 Hi, y'all Liz here and this is smart business moves. Now, Tom is not here today. He's out gallivanting around. Who knows what he's doing, but I do have three amazing guests and I think we might even have a couple more people that are gonna pop on in a little bit. So we are going to be talking ISSA show 2023 in Vegas. Why you wanna be there? If you're already registered, feel free to pop in with why you registered. And we would love to have everybody share that as well, but we're just gonna jump right into what I'm going to ask y'all to do is I'm gonna start with you, Marla. I feel like everybody knows who y'all are, but give a quick intro about who you are, why you're on here, why you wanna talk about ISSA show, why you think it's important, and then go ahead and tell us what's amazing. All right, Milo, we're gonna start with you. Okay, well, I am Marla Canite. I deserved comfort house cleaning in Columbia, South Carolina. I have had my business for over 37 years and I am on the convention committee. I'm also an ambassador residential ambassador for the ISSA residential. And I'm here to tell you a little bit about the networking opportunities and the community that you'll have if you choose to go to Vegas, which I highly encourage you to go. It's one of the more fun places that the ISSA holds their conventions. So to start off, that's my favorite thing about going. I mean, I love the education. I love the showroom floor. I love all the aspects of going to the convention including the downtime when you don't have anything to do, but it's just fun to be able to go see people who you've met over the years, reconnect with them and share things that you've, troubles that you've been going through, problems, issues, and also just good things and good ideas. And, you know, a lot that can be learned just by hanging out with people. And there's gonna be a lot of opportunity to hang out. So one of the things that we will have really each morning, besides Monday, Tuesday through Thursday on the showroom floor between 10 and 1030 at the ISSA residential booth, you will be able to see some of your friends there and just kind of connect with them before any educational, if it's a day that has the education, then you would want to just kind of meet there to start off your day seeing some of your friends. And on Tuesday, excuse me, on Monday at four after the educational sessions, and this will be in the same area as some of the educational sessions, at four o'clock, we're gonna have cocktails and conversations. These are gonna be round tables. And if you've never done round tables, you definitely want to attend. If you have done them, you know how much fun it can be, we have, there'll be an abundance of tables there with different topics. You'll go to the tables and you will be able to talk about whatever topics are listed there on the table and share ideas again and just really talk about whatever's going on with that particular topic. You'll get to have some cocktails there and just have a good time for that. I think it's about an hour or maybe a little bit longer and then, you know, just have a good time. So the other thing is on Tuesday evening is the big bash. The ISSA is really going all out with this one and highly encourage you if you have not registered for this event that you register. It's gonna be Tuesday evening. That's the 14th at the, hope I pronounced this correctly, hackathon nightclub at the NGM Grand. There's gonna be an open bar, live music, food, and of course networking. It's a lot of fun. Everybody loosens up after that Tuesday, after being in class all day long and walk in the floor. So it's just a lot of fun. You want to be sure that you attend that. What was the time on that, Marlo? Let me tell you, it is from 6.30 to nine. And that's on Tuesday. On Tuesday the 14th. Okay. Right now, there's an early bird special going on. It is a little, a separate registration for that. Members, it's $125 if you sign up by the 30th. That's in addition to your registration. But I mean, you just think about it. If you go out for live music, like if you went to a concert or you went to go get drinks somewhere else, you're definitely gonna spend more than that. So I highly encourage you to do that and get registered by September 30th. Do you have a link for that, Marlo? Otherwise, I'm gonna go search one out right now. Hello, my dear, here we go. I'm gonna just post this in, this is for the registration and for the registration for the convention. But it also has the link for the big batch on it as well. Right. If you send that to me, then I will post it to, looks like you did. I'll post it to all the different groups. Okay. Okay. And then, let's see here. Now I mentioned about the 10 a.m. general hanging out at the ISSA booth on Thursday mornings. But I mean, on Tuesdays, three days in the mornings, yeah. But at 10.30 on Thursday, that's the last day, 10.30 to 11, we're gonna be having a live conversation, coffee and conversation with R.J. Patel and Gosha Barron. We also have a one tomorrow just online. But this is gonna be a live, so it'll be a lot of fun and one last chance to see all your buddies before everybody heads back home. So I'll be sure to join us on the floor 10.30 on Thursday morning. Many people, when you start seeing people that you've met over the years or that you've just even met online and in coffee and conversation or that you've maybe never have met, it's just a good opportunity to use this time at the convention to go to dinner with a group, go out for cocktails, hang out, get to know these people a little bit better so that you have someone else that whenever you need some advice, you need to share your troubles. You have someone who you can reach out to. And as you know, if you're a part of the ISSA community, then you know that everyone is here for each other. Everyone loves each other. It's a huge family. And so I definitely encourage everyone to if you're not registered, sign up today. There is still an early bird special until September 30th and you wanna get your registration in for the actual convention. You want to get your registration in for the big bash and you definitely need to get your hotel room. Even if you're not sure if you're gonna go, go ahead and book your hotel room. There's also gonna be the Formula One racing that week and hotel rooms are selling out fast. So better to be safe than sorry. So most residential members are gonna be staying at the Luxor, which is within walking distance to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. So, you know, check it out. We put the link there in the chat. If you happen to need more information then please feel free to reach out to me and we will do what we can to help you out, answer any questions and get you registered. And I hope to see y'all there. Yay, I love that. Okay, so I have a couple of details that I didn't get here. You said the roundtables, what day were they? That is gonna be on Monday at 4 p.m. Okay, so that's the first big thing is Monday because then Tuesday morning, we're gonna go in and have the conversations nice and early, which is always fun. All right, and then Tuesday night, we've got the big bash, right? And then Wednesday, we're back into education all day long but we don't, no, no, we have meet in the morning, on Wednesday morning, still at the booth. Right, and you know what, I did forget something on Wednesday, I'm sorry. Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the ISSA residential booth on the showroom floor, we're gonna have something, something where the ISSA residential cleaning council is gonna be on hand to answer any questions about what ISSA residential membership can do for you. So you want to come on down, they're calling that the clean, neat zone. So come on down to the floor and you'll be able to learn and meet your, learn things, meet your council and share your concerns. Is the whole council gonna be there? I'm not sure if they'll all be there but I think that is the plan. Gonna be a chunk, wow, that's gonna be amazing. All right, I guess I'm putting that on my calendar. I didn't know I have that on yet. All right, so we have to register for two things. We wanna register for the convention and then we also wanna register for the big bash. Exactly. So that we do both of those and we can do both of those on that one link. Yes. And the hotel, are there still rooms available for the Luxor? There are right now, but they're selling out fast. Okay, do you have an idea what the price was for those rooms? They are running or were running as low as $89 a night. Wow, all right, that's amazing. And one nice thing about the Luxor is it really is close to the Mandalay Bay. All right, so that is super nice. And for the big bash, y'all, the MGM grand, I've won a lot of money there. So it was a great way to go, right? When you finish the event, you can always hit the casino floor as well. Earn back your money right there. It's gonna be breaking even for everybody. All right, this sounds great. I really have to endorse this piece of the convention as well. I have been to every convention since the beginning and I know people have reasons why they don't go. It's like, I just can't imagine. Marlowe, you're the same as me, right? Can't imagine not going. Now I look forward to it. That's the highlight of my year. Yeah, so much benefit, so much value. And I know that you have a lot of very, very close friends that you met through ISSA, right? Right, I do. I do. Same as me. I'm very blessed. Yeah, and Dan actually, that's funny now that we're talking about it. So Dan and I are partners in a program that we haven't even really launched out loud to anybody yet. It's called Listening Cells, it's sales program. And we met through ISSA too. I mean, I have partnerships with people. Actually, all of my partnerships, except for real estate partnerships, have been with people that I met through ISSA. So I have made a lot of money because of y'all. High five, thank you for that. But seriously, this is where you meet your best people, right? Aren't most of your best friends, people that you met through ISSA? They are, they are. And I have, I swear, I have probably 150. So crazy. It's crazy, it's crazy. So crazy. That's awesome. And it's hard to even imagine that you're gonna meet people that are going to matter so much to you through an association, but we're different. It is different. It's a different association. It's a big family. You know, we all have a story and for those that have gone and how we wandered in or how we took that first step when we were uncomfortable not knowing who might be there or maybe not having that connection. So my particular story resonates in that I was six months in the industry. I didn't know much about beans in terms of this industry. And I met a small group of people at a very local regional event. They didn't know me. I was a stranger, but no less than 15, 18 people at that event said to me, are you going to convention? And I had no idea what convention meant, but the month was April and they were telling me it was in, I believe October, November at the time and they were insistent that I go. So I have limited experience in the industry. I have a whole group of strangers telling me I have to go. I rolled the dice, I went and I will tell you it was a pivotal shift for my entire business. It played an instrumental role in growth, the speed of my business, the networking, the experience gained by collaborating with people like Marlowe, it was a game changer for sure. Say the least. Yeah, Dan, I think we met in Vegas actually. We did, yeah. I figured with his little roll of the dice thing, right? I was like, ah, he's referencing Vegas right there. I got that. So outside of just who you're gonna meet and all that kind of stuff, there's also amazing education, right? Jonathan, I think that's one of the things that you have some stuff to share with us. Absolutely, absolutely. So just a really quick, for those who don't know who I am, I'm Jonathan Lorbacher, Town and Country Cleaning in Central North Carolina. If you've ever met Bruce and Sarah Vance, I work with them and I am slowly taking over that company over the next couple of years. So, yeah, it's exciting. Yeah, I have nine kids. No, that's not an exaggeration. Yes, I know I'm probably crazy, but that's okay. I can live with that. Good thing, since you have to. Yeah, we actually just had, just brand new. Yeah, she's a week old today. Congratulations. That's why I'm hiding in the basement right now because this is the quietest place to do this. But yeah, so coming along with Bruce and Sarah Vance, obviously I was exposed to education in the industry very early and it was kind of one of the things that actually made me stay in the cleaning industry. When I first got involved with cleaning, this was kind of just to give me something to do for a while. I was coming out of kind of what I would consider a traumatic job and I just needed to land on my feet for a bit. And so I started working with Bruce and Sarah and really quickly saw that there was a lot more to the cleaning industry than mobs and buckets. And that was something that was really compelling to me. I quickly went through a couple of different certification classes, which if you are going to the convention and you have not done the HCT certification, there will be a class during the convention. So you can still sign up for that. I highly recommend it for anybody that really wants to get the nuts and bolts and science of cleaning. The education sessions are one of the more interesting things to me because there's so much going into it every year that I feel like I learned that I did not know. And this year, one of the exciting things is that there's a lot of new faces among the speakers. There's a lot of people that we haven't seen at these conventions before. I've been going since, well, Dallas was what, 2018. And so some of the people I'm familiar with, but this year there's a lot of new blood and that's exciting. As a matter of fact, I'm actually doing a session too. So if anybody wants to come, you know, throw tomatoes or whatever, I'll be doing that on Monday. You know, or heckle me or whatever. Look, I can take it. I was in a touring pump band. I can handle it. So- Oh my gosh, were you really? Yes, I was. Wow. That's, and actually my presentation kind of ties a couple of those ideas together of what I learned from touring that I've brought into the business world. So it should be interesting if nothing else. But yeah, I mean, there's guys like Dean Mercado that are doing sessions this year that a lot of people who have been in the coffee and conversation really enjoyed his session he did. He did another webinar presentation. People felt like they got a lot from it. I know he's presenting, I believe on Monday as well. There's a lot of other folks that are new this year too that I'm excited to kind of see what they bring because every year I find that there's something new that I pull from the education. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest things I pulled last year was actually something from one of Liz's classes on running meetings because I'm a person who hates meetings. And a lot of what I learned in that session was a game changer. I was able to trim down a monthly meeting from a four hour behemoth to a tight 90 minutes or less. So you will learn some really practical stuff in there too. And I'm very grateful for what I've learned so far and I'm excited to see what I can pick up this year as well. Well, I'm glad that you said that because you were talking about all of the new speakers. But there's some old speakers too in the middle of the floor. We love hearing the old familiar faces too. There's a lot of them that if I see certain names, I'm in that session. I don't even have to know what it's about. I'm gonna be there. Me too. And so that's always great because there's a lot of people that have been in this for a long time that bring great ideas out there. And the great thing about the convention is it's all, you can get as much of it as you want. Yeah. So I'm one of those speakers this year. I've been around presenting, I don't know how many years in a row, been quite a few. This year, I'm talking about strategic leadership and how you have to be strategic in your leadership. Because this is not something that comes naturally in our industry. We all sort of just jump in, start not all, but a lot of us just, Amarlo, you and I, we're kind of the same boat, right? We started cleaning way back in the day and we kind of had to grow into our leadership and things take a little bit longer when you're growing into it and you're learning it all by yourself. That's not the way it is anymore. All of the people nowadays get there so much faster because, well, everybody's teaching all of the stuff. Do we have a link to, hey, Deneet, I just saw you over there. Do we have a link to the education somewhere? I don't have one right here, but I can find it. You'll find me one and I will go and I'll post that to all the groups so everybody can see all the different presenters and the different things. I'd love to hear from everybody else about the education, like your experience with education. I do wanna say for me, like I said, I've been going since the beginning and you will always find me in education. I will not be one of the people that is out like having fun, partying, nothing against those people, but I'm not one of them. I'm one of the people that's in the room. I'm getting education all day, every single day. And yeah, yeah, no, that's saying a lot for me. Y'all know how I love Vegas. So it's saying something when I'm in education every single day because there's stuff to learn. And even if you're not loving the ARCSI topic for this one time frame, there are so many topics through ISSA that are amazing, high level pieces of education that I just, how would I have gotten that information had I not gotten? One of the things I will say too, and this is just kind of a more of a practical thing if you've never been before or if you've only gone a couple of times, one of the things I found really useful for myself is if a session title pisses me off or makes me uncomfortable, I need to be there. Because most of the time I find that like if something bristles with me or like rubs me the wrong way it's probably something I needed to hear. And I will also say if you're bringing other people from your company too, one thing you can do is split up, pick a different session. One of the things we often do when we go because usually Bruce's hair goes well. And look, Bruce probably knows more about cleaning than just about anybody I know. And yet he's in education sessions the whole time too, constantly learning, constantly growing. And so we split up and then at the end of each day we'll kind of compare notes. And then when we get back from convention, one of the probably more productive days that we have is to sit down and talk about what we each picked up in different sessions. So don't miss out on that. I mean, yes, there's a lot of great stuff to see in a Vegas is of course a town that you can get into a lot of trouble if you want to. But I can tell you that you'd be missing out if you don't spend some time in those education classes and grow yourself. I have not to date, and I'm not gonna load over here, but to date I have not gone to an education session where I didn't get at least one thing, never. In all of these years I have always gotten something. So when I hear people say anything like, oh, I know that information. I'm like, oh, y'all I don't know if I'm the stupidest person on the planet or what, but I always get something. It's amazing that there is always that new thing. Every year is new too. There's new, what people are bringing is different this year than what they were bringing five years ago. Who's gonna argue with me on that? Since COVID, it's a different world. It's a different world. It is. The cleaning industry as a whole, when I talk to people about why I'm still doing this is that the cleaning industry is still kind of the Wild West in terms of you can have ideas. And it's an industry that is constantly in motion. It's not, there's not as many established flagpoles in the ground that tie you to tradition. It is growing. It is dynamic. And there's constantly something to learn. And the more that I learn, the more that I realize I don't know. And that's exciting to me. I'm somebody who likes to learn. So. You know what? I'm going to give a point right here. Here's an exact point. What we hear in this industry all the time is that it's a fractured industry that we are not together. We need to get ourselves on board. But what did we just hear? A brand new perspective to that exact same idea. Yes, we are a fraction industry. But you know what we also are? We're an industry that doesn't have just the certain ways of doing things. We're an industry where you can have fresh ideas that there are new ways of doing things. Like right here on this call, why am I learning something brand new? I'm learning a new perspective, a new way to present this, a new way to look at my own industry that I've been in for, not as long as Marlowe, but still 30 some-ish years, right? That's crazy. Oh, we've seen that. You have a real quick, Dan, I just want to say. And John, you have an admirer over here. I don't know if you can see that Amber. Hi, Amber. Yeah, she's saying hi over here. Yeah, I know. You know, man, I'm on preach. All right, go ahead, Dan. Amber, my favorite couple I've met. She's everybody's favorite couple. You know, I wanted to, it doesn't bear repeating, but John hit the nail on the head. For those of you that have an interest, have a desire, the industry offers so much in terms of collaboration, networking and learning from one another. But do yourself a favor. Go look outside of our industry. Go look at what business economic journals have to say about the cleaning industry. Go look at what statistics and trends show and what they predict our industry, the cleaning industry as a whole, where it's been and where it's going to grow. And if you look, that has proven true. And where current models are to, you know, where it's going to be in the future. Everything points to this being an industry of immense opportunity, immense opportunity. So when that opportunity is there, where you blend that with education, training, commitment, the sky's the limit. I mean, you are your own success driver and the car is yours. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did have a question about Johnson. You've said that an HET is going to be live at convention, I think. Did you give dates, Tom, any of that good stuff? Because that's a separate registration as well, right? So I think it's the schedule length that I posted should have the ACT schedule in there as well. It is on the schedule. But yes, it is a separate registration. I think you can do it through the ISSA website. Question mark. I'm probably not the person to ask about that. But. I'll go look. Well, back to you, go ahead. But I'm pretty sure I saw it in this schedule. I'll go look for it and see if we can register there with the same length that Marlowe provided. And while I'm doing that, Beth, maybe you could give us a quick intro about who you are. And I think you're going to talk about the showroom floor. We have a big lag for Beth. Yeah. Yes. I'm Beth Derrickson. I own Corsi in Boston, Maryland. And I've owned that for 12 years. And I'm going to talk about the showroom floor. And it's where a lot of the education is held. And be prepared to definitely walk a lot when you're out there. There is so much to see. There is vendors go in and have education at. There's the Salford X Theater. There's also the Residential Pavilion. There's a ward ceremony that's going to be held Wednesday at noon in the ISSA booth. So that's always exciting to hear who has won our industry awards. And one thing that was really good in years past for the showroom floor is the ISSA show planner. Because you can map out the educational places you want to go. And it'll have a map linked to it in the planner. At least it did in previous years. So that's always a good tool. And if you have your education planned out, it's always good because you can get from point A to point B in time to have your class and see the education and as well as be able to, like Marlowe said, network with the individuals in the class. So definitely look up the showroom floor. It's on the ISSA show website. There is actually a really good map that shows everything. It's drawn out, drafted. You can see the Salford X Theater. You can see where the Residential Pavilion is, the ISSA booth. There also is a link to the ISSA show planner on the website. And that's, like I said, always good to have. One thing that the ISSA Residential Show Committee is having in October is an orientation. So if you've never been to a show before or you just want to refresher, that's something that you'll definitely want to get patched into so that you can learn more about the show and how to get the most out of it and have it be the most enjoyable. Do we have a date and time for that orientation in October, Beth? We do. It's going to be October 24th. And I believe it's at 1 PM Eastern time, but more information will be coming out for that. If you do a Save the Date, again, it's going to be Tuesday, October 24th. And it's just we're going to have everybody together and be able to share our experience and share best practices for coming to the show, how to get the most out of it, how to wear the right sneakers. Because like I said, you're going to be walking a lot and getting from point A to point B on the showroom floor. And it's just definitely going to be a good opportunity for people to have a refresher too. OK, definitely think I need to go there. Because even though I've been so many times, I start getting a little cocky. Oh, I know what I need to bring. I know what I need to do. Last year, guess who forgot her business cards? What the heck? Like, what the heck? You'd think I would know better. OK, so showroom floor, who has something else that they would like to say? Here's what I'd like to know. We're all residential. A lot of times people are saying, oh, I don't want to go to the showroom floor, because it's all commercial. There's nothing for me. Oh my gosh, could not be further from the truth. So from y'all who've been there, tell me something that you got on the showroom floor, something that you learned, something that you bought, something that you got that made a big impact for you. Who wants to go first? I didn't do this personally, but I do know that on the last day, on Thursday, that's when these vendors are looking to get rid of everything that's in their booth, so they don't have to pay for it to go back. So you can get some great deals on vacuum cleaners, gloves, cloths, whatever they have. So I haven't done that, but. And free. Yeah. You can get all the small stuff as free. I have brought a separate piece of luggage before and sent it home 50 pounds worth of free stuff. I'm not lying. Dusters, like different types of cobwebbers, microfibers to beat the band, magic erasers, different types, pumice stones, trying to think of all the different things. Oh, these odor. I love these things, too. We use this product. Now I can't remember the name of it. There were these little odor packs, back out, I think they're called, and little packets that get rid of odor. And I got one of those. I can't even remember all the stuff. Oh, let's see what. Denny gets seduced by shiny objects. Yes, we will talk about that, too. Denny, because that is tough. OK, anybody else? Anybody else get anything on the showroom floor that you're like, good thing I went? Oh, constantly. Go ahead, Tom. Yeah, please. OK, yeah. So we've picked up a number of things over the years. I remember we had an issue with one of our restroom cleaners. We had a couple folks that seemed to not want to understand the idea of dwell time. And so they were constantly wanting to scrub really fast and then being like, ah, this product sucks. And so I think it was either my first or second year. I found something. I got it as a sample. It was one of those free samples that I got on a Thursday. And I took it home. And at the time, I was in a house that I was renting and had a shower that I could never get the spots out of. And it had some mineral buildup and whatever. And on a whim, I tried this new product and it made that shower look better than it had ever looked. And I was like, hey. So I ended up picking up that as a product that we regularly carry now. So and it was one of those things that I managed to get it as a freebie on one of those Thursday afternoons. I'm with Liz. I usually end up packing really, really light with a big suitcase so that I can just load it up with stuff. Even just for little toy knick-knack things that the kids like. But also, I found some really cool products over the years that we've started using and we've been able to trim down some of our products that we carry with some of the new stuff that's coming out. One that I got last year, Perfect Clean was showing chlorase, which is a hydrochlorous acid that we started using in place of Clorox Cleanup. Less risk of damage. It comes in a tablet form and it works really well. So there's a lot of cool stuff. Pay attention to what's out there. Yeah. All right, Dan. I can tell you're just chomping at the bit. You want to tell your thing. Yeah, the oil is the education around it. Beth has what we discovered. Is it 10 minutes in lag? Well, that's why I'm talking over her, just because it's going to take her a little second to catch up here. So Dan, I'm going to have you hold on just a second. And we'll let Beth go and then we'll hit you up there. Go ahead, Beth. Sorry about that. So not only the products, the giveaways that you get on the floor, but just the sheer knowledge that's out there and when people are talking to you and about their product. And it's usually like if you have a problem, you can ask them about whatever it is. And they're like, oh, I just met someone over at booth A. Go ahead over there and ask them. And it's like automatically the network and the education that you get is just all right there. It's so, it's great. Like you do get a ton of free giveaways and do pack like room to bring it back. But just the knowledge and all the education that's there is top match. Well, 100% agree. All right, Dan. Yeah, having heard the two perspectives before me, it's really, it covers what I intended to say to begin with. Sometimes we get in the habit, not only are in the industry, but just human nature, right? We get in the habit of doing things a certain way, not because it's the best way, but maybe because that's the way we've always done it. And I personally have found value on the show floor by wandering around with no intentions to buy, not seeking anything. And then stumbling across something I didn't know existed, stumbling across a solution to a problem that wasn't important enough for me to go, look for a solution ahead of time. And I think that's the most valuable piece. You don't know what you don't know. So when you get out there and you cover that floor and it's expansive, and you cover that floor and walk away with a different perspective or different approach to how to tackle problems or meet solutions you didn't even know exist, I think that is invaluable because there's not a lot of opportunity elsewhere where you can just go to one location and be inundated with alternative thinking, if you will. Very true. Very, very true. Another thing, so another thing that I did was I'll switch up my stuff just because I wanna try new things. I'm using Buckeye products now, cleaning supplies. I use their entire line. And before, I used a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And because of the convention, maybe four years ago, five, I'm not sure, I was just chatting with a Buckeye rep about an issue that I had. And he made a compelling case for why I should be using all of the same products from one line, how they all work together. He explained like the pH and how these things build up and what. I was like, what the heck? I felt like I should have already known this. And just having that conversation switched over to Buckeye and been thrilled with that product ever since. And they've been a huge help for me in a lot of different ways. Never would have done that had I not gone to the convention as well. Just so many changes to your business if you, once you go. Did you have something you wanted to say, Dan? You had the... No, no, I'm agreeing with you in real time. Yeah, so okay. So I did have another question here because y'all know me, I've always got a million questions. Wish I could be done with them, but never gonna happen. So we are having the convention at Mandalay Bay this year, right? That's what I'm hearing. Can anybody explain to me how that's gonna work? How big is it? I just feel so confused about the Mandalay Bay instead of at the convention center that we're normally at. When I'm thinking of a casino, like I think of the Mandalay Bay, I think of a casino and I don't get it. How does it work? There's gonna know they have a separate convention center. And it's massive. Now, how it compares to the Las Vegas convention center as far as size, I do not know. But it's not going to be in the casino area and all that of Mandalay Bay. Not in the hotel, it will be separate from that. Will we be walking to it or will we still take a shuttle or do we know any more? I checked before, but I think it is like two blocks, maybe three blocks away, it's within walking distance. Now, whether someone wants to walk that or take an Uber over, that is up to them. But I think it is within walking distance to the convention center. So it looks like Amber has some real world experience with the convention center. Staying at smaller, but infinitely more walkable. Awesome, all right, that's good to know. I really like that we can walk to it. How easy is that going to be? I can't remember where I'm staying. I know I'm not staying at either of the best places. I got some kind of an amazing deal. Oh, I'm staying at the Bellagio. But that's very close, but that'll be, everything's close, which is the, right? That's the benefit, everything is so... Remember, you can get around Vegas with the monorail as well. You can buy the monorail pass for the week. It's very reasonably priced. You have the little stops all throughout. It's easy to get on and off. Highly recommend getting the monorail pass so that you can go wherever you feel like in Vegas. And if you have never been to Vegas, I would encourage you to go down to Fremont Street. That is a very old part of Vegas, and it is just a lot of fun. A group of us got together a few years ago and did the, gosh, the skyline, the skyline. Yes, it is so much fun, but they have a lot of different things. It's so different from the newer Vegas. So, but yeah, get a monorail pass. That'll save you some time and money. And another thing to do if you're in Vegas, I love to do is get the hop-on, hop-off pass. So you buy that and you can just hop on any bus that comes along, hop off, and then hop back on the next bus. It is so easy, so convenient, makes you tons of places. And I don't know, I really like to be able to go to all of the different places. So that's super cheap too. Everything's, there is stuff, of course, it's gonna cost money no matter where you go, but Vegas is inexpensive, y'all. This, compared to Chicago, we could go to Vegas 10 times and not spend the same amount that we spend in Chicago one time, right? It's amazing. Food is really great prices. A lot of excellent food there. Oh wait, let's see what is, oh, Erin is just reminding us at the ISSA Residential Booth at 10 that there will be many, many prize drawings. So I know I loved that last year. I was there every single day. John, didn't you win something last year? I feel like you did. I did. I won, so actually, and also two years ago, I won tickets to the CBF Live. That's a good one. Some good value there. It was a great one. I learned a lot there, and also the night before everything started, I got to see one of my all-time favorite bands that was playing literally down the street from the hotel. So that was fantastic. And then, yeah, last year, I won a couple things last year too, and I don't remember off the top of my head what they were, which is kind of dumb, but you can win really cool stuff. So definitely make sure you show up and honestly, just by showing up, you've got a pretty good shot. Yeah, I feel like they gave away like 10 things every single day last year, right? Oh, so much last year. And it was one of those things that a lot of people were not showing up in the morning to stick their card in. So make sure you bring business cards. So, yep, Liz, bring your business card. It's honestly the only reason I still have paper business cards because I've gone to a digital one, but I will bring the paper ones for that. You have to have at least a few for some of these little drawings and things, right? I like to put them in at the, they also have a few of those little fish bowls around, like at the coffee place that you can put it in, you can win there too. So they have lots of little things that you can be winning. Also, you're going to want your card. They scan it almost everywhere on the showroom floor now. You can just get scanned. They'll send you information, but you can also win stuff at all of the other booths. I'm assuming it'll be the same this year. Stick your card in there. And I don't know, I'm constantly winning things. I'm very lucky, but I won a ladybug one year. That was amazing. I know what's the value on that thing, right? Big money. I can't remember. I won a protein backpack vac one year. Yeah, I've won some good stuff, y'all. They got, they have good things. You have to, you have to do that too. All right, what are the, so y'all have given your spiel. You've all told your, you know, your perspective, your work thing, like this is what I'm supposed to present on. Now, give me the skinny. Why do you personally like to go? Like what is the thing for you that's like, oh man, I just love going for this. How about, we'll start with you, Dan. I keep doing you at the end here. That's all right. You know, I've answered this question inadvertently in just discussion with other people in the industry. And the best way I put it is, you know, call it personality, call it luck, call it just people tolerating me. But I describe it as walking through the doors in which I was never invited to. There are people here that go to this event that are running huge, huge cleaning companies, very successful. And to Marlowe's point, it's a neighborhood of just friendly people and they're willing to help each other. And I attribute publicly, privately, every chance I get to the growth of my company, the success, the problems we've been able to overcome so much faster because, well, there's people way smarter out there than me that have been there and done that. So yeah, walking through doors and making myself known has opened up immense opportunities to learn and grow. And for me, that's the huge piece. The education is not to be overlooked by any stretch, but it's those networking opportunities that Marlowe speaks about. It's the evening opportunities. It's the getting out there and just kind of getting out of your comfort zone and approaching somebody who maybe you admire or look up to. Those are literally the things that I did to broaden my network and opportunity and it's paid dividends and I'm forever grateful to many people because of that. All right, awesome. Thanks, Dan. Either of the three of you have anything, I do have two tips that I wanna make sure that I get in before I head out, but we still have six minutes. So how about you, John, what you got? Yeah, I was gonna say, I'll kind of jump off of what Dan was saying there. One of the best things about the convention is that there really is a level playing field for the people that you get to talk to. And with all the education and everything, I mean, there's so much going on, but some of the most valuable times that I've had have been going and hanging out with a few people afterwards, sitting and talking about what we do over beers and honestly, I've picked up so much that way because there's a whole group of people there that know what you're going through. They get the challenge of running a cleaning business. They probably have dealt with the same challenges and maybe have a different perspective than you do. And I've learned so much and met so many people that now are a phone call or a text away that I can pick their brains about any time of the year. And they're people that I would not have met without going to the convention and experiencing it. Yeah, that's huge, absolutely huge. And I'm an introvert, so if I can meet people, anybody can. Yeah, that's true. It's not easy that first time, right? So for all of y'all that are like nervous that first time, yeah, it is a little bit nerve wracking, but I'm also an introvert. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I really am. And just do it. We will make you feel, every single one of us will make you feel so comfortable. You will just be shocked that how easy it is. And if you're just one of those people that needs one person, reach out to me. I'm happy to connect with you day one. I always come in early because it's Vegas and I will connect with you. I'll get you, I'll get you up and running. We'll go together to those first few events until you're like, Liz, you're dragging me down. I got better things to do. So reach out to me. I'm not kidding here. I'm one of the people that loves to connect with the new people that haven't done it before and share the excitement, get a new perspective from you and also give you a wider perspective. So yeah, reach out to me. All right. How about you, Marlowe? Well, I think that there was a reason that I was assigned the networking and community. I'm a very social person. So I will say that I love the education and I have learned so much. But what I have learned most from are the people that own other businesses that commiserate together to learn new things and just to hang out and be with the people that you've grown to know and love over the years. That to me is my most favorite thing not to mention that it is a business trip that doesn't feel like a business trip and it is going to be able to be tax deductible. So that is a lot of fun as well. One thing I would like to mention that I have not so far as quality driven software is going to be having a night that is going to be outstanding. So it's going to be going to the Speak Easy, the MAW Museum and there's more to come. It'll be announced in the ISSA residential channel on Facebook and promoted on quality driven as well. So be sure that you check that out because that will be something that's fun. We're going to address like we're in the 20s and have a lot of fun with that. So but yes, for me, I have to admit it's a, I love the social, I love the networking, I love the people and just being able to connect. That's my favorite thing. Well, I'm glad you mentioned Martha's event. Anybody that's ever done any of Martha's events knows that she knows how to put on the fun. Yes, she does, it's your party. I can't wait, I can't wait to hear it. Okay, Beth, you're up, what you got? Okay, so for me personally, my first show, I took in so much information and literally at the last class, I could not fit any more information in my head. I was just like, oh my gosh. And when I went to check out on my hotel room, I was leaving the room and I thought, can I feel like I'm forgetting something? I'm forgetting something. So I went back in and I looked in the room and I had everything and I went and I shut the door and a reflection of myself in the door kind of came and I was like, I'm leaving a totally different person behind now that I've gone through all this education, now that I've met so many friends, I have a support group and I have a network and that was the best personal experience for me. Was that person that I left behind was totally different after going through the convention? Okay, I love that. I really wish I would have said my two tips earlier so that we could end on that because that was freaking amazing, Beth. I think we all have that experience too, right? That's true. I didn't have that really amazing experience of seeing my reflection, but we're all different when we leave convention, that's true. All right, here's my two quick tips, y'all, because we are running late here. First tip is go to at least one of the ISSA events at least one of the ISSA events and connect with at least one multi-millionaire, at least one that is not currently, that you don't currently know. And oh, poor John, let's see if I can get him back here. There he is. This one's gone. All right, there are many, many, many people at the ISSA show that are doing $10, $20 million years, y'all. Go talk to those people. Go find out what do they do different? What do they, what do they recommend? What's their next step? What are they working on? What are they looking at? What are they interested in? Why are they at the convention, right? If this is not like a big deal, why are these ginormous companies at the convention? Go talk to one of those people. You'll be shocked that they'll be happy to talk to you. That's first thing. And then the second thing is before you go, a month before you go, start writing questions down, writing down things that you don't know the answer to, questions, things that you'd like to know more information about, start writing down your biggest problem, start writing these things down, write them down in the form of a question. Like something that says like, what products do you use for cleaning bathrooms? Terrible example, but write that down. Whatever your example is, and then every single time you are talking with someone, pull out that list. You know where I keep my list? You have a name badge. You have a badge that you wear around your neck. And I keep that list in that badge with a pencil and I pull it out. Most of you can do phones, pull out your phone, put it in your phone. That's great. But I like to have something tactile. So I pull that out and I ask people, hey, what do you use for supplies? And I just start capturing ideas. The reason why I'm recommending that you do this, go home with your pressing questions answered, because otherwise the information is just so overwhelming. You'll have, just like Beth said, your brain gets full. So go in with the top questions and make sure you get those all answered. All right, everybody. Anybody have any last thing that we have to say? Go ahead Marla. When they got posted it, you might be able to share it. We just did a video promoting the convention and I put the link in our chat if you can share that. For five reasons, you should not go to the convention. So- I just posted that a couple of minutes ago, so hopefully everybody saw that. Good, good. Martha wants to make sure that everybody knows you need to wear a hamster costume. Just kidding, a flapper or a gangster costume. So get on there and start looking around for that. I'm trying to decide am I going flapper or gangster. It's kind of sounding fun. All right y'all, thanks everybody. I appreciate you coming on here and sharing all of the ISSA wisdom. Join us here next week y'all and we'll see you on Wednesday again. Bye, have a great one.