Your Plan Is Too Small: What a Room Full of Strangers Does That a Video Never Will

You have watched every replay, read every post, and taken more notes than you will ever review again. None of it moved the needle the way one weekend in a room full of strangers apparently can. If you have ever wondered why people fly across the country to sit in a conference hall and hear things they could theoretically learn from a laptop at home, the closing share circle from this event is the clearest answer you will find, and it has almost nothing to do with new information.

Why do the real breakthroughs never sound like new information?

When the host opened the floor and asked what people had actually learned that weekend, almost nobody described a new tactic. Raymond talked about finally understanding how to run a separate list specifically for people who arrive through paid traffic, something he had partly implemented before but had never fully committed to. Elizabeth, who traveled from Nigeria, described a fear she had been carrying that had nothing to do with strategy at all.

“I’ve always thought of paid traffic as a monster. So I will run away from that monster.” That was the internal conflict she named out loud, in front of a room of strangers. What shifted for her that weekend was not a new formula. It was permission to stop treating an entire channel as something to avoid, and the confidence that it could actually be controlled instead of feared.

• Steven Gardner, from Spokane, described realizing he was already the expert he kept telling himself he would become someday, not a future version of himself he was still waiting on.
• Cassandra, from Texas, described finally narrowing which platforms actually deserved her attention instead of trying to be active everywhere at once.
• Joan Dizon, from Dallas, connected the timing of an email directly to the reader’s day: value in the morning while people are getting ready, an offer in the evening once there is actually time to sit and watch something.

None of these are secrets. They are ordinary lessons that had been sitting unused until something about being physically in that room, hearing them out loud, made them land differently than they had on a screen.

What happens when someone finally says your plan is too small, out loud?

The host closed the session with his own story, and it is the sharpest illustration of what a live event actually does that a video cannot. Two years earlier, at a different Fight the Forces of Evil event in San Diego, he had been broke enough that he did not have money for a hotel room and had to be put up by a friend. He described sitting on a curb outside the venue that night, thirty-two years old, unable to explain to himself why he still had not built the life he was trying to sell other people on.

Later that same weekend, a friend named Rob Fore leaned over at a table, a few drinks in, and said something that stuck.

your plan’s so small it makes me sick to my stomach

That single sentence, said in front of people he knew, is not the kind of thing you can get from a course. It required someone who cared enough to say the uncomfortable thing directly to his face, in a room, at a moment when he could not simply close the tab and move on. He described the exercise that followed: closing his eyes and letting his body surface a specific memory of when he first decided he was not allowed to want the things he wanted. What came up was himself as a four-year-old, being mocked by other children for saying he wanted to become a millionaire.

Why does identity do more work than tactics ever will?

That is the real mechanism underneath every tactic taught across the rest of this event. A better headline or a smarter follow-up sequence cannot fix a belief formed in childhood that ambition makes you a bad person, or that wanting more than what you have is somehow shameful. The ultimate benefit these attendees were actually chasing was never just more leads or more traffic. It was the relief of no longer needing to shrink to be acceptable.

That is also the honest case for showing up in person rather than only watching later. A recording can teach you the mechanics. It cannot put a friend across the table from you at the exact moment you are ready to hear a hard truth, and it cannot recreate a room full of people nodding because they recognize the same fear in themselves. The tactics in the rest of this course matter. But the room itself is doing something a screen cannot.

The full session captures the entire share circle in far more detail than fits above. Watch it in full, free, when you Create your free account.

The full session transcript follows below.

Transcript

What we're going to do here real quick, we're waiting for Dave to come on, we've got just a few moments, so now today I want to do a quick share, find out, anyone wants to share what is the most impactful thing that you have learned today from all the training and what you intend to do with it. How about that? Sound good? All right, so I'm going to grab this other, yes, she's on it.

See they got this dialed in, can you believe that? It's just amazing. You know what, let's, let's, let's see, go ahead and raise your hand if you have a breakthrough you experienced. Mr.

Jordan. Mr. Rushlow. Pleasure to meet you, sir.

The most impactful thing that I've heard this weekend was just right now, with setting up a separate list for your, for the people that come onto your line. You know, I've seen a lot of people come onto my list from paid traffic that actually purchase, where you can automate the onboarding process, and this is some, this is not really something that's new. I've seen Tracy Walker do this, and I've, I've kind of implemented partly in my own process, but now, oh baby, it's on like Donkey Kong. That was awesome.

Thanks Raymond. All right. Let's go over to this side of the room real quick here. Okay.

Go ahead and raise your hand if you've got something. We've got someone way over here in the corner. So go ahead and stand up in the black, white hat, yep. Give a round of applause.

What's your name and where are you from? Tara Bloom, from local area. Nice. All right.

We like Orlando. It's always a good trip. One of the big things for me has been, and I've kind of had this recurring theme of speaking anything to anyone about work. I've always wanted to share my journey and what I'm going through and trying to build a business online and becoming transparent with what you've gone through.

Those who do know me, I've gone through a lot of health challenges in the last few years. So it's a, it's a hard thing to know how much to share and when to share it and that kind of thing. And I think I go either way overboard or not at all. So one of the things that stops me from doing that is wondering what people are going to think.

And people can be very harsh in their comments and it was funny, some of the Periscope stuff, that kind of thing. People can say really mean things and I don't think that they necessarily understand that it's a person on the other end of that mean comment and what it actually does to that person. So, but the breakthrough was that I've been focusing on that, on all these mean comments and what people think of what I'm going through and whether I'm showing up as good as I should be or do they understand how much I'm struggling with the health stuff and all these other things.

Yeah. And what the breakthrough was is that there are people who have been here for me, Doug specifically and the other gentleman that I can't remember what your name was, when I had a really bad day yesterday, health wise, who were there for me and were just loving on me and thanking me for, you know, sharing some of this stuff. And I've been so focused on all these people who are being assholes. Yeah.

And being unloving for what I'm going through that I wasn't paying any attention to the people like my husband and these other people who have been saying, we're still there for you. So if you're going through that, maybe keep that in mind that you might be focusing too much on the people who are hating and not realizing that there are maybe a small group, but that there are a few people around you that really are saying, hey, we're still here for you. Who cares what they say? That's right.

Thank you. And I remember you sharing in Nashville too about your story, what you're going through. So thank you for that. Absolutely.

So let's go to the middle. See who else is what they've learned today. Right here in the front in the gray shirt. Give them a hand.

What's your name? Where are you from? Steven Gardner. I'm from Spokane, Washington.

All right. And I have been experiencing all weekend that I am the expert. I am the leader. Thank you.

I am the expert that I need to be, not I'm going to be in the future. I am now. And I am the expert now that I need to be. And I claim that I'm moving forward in that and owning that.

This isn't something that I will do in the future. This is who I am now. That's right. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it sounds simple when you say it.

Some people around here. They've heard that and they didn't really, really let that sink in. But what you said is the key. I woke up that morning was like, I am being the change I want to see in the world that day from that moment on.

And you really got it. So I expect a huge breakthrough from you to see you the next event and really see the results you got, buddy. Appreciate that. All right, man.

He's been watching some of my videos. Okay. One more. Here we go.

Yep. I'm coming around. I think. Give a round of applause.

What's your name? Where are you from? Elizabeth. All I got you from Nigeria.

All right. My breakthrough, there are just many, but I'm just going to concentrate on one. See, I've always thought of paid traffic as a monster. So I will run away from that monster.

But this weekend I found out that. Actually. You can control it and you can make it work for you. So I'm going to make it work for me.

Awesome. Okay. Let's go one more. You know what?

Let's go right up here. We got a cast member. Hi, my name is Cassandra. I'm from the great state of Texas and I'm on Team Consistency.

So my biggest breakthrough is something that I struggled with for a long time. I have been a part of many social media. many social media networks, and it's been hard to figure out which ones I really needed to focus on because they say pick one or two that you really need to look at. And to me, there wasn't anything that really spoke to me.

There wasn't anything that was really stirring in my heart. And what I really enjoyed about today was that I got to see how much time and effort was put into each one, which ones I wanted to focus on because Instagram, I enjoy Instagram, but I don't personally want to do that. But Facebook, that's something that I do already, and that's something that I can actually expand on. So it's enabled me to kind of narrow through which ones I want to focus on now so that I can become an expert in it, teach others, and then move on to stuff like Instagram and do the same with that.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Let's do some more. Right over here in the blue shirt.

Keep clapping. Keep clapping. Give them a hand. Hello.

My name is Jeff Strand. I'm from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. And by far the most impressive thing that I learned this weekend was Friday night when Mr. Wood gave his speech.

If I don't make another dime in this business, I'll walk out of here a better man on the basis of the speech he gave in terms of humility, giving back, and all the life lessons he taught Friday night. It was the most impressive speech I think I've ever heard in my life. And I'm an old dog. Right behind you there.

And then we'll go to the other side. What's your name? Where are you from? Valerie Kane from Arizona.

All right. So people have been asking me all weekend how many times have I gone to an event. The answer is three. The answer truly is one.

Because this is one I engaged myself in and committed to. A few people know I had a brain injury beginning of the year. Caused a lot of memory loss and confusion. It's okay.

And I went from having a very good time to having a very capable mentality to having none. And this weekend I had all these people on stage show me in my own time, my own way, how I could take it and use it myself. And I'm really grateful. Thank you.

Oh, my God. Okay. We got just a little bit more time. So hands over here.

I'm coming down this row. Anybody else got what they learned today? Today, that is a breakthrough for them. Right here.

Give a hand. Hi. My name is Ani Wilson from Phoenix, Arizona. And I actually learned new techniques today that I didn't even know you could use, like the slideshows and the PowerPoints.

And I was so psyched because I used to teach PowerPoint classes. And I'm really excited about being able to do that. What a breakthrough. Yeah.

Well, and that's some long-term stuff, you know. That's good stuff. So and as well here, I'm sorry, I don't remember your name, but with the pink hat, same thing. I didn't really know where I wanted to zone in.

I kind of was overwhelmed with all of the options that I had and being able to literally have a roadmap to exactly what I wanted to do. It's just so helpful. And now I know that I'm able to do it. And I'm able to do it.

And I'm able to do it. And I'm able to do it. And I'm able to do it. And I'm able to do it.

And I know exactly where I want to go and exactly the tools that I want to use. All right. We have time for two more. So I'm going back over here.

And I see a hand up over there in the dark gray and the black. What is your name? Where are you from? Hi.

I'm Kimberly Eileen from Brooklyn, New York. All right. My breakthrough from the whole weekend was just seeing how powerful Paul Hutchins and Mike, you know, they love their children. I love my children.

I always say I love my children. But the actions you put behind it show your love. The actions you put behind the word love is what you show to your children. So that was my breakthrough.

So when I go back home, my actions will show how much I love my children. So that was my breakthrough. One more. We got one more.

In the green. Right over here. In the green right there. All right.

So what is your name and where are you from? My name is Joan Dizon and I'm from Dallas, Texas. And this whole weekend has been awesome. I'm extremely, extremely grateful to be able to be here.

And a couple of things I learned this weekend was one from yesterday is stop holding back. Stop holding back. And the second thing I learned like yesterday is put your value in your emails in the morning and put your sales videos or whatever in at nighttime because people do. I'm, you know, getting the kids ready.

I'm getting ready to put my makeup on. I'm in the bathroom and I'm scrolling through my emails and you don't want to buy anything while you're in the bathroom. You want to see something. So that's what I learned this weekend.

So thank you all so much. And thank you all you to all you people here too that I've said hi to and I've met. So grateful for you to all being part of my family now. So love you all.

Awesome. We're good. Thank you. Planting that seed.

Planting the seed. Planting the seed with people so that that grows on them and giving that value in. Had to wait for that. In the middle of the day or the beginning of the day to be able to do that is very, very important.

And that's how that happens at night. Yeah, I'm going to do this. We got just a few minutes and I'm going to tell you guys something. It's been one heck of a weekend, hasn't it?

Do you feel the energy shift? How many of you are here at last event? Okay. How many of you is your first event?

Okay. So those of you at the last event to this event, do you feel a shift in yourself? Absolutely, right? So it's really about we can only do everything we can do, which as we've displayed and shown you, we've given you everything this weekend that we can.

We haven't really held back, have we? Okay. So it's really, at this point, it's take this and go run with it, right? So I think it's safe to say that you've run out of excuses to make for yourself, haven't you?

I'm sometimes not as dynamic as Tracy Walker to say, okay, listen. I'm gonna tell you exactly how this goes. I can't even do the head thing, right? I can't do it.

Mama, don't play. That's right. Well, I don't play either. I quit school because of recess.

Believe it. I'm gonna recap something for you guys. I'm gonna tell you this one small section from the heart where I came from, and I want you all to feel this, okay? Is that okay?

All right. Some of you know when I had my, when I told you about my story, and I was in San Diego, Fight the Forces of Evil 2013 in San Diego, and I was actually rooming with Justin Varengia at the time, too. We'd actually, he came and roomed with me in Atlanta, and then I called up and said, hey, man, I actually didn't get a room this time. Forgot.

And he's like, dude, come stay with us. And he literally returned the favor. Like, the next event. You know, how cool is that?

That's the kind of heart him and Dee have. And for those of you who don't know, all weekend long was this interesting thing that was happening, and what I want you to think about is how that has happened for you throughout the course of this weekend. As you reflect, you'll see more of this. But like I said from the beginning, when you set an intention, you may not always be conscious of your intention in every moment, but when you set that intention, you are telling your subconscious mind to look out for this and start intending this.

And so if you set that intention like we told you at the beginning of the event to do, then once you reflect, things will become self evident to you. And what I mean by that is I sat on that curb on Friday night and I'm thinking about all of the pain and struggle up to that point wondering why I had worked so hard and I could not get it handled. I couldn't create a full time income. I was still struggling.

Truth be told, I literally didn't have the money for a hotel room. That's why Justin Varangia helped me at that event. I was at that point barely making it and trying to play the part of staying positive at the event. I'm sitting on that curb and I'm thinking about this going there's no reason and no, there should be no reason why I'm at this point in my life.

At the time I was 32 years old and I'm like I should have this handled. I can't even barely eat right now. And I felt horrible about it. I felt like I was swimming upstream the whole time.

And when I sat on that curb I finally got to a point it was my first step forward when I said I need to know what this is and it really doesn't matter what it is. I have to know. You see, a lot of us are afraid of what that is if you find out what it is that's holding you back. Some of you may be dealing with a subconscious fear and you don't know exactly how to handle it.

And I'm telling you I sat there in that moment and I was like even if it's my worst fear I want to know. And I have to face it. And that was the first time in a long time that I turned and faced not knowing what it was yet resolute that no matter what it was I was going to handle it. And I was going to face it full on.

I was sick of struggling sick of being broke sick of just barely making it and it was time. I didn't realize at the time how important that moment was. And the people around me when I said it out loud they were looking at me like I was nuts as I'm talking to myself on a curb on the street outside of the event and I didn't care anymore. I let it go.

And I got up and I walked inside and I had a friend walk up and put their arm around me and they said, when are you really going to be who you are here? When are you going to do what you know you're capable of? And I'm like, I am. And another person come up and put their arm around me and say, you know you have more talent in your pinky than I have in my whole body.

I said, what? This person was talented. But this person she saw me and she knew my unique gifts. She knew she could say that.

But you see, that's not just me. That's everybody. Everybody has their unique gifts. And I truly fully believe and can stand here with authority here with you now and tell you that those unique weird things about you are what's going to make you your success.

Look at Justin Barangio. And so as the weekend gone on I'm sitting at a table and my friend Rob Fore sitting next to me a few drinks he's hunched over and he lifts up like he was like possessed and he goes dude your plan's so small it makes me sick to my stomach and back down. Everybody at the table heard me and heard him heard that conversation. What do I do now?

Well, first I was like thanks asshole why do you say that in front of everybody? And then I was like this sick to my stomach feeling again and again every time someone said it and Rob was walking us through an exercise when I was on stage and I was sitting in the front row because I had set my intention I wanted to know and if I was going to be shown what I needed to be shown I wanted to show up and not miss it and he said remember or tell yourself a goal that you want to achieve and I want you all to think of this now think of something that right now your mind tells you you may just be out of reach from put a time limit on it set a deadline and be ready and say it to yourself and guess what happened I said it to myself and I got a sick gut wrenching feeling in my stomach he said take a moment and ask your body to give you a memory of when you somehow realized or thought or you had an experience that told you it wasn't okay that you weren't worthy of this goal that you didn't deserve this goal and I'm thinking to myself I close my eyes and literally that moment I am four years old back in my mother's daycare and I'm hearing all these boys around me laughing at me because I'm talking about the things I want to do and the hopes and the dreams and the goals and the ambitions and all the things I want to be in a millionaire and they're telling me I'm crazy they're telling me millionaires are bad people they're telling me millionaires and people who do that are just ripping other people off they don't deserve to be here and it was in that moment I realized that what was happening is my body was showing me a memory of the time when I formed a belief that I wasn't good enough and I could not be myself and I let it stop me my whole life from being who I was meant to be and I didn't fully get it at the time because I told you I'm stubborn and then I come out of that state shake it off and go about the rest of the weekend and from all those moments leading up it only took one thing sitting there on a Sunday night in a driveway with a friend and they said Chris that ain't you out there you're not being yourself you're being what you think you need to be to people I couldn't even be around it it made me sick to my stomach and I believe truly because of that my stomach and all of those things that happened to me it triggered something in me and it was so surreal that I literally saw my whole life just like that just like a near death experience and I saw every moment where I was not being myself and I was plain small and it caused more pain and suffering in my life my whole life and I got it I broke I cried 15, 20 minutes I just could barely move crying, sobbing realizing what I did and you know what I said to myself when I got done crying I said what he said earlier today I realized at this moment that I was enough from my first breath ladies and gentlemen thank you for this this weekend thank you for being here with me thank you for being with us and now it's time to take it home