Thoughts from SANG 3

Hi folks,

I’m in the middle of my “Busy season” at the moment . . . criss crossing the country in giant, metal birds . . . dining in hoity toity restaurants and activating my long-dormant “schmoozing” powers for the betterment of mankind.

Which, loosely translated, means I’ve been doing a lot of travel and hitting a lot of conferences.

Most recently I popped down to LA for 5 days to attend Larry Benet’s “SANG” conference . . .

“SANG” stands for “Speakers and Authors Networking Group” . . . it’s a pretty exclusive event (you’ve got to be invited to attend) and is probably the best collection of “heavy hitters” in the speaking and personal development niche that you’ll find anywhere in the world . . .

Here are a few of my “favorite moments” from my 3 days at SANG . . .

• “Getting real” with Jack Canfield and Woody Woodward early on day one. Jack’s one of the geniuses behind the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books and is as close to a speaking “Rockstar” as I’ve ever met . . but he was genuine, present and sincerely interested in my business. I’d never heard of Woody Woodward before, but this guy is very successful and DRIVEN. Planning on doing great things with  him in the near future.
• Running into Ed “Al Bundy” O’Neil outside the hotel. I was a huge “Married With Children” fan when I was a kid, so getting to shake Ed’s hand was a big thrill. Didn’t chat with him for more than a second but the whole trip was worth it right there.
• Talking politics with Paul Lemberg (Strategic marketing legend) and Tom Ham (chief marketing dude at Stompernet) late at night while drunk on vodka tonics. All three of us had VERY different takes on gay marriage, health care and a few other “hot” topics . . .but the conversation stayed intelligent and civil. Really refreshing to be able to challenge someone’s ideas (and have them challenge yours) without anyone feeling insulted or attacked. Smart guys.
• Seeing John Assaraf’s (from “The Secret”) face light up when he realized I was the guy who wrote the “Secret Behind The Secret” Sales letter (You’ll be hearing about that soon.) John practically leapt out of his chair, grabbed my hand and said “You GET it!” Really great feeling (and that sales letter is pretty hot. Looking forward to showing it to you probably in a video.)
• Hanging out with Jimmy Vee and Travis from Gravitational Marketing . . . I’m scarred for life after hearing Jimmy’s “Sham Wow” parody (definitely not blog safe.)
• Getting beaten, abused and insulted by copywriting legend John Carlton. I’ve known John for a few years now. Used to be he’d keep his head down  . . . now he lights up when he sees me and brings out the big guns. Still not sure what motivated John to (literally) slap me around Thursday night while I was hanging out at the bar.
• Watching Ryan Lee’s excellent presentation on continuity income. I’d never met Ryan before, but he’s obviously got his head in the right place and is a whip-smart business dude. Rock solid priorities.
• The moment when John Carlton’s business partner Stan got all serious on me, dragged me out into the hallway and (jokingly) threatened me with legal action. It all worked out OK and I’ve been assured my Mom is safe and sound back in massachusetts now.
• Hanging with the tall, gorgeous and driven Mari Smith. She’s a social media badass and one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.
• Meeting with Joe Sugarman, the marketing legend behind Blu Blocker sunglasses.
• Watching the harried security guards as they meekly tried to herd a roomful of millionaires . . .
• Watching Mark Victor Hansen and Bob Allen rock the stage (at one point the power went out due to vicious winds outside . .  Mark and Bob didn’t miss a beat and carried on with their odd-couple magical rambling like nothing had happened.)

And yeah, I could go on for another hour. It’s taken me two full days since getting back just to dig through the business cards and follow up on the potential projects. Amazing event. If you get the chance to go in the future, I’d recommend you

Next up I’m heading to Atlanta for Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer’s Info-Summit 2009. Then I’m off to NYC for business (a little) and pleasure (a lot) . . . plus my bro and I will be wining and dining our Mom on her 60th Bday.

More good crunchy content once I’m back in the real world.

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