It's been quite a while since I've told this story, but I've told it to many people over the years because I want people to truly understand what happens when you create a product that helps people, and you do a full product launch for it.
So back in 2004 my ex-husband had gotten laid off from his job. We lived in a tiny town (Gates, TN) of about 800 people. Getting laid off from a job in most places isn't a big deal, but when it's in a town of 800 people there's not a whole lot of other jobs. NONE actually…
At the time I was running a direct mail advertising business. My business was doing about $60,000 a year and with his income of about $40,000 a year we lived pretty well. The cost of living in the South of the US is REALLY low and even with 5 kids at home at the time we still did pretty well.
But… When he got laid off our income basically got cut in half.
For years my ex-husband had worked his butt off. He also juggled 5 kids while working his butt off. So when he got laid off we had this conversation…
Me: Hey! I have an idea. You've always been super dad and worked a ton of hours. Why don't you take over my direct mail advertising business, and I'll start an online business. I'm pretty sure I can at least replace your income.
Him: Dead silence…
The look of terror on his face told me this probably wasn't my best idea. After talking about it for a bit I got him on board. Between he and my mom I don't know who had more faith in my abilities. 🙂
So I taught him the ropes of running my direct mail advertising business, and I went to work on creating an online business.
Fast forward six months…
I hadn't created an online business. I just didn't know what to do. There were so many options, and I just didn't know which way to turn.
I knew I had to do something though because…
1. We were almost 4 months behind on our mortgage payment. Folks that's foreclosure status just FYI.
2. We were about to have our vehicles repossessed.
3. Utility companies were threatening to shut off our services.
4. The groceries were getting stretched pretty thin!
So I looked around at all these people running different online businesses and saw a few people talking about “product launches” they were doing where they were making tens of thousands of dollars. Some of them even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
(John Reese hadn't set the record yet in the industry for a million dollar launch at this point. If you know that little fact you've been in the business for a very long time.)
So I decided I was going to create a product and launch it and make a ton of money…
I started looking on forums to see what people were talking about so I could find a topic to create my product around. At the time Joint Ventures (in terms of getting people to promote your products for you) was a HOT topic.
I started asking questions about the topic, and started getting really good answers from people about it. I contacted 10 or 11 of the people who answered me and asked if I could take their answers and compile them into an ebook I was creating called Joint Venture Seeker.
Not one of them turned me down because I told them in return I'd add their name and website to the entry in my ebook. Once I got my ebook created I added in some workbooks that I created to help people, access to a special forum dedicated to networking, and a few other things like recorded interviews.
I packaged everything up, created a download page, created a sales page, and I had my very first product. No upsells or anything like that. Just a great product loaded with information that people WANTED!
(This was way before Mike Filsaime came out with Butterfly Marketing and taught us all about upsells. Again if you remember that you've been in this business a very long time.)
I added an affiliate program in and then went to the people who had given me the initial information for my ebook and asked if they'd promote. All but one of them said yes, and within two weeks of launching Joint Venture Seeker I did $37,000 in sales.
That product launch literally saved my entire family from financial destruction.
It's now 2018 and I've done product launch after product launch now to the tune of millions of dollars since then.
I believe in the product launch strategy so much because it's exactly how I got my start and it's exactly why I am where I am today!
I'm not sharing this story to brag… I'm sharing this story to give you hope. If a high school AND college drop out can create and launch products that not only allowed her to stay home with 5 kids, but her husband too, I know that you can do it.
If you don't have a product yet… Create one!
There's so many options for creating a product in so many different niches and it's never been easier with all the tools and training you have at your finger tips.
Once you have your product, create a sales letter and download page for it.
Once you've done that create a jv page and start contacting people about your product and get them to promote it. Yes there is a lot of strategies and tactics that are involved, but it can be done.
Again with all the tools and training and technology out there, there is no reason you can't do it.
You've just got to start somewhere…
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing a ton of information with you about launching your own product, so keep an eye out. All posts related to product launching will be located at http://imwithliz.com/category/product-launching
So there you go… Now you know how Liz Tomey got started and the power of launching products. Make sure and leave any comments or questions you have below and I'll reply to you.
To your success!
Liz Tomey
