I was stuck. Really stuck. I’ve tried over the past several years to start a couple of businesses, none of which went anywhere. I got as far as registering the names, opening bank accounts, building a website, writing articles online, but… nothing. Not a client, not a hint of a whisper of interest, nothing.
I might as well have been whistling into the wind for all the good that hard work did me. It’s pretty depressing and very discouraging. So I gave up. I deleted that website and just let everything else sit there doing nothing, while I focused on the things that mean something to me: the book I’m writing about the first part of the three years I spent travelling solo with my German Shepherds around the UK, and the newsletter and website that go along with it. I made pocket money by walking an elderly gentleman’s dog occasionally. Needless to say, I wasn’t getting much of anywhere with an actual business. Then along came Marisa with her Experience Product Masterclass and I thought, “Why not? Nothing else has worked so far… might as well give this a go and see if having people light a fire under me might make a difference.”
And light a fire they did. The course was like being drowned in the proverbial firehose, but I kept at it, putting in more time and effort than I’ve ever done for a business before. In order to make this work, and to be able to incorporate my book and any future events associated with it, I had to start a whole new business. Coming up with a name was the hardest part, but once that was done, I got the rest of the details sorted fairly quickly.
That was a complication I hadn’t imagined when I joined EPM, but officially washing my hands of the old, failed businesses was something I’d intended to do anyway for a year or more, so this was just the impetus I needed to get my skates on and do something about it. Totally fresh start in the New Year, as it were, because I got my new business registered within the first two weeks of January.
Marisa and the coaches kept telling us to just get started, pick something -- pick anything -- and clean it up as you go. I can’t remember how many iterations of a Product Mission I went through before I arrived at my final (for now, at least) one, but it's probably at least a dozen. As a lifelong perfectionist who has historically waited until every last detail is immaculate, this was a bit hard for me to do, but against all my natural tendencies, I went with it, and so far, it seems to be working out. As with any new venture, of course, only time will tell, but at least I have something to build on.
Promoting my new EPM product, The PIC Masterclass, was, as you might expect, the hardest part. It’s easy to sit safely in your room, planning and creating, but it’s bloody hard to take your creation, stick your head above the parapet, and expose yourself to potentially fatal fire. Or at least that’s what it feels like, right?
In order to promote my own creation, I emailed and sent messages to people I hadn’t seen in more than a decade and/or contacted in at least a year, or in fact had never been in real touch with before. Just because someone’s a connection on LinkedIn doesn’t mean they’re someone you actually feel comfortable getting in touch with, but I took advantage of the holidays to send individual holiday greetings to Every. Single. Person in my personal email contact list as well as to Every. Single. LinkedIn Connection as a way to crack open the doors of communication. It was a nice, no-pressure way to let people know I exist.
Doing that took absolutely ages. I had to do it over several days, and it’s exhausting, all that networking, especially because it goes against every dedicated-introvert cell in my body. But it’s started working, because I’m getting messages from some of these people congratulating me on my new job: I changed my LinkedIn profile to reflect my Masterclass and my initial offer, and it’s actually getting acknowledged. It’s a nice surprise.
And that’s half the battle with launching and sustaining a successful business, isn’t it? Getting people to acknowledge you exist. In this oversaturated online world that can be really tough to do. As for what I’ve accomplished, I opened a new business (out with the old, in with the new), created an entire coaching program from the ground up, and got a good running start out of the blocks with marketing my program, despite my preference for hiding safely in my room, tweaking and perfecting. There’s a lot further to go, of course, but so far, so good. It’ll be interesting to see where all of my hard work will take me.
What is your biggest takeaway from EPM?
It was a lot more work than I anticipated. I've started a couple of businesses before, but nothing ever had this sort of frantic drowning overwhelm to it. Then again, none of them ever worked, either.
How did EPM help you become successful?
Challenged me to step way outside my comfort zone and put myself out there for real. I'm a seriously introverted introvert who is perfectly happy speaking to or seeing no one for days on end, and having to talk to people -- or even write to people -- about what I'm doing was hard. I have not much problem playing instructor/coach -- I did that for years in the airline industry -- but those students were already motivated and, moreover, they were assigned to me. I didn't have to get out and hustle to find them.
How has EPM and your success impacted your life?
EPM dragged me out of the self-imposed exile I've lived in for the past few years and forced me to get in touch with people again, or to contact people I don't know, in order to tell them about The PIC Masterclass. I have high hopes for my book, which has been in the works for too long, and I'm confident that by hustling for my EPM product, it'll make it a bit easier for me to hustle to promote my book when the time comes.
What has been the biggest change in your business?
I have a brand-new one. On 10 January 2019 I closed down a business that had gone nowhere and registered my new business name (Trigpoint Systems) with my state government. Two days later I closed down the bank accounts associated with the old business and opened a new business account for my new business. I did all of this specifically to have a business that could be an umbrella for both The PIC Masterclass and for the book I'm writing, which are completely unrelated.
What are you most excited about moving forward with your Experience Product?
Getting clients and seeing if any of this hard work will actually... work. I've never done online coaching before, this is a completely new idea for me, and I'm curious to find out if my coaching system will work the way I hope it will help people.