You know that high you get from being in a room full of over 6000 passionate entrepreneurs and ambitious business owners? No? Well if you don’t, let me tell you about it – It will rock your world. This past week I had the opportunity to travel to Charleston, SC for the Rise Business Conference hosted and led by the fabulous Rachel Hollis and her team at Hollis Co.

The conference spanned 3 value-packed days with speakers like Amy Porterfield, Ed Mylett, and Marie Forleo and was designed specifically for small businesses looking to scale and grow. Rachel and her panel of speakers were nothing short of amazing with all the knowledge and tips to give. I couldn’t possibly cover all the goodness they had to share, and honestly, I’m still doing a little processing myself, but here are just a few of my takeaways:

1. There are no shortcuts.

Ever heard one of those get-rich-quick-schemes that seemed too good to be true? Well, that’s because they are! Anyone that promises you wealth without the effort is not living in reality. Entrepreneurship is hard. Owning a business is hard, like seriously hard and scary. Anyone who tells you differently is mistaken but that doesn’t mean the hard work isn’t 100% worth it.

“Believe tomorrow is better than today and you are in control of making it that way.” -Rachel Hollis

2. Embrace failure.

As an entrepreneur, failure is inevitable. No matter if you are the owner of a startup of a seasoned business owner, everyone is bound to make mistakes. Getting back up and learning from those mistakes is what separates the winners in business from those who fail. Failure is how we learn what works in business and what doesn’t. Without failure, we are never challenging ourselves to be better. We are never growing.

“Failure is the single-most information-rich data stream that exists” – Tom Bilyeu

03. If you aren’t living your purpose, are you really living?

It’s a funny question, but it does make you stop and think. Are you being intentional every single day? If you aren’t happy with the way your career, your business or your life is going, then what are you doing to change it? If you believe you were made to change the world and make an impact how are you living your life to put this in action today? If not now, when? Using a journal or daily meditation can help you get started.

“Are you just busy? Or are you on purpose?” – Brendon Burchard

04. It’s not about the money. It’s about the value.

Chasing the almighty dollar isn’t going to sustain your motivation to run your business for long. As business owners, we MUST have passion behind what we are doing and be totally obsessed with serving our customers above and beyond the call of duty. If we don’t come into our businesses with a mindset to serve, we’ll be missing the critical fuel we need to actually sustain it.

“Hope in the future is power in the present.” – Dave Hollis

05. It’s OK to sell!

Selling doesn’t have to feel slimy and inauthentic. When you make selling about serving and not about money, selling will come easy to you. When you have a product or service that you fully believe in, selling should be a natural response to wanting to serve others. Selling is necessary if you truly want to make people’s lives better through your business.

Love what you do so much that not selling to your customers would be a disservice.” – Dean Graziosi

So here’s what you want to know – was it worth it? 100x yes! These takeaways are just a few of many amazing things to come out of my time during the conference. This is just the beginning of several new exciting things to come for K Design Co. I also gained a deepened admiration for Rachel Hollis, as it was apparent that she truly put her heart and soul into this event.

How about you? What conferences have you been to lately and what did you learn? Tell me about it in the comments!

*Photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/TheChicSite/