After taking the scary leap to spend several thousand dollars on an upcoming international conference, I found myself quickly sinking into a “money pit”.

Sadly, when you’re a solo act, there aren’t too many people around to bail you out – so you dig in & start getting creative – searching for a solution.

With $1300 in registration fees already paid I still faced the uphill battle of finding a decent hotel.

My fears materialized on the computer screen . . . “best rate: $279, $299, $289″ . . . yikes! I’ve never spent that kind of money for a hotel room – AND I needed one for 5 days! Suddenly, ka-chings were going off in my brain like popping corn. Where could I possibly afford to stay?

After 15 more hours of less-than-fruitful web searches on every discount-travel site & after checking out every no-frills B&B in my target city, I concluded it was time to “stretch” outside my comfort zone & try a new strategy. A friend had reminded me I still had never tried bidding for travel. Ughh. The thought had always turned me off – having someone TELL me where I’d be sleeping? Nah, I’ll pay the extra. And, the thoughts of having to learn something new while under-the-gun seemed exhausting but, backed into a corner, my willingness try increased substantially.

Being a planner, I can’t just jump in . . . not on something that could cost me hundreds of dollars if done wrong – or accidentally put me 50 miles out in the boonies with a bad click.

Folks posting in the travel message boards recommended a website that allows all bidders to build a database of best practices from their bidding experiences. From their posts you learn how to bid. Ever the good student, I voraciously read hundreds of posts to increase my skill level.

Finally, after 12 hours of research on the prep site (yes, I have a tendency for overkill), I made the big, nervous click onto the bidding site to try my luck. First bid: “Sorry, your bid was not accepted.” OK, I can deal with this. At least I have my Plan B in place. Let’s try again: “Rejected”. Rejection again. Rejection still again. Ughh, this is NOT exactly fun! And then finally on the fourth try: “Congratulations! Your offer of $135 per night has been accepted for the four-star hotel in the neighborhood of your choice.” Yipee!! A $1,600 hotel bill was miraculously cut to $773 – over a 50% discount!

Now that this 5-day ordeal is over, I’ve learned a few things:

- Invest in yourself – somehow, some way, it will work out.
- We’re more likely to try new things & take risks when our familiar options are limited.
- Spending the time to learn how to expertly build and use a new skill should be weighed as an investment – will it be something you’ll be able to use over and over? Can it help you accomplish your long-term goals? Know the true cost of your time investment versus the payoff.
- Listen to good advice – from your friends & from the unlimited “communities” of experts out there in cyberspace – and reciprocate whenever possible.
- Allow adequate time to plan any new pursuit but, at some point, you gotta jump in & get your feet wet.
- Use your new-found confidence to tackle another “stretch” while you’re hot!

Have you taken a productive “stretch” lately? What was it and what did you learn?