As you know, I love sharing my Product Launch Formula Owners' stories… and I have an especially awesome one for you today.
From no list, no product, no business, and a day job… to a thriving six figure business in less than a year (and still growing!)
This took courage to share… please don’t forget to leave a comment below and let Susan know what you think of her story!
A quick follow up to my last video – which was an update to the “Food Stamps to Six Figures” Case Study… in this one I dig deeper into how John was able to make that incredible transformation in his life and build a successful business (and I share the surprising and weird parallels to the transformation in MY life!)
I would love to hear about what you think… please leave a comment below (and please like my Facebook page here)
This is a funny business… you never know who's going to join your email list, you never know who's going to buy your product. And once someone buys your product, you never really know where they're going to take their new skills.
And I've been lucky to have an entire army of amazing students and clients that have taken my work to levels I never could have imagined…
Erico Rocha is one of those dream students that every teacher loves to have. In fact, his skills have become so advanced that he keeps me hustling to try and stay a half-step ahead of him.
Erico and Jeff at a Platinum Mastermind meeting
And now Erico is aiming at the first-ever million dollar launch in Brazil…
The first sale I ever made online was in early 1997… and I was shocked that it came from Switzerland. Those were the days before I could even accept credit cards (secure credit card payments were like rocket science back then), it was before Paypal (can you imagine that?). So the “order” was simply an email telling me a check was coming from Switzerland (remember checks?). The beginnings of that business were so humble that I could hardly believe it when that first order came in… and I was utterly dumbfounded that it was someone from halfway around the world. I had never traveled internationally and I was running my business from the baby's changing room. And here I was, stepping into the world of international business.
Of course, since then the world has continually become more connected. Those international clients aren't so suprising anymore. I've got Product Launch Formula Owners from around the world – and at my last live event over 40% of the attendees were from outside the U.S..
And my Platinum program has members from France, Japan, Australia, Norway, Denmark, the U.K., Canada, Russia, Hungary… and Brazil.
Erico is about to launch...
So just about a year ago, when Erico approached me about creating a licensed Portuguese-language version of Product Launch Formula, I jumped at the idea. I saw Erico as the perfect ambassadoor for PLF… he has the PLF-chops, he's proven himself a great teacher, and he has repeatedly displayed impeccable ethics.
So now, after nearly a year of development, Erico is about a week out from releasing code name “PLF-BR”… the real name is “Fórmula de Lançamento”.
The quality of the course is going to be outstanding – there is no question of that.
The impact on the Brazilian market is going to be epic… there is no question about that, either.
(We only have to look at what happened in the U.S. after I released PLF in 2005.. check out this article on Forbes.com about the $400 million in launches by my PLF students and clients.)
The only question is whether Erico will break the million dollar mark – will this launch be the first-ever million dollar launch in Brazil?
(And yes, I know it's weird to talk about launches in Brazil in terms of “dollars”… but that million dollar mark has become the big target milestone. It's already been hit in France and Australia within my Platinum group… and now Erico is trying to keep up. 🙂 )
In any case, I'm sorry if I'm sounding like a proud papa here… but I just love to see my students excelling, I love to see my teaching spreading throughout the world… and I love to see someone like Erico succeeding at such a high level.
It's going to be fun to watch his launch this week… even if I can't understand a word he's saying in his prelaunch videos. 🙂
Have you ever wanted to attract top tier celebrities or “big names” to your business? That's what this Product Launch Case Study is all about, and it's happening right now…
Will Hamilton has a tennis instruction site at FuzzyYellowBalls.com, and he's used his past product launches to attract the most successful professional doubles team in history. Bob and Mike Bryan have won more professional doubles titles than any team in history, they've won 11 Grand Slam titles, and earlier this year they won Wimbledon.
And now they're partnering with Will on a new product… and a PLF-style product launch for that product.
So how does a tiny web site with a weird name put together a deal to partner with two of the most accomplished professional tennis players in history?
This story starts about a year ago, when Will went through my Product Launch Formula program. He did his first launch last July and did $35,000 in sales in a week… that was for a product that had already been on the market for a year with only mediocre sales. Then in September he did a relaunch for that same product that did $65,000.
But that was just the start – in December he launched a new product that did $105,000 in sales, and then another one in March that did $170,000 in sales. Do you see the pattern here? 🙂
(Full disclaimer: Will joined my Platinum Mastermind Group in October, so he had additional access to me in addition to his PLF training.)
Those four launches caught the attention of a sports agent that represented Bob and Mike Bryan (known as “the Bryan Brothers”)… and after some negotiations they inked a deal where Will would work with the Brothers to create and launch a product on FuzzyYellowBalls.com.
So now Will has created a new tennis instruction course with the Bryan Brothers, and they are in the middle of the launch. They've already released three great prelaunch videos which have gotten hundreds of enthusiastic comments.
So far, it's classic Product Launch Formula in action… sharing great content, and getting the community enthusiastically involved and eagerly anticipating each new video. They're about a week out from launch day – and it's looking like a big winner. This launch is “hitting on all cylinders” right now…
There is definitely a lot to be learned from looking at the way Will has structured this launch and the prelaunch content:
[ Click here to follow along with this launch ]
One of the things that I've taught over the years in Product Launch Formula is how a well-executed launch can bring a lot more to your business than just the revenue from the launch. It will often build your list, build your positioning in the market, attract new affiliate partners, help you plan your next product, activate a list and make it more responsive… and in this case Will's prior launches attracted the most accomplished doubles team in tennis history.
Pretty cool stuff!
P.S. Yes, I'm an avid tennis player… so this Case Study is extra cool for me. And I've gotten a chance to hit with Will (he's really good)… but he hasn't hooked me up for a game with the Bryan Brothers yet! Hint hint… 🙂
I remember the first time someone ever bought something from me online. I jumped so high I think I almost punched a hole in the ceiling.
First off, I was amazed that someone would actually buy something from me. And equally amazing was the fact that the person was from Switzerland.
It was hard to fathom that someone from halfway around the world would buy something from me… that I was publishing out of my home in Colorado!
Fast forward 15 years… and I've now sold many millions of dollars of stuff online.
And unless you were hiding under a rock, you probably noticed that I released Product Launch Formula last week. As usual, it wasn't on the market long – we filled up the program and closed registration after approximately 58 hours.
And one of the cool pieces of data that my team turned up from this launch was that we have new PLF Owners from 41 different countries:
Canada
Australia
UK
Germany
France
New Zealand
Japan
Netherlands
Sweden
Spain
South Africa
Switzerland
Malaysia
Norway
Barbados
Belgium
Hungary
Italy
Mexico
Poland
Thailand
Bahamas
Belgium
Brasil
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Finland
Ghana
Guam
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Israel
Lithuania
Philippines
Qatar
Romania
Russian federation
Saudi Arabia
Slovenia
United Arab Emirates
and, of course… the U.S.A.
NOTE: that list is NOT the “all-time” list, it's just the list of the NEW people who registered for Product Launch Formula last week.
Think about it… one week, and I've got new PLF Owners from 43 different countries!
Even after all these years doing business online, it still amazes me that my company can have that kind of global reach.
Just fifteen years ago, that would have been completely unthinkable. Now anyone can do it… you just need an idea and the hunger and drive to see it through.
Amazing.
So where will the next 15 years take us?
Jeff here, reporting from the eye of the hurricane… or at least that's what my office feels like right now.
I'm in the midst of the launch of my Product Launch Formula 3.0 coaching program. The launch is going great – but when you're in the middle of one of these epic launches… well, things get a bit crazy at times.
Of course, I'm not the ONLY one in the middle of a launch – Apple's rolling out their iPhone 4 – and well, they crashed their server. Or more accurately, their network.
Take a look at what happened when a friend of mine tried to pre-order an iPhone:
[S3VIDEO file='http://plr-e.s3.amazonaws.com/oops2.mp4′ authurl='false' width='500′ clicktoplay='Apple Server Crash Video'] [S3VIDEO file='http://plr-e.s3.amazonaws.com/oops2.mp4′ authurl='false' displaymode='overlay' clicktoplay='Watch the Apple Server Crash Video']Yes, that’s the Apple store blowing up.
And yes…
That’s definitely a server crash. Oops!
Of course, I can't give them too much grief, because I've been there – I crashed a server during a launch.
It's pretty funny… just a few days ago that I wrote about server crashes and product launches… and some of the people who left comments seemed to think I was either lying, or I was an idiot if I couldn't keep a server up during a launch.
Well, Apple is certainly a company that has a lot more assets than my company has (duh!)… and guess what?
They couldn't keep their servers up.
And, speaking of Apple… take a look here to see my breakdown of the iPhone 4 launch. I think you'll find it interesting… and there's something in there I've never really made public before.
– Jeff
P.S. I’m not an Apple consultant. No one in my company is consulting for Apple. But, that’s part of the reason why you need to watch my video about the launch of the iPhone 4. I’m sharing something that I’ve never shared in public.
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Jeff Walker