"Within a month I actually had the 10 clients I had as my goal. "I was a coach mentor and teacher for 15 years giving courses to women via phone and in homes. The market changed with Covid and whilst I already did some online things, it wasn't going well. I began the EMP series with my usual non-perfectionistic approach which I worked hard on. Since my focus in working with women has always been positivity, guided imagery, and the power of belief, I already knew a whole lot and already lived by much of the mindset things Marissa teaches. The one really new mind buster for me was: the more they pay you the more you can give them. I realized that allowing my clients to buy just a one-hour session was cheating them out of the really great transformative journey we could go on together. The pricing of my new 4 hr package which became my minimum package made such a difference that within 2 weeks of beginning EMP I had made $2000 in sales of my coaching package. Within a month I actually had the 10 clients I had as my goal. But I still wanted to make an EMP product. I have been teaching for so long that I have hours and hours of pre-recorded series of classes on a multitude of topics. I was utterly confused about what to focus on. I followed the guidelines for a survey very carefully, using the language, crafting the questions that would get me the answers I could most benefit from. I already had an email list of over 2500 and I've been nurturing this list with weekly giveaways. I received almost 300 responses to my survey with tons of information. I had been wavering between creating a product based on my fundamentals of positive thinking 8 session course, or a new course more based on relationships or self-development. I also asked how the ladies wanted to work with me and what kinds of questions they had. The answers were amazing for me, such great material.. 43% wanted to grow from their challenges, so I gave a free class on that for them. Then, following the "sales for Superheroes" guidelines which were exactly made for me and taught me so much, I offered free "discovery "Grow From Your Challenges" half-hour coaching sessions to those participants, that's how I got to half of the coaching clients who bought packages from me. One old client really wanted just one hour. I explained that I want to help women the best I can, and in one hour I just can't do it, it's more frustrating for the client to go away unsatisfied that she didn't accomplish her goal in one session ( I had that many times!). It took her a month, and then she told me she bought herself a coaching package for her birthday! She really made huge shifts in those 4 weeks! She gave me the most amazing testimonial after the last of the 4 sessions which was the Tuesday I was really beginning the Blueprint program. I added her testimonial to the last email i sent out for my EPM product launch! From the Survey the most requested topic that 47% wanted to know, was how to maintain their self-worth through life's challenges. So I understood that would be the topic of the course. I tried to get clarity on my mission statement and what exactly was the point of my product, from my coach and I tried a few post my questions to Marissa, but somehow they never were in the right time to be answered. My friend spoke with me on the phone one day and I picked her brain, "what's got to be different about the series I give now", i asked her, mentioning various elements. She encouraged me to do group coaching which would give women a feeling of being in a community at this time where we're feeling so isolated. That's when the light bulb really went off. I have really enjoyed watching the live coaching sessions of EMP even if my question wasn't answered. I wanted to recreate that community where women could chat with each other and get each other's feedback. I took the idea of a Blueprint from the naming templates because in the self-development line it really made sense that I'm giving them a personalized plan for the future without promising that they would already be there in 6 weeks which was impossible. I formed a small group of women EMPers who live in the same country as I do and we had a brainstorming session together, I didn't get full clarity on my mission statement, and I still don't have, but I muddled through with words they helped me with. I needed feedback from my coach about the program right at the start of the 2-week break, which was when I really needed to put in the work. Since that didn't work out I was left again to turn things over and over in my mind, really pushing myself to the limits. I have been giving a once-a-month online class open to everyone in my online community for years now. And the date was approaching the same week as I needed to launch. I was confused and feeling pressure trying to figure out how to put it together and how to give the free gift without distracting them from buying, there was lots of technical stuff and it was way way out of my comfort zone. Finally, the idea came to me to make the once-a-month class the first live session of the series and also a stand-alone session. That way people could try it out and benefit from one class even if they weren't going to continue. Also, I understood that my regulars are the most likely to buy. Tracey helped me by editing my emails and sending me a template Google sign-up page. I called my product "Blueprint To Self - How to Maintain Your Self Esteem No Matter What". It contains 6 pre-recorded classes from a successful series I launched 2 years ago and I used over 50 amazing testimonials from previous clients in my emails. with 6 weekly live coaching sessions 1 and 1/2 hr each one live one-on-one session and access to my guided imagery library of over 350 tracks. I really stepped out of my previous zone by charging $497 for the program. I began sending emails out on Wednesday for launching the following Monday. Marissa's guide to emails was invaluable, I had confidence as to what to write and what elements needed to be included. That also went for the classes themselves, I included a lot of "Bird's eye view" and "future self" elements in the first class. As soon as I sent out the first email one person paid and joined, but then nothing. On Friday another 2. Initially, I thought I'd like 20, I waited, knowing that most people sign up at the last minute. I was very nervous because I felt that I had put every ounce of technical energy I have into making this, I just didn't have the strength to go through it all again if this fails... but I waited with hope that after the Monday class there would be sign up for the Tuesday launch of the Thinktank coaching session which was the real beginning of my course. Another aspect of my work is I run a free support network for women in challenging marriages and I raise funds to help them with days out, getaways, and support. I advertised to the members of the group and subsidized the fee so they could join at a 3rd of the price and I received the money to subsidize their participation. 3 women joined that group. Thank G-d another 4 women joined so that we were 10 fully paid for women plus 2 of my team in the class on Tuesday. I realized that for everyone to have their time to speak in an hour and a half, 10 was already pushing it, 20 would have been impossible to give the kind of experience I wanted to give. So 10 was the perfect number of participants. I felt that because I was charging the price that was right for me, I really felt committed to giving my all to help these women really transform their self-esteem. I set up an email group as a place to share questions and feedback, as these women don't use social media. In order to really create a sense of safety and community I sent each member a commitment of confidentiality to sign, and even women with challenging backstories told me they felt safe to share within our cozy group. I do intend to get the program on experience, but it's really hard for me to deal with technical things and I'm just trying to keep abreast of sending out my support emails and one-on-one coaching each day... but I do hope to do it. The way I think about my business has changed 100% since I took the EPM course. I used to love my teaching and coaching, but never had a clue what I was doing with emails or marketing. Now I know what to do, I have tons of material to grow into still from EPM but I call that 'green elephants', things that are big; just not yet ripe for me. The main mind-shift for me was realizing that truly the more I allow the women to invest in themselves, the more I can help them. Whilst I personally experienced a great boost to my business I was very disappointed for a group of my friends who actually lost money whilst doing EPM. I wonder if too much is promised for people who have a little background. There is a huge benefit in the materials I think too much stress is placed on hitting MA rather than acquiring valuable business skills.