243: The $100 Event That Changed Everything
Marketing Your Business - Marketing Strategies for Business Owners
Stu McLaren
4.9 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I almost asked for a refund on a $100 event ticket. I didn't think I could afford it. That one decision led to a $15,000 training paid for by a stranger, a job offer, a free house, a free car, and a career I never could have planned for.
In this episode, I'm sharing a story I've never really told publicly before. It starts in 2002 when I was 22, living in my parents' basement, and barely making money as a speaker. I signed up for a $100 event in Toronto, almost backed out the night before, and what happened next set off a chain of events that shaped the rest of my career. Along the way, I break down three lessons about opportunity that I still come back to today, backed by research on why being in the room actually works.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why I almost skipped a $100 event (and how my girlfriend pushed me to go)
• How a stranger named Vern Martin offered to pay $3,000 so I could attend an advanced training
• The pizza-for-every-meal story from my first trip to Las Vegas
• What happened when I brainstormed 10 ideas for a multi-millionaire speaker
• Three lessons: put yourself in the room, say yes when opportunity shows up, and make it so the right people know who you are
• Research on the "serendipity mindset" and why proximity creates opportunity
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have you ever been so close to saying no to something? And then that one decision ended up |
| 0:06.3 | changing your entire direction of your life? Maybe you're listening right now and you've got |
| 0:11.1 | something in front of you, an event, I don't know, a program or a conversation. And you've |
| 0:16.1 | been giving yourself every reason not to go for it. I can't afford it or it's not the right time or I'm not |
| 0:23.5 | ready. If that's you, this episode is going to hit different because I'm going to share a story |
| 0:28.7 | with you today that started with a $100 event that I almost didn't go to and it ended with a job |
| 0:35.6 | offer, a free house, a free car, and a career that I never could have |
| 0:40.6 | planned for. And along the way, I'm going to give you three lessons that have shaped everything |
| 0:45.3 | that I do. So let's get into it. |
| 0:47.7 | Welcome to marketing your business. I'm Stu McLaren, co-founder of membership.io, and author |
| 0:52.5 | of predictable profits. Now, here's the truth. You are one |
| 0:56.1 | great marketing idea away from transforming your business. One strategy can be the difference between |
| 1:02.1 | struggling and thriving, between a business that drains you and one that fuels your life. Every |
| 1:07.7 | episode, you're going to get specific tactics you need to build your audience, attract more customers, and scale your business, all without your life. Every episode, you're going to get specific tactics you need to build your audience, |
| 1:11.6 | attract more customers, and scale your business, all without the burnout. These are real strategies, |
| 1:17.3 | real numbers, real behind the scenes. Buckle your seatbelts, my friend. Let's go. |
| 1:24.0 | So we got to go back in time, way back in time. And the reason I'm sharing the story is because today |
| 1:29.2 | I was recording some podcasts for you. And one of those podcasts is with an incredible young businessman. |
| 1:38.5 | His name is Chandler Bolt. And I was sharing just some different stories with him and we were |
| 1:43.8 | just chatting and, you know, just talking about life and business and all the things. And I was sharing just some different stories with him and we were just chatting and, |
| 1:44.6 | you know, just talking about life and business and all the things. And anyways, I started sharing |
| 1:49.9 | with him this particular story that I'm going to unpack for you. And he said to me, he's like, |
... |
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