That’s what he asked me in the midst of a conversation about an upcoming conference/seminar I’m working on.

“I hadn’t thought about that”, I told him. Why would I? He had a point though. In the world of traditional conferences, the model is to put up money to host an event and then hope that you can sell it out. What are the possible things that could go wrong with an event? A lot.

A vendor could screw up (caterer, audio visual team, wifi, etc). You could build it and nobody could come (contrary to what’s claimed in Field of Dreams or Wayne’s World). Sponsors could be in uninterested in participating. You could wind up with poor speakers. The list goes on.

However I’ve felt almost untouchable after hosting another successful event in November. Why would this event be any different? To be honest, it probably won’t be any different. I think the person on the other end of my call yesterday was simply projecting his own insecurities.

If you are standing at the bottom of a mountain that you’ve spent years preparing to ascend, is failure the first thing that comes to mind? It shouldn’t be! All you should see is yourself standing on top of the mountain. Should a massive storm blow through, leaving you lost or without equipment, that may be a good time to reassess your objectives. Until that storm blows through (which most likely never will), there’s only one option: success.