I’m back from Europe…

Two weeks ago I was
in Chicago for HostingCon 2008.
I had a chance to meet very important people
in the hosting industry.

First and foremost I had to see two old friends
and personal mentors of mine, Tracy Conrad
and Thomas Gorny. The last time I saw them was on
March 31, 2007 - when they handed me my last paycheck.

When I was hired back in 2002, I was the 8th employee
at IPOWERWEB and the company was making around $2O,OOO a month.

When I left 5 years later there were over 200 employees
and the company was grossing $45,OOO,OOO per year.

Back to Chicago:
Most of time I hung out at the bars - because
that’s where the real networking takes place.
It’s not during the event or when people
are walking around handing out business cards…
It’s when you’re sitting at the bar buying a
drink for someone you intend in doing business
with in the future. That’s when they discover
you’re more than just a “business card” -
you’re a real person.

Take my advice - don’t hand out all your
business cards when you’re at a trade show
or seminar, wait until the seminar is over
and the people you want to meet are sitting
at the bar having a drink. Go over ask to
buy them a roud of drinks and DON’T talk
shop immediately. Talk about sports.
I find most entrepreneurs such as myself
really like sports. When the time is right
then you can talk business.

For instance, when I was talk to Thomas
and Tracy after the event all we talked about
were old times. We hung out at the lobby bar
all night and we just talked about sports,
traveling, and we jabbed here and there
about business. The next morning Thomas
comes up to me and ask to do a joint
venture in 2 months. We went over
the details and within 10 minutes the
deal was done.

The next day Ed Baker who is the Director of iNet,
a very well respective web site, came up to
me to offer a great advertising deal. A deal
which would not be available to me if we hadn’t
chatted it up the night before. The deal was
done on the spot.

Now let me go back for a second and talk to you
about Thomas and Tracy and let me tell you
what I got from working with them for 5 years.

I learned a lot from them but they never
sat down and taught me how to do it. I learned
through osmosis.

From Thomas I learned a very important asset
to have in order to become successful in life
and in business: VISION. Thomas had a vision
and he stuck to it.

From Tracy I learned a very important ingredient
that has made all the difference in my business:
EXECUTION.

Now I believe you must have other important
factors in order to become successful, such as
ambition, but ambition plays a much smaller
role than you’re made out to believe.

A little bit of luck also helps. But luck
is being at the right place at the right time.

Thomas kicked some wisdom as we were walking down the street
heading to another bar (we’re not heavy drinkers - but we know
how to have a good time ; ) - he said, “It’s not so much
that you were lucky, because luck is a small factor…the truth is
you knew what to do with luck when it arrived.”

I only spent 4 days in Chicago. Then I flew over to
London to do some business with an old friend of mine.
The flight was 11 hours and the business meeting was
20 minutes, but I was in dire need of a little vacation.
So I headed to Rome, Italy. The great thing about my business
is that I can log in from anywhere and do my work on a laptop.

Rome, or the Eternal City, as they call it, is filled with history.

Over 2600 years of history. I got to see all of Rome,
including the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.

From there I flew to Milan. For some strange reason I thought
Milan was a big city like New York…boy was I wrong. Milan
is an industrial city and there’s not much to see there.
Luckily I was only there for 2 days. From there I flew back
to London and now I’m back home in beautiful Los Angeles.

I must say, after spending 2 1/2 weeks away from Los Angeles,
I discovered that everything I want is here at home.
For instance, the price of gas in London is $15 a gallon.
My cab fare came out to $1400 just in London alone. My hotel
was $400 a night (4 star). Breakfast was $40 (i’m talking about
a plain English breakfast: eggs, bread, beans).
Dinner was around $90. I ordered a Mojito at a bar in Rome
and it cost $35. The economy in the U.S.A is fine
compared to Europe’s economy. Here’s a tip - If you want to
see all of Europe in one day just go to Vegas. It’s far less
expensive.