I try to attend a couple of in-person conferences a year – mostly local but usually one where I have to travel.
Many mompreneurs only look at the expense and the time cost of these events. They think that they don’t have the time, money, ability to leave their family and business to go attend a conference. But the benefits far outweigh any cost. You actually learn so much that you may catapult your business – actually saving you time and money.
I want to outline the top three benefits of attending an in-person conference.
1) Meeting Other Entrepreneurs
For many of us, our families, friends, neighbors, etc. don’t understand what we do. And that’s fine. But it’s so nice, comfortable and reassuring to be with people who actually understand the online business world. From funnels to email marketing to landing pages, you don’t have to spend hours explaining these concepts. Instead they immediately understand and you can discuss the best strategies, ask questions to help move your business forward in ways you can’t when you talk with your family and friends.
It can also help your confidence being around other people who don’t think that your dream is fanciful or your online business idea is crazy. Instead they are in the same boat and want to support and encourage you.
2) Major Mindset Work
At almost every conference I’ve been to, they have speakers that talk about mindset. Mindset as a woman, as an entrepreneur is vital to the success of our business and to our own welfare. Each speaker had their own take on mindset. One spoke about the inter-mean girl (Rachel Perry) and how we can’t listen to her. Another talked about not having excuses. Several people talked about huge traumatic events that happened to them and how they still showed up each and every day. If they can go on with their lives while everything was falling apart around them, we can too. In starting my business, I never realized what a big role mindset would play. I just thought that I would work hard on my business. I’ve now learned just how important having the right mindset can have on your business.
And because we are often isolated, we create these stories in our head about how we’re not good enough, smart enough, etc. These stories aren’t true. And if you And we compare ourselves to to others instead of focusing on ourselves and our own business. Being with other women who have struggled, who have learned and continue to struggle to keep moving forward is so empowering.
3) Fresh Perspectives
For many of us, we often sit in our offices, work tirelessly on our businesses. But because we’re so into our own businesses we really can’t see other opportunities. It’s nice to talk to other women about business and even hear their questions. Often just a comment can totally change the direction of our business. Having these fresh ideas and perspectives and actually hearing other people ask questions can really spark new ideas for you. So if you feel like you’re stuck or maybe in a rut, a conference may be a great place to be able to bounce ideas off people and hear new perspectives and new ideas for your business.
BONUS Quiet Time
Another reason that you should go to a conference is that it allows you to get away and actually have some quiet time to think. While during the day you’re mostly with all these amazing women you have all the speakers and you have a lot of ideas for in your head you happen to have dinner with them or maybe even cocktail party etc, you still have a little time especially in the evenings and early mornings to really start to think about you, your business. You can start to think about the direction that you want to go, how you could maybe implement some of these new ideas, or become more confident in your direction. So it’s great to have a little alone time for you to think and not have to worry about the laundry or going to activities or your spouse or your children whatever it is.
I hope that you will start to consider planning some conferences into schedule.
Need help scheduling the conferences in your yearly plan? Check out my Ultimate Yearly Planning Guide for Mompreneurs
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