Fun email marketing with MailChimp

With the recent release of ClimbPoint 0.8 I decided to take another look at email marketing software and was pleasantly surprised — no, delighted — by MailChimp.

Prior to discovering MailChimp, I used generic mailing lists in Gmail and squandered a 60 day trial of Constant Contact (I think I sent out only one email).  This article has a good summary of the major features that MailChimp offers, but there are three that appeal the most to me.

1. Easy to use

First and foremost, it’s incredibly easy to use.  In fact, I was able to just copy and paste my list of contacts from Excel directly into MailChimp.  Creating the email was pretty painless too, no webinars required!

2. Fun and entertaining

Sending emails sounds about as dull as it gets, but I have to admit that I truly enjoy using MailChimp.  I think it’s mostly due to the chimpy compliments, but the stats are entertaining as well.  Who knew looking at stats on the most recent mailing campaign could be so addicting?

Thanks to MailChimp, I now know that about 30% of my list members actually opened and read the recent email that I sent, and about 15% actually clicked one or more links.

3. Priced for startups

I plan to send under 100 messages a month, so I could never really justify spending $180 a year on a Constant Contact subscription — that’s 15 cents an email!  MailChimp has a sweet pay-as-you-go plan which ends up running about 3 cents an email.

My recent campaign cost me all of about $5, and it looks very professional.  If you’re interested in checking it out, sign up using this link and get a $30 account credit if you decide to join!

Kudos to the team at MailChimp for a job well done!

Thoughts from my third summit

This past weekend I attended the third annual Climbing Wall Association summit in Boulder, Colorado.  My third summit was substantially different from the first two — this time I arrived in Boulder with a company, a product, and a purpose.

I officially formed ClimbPoint, LLC back in January, and there are now about eight universities using ClimbPoint at their climbing wall check-in desks.  My purpose for coming to Boulder this year was to pursue connections with others in the industry who could help me get the word out about easy gym management software for universities and rec centers.

In the past I’ve come to the summit hoping to please everyone, including all sorts of commercial climbing gyms.  This year though, I resolved to disappoint commercial gym owners by letting them know I wanted to totally nail the university market first before adding features useful for their facilities.  I was pleasantly surprised by the reception I received.

It’s too early to tell whether many of the connections that I made this past weekend will result in loads of sales, but I’m psyched that I got in touch with everyone on my list, including various climbing wall manufacturers, hold manufacturers, and key CWA staff members.

To top it off, I met 5 or 6 people from Indiana (?!), two of whom are opening climbing gyms at their universities within the next year.  Should make for a very interesting summer!

 

As always, I’m reluctant to share all the details of my interactions and my strategy going forward — I hope the lack of detail doesn’t sap my updates of any intrigue they might have had, and I will say that I’m considering a more open approach to blogging.  More soon…

Book review: The Noticer

This past weekend I read The Noticer by Andy Andrews and was impressed by how such a quick read with a simple message could be so powerful.

Andy weaves pieces of his own life story into a tale about a man named Jones, who mysteriously appears to those in need, offering the gift of perspective.  Many meet Jones when they feel as if their life has no purpose and no chance of getting better.  Jones disagrees and offers the hope of a brighter future by viewing the person’s struggle with new eyes.

The biggest takeaway from the book for me is the truth that everything we do matters, and our perspective largely impacts what we do and how we do it.  If I truly believe that each day counts and trust that my actions are making a difference in the lives of others, I can move with confidence.

This truth is applicable to everyone, but entrepreneurs specifically can find rest and renewal in the reality of a new perspective.  I know I’ve thought hundreds of times about abandoning some of my hopes and endeavors only to be filled with renewed energy after realizing a different perspective, many times through conversations with a potential customer or friend.

Fresh perspective is always needed, and The Noticer offers a few keys to discovering and living in a new, brighter reality.

Book review blogger

A few months ago I signed up to become a book review blogger for Thomas Nelson.  I’d been on a bit of a reading kick since discovering the Personal MBA and couldn’t resist the book review program when I read the details.

I really would like to post my thoughts on the five or so books from the PMBA that I’ve read (and the other Thomas Nelson book that I’m currently reading), but my schedule at this point doesn’t leave too much time for blogging.

Or, to say it more clearly — I haven’t made blogging a priority

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be posting my first official book review blogger review on The Noticer by Andy Andrews.  It was a quick read, but a good book on the importance and power of perspective.

An LLC is born…

Early on the morning of January 16 I became the proud parent of a brand new LLC.  Spurred on by a couple more sales early in the month, I decided to take the plunge and register ClimbPoint, LLC with the State of Indiana.

Once I decided to move on it, the entire process was seamless and done in less than a day — who knew you could register a business in Indiana online?  My next steps are to register for an employer identification number and complete a BT-1 form so I can charge tax on in-state sales.

Throughout the entire process, NOLO’s Quick LLC has been a great resource.  And for those who aren’t as interested in learning the ins and outs of an LLC, NOLO offers an LLC Maker that promises to get the job done faster.

So for those who have wondered what I’ve been up to this winter (and it’s been a long winter), forming an LLC was at the top of the list, right below traveling to India for a friend’s wedding.

For now it’s back to working on the next couple versions of ClimbPoint, which will definitely be out in time for the CWA Summit in Boulder.

Update on my sales machine

Back in September I set out to build a sales machine with the hopes of selling four licenses of ClimbPoint and attending AORE out in San Diego.  I’m happy to report that while I didn’t meet my sales goal, I did sell enough to finance my trip to San Diego last week.

So for those of you who were anxiously waiting for the big October announcement that I wrote about a few weeks ago, that was it

More info on the conference and the sales machine coming soon…

One year of starting up

Back on October 16, 2007 I set up shop here at AnotherStartup and began my journey toward a product launch.  Truthfully, I had been considering commercialization (and blogging about it) for over a year, but the creation of this blog was a milestone in that it marked the official beginning of my Masters project at Purdue.

So it’s been a year since I began to commercialize ClimbPoint in earnest, and it’s been fun watching my ideas grow into realities.  Here’s a look at what’s happened over the past year…

A few stats

My three most popular posts have been on crafting an effective elevator pitch, designing a decent logo, and finding icons for Windows applications.

I’ve also watched traffic to the blog increase steadily over the past year, and at this point I’m very close to breaking 300 page views per month.  The last time I checked I also had 10-12 people who subscribe to the site feed or receive email updates.  So the blog is still relatively small, but I expect that it will continue to grow steadily.

Above: page views per month since October 2007.

Major milestones

There have been a number of major milestones over the past year, which are summarized below.  To this point the full release of ClimbPoint this past August was the biggest one, but I think the October announcement will eclipse that.

• Began a beta program with four universities – October 2007
• Released a beta version of ClimbPoint to the public – February 2008
• Learned The Art of the Start – March 2008
• Settled on a logo – April 2008
• Finished a new website – May 2008
• Attended my second Climbing Wall Association Summit – May 2008
• Released ClimbPoint 0.7 – August 2008
• Started building a sales machine – September 2008
• ??? – October 2008

It’s hard for me to keep the big announcement for October under wraps, but I think it’s substantial enough to warrant a separate post.  Stay tuned

To summarize, it’s been a great ride so far.  There have been many ups and downs, but I’ve been able to move forward at a fairly steady pace.  I continue to question my motives for starting up, and I don’t expect that to change any time soon.  I do know that I enjoy creating useful, mistake-proof software, and it’s always rewarding to hear positive feedback.

Learning the Art of the Start: Recap

Note: this post is long overdue, and is sort of a warm-up for posts later this month.  In fact, this Thursday is the first birthday of AnotherStartup.

A while back I created a series of posts on The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki.  Each post below correlates with one of five sections in Guy’s book.  I’ve hit a few of the high points, but I recommend you buy the book or check out the video below if these pique your interest.

• Part One – Why you’re starting
• Part Two – Describing what you do
• Part Three – Getting cash and getting going
• Part Four – Connecting with customers and making sales
• Part Five – Do what’s right

Reading and applying Guy’s ideas has been immensely helpful for me, and I still have a lot to learn about the art of starting — especially when it comes to connecting with customers and making sales (part four).

For those who aren’t quite ready to read the entire book, Tomas from The Closet Entrepreneur clued me in to a 40 minute talk on the Art of the Start given by Guy himself.  Guy is a great speaker, and the video below is a worthy summary of his book.

New round of beta testing

Since starting my sales initiative that I posted about earlier this week I’ve been thinking about ways I could expand the reach of ClimbPoint and increase the size of my market.

I’ve known for awhile that ClimbPoint would probably work really well in community recreation centers but haven’t yet tested it in any of those facilities.  So, starting this week I’ve begun contacting community rec centers with climbing walls about participating in a no obligation beta test of ClimbPoint.

The general terms of the beta test are below, and my primary concern is that I’m being too generous and should be charging some kind of fee to the testers up front.  My rationale for keeping everything no-cost/low commitment is that I need users to attest that the software is in fact awesome and super easy to use.  I also need feedback on what works well and what doesn’t.

The terms

• I’ll send out a full version of the latest release of ClimbPoint. Beta testers agree to install the program and use it to keep track of climbers at their facility for three months.
• Testers agree to record their thoughts and suggestions for the software, and every 2-3 weeks we’ll have a brief phone conversation so I can understand how well ClimbPoint fits into the way they work there. As a result of our conversations, I may send out updated versions of the software to install and use at the wall.
• At the end of the three month testing period Testers are free to continue using the version of ClimbPoint that is currently installed, with no requirement to purchase a full license. They’ll have the option of purchasing a full license at a 20% discount. Purchasing a license will allow them to receive software updates (which add new features), and receive email support.

Well, am I being too generous?  Should I charge a small fee up front for participation?  Will anyone respond?  Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Building a sales machine

I’ve been getting quite a few good ideas about business while reading The Ultimate Sales Machine, some of which I hope to post about here soon.  In the meantime I’d like to fill you in on an initiative that I started a couple weeks ago that’s helping me apply what I’ve been learning.

My goal is to sell four licenses of ClimbPoint by the end of September, which will enable me to travel to AORE out in San Diego to talk with others in outdoor education who are likely to have climbing walls in their rec centers.

Four sounds like a lot to me, but I think it’s doable.  I have a list of over two hundred universities with indoor climbing walls, and my plan is to call about ten universities per week over the span of six weeks.  I’ve already contacted about thirty universities, with mixed results.

Ideally I’d like to contact about a hundred universities by the end of the month, as it would mean that I’d need about a 5% conversion rate to achieve my goal.  We’ll see if the ideas in The Ultimate Sales Machine help me hone my selling skills and ramp up the number of sales calls I can make in a week.

Setting the bar high with a crazy goal like this has been motivating for me.  It also helps that AORE is in San Diego, a place I enjoy visiting.  If I make it there, I’ll definitely spend some time surfing and hanging out on the beach.

For now though, it’s back to working on the machine

 

Side note: I realize that in dealing with universities it’s highly unrealistic that I’ll be able to introduce them to ClimbPoint, convince them to buy, and collect the cash all in a month’s time.  It may be a long shot, but I have to try!