When you have a dream, you have two choices: enjoy dreaming and accept that it will never happen, or dig in and MAKE it happen.
My mom made her dream of owning a restaurant into a reality by taking the second path. She went from being Rosie the Riveter to Dotty the Diner Owner with courage, hard work and customer love. She built a successful business by loving her customers.
Which path will you choose?
I was still in dream mode in late August, 2010, when I needed money to fix my car and I had no clear way to get it. I came across Naomi Dunford’s great blog post, Make Them Love You, THEN Ask For Money. She said that if you need to make a large bundle of cash – in, say, 29 days – spend 28 days being insanely awesome to your customers… and on the 29th day, launch your product.
The idea was that if you make your customers love you – by loving THEM – they will line up to buy from you.
I didn’t see any other way to get my car running again, so I tweeted, “Anyone want to join me in a challenge based on Naomi’s post?” And a whole bunch of you tweeted back, “Hells, yeah!”
David Crandall, the inspiring artist behind Heroic Destiny, offered to help so I said, “How about co-hosting the challenge with me?” And he said, “Hells, yeah!” And we were off.
It was amazing. Good times were had by all. I focused on supporting Customer Love challengers by encouraging your efforts, retweeting your tweets, and commenting on your posts. Lots of new connections were made. Who knew business could be FUN?
Just one problem.
We were all having so much fun we forgot the point of the challenge: TO LAUNCH A PRODUCT. Oops! We all scrambled during the last week of September to create quick products to sell on Day 29. More fun was had. Connections deepened as we worked our tails off together on our projects.
Day 29 came and, though very few products were actually launched on schedule, we had a new impetus: to keep working to create that first product and have a real, honest-to-god, income-streaming BUSINESS.
David and I launched the free Customer Love e-Book, and as a result of the challenge, I was able to earn enough through affiliate sales to fix my car. It worked! (I chose instead to invest the money in my business, so – you guessed it – the car is still sitting in the carport. I’ll get to it eventually.)
The lesson was this: You CAN build a business out of loving your customers. You can work hard, stay true to yourself, surround yourself with incredible peers, love your customers and still make money to support your life.
In November, we were off on our second challenge, with delightineer Chris Anthony as my co-host. More fun was had.
You pitched in, offering guest posts and creating a Facebook page. We started a weekly tweetchat at the #customerlove hashtag. More of you joined in the fun – and started helping each other. That’s when I knew we really had something here.
I began to get to know you better, and I fell in love with you. Who wouldn’t?
- You like to have fun, but you know it’s time to grow.
- You’re a bit of a smart ass, but you want to build genuine relationships.
- You’re quirky and independent, but you also want to be part of a community.
Awesome.
But when I look back at the second challenge, I see that only a few products were launched. Something was missing. I knew I could love you – MY customers – better.
I met Jonathan Wondrusch (the ByBloggers.net guy) when he blogged about the Customer Love e-Book after the first challenge. We talked about the product problem on Skype. Why were people having trouble creating products, and how could we help? We started asking questions. What we found were a few common themes:
- Fear
- Disorganization
- Lack of a clear idea of what your customers want/need
- Lack of support
So we decided to work on something for you.
What we’ve come up with will rock your socks off. 🙂
Oh — and I asked Jonathan, “Want to co-host the next challenge in February?” And he said, “Hells, yeah!” Which rocks. Because Customer Love + product creation expert = All kinds of awesome for Customer Lovers like you. Yay!
Are you ready to choose your path and make your dream a reality?
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Man, February is coming in for a landing quickly isn’t it? Alright. I’ve got two things I’m working on. I’m in. Again. This time wit a produce (or two) that I’ll actually have time to market. And no excuse not to. Wheeeeeeee!
Wheeeeeeee! That’s exactly how I feel. Also: Eeeeeek!
I feel like the Customer Love challenge in November fundamentally rewired my brain when it comes to my business. I soft-launched a product that I have since tweaked (and will no doubt tweak again) and have several things in the works yet for this month before the next challenge begins. I feel like that is going to put me in a great spot for what I want to do during the challenge. It’s going to be great and I can’t wait!!
Christy, that’s so wonderful to hear, thank you for sharing it. I love that Customer Love rewired your brain, lol! We’ll have to talk more about that during our interview. 🙂
Yippeee! I’m in. Can’t wait to embark on this new voyage of discovery, but yes I’m scared too- I’ve only had my blog for 3 weeks, have a total of 4 wonderful subscribers, and have absolutely no idea what product I could launch for $$$ in a few short weeks.
That, coupled with me coordinating our accreditation at work through the month of feb (MEGA!), and returning to uni studies in march. I believe YIKES! is the word!
Woohoo – so glad you’re joining us, Juliet! Don’t worry, there are lots of us to help and encourage you. Best place to find us: at the #customerlove hashtag on Twitter. There’s a wonderful community of customer lovers there. 🙂
Dreaming vs. doing. That’s it in a nutshell, isn’t it? Everyone dreams, few do.
I’ll be looking more closely at the challenge over the weekend.
Yep, that’s it, Alison. Dreaming is easy but doing is what makes the dream happen. I think a lot of people are afraid of letting their dreams come true. THEN what would they do? So glad you’re here – thanks for commenting!
LaVonne I’ve had my eye on #customerlove but was unable to participate until now. I’m in and I have a realistic/feasible product in mind.
Let’s get this party started!
Woot – partay! So glad you’re joining in the fun this time, Jen – can’t wait to see what you have planned. 🙂
Ooh yay! Another customer love challenge! I want in, again! Who knows, I might even get round to actually launching something this time… Although I’m travelling from 10th-20th Feb, so it seems unlikely.
I’ve launched a whole new site and can’t wait for the fun to begin (and the frankly mental #customerlove tweetchats)
Much love, LaVonne, you rock!
E xxx
Eleanor, you’re in, just by wanting to be! Maybe you can make a quick ebook out of some of your fantastic blog posts, who knows? It doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking – you’ve already done the hard part. 🙂