I was fortunate enough to attend the Platform conference in beautiful Colorado Springs in early November put on by Michael Hyatt and Ken Davis.  I won the ticket to this conference at the SCORRE conference in May.  This conference was hosted by the Broadmoor Resort and Hotel, I started this post sitting in my 5 star room before the Tuesday morning session, this is the nicest hotel I’ve stayed in, to be honest I didn’t want to leave my room because of the room itself.  As the sun rose on the mountains I felt spoiled.

Colorado Springs was amazing, I’ve never been to Colorado before and now I realize that I’ve never actually seen a mountain before this trip, I am an east coast guy, mountains are amazing.

Here is a photo I shot from my balcony just as I wrote this as the sun came up.

mountain sunrise from balcony

In the Broadmoor there is a hall of fame on the wall in the foyer of the hotel showing photos of famous people who’ve stayed there including the past two presidents.

I had three goals for this 2-day conference that were fully met, I think that meeting these goals can only happen at events like these, the caliber of the speakers and attendees was amazing.  Going in my 3 goals were:

1. Meet two people who I can share my platform with and help to launch products with down the road.
2. Join a mastermind group or feel comfortable starting one.
3. Get 2 ideas on how to make income quickly.

All three of these goals were met by Monday as well as much more I hadn’t expected:

• I met people like Pat Flynn and Stu McLaren two of the most helpful podcasters and entrepreneurs out there.
• I learned how to turn casual followers  into raving fans from Pat Flynn
• I learned how to design a stress-free and profitable business from Stu McLaren.
• I learned how to use Facebook marketing from Amy Porterfield
• I learned how to get out there and start my business with Casey Graham
• I learned the 3 lies we believe that hold us back by Crystal Payne author of the moneysavingmom.com blog.
• I learned why it so hard for us to sell our products with Ray Edwards
• I learned why podcasting is still in its infant stage and why it is such an attractive option for my message from Cliff Ravenscraft.
• I learned how to take all of my communications up a notch with Ken Davis 
• I learned why its so important to build my Platform from Michael Hyatt.

I absolutely plan to attend this conference again in the future if I can afford it.

There are three platform terms that everyone with a message should understand if they want to get a message out clearly.

1. A platform is essentially a tool we use to get our message out.  Our message can be a ministry, it can be products or services to sell, or it can be advice or tips to help or entertain people.  A platform can be a literal stage, it can be a mega horn, a media company like CNN, a Facebook group, a pulpit, a Twitter profile, an account on someone else’s blog or, the best case scenario, our own self-hosted (owned) website.
2. Self-hosted means you own it, you pay for the domain name and the hosting, this means you own your real-estate on the web.
   • If you use Facebook or Twitter or the other social sites realize that these are someone elses Platform, you have no control over who sees your information, you have no control over the marketing that is shown to your followers, marketing that you could be benefiting from.  No control over who sees your content, your message, your data.  The data of your followers is used for marketing and possibly easy and convenient spying by creeps or by “big-brother”.  Because of this these are not good platforms for your message.  They are simply good tools to bring people to your platform, Michael Hyatt calls these embassies for our platforms.   Social media can and sometimes should be used but only to bring people back to our platforms.
3. Your message: do you have opinions about things that you share? are you quite active on Facebook or Twitter sharing your opinion or your wisdom? if so you likely need to build your own platform.  Do you have a business or a hobby or ambitions to start one? Do you like to inspire and instruct others? Do you feel called to a certain ministry? If so you may have a some sort of platform already but probably are only reaching a fraction of the people you could be if you had an online platform.

You have a message!

Create a tool to expose your message to the world, the technology available for this is better than its ever been.

Creating a self-hosted blog site is by far the best outlet for your message and your creativity.  Whether you use it to make a living, expand a ministry, share your opinion and wisdom or just keep in touch with friends and family with privacy. Get Building Your Platform Today!

I want to help people to get their message out and be more creative. Especially messages that help and instruct people.Reach out to me if you want help with this, start by singing up for my email updates here:

What would you use an online platform for?