StomperNet Live 8 starts tomorrow at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta. The entire Stompernet team will be there along with an incredible line up of speakers that includes, Rich Schefren, Russell Brunson, and Jeff Johnson just to name a few.

Here is the cool part. I just got an invite from a friend of mine who has a free ticket that I can have. He also mentioned that he and "some friends" would be going over to Brad Fallen's one night. I took that to imply that I could join them. Pretty awesome huh?

Well, here is the really crappy part. There is no way in hell that I will be able to make it. Even though my Mother and my children from my previous marrige, (both in there twenties), live in Atlanta. I just took a 2 week vacation a month ago, so getting time off from my job is not an option.

The drive from West Palm is about 10 – 11 hours. If I left after work on Friday I would roll into ATL at about 3 or 4 in the morning. I would probably sleep through most of Stompernet on Saturday. Likewise, I have to be at work early Monday morning so that pretty much shoots Sunday in the foot.

A plane ticket on this short notice was $650. I have just spent a huge sum of money on bribes and travel expenses to assure that my wife gets her passport in time to make her flight out of Venezuela this coming Monday. There for a while it looked like she was going to be stranded down there for a while. Nothing happens fast in South America of it's own accord.

Luckily, (if you can call it that after wasting $2000), you can always get what you want in South America with the proper some of money and a few insider connections. My wife will be getting a provisional passport that will at least let her leave the country on the 10th and make her original flight. I will be glad when this entire fiasco is finished. We really take a lot of things for granted living in a modern country like the United States.

Any how, the good thing is that the wife and kids will be home Monday and there are always plenty of Internet Marketing seminars to go to. You see before I got the invite and free ticket offer to Stompernet, I had just found out about the World Internet Summit which is also going to be held in Atlanta the 20th-23rd.

I have enough time to make some plans on this one and can probably arrange an early exit on Friday or maybe even a day off. If I miss a day or so of the event it's no big deal. The real reason I am going is to network. Sure there will probably be some very good content presented. I am sure of it. But 99% of it will be things that I already know. The real benefit of these events is to make connections and JV partners.

I would have never had the opportunity to go to Stompernet for free if I had not gone to Alex Jeffreys workshop in Vegas. I can honestly say that I have made around $1500 as a direct result of that trip to Vegas and that is only the beginning. Going to these types of events and meeting your fellow internet marketers will open doors that lead to places that you can only imagine.

It's too late for me to make Stompernet but I will be at the World Internet Summit. I urge you to do the same. Getting out and making the JV's is what will make or break your online business in the end. Beleive me I know it isn't easy, especially if going to the event requires you to take an airplane and pay for a hotel. It is in fact a business expense and can be written off on your taxes.

At some point in time you will realize that making money online is just like any other business in that you have to make an investment in order to see a return. Now if you can't make then you can't make it. I would start a little fund and make it a goal to go to one of these events in the near future. For now, I have found something that will help you to make some connections without leaving your office.

Charles Mullaney has started a joint venture networking site at http://www.jvme.com. It's free to join and there are already a number of big name marketers who have joined. Joel Comm, Jason James, Harris Fellmen, just to name a few. I have already set up 5 adswaps with people I met inside the members area.

This would be a good place to start branding your name. Click on the link and go ahead and get signed up now. Once your inside, get your profile set up and start making friends. Make sure you check out the "Groups" link in the navigation bar. What ever you are into, there is probably a group that will interest you. If there isn't you can start one!