Behind-the-Scenes of PRO CON 2026 (thoughts after hosting our second in-person event)

Here's a recap of our recent PRO CON 2026 event with a behind the scenes look of putting on an event of this scale, takeaways, lessons and tips for you to help you grow your web design business!

Full recap post to come soon...

Thanks to our PRO CON 2026 sponsors:

• 17hats
• SiteGround
• Termageddon
• LocalSEOAcademy
• Design Day Blueprint
• WP Umbrella (use code JOSHHALL for a full free month)

Links mentioned:

• Marc's post on LinkedIn about the power of having "your people"
• Austyn's agency - our PRO CON event assistant & coordinator
• Alexia's agency - our PRO CON brand & design strategist
• Circle which kept our community connected during the entire weekend! Special episode coming later this week about how I'm using Circle for Web Designer Pro®
• Join Web Designer Pro® 

Also, be sure to check out hashtag #PROCON2026 on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook to see all the posts around the event!

Transcript

Why A ProCon Recap Matters

Josh Hall 0:00

Hello, my friend. It is so good to be back here with you on the podcast. Gonna do another little solo check-in with you here for this week, and then we will resume our normal interviews next week. And the reason I wanted to do a special solo episode for you on this one is because the dust is settling from our second annual Web Designer Pro Con event. Yes, last weekend we had ProCon 2026, and it was so freaking good. And I've got a lot to share. I'm gonna try to, in my most organized slash, unorganized fashion, share with you some takeaways and some lessons learned and some behind the scenes things from this event. Um, so if you were not there, don't worry. There's gonna be plenty of good fun nuggets in here. And if you were there, I hope it gives you a little bit of a chance to relive it. I'm sure you're on a high just like I am, because it was so good. And man, that the pro con buzz lasts a while, luckily, both at the bars that we go to and just the buzz of just being around such great people for you know several days over a full weekend. So here is what we're gonna do in this one. Uh, I want to share a little bit about, if you're curious, about ProCon, about the event structure, and I want to share some things that we did this year that were different than the first year. I will share a little bit more about the replays from our workshop because those replays will be available for all community members of Web Designer Pro. Uh, some really, really cool things that like the takeaways from the event, some things that I want to encourage you to do, whether you were there or not, or whether you're a member of my community or not. Uh, and then some other stuff I'll share with you here about some things to look ahead to. So, first off, I want to give a couple quick thanks and shout outs to um two members of Web Designer Pro who were key in helping me take ProCon to the next level this year. And those members are Austin and Alexia. Austin is a founding member of Web Designer Pro. For those who were at ProCon, you probably know him very well now. And he kind of served as almost like an event assistant/slash coordinator, and he did a lot of work to help take so much off my shoulders leading up to ProCon with ordering swag, helping me with a lot of the just the minutiae of getting all the details together and an idea of the amount of catering and and a lot of those details. And then he did a lot of work with preparing all the swag and getting items shipped to him. Some sponsor stuff was shipped to him, getting it all ready. And then day of, he was the man who was in charge of the music and between the breaks, helping set up. He helped all the sponsors get set up. He was running around back and forth. He did a ton of work for us all through the weekend and all leading up to the weekend. So a huge shout out to Austin and an additional shout out to Alexia. Alexia is a Web Designer Pro member who has become my brand strategist and designer who's been on a retainer with me for over six months now. And Alexia is just an incredible designer and strategist. And she created the Pro Con swag this year and did a lot of the design work and helped me not only with the printed items, but the um the slides and everything as well for this year. I got a lot of compliments about how ProCon 2026 was at a different level this year. And that is thanks to both the visual vibe that Alexia created for us. What a nice brand name that is. Yes, you can find Alexia at visual vibe design.com. Actually, I gotta remember visual vibe design.com. I forgot if it was.com or.co. So check that out. And if you want to check out Austin's site, that is exaltodesigns.com. I will make sure both of those are linked if you want to connect with both Alexia or Austin. But again, I want to start off with thanks to them because when you put on event an event of any size, but certainly one like this, where we had almost 50 people there all together, between plus ones and some spouses who came and some speakers, um, it is not a one-man show. I could not have done this and you know had as much hair as I've been able to hold on to without having some help. So I want to start off with a big shout out to what is now the ProCon team, which is really cool, Alexia and Austin. And we're already planning out 2027. Now, for those who are curious, uh, I want to, again, I want to give some insight that's behind the scenes for those who were there at ProCon this past year. But if you're not there, this is definitely something to listen to because I want to share some takeaways and some nuggets to help you grow your web design business and hopefully come to ProCon 2027 uh and join our community web designer pro. So the and again, this is not something that I have a bunch of notes on. So I'm just I want to cover a few things, so might be a little scattered here, but I just wanted to share some some cool stuff from the event because the thing is about ProCon, and by the way, last year, 2025, it was called WDP Con, but I found that that was really hard to say, and everyone was calling it Procon last year. The the official conference name is Web Designer Procon, so it's ProCon now and moving forward, just as a heads up. But the goal of this event is to go from 2D to 3D, in the words of some of our members over the past couple years. It is taking an online community, which is Web Designer Pro, of 200 plus web designers from all over the world at different stages of their businesses, but with one like-minded glue that holds us all together, and that is to grow a web design business, support each other, and have some damn fun while doing it. And that is exactly the essence of ProCon 2026 and the event we had last year. This was our second time doing this back. We did it better this year. We upped the ante on some of the things, which I'll explain here. But uh it was, yeah, that that's the goal of this is to bring an online community together in person. I know a lot of people, when they saw the event, asked if they could get tickets who were not a member of Web Designer Pro. But the big difference here is that yes, I do promote it publicly. It is a private event that is exclusive to Web Designer Pro members. Now, what is interesting is we had a couple members over the past couple years actually join Web Designer Pro just to go to the event. Shout out to Gennaro, who came this year, who's actually a local guy here in Columbus, Ohio with me. We met up the week before ProCon just to get to know each other. And oh, it's just an awesome guy. And and I think ProCon was hopefully everything and more that he thought it might be because he saw me promote the event and then said, Oh, cool, this is in Columbus. So we joined Pro, jumped right into the community, and is rocking and rolling now. So that's the main purpose for this event. And I think that's what separates this as a conference compared to all other conferences, is it is it's not like a conference that there's thousands of people or hundreds of people going to and you don't know anyone, or maybe you have a core group, but at large you don't know everybody. That what makes this so easy to jump into in real life is because we are already a community. And even folks who are more quiet in Web Designer Pro or who aren't as active in the forums and don't know a lot of people, there is a there's a unifying thing about it. It's it's very like if you go to any conference of any size, but you all have a commonality, that's you know, that that helps. But with pro, it's at a whole other level because it's smaller and you get to know folks so quick. And you may recognize somebody who maybe has had been on the podcast or maybe is on or on the coaching calls. And yeah, that's the beauty about what we have, and everyone is just so awesome. I just I cannot rave about my community enough. In fact, one of the members at the hotel where we hosted our full workshop told pulled me aside at the end, and she was like, Your group is so nice. And she actually said a lot of groups there are not so nice. And granted, ProCon is a very casual conference, intentionally so it's not like a once-in-a-lifetime wedding or reception that there's a bunch of stress to. No, it's like, you know, it's we get down to business and we're serious about it, but I do my best to keep it loose and keep it casual. And we had a ton of fun this year at the workshop portion in particular. Um, and so I think that made, you know, we we we keep it light, and I think the staff really appreciated that. And I also want to just shout out the community at large for everyone who was there because that goes a long way. Kindness, I think nowadays, especially, goes a long way. A smile goes a long way. And it was really, really cool for her. You know, I think it's important. And my my wife and I talk about this often because some people are just such jerks or such douches to people who serve them in restaurants or coffee shops. And I just think that's ridiculous. I think it is more time it's now more than ever. People need to be nice to people who are doing things for them. And that's certainly something my wife and I go out of our way to do, like whether it's a bagger at the grocery store or a coffee shop or a restaurant. It's like if you are just like if you just smile and are nice to people, it goes such a long way. And I just thought that was really cool for her to come up to me and say, like, we really appreciate you guys, like your group was so nice. That was really, really cool. And yeah, it's just it's a testament to this incredible group. And and we don't we all just we feed off of each other, which is really cool too. There's almost somebody I forget who mentioned it, but somebody was like, How do you like attract such good people? And how do you get all these awesome people together? And I think part of it is when you are in a group at large that is just so nice and so welcoming, you can't help but be like that because you're just in a better mood and you're hopeful and you're excited and it loosens you up and it makes you want to be better. I think that's one thing I've learned with Web Designer Pro, especially when we get together for these events. It's like it just makes me want to be better. And so I just I can't say enough about just the the community and what we've been able to foster together. It's an honor to to lead it, but I've also learned as much as I've you know led. So yeah, it's it was just so cool. This year uh was a mix if you're curious. We had I think 46 total, maybe a couple other. We did have, unfortunately, we had some members, and this is always the case with events that over the leading up to it in the net in the last couple weeks, for whatever reason weren't able to make it out due to personal things or whatever, and that's always the case. So we were missing a few members. Lisa, we missed you, Ed, we missed you, Tamara, a couple others who weren't able to make it. Um, but what was really cool about this year is that we had I think over 75% of the members from year one come to year two. And a couple of the members from last year told me they were dying to come, but they just had other obligations, they just could not make it this year, uh, which totally understand, but that's incredible. Like for an in-person event to have some you know, people come from all over the country, and we had a few members from Canada this year, um, to have over 75% come back, it's awesome. That is telling right there. And actually, I I don't know the exact percent, it was at least three-fourths, maybe more. Um, but that said, we had a lot of new people join this year too, and it was really cool because everyone did such a good job. I am going to brag about the people nonstop here, but everyone did such a good job at making them feel welcome. It wasn't clicky, it wasn't like, oh, this is our group from last year. Who are you? This new peon. No, it was everyone welcome the new folks in, and that's really, really cool and hard to find. Like, when's the last time you showed up to an online group or an in-person event and felt you know super welcomed? So, shout out to everyone there who has been a core member of Pro for a while and has not gotten too comfortable, but has stayed welcoming to new people because you gotta remember I think it's important when you're in any membership, and and even if you're not in Web Designer Pro, even if you're in a Facebook group or any sort of online group, uh a tip that I would recommend is to never get too comfortable as a member and remember what it felt like when you joined that community. If you if you have that lens, you will intend that will help people blend in quicker and get more comfortable faster. So that's my challenge to you, Web Designer Pro members, and even if you're not in Web Designer Pro, whatever online community you're in or in-person community, maybe you're in a networking group, maybe you're in a series of workshops or meetups that you do. Don't forget what it's like to be the new person because that is what is so important to help retention and to to keep you gotta have some fresh blood in groups of people. You have to. And that goes for any group of people. It will, you will get stale, comfortable, and and clicky, not intentionally, but it just happens. Uh because you find your core group, and sometimes you feel like I don't know if I have time for a new relationship. But I really encourage you to make time for new relationships at the very least, be welcoming and get people connected, introduce people, um, no matter where you are. That's I and again, this is kind of a part two off of my last podcast episode about getting in real life. IRL is so important today, more important than ever in the age of AI and just the scattered, overwhelming nature of things online. So um that was really, really cool. Now, if you're curious, here's the structure of ProCon. Uh, we start off with the official events, quote unquote official, is a Friday night social. We have a minor league baseball team here in the uh in Columbus, Ohio, called the Clippers. And we rented out a killer suite this year. We got actually the biggest suite they have available because we had almost 50 people, and it was freaking awesome. The weather like could not have been better this year. It was like mid-70s, absolutely gorgeous. So last year we got rained out. This year, it's spring in Ohio, you never know. It could be absolutely gorgeous or it could be an absolute downpour. Luckily, Friday night was gorgeous. So that's the first event. And if you're doing any sort of events for you or your clients or maybe a group you're a part of, I like starting out with a social, especially for new people, because it gives you a chance to loosen up and talk to people before you get down to business. Because Saturday, we have an all-day workshop. Well, it goes to 10 to 4-ish. Um, so not all day, but it is an all-day workshop where we get down to business. Now we have fun. I'll talk through what we did this year, but uh I do love just if I were to give any advent event advice, I really enjoy starting with casual meetups and socials beforehand because I think the worst thing you can do is bring somebody new in, or at the very least, like give yourself 10 minutes to meet a bunch of people and then get down to business. Like I always recommend people come at least a half an hour early to ProCon, the actual workshop, to mingle a little bit. But you know, if that's the first thing you go to, it would suck to be like, oh my gosh, it's so nice to meet you. Oh, we got to sit down, we gotta be quiet. Like, it's just not a good way to go. So I love having the social aspect the day before. So officially, the structure of ProCon is the night before we have uh a suite rented out at the baseball game, and then Saturday is our official ProCon workshop event. Past couple years, we've done 10 to 4. We went to 430 this year. Um, and those are a mix of live presentations and QAs. And this year we did a breakout session, which was highly requested from last year, and that ended up being a lot of fun. So the structure of this year, uh, Michelle Bourbonier, who was my personal copy and SEO guru, who was supposed to speak last year at year one, but she had some personal uh events happen in her family that she needed to attend to, so she couldn't make it last year. She actually did her presentation all about headline boosts, which was absolute gold. So, so good. One of the most actionable trainings and presentations we've ever had uh in pro, either in real life or online. Uh so that replay will be coming at the time of releasing this. I'm still waiting for the replays to get back to us, but that will be repurposed inside of pro. So, members, don't worry. You will get all the replays and you will get the slides that the presenters had as well. So Michelle killed it with headline tips. Uh, we'll probably get her back on the podcast, maybe to talk about that and maybe talk about some SEO AI stuff. Uh, the second presentation was actually my financial advisor, Julie Demopoulos, who Julie and I started working together in well, we met each other in 2012 and were founding members of my networking group, which was over 50% of my business. So we stayed in touch, we grew together and saw each each one of us became parents around the same time. And I saw her build her business, and she saw me build the business and eventually sell it and start this endeavor. And we reconnected, and now she is my financial advisor, and she came in and shared some really, really important strategies and tips for building wealth and planning for retirement as a self-employed individual. So huge shout out to Julie for taking the time to come to the event, sharing with us some goals. She also had a book that she gifted everybody there. It's called Who, Not How. So check that out if you have not uh read that book. I'm actually it's on my reading list, so I'm excited to dive into that one. If Julie recommends it, I know it's good. So we did that one on the second one. And then um, what we did in the second half of the afternoon after lunch was which, by the way, if you're ever in Columbus, the AC Hotel has killer food, like really killer food. Um, like the like we're my wife and I are about to go back there just to go grab some food, and they have a nice like rooftop bar and bar area and stuff. It's very, very cool. But the event area in there is is awesome for those who have not been there yet, um, until next pro con. But yeah, the uh the food was so good. It was like everyone was like, dang, can we get can we come back here for this? It was delicious. Most, you know, usually catered foods, like, uh, it's catered, but no, it was absolutely killer. Anywho, this year we did a uh sponsor QA session for the sponsors who were there live. So there live was Jeb from 17 Hats, Sam from Local SEO Academy, who's a Web Designer Pro member. That that Academy is kind of like this the little sibling to Web Designer Pro because it's all about SEO. And then Hans from Termageddon. I also need to give a quick shout out to our other sponsors who were not able to be there. But SiteGround was a sponsor again this year. They're a returning sponsor. WP Umbrella was another sponsor this year, and um Bailey, who had who runs Bailey Collins, who runs the Design Day Blueprint course. It's kind of how to build your website in a day type of offer. She was a sponsor this year as well. I will link to all of their special deals below because each one of these companies has a special deal uh for those who are at the event that I'm gonna share with you below just by listening to this podcast. But we did a fun sponsor session, including like a like a QA portion that was really lively and fun. And we even had a guess that baby challenge, guess that sponsor baby. And um, let's just say you gotta watch the replay to get the full effect. I promise it'll be worth your time because we have who no one has ever had so much fun like for a sponsor segment than we had a pro con with our sponsors. They were just they were the best, and it was completely impromptu. They did not, none of those sponsors knew what I was gonna ask them. So it was freaking awesome. It was literally like uh challenge accepted, show me a funner sponsor segment than we had in ProCon. I guarantee it's it's not existing. It was so much fun, it was so good, and those companies are great, like they really do care. Um, Jeb from 17 Hats is like we can't have a ProCon without Jeb now. He's just the man, and we have a lot of members moving to 17 Hats, especially because there's a certain tool that uh certain CRM that has become quite popular in my community over the past couple years. Uh, our joke at ProCon was that it rhymes with Roxy, but it's not Roxy. But that tool is kind of taking a nosedive. And I don't like to publicly shame tools, but uh I'm happy to shame a tool that rhymes with Roxy because of the way they treated one of my members, and they're just letting members down. And a lot of people are flocking to 17 hats as well, they should, because I've been using 17 hats for 11 years now, and it's just the best. It's so solid, and the team is the best. They're not a sponsor for this episode, I'm just telling you the facts. And their representative Jeb, who has become a staple at ProCon, he's just the man. He is the man. Go to joshhall.co slash 17 hats for more and check the details below for all of our sponsors to support them and check them out if you haven't already. But we did that, it was awesome. Uh, we did a part two this year. Last year, I had Jason Gracia with Swift Sites and my good colleague Shannon Mattern. Uh, we're both in a mastermind together that meets once a month. These two are just absolute gold mines of just knowledge and entrepreneurial genius. Last year they each presented. Shannon talked about anchoring high. Jason shared his sales call sequence and how to convert. And I I was his mock-up client then. And uh, they did a part two on this one. Basically, what we did was just a live QA session because there were so many questions that were following up from last year. So that was really, really cool. And then we did a breakout session. This was highly requested from for pro members who come to ProCon, just know we are going to continue to do this every year, which is some sort of like implementation time. It was really, really cool. I'll add a little more structure to it next year, probably, but that was really fun to be able to take what we learn and like talk about it and implement some stuff, particularly headlines and things that could get, you know, quick actions and quick results. So next year we will definitely do that again and have a focus on basically like what type of quick wins can we get out of a breakout session together? That way everyone on their tables kind of kind of gets going together. And side note to that, one thing that was really cool is we have a member of Pro who's deaf, Harold. He came again this year and we did invest in ASL services. Actually, one of the guys who signed for him, there's two members, there's two folks who do signing for an all-day event, if you're curious or interested in providing ASL services. And with an eight-hour day, they need two people to do it. One of the guys was there last year, and he's just awesome. It was really good having Kyle back. But the thing about the breakout session is when everyone requested that, I thought about it. I'm like, how's Harold going to do that? Like, how are we going to do that with Harold? Now, we're all used to those who are at ProCon, and I have to shout out the community again for everyone doing this for Harold, but we all got used to talking with him through our phones. So something that I've learned with talking with somebody in the deaf community, I've never, I never had any experience talking with someone who was deaf because I don't know sign language. But what was really cool is Harold will type something on his phone, and then we I'll like we'll just generally speak into like notes or any dictation device or any app, and it'll just you know list off what we said live. So he could so that was a really cool way to communicate. But for this breakout session, what we did was uh Kyle actually spoke for him. So like when it got around to the table for him and we asked him to introduce himself and talk about a takeaway, um, he actually signed to Kyle, and Kyle relayed for us what Harold was was saying. So it was really, really cool. That was a highlight that was an unanticipated highlight. And I'm so glad we were able to include Harold, who again is a deaf member of our community, and he doesn't need to feel left out. Um, and by the way, uh that's the the reason we were able to hire ASL services and give our members such a first-rate experience is because of our sponsors. Our sponsors made this possible. So again, a huge shout out to SiteGround, 17 Hats, Local SEO Academy, Termageddon, um Bailey Collins designed a blueprint course and WP Umbrella for give you know being sponsors. All those links will be below. But we could not have helped, you know, we couldn't have had Harold there. We we we couldn't have made that happen without our sponsors. So freaking awesome. And then to wrap everything up, we had a very special guest at the end of the workshop. And I'm still going through the event structure, and then I'll share some takeaways and some stuff that I recommend for you. But um, we had a very special guest. My wife was able to join the event, and I lied to everybody and I said I was gonna do a live QA session, but what I did was actually bring my wife up for a live QA session. She has been a highly requested guest on the podcast, actually, the most requested guest for like three years. It's just so hard for my wife and I to sit down together and record an episode. Number one, because it's the last thing she wants to do. She, you know, gets gets the sweats when she sees a microphone. That is not, she is not like me at all. She does not want to be in front of the camera. That is not her thing. So, uh, and quite frankly, we're we have three little kids, all under eight years old right now. By the time we get them down, it's very hard to want to like come up to my office and record a podcast at 11 p.m. We'd rather use the the few opportunities we have together to to do married stuff and to go out on date nights and stuff. So um, but with this QA session, it was really cool. I'm so proud of her for coming up and doing this QA session because it uh we had some questions that were were I had ready and available, and then most of the time was just folks asking questions there live. Um, I am considering repurposing that for the podcast. Don't hold me to it yet, but there was actually so many good follow-up questions that people were like, I didn't want to ask it live, but I want to ask you now, or they felt like we were tight on time because it was the last thing we did during the day. Um, so I'm actually thinking about seeing if she'd be willing to do a follow-up, like one-on-one podcast, like specifically for the podcast to base like to go further because man, there were such good questions there live, and there were such good questions asked to both of us after at some of our hangouts. So I'm thinking about that. So either way, I will either I will get my wife on the podcast here, either in the form of repurposing sharing that replay, or I might see if she'd be willing to do kind of a part two, you know, a little more intimately here for the podcast. Um, that way it's not in a live setting. But she killed it. Uh, and then the last thing we did for the the uh the workshop was I announced something new for Web Designer Pro. And this is gonna be news to some of you who are catching this live, but I will be sharing more about this for pro members who were not there at ProCon 2026, and that is the Mastermind. We are officially kicking off the Web Designer Pro Mastermind, which is our highest level. It is the most uh intensive style of coaching that I've ever offered. It is a small group, it is up to 12 members. We are capping the first round of the mastermind at 12 members. We've actually already got five spots filled. So um we had three members at ProCon join, and we had two that carried over from the first mastery sprint that I did, which was kind of like the precursor to this. So I'm so excited to finally have an option for folks who want coaching at a higher level. Um, one thing I shared with them that I'll share here is that, and this is this is a tip for you and your business, which is if people want more in a higher level coaching and you're down to do it, uh do it. Because one thing that I've found transparently is with Pro, a lot of members over the past couple of years have told me things like, I went elsewhere for higher level coaching, or I wanted, you know, I wanted more than just the weekly calls and DM access that I have to. I want like, you know, private confidential coaching. Some members said they wanted more peer group support with folks that are at that level at a very, very high level. And I did not have that offer. I and a couple members earlier this year told me they had gone elsewhere for for high-level coaching. And my first gut reaction was like, Well, why didn't you ask me? I would have done that with you. But I realized I can't fault them. I didn't have the offer. So you got to have an offer if you want to do it. Now, I did not want to offer this last year because many of you know we were going through a lot on the personal side with my daughter. She had a couple really big surgeries last year. I just was not at a place to where I felt like I had the mental bandwidth or was able to add more calls into my schedule, which is already light anyway, but uh we're at a place, we're in a really good place now. So we officially kicked off the Web Designer Pro mastermind. It is up to 12 people. It is high level. It is for those of you who you don't have to be at six figures, but my recommendation is to be at six figures because it is 10,000 a year or a thousand a month with a 12-month commitment. Currently, that price is going to go up. It's actually a steal of a deal as far as what most masterminds are. Most masterminds at this level are anywhere between 15 to 25. Um, actually, if you look at the median price range, because I did a lot of research on this, most investments for a mastermind of this caliber are 20 to 30. Uh, I was invited one to one last year for a community like mastermind, and it was 15k, and it was like an eighth of what you get in this mastermind. So the point of a mastermind, by the way, and then we'll move on here, is a chance to get more intimate, private, and confidential coaching with me and direct support from folks at who are operating at a high level. That's the key with this. And what I've found is working with both Shannon and Jason, we've been in a mastermind that meets once a month together. We have gone so far, so fast together. And the reason is when you surround yourself with people who are operating at a high level, you have this the structure and the foundation of your business built. You have a ton of leverage that all you need is some strategy, some focus, and you need a little bit of pressure and a little bit of accountability to push on the right levers, and you will make so much more money, you will make so much more time, and you will think differently on a very, very high level. That is what that's been my experience with a mastermind, and that's what I'm taking into our new Web Designer Pro mastermind. Uh, this is not to move members away from the community at large. The goal is to just have a new top floor for Web Designer Pro because what we found was a lot of members got to a certain point and then left. Or they felt like the one the real dagger in the heart for me was people have told me they felt like they outgrew Pro because there was no next level for them. So that's what this is. I I that that's a very, very brief overview of what I shared to members there live. There were some really good questions about that. And and yeah, we just started early access to that. So you do need to be a Web Designer Pro member to get access to that. So if it's not clear already, my friends, join Web Designer Pro for the mastermind. If you want access for more personalized one-on-one private coaching with me and this small group of absolute rock star eagles already, and if you're not ready for that yet, it gives you something to aspire to when you join Web Designer Pro. And of course, you can join our next ProCon event 2027. So that was the structure of the event. The other thing that we did around the events were just casual meetups and pre-event hangs and even post-event hangs. We had a final brunch together on Sunday. So, and those were some of my favorite parts. We keep it loose, we keep it casual. A lot of members came in on Thursday or Wednesday and Thursday, uh, and then the official event kicked off on Friday. So we were able to have a lot of fun together with meetups and dinners, and some members did their own things around Columbus. It was just so good, and that's the beauty about Pro Con and a lot of other events that are smaller, is it's not just the workshop. That's a key component, but I think the real magic happens with the hangouts and the con because I see these conversations. Like, shout out to Mike. Mike was with me on Thursday night. We ended up staying staying at the Short North Tavern till like midnight, and uh we just talked about his business. And we were looking around, it was you know midnight on a Thursday. I don't know if anyone else in that bar was talking about business and having a good time. You know, like how many people are at a bar talking about business strategies and making money and loving life and loving web design and talking about the future? Probably nobody, but we were. It was awesome. Like you, I love it. You can you can actually have fun in business, and that's what pro con is. It's like it's business and fun. That's like the new tagline. It's business and fun. That's what it is. So I love it. I love what we've been able to foster together. Um, so the last thing I want to share with you here is some things that some takeaways that I've seen that have been really, really cool. I'll have a lot to share over the coming weeks and months for for pro con. So make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter, joshhall.co slash newsletter, and make sure you are connected with me on Instagram and LinkedIn where I'm most active now. My handle is Josh Hall Co. on both of those. I am posting everything on Facebook as well. Facebook has just become so dang cluttered. I don't know about you, but I just, yeah, I gravitate more towards Instagram and LinkedIn now. But I've seen some very, very cool takeaways and some like uh post pro con stuff going on. Mark, one of our members, posted this on his LinkedIn, which I felt like really encapsulated this. I'll make sure this post is linked below, by the way. But um he said on LinkedIn, when people would come to my pastor study and would voice how they were discouraged and felt alone in life, I would ask, and I would often ask, Who are your people? Are you in a small group? Who really knows you? Why? Because no one is called to do life alone. We're called to live in community and relationships. Shoot, the wisest man ever to live once said, Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls down and has no one to help them up. And that is so well said. That is kind of the the heart of Web Designer Pro as a community. And Mark said, I'm beyond thankful for the people inside of Web Designer Pro with Josh. And my last three years, my tiny business has ballooned into a company that not only supports my family completely, because his wife recently joined the business, but also supports other families too. In this community, I thought I would find a coach and a mentor, but I'm thankful to say that I found a friend. Oh, gee, Mark, and I found my people. He said, if you're feeling alone in your journey, it's time to find your people because it's true. You become most like those who you surround yourself with. So, Mark, thank you for that incredible post that I reposted on LinkedIn. That is so well said. Also, side note, a nice little um, a nice, a nice little boost on like the feeling of a mastermind in a smaller group because the Web Designer Pro community at large fostered that, fosters that, and you will foster that even more firmer with a tighter group, too. So, again, that line right there, you become who most who you surround, like like you surround yourself with, that is also a really, really important thing to know with a mastermind. Of course, I hope you join my mastermind as a Web Presenter Pro member if you are ready and operating at a higher level, uh, where we're not talking about getting clients, but we're talking about making more revenue, making more profit, getting your time back, building your team, building your systems, your structure, all those things, high-level things. Um, but even if you're not there yet, you can find those small groups and you can grow together. So that's the that was very, very well said. I know uh we had some other post-procon wins. April, who was able to come this year with her husband, Justin, good to see you guys. Um, April said she was so motivated. I posted this on my socials, but she sent me an incredible win. She landed a$8,000. Oh, actually, let me pull it up right here. She said, I came back from Pro Con so motivated. I sold an$8,000 website, a$750 website audit, and even a$500 accessibility update. It's only Wednesday, so it's just two days after ProCon. That's one thing I've seen is like members are just confident, amped up, they're posting more. Dylan, who is one of our pro members who was there, came for the first time. He's an introvert and doesn't love posting on social media, but I have seen him posting a lot, but also a lot with confidence. And there's a big difference. Dan, another member of Pro, he's been posting all sorts of pro-con stuff. Um, and I love seeing that. I love seeing the confidence that members are leaving with. And I think it's one really important thing about events that I really want to recommend that you take seriously, either as a member of Pro or in your own you know, circles. These when you go to an in-person event and you surround yourself with other people who are like-minded, like Mark said, your people, you you just leave differently. You leave with more confidence, you leave with uh a boost in marketing, you you might raise your rates fearlessly. And it's incredible. The the worst thing you can do is stay alone and stay in your own head. Like truly. If you want to self-destruct and and fail at your business, just stay alone. Because lone wolves don't make it, especially nowadays. Also, side note, there's a reason why the worst prison sentence, aside from death, of course, is solitary confinement. Because we're not built to do that. We are not we're not made to be alone. So it's just this, it's just freaking awesome. I just love seeing this stuff play out. It's so, so cool. I have so many other members I could share and thank. But if you want to see this stuff for yourself, go to any social media platform and do the hashtag procon 2026, and you'll be able to see all the posts that are that our members are sharing and that I'm sharing as well. So awesome, awesome, awesome. I will have a full recap post of ProCon 2026, sharing some more details if you'd like to see more. Uh available soon. I'm waiting on the replays, and I'm also waiting on our highlight reel video that should be coming here soon. So make sure to check that out. I will be posting that on Web DesignerPro.com. Again, a huge thanks to our sponsors, 17 Hats, Sight Ground, WP Umbrella, Termageddon, Design Day Blueprint course and local SEO Academy. Um, it was huge. And last thing I want to say here, this is a teaser for something coming up this week is uh you probably know, if not already, that I use Circle for Web Designer Pro. That is the platform that we run our community on. And Circle has been clutch, particularly it's been interesting because we circle has grown with us and been just such an important part of Web Designer Pro because it's our home. And they've added so many features, so many innovations. But one thing that I've found that I just love has made me even more of a fanboy for Circle is we were able to post this event, sell it with Circle, and we have a live, we have a group chat feature in Circle. And this year, if you use Circle for anything, here's a little tip. We bumped our attendee group chat up to the top of the left bar. So as soon as you logged in on the app, it would be the first thing that you see. And that made such a big difference this year and keeping everyone connected because we were, you know, a lot of members were meeting up in different spots. We were doing unofficial meetups saying, like, hey, we're at this restaurant here. Oh, we're at this bar here if you want to come. And we were able to do that all within circle under our web designer pro circle, all mobile. And so, yeah, it was just a huge thanks to Circle for building. They're not a they weren't a sponsor this year, but I just wanted to shout them out because that tool is is key. I can't imagine running Web Designer Pro without Circle. Um, and that's a teaser because later this week I'm gonna be sharing a little bit more about my circle story and some of my insights on using it for building an online community, having courses, community and coaching, and I'll just give you a quick teaser teaser. Uh, I'm actually closing in on a million dollars in revenue with Web Designer Pro using Circle. And that tool is a huge key part of it. So, more to come on that later this week, but I wanted to give you a teaser and a shout out to Circle because they just yeah, it made it so easy to do this event and keep people plugged in. So, all right, my friends. Well, that's I think that's it for now. Uh again, I could talk about Procon for eight hours, but I just wanted to share some insights, some behind-the-scenes stuff, and just some takeaways and hopefully some things that help encourage you to either get plugged in to more IRL events in real life, and obviously, I hope that you join Web Designer Pro, that you join the community because we've got all the support and everything you need to build your web design business at any level. No Web Designer Pro member has the exact same business. Everyone is building a lifestyle business, small studio slash agency. Some members are working part-time. We have a lot of moms who are, you know, they have 20 hours a week to work, but some of them are doing six and several six figures, working 20, 25 hours a week. It can be done. If you have any doubts about web design as an industry, um, I don't know what to tell you. You need to join where the money is. And the the pro members, you can see what's happening. It is absolutely incredible. We have everything you need. I'm there for you if you want to jump into the coaching tier. And for those of you who get to a certain level, want more direct coaching, intensive coaching from me, and want to join the top tier now with the mastermind. This will be an open and closed model. So we are going to be doing an opening officially next week for the mastermind. Again, we already have five out of 12 spots available. So technically, we only have seven spots at the time of recording this. I don't even know what it'll be when I release this episode. But um, if interested, you will need to jump on that absolutely asap as possible. If you are ready to really push on those leverage points in your business and make a ton of money and make a ton of time back and have some fun and just be around this a group of high performers. When you get around a group of high performers, your mindset is going to change dramatically. Fears that you have don't seem as real. The confidence that you have is just at a whole other level. You'll get stuff done so much faster when you have true accountability. Um, your mind is gonna be expanded. You will you will not be the same person in the best ways. So that's available now. Finally, a next level for Web Designer Pro is available in the mastermind. So, any questions? Let me know. Otherwise, please check all the links out below to all of our sponsors for Procon 2026. Again, a huge thanks to Austin and Alexia for being such huge parts of this event. Thank you, all Web Designer Pro members who came out and made this event what it was. It really felt like a reunion in so many ways, but for the new people, everyone felt so welcomed. It was so great to be able to have our deaf member Harold there and feel fully supported. Um, everyone was awesome. I just can't rave enough about this incredible group of people. And if you're not in there yet, I hope you join us. Webdesignerpro.com is where to go. Jump into The either the community tier or the coaching tier. If you want the coaching tier, the coaching tier includes direct DM access to me for 24-7 coaching. Well, you can DM me 24-7. I'm available generally Monday through Fridays. Um, but if you want direct access to me, that's how to do it. To get access to hot seats and coaching sessions for our live calls, that's the way to go. If you just want to dip your toe in, jump into the community tier, webdesignerpro.com. All right, guys. Cannot wait for Procon 2027. Thanks for hanging with me. And next week we'll resume our normal interview. So I will see you then.