I failed this week with FamilyEbiz.
Not something a business coach should be sharing. Right?
But … I want you to avoid my mistakes. Learn from my mistakes. Get started on the right foot and build your dream business. So, let’s take a look at what happened.
I hosted a FamilyEbiz Facebook Party to build up interaction between business owners. To share what’s been working for each of us. I’ve been blessed in my own online business and love sharing what’s working with other bloggers or online business owners.
I spent hours upon hours preparing for this party.
?
I researched your questions and used the most important questions at the party.
I emailed my readers so you could join us.
I tried to make it relevant & helpful, so readers would clear their schedule and join us.
I wondered, “Why did I spend so much time preparing for a flop?”
For the first 9 minutes, no one showed up. That’s a long 9 minutes!
I know we are busy and life gets in the way, but my heart sunk. I felt like a failure. Luckily, we had a few party goers and a good time sharing ideas.
But it wasn’t like my homeschool Facebook parties.
My homeschool Facebook parties move so quickly, it’s hard to keep up. I am constantly refreshing my screen to see the new comments. We have hundreds & hundreds of comments in our homeschool Facebook party.
What did I do differently this time and why didn’t it work?
Mistake #1: I hosted the FamilyEbiz party in the middle of the afternoon … because my readers said that was the best time for them to attend. With my homeschool moms, I generally host parties in the evening so one spouse can watch the kids and the other one can participate in the party.
Next Time : I’m going to try a party in the evening for my working moms & dads.
Out of curiosity, is 3pm Eastern a good time for you to join us for a live event? Please leave a comment and let me know. I am flexible and want to help you by hosting events you can come to live.
Mistake #2: I gave my FamilyEbiz readers only 2 days to learn about the party. With my homeschool moms, I generally let them know for at least one week prior to the party.
Next Time : I will let my working moms and dads know about the party at least one week prior to the event.
Mistake #3: I only told my FamilyEbiz readers about the party. When I have a homeschool party, I share the event on multiple sites and groups.
Next Time : I will find groups and sites to share our FamilyEbiz party so we have new people and new ideas joining us.
3 Lessons Learned
Failures should not send us packing. Failures are times for us to learn lessons and move forward, making changes to improve. That’s what I’m doing and that’s why I’m sharing this story with you.
I want my blog to be real life for you…pulling back the curtains on both my successes and my failures. I am picking myself up from my business failure and moving forward to improve my business and hopefully help you avoid my mistakes.
The 3 ideas above can be used by any business. Any time you have a live event, consider these 3 tips.
- Ask your list the best time to host a live event. Keep tweaking
- Give your readers plenty of time to make room in their schedule for the live event
- Share your live event in many groups and sites.
How to Entice Your Readers to Come to a Live Event
As I was driving to Austin yesterday afternoon, I popped in a podcast of the best 8 tips in internet marketing. One tip in particular struck me that would have helped our FamilyEbiz Facebook Party be more of a success.
Use a Facebook Group to jumpstart your relationship with your readers.
Since last fall, I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a Facebook Group for . . .
- Moms & dads who want to start their own business, but can’t seem to get started
- Bloggers and online business owners who need to grow their list, but are too scared
- Business owners who keep procrastinating or have too many balls to juggle to start or build their dream business
- Moms & dads who need a marketing plan so they actually make money with their blog or website
- Bloggers who need help decided what to write about and finding time to actually write
If that’s you, read on . . .
After hearing that one tip, I thought … that’s it!
That’s another missing piece. That would have made the party more of a success. It might not have made it a smashing hit, but we would have had more people helped and encouraged by our Facebook Party.
So, I’m creating a safe place for moms & dads who want to build their dream business to get help.
Moms & dads like you.
Moms & dads who might need a kick in the “you know where” to get off dead-center and take the next step.
The next step to start your business.
The next step to get more traffic.
The next step to create your first product.
The next step to consistently work on you biz a little bit, every single day.
So, I’m in the midst of creating that Facebook Group. Creating a private (safe place to share) Facebook Group for YOU! I’ll let you know when you can join.
To be honest, it’s scary to put myself out there. To let you know how I failed and how I’m fixing it. But, that’s what I’m all about. I want to be honest & vulnerable. I want to help you NOT make the same mistakes. To help you get started on the right foot.
