What if you could predict the future of marketing the way a weatherman predicts the weather? How much better could you plan for your business knowing the forecast ahead of time?
I’ve been at this game for a long time and, along the way, I’ve developed some amazing friendships with people who are important to me. As a part of being in these great relationships, I periodically reach out and check-in with these friends.

And, inevitably. . . we geek out on marketing.

During these conversations, all kinds of magic happens. Because this is where we share the details on the things we’re doing and trying that aren’t “mainstream” yet. The experiments. The discoveries. The nuances that are making all the difference in our results.

And through sharing with each other, we find out what’s working and what’s not. We celebrate each other’s wins, and we help one another overcome hurdles.

Coming out of those discussions, I always end up with a few key ideas I use to build on top of the ideas that I already have. And when I look back at the progress I’ve made in my career, so many of the breakthroughs came from things that were discussed during these conversations.

But here’s the problem…

For a long time, I wasn’t privy to these kinds of discussions.

It’s only come because I’ve spent nearly 15+ years pouring into my friends and taking the time to develop these relationships.

And I know how frustrating it is if you don’t have this kind of opportunity. Things can feel slow. You can feel like you’re out of the loop.

So it got me thinking…

What if I could bring this kind of intimate conversation about marketing to you?

Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Imagine a discussion between friends. Geeking out on all things marketing. The good. The bad. And most importantly, the future.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

In just a few days, I will be getting together with some of my friends to bring you some of the top marketing strategies that they have been using during the last year.
I’m going to jump start the discussion by asking them questions.

“What was your #1 marketing strategy of 2017?”, and . . .
“What are the big opportunities you’ll be focusing on in 2018?”

It’s one thing to think about what worked in the past, but it’s also another thing to think about where your mindset should be moving into the future.

AND . . . as entrepreneurs, we want to help you make more money so that you can make more impact.

So, I’m asking my friends to forecast the future of online marketing and we’re going to bring you the best marketing advice for this year and the best marketing advice going into 2018.

So why are we motivated to do this now?

Well, there was a very serious incident that got the wheels in motion.

As you’ve probably heard, there have been some devastating natural disasters that have taken place this year.

We all know what it feels like to watch from afar. And to be honest, I felt a bit helpless as the lives of others were affected in such a negative way. I was so far from them. And there was so much damage… what could “I” do to really help? (limited thinking I know… but that’s what I was feeling)

But when you see something devastating like that happen, it impacts you. And I think it impacts me more now as a husband and father of two young kids. I just kept thinking “what would I do if I was in this situation?”

You can’t help but have compassion for those people.

But that compassion goes to a totally different level, and those feelings of helplessness are magnified, when you know somebody you love and care about who is on the ground experiencing it.
And Hurricane Irma, did that to us.

Two of our team members live in Florida .

They were experiencing everything in real time. And our team began living the hurricane through their updates on Facebook and in Slack…

and as the days and hours of preparation passed, it became obvious that they would be directly in the storm’s path.

 

 

 

As the storm began to bear down on them, the rest of us were thinking, “What can we do?” And our team began to experience this sense of helplessness. Two of our team members were in Florida but the rest of us were watching from here, in Canada and from other parts of the world.

 

Then it happened. The hurricane hit. And the devastation was so crazy.

 

Like I said, it can feel surreal when you see it on the news.

But when you have people you care for in the middle of it, we felt compelled to do something. Anything. We had to find a way to help.

As the slack conversations and Facebook updates came through, we wondered, “What can little ol’ us do?”

At first I just reached out to Bree because her house had been destroyed and she and her family didn’t have anywhere to stay. Even though we are in Canada (a long ways from Florida), the first thing I thought of was to help her get a roof over her head.

So it started with this message…

 

Then our TRIBE community rallied behind them.

But then, something even more surprising happened…

Our two team members, in the midst of the devastation themselves, began to reach out and help those in need in their communities.

THAT inspired us.

It was like, despite all the craziness and chaos that they were dealing with, they were still thinking of others. There was so much need and they were doing whatever they could to help… even while dealing with their own situation.

And that got us thinking… what could we do to help?

How could we help Leslie and Bree in these efforts?

Because the reality of it is, even this many weeks later, there are a lot of people who are still dealing with very real challenges. And challenges that I know I can’t even comprehend.

Like…

There are people who still do not have electricity. Can you imagine? Think for a minute about how much we take that for granted. How much we depend on it. And people went from “normal life” of having it available all the time to nothing… for weeks. People are still trying to live without it.

There are those who have been displaced from their houses and are fighting with insurance companies to get their homes restored. And we know (because this is the exact situation Bree is in). Her home was completely destroyed and even though she had flood insurance and hurricane insurance both companies are trying to do everything they can to avoid fulfilling on the service that they’ve been paying for.

Many small businesses were impacted, and the losses were so great that they had to close their doors, putting many out of work. The list goes on and on.

So, we just brought it back down to… these are two people that we love. They’re on our team. There IS something that we can do.

I’ve been blessed to own a business helping others achieve. Not only their business dreams, but also their dreams of earning more so that they can give more to the people and causes that matter most to them.

And, at the end of the day, we believe that the more money you make the more impact you can have.

I am so proud, that my team lives by this philosophy day in and day out. And I want to continue to be an example of that philosophy and demonstrate what that looks like.

So . . . while we are streaming this live event to you totally free, we are also going to use it as a fundraiser to help improve the lives of some of the residents of Florida.

The hope is that you’ll see the benefit of this, will improve your business, AND you’ll therefore have more resources to improve the lives of others too.

Please join us