One of the challenges to your early life in the IM world is just how you get to meet some of these “greats” that you hear so much about. These are the marketers that have made it already, whose names you see all the time in your email.

Well, I’ll tell you one way that works. (Disclaimer here, there may be others!)

Are you ready?

Pay them!

There, that seems simple-minded doesn’t it, but actually one of the things it does is signal that you are prepared to invest in yourself as much as you are in their product. If you are in a coaching program for 8 weeks and you have a chance to make a face-to-face meeting then you have earned that right – so do it!

Don’t back out at that point, making excuses about the time it will take because, like it or not, this industry runs on relationships as much as any other business.

So, what am I getting at here. Well, on a personal level, I’ve just signed up for a 6 month Mastermind group with Chris Freville here in the UK that I am really looking forward to. Apart from the pressure to perform and actually get on with it, I’m going to find meeting up with like-minded internet marketers a great way to break out of the “working alone in a bedroom” syndrome that this business brings.

What’s just as awesome is that I’m also off to the Philippines for John Jonas’ outsourcing retreat in March. I spent some time in September last year working with someone out there after signing up for his “outsource myself” program. I’m hoping to find someone more appropriate to work with me this time round, but again, I’m looking to meet folk from around the world who are going to the event….

….oh yes. I’m also going to enjoy a bit of a holiday!

If you’re stuck in London as an Internet Marketer, thinking that you never get to see others doing the same as you…let me know…I’m easily convinced that a chat over a beer is a good thing .

I went into London yesterday to help Daniel Wagner at a marketing event called the Ultimate Marketing Seminar. (In fact it is still running if you want to go looking…sign up is free).

Now, my attendance at the event isn’t that unusual. I am, after all, trying to meet as many folk in the UK internet marketing world as quickly as possible, as it is obvious that this is a very social space to be in.

What was an eye opener for me, came partly from some ideas that I had already explored for myself but also from the event itself. In fact, Daniel summed it up succinctly from the stage  when he drew a line (from 0 to 100%) and asked, “where are you on this line, in your chosen field of expertise?”  If you mark the line with an estimate of your skill, then anyone to the left of the mark is a potential client of yours and anyone to the right is someone you need to learn from.

Take that in. You have potential clients waiting for your knowledge in whatever field you are working in…..no matter where you are on the line.

As an additional reinforcement, I spoke to several of the other people attending the show in one of the breaks. They come from all walks of life, unified only by their desire to become entrepreneurs in their own field. This wasn’t just about internet marketing as a pure subject. What I found, was that the vast majority knew only that they had to be online and no more.

I had one of those “aha” moments everyone talks about. Here is a huge potential customer base. Go to non-IM events and just help people – how cool is that? Maybe some will become friends and dare I say it, customers.