Tribe Conference 2016 – The Christian Jedi

How do you grow? What challenges do you face?

It’s been a little more than a year since I attended the first ever Tribe Conference. Last year, Jeff Goins, put together a fantastic event in less than 9 months. This year, with more than a year to plan, it is set to be even better.Before #TribeConf even started, a number of attendees and I meet at a local coffee shop for an informal meet-up.

Before the conference had even started, I learned three valuable lessons from my trip to Franklin.

#1: Don’t Underestimate Gathering Together

When Darth Vader tells the Emperor the about the reports of the Rebel fleet massing near Sullust, the Emperor dismisses it.

[Tweet “What of the reports of the Rebel fleet massing near Sullust?”]

Just like the Emperor dismissing the Rebels gathering, people often dismiss conferences. Dismissing the Rebel’s gathering cost the Emperor dearly. When you decide not to go to conferences it will cost you. It might not cost you as greatly as it did the Emperor, but you will miss out.

We are gathering in Franklin, TN for this year’s Tribe Conference.

There was a cost (investment is a better term) for all attendees, the cost of the ticket, travel, meals, etc. But the return on the investment made could be 10-100 fold increase in our writing, blogging, or business.

I was worried about organizing the meet-up.

Would people show up? Would it be awkward? What would we talk about?

People did show up. It was a great time. We talked about our backgrounds and how we could help one another.

I’m glad I stayed around until the first person showed about 15 minutes after the schedule start time. I underestimated how beneficial this meet-up was to those that attended and to me.

#2: Conferences Are A Good Investment

Conferences are a good investment if you pick a good one. How do you know if the conference is good? You define success before you go.

For me, I declared that if any one showed up for the meet-up that would be a success. Boom- meet-up = success

For me, this year’s Tribe Conference would be a success if I could meet and help ten people. While I might not make any financial gain directly from helping them, I will gain experience coaching or helping people with their WordPress issues or other problems.

I’ve already helped two people. On Friday during our informal meet-up, I helped someone set up their Twitter profile. Removing the egg icon and putting their picture on might seem easy to you, but she was having problems with a corrupt JPG file.

In helping her, she was going to pass my name and this site to her family member that is a huge Star Wars fan and believer. That may or may not lead to sales of my Bible studies.

Another woman needed help with setting up her theme for WordPress. While I didn’t have time to do a complete design of it, I was able to help her get it set up so she could post her first few blog posts.

#3: Comparison Can Kill

I’m not the best writer in the word. I know that.

I often beat myself up over it and don’t publish a lot of content because of it.

That’s because I’m comparing myself to people like Jeff Goins or Michael Hyatt .

I’m comparing my beginning with their middle. They have written 100s of thousands more words than I have. They have practiced their writing, both in secret and in the public eye.