M01.07 - think Alexander, think Airliners: Building a Product from a Service - Part Two

Success involves doing something differently. But what? And how? Join me in my process of making this service the right kind of product for you. My first consideration was to keep your free part available – hence the Lite Membership option. In fact, people in Lite get more than they did when I was just writing my blog, so although it is free, it is an enhanced product. In your business, it is good to over deliver too. Of course Lite Membership is the most popular – 37 of you now. Then 12 enrolled in Full, and 4 in Pro. The people who took Full and Pro memberships will get more value, simply because their own commitment is higher. The more you put in, the more you get out. Simple law, but true. My website is not really about the money, that is my secondary consideration, not a primary one. My site is to find you. Then it is to enroll you into a program by giving my best effort to make it deliver to you the very thing you were looking for. My site is designed to build a community, who together can show you how to improve your Alexander Technique business. I just received this encouraging message from Dawn Robinson in UK:

Thank you so much for doing this. After a few years of playing with building a business whilst looking after a baby and trying to move location, I am so ready to get serious with it and you have come along just at the right time. Living in a rural location, I have also REALLY struggled getting many pupils despite trying various methods. Having read your blogs, I have realized that I just need to get much more focused. So many, many thanks for the inspiration (and clarity of what is required) and I look forward to the coming months in this group.

That’s what I love to read. Starting a new venture poses all kinds of questions and challenges. It could be a project to get your Self invited to speak at a large Yoga school – it is a strategic exercise, needing consideration of many elements (who to call, when to call, even if you do call or do you write first, then call, then visit, or just visit immediately? etc. etc.) I wrote originally about “Chaotic Insider Thinking” as it feels this way when you are launching any new product. So now I have a community of like-minded people, my first task is to somehow harness the knowledge that you all have towards helping each other…   Idea Number One – You And Your Business Plans This was my original idea, which I am currently thinking through. What I have now is a mass of data, and precious little time to sift through it all to pull out meaningful excerpts. It is overwhelming – I need a simpler plan. I will explain my original plan, and all the administrative aspects to making it work successfully. In this original plan I follow the same 12 steps over 3 months, each week excerpting passages from some of the 82 Questionnaires that have been filled out online, or received directly by me. That boggles my mind – scanning 82+ surveys every week and growing… To manage that, I just posted a job to eLance.com asking for help in creating a database of your replies so I can view them all by your name, or by the question. This would facilitate the process more by allowing me to sift through once, put markers in place, and be able to view the information in many different ways. Now you may be thinking – what has this to do with an Alexander Technique business? Well, these same kind of detailed considerations of systems applies to any aspect of your business. For example, you need a clear plan for collecting progressively more information about your students as time passes. From your first psychographical vision (you have one don't you?) through to their first email optin in, first name, then second name, mobile, street address, likes and dislikes, facebook connect, other things they did, people they know etc. Have you considered all of that? Probably not. But here’s what I imagine these days: starting an Alexander Technique business is as difficult as starting an airline. Yes. Well... I haven’t started an airline, but I know that when you get every little bit of the business brilliantly you succeed brilliantly. Few do, but those that do, do well. AT is like that. Tough business. Industrial biussiness. Like an airline company. Think Alexander, think Airliners.