Last week we ran the first ever Love Your Money Workshop - and it sold out. It was pretty amazing for the first one we'd ever done, especially given we only came up with the idea six and a half weeks earlier. It was the first time I've ever had an event sell out, and at times we've struggled to get numbers to other LYB workshops, so it got me thinking. What was it that had this event sell out? Here's what I came up with.

Make a bold promise. We promised that the workshop would transform how the participants think, feel and act around their money, and put them on the path to financial independence. The promise of the Workshop got people excited - it had people inviting other people even before they'd done it themselves. If we had a safer, lamer promise, that wouldn't have happened.
Make the event great - be proud. We did a lot of work to produce a great workshop. We put everything into it. I knew we could keep our bold promise, and I was proud to invite anyone I knew to come along.
Identify people's hot buttons. The Love Your Business Workshop doesn't hit people's hot buttons. Loving my business more sounds nice, but not urgent. Achieving financial independence, and transforming your relationship with money, hit a hot button for a lot of people. It's a topic that lots of people are immediately interested in.
Provide exceptional value. We priced the workshop at $250 for an individual or $375 for a couple. One outcome that we told people they could expect if they implemented what they learned would be to cut their household expenses by 20% without a loss of quality of life. So the workshop pays for itself (many times over). I think our LYB Workshop at $1100 is good value ... but not exceptional value. At $250 the Love Your Money Workshop is exceptional value - a no brainer for anyone who is committed to their financial independence.
Link it to a worthy cause. For every ticket we sold, we funded the end of hunger for 4 people in Senegal through our Epicentre Project. So we could say that as well as creating your own financial freedom, you are creating freedom from hunger for four people. The feedback we got was that participants really appreciated contributing to something bigger. We do this through Buy 1 Give 1, an amazing organisation that facilitates transaction based giving.
Get on the phone. We had a few people register directly from emails that we sent out, but mostly it took getting on the phone, following up, telling people about it and inviting them directly. You have to be willing to get on the phone.
Invite your mum. Finally invite your mum. That way you're guaranteed to have at least one person there! It was actually a very funny story how my mum ended up coming to the workshop, but I'll save that for next week.

I'm pleased to report that the Workshop fulfilled on its bold promise - it was great. One participant, who is a big fan of all things LYB and is currently doing the Seminar Series, said she thought it was the best thing we've ever done. What can you do to get more people along to your events?