After catching up on our sleep on the long drive west, Lisa’s Uncle Mike took us to breakfast at the Flying Star Cafe in Albuquerque’s Nob Hill district. The Flying Star is a hip coffee house/restaurant with great food, good coffee and free wi-fi. We ended up going back several times.
Nob Hill is near the University of New Mexico campus. We drove down Central Avenue and spotted dozens of boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants, galleries and an art house cinema. Across the street from the Flying Star, I spotted a place that was a salon cafe. Not sure I’d want to get my hair cut while I’m eating but that seemed to be their theme.
Also spotted Rockin’ Bills Mercantile, which seemed to be out of business as there was a ‘For Sale’ sign out front. Maybe I should lease it and sell my old rock & roll memorabilia. I wouldn’t even have to change the name. 🙂
Time to Talk Masterminds
I was scheduled to speak bright & early Saturday morning on mastermind groups and wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of a crowd. There were several different things going on at the same time and the event had just opened to the public.
I ended up having a nice sized group joining me as I spoke on the benefits and how-to’s of forming a mastermind group. At one point, I asked for a volunteer who had an idea for a business.
A gentleman named Steve volunteered to share his idea for opening a ‘cage-free’ boarding house for pets. Steve was in luck as most of the crowd were dog owners. After Steve shared his vision, members of the audience gave him their ideas for improving his plan. He also got valuable feedback on how his potential customers would react to his idea and his pricing model.
Steve and the audience got a little taste of what it’s like to have your own mastermind group. Afterwards, I signed copies of Meet & Grow Rich and invited attendees to stop by to visit our booth in the exhibit hall.
The Exhibit Hall
I spent most of my time at the event either at our booth or networking with other exhibitors and speakers that stopped by. My buddy Rico Connor from Las Vegas had the booth next to us. Rico is a fitness guru there promoting his ebook, Total Health For Life.
Lately, Rico’s been generating a ton of traffic using YouTube. He posts segments of his workout on YouTube and is getting over 100,000 views of each video.
At one point, I decided to conduct a little experiment. I walked up each aisle on the exhibit hall floor and looked for the booths offering some sort of health benefit. Health and wellness products accounted for at least 50% of the booths. As I passed each booth, I looked to see how healthy the people running it appeared to be.
Of the 50 or so booths promoting some type of wellness product or service, only three had what I would call people that were pictures of health. Rico, who’s over 50, is built like a tank. The second was a guy selling memberships to a local gym. The third was a woman promoting 2 & 4 year-degree programs in health and wellness.
Besides being healthy, the three of them had two other things in common. First, the programs being recommended in each booth required a lot of hard work and commitment. The other thing all three booths shared was a lack of interest. All three were deserted when I made my rounds.
Most of the traffic was centered around the ‘instant’ cures and magic potions. Some of these were interesting to see but I’m not sure I’d be investing in them. Others, like supplements, are beneficial but aren’t going to make you magically healthy if you aren’t exercising and watching what you eat.
Unfortunately, many people don’t want to hear that. Others, like the people signing up for my Ebook Mastermind class understand that some things require a bit more effort if you want to truly succeed.
Since I was either manning the booth or on my laptop running my Internet business much of the time, I didn’t get to see too many of the other speakers. One person I didn’t want to miss though was Rob Riopel.
Rob is the #1 trainer for T. Harv Ecker and Peak Potentials training. Jud Schwartz, the promoter of World Wellness has been telling me Rob’s story and insisting that I see his presentation.
Lisa introduced me to Rob when he visited the booth and we talked a little Internet marketing. When he went on stage, he had a nice-sized crowd which he developed an almost instant rapport with.
His speaking style is similar to Harv Ecker’s and the presentation is nearly identical except Rob pours a lot of his own stories into the mix. He is very, very good at what he does and I’m considering taking his “Train the Trainer” 5-day workshop to improve my own speaking skills.
Later that evening, Rob agreed to be interviewed by my friend, Chad Cameron for their next film which is about Integrity. Chad, along with his partner Isaac, interviewed Joe and I for the film in January. Chad and Isaac have just wrapped up another movie called Leap!, which I’m looking forward to seeing. We missed Isaac on this trip but his hands are full since his wife, Amy Starr Allen, just had a new baby girl last month.
Marianne Williamson
After the exhibit hall closed on Saturday, Lisa and I, along with Chad and his office manager Deb, headed to the main hall to catch Marianne Williamson and Michael Franti.
Marianne was speaking to promote her latest book, The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife. Although she’s a well-known author, I haven’t read any of her previous work so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
She gave an excellent presentation and offered a different perspective on aging, the 60’s generation and even the war in Iraq. Afterwards, she took questions from the sizable audience, which was definitely her kind of crowd. I was impressed and am looking forward to reading her book.
Marianne recently moved back to Houston and Lisa, who’s a huge fan, and I will be visiting her in the near future to present a very special gift Lisa has created for her.
Michael Franti
Until Lisa and I met, just over a year ago, I wasn’t familiar with Michael Franti’s music. Lisa plays his CD’s constantly in the office and in the car so it’s hard to escape. I wouldn’t normally be drawn to his style but there’s a joy in his voice that won me over fairly quickly.
If that wasn’t enough, meeting him in person would have done the trick.
When we walked into the dressing room, Michael, who doesn’t know me from Adam, walked over and gave me a big hug like I was his hero. And after hearing his story and watching him perform, he’s now one of mine.
Franti did an acoustic set with two other musicians and had the crowd singing along to every word. We were also riveted by his stories of visiting and performing in Iraq and Israel’s West Bank & Gaza Strip.
Lisa and I got to watch his entire set from the side of the stage and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Lisa even managed to get me to dance… well kind of. 🙂
Deepak Chopra
On Sunday, I manned the booth while Lisa, Chad and Deb caught Deepak Chopra’s presentation. Lisa has designed plaques for Deepak in the past and spoke to him prior to his talk about a dream she’s wanted to manifest for quite some time. She hoped he’d participate and help her promote the idea.
I can’t tell you what the dream is yet but I can tell you it’s all about giving and the idea of ‘paying it forward’. I’ll share more, as well as Deepak’s response, in a future blog post.
Finally, seats are going fast to my Ebook Mastermind Class and I’ve just added a new six payment option to make it super affordable. Better sign up now, classes start next Tuesday!
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Bill, I’m so glad that I’ve rediscovered your blog. This is another great post,and it makes me realize how important it is to get out of the house and explore new things. This sounds like a great weekend, and I enjoyed living it vicariously through your pictures and descriptions.
Thanks, Buz! Thanks for stopping by — BH
Sounds like a really great trip, Bill!
Spring is nearly on its way here in the High Country. There’s still snow on North-facing slopes, but there’s buds forming on the scrub oak, and the wild turkeys are starting to gobble!
Hope you and the lovely Lisa get a chance for another visit someday soon… we’ve fixed up a new guest room upstairs.
Keep up the great work!
-Nathan
Hey, Nate. We’d love to get back to Colorado soon. Chad, the filmmaker I mentioned in the the post is another new friend from up there. Can’t wait to see the new digs, too.
Hey Bill,
I loved reading this post! The depth of insight that you share with each of your experiences is always informative and uplifting. I even got a couple of new ideas as I was reading it.
It is great to see what you and Lisa are up to, I’m glad things are going well for you both!
Another Colorado Friend,
-Kevin
Bill, what a great post. Interesting that few of the health booths were manned by people who live the talk and that the booths offering real world stuff that works–and takes work–were empty.
And how nice to see Rob Riopel! He’s Mr. Authentic and I would highly recommend Train the Trainer with one caveat. Once you take Trainer I you’ll be handing over the cash for Trainer II. They are both stellar programs.
Best
Greg