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Conferences are a hell of a lot of fun. When done right, they’re also very rewarding — both for the organizer and the attendees. I get to meet many of my customers in person, which to be honest is a bit of an ego boost. And the people who go usually get much more than they put into it… new connections, new friendships, and new ideas.

The problem is that from a business + focus perspective, DYFConf hasn’t been the best “product” for my company.

Every year we’ve either lost money or broken even.

Every year we’ve just barely had enough attendees (I was almost on the hook for paying for about a dozen empty hotel rooms last year because of how hotel group discount blocks work.)

Every year we’ve struggled to even secure 2 or 3 sponsors to help offset costs.

And every year it’s taken dozens of hours of time to promote, get speakers, deal with the venues, etc.

So from a purely business perspective — there are other things we should be doing. But until now, I’ve justified it. “It’s good for the brand. It’s good for attendees.”

Since 2012, I’ve been writing annual reports and making them public.

In these reports I do my best to sum up what went well over the last year, what didn’t, and what’s next for me.

I write these reports for myself—they serve as time capsules that I can look back on to see how the business has shifted and occasionally taken big leaps forward over the years.

But I make these reports public because I owe to you, customers and readers of Double Your Freelancing (DYF), to let you know what’s next for us and how that will impact you and your business.

When I first started writing these reports, I was just starting out selling my first products.

I wanted to help those who were thinking about building and launching their own products learn from my mistakes and to use me as inspiration. I owed it to that next generation of creators because I followed in the footsteps of those who were a little bit ahead of me, and I wouldn’t be here doing what I’m doing today had they not shared their experiences publicly.

Now, 4 years later, my business is doing 7-figures annually and there are a lot of people involved in the success of DYF. And while this might not be as inspiring as past reports have been in helping someone who’s just starting to build a business, hopefully seeing the big picture (from 2012 -> now) will show what’s possible in just a few short years.

But, more importantly, this year’s report is for you—the DYF customer or subscriber—because you are our shareholders.

It’s because of you that we do what we do, and we rely on your feedback to help us figure out what’s next for the company. Your success is our success.

This week I’m in South Florida spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my family, but I’ve been getting a LOT of feedback and questions about the Expert Roundtable.

In case you missed that email, Expert Roundtable is a daily coaching platform that we’ve now made accessible outside of the DYF Academy.

Unlike traditional coaching or mentoring, where you pay upwards of $1,000 for a bi-weekly phone call with a single expert, the Expert Roundtable allows you to jump on a video call with a member of the DYF teaching staff every day (except weekends and major holidays.)

Need some help with choosing a new niche? Jump on a call with Philip Morgan, author of The Positioning Handbook.

Clueless about using Facebook ads to get clients? Meet with Mojca Mars of Super Spicy Media, and have her help you refine your targeting and your creatives.

About to send out a new proposal and want another set of eyes to give it a look? Or wrestling with a weird client issue, and need to talk through your next steps? Meet with one of us.

I was really worried about DYFConf Europe.

For one thing, I had a hard time getting people to go to it. I thought I’d be able to hit 100 attendees, and budgeted accordingly (we had 61 registrations.) And unlike the US conference, outside of a few of the speakers I hardly knew anyone who was going to be there. What would they be like? Would they be a good fit? And, worst of all, Oh my God, don’t Europeans hate “American-style” sales and marketing advice?

Then there was the language barrier. I had a hard time ironing out the details with the Swedish-speaking venue staff, and the first thing I was told upon arriving at the Yasuragi Resort was, “They need to talk to you. There are a few problems.”

I learned that there were a handful of people who weren’t assigned rooms, weren’t on the attendee roster, or weren’t counted toward our group meal quota.

I was visibly stressed, and no one should ever be stressed as a spa resort like the Yasuragi.

(Today’s guest post is from Kai Davis who contributed this article about how to network at a conference or event. If you’re attending an upcoming conference, this is for you!)

How to make friends, build relationships, and have the best time ever at Double Your Freelancing Conference

You don’t want to just be an attendee at a conference. You want to take control of your conference experience.

Double Your Freelancing Conference (DFYConf) provides a forum for you to meet like-minded people who can teach you things and who can help you fulfill your goals.

Think of attending DYFConf with a ‘Return On Investment’ mindset. Is it likely that attending will result in you establishing relationships that build value equal to (or greater than!) the price of the conference and the time you spent at DYFConf? Absolutely.

But you need to put yourself out there, make friends, build relationships, and work the room for that to be true.

Often, new clients, new customers, and new deals can be traced back to the relationships that you start at conferences. Now, these aren’t deals you close on the spot, but relationships you’re building with people who, down the line, may be perfect for you to work with.

You can think of the main purpose of DYFConf as extending your professional network.

Smart business owners spend their time building strong relationships with the people they do business with. Make the most of your DYFConf experience. Build relationships with your fellow attendees.