Almost 2 weeks ago I left for Ali Brown’s Shine event in Las Vegas.  The event was billed as “an unprecedented three-day event [that] will establish a new standard for entrepreneurs, uniting purpose, passion, and self-discovery along with a strategic plan to build a successful and secure business model that can provide for years to come.”

I’ve been following Ali for about two years—she started as someone who taught internet marketing to small business owners.  She has since evolved into more of “brand Ali,” with a her own magazine, high-end coaching programs and aspirations for a TV show in the near future.  It’s been interesting to watch her change and grow.

The Idea of Being “Worth it”

While at the event and since I’ve returned there’s been a lot of talk about topics such as whether the event was “worth it,” whether it was just an elaborate pitch for her coaching programs, or whether the content was disappointing or just on “the light side.”

Personally, I went to Shine with the expectation that it was going to be a great opportunity for me to network face-to-face with a lot of influential people I “know” or interact with online.  I expected Ali to spotlight her programs and knew that it wasn’t the type of event where we would be getting step-by-step how-to like her previous live events (the Online Success Blueprint Workshops).

I’ve seen several clever, thoughtful and downright entertaining blog posts since the event ended devoted to people’s experiences at Shine.  They were great to read.  My aim with this post is not to give a play-by-play rundown or a clever or witty essay on whether it was “worth it” for me. (In a word, yes—I felt that it was.)

My Take

What I wanted to do instead was just share some some thoughts I brought home with me—some of which are a-ha’s, some that are nuggets of wisdom I learned previously (from Ali, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, etc.) but was reminded of at Shine, and some that are just inspirational gems I felt were worth repeating here.  From my notes:

Make decisions from where you want to be, not where you are.

Clarity attracts money.

Why would the universe give you more if you aren’t taking care of what you already have?

If you are being your authentic self, you really can’t have competition.

You don’t have to know it all, you just need to know more than they do.

There are so many people out there who need the very problem solved that you can solve for them.

How to really empower people: Just be (authentic).

The hole you invest in yourself through is the same one you receive through.

People won’t invest in you beyond what you’ve invested in yourself.

The marketing is more important than the mastery.

Always be marketing.

We have more than enough and we need to stay in that abundant mentality always.

Willpower and desire are an irresistible pair.

Successful people understand that you don’t need make things complicated.

Think BIG: Use giant post-it notes and flip charts and sharpies…do things in a tiny way, you get tiny results.

You need to map things out—or else you’ll be spinning forever.

For a business to thrive, you’ve got to brand.

People are impatient and want to pay to work with you how they want to—so have choices to offer them!

As I have been going over all of the notes I took at the event, these are some of the things that stood out.  But what stands out even more in my mind were the great people I finally got to meet “in real life.”  That alone was worth a last-minute trip, by myself, to a city I have never been.

I just recently made a decision to fly out to a live event, which occurs this week.  It was pretty much a last minute decision, but an opportunity came up for me to get a great deal on a ticket so I went for it.  I’ll be doing other traveling right before that and leaving my husband (and our 2 crazy cats ) for 6 days so there was a bit of going back and forth about it.

However, the more I thought about the potential benefits involved, the more I knew I wanted to do it. It’s a seminar teaching both business-building strategies as well as personal discovery principles, and the timing is ideal for me to experience something like this.

There are three main upsides I see to investing the time, money and energy on a live learning event such as this one:

1) It is the perfect excuse for me to get out from behind my computer and meet people face to face.  My business is mainly an online one, and I love that about it.  But there is something to be said for networking in person that just takes relationships to a whole new level. I’ve “met” lots of great contacts via social media, but many of them will be at this event and it will be really beneficial to solidify those relationships even more.  I expect some exciting joint venture possibilities to take shape!

2) It will be total immersion into learning.  Home study courses, calls and webinars are great, but being able to absorb valuable information live over three days will be pretty powerful.  This particular event is not going to be a “pitch-a-thon” with multiple speakers selling their products.  It will be content-rich and taught by one person for almost the entire event.  I fully intend to learn a ton of strategies that I can take home and begin implementing right away.

3) Inspiration! This doesn’t require much explanation–once you get out among new people and new ideas, it’s like breathing fresh air into your business.  It’s all but guaranteed that you will walk away with renewed excitement and clarity around what it is you do–and what’s possible for your business going forward.

So, although there was some hand wringing before I came to my decision, I’m confident I made the right one.  I’ve attended several live events in the past (albeit mostly local ones) that have really made an impact in my business.

I enjoy learning this way–do you?  If you’ve never been to a live event, I highly recommend you try it–and if it’s been a while since your last one, be sure to get out there and go for it!