Day 25: Thanksgiving

So it’s now Day 25. Perhaps you’re on the home stretch or maybe you’re still not sure what you’re doing for your Customer Love project. Just so you know, I didn’t make my final decision until around Day 25, either. I kind of kept that a secret, though. I remember fretting that last week because I wasn’t totally ready to go, but I had picked a launch date and put some key pieces in place. I just needed to keep pushing myself to get to the end. It would have been so easy to quit—

But wait! Let me back up a bit.

In April 2010, I launched my new WordPress site and slowly started adding blog posts and building my subscriber list with ten free photo lessons for people who signed up. After the lessons, I had my subscribers fill out a short survey. From that survey, I got some direction about things they wanted to learn. People were very open and supportive of me during this growth and transition phase. I had some great ideas to start selling paid products and live classes, but it was summer, I went on holidays, and then I stalled.

The Customer Love Challenge came along in September and I decided to give it another shot and really work at this to grow my list and get something launched. I’m kind of a shiny-things person and that makes me want to start things, but completion of projects often eludes me. I vowed that wasn’t going to let that happen this time! Besides, I was publicly accountable now. LaVonne and lots of others were watching me.

Even though I had a good group of core subscribers, I knew I needed more before launching a course. I was very afraid of no one buying, so I needed to minimize that risk. As part of that first Customer Love challenge, I created a Digital Camera Buying Guide e-book. People always ask me what camera they should buy, so I knew there was a need.

Rule number 1: Fill the need.

Plus, I wanted to test the response rate to see if people really could love what I had to offer. Truth be told, it was low risk for my ego. I made it a no-opt-in downloadable PDF file, and I asked people to pass it along. The buying guide increased my list by about 25% right away. (The guide has been downloaded nearly 1000 times already, so that’s kinda cool!)

With the e-book done, I decided to prepare for my first paid course. I wasn’t sure how to do all the technical back end stuff. I stalled again. It was mid-September — I was running out of time.

Earlier in the summer, I had registered to be an Alpha tester for a new online learning environment called Ruzuku. I was unsure if I still wanted to go that route. It was a risk going with a new company, but they were really nice people. I couldn’t decide. The alternative was worse, though! Setting up Wishlist or DAP, forums, etc. — ACK! So I thought I’d better just leap, or quit.

It was very tempting to quit and get back to my simple life of teaching at night school twice a week, taking care of Shawn during the day, reading magazines and blogs, and Twittering my time away. Trust me, I nearly threw it all in on more than one occasion. But now was the time for action! I couldn’t let my peers down.

Public failure was not an option.

I looked at the calendar and October 11th was jumping out at me. Why that day? Well it was Canadian Thanksgiving and it wasn’t too far past the September 30th real deadline of the Customer Love challenge. My Canadian subscribers would be home from work and they could read my launch email that Monday. I thought it could go either way: everyone would read that email, or no one would.

I hit SEND on my launch message just before noon on October 11th, to 207 subscribers. Then I waited, heart pounding.

Within the hour, I had my first sale. Within two hours I had a couple more. My mom had us over for Thanksgiving dinner and I took my laptop along. A few people had trouble with PayPal and other problems, so I wanted to be close to my email. By the time we sat down for dinner, I had seven sales. By midnight, I had a few more. Tuesday I didn’t leave the house — I was babysitting my launch. My goal was to sell twenty spots. By Wednesday noon, I had sold twenty-one!

Crazy, huh?!

I never imagined that I would sell out. True, only 21 people had to trust me enough to give me money but still, I was blown away. It was quite an emotional experience. I was high for days!

My course would start that Thursday! I was ready with the first week’s lesson, but not much after that, except an outline. When you do drip feed content, you just need to stay one step ahead of everyone. If you do workshop downloads, you need to complete your whole project before you can sell one. If you launch an incomplete course, you are highly motivated to work hard every week to complete the next lesson. It kinda feels like dogs are nipping at your heels. I’m very scared of dogs.

The thing about launching something, is that once you push the start button, things can happen really, really quickly. You get pumped. You get ideas. You dream! Before you know it, you can be planning a year’s worth of products and courses. The difference between making that leap or not, is really not that much.

For me it was the Customer Love Challenge that gave me the courage to do it.

Just ten days ago, I launched my course again and I sold another 21 spots! I was just as excited as the first time, but way less scared. I enjoyed the process more too, and am thinking of ways to make it even better next time: A better sales page, better promotion, better course material.

Customer Love was the missing piece I needed to get over my fears and just get going! Why? Because it is full of ordinary folks just like you and me, and we are all in the same situation. We all just need a little encouragement from each other to make it happen. Plus, I felt I was accountable. I felt I had no option but to complete something so I wouldn’t let down my peers.

So, on this second Thanksgiving Day I have many things to be thankful for:

• Thank you to my trusting and responsive subscribers. Without you my business would not be what it is today.
• Thank you to LaVonne Ellis for having the courage to leap into this, not knowing how it would turn out. You’re an inspiration in so many ways! You just got out and interviewed so many interesting and helpful people. That was cool! I don’t have the guts to do that – yet!
• Thank you to David Crandall for helping out LaVonne through the first round so she could do this better. You’re a rock.
• Thank you to Rick Cecil CEO at MoreBetterLabs, the creators of Ruzuku for the opportunity to be an Alpha tester. Your support is phenomenal, both technical and personal, and I hope my testimonials will bring you lots of business. (By the way Ruzuku is still taking Early Bird referrals, so let me know if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with the right people.)
• Thank you to my family for “getting it” and letting me work long into the nights, and on weekends and holidays without ever complaining.
• And thank YOU, Customer Love cohorts, for being here and reading this. I hope my launch story will inspire you, even if you’re still not sure exactly what to do.

Are you still a little stuck? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll try to help you out.

Photo credit: Marlene Hielema