I just got back from speaking at the 10th annual Chicago Seminars. For those unfamiliar with the event, each year in October about 400 of us get together to share tips and tricks in a wide array of travel-related topics. The topics run from booking multiple award seats to the best credit card deals to how to increase your income in cash and miles playing this game.

This year’s, like other years I have spoken about the value of your good credit as one of the most important assets in obtaining large numbers of miles and points. We discussed the five factors that affect your credit score, what some of the rules of the road are in regards to how many applications you can make in a given time frame and just in general brought some of the new members of the group up to speed with how we are all so successful in this hobby.

Out of the 400 attendees, almost half were first-timers and newbies to the hobby. It is extremely important to let them know they do not need to play this game alone. Although some of us may have more time and experience in the game, everyone is willing to help the newbie along. Newbies tend to be shy and we have to at times draw them into the hobby. I used an example that illustrated that concept, hopefully very clearly.

As I stood at the front of the group, I asked if Mark O was in the crowd. Unfortunately, he was sleeping in. I then ask if Chris C was with us. He answered yes and I asked him to stand. I continued by telling each and everyone in attendance I was going to give them a tip that would generate for them each $100 in about 6-10 minutes time. All eyes were front at that point.

I proceeded to tell them about an offer than Mark O brought to my attention from a financial institution called SoFi wherein if you deposited $100 in their money account, they would add a free $50 with no strings attached. And in addition if they deposited another $100 in an Invest account SoFi would give them $50 worth of free stock.

The money account pays 1.8% interest has no ATM fees anywhere and no monthly account fees. The accounts are online app-driven accounts and also offer referral bonuses of $50 for each referral you send that signs up. I personally was all in when I read Mark’s post and have gotten both accounts and my $50 bonuses have already posted.

I went on to suggest the Chris C lives in California and confirmed for me that this SoFi, (I knew nothing about had just spent millions to earn the naming rights of the new Los Angeles Football stadium. That bit of information gave me even more confidence in the legitimacy of the offer.

So I suggested to attendees if they would write down their first name and email address on a piece of paper and give it to either Chris or me, we would make sure they got an invitation to join SoFi and pick up a free bonus or two. The response was overwhelming and Chris and I each spent over an hour filling out a referral for the seminar attendees.

Now the naysayer readers will say that I personally profited by this announcement, and I will. But my reply is “and so did the attendees who of their own free will decided to participate as well”. Those that decided to take advantage will get $100 in combined stock and cash for about 5 minutes of their time. I know. I did it.

If you’d like the opportunity to sign up I’ll make the same offer to you. Send me your first name and email address to [email protected]. Or, you can simply sign up with my referral code.

And don’t forget, you too have your own network of friends and relatives that you can refer and both you and they will also benefit.

You can be a naysayer if you’d like, or you can join the gang helping one another out. That’s what this hobby is really all about

Source: frugal travel guy