The following is a Guest post by Jodie Benveniste. Jodie is a psychologist, author, parenting expert, and director of Parent Wellbeing :
Lessons from a Pollenizer boot camp
I learnt three key lessons when I attended the Pollenizer boot camp:
1. Focus, focus, focus!
2. Test, test, test!
3. Continue on!
And this is how I’ve used the knowledge.
My business, Parent Wellbeing, is about helping parents to worry less and enjoy parenting more.
Parent Wellbeing started out as a speaking business, where I ran workshops and presentations for parent groups, and sold books and toolkits.
But parents can’t always get to workshops, and parents are online. So we’re now turning Parent Wellbeing into a true online business.
Lesson 1: Focus!
I sold off one part of the business that was not directly related to parents.
I scaled back my initial grand plans for a grand website with heaps of bells and whistles.
I created a simpler business model that’s about converting interested browsers into paid subscribers.
Lesson 2: Test!
The biggest competitor for online parenting info is ‘Free’ so I needed to test whether parents would pay for content.
Instead, of waiting until the new site was built, we created a private Facebook group where parents receive exclusive access to content for the new site as its being created.
We’ve attracted a great group of parents who are paying $30 for 3 months to be a part of the project. And the group is buzzing! It’s a hive of positive support and good will.
Lesson 3: Continue !
The Facebook group is not only a first validation of the business model, it’s also a market research group, a marketing strategy, and a sales channel.
The next step is to build and launch the new website, and grow, grow grow !
Thanks to Pollenizer for helping us develop a more focused and feasible business plan in our quest to go from a small start-up to a super-scale success !