I was having a conversation with Jeff Walker, a friend of mine this week, and I was taken back to a HUGE mistake I made a few years ago. It was not only painful to take financially, but also shook me as an entrepreneur.
Looking back, it actually was a turning point for me, because it taught me a VERY valuable lesson, which is now a core message I try to teach every entrepreneur.
In 2007, I decided that we were going to create a membership program, where we would start a monthly printed newsletter and provide a ton of great content through a private member’s website.
We offered people to try the program for 60 days (to get them hooked with all the great content), and then it would move to a monthly membership fee of $197.
On the surface, it made SO much sense.
People needed this information, we had great content, and the price was a steal for the value they were going to get.
Plus, at the time, “membership sites” and “continuity programs” were all the rage, and everyone seemed to have a monthly program that was making them rich. I thought to myself, “seems like a good idea, and we need one too! No one has better content than us, so this is a no-brainer….”
(ever notice when you tell yourself something is a “no brainer” that it’s usually not …?) 🙂
So, we created our monthly program that would include a full-color, printed newsletter that we mailed along with CD recordings each month, and a private membership site.
I worked myself into exhaustion creating a 32 page printed newsletter, and generating a lot of new material for our program. The first month, we had over 1,000 people in the program (as we gave the subscription away at a big event). That made us feel great – over 1,000 people in the program! We added another 100 or so the next month. By then, we were convinced this was going to be a million dollar business. And then the third month came (when it was time for the first big group to actually start PAYING for the program).
And that’s when it happened.
Over 700 people cancelled before their paid subscription kicked in. The next month, another 100 cancelled. The entire program started to collapse — and I was completely shocked, because I KNEW that we were providing the best quality content of any program out there. We continued against the stream for a few more months, hoping we could turn it around .. but we never did. We finally shut it down about 6 months into the experiment – and by then we had invested over $150,000 hard cash into it, never mind all the time I personally spent working on it. I was MAD at myself, frustrated at “the market”, and started to question if people actually wanted my information. I spent a couple of days away from the office, contemplating what had gone wrong. And as I was sitting in a Starbucks with my journal, it suddenly occurred to me …The Fatal Mistake I Had Made (That Kills Most Businesses)
I had assumed that I knew what the market wanted, and I was delivering what I THOUGHT would sell. I had never ASKED my audience what they were looking for, and what challenges and problems they were facing. I thought I knew what was “best” for them, and that they’d just buy it because they trusted me. So I was creating great content .. the problem was, it wasn’t what my market really WANTED at the time. This is literally the #1 mistake that most people make when they go into business. They ASSUME they know what the market wants, and they build an entire business around that assumption.
Then they take it to market .. and the market says “no thanks”.
I watch people doing this almost on a daily basis. The crazy thing is, I KNEW this before, but I lost sight of it and made the mistake myself.
This explains why today, I LOVE to get feedback from YOU .. because I know that the only way that I can create powerful content and programs is by listening to what you need help with, and understanding how I can best leverage my expertise and support you.
As an example, we just wrapped up a small “product launch” for Rapid Product Blueprint, and the program sold out. The amazing thing is, it didn’t start as a launch. I just thought creating products was such a great idea, I should tell my tribe about it.
And then we got CRAZY response on the first video — and that’s how I KNEW that my market was interesting in learning more.
It’s a total win-win for everyone. When you apply this strategy to your business, your clients and prospects get a ton of high have content and help, and for those that want to go deeper, they’re able to get the answers and solutions they need.
You get to deliver another service or product to the market and increase your revenue.
I LOVE product launches as a component of my marketing strategy.
And if you want to GUARANTEE that you’ll never make a $150,000 mistake like I did, here’s a FREE resource you can use as a “checklist” to make sure you’re doing it properly.
16 Responses
I have been following jeff’s launch–awesome!
My biggest mistake (which wasn’t as expensive but it was still money just flushed down the drain) was developing what I thought (mistake #1) was a fantastic weight loss program. I had purchased all kinds of support materials (professionally recorded weight loss hypnosis CDs, portion plates, pedometers, binders, customized tabs for the binders) and created a full 8 week program with excellent content. It was a no brainer (clue once again). A person could loose all the weight if they followed the program. I spent 4 months flogging it and ran only 1 program. I never recooped my investment and found myself working for nothing.
That’s when I found the engaged entrepreneur!
Now I find I’m overly cautious when the ideas start flowing. So I’m developing strategies (with the TAF formula) and focusing on problems my clients have and delivering solutions they need and not what I think they need!
Awesome story, Manon. Thank you! There are SO many great potential entrepreneurs that truly COULD change people’s lives if they can just GET this reality – give ’em what they want, what they need!
my biggest mistake was trying to make ancient tapestry technique fit into the contemporary art market. Now I am doing much better keeping my product in the concept of something ancient that can help people reclaim their original values. Here’s an article about my work that came out today.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-paper/Tapestry+artist+latest+champion+everyday+courtesy/4345005/story.html
Thank you for this reminder. My biggest mistake was not engaging my one employee in the process of hiring the next couple of employees. A couple of months after on-boarding the new hires, my first hire quit which completely shifted my original plan. Six months later I am have almosted recovered financially from this error.
That’s a very frustrating problem to have. Sometimes we get so busy, we abdicate important things in our business and it ends up coming back on us. Glad to hear you’ve been able to recover from it Alfred.
Co-Planned and set-up a “one-day” conference about 5 years ago. One person showed up! Was not involved in much of the set-up components like emailing, etc., but still would not have gotten a good turn-out since WE did not CREATE based on FEEDBACK, but rather what “WE KNEW” WHAT THEY NEEDED. Although I’ve learned much from YOU, Mr. Walker’s video and other “TRUSTED AUTHORITY” businesses, I still BELIEVE that once they were in the seats they would have benefited from what was being offered. I could be DEAD WRONG????
Never too late to learn, succeed, and prosper,
Bryce
Bruce, you’re absolutely right — they COULD have benefitted if they were in the seats. But the problem is, if you can’t get them there, that doesn’t matter. They have to connect with what THEY think they want .. as opposed to what YOU think they need. There’s a very popular saying when it comes to sales (and it is VERY true) .. sell them what they want, give them what they need. You can’t convince them they need something, they have to believe that on their own. So you simply get to understand what THEY think their problems and challenges are, and then figure out how to frame what you do around that so that they see you as a solution to a problem they know they have. Thanks for the admission – and I’ve been there before too. 🙂
Greg, You continue to impress me and inform me.
And so you know, as I simply my inbox and unsubscribe from
many other sources, yours is a mailing list I intend to keep.
You are grounded, you listen and provide us with helpful information, not just hooks. I’ve spent hours listening to others tell me what they’re going to tell me and they never tell me. You actually do what you say you’re going to do.
Thank you!
Wow, thanks for the kind comments Annemarie! Much appreciated, and glad you’re enjoying the content.
I remember your program. It was the best there was and I was one of the few that remained until you shut it down. Thanks for reminding me to check in with my clients to see what THEY want. You are one of the very few people I follow and trust.
Greg, Good stories and Jeff’s information would have been very helpful 3 years ago…That said, I’m grateful for it now too, as we’re launching a new book this spring.
My biggest mistake was thinking Camrose AB, needed younger art and artists working in town. I felt that a new gallery, with bold content would liven up the place! We opened, had a great wine and cheese weekend and created a beautiful space. The gala was fun and people came in during midnight madness Christmas shopping.
The paintings were beautiful and despite accolades and local acclaim, only a few were sold. We have not recouped the investment yet, and rent/overhead, ate up savings in 6 months.
Ours was a 50k lesson and 8 months of hard work (no salaries); painting, promoting, advertising and greeting people. We knew we were in a small town, but I didn’t realize how different the thought was, or demographic. We grew up here so why didn’t the canvases fly out the door? I created the change I wished to see…
Many lessons were learned, we regrouped and kept our website (as an ongoing experiment to see who our actual market was…). Now we are about to launch an illustrated book, based on people’s feedback (and budgets). We’ll see how it goes and thanks to you and Jeff for the blueprints to try.
Incidentally, we are a hit in Russia, the US and the Seychelles Islands…and the website operates at a fraction of the cost of physical space.
Regards,
Rebecca
Thank you Greg ! i really enjoy the content you are sending and is really interested in the 60 day Blueprint you´r offering, and i have also been following you for a some time now. and also took your advise looking at Jeffs lanunch. Like often with me though, it seems that i have so much and/or many things going on that i don´t know when i will give my investments full attention. I have started things before and it did end up in a drawer. until it was to late to pick it up again. This time- Trust and Timing is everything for me !! previus misstakes make me hesitate today.
Best Regards
My great mistake in business has been to think that if I didnt like whwer the market was heading or utilizing new ideas ,that I could continue doing what I was familiar with or what I liked doing and sitll get results. WRONG! I have since learned to accept change and not be resistant to it. It lowers the stress and keeps me always anticipating change and therefore
useing it to cource correct.
Thanks Greg for all you are doing!
Geo.
I create embroidered patches for Girl Guides and Scouts. I’ve created a few designs at 1000 each thinking they would sell like hotcakes. One of those designs I still have 995 sitting on my shelf after a few years. Not a huge financial hit but a key lesson to have learned. Now I don’t create a patch unless I have a request or pre-orders and I ASK them what they want. Always great content Greg, thanks.
Didn’t check what the market wanted first. Also didn’t know how to package my product.
Presumed people suffering and endlessly coming to me with their problems as they looking for solutions. I just took it since I was looking for solutions when I talked about my problems, everyone else was too.
TA Core Course is helping me put the horse before my cart. I’m already beginning to feel quite professional half way through “Quickstart” 🙂
I’m begun putting a questionairre out through friends, friendly associates and agencies. Paying very close attention to Greg’s solution process. Organized and linear in solution implementation. Perfect teaching language for kindergarten level entrepreneurs Greg.