When I finished writing my book, Virtual Freedom, I was happy with the outcome. I’d worked hard on the manuscript, and even though I learned a fair few lessons along the way, overall, I knew that I had produced the absolute best book that I had inside of me on the subject of working with virtual staff.
I also knew that following its release, many people would buy it. Read it. Review it and (hopefully) tell others about it. All this has happened and I’ve been floating on cloud nine since its launch in April, as I continue to ride the wave that its initial launch has created.
However, nothing could prepare me for what I would experience as I came face-to-face with the readers of the book, as I went on my US Book Tour. I was excited to speak at events and do signings at three different US cities this past month.
The first ever Virtual Freedom book signing at the London Google Campus!
These events wouldn’t be the first I’d done since the books launch – I was lucky enough to speak at and hold a signing at the London Google Campus back in April (pictured above), which was wildly successful. However, hardly anyone had read the book at that point, as the UK is a smaller market for me and the event was just a couple of weeks after the launch itself.
Hence these US dates were going to be the first chance to really meet with readers of the book and get their own, personal account on how it affected them.
DATE #1 – San Diego
I was already headed to San Diego to speak at the National Speakers Association Annual Conference, as well as to co-host another 1-Day Business Breakthrough event with my close friend, Pat Flynn (another date for September has just been announced, so hop over to the event page to grab your slot if you like the idea of chatting up a business storm with me and Pat for a full day!).
Ah, yes… awkward snapshot face alert in San Diego!
Then I got the invite to do one of the keynote presentations at the Digital Colab Conference, which I excitedly accepted. This morphed into a lot more, as I ended up presenting twice over the 2-day event and my publisher also donated 100 copies of the book to the attendees (even though there were many more), so this all turned into my first US Book Signing.
The evening before the event at the welcome reception, a lady came up and introduced herself to me as Lauren. She promptly told me that my book had changed her life. Strong words. She then went onto say that she could directly attribute an additional $6,000 in profits within the month of reading Virtual Freedom, because of the advance she had garnered and took action on from the pages of the book.
Simply amazing. Happy author dance moment number one!
DATE #2 – Portland
Next up was a trip to ‘Rip City’ (nickname given to the city, via their NBA Trailblazers team!) for a book party as part of the World Domination Summit, where I was speaking as part of the ProBlogger Training Academy.
This one was going to be a special one, because I had a couple of co-hosts with me!
Myself, John and Pat having some fun in Portland!
To be blessed with good friends in life is one thing. To have them by your side, celebrating such a monumental moment in your career is simply golden. Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas were gracious co-hosts as they got on the mic and talked about myself, the book and what virtual freedom meant to them.
The evening was a runaway success with well over 200 people in attendance and every single book we had available sold. I must have posed for 100+ photos and signed almost the same amount of books that evening, but one moment would put a smile on my face from ear to ear.
Michael, a single father who lives in Portland with his daughter, who I’ve gotten to know quite well over the course of the last two years online (he’s been an avid reader and I’ve even done a couple of coaching sessions with him) came up and introduced himself.
We shook hands and hugged.
He congratulated me on the books’ success and mentioned to me that he’d bought 10-copies to give away to his other entrepreneurial friends because he loved it so much. He attributes the fact that he can work from home and be around for his daughter more often, because of the help and support he receives from his VAs (he has two). So good to hear these words from a fellow father was extremely satisfying, to say the least.
Happy author dance moment number two!
DATE #3 – New York
I was in New York to hold one of my New Business Mastermind events, which sold out in record time (we’ve just launched an additional date for Cleveland in September, in case you’d like to spend an entire day brainstorming for business success in a room with myself and other like-minded entrepreneurs) and for the book party, too.
However, this one was probably the sweetest of the three dates. Why? Because my entire family was with me to celebrate. My grown up kids from London, CJ and Chloe flew in for the festivities.
Proud father and husband, before proud author, that’s for sure!
Again, we sold out of all the books available at the event, I signed a ton of copies, and as well as posing for lots more photos, I got the chance to address the 150 strong crowd on my own personal journey to virtual freedom, and what having that freedom has done for me, my businesses, my family life, and just life in general.
The whole experience was extremely rewarding and a very memorable moment for me. I mean, to do all this, to have people wanting my signature in MY book, and for my children to see it all… well, all I can say is that they were impressed and proud of their ‘old man’ – which made me gush with pride.
The crowd in New York was amazing – such awesome people!
Then I met a fellow Englishman, Patrick who has been living in the US for over a decade. He told me that he picked up my book at his local Barnes & Noble just after it’s launch and mentioned that the 3 Lists to Freedom exercise took him an entire weekend to finish as he was wearing so many different hats in his business.
He hired his first ever VA in early June. Since then he’s gone from working 60-hours a week, to 40-hours and said that the book has literally saved his marriage!
Happy author dance moment number three!
Meeting Face-to-Face Trumps EVERYTHING Else!
As you can tell, the tour was a resounding success. But, why?
Well organized and executed events? Yes. Good timing? Maybe. The people that actually came along to celebrate the book and its message? Abso-bloody-loutely, baby!!!
I enjoy blogging, podcasting, doing webinars, etc., but it’s at these types of in-person events that I thrive in, above and beyond everything else that I do as an entrepreneur. The ability to be able to shake hands, hug, high-5 and simply be there, together with the person you’re talking with is by far worth every single minute it takes me to fly from the Philippines to the US of A.
If you came out to any of the events, thank you. You made the book parties what they were – fabulous events, full of good times, great smiles and plenty of networking for all involved.
More Events = More Chances of Meeting Up!
All this fun, and I still have lots more planned for the remaining part of this year. I’d love to meet you in person at one of them, so please check (and click!) below for more info:
ProBlogger Event – Speaking (Gold Coast, Australia) – August 29 & 30
New Business Mastermind – Hosting (Cleveland, USA) – September 7
Content Marketing World – Speaking (Cleveland, USA) – September 8 – 11
1-Day Business Breakthrough w/ Pat Flynn – (San Diego, USA) – September 15
FinCon 2014 – Keynoting (New Orleans, USA) – September 18-20
Freedom Business Summit – Keynoting (Nashville, USA) – September 23
Agents of Change Conference – Speaking (Maine, USA) – September 26
New Business Mastermind – Hosting (Sydney, Australia) – October 15
Business Blueprint Conference – Keynoting (Sydney, Australia) – October 17 & 18
New Business Mastermind – Hosting (Melbourne, Australia) – October 23
UPDATE: My Conference – Tropical Think Tank 2015
I’ve been getting lots of people contact me recently in regards to Tropical Think Tank and if I’ll be holding it again next year. The answer to that question is a resounding YES!!!
Here’s a quick video from last year that I know you’ll enjoy checking out.
The event is very intimate, super focused on building your business (and having fun doing so!) and entirely geared towards to having the best conference experience EVER. Read this write-up from Greg Hickman, who spoke at this years event, for an in-depth, inside-look into the conference flow and experience.
We’re in the process of finalizing the speaker line-up as I type this, as well as dates and other info – I expect to be in a position to open up ticket sales around the middle of August.
Get on the VIP Waitlist if you’d like more info when everything is finalized!
