Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

[Dan Reinhold]

There is finally a conference to be held in Boston (the Massachusetts one), a mere alleged half hour drive from my humble abode. It's the PubCon conference hosted by Webmaster World...definitely no lemonade stand seminar!

My quandry is this: I need to fork over a good chunk of change in a couple of days in order to attend. The fee is more than I make from any curent affiliate efforts and would have the effect of setting me back a while. Sure, I'm a bit concerned about that, but heck, life's too short anyway.

Due to a common condition that hinders my brain from doing and accomplishing all this stuff when I first learn about it, I'm still your basic babe in the woods and just a wee bit uncertain whether I wouldn't just be blown away by it all.

Oh yeah...there's the added benefit of a somewhat wacky and always helpful person I'd love to meet being a speaker at said shindig.

OK, OK, the quandry: Would this really be a worthwhile experience in spite of all my doubts?

[Rosalind Gardner]

Hi Dan,

Very good question. I've always been of the mindset that a) if you have serious doubts, don't do it, and b) don't spend money that you don't have.

That money might better be spent on hiring a programmer to do something that you're having a problem with, or to set up a PPC campaign.

It makes me sad that these weekend seminars are so darned expensive and effectively 'lock out' small mom and pop operations (like ours) that are just starting out (like yours). Definitely made worse when you add the cost of flight and hotel to the mix.

All that said, based on what I've heard from other webmasters who have attended PubCon, say that it's very good.

So... the ball is decidely back in your court.

Cheers,
Ros

[Dan Reinhold]

Gee, Ros, you made my decision sooooo much easier...

How do you say "cop-out" in Canadian?

Of course, I hadn't thought that that dinero could get me back into the PPC game. I was effectively knocked out by one big, juicy, unexpected expense out of the blue just when I was getting the hang of it and actually seeing some profit.

Hmmm. Resume the PPC campaigns in hopes of re-establishing the trickle (at the mercy, of course, of Google's endless whims) OR attend my first-ever Internet business conference featuring someone I'm acquainted with.

I may be too darn cool to not stand out like a sore thumb amongst all those cybergeeks, though.

Decisions, decisions!

[Dan Reinhold]

And the final answer is...

I'm not going.

I found myself just a bit short of the needed cash, but before I went scrambling for that little extra, I did some thinking.

I discovered that with a bit more budgeting, I can soon safely resurrect my dormant PPC campaign and re-establish that growing trickle. And with "The Roz" in my corner, I'll have it made!!

I'll then have one or two nice income streams started up again and that will be a good thing.

I'll catch PubCon when it comes by next year(?), when I'll be in a position to enjoy it much more.