Making Lemonade From Lemons

A couple of years ago, and after years of encouragement from others, I decided to create an online course for Nimble CRM. I am a long-time Nimble Solution Partner. I had never done anything like this before. I did my research, determined my needs regarding acquiring the necessary hardware and software and … off I went.

Several thousands of dollars later and after probably 100’s of man hours … I launched it and … it was a gigantic failure of epic proportions. Literally, I couldn’t give the thing away. Part of me thinks that it was because of my lack of marketing chops. A bigger part of me says that I was incorrect in assuming that there was a need. Now what?

I needed to take an inventory from what remained in the ashes …

I got pretty good at making videos and I now had the software and the hardware to do so. I wasn’t interested in creating new videos. I was interested in recording training sessions.
I had developed a logical and orderly framework for training.
Most of the written support materials that I had created could be repurposed.
As opposed to housing whatever I needed on a third-party school site, I could do it on Google Drive.
I could easily duplicate and customize materials for each individual client.

Part of the problem with the online school was that, when I spoke with potential clients about using it, almost universally they wanted one-on-one live training directly with me. Watching videos is great but … videos don’t respond to questions.

Earlier this year I stopped promoting the course and took down references to it on my website and social profiles. It will be up and available through October (I had purchased a second annual license last fall) and then it will be taken down.

People still refer folks to me because they are aware of my course. Those people become consulting clients instead. It’s funny how things work out. My one-on-one training business is now chugging along nicely.

If you have ever watched “The Food That Built America” on the History Channel, catch the episode on Swanson. What do you do with 260 tons of turkeys, sitting in 10 refrigerated railway freight cars, that you will never be able to sell prior to them going bad? You invent frozen T.V. dinners. You make lemonade from lemons.

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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!