Content Marketing | TeleSeminar Marketing | Excuse Free Living
I Held a Very Profitable 90 Minute TeleSeminar from a Rest Stop on I-70 Fifty Miles East of Topeka, Kansas. Here’s What Happened…
Fair Warning: Don’t Read this unless you’re willing to give up your excuses…
Recently one of my Medium MasterClass members, Bill Todd, reminded me of a story and suggested I tell it here on Medium.
So here goes…
I started full time online in February of ’07. Made $500 that month.
By May of ’07 I was bringing in 20K a month.
In July I was part of a group exhibiting at a conference in Denver, CO.
I’d always wanted to visit Denver.
When I was a child we lived in Overland Park, KS.
I’d always wanted to see the old neighborhood in Kansas. So I decided to drive from Atlanta to Denver.
The drive out was amazing, and I got to briefly go by the old house in Overland Park. It seemed so much smaller than I remembered.
Then I had a great 10 days in Denver. I remember one of the women in our group taking me up in the mountains for a tour. She kept apologizing for the heat. It was 90.
Me: “You don’t understand. Where I’m from, in July if the temperature is 90, so is the humidity. What’s the humidity right now?”
Her: “4%”
Ahhhh…
On the day I was leaving I got up at 4 am and drove to the top of Mt. Evan to see the sunrise.
Crunching on snow in July was really strange for this Southern guy.
A Unique Place for a TeleSeminar
That night I was scheduled to hold a “Preview Call TeleSeminar” for my upcoming series on Content Marketing at 8 pm.
My plan was to drive until a couple of hours before the teleseminar, find a hotel with Wi-Fi, and do the teleseminar from my hotel room.
Turns out I had a few things working against me:
- No reservation
- It was 2 days before Independence Day
- Southeast Kansas was experiencing severe flooding and the hotels along I-70 in Eastern Kansas were full.
I knew if worst came to worst I could do the show from my phone if I had a signal. Best situation would be Wi-Fi so I could use my laptop.
I couldn’t pick up a signal in the parking lot of any of the full hotels, and the lobbies were just too noisy.
It’s now about an hour before show time…
A Rest Area with Wi-Fi Becomes Manna from Heaven
With 15 minutes to go before show time I pull into a Rest Area prepared to do the show on my cell phone.
As I pull in, I see the sign in all it’s glory:
The Rest Area has security and Wi-FI!
Remember, this was 2007 so it was the very first time I’d seen Wi-Fi offered at a Rest Area.
Plugged the laptop into the adaptor and fired that baby up! Cell phone and headset. Check. Action Guide for the show. Check.
Made it with 3 minutes to spare!
And that’s how I held a 90 minute “Preview Call TeleSeminar” that filled an upcoming class and brought in just under 10K.
All this from a blue PT Cruiser rental at a Rest Stop on I-70 fifty miles east of Topeka, Kansas. July 1, 2007.
My plan had been to finish the show, drive to Kansas City/Overland Park, and visit my old neighborhood the next morning.
I was so excited from pulling off the teleseminar and from the sales that I drove all the way to Columbia, Missouri before I got tired enough to stop.
I remember falling asleep chuckling…
And here’s the story of the reinvention of my life and business at 48 that led to the story you just read (thank you):
