Approximately three years ago I embarked on creating an online school for Nimble CRM. I had zero experience with anything even remotely like this. I had thought about it for years and a number of folks had encouraged me to do this, but I had not pulled the trigger due to one major concern. I had absolutely no idea of how to market it.
Marketing is something that I was just not comfortable with. I’m a terrible marketer. I hate marketing. I was pretty confident that I could create a good course. I might need to invest in some hardware and software but technically I could figure all of that out.
I had no mailing list, no champions, and it looked like this was not something I would pursue. Then opportunity knocked by way of a gentleman who I could partner with who had the reach that I would need. Looking good.
So, I got started and, when I was about half way through the materials preparation, I decided to pull the plug on that relationship and go it alone. I could see that my partner wanted to go in a different solo direction. I should have cut my losses right then and there! This was very similar to what happened to me after I was approached by a publisher to write a book.
Instead, I carried on and completed the project. I had to find a online school site to host the courses. That was relatively easy. Once that was done, there were still more areas to address.
How I would price it was a big question mark. I knew what I thought it was worth and, compared to paying me to train you one-on-one, it would be a real bargain. Well, my idea of a bargain and what the market might be willing to pay ended up being miles apart. This was another huge miscalculation.
Then there was still the elephant in the room. I had to market it. I tried to build a mailing list and I failed miserably. I created a newsletter, something I had failed at before, and I failed at again. I tried to create affiliate relationships and I failed on those as well.
To add insult to injury, and I can’t believe that I did not think of this, the course would require a ton of continuous maintenance. Nimble is software as a service which means that it is continuously evolving. That meant keeping the course updated with all of these changes and eventual complete overhauls of ALL videos. If I was making thousands of dollars a month, I could justify this. I was not and could not.
Was there ever even a willing market that would invest in this course at any price? That’s hard to say. There were a lot of variables, but the result said “No”. My dreams of getting rich were evaporating rapidly. I couldn’t give it away.
I finally pulled the plug on November 20, 2022. I had several hundreds of man hours in this and between $2,000 to $3,000 in equipment and software. My total sales, total sales, were under $200. I saw all of the red flags and I had ignored them. Yeah, I should have listened to my gut.
There was, however, a silver lining. I had built a system that could be redeployed for one-on-one training with businesses and, oddly enough, that took off. I think that maybe God took pity on me. Regardless, water under the bridge and we forge ahead.
Craig M. Jamieson
Latest posts by Craig M. Jamieson (see all)
- Hiring Salespeople - April 24, 2024
- Nimble CRM Tips & Updates – April 15 2024 - April 17, 2024
- Am I a Sales Luddite? - April 10, 2024