1. Big ideas rarely feel comfortable

I’d thought about creating an online summit for years. It was one of those ideas that would occasionally pop into my head and I’d think, I’d love to do that one day’ and then I’d promptly find a reason why one day shouldn’t be today.

I thought that I needed a bigger audience, more speakers, more time and that I also needed to know exactly how I was going to do it. Eventually I realised that I was probably never going to reach the magical point where I felt completely ready. I think at some point, you have to decide the idea is worth pursuing and just figure out the details as you go.

That has probably been one of the biggest lessons from this entire experience.

You don’t need to know exactly how something is going to work before you start. Sometimes making the decision to do it is the thing that forces you to work out how.

2. People are far more willing to collaborate than you might think

One of my biggest worries at the beginning was finding the speakers.

Would people say yes?

Would they understand what I was trying to create?

Would established experts want to be part of a brand-new event?

The answer, thankfully, was yes.

That has reminded me how powerful collaboration can be in business.

We spend so much time thinking about growing our audience, creating our content and promoting our offers that it’s very easy to build our businesses in little bubbles.

Bringing 21 people together has shown me just how many opportunities can come from bringing other people into what you’re creating. Every speaker brings their own expertise, experiences, ideas and audience. Together, we can create something far more valuable than I could ever create alone.

I think there’s a lesson in that which goes far beyond running a summit… you don’t always have to build bigger by doing more yourself. Sometimes you build bigger by bringing the right people together.

3. Your network is one of the most valuable assets in your business

I’ve been networking for years and I think this experience has made me appreciate the value of that network even more. Some of the people involved in the summit were already in my world. Others came through introductions, recommendations and conversations.

That doesn’t happen overnight.

It comes from years of meeting people, having conversations, supporting other businesses and building genuine relationships without necessarily knowing where those relationships will eventually lead.

We often talk about audiences, email lists and social media followers as business assets but I think your network deserves to be on that list too because opportunities often come through people.

4. You need to communicate the vision (not just the task)

When you’re coordinating 21 speakers, it would be very easy for every conversation to become transactional but I’ve realised that people are much more invested when they understand what they’re actually part of.

The Online Business Growth Summit isn’t simply 21 people giving 21 presentations.

I wanted the 3 days to take attendees on a journey. From figuring out what they could create and sell, through marketing and sales, to becoming more visible and growing the business around it.

Behind all of that is something I feel very strongly about… I don’t believe growing a service-based business should always mean finding more clients, working more hours and squeezing more into an already full diary.

There is another way.

We can package the knowledge, skills and expertise we already have into offers that allow us to help more people without our income always being tied directly to our time. That’s the bigger idea behind the summit.

When people understand the bigger idea, they’re not simply contributing a session… they’re contributing to the vision.

5. Organisation becomes a business superpower surprisingly quickly

I have discovered there is a point at which keeping everything in your head stops being optimistic and starts becoming slightly ridiculous.

21 speakers will definitely get you there as there are simply too many moving parts to rely on memory. I’ve needed systems for speaker information, deadlines, content, interviews, promotion, affiliate details, landing pages and the event schedule itself.

It’s reminded me of something that applies to growing any business… what works when something is small often stops working when it grows. You need better systems, processes and somewhere reliable for information to live.

You need to stop making yourself the storage system for absolutely everything.

6. Things WILL change

This has possibly been one of the most useful lessons of all.

You can plan everything beautifully… and then something changes and I’ve had to deal with quite a few changes throughout this process!

I had one speaker agree to take part and then completely ghost me for months, which eventually meant finding someone else to fill their session.

More recently, another speaker realised they weren’t going to be able to attend their session live, so again, I had to find a replacement.

I’ve had a speaker decide to change their topic, which meant looking at the schedule again and moving things around (so the 3 days still flowed in the way I wanted them to) and, of course, there have been tech issues along the way too because apparently technology likes to keep you humble.

When you’re organising something involving 21 different people, there are inevitably going to be things outside your control. I think the biggest lesson for me has been learning not to panic every time something changes.

At the beginning, every change felt like a BIG DEAL. Now I’m much more likely to think, “Okay, what do I need to do to solve this?” because there nearly always is a solution.

Someone pulls out? Find another brilliant speaker.

The schedule changes? Move things around.

The tech doesn’t work? Figure out another way.

It’s also made me realise that there’s a big difference between having a plan and expecting everything to go according to plan. The plan gives you direction. It doesn’t guarantee the journey will be straightforward.

Actually, I think that’s true of business in general.

Things change. People change. Technology changes. Opportunities appear that you weren’t expecting. Things you thought were certain suddenly aren’t. Being able to adapt, make a decision and keep moving forward is probably far more valuable than trying to create the perfect plan in the first place.

7. Creating something bigger makes you step into a different role

This one has been particularly interesting.

For a long time, I’ve thought of myself as someone who creates things… courses, websites, content, podcasts, digital products… however running the summit feels different.

I’m not creating every part of it, I’m creating the container that allows lots of other people and ideas to come together.

My job is to create the vision, choose the right people, shape the experience, connect the pieces and make sure the whole thing works. I think that’s an important shift for anyone who wants to grow their business.

Eventually, growth can’t just be about asking… “What else can I create?”… sometimes the better question is… “What can I bring together?”

8. You don’t need an enormous audience to create something meaningful

This has been another important reminder for me.

It’s very easy online to think you need tens of thousands of followers before you’re allowed to do something ambitious but you don’t.

You need an idea people care about, you need relationships, you need the courage to invite people into it and then you need to keep talking about it.

I’ve been promoting the summit through my podcast, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, my newsletter, networking, speaker collaborations and conversations.

Rather than waiting until I had an enormous audience before creating the event, I’m allowing the event itself to help grow the audience which is a very different way of looking at it.

Sometimes you don’t build the audience and then create the big thing. Sometimes the big thing helps you build the audience.

The biggest lesson? Start before you feel ready.

There is still plenty to do before the Online Business Growth Summit begins on 6th October.

I’m sure there will be more problems to solve, more emails to send and probably a few more moments where I wonder why on earth I decided that bringing 21 experts together was a sensible idea but I’m incredibly glad I did.

This summit has already become much more than a 3-day online event. It’s helped me build new relationships, It’s made me think bigger about my business, It’s pushed me to become more visible and It’s shown me what’s possible when people collaborate.

Perhaps most importantly, it’s reminded me that the ideas sitting quietly at the back of our minds rarely become anything until we’re willing to say… right. I’m actually going to do this.

For me, 2026 was finally the year I said it and now 21 brilliant experts are coming together to help service-based business owners discover how to turn what they know into scalable offers, create income beyond selling their time and build businesses that give them more freedom and more options.

I can’t wait to see what happens next.