Devin Woolery’s Review of the Business Conferences at the Thrivetime Show

Day One Recap of the Best Business Conferences I’ve Ever Attended

I have to start out by saying that most business conferences that I have ever been to have turned out to be just a giant motivational pep talk with no real applicable principles or action steps. My experience with the Thrivetime Show Business Conferences was completely different from that.

Starting the first day, I walked up to the Thrive World Headquarters not know exactly what to expect. I typically am not one to reach out and converse with other people I don’t know on a whim. I was warmly welcomed by the smell of pinion wood burning and the Thrive team waiting at the doors. They all seemed so happy to be there that their attitudes were contagious, which is saying something for a conference that starts at 7 AM. Even for a self-proclaimed “early-bird,” I knew that this conference was going to be different.

After getting a cup of coffee and checking out all of the eccentric decor around the office I made my way to my reserved seat – complete with a Boom book (the business conference’s version of a workbook), name tag, a packet of Thrive clients who have walked the path and seen success, and a few other handouts. I really enjoyed flipping through the pages and taking in the sights, smells and sounds of the conference environment. It was certainly not a bland hotel conference room. This place had life and felt like I was meant to be there.

A little after 7 AM the first session began and there was no shortage of takeaways and action items from the start. The session centered around the “why” behind your business. What is the core reason for having a business and why did you start your business in the first place. Clay Clark pointed to a slowly melting ice sculpture of a giant F6 – with the word BOOM inscribed in the base for added effect. He reminded us that our lives are short so we should spend it doing the things we enjoy and use our businesses to take us there. Before the first session ended, we touched on a section of the Boom book that hit a little too close to home – Dysfunctions.

After a 15 minute break, we came back to this chapter to break down each of the dysfunctions listed. Clay instructed us to circle the ones that applied to us. There were so many, I think I started to just highlight and circle entire pages. He explained that the purpose of understanding our dysfunctions was to understand where we need help and what our biggest limiting factor is. These limiting dysfunctions were literally preventing us from being successful as business owners, he went on to explain.

We then started into a topic that I thought I already had down pat, time management. I thought that I had mastered this back when I was in school and was pretty good at keeping everything running smoothly. Boy was I wrong. Just looking at Clay’s calendar and to-do list made my handwritten list look like a 3rd grader’s scratchpad. I knew that this was an area that I could change immediately and grow not only my business but that it would also have a dramatic effect on my family. By blocking out time for what matters most, I learned that the biggest parts of my business and life would be looked after. This one session alone transformed my perspective on my day-to-day life.

“I couldn’t wait to dive into all of the marketing, but time management was one of my biggest takeaways from the business conference.”

One Day Wasn’t Enough – My Day Two Thrivetime Show Business Conferences Experience

After the first day of the Thrivetime Show Business Conference, I was pretty sure that I had already gotten more value than I paid for…and there was still another day of applicable information. Day two started at the pace of day one – fast and furious. There were many questions on the whiteboards around the facility written by other business owners and attendees to the conference. Most of the questions were softballs about general business practices, but some were pretty hard-hitting. 

Take for instance a question about how search engines really work. Every other marketing conference that I had attended simply shrugged questions like that off saying, “Well, we can’t really know how to get to the top of Google. They are changing so much and just do their own thing,” or “Nobody really knows. It’s a mystery.” But Clay explained that there would be an entire workshop just on how search engine optimization works and that my business could even get to the top of Google if we followed the principles they were going to teach us. My mind was blown that he would be first, so bold to proclaim this, and second, was willing to teach us. I couldn’t wait.

The rest of the morning of the business conference was spent discussing “no brainers” and the importance of having a promotion that is constantly running to bring in new customers, and sales. Some of the most effective, Clay pointed out, are the ones that require little commitment on the customers’ part and allow you to WOW them in the process. He said that you know a business is healthy when you can get 2 customers for everyone that you bring from advertising. I had never heard of this as a way to gauge a healthy company, but it makes sense. All of the businesses, restaurants, etc. that I have worked with that I want to use again, I am sure to tell other people about.

After lunch, the time had finally come to learn more about search engine optimization on a very in-depth level. The room was broken into three to four groups, each led by a current business coach and a few technical people who were there for support and higher level questions. I was amazed that they were able to break down search engine optimization into understandable and actionable steps. I needed the most content. I needed to have the most Google reviews. I needed to have a Google compliant website. And I needed to make sure that it looks good on mobile. It was that simple. Some of the people in my group had questions and the team was able to quickly answer all of them, with Clay Clark occasionally popping his head in to throw out questions that had been asked in other groups as well.

I am so thankful that I was able to come to a Thrivetime Show Business Conference and I’m already planning the next one I will attend. This is definitely a conference where I was wow’d and will bring friends with me.