About Steven AitchisonEarlier this year I embarked upon a five month blogging/business lesson that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
December 2009 I had this ‘brilliant’ idea to write and produce a complete personal development course to help others to change their lives, as I had. I had around 8,000 subscribers to the blog and thought they would love it. I called it ‘Alter Your Jacket’, the naming of the program itself took nearly 4 weeks. I drew inspiration from my mentors Eben Pagan and Frank Kern and copied their product launch style with 4 free videos and bonuses at the end of the free video course.
Once I had the name, it was time to begin with the preparation. I needed video equipment: good camera, lighting, background materials, mics, sound editing etc. I then needed to start writing the program, which I completed in around 4 months. Once I had done this I needed editing software for the videos, transcription services to transcribe videos to PDFs, a website, software for readers buying the product, and finally a marketing plan.
My Chance for Glory
All in, the entire program from conception to writing, and producing took around 5 months. I put my heart and soul into this and honestly believed it would help to change people’s lives and would change mine in return. Once I had completed the program, built websites and wrote to a few blogger friends to become affiliates to start testing it I released it to the world thinking: ‘This is it, this is my chance to make a name for myself and go up another level in the blogging world and get enough money to be able to financially support my blogging full time’ (no I’m not full time yet).
700 subscribers in two weeks with the help of 3 of my well known blogger friends and I managed to get 5 sales at $67 for the program. I then tweaked it and offered payment plans, another 4 sales. I then tweaked it again and again and nothing. 2 weeks later I closed the program but still kept the free videos up.
It’s quite disheartening to see a product you’ve put so much effort into go down the toilet and it’s only in the last month that I’ve been able to say;’ this program didn’t work’. The problem was, I produced the videos as a talking head a la Eben Pagan. However Eben Pagan is a business guru and that format didn’t transfer well into the personal development world and I received a lot of feedback to say that watching 7 x 30 minutes videos of a talking head was not conducive to learning. There was also problems with the sales page, the copywriting. It was all business and not about the reader.
The 5 Lessons I Learned
Always do the research. Find out what your readers really want. Once your readers have told you what they want, find out if the rest of the world wants that as well, chances are if your readers want it a lot of people looking for your niche products will want it as well.
Never follow the money. Once I had the idea and basked in the glory of my brilliance I kept thinking about how the money was going to change my life. It couldn’t fail, after all who doesn’t want to change their life in some way? How wrong could I be. If you do it for the money, you are doomed from the start, sure you might get initial returns on your investment but it’s all about connecting with your readers, really connecting.
Once you drop the money aspect of your business and start thinking about the connecting aspect, you will find the money will come naturally, whilst still focusing on connecting with your readers.
Being specific. Readers don’t want a program that will help them with every aspect of their life. Readers are looking for specific programs to help them change ‘one aspect’ of their life, it’s our duty to find out what that ‘one aspect’ is, and then find another aspect, and then another.
Imagine you want to change your eating habits and want to try a vegan diet. Which book would you buy:
Try a vegan diet for 30 days – the complete guide
Or
How to change your life
That is essentially what I had done with the ‘Alter your Jacket’ program. I offered everyone a solution to change every aspect of their life. This doesn’t work in the business world and in the readers mind it’s not going to work either. That’s why we have different models of cars, different styles of houses, different everything. We are all different and we don’t want a one size fits all to anything in our lives. We want to feel as if a product is specifically made for our needs.
Learn from your mistakes. It would be so easy to give up and say ‘I’ve given it my best shot, there’s nothing else I can do, it’s time to give up.’ I have learned a huge amount from the ‘Alter Your Jacket’ experience: producing videos, editing videos, writing, networking, discipline, determination, marketing, copywriting, website building and so much more and it only cost me 1 failure to learn all that.
Keep the passion. There’s a lot of talk about finding your passion in life and so many people are struggling to find their passion. I realised that I am one of the lucky ones, I have a passion that will never die and I have nurtured it even more after the mistakes of ‘Alter Your Jacket’. I love writing, love blogging and love the readers I connect with. I am so excited to get up in the morning, I really mean that, I literally open my eyes at 4.30 or 5am and spring out of bed as I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me for the blogging day ahead and start writing and being creative in some way. My head is so full of ideas it’s hard to contain them.
If all you are blogging for is the money, then I would advise you to stop right now and re-evaluate. Try and find your centre and start thinking about the information you are giving to the world. Start writing from a centre of deep concern, start writing from a centre of passion and make sure you convey that passion to your readers.
Did I really fail?
I am still extremely confident about my abilities and even more so now that I have a new set of skills behind me. I took me 1 failed product launch to learn everything I learned and I am willing to go through another 10 failed product launches if they all teach me something. Do I feel like a fool? Not at all, if you can learn anything form this then the product launch was a complete success. (Am I just saying all that to stop me from feeling foolish? – of course I am 
)
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A failed product launch doesn’t always mean a failed product. Though it deeply affects the sales pitch of the product, no matter how good it may be. Look at the iPad launch for example. They did it well, that too during Oscars when millions of people were sure to notice it and embrace its possibilities.
Well, as I’ve learned, if you don’t have a product that is useful, attractive and one people will want to actually use, don’t launch it.
Jaky Astik recently posted..Keep knocking just that one
Hi Jaky, thanks for your thoughts on this I appreciate it.
I am also a big fan of Frank and Eben (plus John Reese, Andy Jenkins and Jeff Walker.)
Thank you for being so honest in your mistakes and sharing them with us so we can also learn from them.
You have a great attitude about the entire thing and why not do a re-launch – you already have a product and know what NOT to do – I wish you the best!
Hi Katie. The product itself and the way it’s been produced i.e talking head, is not that great I don’t think, otherwise I would have done a re-launch. I can use a lot of the material for the blog and for other products so it’s not all bad.
Thanks for this honest post Steven. I have wondered if all the launches I see are successful and it’s nice to hear a behind the scenes story. I am looking at creating my first ebook and a lot of what you shared here will be useful. I will be doing it on a budget so have thinking about the risk factors – obviously not wanting to waste money if for some reason it didn’t take off.
I like your attitude – you have learnt from this experience and I am sure you will use it to push yourself forward and continue making a difference to others.
Jen
Hi Jen, I’ve learned a lot from this and the on the next product launch I’ll be writing ’5 Lessons Learned from a Successful Product Launch’
Frank and Eben have a decade of experience with IM alone, and years of experience in marketing before that.
And they were among the first movers.
Launching is a lot of work. I’ve done a couple of pretty low key launches myself, the pay back isn’t in money. Not yet anyway.
What I do have is a launch machine.
Dave Doolin recently posted..How to be a six-brained blogger
Hi Dave, you’ve a great attitude toward your launches. Thanks for your comment.
I really enjoy your attitude, it gives me heart and courage to read your blog!
Tim
Hi Tim, thanks for your comment, i appreciate it.
Hi Steve, your expressions here are exactly why you didn’t fail. You simply discovered something that didn’t work the way you thought it should. The information in Alter Your Jacket is still valuable and I know it will be put to good use in the future, and be appreciated by all who are exposed to it. So, you learned a lot about business, video, sales, and your readers. You are a total success my friend and someday very soon your success will manifest in amazing ways.
Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills recently posted..Motivation and Your Emotional Vocabulary
Hey Jonathan, thanks for all your support, you managed to get me through it after the first few days when I realised things were not going according to plan, and for that I can’t thank you enough.
Steven,
Love the honesty of this post. And while it’s great information for all of us, what really jumps out for me is how openly you have shared this all here. Kudos, my friend… (and this is most definitely not a failure…)
Lance recently posted..On Fields Pond
Hi Lance, thanks for your kind words, it’s great to see you over here.
What a candid post on your experience, however personal and hard it may have been to see it not go as you had expected – and so what if it classifies as a failed product launch or a failure – There is nothing that you cannot change and do over and try again this time more informed and more vigilant about your approach – I am sure you yourself have written many times about how we should not fear failure, we should not let it discourage us and we should always learn from it. It is only preparing you for the success, plus you must have set a very high goal for yourself – and it takes time to get there. I really wish you the very, very best Steven…..thanks for sharing your story!
Farnoosh recently posted..10 Smart Questions to Ask before Choosing your Next Language
Hi Farnoosh, I know the whole experience is only setting me up for success in the future, as you said and that’s what keeps me searching.
“Alter Your Jacket” is such a special title. It doesn’t state a benefit nor announce how to solve a specific problem.
The tagline “A Life Change Program With A Difference” does not mean much.
Positive or negative ? easy or demanding effort ? Is this about health, wealth, dating, finance ? The parts of life people already do well will be changed too ? …..
As you said, it was not specific enough. I found a good exercise to do is to say your product/ebook title to some people, If by the title they can say what it is all about then it is a good title.
Thanks for your article, it was very good! it is helpful , I will recommend it to some friends.
Hi Louis, that was one of the issues with the program, it was a program I wanted to make and didn’t listen to the conventional way of doing things. thanks for your thoughts.
Louis,
That’s a real good one that I also have learned the hard way.
I’ve broken that rule and have paid the price and now I make sure to do research and understand what people actually need as opposed to given them what I think they need.
Krizia
Very insightful and helpful, thanks for sharing
Lisa recently posted..Booklist – Women’s Energy Body Teachings and Practices
Hi Lisa, thanks for your comments
Thank you so much for sharing your story! It really is inspiring and encouraging to hear stories like that, where someone shares a struggle and a lesson learned. It’s so much more relatable than hearing a story of someone’s success but not knowing how they struggled to get there.
Keep up the learning! Thanks again for this post!
Stacy recently posted..Is The Blog You’re About to Comment on a ‘NoFollow’ or ‘DoFollow’ Blog
Hi Stacy, glad you liked the article, I appreciate your comment.
Hi Steven
Thank you for sharing this. It is really hard when you blog or in any aspect of life when you don’t know exactly how high to pitch your expectations. What is possible? Sometimes we don’t know until we try.
I am at the drawing board with my first product. I admire the fact that you have gone from drawing board to where you are. Sometimes even the drawing board is daunting.
I get a lot of inspiration from watching you as a blogger and I admire your honesty because many would have kept quiet.
You have not made any money from your admission today but you have gained a lot of respect for it and you have helped many bloggers – who are wondering what they are doing “wrong” – to realise that it takes quite a few return visits to that drawing board to find success in their own terms.
marion recently posted..What is Reality
Hi Marion, thanks for your comments. I wish you well with your launch when it comes around. Thank you for your kind words.
Most people fail because they never even start. But every so-called ‘failure’ is a necessary part of overall success – if we’re prepared to learn from it. Well done for trying something and learning from this experience.
In addition to what you list above, the following point will help you boost your chance of success next time around:
- choose a name that expresses the topic and benefit of the course,
- use a range of media for brief modules,
- to use proven launch strategies.
You’re talented and gutsy – that’s a great combo that will finally lead to success.
All best wishes
- Mary
P.S. In CYJ you’ve got some great material that you can re-use for later products.
Hi Mary, you’ve also been a great help and an inspiration. Looking at your A-List Blogging launches has been quite something to watch. Guess who’ll be getting an email for the next product launch
Steven,
This is a very helpful post to put a product launch into perspective. I have been considering development of some different ideas, and it really makes me realize how much consideration is necessary to make sure there is a need and a market. I like your advice to get more of a laser focus. It can be natural to try and provide the end all be all program. This was a very helpful post. Thanks!
Hi Joe, I think Eben Pagan says something like ‘Niche down your niche’ and you’ll be able to find buyers for your product who want exactly what you have to offer, assuming it’s well produced of course.
Let me to be honest here. I’m not a blogger nor productivity guru. But I read many productivity blogs for daily. Most of them I just scan through titles and skip. They just can’t attract my attention. But there’s a blog I enjoy reading about productivity. It is ‘breathe. | zen habits’.
To give you some feedbacks.
When I first stumbled up your ‘Alter Your Jacket’ videos. I just clicked on play button and after 20 or 30 seconds I just left your site. Why? the audio quality was terribly dubbed. The video quality was suck. There was almost ‘no editing’ in your videos. It’s just like you just recorded it and posted it.
Look at some of videos from YouTube. They spend many time in editing their videos. People just love it. Try to be humorous to entertain people while telling what you intended to tell them. People love funny people. You know who are the most subscribed people on youtube are. They’re funny.
The last email I got from you is about You are going to relaunch your ‘Alter Your Jacket’ program because so many people are asking you about it and you reduced price to $37 for the full program. I just unsubscribed as soon as I got that email because I know you’re lying. Come on! This is old marketing strategy. People are not noobs anymore. So, as you said, ‘be real’.
Without a fail, success is not guaranteed. Accept defeat and get on track back! sorry for bashing
P.S; My english is suck.
Hi Crack, thanks for your feedback on the product and thanks for being part of the list, I appreciate your thoughts on this.
Hi Steven,
I love your forthrightness. You really do walk your talk. You are so dedicated to helping others you share your miss-takes AND successes candidly. The value you give others with your honesty is priceless… the return you will get is tenfold (I’m sure you are experiencing it already). You really can’t fail, Steven. If there is one thing I have learned about this internet gig is that it is a continual course correction… I’m sure we have all made a few (I know I have/ Am).
rob white recently posted..Being Master of the Elements
Hi Rob, thank for your kind words I appreciate it. You are so right, with the internet it is always about correcting course, there’s always so much to learn, which is what makes it so exciting.
Hi Steven,
Think about it as an experiment. We all try things, some succeed and some don’t do very well. I think the 5th point you mentioned about offering our readers a solution to a specific problem is so true. People want a solution to a specific problem, not a solution to all problems. Thanks for sharing this post with us.
Dia recently posted..5 ways to get rid of painful memories
Hi Dia, thanks for your encouragement, I appreciate it.
Your communications have always been honest, open and respectful and I actually look forward to receiving your emails as they are one of the few that contain useful and interesting content without overly pushing a product.
Perhaps you may have increased sales initially from a more aggressive approach, but personally I think the way you have connected with your readers sets you apart from other marketers and will bring you huge sustainable success in the long term.
Wishing you all the best,
Frances
Hi Frances, thanks you for your kind words. I was trying to be quite aggressive when I launched the AYJ program, well more aggressive than normal. thanks for your wishes.
My dear friend, You are a hero in your honesty. Very very powerful example you set for the rest of us. Honesty is one of your great strengths. And how beautiful it is. I am deeply moved and so very proud of you. Hugs, Robin
Hey Robin, you’ve always been in my corner and for that I can’t thank you enough. You’re a true angel. Love to you and Stephen.
I am truly awed by your honesty and self-disclosure. You are already a great success and with this lesson under your belt, you will only get better and better!
Sandra Lee recently posted..7 link challenge plus
Hi Sandra-Lee, thanks you so much for your kind words I really appreciate them.
Steven,
I think you’re one of the most honest and caring bloggers I know. That puts you in a league of your own. You have given everyone a huge gift. How often do we hear someone we care about say, “I failed and this is how and why.” Never! Instead all of the gurus just tell us how easy it is to get rich over night. I appreciate all the work you’ve put into this and all of the lessons you share with us. Only good will come from this…there is no doubt in my mind. Let me know if I can help in any way in the future. I care about you.
Hi Tess, I know you’ve always been in my corner as well and it’s really heart warming to have someone like you there – Thank you.
Great post S and good comments too. The more products you put out the better you’ll get at it and the more people will buy them. This was just the start and I agree with Mary that you can reuse some of this material for future more specific products. I really hop you can make this blog profitable enough to go full time if that’s what you want and I admire you.
I’m due to launch my first product next month and I’m terrified. You’ve done it so well done!
Annabel Candy, Get In the Hot Spot recently posted..Confused by Affiliate Marketing
Hi Annabel, I wish you all the very best with your product launch, you’ve got a great blog with great readers so I am sure you will do well with your launch.
Most inspiring post Steven. Thank you.
I especially want to voice my agreement with your wonderful passion charged conviction that doing something with money as the main driver is not an option if we want true success. In fact I suppose that’s really the only thing that is a mistake.
Because above all we are here on this planet to give a gift that only we can give and if we do this everything else will follow.
You are stellar at this. It takes trust, yes. But when this is our primary attitude I think we come to realize there is a “gracious hand” on our lives that has its own agenda and its own timetable…and ultimately is the greatest reward of all.
Christopher Foster recently posted..How to make change a friend and not a foe
Hi Christopher, thank you for your poetic comment. Seeing you getting better and better at what you do is really great to see and I wish you all the success in the world. Thank you my friend.
Hi Steven,
Thanks for these lessons. I’m grateful you share them with us. Why? Because I’m new in the blogging arena, and planning my first product development and launch. Now I can learn through your experience the don’t s and do’s.
Regards…
Melvin Ramos recently posted..Super Foods for Boosting Your Health- Energy- Focus- and Mental Sharpness
Hi Melvin, thanks for your comment and good luck with your first launch.
There is nothing you can not change and do more and try again this time more information and more vigilant about your approach – If you ever fail, you will have to know how you stand up just as a product when the market was not romantic, but what’s more, how are consumers to accept the return. I am sure that you yourself have written many times about how we should not fear failure, we should not let it stop us and we must always learn from it. It is just preparing you for success, plus you must have set very high goals for yourself – and it takes time to get there. always wish you success. Thank you for sharing experience.
Hi Recharddo, thank you for your encouragement, I appreciate it.
Re: “do not follow the money”,
could you expand on that? I don’t quite understand what you mean by that Steven. Not following the money leads to products that don’t sell in my experience!
I love a candid post and I’ve been part of a failed product launch or 2 (I wasn’t the creator of the products in either case though), so I understand the anguish involved, but I think this post doesn’t even touch on why you didn’t get your intended results. I think it starts with not testing your assumptions at the right times. Even in your post-launch analysis it seems like you are making more assumptions, ie. ‘Readers don’t want a program that will help them with every aspect of their life.’, reread that! Do you really believe that? And what did you base that on? Go look at the amazon best sellers-lists, self help sections!
The problem with a first launch is that there’s so many new, unpractised skills and unrehearsed actions involved that the whole experiment is a bit of a black box. A black box because there’s a ton of things that can influence your results, for example, the wrong price point, poor copy writing, low exposure, the wrong medium, bad user experience when they are on your landing page and sales page, content that your audience doesn’t resonate with, lack of trust, poor timing, a subscribers list that isn’t used to sales launches etc. The pain of it is, when you fail and you don’t even know why, we tend to listen to our petty minds for rational reasons. Those are useless.
I think it’s important to take as much ‘black box’ out of it as possible by having customers test your product before launching, surveying for price point and getting continual feedback and keeping things simple and concise etc.
If you don’t have accurate feedback before, during and after the launch, it’s more than likely that it is going to bomb. If you had a great relationship with your list, you’d be able to discern exactly what they would buy, with a little probing.
I think the danger in analyzing a failed launch is to project what you think went wrong and rationalizing that. That just perpetuates the habit of assumptions…it’s rationalizing. But business 101 is: test everything and don’t follow assumptions blindly.
PS I hate to say it but if Frank Kern and Eben Pagan are your mentors (you can bet they follow the money…that’s why they are in the making-money-online business!…in my opinion you can get better mentors than that:) Besides their launches are largely successful because of the a-list network they have created and the collaboration they have (which from what I can tell wasn’t a major part of your launch). I’m not saying their techniques don’t work though. They do, but they make it sound easier than it is…and guess what…they do it to get more sales.
good luck with your next launch
Peter Knight recently posted..Newsletter- June Recap On 11Strategiescom
Hi Peter, thank you for your candid reply. by ‘Not following the money’ I was talking about don’t specifically be in it for the money, my thinking is; you are going to make a product because your list has been asking you to, you do what you do because you love it but make a product because your readers want it, not make a product because you want money from your readers.
As mentioned I have learned a lot and talking with my list was one of the things I learned. I made the product then spoke to my list. Frank and Eben are still great mentors, but they are in a different field altogether, so from that point of view I should have looked to someone from the personal development field.
Thanks again Peter
The issue of creating something that is in alignment with a passion, serving what the audience wants and the money aspects are great topic and something that a lot of people struggle with, I know I have. Recently I’ve been listening/reading to Pressfield’s War of Art and he’s got several interesting views that caught my attention that are very relevant here. He talks about ‘turning pro’ [someone who is there to get paid but does the work regardless of extrinsic rewards, someone who doesn't overly identify with their job description] and the definition of a ‘hack’ [someone who finds out what the market wants and delivers it to them]. Having both a great deal of interest in the personal development field as well as the internet marketing fields, I find there is a lot of friction and contradiction in both market places. Figuring it all out is no small matter. I found that book to be very helpful in figuring things out, highly recommend it to your readers (nice people they are!).
Peter Knight recently posted..Newsletter- June Recap On 11Strategiescom
Hi Peter, thanks for coming back and adding to the conversation. I’ll certainly check out the book you recommend and hopefully other CYT readers will find it useful as well.
No worries Steve. Next one would be better. Perhaps try asking around what readers want and find answers for them?
Daniel recently posted..Starting Small
Hi Daniel, already on it mate
Steven – very brave of you to be so open and analytical about your experience. You probably know this already but the most common mistake for a product owner who is passionate about their cause is to ‘overlook’ asking about what the audience wants.
I’ve only recently finished my product and also invested my heart and soul in it – so your post is very timely – I can identify with the learning curve challenges…
Your last point however I think is the most important to keep in mind. Remembering how priviledged we are to be passionate about what we do – some people never get to feel that passion… Meaning that if you have the passion, you’ll have the strength to keep making mistakes, i.e. to get closer to the right ‘formula’.
Oh and like Daniel says you have a load of loyal readers – ask us and we’ll answer
Glad to be mentioned Anita.
Daniel recently posted..Starting Small
Hey Steve,
It’s been a while and I’ve missed our conversations. Your recent experience is painful but priceless. We all can learn much from your courage and honesty. Thank you.
Coincidentally, I’m now finally in product launch mode, having just launched my first video-pdf product two weeks ago. So far, so good. It’s early days in a two year roll-out of a range of titles.
Love to compare notes on skype as soon as we can arrange it.
Take care, Steve.
Robin
Helping you succeed in business
Robin Dickinson recently posted..The most exciting numbers
Hi Robin, great to hear from you and we’ll definitely catch up on Skype, be interesting to hear about your launch. Speak soon.
Good post. Nice to hear that you just don’t stop because of “failure” like too many people are doing. And as you said, you learnt many new skills and that is excatly the correct way to see things – see the positive sides too and learn something from things what was not so good.
In my point of view “If you do something and it is not success, then it is not a failure. If you stop trying, then it is a failure.”
Keep on going!
I’m keeping on going Aleksi
Thank you for such an honest and helpful post.
It’s so easy to get caught up with a project and forget that you don’t have to sell it to yourself. It’s the rest of the world that matters.
Perhaps you’ll be able to salvage some more of the content for use in the future.
Meanwhile thank you again for the guidanace.
I’ve tweeted a link to your guidance.
Hi Margaret. I can definitely use the content and I already have on a few posts. Thanks for you encouragement, I really appreciate it.
Steven:
As one of the buyers of your program, I was really drawn to this honest and courageous post! Thank you for sharing your soul. I love the product, and I also understand your points… the amount of information in the program was amazing but quite overwhelming : )
I launched an informative “Healing With Experts” teleseminar on Autism and Sensory Integration back in March with pretty much the same attitude and background – put my heart and soul in it, and spent hours upon hours of learning about lists, software, website building, editing, and more. I will always cherish the experience. However I had an almost identical result and was devastated at first at the perceived failure. It made me realize many of the things you posted here, but it took me a lot longer to come to peace with it ; )
My goals today are much more focused, clear, and targeted now that I’ve had that experience. Also, the independent components of that launch can be re-purposed and tailored as I see fit later on – another bonus!
Thanks for all you do!
Hi Debi, thank you so much for coming to the site to make a comment about Alter Your Jacket. You’re right it is a great learning experience and I am sure we will both de much better on our next launch
Steven this is a great post and I admire your absolute honesty. Sod the product whether successful or not, it could have taken you much longer to learn all those new skills if you didn’t have a focus for needing to do it.
It is always inspirational to hear someone talk from the heart and know they have found the thing which they adore doing and really are doing for love not money.
Many thanks.
Kate recently posted..Want to Feel More Confident Just Pretend!
Hi Kate. I probably wouldn’t had got round to learning everything I did as I wouldn’t have the focus on it, but the new skills have already come in very handy. Thanks for your comment Kate, always appreciated.
Hi Steven
Ten out of ten for trying!! It might take a few more goes or you might have something else you really want to do, so it isn’t working for a reason rather than you just getting it wrong.
I am not a blogger or anything in particular, just a reader of your posts, some of which are very useful and interesting and also the links.
I just read the article about the bear who fights off the lions. I’ve often felt like that and so it rang a lot of bells for me (I was just about to write ‘bears for me’!) So reading that article again may help you too.
I am also a bit of a fan of EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique. I have tried it a few times and I find it very useful but have not really tried it out enough yet to know how much it can help me in my life. I get sent the newsletter sent by email from their site – they have recently had a change over because the founder became ill, but they have resumed their work and for me it just confirms their amazing positivity.
Here’s the link – have lots of fun with it.
http://www.eftuniverse.com/
And thanks for all the interesting and thought-provoking information and discussions on this blog.
All the best
Rachel.
Hi Rachel, thanks for your comments about the posts and for the link to the EFT site, I’ll check it out later.
Steve,
Thanks for sharing. Im working on a LifeSkills course right now, and Ill definitely take some of these lessons learnt very seriously. I think its great that you are able to take a step back and look at what went wrong in an objective way. Im sure your next project will be a smash hit!
Chris
Chris Akins recently posted..10 easy ways to go green
Hi Chris. I hope your launch goes great and it would be great to see what you’re working on.
Thanks Steve for sharing your learnings so generously and your so called “failings” so openly and courageously.
Regardless of what you said tongue-in-cheek in your very last sentence, this is not a failure at all – and you as well as all of us have learnt a lot.
Wishing you the best of luck with your new forthcoming ebooks – I know they will be hugely successful.
Arvind Devalia recently posted..Friday the 13th – How Never to be Unlucky Again
Hi Arvind. You’re right Arvind, it wasn’t a failure on so many levels, it was only a failure from a financial point of view, but I took a hell of a lot of lessons from it. Thanks for your encouragement as always Arvind, I really appreciate it.
Hi Steven
I’m sorry about your failed launching but I’m glad you’re learning from it and giving us the opportunity to do so as well. I’m particualry excited about that ‘Being specific’ lesson. I’ve had this idea that people want specific products rather then a complete personal development kit, and that they trust specific products more. It’s part of the reason why I decide to niche my blog. And you’re reinforcing this idea I’ve had.
Thanks for this post
Hey Eduard, glad you found this post of use to you. I think being more specific is still the way to go and will be doing this with all future products.
Hi Steven. This is such a great post to learn from. True learning always comes from experience. Thank u for sharing, and helping us learn. God bless
Uzma recently posted..To nourish the soul
Hi Uzma, thanks for your comment, much appreciated.
Hi Steven,
I have been reader for some time but first time comment poster! I do not think you failed, you found a way that did not work and learned from it.
I think selling is hard as it is, with many blogger turning to products, competition can be stiff! Good luck with your next product and I am sure you will do well.
Preeti @ Heart and Mind recently posted..Lifestyle Magazine’s New Issue- Relationship
Hi Preeti, welcome to the CYT commenter’s club
You have a great way of looking at things and you’re right we can always learn from the things we fall down on.
I think it take real heart to explain your story. Not everyone is comfortable with there failures. It is true failure that makes us who we are. Product launches, School graduation, promotions, or even organized celebrations can go wrong. It’s not about that. Its about getting up and still holding down what you expected when if you don’t get whatever you need to be.
Never following the money is another truth, you’ve touched upon. Because money is just a product of providing people with what they need and want. Once you do this. Your good to go. And remember, there is always room for value content. Because everyone need valuable content. Look at music and software. The best product , the most famous artist are the ones what provide the best of themselves and could give a ( fill in the blank) about anything else.
Hi Jonathan, I did hesitate to publish this or even write it but I think it’s important for readers to know that not all launches are successful and to show the amount of work that goes into a launch.
I think a lot of people are getting confused with the ‘Don’t follow the money’ point. I’ve had a few emails to say that I am a business and not following the money seems counter-intuitive to that point. I am still looking for more business ideas that will ultimately make money for me, but it’s coming at it from a different angle, let the readers tell you what product they want and make the product as long as it’s in line with your own goals and values.
Hi Steven,
I’ve been reading several books lately which explain how our minds reinterpret “reality” in order to protect our egos from mistakes and personal failings. The more I read about the many ways in which the mind subtly steps in and rewrites history to suit us – the more I marvel that we have any objectivity about ourselves at all (the excellently titled “Mistakes were made – but not by me” explains this very well).
Very refreshing then to read your honest assessment of where things went wrong with that product launch. People who can cut through the self delusion and face the unvarnished truth are rare indeed…
Well done mate.
Hi Gareth, thanks for your comments. I think it’s important to figure out what went wrong as soon as possible, admit it to yourself and then move on, it still hurts but in the long run we’ll learn a lot more from this approach.
Thanks Steven, for your story. I was impressed by your honesty. Besides, this situation can really teach something and help a lot. Wish you success in future!
Hi Roman, thanks for you comment and your best wishes.
hello steve,
how are you?
thanks for sharing this because as you know i’m always learning from you each time and this is a class i will always re-visit. i appreciate your honesty with it and it takes guts to put up an article like this. The most important thing was you tried and in the course of trying has gained experience on so many issues which makes you wiser. i have a few questions popping in my head but i will send an email and i need to read to all the comments here.
once again it’s a great thing you highlighted this aspect off your journey because it’s definitely going to change my approach to a product launch in the future.
take care and have a lovely weekend
Hi Ayo. Glad you can pick something up from this post and hope it help in some small way. will keep an eye out for your email.
Like many of the others here, I agree that you clearly haven’t failed. You’ve just created an unintended result. One that presented a great lesson which you have learned from.
I have similar goals to you (full-time blogger) and have created a speed reading course that I’m giving out for free. They are all videos and the quality isn’t great… but the intention is there and the results have been good (in terms of subscribers).
To be honest, I’m just learning the monetizing bit as I go and that’s why the “don’t do it for the money” lesson stuck me as profound. So often we count the dollars. Personally, I try to remain intensely aware of the “feeling behind the feeling.”
As an example, when I’m “dreaming of the dollars” (yeah… it still happens!) I check the root feeling. Is that dream creating a feeling of abundance and growth? It may “feel” good to think about the cash rolling in… but then I dig deeper.
Why does that feeling feel so good? Is it because I’m really wanting to get rid of the stress of my job? The trapped feeling of having the Monday-Friday treadmill career? Is my dream of making a ton of money really just feeding my own poverity consciosness? In effect, I ask… “Is my dream just energizing my nightmare?”
I agree with Peter Knights comments earlier… the desire to make money isn’t a bad thing.
What that desire truly energizes… is what we will create.
Thanks again for your candid honesty!
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Hi Chris, thanks for your thoughts on this. You’ve made a great point about dreaming about your perfect life. Having a dream is just wishful thinking whereas making the dream is more action oriented.
I am not saying the desire to make money is bad, not at all, I still desire the money and still desire enough of it to do what I want to do in life. However, if you put the money before the readers you are more likely to fail or feel bad within yourself.
Steven,
Sorry to be so late to the party! I’m so busy tweeting everyone’s articles – I rarely get time to read them all. This weekend I decided I needed a break and your article was one I promised myself I’d read over the weekend.
I give you so much credit for disclosing everything that you did for Alter Your Jacket. Although I really feel for you and all you went through – what an amazing learning experience, as you pointed out. You’re next product launch is going to be a home-run! I know it!
I think you gave us such valuable information for when we all do our own launches Steven – thank you. I really learned a lot from this post.
Angela Artemis recently posted..Hey! There’s a Face in That Orb!
Hi Angela, thanks for your comments and your words of encouragement and I am so glad you were able to pick up something from the post.
Hi Steven. Your attitude about this “failure” is amazing. It’s how we should all take life’s let-downs and disappointments. You learned important information that puts you even closer to your goal and you clearly see the value in that. I definitely wouldn’t call it a failure. I call every stepping stone, even the ones I trip over, PROGRESS.
Nea | Self Improvement Saga recently posted..Do You Love and Value Yourself Unconditionally
Hi Nea, thanks for you comment and words of encouragement, I really appreciate it.
Hi Steve!
For those of us just getting started in the “monetization of our blog followers,” listening to you I had two immediate emotional reactions:
1) Terror – “If Steve failed, I’m screwed!”
2) Impressed – “Steve probably just saved a bunch of us a lot of pain by sharing this. A very selfless thing to do.”
What I think I’m hearing from the comments discussion is an apparent consensus recommendation that we …
1) Understand what our followers see as burning problems in their life;
2) Develop a big-picture understanding of what our followers’ problems really are and how those problems can be solved;
3) Avoid the temptation to give our followers the key to life’s big questions, even if that’s what they really need. Most people are afraid of life’s big questions. They prefer to exist on the practical side of life, lost in the details;
4) Break that big-picture solution into much smaller, narrowly-tailored solutions to specific problems (various narrow aspects of the big problem);
4) Develop and deliver products that our followers can quickly apply to solve one on those narrow problem aspects (e.g., spoon feed them a bit at a time).
I disagree with the view that poor video quality or other technical issues are as big an issue as we think they are. You put so much effort into production. I’ll bet the content portion, though quite comprehensive, was a very small part of your effort. Yet content is all they really want. Simple, actionable solutions.
Of course, we have to communicate to our followers what we intend to deliver, so the title is very important. Also, we have to grab them in our materials right from the beginning, getting right to the point of things while, perhaps, spreading a bit of humor and good feeling as well. They should feel good, because they are acting on an important issue that they’ve probably been worrying about for a while. Encourage that pride. Then deliver your solution.
Beyond this, however, I can see a scratchy video or audio done in a basement blowing away a slick presentation if the follower really believes that you have the answer he or she has been looking for. I suspect that, sometimes, people prefer bad presentation because it looks like you need them less than they need you – an indication that you really do have life’s answers and you graciously and charitably took a few moments from your glamorous life to share a few.
Considering how comprehensive your program apparently was, perhaps you have enough meat there to put together ten good, more narrowly focused programs? I hope so.
When we think about the big ideas on how to improve our lives, we all start to see the connections and similarity between them. The greatest life lessons can be fit into very small books. And they have been. Many times. We naturally want to share this realized wisdom with our followers, because we want to give them as much value as we possibly can. But they may not be ready for all that we can teach them.
Our followers are practical human beings. They spend a few minutes a day with us at best. Perhaps they aren’t ready to give much more?
So, I am taking as a lesson here that we should spoon feed our followers a bit. Perhaps produce very focused product solutions to small, very-real problems? But solutions built by someone who understands the big picture, too.
Or maybe this is just one possible approach.
I don’t know. I’m just a noob. But I thank you now for this gift of honesty that you have shared with all of us. My opinion of you just shot up quite a bit, and it wasn’t bad beforehand.
All the best,
Hugh
Hi Hugh, what a great comment.
You’ve obviously picked up a lot from the article and from what others have said and you summed it up nicely into 5 steps that anyone can think about when trying to make a product for themselves.
With regards to video quality, I made it the best I could with the tools I had and the tools were quite good
, but I totally agree with you that a scratchy video can be much better than a quality one if it has the information you are looking for, just look at some of the videos on youtube that go viral.
If think having highly focused products might be the way to go for me but maybe not for everyone. Look at Dirk de Bruin, he produced a guide called Upgrade Reality and it’s done very well for him and that’s a book about
Get Happy. Get Rich. Get Healthy. Get Confident. so there’s lots of different factors involved that could make it fly or could make or belly flop.
thanks for you comment Hugh, I appreciate it.
Hi Steven
Just finished my cupboard – almost – slightly short on the shelving paper.
Please see my message put up today on your June 13th post.
http://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/blog/2010/06/13/guided-meditation-overcoming-procrastination/comment-page-1/#comment-210523
Have a great Sunday.
Rachel.
Hi Rachel, I have replied to your comment on the other post, thanks for that.
Hi Steve,
I am so impressed with the honesty in your post and the thoughtful comments from your readers. You are consistently willing to put yourself out there (I remember your post on your darkest moment), which engenders nothing but huge respect. You are an inspiration to the blogging community. When I take in your post and everyone’s responses, the word “failure” has no place whatsoever.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Love, Gail
I’ve had some terrible launches too. Well…most of them were terrible. Launching a product takes a lot of skill, some luck, and many friends who believe that you are awesome.
Yes, it’s easy to give up, but each launch gets a little easier and better. Like you said there is no failure if you learned something from the experience.
Hi Steven
I read this and couldn’t help thinking how positive this whole experience was. You learned so much! And what is more so, is you taught us ALL so much through it.
Thank you.
It is I am sure very humbling to learn and discover all that you had. And I love your honesty about this whole experience.
You are so right, it is always about truly helping others gain value and should never start with our focus on money or making it big, etc. Our readers are so valuable for they indeed can help us, help them and I have no doubt this is going to get you to produce a product that will be truly an incredible help for many, including the expansion of our own strengths and talents.
Evita recently posted..Stories from an Unconditionally Generous Heart
It is hard to set up own business after failure, but I learned from my mistakes and now I’m fine doing what I like. You can not give up.
I just launched an iphone application that helps girls and women see their real beauty. One big lesson is how challenging it is to generate a sale – very discouraging. I think I have a great product and have gotten great feedback but I do not have a strong online comunity and I made the fatal mistake of no marketing budget and no money in the bank to change that. It is really hard to decide when to say I tried and now it is time to move on. One unexpected benefit is now I have a title that then gives me the ability to go talk to girls about women in business and building self confidence. I still hope to find a way that I can empower women through my creative ideas and earn a living.
Hi Roman, thanks for you comment and your best wishes.
Hi Steven,
Enjoyed your post immensely thanks. I am at the stage where I am trying to compile my first product and am fearful that it will be a flop! I suppose that you have to go through all the pain before there’s any gain, otherwise wouldn’t we all be earning the $100k each week that some of the big guns out there earn? (Slightly tongue in cheek comment as I’m sure some of the earnings aren’t actually factual!)
You have a great following which is a good testament to what you produce so you can take that from your experience. Unless they’ve all since unsubscribed, hehe.
I look forward to more of your blog posts with interest as they’re an inspiration for me.
Kind regards,
Martin
Martin recently posted..Facebook Frenzy!
Hang on to “Alter Your Jacket” . There are a lot of people out there who want to change their lives- look at the success of people like Joe Vitale, John Assaraf, Tony Robbins, Dov Baron, etc, etc.
The name of the product is a bit off. It just doesn’t inspire people to get involved with it. And maybe your list doesn’t quite attract the people who would buy that product. After all, I really haven’t seen a lot of demand for programs about waking up early. Set your alarm clock earlier, get going, no big deal. Yet that was a big pick with your readers. But maybe it’s a cultural difference, too.
Anyway, a few changes and that original program could be your next biggest seller.
I know you posted this a while back but, wanted to let you know that it gave me some good ideas for tweaking the free ebook we will be offering. Right now it’s too broad like you mentioned.
I’m going to go through it and try to see how it can help a more specific and focused problem.
Bryce Christiansen recently posted..Personal Growth Lesson 3- Why Cancer is Not All Bad
If your product is good, it should sell and the difficulty is just in getting the word out. The name is really awkward and doesn’t reflect what the product is actually about.
Why not try a different name “35 Days to a New You” or such and release it on Clickbank. If affiliates pick it up it could become a big seller for you.
Was thinking about your “failed” product launch. The one thing I would identify with the lack of orders is the name and tag line of your product. Perhaps you might use some Google Analytics to get a more responsive names. Relaunch the product come January, and double to price. Make it scarce and create value for your customers.