Loving the responses so far.
Now's a good time to tell you all something about my time and efforts put into the Players Ball over the years. For the first 10 years, I never made a dime of profit and invested blood, sweat and tears. The last few I barely made a profit, but it was at least enough to pay for me to comp myself for those trade shows.
I think people over the years thought they could give me so much shit because I made money from it. Not the case. I did it as a thank you to the industry for providing me a great career and mainly because I had fun doing it. Who wouldn't want to throw the party you always wanted to go to? That was my philosophy. Throw the party I want to attend with sponsors money. I also benefited because it positioned me in the biz and got my name out there, which enabled me to do deals I normally wouldn't have had the chance to get otherwise.