so bill typically the operators and the members across the nation have some
great questions for you but I think I have a great one for you that's better
be good or you'll never be on another episode I think so I'm taking a chance
here and I have no idea what it is yup but I did some research and I was kind
of looking back and I saw that your first IL CT show was in 2007 is all
right long time ago yeah it was awhile ago now
I was pretty young at the time was in about elementary school so you think
that's funny so just curious way back then going into
that show if you remember what was your number one goal at that show in Vegas
I've been in the industry online for about eight months
I've only been to one show which was the LC TV show at Mohegan Sun Casino so I
would say my number one goal was really networking from the affiliate standpoint
to acquire affiliates that was probably my number one goal and but I think even
bigger than that was my number one fear I was really nervous because I was
speaking at that show my first speaking engagement one I'd really didn't know
that many people at the LC TE show George Jacobs but from Wendy said you
had started a relationship with and he introduced me to some people at the LC
TV show Tammy sue Kochi Oh Dawson brother Maurice Brewster Tom Naza God
rest his soul who else I know there were some other people I did dinner ed
Kolbert who was with Boston Kochi affiliate managed at that time now with
Commonwealth Matt altough from Savoia so I walked out of the first lct East with
two affiliates Boston coach and Savoia which was great so going into the big
show Vegas il CT I've never been there before you know I wanted to come out of
there with a lot of affiliate business so that was my primary goal didn't I was
like everybody else I didn't have a strategy not like the stuff I tell you
guys to do to have a plan and the strategy and write your emails ahead of
time I was like everybody else I just didn't know what to expect so that was
kind of the goal but that session that I was speaking on believe it or not I mean
you're probably like fourth grade 2007 I was talking about social media so
sitting here today and what we do with Facebook Ads and AdWords an online mark
it's ironic and I'll never forget at the end of the session I was I was really
really the beginning of the session I was nervous that nobody was gonna show
up and when that first person showed up and came and sat down and like the 30th
the row because the room was sat for like 3 or 400 people like hey come on up
to the front you know we can talk to each other because nobody else is gonna
be here nobody knows who I am and nobody knows what the hell social media is in
2007 either so kind of the other funny part was and you may not even be aware
of this but was the only social media platform that phew I asked him at the
end of my presentation who's heard of lengthen who's heard of Twitter who's
over to Facebook they're all brand new like in 2006 and 7
nobody maybe one or two people are raising their hands but then I get to
anybody heard of MySpace and everybody their hands go up everybody was on
MySpace at that time which is yeah you know not even around any longer so I
think I was really fearful of that I was really nervous even though I'd done
public speaking before but you know really my plane and going in without a
plan but my goal was to acquire affiliate business and learn and get
education it's so vastly different today because this show that we're getting
ready to go something heck just by the time this airs it's only a couple of
weeks away right the education is gonna be phenomenal the NLA has done an
unbelievable job with the education it's kind of gone from a Monday Tuesday
Wednesday show into you know Sunday I mean with all the stuff we're doing you
know we've got a Google AdWords session on Sunday for 90 minutes we've got
another 90 minute session you know on search engine optimization that I'm
doing there's the Chosin payment sponsored I
think it's B 2 or B 4 Network but that starts like 4 o'clock on Sunday that is
a hundred percent speed affiliate networking that everybody that wants to
play it business should be attending and all that stuff is before the show even
officially starts on Monday and then you got all day Monday in the show floor in
the education and Tuesday and Wednesday there's a lot of great stuff that's
going on then you have all these different breakout events like the
mastermind group that we're doing on Monday and Tuesday yeah by the way I
think we still have one or two tickets still available for that if you want to
sign up I'm sure somebody'll throw the link into this so I'm probably more
excited about this show and I'm sure you are too being your first Vegas show
can't wait that you're going - and with the team but that one was
really just about affiliate networking was probably more fear than it was
excitement going right first makers show most area to speak yeah first one you've
ever been to yeah absolutely I mean when you don't know anybody
yeah no at all so that's it but like social media and look how it all comes
around and now look at what we build it well I mean it's it's kind of funny and
you know people ask me how I built my brand in this industry and it all
started speaking at that show and but it really from that point on has been about
social media it's what I've done on Facebook and Twitter you know and
lengthen and all of that type of stuff right you know I look at over the last
11 years how that's manifested and you know today it's as we're filming this
show I literally did a live broadcast this morning telling people the mistakes
they're making with not optimizing their job description and profile on Facebook
they're not thinking of Facebook as a search engine algorithm and people that
are searching for that or when people are like trying to join our group like
our limo growth group and you know if your name's Tom Smith and your job is a
garbage man or a web designer or something we're not letting the group
yeah right so if it doesn't say Tom Smith owner of Tom Smith limo or
whatever it is you're not going to get in and your clients are thinking in
those same terms right you know and then we see similar things that happen on
their LinkedIn profiles once again two huge social media channels that can
impact your brand and impact your business building skills so I look
forward to that stuff that's so kind of how I built my brand mm-hmm and that's
but I think it all started with the fear that I had going into that first show
well that's the kind of value that people are gonna be able to get at this
show this year in Vegas I know I'm excited for it I blame this one LCP show
in the last 11 years well one Vegas show and you know I can
tell you that I think I just see em getting bigger and better every single
year and you look at the content and praise God for the the work and the time
in the efforts facili that Doug Schwartz and Diane for geek on the NLA you know
show committee boards have put in to this I commend them tremendously because
they not only do they do an excellent job but the amount of time that goes
into this but then right behind you know this is
show season I guess right now because you know literally a month behind this
show we've got lab live right here in Nashville not gonna want to miss that
event and then about three weeks after that is the technology summit you know
in South Beach once again another lct event that you're not gonna want to miss
it's gonna be the first technology some it's not the leadership anymore it's a
technology summit and I'm privileged to help put the the content the speakers
and everything together with Sarah at lct for that we have my good friend who
you got to meet a few months ago Sam Mallikarjun Tom's gonna be a speaker
I'll be speaking down there really talking about tech and how it applies in
our business and moving forward over the next 10 years I'm sure there'll be a lot
of discussion about autonomous vehicles and you know that type of stuff so I
would highly recommend that one take advantage of show season we've never had
a technology summit like this in South Beach and if you're on the fence about
lab live I promise you you have never attended a bet our industry about what
you're gonna get right here not in this office it's about 50 yards right up that
road up the hill but the guests that we have coming in the the access for that
is going to be enco we're getting a little bit off topic here but I know I
love live events and you know I love the stuff that I mean I just think the value
that's being driven to you know the the people in this industry it wasn't as
robust as it is today well thanks for sharing Bill and I tell you what I'm
excited for the technology summit I'm excited for lab live and I'm excited to
see you guys in Vegas and excited to see you on the next episode of you know my
new truck they asked limo
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