Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the first GVO workshop in San Antonio.

It was a great event.

People travelled from many different countries to learn from the experts and meet other members of what’s come to be known as the “GVO family”.

We were fortunate enough to learn what goes on behind the scenes, how the company  operates and visit not only the data centre keeping everyone’s site on line, but also Joel Therien’s beautiful house.
 
He’s the CEO of the company and held a bar-b-que in his extensive garden for any attendees who wanted to visit.   He also brought out his Ferrari  to show those people for whom such status symbols have some meaning.

I can confirm Joel is a really nice person with wonderfully loyal and supportive staff, friends and family.

He’s both motivated and motivating, and like so many successful people, his road to riches has had its ups and downs. He doesn’t claim it’s been easy and like so many of his peers, what’s perceived as being overnight success has in reality been five, six, seven or more years in training!

Apart from hearing Joel’s story, we also heard from the top GVO trainers like Mark Call, Ken Hammond and Mike Potvin, and were privileged to listen to Frank Sousa .  He’s a very humble and inspirational man who until recently was involved with Mike Koenigs as part of the powerful video submission software known as Traffic Geyser.

Now, Frank has other coals in the fire and is about to launch a new product, which I have no doubt will be equally as successful.

A different Frank introduced us to the art of Adwords.
 
This motivational speaker  was Frank Rumbauskas, the author of the New York best seller – Never Cold Call Again, and he apparently shares an office in the GVO data centre from where he works approximately 4 hours each week!
 
His  skill with Google Adwords  has enabled him to live the lifestyle aspired to by so many who’ve read The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris.

Another powerful speaker was Armando Montilongo, who is known as America’s Top Real Estate Investor.
 
I’d  never heard of him before, but apparently he has a program on television called Flip This House, and is perceived by many to be a bit of a “jerk”.
 
However, you should never believe all you see or hear, because he’s actually a nice bloke who claims the only reason he has become so financially successful is because of the marketing tools and strategies provided by GVO.

It seems Joel sent Armando an e-mail telling him his website “sucked” and then flew out to meet him to explain how he could do better.

The rest, as they say, is history!

Another speaker who impressed me was Tissa Godavitarne.  Earlier this year he won Joel Therien’s coveted red BMW, and last Saturday at the event, he was handed the keys and drove it for the first time.

When he received the car, Tissa immediately gave credit to all the members of Acme-People-Search.com for his success, especially Gary Chappelle, who also spoke at the workshop.

It was a good lesson.

Very few people get to the top on their own, and if you should ever find yourself in that position don’t forget those below and always be prepared to give others a helping hand.
 
As you can probably tell, GVO’s first workshop was a great success and the speakers were well chosen.  They were informative and entertaining.

So, who got the standing ovation?

…Me!

I know, I know –  I’m not exactly the type of person you’d expect to hear at that sort of event and I’m sure the people who turned up were as surprised to hear me speak as I was to actually get up there and do it.
 
 However, I was given a window of opportunity to give a voice to those who haven’t got one, and I took it.

I can’t tell you exactly what I said, because I can’t remember, but I’m told there was hardly a dry eye in the room when I’d finished – including my own!

I told the story of my autistic son (who came with me to Texas), my experience of mercury poisoning and how my three true story books had come to be written. 

They evolved out of necessity, not desire.

I certainly never aspired to be a writer, but there was a need for information and somehow I found myself providing some of it.

Of course, that had nothing to do with the purpose of the workshop, but for the marketers there my message was one of persistence, never giving up and knowing what your big “Why” is.

It has to be more than just money.

My big “Why” is my son.
 
He’s the reason I keep going when I feel overwhelmed and under pressure, when other people tell me spending so much time at the computer reading, listening and learning is just not worth it and to give up.

I know I CAN do this though, and one day maybe it won’t come as a surprise to anyone, (myself included) if I’m out there addressing an audience.

I’m certain the GVO tools  and “family” will play a huge role in that outcome, especially GVOConference, which is officially launching to the general public on 2nd November.

Using it is like having your own little tv station in your home or office, and from where you can easily communicate with others, spread your message and build trust and confidence via web conferencing.

You can find out more by visiting my site GiveMeFiveConferencing.com   There you’ll see why I, and so many others, think GVO and the affordable tools and training they offer are so great.

Jean
 
P.S. I ended the short talk with a poem I wrote called Interdependence, and if you want to read it you can find it here on my site http://www.jeanshaw.com