Events

30x500 / Events — 11 Comments
28
Mar 13

30×500 is Dead, Long Live 30×500

Another 30×500 ended, a new one just begun… but not quite.

The Class… The Legend

As you probably know, I developed a course called 30×500. The goal: to help other designers & developers (people like me!) do what I did — create a growing, profitable stable of products, without outside funding, on the side, to create both improved lives for their customers, and more freedom & money for themselves, too.

I’ve been teaching one variation of this class for 3 years straight. Holy narwhalsicles, Batman.

The Evolution

After 3 years of constant improvements, additions, subtractions, and changes, my students’ successes are better & more numerous than ever.

In the past 3 years I have…

created a 12-week class from scratch, based on the pains and fears I knew my would-be peers were experiencing
rewrote it…
reordered it, turning it on its head, 3 times
added a partner-teacher (Alex Hillman)
quadrupled the amount of time I spent talking live with students
recorded a ton of video
refined the way I teach the hardest steps — and the easiest
studied research, and taken expensive workshops, and read infinite books in order to teach in the most effective way possible
added tons of new material
turned it from a progressive weekly schedule, to a million interlocking “micro” practices that build results
created a whole pre-class class on habits and motivation
created metrics for students to help themselves

Umm, that list is a little self-centered…

Yes, this list is all about me. Me me me. Because I was the one doing the work (and later, Alex and I were doing the work together). And holy shit has it been a lot of work.

But the reason I did it isn’t

I did all this for my students.

Sure, 30×500 pays very nicely. But you couldn’t pay me to do all that. It was herculean, and I’m rebellious when it comes to any kind of outside obligation. “They’re not paying me enough for this crap” is something I grumbled on a daily basis, back when I had a job/clients.

The dirtier fact is, too, that I could have kept selling the class exactly how it was. The demand, the need, was huge. But I wasn’t satisfied with the quality, the student experience.

I did all this heavy lifting for the love.

I did it so I could watch my students succeed.

The last 30×500 has been the best ever

The changes in the last class have been the most epic: the pre-class, the habits, the micro-practice, the entirely new schedule/order/approach.

Alex and I got together and added an extra month of material. We cut stuff out entirely. We scheduled and rescheduled. We planned: What is the meta-lesson here? What is the meta-meta lesson? How can we coordinate on the Socratic approach? How should we structure new live exercises?

These changes have made all the difference. We have nearly quadrupled the number of students who stick with the program, who complete their work, who are ready to use these skills forrealz. Even returning alumni have been shocked by how much more savvy & prepared these new students are.

Yes, a couple weeks ago, 30×500 Winter 2012 wrapped up. Something epic and new came to a close.

Was it perfect? Nope.

Are we still working our butts off to improve it? Absolutely.

That’s why I’ve been quietly telling people over the past few months: We will never run another 30×500 the “old way,” ever again.

The old way and the new way…

This last 30×500 was a mixture of the new way and the old way.

Here’s what works about the new way:

the application process
the emphasis on habits, and micro-wins vs micro-failures
identifying good habits and bad habits
doing a preview of the entire class, in the 1-day bootcamp
start with the “real work” (the hard stuff — pitches, pain, and sales Safari!) right up front, from week 1
a Socratic response to student questions/homework, helping them figure it out on their own instead of dictating
breaking up the whole process into tiny chunks that build on each other (reflecting the “stacking the bricks” ethos in every way)
tiny daily exercises that build up to big projects, instead of semi-punitive homework that takes days to complete on your own
weekly office hours, with live lessons and live practice & review, every single Sunday
removing every barrier to moving forward (example: all students get hung up on ‘audience selection’ so we had everyone work together on a ‘rented’ audience instead, at first, to share the learning experience without hangups)
meta-lessons; I won’t tell you what they are, and we didn’t tell students what they were, but we designed them into the new structure and as a teacher I can say the students “got it”
and something that works even better every time we run the class — the alumni list, a private Google Group that every 30×500 alum has access to, for support, for feedback, for community

Here’s what didn’t work this time — holdouts from the old way:

it’s too damn long
too much theory
it takes too long to get to the “real work”
shipping — anything! — was not built into the class
hedging bets — yes, you can use this process for any type of product, in any order — leads to weaker student outcomes
it’s a big investment of $ to start with — there isn’t a product family with more affordable classes or products to try first
it’s a lot of unnecessary hand-holding, if you’re a self-starter
really, it was way too damn long — everybody starts off super excited, but by the end of it, everyone is exhausted (smarter, but damn tired!)

So… if we’re not doing 30×500 ever again the old way, what should we do?

What do our students (& prospective students) really need?

It’s taken me 3 years to figure this out. But I think if you look at this list, it’s clear:

for self-starters a much shorter, more affordable, 100% action-focused 30×500 — call it the “Swift Kick in the Ass” edition
for those who want lots of hands-on support, & who have a higher budget, a more-succinct-but-still-comprehensive 30×500 with all of the cruft removed, throw out the written material, 100% focused on daily action and shipping
for those who aren’t ready for / don’t need a class, stand-alone products and small events geared towards helping them conquer specific topics, e.g. marketing, pricing, product launches, entrepreneurial habits
for absolutely everyone — help building a real bootstrapping community that isn’t tied to 30×500 Alumni-hood

There you have it, my friends. That’s Alex’s & my to-do list for the next 12 months.

Yes, if you do the math, 30×500 brought in over $300,000 for us last year. Yes, we’re potentially throwing that away, by shutting “30×500 As You Know it” down completely.

We’re not just dropping the golden egg and smashing it, we’re strangling the goose. Why? Because, as it turns out, goose eggs don’t make great omelets. And helping to create a world full of great omelets is our raison d’être. And by “omelets” I mean “thriving bootstrapped product businesses.”

Frankly, it’s a little scary to commit to this publicly, but this is what needs to be done — to reach more people, to help more students ship, to create more success stories.

Our plan at work: Events, Classes, Products, & hey, a Conference!

We recently announced our Launch Roundtable, an affordable ($199) and highly focused event: all about product launches. Real talk, with exact launch sequences / content, no-holds-barred revenue discussions, and all.

We will soon be launching a brand new class that we call 30×500 Bootcamp. It is an intense, 2-day, action-packed workshop (online). You will learn all the major moving parts of the 30×500 process… and you will implement them. You’ll learn the theory by acting instead of listening to me lecture. The dates: May 25/26. Right before BaconBizConf (see below).

30×500 will never again be a 4-month class. It nearly killed us all, students and teachers alike. The next iteration will be max 6 weeks long… with more live practice than ever before, more shipping experience built in, 100% action-oriented. We’ll take even more advantage of the “OMG YES WE’RE DOING IT!” excitement at the start of class, and get in/get out/get shipped.

Our new habits workshop, that so helped our students in the last 30×500, will become its own standalone product. We will price it very affordably. Some of it will even be free (subscribe to my blog!).

Finally…

We’re putting on BaconBizConf, an intimate bootstrappy-products conference, May 30th in Philadelphia. You may have been waiting for a long time for the details, and for that we apologize. With these revelations, we realized we had to change our basic conceptions of how to run a conference, too.

The redesigned BaconBizConf will be more affordable, more enjoyable, and more educational. We’ve shrunk the speaker-attendee ratio (by half!), and we’re going to hold it in a low-key (free) setting. Instead of paying for a hotel ballroom, we’re hiring videographers to record the event to reach more people. And just wait til you see who’s speaking.

Tired yet?

… ok, I admit it, even reading this list is making me rather tired! But I’m also super excited. And a little nervous.

But I know this is all based on research. On what we’ve learned from watching students struggle… and what we’ve learned from watching them win. From all the folks who wanted to take 30×500, but couldn’t, or shouldn’t, in its older form.

30×500 alums will recognize this list of data: It’s called “Sales Safari.”

And if you read, buy, attend any of the above… you’re going to learn all about it, because instead of locking the concept up behind multi-thousand-dollar gate, we’re going to get it out to the world, to everybody who wants it & needs it, in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Can I get a “hell yeah”?

Events / Launching — 1 Comment
21
Mar 13

3 critical, non-obvious ingredients for ANY launch

Once upon a time, in a land far away, a girl named Amy nearly botched a launch worth over $100,000.

How did she do this? With a single, solitary email, reading…

“Hey, doors are open! Buy your seat now!”

That’s how most folks launch their products. It’s easy, and it’s wrong. And one time, I tried to launch my 30×500 Product Launch Class that way.

I made a single sale in 24 hours. One single, solitary sale.

Never before had I failed to sell fewer than 30 seats in the very first day. Never.

And so there I was, 24 hours later, with 74 empty seats. At the time, each seat cost $1,450, and there wasn’t even a trickle of sales, there was just one sale, period. I was facing down the very real prospect of losing $107,300 of planned ticket sales.

I was freaking out. Was the market simply tapped? Cue dark teatime of the soul.

Once I stopped pitying myself, I realized: Maybe it’s not the market. Maybe it’s me.

Instead of using the launch process I’d always used, instead of doing it the way I learned over 10+ product launches, I’d gotten cocky. I sent that single email, just on the launch day itself, and then I sat back to await my sales. Like I said: Cocky. And easy. And wrong.

Once I came to grips with the idea that I had caused the problem, I realized I could fix it, too.

So I hit the rewind button

I swiftly took the ticket sales offline, redid the launch the way my own process dictates, and launched again over the next week. The proper way.

That second time, I sold $35,000+ in tickets in a matter of hours.

(Surprisingly, nobody said a word about this whole fumbled, launch-it-again approach. Cuz… nobody noticed.)

The class went on to sell out, completely.

Learn from my mistake… please!

I consider this experience my “A/B test” for my launch strategy and tactics. And lemme tell you, there was no doubt about which test won.

That story is one I tell in every 30×500 semester, and one I repeat especially to students on the verge of launching.

That’s because launching the wrong way — “Hey, look! We’re live!” — is the easiest, simplest, most seductive way to launch. But, of course, it doesn’t work. And a busted launch can lead you to give up. You may believe things like “Maybe the market is saturated,” when, in fact, the only thing that was saturated was your soggy launch, soaking in ego and laziness.

But enough about bad launches. What does a good launch look like?

The 3 critical ingredients for any launch

They’re super simple. Ready?

Slow build-up
Inherent value
Path of logic

SIP! Like champagne! That you break… on a ship… that pours into the ocean… ok, maybe my mnemonic needs work.

Regardless of how wanting is my phraseology, these are the three elements you cannot dispense with if you want to launch successfully.

Why?

Because of how people actually buy things

Because people don’t suddenly see a new thing, then bam! decide to buy it. People simply don’t behave this way, nope. Not in large enough quantities for your launch.

The typical potential customer is full of doubt:

They’re unsure if they want what you’re selling.
They’re unsure how it would help them.
They’re unsure if they should trust you, if you’ll deliver.
They’re unsure if the price is reasonable.
They’re unsure if they should buy now or wait til later, when the need seems more pressing, or when they remember it again.

And that’s assuming they even read your launch announcement. Assuming they don’t say to themselves, “I’m busy, I’ll come back to that later.” Which is not a safe assumption at all.

Aren’t those just “objections”?

Countering ‘objections’ doesn’t solve this problem. I don’t care however many times copywriters tell you it will, ‘handling’ objections just slaps a bandaid on a broken process.

For these doubts to be objections, the potential customer has to already want to buy… but something is holding them back.

That’s not the case for these fundamental doubts.

How SIP solves this problem

SIP solves the problem by helping your potential customer decide if the product is right for them, if they want it, if it’ll help them, if they trust you, if they should buy it right away… before you ever offer the product for sale.

And if you use it right, it can even help you use (indirect) customer feedback to adjust and improve your launch strategy before your launch falls flat.

Slow Build-Up

What are you more likely to say “Yes” to — “Can you decide this by next week?” or “Can you decide this right this second?”

Most folks hate to be rushed. They don’t like being put on the spot. They like acclimating to major decisions by degrees. That’s because they’re smart.

Think about the last time you decided to buy something based on a cold-call, if you don’t believe me. Even if the cold-call was totally trustworthy, nobody likes a surprise intrusion much less one that demands immediate attention and a decision. We’re busy, we’re thinking about other things, we don’t have the headspace for it, so we put it off… and often we forget.

We all know this is true. So why do we launch in exactly this way?

Slow build-up is about honoring the way people actually want to make decisions, and making it work to your (and your potential customer’s) advantage.

If you do it right, “slow” means over a period of weeks. Yes, weeks!

Inherent Value

Who are you more likely to hire: the nice person you see every week at the user group, who’s given talks there about the subject area you’re hiring for, who’s given you free advice that totally worked… or a stranger who just sent you their résumé?

The known — and trusted — quantity, right? Naturally. We all hate risk and we love feeling safe. And this explains the need for Inherent Value.

So what do you do over those slow build-up weeks? How do you reduce risk and create a sense of safety? What do you build up with?

Valuable content.

You want your launch process to be chockfull of goodies — information, freebies, live consultations, whatever — that are so good, your potential customer is delighted to hear from you.

Give them things that make them smarter, stronger, better. Yes, for free. Yes, your (pre)launch content has to be useful and interesting, even if the potential customer never buys.

Think of each one as a mini-product in and of itself. And then give it away.

Why? Because this is how you build trust. You show the customer that you understand their pain — and you can help them kill it. You show them you understand them. You show them you can help them. You show them that what you’ve got is good quality.

They learn, over time, that:

you get where they’re coming from
your emails are worth opening
your advice is worth following

Bam!

That’s a kind of trust and collaborative relationship you could never build by “countering objections.”

Path of Logic

Have you ever worked with somebody — a boss, a coach, a friend, a parent — who knew far better than to tell you what to do? Who, instead, wisely and deftly, helped you realize the right choice, and let it be your decision?

Keep them in mind, because that’s what your end goal is.

Our final ingredient is this exact experience. Path of Logic is really the strategy, and the previous two ingredients are tactics you used to implement this strategy.

Your goal is to build a logical path of decision-making, and then lead your potential customer down it.

That path will lead them to conclude on their own that yes, you do solve a problem they have — or it will lead them to conclude that no, you don’t.

Path of Logic is not about getting to yes, it’s about persuading the customer to take the time to consider your product at all.

Most folks can’t even get that much mindshare with their (failed) product launches. It’s like that old joke — “Tell me, what do you think of me?” “I don’t think of you at all.” That’s where most people’s products live: the zone of no-thought. The potential customer has no opinion, which is worse than a negative opinion.

If you can persuade a potential customer to take that time to consider your product long enough decide yes or no, you’re winning.

Putting it all together

And you do that by:

Slowly
Giving them valuable content
Showing them you understand their pain points
Demonstrating that you can help them kill the pain points
Persuading them to try your [free] advice, freebies, excerpts, tools, whatever
Broaching the topic of “If you like this free stuff, you’ll love my paid product”
Explaining more about how the product will help them
Counting down to when they can buy it
And finally, launching your paid product

SGSDPBECA… it’s that easy! (Please. Send help.)

Seriously, though, if you use this process in this way, by the time you actually launch your product, you’ll have plenty of customers trusting you, convinced that they want what you’re about to sell, and ready to buy. All before you slap a Buy Button on it.

It means you can launch in a respectful way, and a useful way, which creates and preserves goodwill… while also making sales.

It also diffuses launch day freakout, somewhat, because you know that it’s not One Day That Changes Everything, but a process that you’ll implement over time, piece by piece.

Want to learn more about how to implement all this?

I practice what I preach And I’ve got something to offer you.

Want to see how this works in practice? Want insight into how you can make SIP work for you?

Learn how SIP works for real people and real products in my Launch Roundtable, on April 7.

What: A mini-conference
Where: 100% online! attend from your couch!
When: April 7, 12 pm to 3pm Eastern
Who: Me, Alex (my co-teacher for 30×500), and three of my students, Brennan Dunn, Brandon Savage, and Chris Hartjes. And you?

It just so happened that three of my 30×500 Launch Class students recently launched 3 products, all in the same week. What a great case study, I thought. And what a great opportunity to compare methods, approaches, results, and help folks learn.

And so we decided to put together the Launch Roundtable for you.

Our lineup:

Chris Hartjes, from 30×500 Summer 2012, launched his first 30×500-style product, a book
Brandon Savage, from 30×500 Summer 2012, launched his second product, a workshop
Brennan Dunn, from 30×500 Summer 2011, launched his fourth product, a big ebook/video/workbook package

You’ll learn how each of these launches went, how they were designed, when they were started, and what content was used. And you’ll learn how these guys changed their launch strategies from one product to the next, as they learned and evolved.

(In case you’re wondering, I’ve used the SIP approach to launch software (and so has Brennan). It’s sort of a coincidence that these 3 products are educational products, but SIP works on anything.)

You’ll also get:

an insider’s look at exactly how those 3 implemented the SIP approach for their “boring” products, leading to more than $36,000 in sales
the emails they sent and blog posts they used, and when
revenue breakdowns
the opportunity to ask your own questions
a recording and transcript to keep forever and ever

You can’t beat it. Tickets cost $179 if you buy by Friday Mar 22, and $199 afterwards.

And thanks to my launch process, there are only 35 seats (out of 100!) left at time of writing

Events / Launching — No Comments
20
Mar 13

“Launch Day” is a toxic idea

“Launch Day” is a toxic phrase. It’s all backwards.

NASA, after all, doesn’t decide which date they’re going to launch the rocket and then the day approaches and just BAM! There goes the rocket, and that’s that, they’re all done.

There’s always a countdown

There’s a countdown the day of (T-Minus 10, 9, 8…). And months before that, they start a different type of countdown, of all the things that need to happen to get that rocket off the ground. (And there’s lots of stuff that goes on after liftoff, too.)

Successful launches aren’t about a single day

Even though that’s what fits the happy lil montage in our heads (set to Eye of the Tiger, natch — or perhaps The Final Countdown), launch isn’t about putting something online.

Launch is really about coordination — and coordination requires preparation. (And your launch isn’t so much about coordinating with yourself/your team as it is about coordinating with your [potential] customers. Buying/selling is a team effort; it takes two to transact.)

Of course, we’re not rocket scientists…

But take this Launch Roundtable business, as an example closer to home.

Did I do a full-on Amy Hoy Launch Sequence™? Nope — for reasons I’ll reveal to you, if you attend. But did I just email you out of the blue and say “Hey, here’s this thing, buy your ticket right now?” Nope, I did a lot more than that:

I posted on my blog a couple days before.
I emailed my list the day before.
I emailed my list before I opened the doors.
Then I emailed my list again.
Then I sent this blog post as an email

This is what works. 53% of tickets sold out in the first 24 hours alone.

Now, that’s no fluke

Alex has been pre-interviewing our guest speakers:

Brennan Dunn, who launched his fourth product
Brandon Savage, who launched his second
Chris Hartjes, who launched his first, following the 30×500 rules

Last night, I was reading the transcripts. (We believe in preparation!) They’re full of gold.

Like: How far out did Brennan start his launch process? 3 months. He started in December, and launched in March. His launch sequence included emails, blog posts, and presales.

How far out did Brandon start his launch process for his ebook? 10 days. Emails and blog posts, again.

Chris, too, started ahead of his actual launch day.

Why? And what? And how? And when? Then what happened?

And can you really “launch” a product after it’s already been online, available for sale?

These are the questions you’ll learn the answers to, if you attend our Launch Roundtable on April 7!

Remember, it’s internet only, so you can attend in your pj’s. It’ll be from 12 noon to 3 pm Eastern time.

Not only will you learn the answers to these questions, and have the chance to ask your own… you’ll also:

get a peek inside each of these launch processes
see Brennan’s, Brandon’s, and Chris’ exact launch emails and blog posts
see their detailed timelines, with dates for each pre-launch/launch content
learn how they built up their launch list
not to mention see detailed sales numbers, broken down over time

You’ll also get a text transcript and video recording of the event, to read/watch again at your leisure!

Wanna learn how to launch, and save $20?

Now’s a great time to register! Early bird pricing runs out this Friday!

Book your seat today

Want the details? They’re all here.

See you there

PS — We WILL be selling the videos afterwards, as well, but for the same price! Think of the live experience is a free bonus!

Baconbiz / Events / Launching — 4 Comments
13
Mar 13

Learn All About Launches in My Online Roundtable

What do bootstrappers really need?

What’s stopping you from building, launching, selling? Or from squeezing more out of the products you’ve got?

Not facts. Not figures. Not how-to’s.

Oh, sure, you could always use more how-to’s and more stats. But that’s not what you’re really starving for. That’s not what’s stopping you.

That’s not why you vaguely suspect that something is missing. It’s certainly not why you feel alone and, perhaps, a little bit adrift.

What is it, then, that you really need?

Real life stories

You need the opportunity to watch your peers as they make it happen.

You need to be reminded that even the biggest bootstrapping icons like 37Signals once started with zero products.

How did they do it? What can learn from people far ahead of you? What did they do when they were in your position? What can you learn from people who are in your position now, or just a month or two ahead?

You need to watch people like you make mistakes — then persist, and overcome them, and win. Then you’ll know you can, too.

I swear, I’m coming to a point here

Last week, three of my 30×500 students launched products

Three separate products!

Three students at very different stages in the empire-building process:

Chris Hartjes, from 30×500 Summer 2012, launched his first 30×500-style product, a book
Brandon Savage, from 30×500 Summer 2012, launched his second product, a workshop
Brennan Dunn, from 30×500 Summer 2011, launched his fourth product, a big ebook/video/workbook package

Their combined revenue? $36,000

Just for these new products.

They must be selling something sexy

That’d be the logical conclusion, right? For 3 (non-famous) people to bring in that kind of money in that kind of timeframe, there must be some kinda sexy, discover-untold-riches action goin’ on… right?

Well, you be the judge:

Brennan’s self-training package is about attracting clients with your consultancy’s web site.
Brandon’s workshop is about object-oriented PHP programming.
Chris’ book is about PHP unit testing.

Does sex sell? Or is there something more valuable at work here?

And, hey. Just how does a person drum up $7,000 in sales for a PHP unit testing book in a matter of days?

Join us and find out on April 7

On April 7, we’ll be holding a round table discussion all about product launches. Think of it as a mini-conference.

Alex and I will serve as your hosts, and Brennan, Brandon, and Chris will be our speakers. We’ll talk about:

how did they manage to build products on the side?
how did they launch?
no, really, how did they launch? details! lots of details!
how did the revenue break down?
what have they done better this time than their previous times?
what would they do differently, if they had the chance to do this over again?
how did they prepare customers to buy?
how did they deal with customer questions/concerns?

Don’t like our questions? No problem! You’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask your own.

We picked these speakers just for you

Of course, Alex and I have some stories to tell, too — but what’s great about our three speakers is that they’re like shades of you.

When you’re starting out, it can be harder to learn from people like us, who’ve been doing this for years.

Brennan, Brandon, and Chris, on the other hand, are in three different stages of starting out:

Brennan has been bootstrapping for nearly year now. (Check out his first income report!) He started with a subscription web app (Planscope) which is still growing. But SaaS grows slowly, and Brennan wanted to ramp up faster… so he began adding ebooks and workshops to his repertoire starting this past fall.

Brandon launched his first ebook, Mastering Object Oriented PHP, just a few months ago. To build on that success, last week he launched the Object Oriented Masterclass to give his customers more hands-on experience.

Chris just launched his second book — but the first one that followed 30×500 principles. (He came to class with his first book nearly done!) His new book, The Grumpy Programmer’s PHPUnit Cookbook has nearly equaled a year of sales of his last book, just in the first week alone.

That’s why we were so delighted that Brennan, Brandon and Chris agreed to talk openly about their launches, and to answer your questions.

We designed this conference just for you

Because we’d love to have you! Check out these attractive details:

Where will it be? Online! You don’t have to leave the comfort of your couch — because we’re holding it online.

Um, will I be on video? Nope. Feel free to stay in your jammies.

How long will it be? 3 hours — easily fit into the afternoon.

When is it? April 7, from 12 pm (noon) to 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Or: morning on the west coast, and early evening in Europe.

What do I get? For the price of your ticket, you’ll get:

Access to the round table (live!)
The opportunity to ask Amy, Alex, Brennan, Brandon and Chris your questions (live!)
A recording of the round table for your later perusal
A transcript of the recording, formatted for easy reference

Will there be lunch? No, silly. How could we send you lunch through the intertubes?

How many people can attend? We’re capping the attendance at 100 people. That way we can have ample time for questions.

How much does it cost? Tickets are $179 if you book by March 22, and $199 if you book March 23 or later.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 15

And they’ll be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis! And the 1,400 people on my mailing list get first dibs.

If you’re not already on my (Amy’s) mailing list, you’ll want to drop your email in the box below:

You’ll get an email with details about when tickets will go on sale, and an invitation when they do!

From Freelance to Product Empire

You wanna watch this interview with me on Mixergy. Especially if you’re a frustrated consultant (or freelancer). I talk turkey about how I went from being an overworked consultant (aka “wage slave” – ha!) to starting and running my own mini-product empire.

Prefer to read? Check out the transcript below the video.

Fun facts: I don’t think I did a good job with this interview. Every time I opened my mouth, a long, involved story came out. I misunderstood a couple of Andrew’s questions. I didn’t propound on the points I should have, like the idea of Unicorn Free (aka charging real money for real products). But other people seem to really enjoy it! Just goes to show that “you are not your customer.”

Digital Goods / Events — 7 Comments
27
Oct 10

Join Our Free Infoproduct Show & Tell

Infoproducts! Are! Awesome!

You know I already think so, which is why I’ve written about what infoproducts are, how to sell them, the reason they’re awesome for the future of, well, everyone, and of course, the math behind slowly freeing yourself from freelancing… all through the transformative beauty of the infoproduct.

But you know what they say about writing: Show, don’t tell.

That’s a challenge the ineffable Kelly Parkinson and I just couldn’t resist. So we’re getting together to show and tell.

Yes, we’re holding a little fireside chat, all about infoproducts, and you’re invited. (Gratis. For free. De nada. Etc.)

Did I mention it’s free?

Infoproducts Show & Tell, Dance & Song

What do we mean, “show & tell”?

Well, first we’ll do a little tellin’. Kelly and I both love infoproducts, not just individual ones, but the whole idea. (It’s no surprise that we’re both bookworms.) So we’ll jam a little on such topics as: why infoproducts, how we come up with ideas, and what really makes a runaway best seller.

Then we’ll do a lot more showin’. You would not believe the range of infoproducts out there, from bigass corps down to the tiniest soloist, on every topic and in every format for every problem you can imagine.

We’ll show you around this wild, whacky, wonderful world — focusing on some of the sparkly infoproducts that we’ve found, admired, and even bought.

Yep, that’s right, we’ll actually show you little snippets of infoproducts we’ve actually bought. That’s the best way to get the feel for what an infoproduct can be.

Add to that our running commentary on ideating, marketing, positioning, pricing, format-choosing, purposing, and more, and you have the complete package.

The Show & Tell Deets

WHERE? On the internet, sillyhead.

WHEN? October 29 (this Friday), at

9am – 10am Pacific (PT)
12pm – 1pm Eastern (ET)
5pm – 6pm London (GMT)
6pm – 7pm Vienna (CET)

(Sorry, accidentally had it listed as 2 hours – but it’s just one!)

HOW? Through the miracle of Adobe Flash. You surely have the plugin installed already. You do not need to dial in to anything. You don’t even need a real phone. Just broadband and a computer that ain’t dog slow.

Here’s the link to click when the time comes: http://s7.gs/showntell

Obviously, the meeting link won’t be live til, well, the meeting is live.

WILL AMY AND KELLY BE ON VIDEO? You betcha!

UH… DO I HAVE TO BE ON VIDEO? Nope, feel free to show up in your jammies. Or not in your jammies, if you catch my drift.

WOULD YOU PLEASE REMIND ME BEFOREHAND? Oh yes. No problem. Just join my advanced discount list.

CAN I TELL MY FRIENDS ALL ABOUT IT? Yes, please do! Wouldn’t it be fun if we maxxed out the teleconference software?

(Don’t worry that it’s on a different site — I’m undergoing a rebrand

See you there!

Bootstrapping / Events — 7 Comments
28
Jun 10

Why I’m putting on a bootstrapping conference in Vienna

Yes, definitely Vienna. cc paula moya

Despite what my former American neighbor said — “Eh, it’s all the same. They barbecue and drink beer, just like us!” — up and moving to Austria has been a total shock to my system.

So what’s a girl to do when she’s voluntarily excised herself from her meatspace social networks and moved to the land of glorious socialism?

Why… start a conference, of course!

I believe Europe is full of entrepreneurial spirit…

One thing I love most about Europe? All the little shops that have died out in America, like butchers, bakers, shoemakers, clockmakers, glovemakers and specialty shops for real honest-to-god locksmithing.

Despite this rich, immersive heritage of real-people-doing-real-business, though, tech product entrepreneurs fall almost exclusively into the — forgive me — shoot-the-moon-and-boil-the-ocean category. Lots of consultants and freelancers, yes — but nary a bootstrapper in sight.

At first glance, one can’t help but feel that the people here just… don’t… get entrepreneurship.

I’ve heard lots of sophisticated theories as to why this may be:

Guaranteed healthcare and housing makes people fundamentally more risk-averse, or less ambitious.
All that paid vacation.
It’s so much more difficult to start a business.
Fear of change.

Eh, I say.

All of those reasons are true on some level — but on most levels, they’re bullshit. Those are the reasons that a very smart kid gives when asked, Timmy, why did you play football inside when you knew you’d break something?

They’re plausible. They sound good. They’re well-worn excuses that are easy to reach for. And they are wrong.

So what’s the real reason?

Why does anyone do things “on autopilot”? Why is anyone unreasonably afraid of a low-risk endeavor? Why does anyone simply not think of an obvious alternative?

Is it simply that they’ve suckled too long from the teat of glorious socialism? Or could it be…

A simple lack of role models?

By golly, I think we’re onto something!

Somebody’s got a role model! Just look at those eyes! cc woodleywonderworks

Role models are critical…

Think about it: When you’re surrounded by people who do a certain thing, you know, without thinking, that you can do it, too. That’s why so many Austrians (and other Europeans) are unafraid to open a restaurant, café, or little shop. They’re not only not alone, they’ve soaked up positive examples their whole lives.

On the other hand, if you don’t know anybody doing a software-as-a-service or charging for ebooks, it can seem exotic and risky. It’d probably never even strike you as an option.

It’d be literally unfathomable.

Role models? What role models?

In Europe, there’s practically no one you can point to as a bootstrapper. If they exist, they are very below-the-radar. Or you don’t know that they’re European until you investigate.

They sure as hell aren’t normal, everyday, oh sure I know Jim down at Widgets for Business, he’s doing very well!

Don’t take my newly transplanted word for it — I’ve asked everyone I know to name any successful, established bootstrapped web companies. There are a precious few, a tiny handful. Most of my acquaintances were unable to name a single company.

Why?

A lack of role models.

Entré vicious cycle.

Nobody doing it -> no role models -> nobody doing it.

I wouldn’t be here without my role models

So when I decided that I was going to make myself set down roots in this city if it killed me — I knew that what I had to do was be a role model and bring role models here.

I knew I had to try to create here the kind of city-network that I’ve watched my friends Tara, Alex, Tony and Dave create in SF, Philly, New York, and Baltimore.

Naturally, I never would have had the guts to take on such a big task if I hadn’t watched my friends do it. They are my role models.

That’s something I want everyone to have.

Announcing Schnitzelconf

Why should people listen to me at all? That’s the first question.

Well, I thought to myself, People love parties. But I suck at throwing parties… but maybe I could throw a conference. (I happen to know a surprising number of folks who’ve run conferences… more role models that make this decision a natural one.)

And thus, Schnitzelconf was born.

Schnitzelconf will be September 7, in Vienna, Austria. One full day of nothing but bootstrappy goodness.

Schnitzelconf: Sept 7, 2010 Vienna

We’ve convinced some really fantastic people to come tell us their stories, 7 speakers in all. Of those seven, we’ve “only” announced half so far:

Yes, we’ve got folks who do digital goods, software as a service, and even downloadable software. They are all established and successful. We have an amazingly cool venue.

Schnitzelconf is going to kick ass.

Did I mention that Schnitzelconf is not-for-profit? I wanted to keep the ticket prices low and, honestly, it’s a labor of love. To earn enough to make it a sensible business decision, we’d have to charge thousands.

So, instead, early tickets are available for only 250€.

We’re batching the tickets so that people have time to arrange their cash to make it work — another thing most Europeans don’t do is buy things on credit.

The first 17 early bird tickets are already gone, and the next batch (of 13) will go on sale in early July. After that, tickets will be 300€.

Why you should come to Schnitzelconf

If you’re in Europe, and not sure what to do, I hope you’ll come. If you’re in Europe and find yourself craving an alternative to tabloid startup culture, I hope you’ll come.

If your first reaction is “Eh, I could use that 250€ for something else,” I urge you to reconsider — and think of it as a business decision.

Schnitzelconf will be tiny — only 70 attendees total — to promote mingling. It will sell out, the only question is will you be one of the 70 who gets to meet and learn from people who are successful doing what they love?

That’s the kind of opportunity for return-on-investment you can rarely buy for a measly 250€. (Also, it includes food!)

That’s the kind of thinking you’ll need as a bootstrapper, whether or not you come to my conference.

Tickets will go on sale again in early July

The first 17 tickets sold in 48 hours.

If you want to get your paws on an early bird ticket at the lower price, you should sign up for our email list.

Oh yeah. And welcome to Unicorn Free. I’ll be blogging more about bootstrapping, selling products, and running events (like Schnitzelconf) here. You should definitely subscribe or at least follow me on Twitter.

Footnotes

[1] All tickets so far have been sold to attendees in these countries: Austria, Germany, Denmark, Spain and the UK. I’d be delighted if people came from elsewhere, too!

[2] I could NEVER, ever, ever do this thing alone. Much love and thanks to the people who make it possible: my husband Thomas, and friends Harald and Alex.

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