The Kaffeeklatsch program is now one month old, and it’s the first big launch of anything that I’ve ever done. There was such a fantastic response to it, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of the launch process (Well, except the paperwork part that required lots of beer, but we’ll get to that later). I thought I’d pass on some of the unexpected things that I learned over the past month or so to you guys in a friendly and honest way so that you could at least avoid making the same mistakes that I did. So, without further ado:
1. Say Thank You.
I’m constantly amazed at the generosity of the small business community, but I’ve never felt happier about it than this month. As soon as I launched, I was getting emails from people I’d never spoken to offering to help, to do infoproducts, and to help me promote it. It wasn’t because these people knew me personally either: they just thought that the program addressed a need and was genuinely a cool thing. Despite the fact that I’ve spent lots of time running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I’ve also spent a huge chunk of it saying thank you over and over to the people who helped out.
2. Check Your Systems.
This launch really scared me because I’m a technophobe, and it required integrating a forum, e-junkie, and the website here. We triple checked that all before launch, and it went smoothly. What we didn’t think about was having a way to auto-record how many months people had bought in for. It ended up being done by hand, and it turned out that all of the systems we had integrated to allow people to buy didn’t work together to make the follow up process automatic. When you launch, you’ve got to think beyond the system that allows people to buy; you’ve got to come up with a system to organize things when they do.
3. Be Specific.
I launched with a very specific idea of the program offerings: the forum, the two group calls, and one infoproduct. I was operating on the assumption that everyone defined an infoproduct the same way (specifically, that it could be a written product or a recorded one). It turned out that there are several different definitions out there, and that some people thought that it would specifically be a written product. As the first month’s infoproduct was an interview, this caused some confusion.
4. Know What Your Expectations Are.
This program has been a long time in the making, and I always knew that I wasn’t going to get rich off it. I’m pretty zen about that. It’s also the most fun thing I’ve ever done here, so I feel pretty great about things all around. I also didn’t expect huge subscription numbers the first month. I’m not an internet superstar, and a lot of these things grow gradually through word of mouth and reviews from people inside the program. The fact that I exceeded my expected subscribers was huge, and certainly good enough for me. I was glad that I did the math (and the research) beforehand, so I knew what was reasonable as well as what was possible.
If you want to get in on it, there is still space, so come join us. We’ve got a full re-subscribe rate so far, and we’re quickly forming a fun and supportive community. I’m toying with the idea of doing a Twitter chat that would be open to anyone as a program teaser bi-monthly as well, so let me know if that idea sounds like a good one.
Have you guys launched anything? Do you have any tips to add that I’ve missed? Leave them in the comments!
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