The Ultimate Problem - Too Much Success?
Published on 21 Sep 2007 at 10:27 am.
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Filed under Business Development, Feature Articles, Personal Development Strategies.
This week provided a great experience for today’s post.
I participate in selective joint venture email campaigns you’ve probably seen. You buy a product and receive bonuses as part of your purchase from various contributors. It’s a great marketing technique to reach a larger audience and provide extra value to purchasers. It’s also a great way to position yourself as an expert, grow your data base and be a part of a very cool community of leaders who might become colleagues and friends.
So, this week, I participated in Eldon Taylor’s campaign to launch his book, Choices and Illusions to an audience of 2.5 million opt-in subscribers which meant the potential for each contributor was to increase their database up to 2,000 new subscribers or more! Not bad, eh?
Well, I missed reading the part about having 2,000 + potential new subscribers and requested they send me the individual forms of folks requesting to be added to future emails as they were received rather than to be compiled in a master excel list that could be easily uploaded. What was I thinking? I’ve been in many campaigns and the number of new subscribers added have been 200 max so I didn’t take the 2,000 figure to heart.
Within 36 hours I had over 880 individual emails with more coming through every hour. I was just about jumping out of my skin! I felt so stressed and overwhelmed. I couldn’t bear to hit send/receive on my emails! I was unprepared for this level of response and success to the campaign. My emotions were all over the place - anger, irritability, helplessness. All negative rather than celebrating the success of this campaign.
How funny to be complaining that the biggest problem I was facing was that the campaign was too successful!
Thankfully, I was able to reach Ravinder Sadana, the Promotions and Product Director who saved my sanity by halting the emails and arranged to have the master list sent to me in two weeks. Once received, I’ll have my VA upload it into my autoresponder email list - bada bing, bada boom! Thank you G-D!
If you’re planning any strategies to open up your business in a bigger way, consider these actions to keep your sanity and your cool:
1. Be clear and realistic about what you desire and the steps you will take to arrive at your result.
2. Are you prepared to handle the increase of success? If not, what systems, structures, and professional people do you need to hire or add (outsourcing) to be prepared?
I was hired by an interior decorator who was struggling with handling so much business she was working 70 hours a week and had no life. Once she hired a bookkeeper, an admin, a professional organizer, and worked with me to get more balance in her life and business, she was able to start enjoying her life again.
3. Over a longer term, assess your progress every 60-90 days. What’s working well? What isn’t? Make needed adjustments to continue working smarter, rather than harder.
4. Schedule “me” time to regroup and regenerate. Take time to have fun and lighten up. All work and no play leads to unhealthy stress, burnout, illness… get the picture?
5. Celebrate your successes along the way. You deserve it!
This weeks’ experience was a great reminder that seemingly small projects can be incredibly successful beyond one’s wildest imagination. Well, now that I am breathing easier, I’m revisiting my own advice to insure I’m ready and prepared for what I want to create and attract!
To your unlimited success! 
