In this post we’ll go over my relationship with other SEO bloggers and take a serious look at the Elite Retreat.
Why?
Well, I got tons of IMs about my Pink Hat SEO post last week: people wanting to know if I have some kind of gripe with Shoe or Aaron or Lee Dodd. One blog commenter even asked if “frosts [my] ass to see them make this kind of money?”
No. I’m not that type of person.
Getting upset or jealous because someone else is making money is negative energy that should be removed from your life. Business is not a zero sum game. If someone else is making money, that doesn’t mean that there’s any less money for you to make. If someone else is successful, I look to see what they are doing right and emulate it.
Here’s my take on the elite retreat:
For the right audience, $5,000 is a bargain. While the presentations about PPC, Blogging, SEO and community will probably be useful in and of themselves, the real benefit here is going to be from the interaction.
The “Strategy Session” and “Group Discussions” will allow attendees to get inside the minds of how successful online entrepreneurs think. More than anything, thinking the right way and learning innovative ways to tackle various projects are the keys to success. Many . . . I would say MOST . . . people in the corporate world do not have their heads around what it takes to create a successful online business. That’s where the interaction with people who are successful can make the biggest difference.
Even starting to learn something like that is easily worth the 5 grand.
When you read the fine print of the elite retreat, that’s when things get juicy. See where it says “Action Plan Follow-Up”? That means to me that attendees are going to be able to fire off quick questions to the speakers for a couple months to come. Getting high level input on strategy from people who have done it is one of the real benefits that I’m sure many have overlooked.
How do I know this is such a benefit? Because two of the speakers are already in my Instant Messenger. While I don’t chat all that much with Aaron, Shoemoney has given me advice that has helped me make literally tens of thousands more dollars. It cuts both ways, though, one of the things I showed him . . . something that took him about 20 mins to change . . . is now making him an extra $14k per month.
If you don’t have the contacts it’s hard to get the attention of the right people. The elite retreat is a step in the right direction for people who need to build connections.
Do I have a gripe with any of the Speakers? Of course not. The Pink Hat SEO post was a harmless joke. Most people thought it was funny – including Shoemoney and Aaron.
The real URL for the elite retreat is
http://www.eliteretreat.info/
.info? They must be spammers. 
3 Responses to “Elite Retreat – For Real this Time”
Its great for a few laughs, and it gives them buzz and backlinks so who cares?
Aaron, Jeremy, and Lee have had a huge impact on the direction of my businesses over the past year in a very positive way. However, I am not too impressed with their marketing efforts in terms of this thing.
Granted, I know that these guys have plenty of other projects that take up their time, but something just seems to be missing. From their site it looks like they’ve sold out about 11 seats so far for something a month away — thats usually not a good sign.
Perhaps the real problem is they don’t want to look like sleezy internet marketers, yet the sleezy internet marketing sales page is what works. You don’t have to tell me who these guys are, but what about some business owner who isn’t an addict blog reader? Hell, there aren’t even any pictures of them on the page.
I suspect none of those guys are doing it for the money — they are doing it because they want to know more. At the end of the day its the risks, mistakes and sometimes even “embarassments” that move you forward.
[…] Elite Retreat is een seminar dat Aaron Wall, Shoemoney en nog paar andere goede SEO’s of internet entrepreneurs geven is wel zijn geld waard, juist omdat je met die mensen kunt praten, brainstormen en zodoende betere ideeën kunt opdoen dan wie je ook kan geven. SEO Blackhat legt dan ook uitgebreid waarom. […]
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I say good luck to them, its not some “how to get rich in 5 easy steps” its being run by some respected people in the industry
The price tag is not cheap for many so once the people within the 35 are selected correctly it shouldnt be a waste of money
But I can see how many people will try to knock it but what ever anyone does you will always find complainers
The only thing I could see which seemed a bit crazy/cheap was $500 for a meal but no alcohol - unless you are going to be sitting at the dinner table for the whole night it seems a bit much not to say a bottle of wine is covered
And yes plenty of people could hit the bottle big time but a bit of a bad attitude
What are they going to do, at the end of the meal get a pen and a calculator and break it down
So elite retreat great idea, the dinner people in my opinion can poke fun at them