Yesterday, I shared several benefits of attending various events and conferences. Today, I’ll share a few takeaways that I had from the EntreLeadership event I attended last Friday.

They had a mind to work

Nehemiah 4:6 says that Nehemiah and those that helped him were able to build the wall because they had a mind to work. Dave Ramsey’s team is the same way. I’ve heard Dave and others talk about the work they do – that everyone works to “bust it.”

I was able to help unload the truck and get some things set up the day before the event. We were all moving and unloading pallets from the truck, moving tables (and we “C’s” made sure they were straight), setting out books and materials, etc. There was even one of the IT guys helping with tables and books, even though there was no on/off button on the books. I was there about two hours, and we got a lot done.

Making connections

I was able to interact with the people I helped setup with. I was able to learn more about what each one did on Dave’s team and I got to share my experience with following Dave through the radio show, books, EntreLeadership podcast, and Chris LoCurto’s blog.

I even got a call on the morning of the event asking if I could stop at a store and pick up some Visine for Jon Acuff. It was a simple thing, but an awesome thing I could do for a guy that specializes in awesome. I was then able to talk to Jon for a few minutes while he signed my Quitter book. And I was able to take a picture of him holding Flat LoCurto (the 2-D version of Chris LoCurto – this is another story).

At the event, I didn’t connect with many of the attendees, but I was able to have at least one good conversation with a gentleman that started a property management company 30 years ago. He has grown the company to a couple dozen people, and most of them were there at the event. He shared several stories about his team and what his niche-within-a-niche was. This was a nudge for me to figure out what my specialty will be (I know I want to focus on making web sites for small businesses, but I need to narrow that down even more).

5 Core Principles of EntreLeadership

After a few minutes of tribute in memory of the OKC bombing (the day of the event was the 18th anniversary of the bombing), Dave opened the event by sharing how EntreLeadership began. He then went through the 5 core principles that he and his leadership team defined:

1. People matter
2. Team and a culture of excellence matters
3. Slow and steady matters
4. Financial principles matter
5. A higher calling matters

Three takeaways I got from this session:

• Determine what the “why” really is for my business
• How can I treat clients better and really serve them?
• Develop a budget for the business

The road to Awesome

Jon Acuff shared the concepts of his book, Start (affiliate link). He mentioned the 5 states of an awesome life:

1. Learning
2. Editing
3. Mastering
4. Harvesting
5. Guiding

Not only did he share the personal implecations, but he also applied the principles to business and leadership. The biggest takeaway I got from this was overcoming fear.

Making decisions

Dave wrapped up the event by sharing some simple elements of good decision-making. Here are a couple:

• Deciding not to decide can be the right decision.
• Make a deadline and write it on a calendar as a reminder.
• Take time proportionate to the impact of the decision.
• Gather options and then gather more options.
• In the multitude of counsel there is safety.
• Ask your spouse about all major decisions.

Question: What are some takeaways that you’ve gotten from going to an event? Or even from reading a book, listening to a podcast, etc.?