My name is Jonathan and I’m the e-product creation expert behind By Bloggers. When LaVonne and I started talking about co-leading the upcoming Customer Love Challenge, my first observation was pretty simple:
Everyone is rocking it at loving their customers, but far fewer people are actually launching products
So we started asking ourselves, What keeps people from launching their products? Why have they filled their spaceships with fuel by loving their customers, and then avoided hitting the launch button?
You Need the Know-How
Creating and launching a product is like scaling a Mt. Everest of tasks, even when it’s a small product. There is so much that goes into the process, it can be hard to know where to start and how to finish. Depending on the type of product that you want to launch, there are technical hurdles to clear, as well as the already-daunting creative output needed. Trying to figure out how to do everything on your own can be an overwhelming process.
Sometimes it helps to have someone with experience show you the way.
You Need the Support Network
Working in a vacuum (space pun intended) can be pretty thankless. If you’ve got a goal of launching a product and you’re taking action, but you aren’t receiving feedback or support, you might find yourself never actually completing the product you want to launch.
The Hidden Cause: Fear
The need for knowledge and support in creating a product wasn’t the biggest thing keeping people from launching. What really struck us was the underlying presence of fear in many of the reasons.
I looked back at when I ran Grokkery, my first foray into blogging, and asked myself, “What kept me from really launching a product?”
I chewed on the question for awhile. In the seven months I spent running that blog, I had wanted to create products for at least five of them. Yet every time I got ready to put my nose to the grindstone, my subconscious had something to say about it:
- “You don’t have enough readers for a launch to be successful.”
- “People don’t want to pay to hear what you have to say.”
- “You’re going to create this product and nobody is going to be interested in buying it.”
- “If you sell something, you’re selling out.”
- “What do you know about online business?”
- “Even if it does sell well, what would you do next?”
I had them all: fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of criticism, even fear of success. Every reason came back to a subconscious fear that paralyzed me from taking action. The space ship was all gassed up, but I didn’t have the launch codes to lift off.
There had to be a way to get past the fear and start serving a community.
Fight For What You Believe In
It wasn’t until I started By Bloggers that the answer hit me like a brick: I needed a cause greater than myself to believe in. When I found the way that I could most serve others – by teaching them how to grow an online business around jaw-dropping e-products – most of the fears melted away. Looking back, the answers to those subconscious fears seem simple:
- No readers? Then start small with your products and create a strategy to grow.
- If people are reading your blog, then you’re providing value, and people pay for value.
- Create something different that they will be interested in buying.
- Selling something isn’t selling out – it’s letting your customers support you so that you can keep loving and serving them.
- What you don’t know, you can find someone who does, and learn what you need to know.
- Stay true to your values and keep delivering value to your customers.
When you believe in the work you’re doing, the claws of fear aren’t able to dig in as deep.
Over the past year, LaVonne has transformed herself from a Complete Flake (though I never thought she was one to begin with), and I’ve taken dramatic steps toward creating an online business. If we had surrendered to our doubts and our fears, it would have never happened. Having conquered those fears, we’re more ready and able than ever to dedicate ourselves to loving our customers.
On Thursday, LaVonne and I will be sending out a free e-booklet, sharing the secrets of how we moved past our fears and found the motivation that let us begin building our small businesses in earnest, to everyone in the Customer Love community.
LaVonne promised last week that we’re going to rock your socks, and this is the first step. If you want this great resource, all you have to do is join us:
