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Why attending LIVE events isn’t worth your time…

In this third installment of my 6-part blog series on what you need to put lots more money in your pocket using good entrepreneurial strategies and tools, I’m going to tell you why attending LIVE events is for the birds.

What? Wait!

That’s right. APRIL FOOLS!!!

Attending LIVE events is absolutely awesome when you’re learning new skills! With all the cool LIVE learning opportunities we offer around here, would you actually believe for one second that I’d tell you they’re bad for you? If so… GOTCHA! (Now keep reading. This will be a shorter post, because the first two ran long.)

Attending LIVE events online and in the real world give you excellent real-time learning opportunities. In fact, one of the most helpful things you can do for yourself when learning anything new or brushing up on existing skills is to be present during LIVE events. However, that doesn’t mean you have to get up out of your chair or leave your desk (or wherever you plant your laptop). There are plenty of excellent live events happening on the other side of your computer screen. You can find them in different ways, including:

Online networking groups – There are groups you can join on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and lots of other social media sites that put you in direct line with likeminded individuals who share your goals in business and in life. If you log in on Facebook and find my page, you’ll see all the groups of which I’m a member. Yes, I still learn new things!

Several social media channels have groups waiting for you to join. It’s free, which is a pretty good price. So why don’t you? It’s amazing what can happen when you’re in a virtual room with people who share your mindset and vision.

Don’t know how to find groups of interest to what you are learning? Just get there, enter key words that reflect the type of group you’re looking for into the social media site’s search bar and add the word “group” to find what you’re looking for. Facebook and LinkedIn make it easy.

When it comes to Real Estate Investing, the people in these groups may just be the people who will do deals with you. We watch it happen in our private Capital Creators Facebook group! It’s pretty exciting to know we’ve been a part of bringing people together. But we also know we’re not the only game in town. For example, Bigger Pockets is a very impressive interactive social media site just for real estate investors and at all levels. It’s also a membership site, which I’ll get to next.

Online membership sites – Again, we are not the only membership site in town where you have LIVE access to information and get your questions answered in real-time. We are emerging as something quite unique in our industry, but there are other sites where membership brings obvious benefits.

Bigger Pockets is a membership site as well as an interactive social media platform. Once you’re a member, you can level up, earn badges for your participation in a variety of activities (for example, writing and commenting on blogs inside the site), reach out to other investors, and network till you have no more energy left and more. There’s a cool podcast on Bigger Pockets, too. As an investor, I enjoy their podcast. It offers good information and some of our Cash Flow Diary podcast guests are also guests on the Bigger Pockets podcast. What’s not to love about that?! Good is good, no matter where you hear the information.

LIVE online (and phone-in) mastermind groups – One of the all-time best experiences outside of being in a real room with a small group of your peers is a LIVE online mastermind group. These groups are lead by a mentor in the industry and market you seek to be a part of and be effective in, which means you get to focus in on your goals typically at the same time every week for a specified period of time. Normally, that’s about an hour.

I’ve been a part of some really good mastermind groups over the years. In each I’ve learned valuable skills in the realm of entrepreneurialism, communication and speaking skills, leadership skills, how to run my business more effectively and how to market our products here at Cash Flow Diary. I’ve learned how to use new technologies, too. Man, I have learned a lot, especially over the past three years!

Why mastermind groups work so well is that you are expected to get out there and try out what you’re learning, and then bring back a report. At least that’s how the great mastermind groups work!

I can’t imagine where I’d be had I not participated in these groups. I’ve met some amazing individuals. I’ve found investors, friends and associates in these groups. My new relationships ultimately lead to more opportunities in the real world, for example, cool speaking gigs and instructor slots across the globe. There is no end to the possibilities once you allow yourself to imagine them. A lot of times this starts with your willingness to participate in a great mastermind group where it’s all about the sharing of ideas and strategies!

Interactive web casts – Call them “shows” if you will, but there are plenty of webinars and live web casts or shows where you get to interact in real time with the host. Due to controls that have to be put into place (because if everyone were talking at the same time, it would get crazy and unmanageable) you participate via a chat room. You can ask questions and get the host to answer. You can interact with other participants in the group. You can in-mail (privately ping) each other. The best part of this live experience is that the whole group benefits from the information.

Some of these events are paid or come as part of a private membership on a site, and others are free to attend. Either way, interactive web events are an excellent way to beef up your skills. That’s why we started my weekly Q & A with J. web show (which is now only available in its live format to members of the Cashflow CORE Membership). The show gives me a way to answer questions from investors at all levels in real time. It’s not a 24/7 live deal, but for one very valuable hour each week at the same “bat” time, I get to have fun and answer questions. Some are pretty in-depth questions, too.

Online isn’t the only place to learn in real time!

You’ll find more online live learning opportunities than you can count in the areas of business development, technology, general business skills, leadership, entrepreneurialism and real estate investing. However, you’ll find a great number of paid live events in the real world, too. Cost varies according to whether the event is a one-time deal, a 3-day workshop, a week-long adventure or a part of an ongoing weekly or monthly group setting. Some may be free, for example, Meetups in your area. It is up to you to do the research necessary to find the groups and events you want to attend. Ask yourself what you want to learn, what you need to get better at and who you need to network with to get to your goals faster. Being clear in your intention is always a winning position!

Real-world LIVE events – Something special happens when you attend either small-group or large real-world events. There’s an electricity that fills the air. Whether it’s Toastmasters (where you learn to be a good public speaker), a networking group’s weekly meeting – like Le Tip or BNI – where you really get to know fellow networkers and show off your services, or it’s a large event with speakers on stage, it’s good to attend and get involved. You want to further your network, enhance your skills and get better at whatever you are learning? Book a seat at these live events. Then don’t just sit there taking notes… Get out among the crowd at breaks and shake a few hands. Open your mouth and speak. Get good at your elevator pitch. You never know who you’ll meet.

J Massey Forbes

Live events mean direct access!

You have a chance for more direct access to your mentors at these types of live events. However, the same can be said of LIVE online events. It’s a matter of showing up either way.

When these live events (online or real-world) are recorded that’s even better. It adds a layer of learning opportunity for you. Much of the time, live events that take place on stage in a big auditorium are live-streamed so people who couldn’t make it in the flesh can still benefit from the lessons and information provided. That’s why we live-stream as many of our real-world events and Cashflow games as we can.

If there is a chat room attached to that live stream… great. You get to ask questions live in the chat room if you’re watching from home. If you’ve ever attended or watched one of live events from home, you know we usually have the chat room up and running throughout. I’ve seen other events do the same, which is always a great idea. If you disagree, let me know, but I think I’m right here.

Here’s the point of attending LIVE events…

The long and short of this tale is that when we learn… the more we immerse ourselves in the topics we want to learn… the better and faster we internalize the information. This takes us back to the four levels of learning. You’ll find more in-depth training on what this is inside the Cashflow CORE Membership, but for the purposes of this blog post I’ll get to the point.

There are the levels we all go through to become competent in any new skill:

  • Unconsciously incompetent – Hey, you don’t know what you don’t know, right? You can’t be competent when you don’t know how to do something new.
  • Consciously incompetent – When you know what you are supposed to do, you get to practice the newfound understanding. You implement to the best of your ability what you have learned. You are gathering feedback. There’s no way to look good while you’re at this stage!
  • Consciously competent – At this point, you’ve learned what you need to do and you’re putting what you know out there to reach your goals. You have to think through the steps… sort of like when you’re learning to dance for the first time… and you might be a little clumsy, but you get there. You get the deal done. You reach your goal.
  • Unconsciously competent – This is the point at which you know your stuff. You no longer have to think through the steps. It’s where you just do what needs to be done. The outcome is better and better with each deal, and you can teach others how to do what you do. In fact, teaching should be a part of the process!

I write about this frequently and teach it in my live presentations, because it’s important to understand. You aren’t going to look good when doing something new for the first time – or for the first few times. Perfection isn’t critical. Getting out there and practicing what you’re learning is far more important.

Being a part of LIVE training opportunities helps you reach the fourth level of learning more quickly. That’s because you get to ask questions in real time. There truly is nothing better, because you can immediately put what you’ve been instructed to do to the test and report back quickly.

If you can’t attend live events and lessons, you need to have a way to watch the recordings of those events. That’s where we rock in the Cashflow CORE Membership. We have more than 200 hours of content, and a lot of it is taken from our live events. We’re told it’s pretty great stuff! (And we are always adding more to the cache.) It may no longer be live, but members have access around the clock.

In part 4 of this 6-part series, I’ll be talking to you about other ways you can add to your education and keep yourself inspired and stay on the path to your goals so you can earn the income you desire.

If you missed the first two posts in this series, go back and read them!!

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