I Should Have Listened to My Gut

Articles, Marketing

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

Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!
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