They laughed at me (and some even rolled their eyes) when I grabbed the microphone at a CEO roundtable event at the recent Asian Publishing Convention.
A group of 30+ CEOs from various publishing houses and platforms were bemoaning the fact that they could not make good use of the Internet to draw attention to their magazines and newspapers.
At one point the moderator said something like “I guess we all agree that the internet is not a good option for us. There is no way to monetize it. There is no way to get a viable presence online.”
Wil.by teaching blogging in Thailand
Up to that point, I had observed silently. But then I couldn’t take it anymore.
“My websites make money. I know how to build a presence online! I don’t know what any of you write about but I can pretty much guarantee you that I can get visitors to your sites. After all, I have had more than 1 million visitors EACH to 10 different and unrelated sites of my own. Count ‘em. 10 different sites.”
Stunned silence. A bit of shock perhaps.
All those stodgy old men in 3-piece or outdated suits and women dressed sharply in business suits weren’t quite sure what to do with this guy in shorts and a t-shirt with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread on it much less with how to respond to what I had just said.
The ‘debate’ had been pretty lopsided up until then. Paper print will be around for a while longer and online print is not really an option.
General Patton said, “If everyone in the room is thinking the same thing, then someone isn’t thinking.”
Well, I was thinking. And I was thinking I didn’t like what everyone else was thinking.
I do Meetups. I do workshops. I do speaking. I have an info-product coming out in the next few days that will tell you or anyone with a will the way to build an online presence…legitimately.
Since I made my presentation on blogging (attended by ALL those CEOs and a bunch of others) I have since been approached about visiting Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, India and Malaysia to teach people in those countries how to get online and how to get noticed. Hmmm…
But for now, I am just happy to be back home in the U.S. Or at least I think I am home.
When will you be “home” to cincinnati next? I’d love to hear from you.
Bill,
Congrats again! I would have loved to have taken a picture of you in your t-shirt/shorts as you educated the “suits.” The contrast would have been hilarious. Goes to show that you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover.
Will
Will,
I wish you were with me! You have much to offer.
It was a great experience and could only have been improved on by sharing it with others.