We now return to last summer’s adventure …
Day 11 | August 5th
I awoke early as I had to be in Tampa for 3pm for a TV interview. Jake Peterson from The List met me at the Central Perks Cafe where my workshop was being held the next day.
While chatting with the store owners, Robin and Mel, I had the pleasure of meeting their landlord, Mel Freeman, who also hails from the Toronto area. Such a small world.
As my original host for the evening was over 90 minutes away, Robin and Mel insisted on putting me up for the night. As I now had the evening free of driving I was able to run errands and catch-up on emails. If I weren’t so tired I would have had a sunset stroll on the beach.
Day 12 | August 6th
I awoke early enough to head over to Treasure Island. There is nothing like walking in sand first thing in the morning.
I even had a chance to buy a few souvenirs for my daughter and mail out a few postcards before getting to the cafe for 10:00am as Fox13 Tampa (with reporter Stef DiPietrantonio) was doing all day remote from the cafe. It was fun doing cutaways every hour promoting the workshop that night.
As the cafe was small, I didn’t want to bring in any more than I had to from the car. It turns out that decision was a mistake because by late afternoon I discovered the plug-in cooler drained my battery. Well that problem would have to be dealt with later as I had a workshop to run.
As it was one of my busiest workshops with 24 attendees learning how to win, Robin, Mel and I had to rearrange the cafe seating to accommodate the attendees. Even the ice cream cooler went out into the building lobby.
It was a lot of fun having a full house with heaps of great energy, questions and prizes in the cafe that night.
Once the workshop was over I had to deal with my dead car. Thankfully I was smart enough to get a CAA membership before I left on the tour so after about an hour’s wait my car had been boosted and I was on my way. However I was down to a quarter of a tank of gas. I was afraid to fill up until I was sure the battery was fully charged. I drove until I was on fumes before I stopped at a gas station.
Thankfully my hosts, Linda and Al, were very generous. I felt like a bedraggled cat arriving so late, tired and hungry. We sat around and chatted while I had an overdue cuppa tea before we all turned in.
FOR MORE PICTURES SEE THE #CQTOUR PHOTO ALBUM ON FACEBOOK
GOOD LUCK!
Carolyn Wilman (aka @ContestQueen) is the author of You Can’t Win If You Don’t Enter. She teaches others how to find, organize, enter and win contests, sweepstakes and giveaways. To-date others have won over $1,000,000 using her Online Contesting System. With over twenty years experience as a Sweepstakes Management Consultant, Carolyn also helps companies create, and viral market, winning promotions maximizing ROI and loyal customers.
I bet you wish your toes were back in that warm sand right about now!
What a great turnout you had!!