Storytelling and the Empire Building Kit Launch
It was my most important launch to date: an online business course called
the Empire Building Kit that eventually formed the basis for this book. For
months I conducted interviews and research, capturing lessons from
unconventional entrepreneurs and extracting the secrets of their success. As
I prepared to make it available, though, I felt stuck—something wasn’t
coming together, and I kept procrastinating on the launch date.
While planning a trip to Europe and West Africa, I had a flight booked
that eventually would take me to Chicago but no onward ticket to my home
in Portland. On a whim I checked the Amtrak schedule, thinking there was
no way I’d want to take a train halfway across the country but I might as
well take a look. To my surprise, the name of the Amtrak train from
Chicago to Portland was the Empire Builder. Hmmm. I began to get an
idea, but initially thought it was too crazy to implement. That same evening,
the doorbell rang and the UPS guy dropped off a package. When I opened
the box, I discovered a free messenger bag sent by some new friends at Tom
Bihn’s company (profiled in
Chapter 13
). The name of the bag
was … Empire Builder.
I’m not sure if God, the universe, or Tom Bihn’s company was sending
me the message, but I decided to follow the idea where it led. I made plans
to go to West Africa then fly home via Chicago and launch the Empire
Building Kit on a single day, live from the Empire Builder train. Oh, and it
also happened to be my birthday—so I made that part of the story as well.
I asked my friend J. D. Roth to come along with me, so he and I met up
in Chicago and prepared for the journey. Upon embarking on the train, we
set up a “blogger’s lounge” in the Amtrak viewing car complete with
various Apple products—amusing the other passengers, many of whom
were elderly sightseers. In the weeks before the big day, I had been telling
my community about the plan with a mixture of excitement and dread; I
was excited to launch the new course but scared that I wouldn’t be able to
finish it in time. With so much riding on the story, there was no flexibility
on the date and no backup plan if things didn’t work out.
Thankfully, everything worked as it should. I finished the final copyedits
on my Lufthansa flight to Chicago. Two days later, we launched the Empire
Building Kit to hundreds of eager buyers, many of whom had been waiting
for it since the pre-launch campaign. The launch cleared over $100,000 in
sales before I turned it off exactly twenty-four hours later as our train rolled
through Washington State and down into Oregon. The message had a good
story and built-in timeliness: Once we hit Portland, the deal was over.
My favorite part was receiving emails from people who said they weren’t
interested in the course but had been enjoying the story of the train ride. I
don’t always get it right, but this time everything fell into place.
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