I had an incredible week last week. On Friday, my friend Pat and his son David loaded up the car and we went to Anaheim for four days. Pat and David went to Disneyland and I went to my version of Disneyland. I attended another convention of the National Speakers Association.

I love the NSA because years ago, the group told me that I could become a speaker. Before I attended the NSA in the winter of 2004, every time I went to a networking event, people would come up to me and say, Good luck. I hope it all works out. But when I went to that first event, I was encouraged to pursue this line of work and actually received advice. I remember talking to Tim Guard, who gave me advice and the names of other speakers to contact.

My theory on networking conferences and meeting people is like finding a date in the bar. if you go out to a bar dressed nice and have a basic idea of what you want, you might find nothing, but you might find everything you’re looking for. What typically happens is that you find something that you were not expecting, like a good conversation with someone you may or may not know before. If you go there focused on finding the love of your life, you’re probably not going to have a good time.

Before the weekend, I told myself I’m just going to go hang out. For me, going to NSA is not work, but rather a vacation. It’s a time for me to get excited about my business, talk to my colleagues and reconnect with others. And yes, I thanked Tim for everything he did for me.

That is not to say that I did not have an agenda.

I know where my business is lacking and in the back of my mind, if I happened to run across anything that would help me, I would investigate. And guess what? Two of my biggest issues were addressed.

First, I went to a session for espeakers.com. espeakers is an application where you can manage your speaking calendar online and also get contact information for many of the people who hire speakers. Another part of my business is outreach. I hate sales. When I was looking at the schedule, I saw a session that hired virtual assistants for different companies. When I saw that, I said to myself and Kristi, I wonder if they can do sales? By the way, I did not say cold caller because every time I do, Kristi says, I hate that term. I missed the session, but ran into one of the presenters in the hallway and I need to follow up with them next week.

I feel that I have a better handle on those issues, but if I was neurotic about them, I probably would not go to NSA or might have missed everything else that I got.

What did I get? I always wanted to see Larry Winget live. I got a chance to see him. More on that in a couple of weeks. Teaser alert , I made a couple of friends. Again, more on that later. I gained a new motivation for the industry and for a motivational speaker, that’s kind of big. Most of all, I can see my business in a new light. Wow!

Right now I am running on fumes because I went to bed every night after midnight and woke up at 7:00. Yet, I was more than happy to work today and write this post. I’m still digesting everything that happened this weekend, but I couldn’t be more excited about life, my company, and my future.

Timelapse - Lighthouse (Oct 2012) from IMK Digital Multimedia on Vimeo.