What Works

The Nitty-Gritty * Why Val Geisler, email marketing specialist and founder of Fix My Churn, used a 2-hour workshop as a test run for a bigger program* How she sold the workshop to her email list and followers* What she did after the workshop to flesh out her 12-week program once she had proof of concept* How she used the success of her workshop to create the initial sales for the program Big results typically start with small wins. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love sharing parts of my workouts on my Instagram Stories. Sometimes I share a bouldering problem I’m especially proud of. Sometimes I share a new-to-me movement. Sometimes I share a new PR. Last week, I shared a video of a progression of pull-ups I did after a climbing workout. I did 4 wide grip pull-ups, 4 strict pull-ups, 3 neutral grip pull-ups, and 1 measly chin up with minimal rest. Whenever I share things like that, I can count on getting some version of “Oh, I could never do that!” or “How the heck did you even start working on that?” in response. The truth is that, just over a year ago, I couldn’t do a single pull-up. And that just a year before that, I couldn’t run a mile without stopping to catch my breath. My fitness journey started with the seed of an idea. I thought that if I got myself out of bed and walked on the treadmill for 10-15 minutes every morning before I had my coffee, my quality of life would improve. I didn’t imagine doing pull-ups. I certainly didn’t imagine running a half marathon. And I didn’t imagine playing with barbells on a regular basis. But I committed to that small action to test my hypothesis. Would life be better if I moved a little more? Yes, yes it was. It was easy to see that moving made me feel better. It made me sharper. Once I’d established that, I started to add a little more intensity. I incorporated a few minutes of jogging. I started hiking. Eventually, I tried climbing for the first time. My life kept getting better and better. I added strength training and lengthened my workouts. Today, I’m training for a half marathon and teaching a climbing class at my gym. Two years ago, these things would have seemed ridiculous. As I’m sure you already realize, this same pattern of behavior applies to business, too. What you will be working on 2 years from now may be unbelievable to your current self. But the road to get there starts today with small actions, ideas, and experiments. My guest today is Val Geisler. Val is an email marketing specialist and the founder of Fix My Churn. Today, Val is wrapping up a 12-week email marketing program that netted her about $90,000. But just 6 months ago, this kind of result would have been hard to believe. A small offer—a 2-hour workshop on the research behind successful email marketing—changed everything. I talk with Val about how she came up with the seed of her big idea, how she sold the workshop that started it all, and how she developed the 12-week program once she knew it would be a success.