. Regardless, just using this to make a point.

Let’s contrast this, briefly, with List Control, where the seminar comes as a bonus to a course. It’s a little bit of an unfair comparison, but as you can tell, since the conference is a bonus, I already FEEL appreciated for buying the course. For many, the reason they bought list control, WAS the conference! We all know it’ not free - hotels, flights, taxis, food, etc … it still costs thousands of dollars to attend. However, because we, as customers were “given” this as a bonus, it was very easy to say yes, and very easy to appreciate the “gift” of being able to attend. Frank has made me feel appreciated for being a customer - plain and simple, and it worked.

How can you appreciate your customers? It’s easier than you may think!

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Why am I here? No, really, why am I here.

Right before attending the 12,000 person Adtech conference in San Francisco, and shortly after being shut down for an invite to the Moss Networks vip party (that’s right, Moss Networks told me “No Thanks”, as my search continues for a good small business PR firm), I was about to ask myself that question, as I was beaten to the punch by my uber-breakfast companion. Note: the companion was not uber, the breakfast was.

We sat eating a massive breakfast in the Ferry building at 11am (as we so often do), and he asked me, why the hell are you going to ADtech. I had to stop and ponder for a few moments as my late-night-salsa-dance addled brain took it’s time to get into business mode.

Why was I going to another advertising conference? I had just returned from the Underground online seminar, where I was surrounded by 500 similarly motivated, and equally successful go-getting “Basement Empire” multi millionaires, and now I’m going to a 12,000 person pitch-fest of yearly salaries, corporate cubes and 9-5′ers. What was I thinking …

I smoothly explained, after yet another cup of black-oil like coffee, that these conferences are at two ends of my business spectrum. These two styles of events are important for very different reasons.

The first type of conference is for internet marketers. This is where I’m at home. Surrounded by other people building internet empires from their basement. No commutes, few employees, but a real understanding of the small business world on the internet. We “get it”. We make enormous sums of money, doing what we love, and working how we want. I go to these conferences to feel at home, and be surrounded by people that are like myself.  That’s why I’m going to the San Diego event in May (and yes, there are TWO San Diego internet marketing events in May)

Adtech is the other end of the spectrum. I doubt that many, if any, baseline bedroom internet marketers really attend. This is the corporate world, and I come here to make sure I don’t lose all touch with the common and prevailing mindsets. This is where the kool-aid gets digested and disseminated. This is where the breadth of the advertising world gets, and makes, its money.  It’s intregral for me to be here - not to stay on the cutting edge, but to make sure I’m not so far out on the edge that I lose grounding, and thus lose touch with the masses.

Wow, now that I write it down, it doesn’t come off all that well, but you have to remember, it was 11am in the morning, after 3 hours of sleep, and I was about to enter a sell-sell-sell expo floor crammed with pushy people, suits, booth babes, and endless corporate hucksters. Honestly, a scarier proposition there never was …

Three Reasons to be here:

1) Small: To Stay on the Cutting Edge,  Big: To Stay Connected to the Masses

2) Both: To Learn about prevailing marketing mindsets and moods

3) Big: To test my patience (mettle) being hounded on the expo floor … and see what people spent display money on.

Yes, I have to be here. Yes, I have to stay connected to all internet marketing, in all its facets. This is a huge event, and I was surprised by the companies that were here, and more surprised by the companies that were absent.

Does anything here really have an immediate effect on my business? Probably not …

Am I learning? Yes, yes, I am.

Do I wish I had blown off ADtech and gone to see “Kick-Ass” with my friend? What do you think?