Conference Benefits - Heavy Networking

Affiliate Summit West 2009 is over and I somewhat miss it, but glad to be back in Jersey. I personally enjoyed and definitely benefited from it a lot. Some people say affiliate summit west in vegas is non beneficial. It is all partying and affiliates go there to just party, which maybe true. But during the day, you really can't party it is all business.

I believe in work hard, play hard - I always ball out. So why are some bloggers or affiliates saying ASW is non beneficial? Maybe the environment is too fast? You party, wake up, network, eat, party, sleep for 2 hours, back to conference - it is fast!

But if you are going to Vegas with the mindset of partying then you are really just going there to party. I actually accomplished a lot of things. I demoed my new web services to the affiliate networks in which I am closly working with. I started new partnerships with new people I just met. I gained new knowledge of how to make even more money. I network with the right people that I needed to.

I have networked with a lot of people in the past and I have benefited from them vice versa. In the past I have met people online or via my blog or even through twitter. Jim from theNetFool has provided me some good insight on resources for content and we occasionally conversate on other topics. Though he did not attend ASW, I was able to use his knowledge and experience to help better establish my business.

But from ASW alone, I hooked up with people that will help me in my business later on. I have recently just partnered up with DiggaLive to work on a new project and release, I also will be looking forward to partner up with him on other projects as well.

I have hooked up with Big L from Yep! Revenue, thanks to Ad Hustler. Big L is a really great guy and knows and wants to take care of his affiliates. Other networks that want to help out are Ruck and his Convert2Media Team, as well as Smaxor from Ads4Dough. These guys are small networks BUT pack a heavy load when it comes to taking care of their affiliates. They were once affiliates and knows what it takes to help affiliates in the industry.

I also strengthened relationships with past friends like Joel Comm, Kris Jones, Wes and T202 Team, Shawn and Missy, Jim Kukral, and everyone I have met in the past and present. There is a huge benefit in going to conferences and conventions or even small meetups in your local area.

Strengthening relationship is important because they introduce you to more people that maybe of interest. While in Vegas NickyCakes introduce me to a couple of his peers and we discuss marketing and making money. I have been introduced to multiple new people and I introduced a lot of my peers to a bunch of people I know. It is almost an exchange process - you want your good friends to benefit from what you currently are benefiting from.

Now the big problem is a lot of people do not penetrate their network, they collect cards and that is it. You have to penetrate your network, get socially active with them and keep in touch, creating that relationship is important. My brother Christian from XY7 is my dude and we always hook up every time I land at a conference. I will also touch base with Ron Harrington which is one of Christian's good buddies - which I met through my IANteract Dinner via Boston.

Networking is healthy and beneficial. If you do not do anything with your network what is the point in going to these conferences? Twitter is a great resource if you can not hit up a conference or convention, you stay socially active and able to network with your peers. Even then you need to try to penetrate your twitter network to use it to your benefit.

Well I typed too much so video below: