Hello,
I’ve got a problem. But it might just be what you need!
It’s about my Make Your Own Products Workshop Intensive http://www.anarreshealth.ca/workshop/workshop-intensive-make-your-own-pr...
coming up at Anarres Apothecary Sept 21-26. (We'll make perfumes, essential oil blends, Lotions, Potions and Creams, Mineral Make Up and Lip Balm, All Sorts of Soaps and Natural Face & Body Care.)
July 5, I committed to this workshop series when a woman flying in from out of town called distressed that another educational program she'd planned for had been cancelled.
I was enthusiastic and certain. It's been almost a year since I've held a workshop intensive series. I'm always so excited to imagine all the wonderful things that can sprout from workshop series ~ partners meet, businesses expand or get started, participants change their lives. It's a slice of the world changing I want to do.
I planned the workshop series based on what my new student needed to learn. I believed that since I was booking it in July for September, and since there would be other students left hanging after the other program's cancellation, I'd have no trouble filling the small number of spots each day.
OOPs. Wrong.
I sent out newsletter posts, one plain, one pretty. I created Facebook events, all pretty. I told people about the intensive at mini workshops, free talks and everywhere I went. People respond with interest. People take handbills and posters. I have received inquiries almost every day.
But not many registrations.
"Bad timing", some say.
"No funds", others say.
"Will do!" some say, but don't register.
Or register, but don't pay.
OOPs. Fail.
September snuck up on me. Were my old Google Ads how people used to find out about my workshops? At my old place, the space was often filled wall to wall! I spent money on Google Ads.
To. No. Avail.
I hired marketing help. She got me interviews. So far so.... no results yet.
Then Tad Hargrave wrote about how his Hollyhock retreat did not have enough registrants. (and you really really should go if you can. It will be stupefy-ingly useful, and delightful and I will envy you with every bone in my body for being there http://marketingforhippies.com/hollyhock-retreat/) And he shared a sample of his last-ditch sales letter.
And so here I am writing to you.
It’s looking like there will be a half dozen people on any given day September 21-26. I was hoping for a dozen.
Because you may not know this, but my workshops are half filled with Apprentices and WWOOFers (who don't pay with money but help run Anarres A LOT) and Work Exchangers (who pay materials costs only in money, and pay for time by helping at Anarres)... so on average only a handful of workshop participants pay with money to attend.
When everyone is in the room, and we're learning and concocting and asking and answering really juicy questions, and making awesome body care products no one else has every made exactly the same, I don't care. I'm overjoyed. Teaching people about natural fairly traded and local ingredients is my passion, my raison d'etre. I'm not driven by money. I'm driven by you getting a taste of what excites me.
Something else you may not know: At this point, we are ALL volunteers. Including me. I stopped paying myself two years ago so that I could invest in all the wonderful goodies a store needs in order to supply you with... wonderful goodies ~ made and ready for you to make!
But we do need money to pay for the space, and the materials, and the time - a least a day in marketing and preparation for every day I teach ~ and I do need money to support myself and my children, too!
But on cloudier days...
I confess that I get mad. Why does this person who earns so much (I imagine) want me to sell them things for less? I get frustrated. Will the store ever earn enough to pay myself back and make Anarres a Worker Owned Coop?
I get hopeless. Am I letting my life and my children's lives slip by while I work 8-0 hours a week for free?
How can I hope to travel and teach in all the places I've been invited (The Farm, Rajastan, Cambodia, Ghana...) if I can't fill a workshop in my hometown?
Enough about my cloudy thoughts!
Yet here’s why my Under Registered Workshops Problem could be your opportunity…
Participants love the small size of my workshops because they get more individual attention.
People who want to take my workshops tell me they have trouble coming up with the fees upfront. And so I'm going to be flexible!
And the good news is that it looks like
*extra small* with
*extra individual attention*
is exactly what’s going to happen
and that I am negotiable around when the workshop fees are paid!
Here’s what my problem my Under Registered Workshops Problem could mean for you if you come:
You get my undivided attention on your what you want to learn to make for yourself, your family, your business or your community. Twenty one years of my experience, working with hundreds of people who want to create safe, healthy, affordable and socially just body care products, just like you… and it’s all yours!
You get all of your important questions answered in depth and often by example instead of being one person in a group of thirty+ (such as when I taught at New Directions) who maybe gets to ask one question each day.
You get solutions that are custom tailored to what and how you want to make things instead of generic principles you must adapt and translate to your own needs.
Every day, you’ll have access to my personal brain space (and everyone else’s). This is important: in a group of 30+ people the chances of your remembering everyone’s names by the end of the day is almost nil. The chance of you remembering what they do and what their particular interests are? Non-existent. But that means that once you leave my workshop, you’re more or less on your own. But, when the group is this small, you’ve got everyone’s awareness and attention. You'll work with everyone, learn from everyone, and share with everyone.
There’s a very good chance you'll receive feedback on your creations, products and ideas from the entire group (which is small but full of people with a lot to offer).
Here’s how I will make it even better for you (and if you know me at all, you know that time is precious to me!).
If you sign up for four or more days, you will also get to attend for free our upcoming new Body Care Business Lab semi private session with me and Anarres Apprentices. These sessions will happen every few weeks and will cover topics such as Experimenting with New Ingredients, Tooth Serum and Deodorant Experiments, Mail Order Training, Online Administration and the all important yet dreaded Washing and Sanitizing. You would normally pay $80 for each two hour session. I will schedule these sessions for the fall and early 2016 and invite you by email. I hope you find this very useful once you've had a chance to work on a few things and come across a few stumbling blocks.
The forces of the universe have conspired to create something that will be fabulously unprofitable for me but that could be incredibly transformative, life changing and even fun and fulfilling for you!
I plan to figure out my marketing problems and hold sold out workshops from now onwards. When I stand back, breathe deeply and take into account how much time and energy it takes to give a workshop, I know I can't keep holding them so often for only a handful of participants.
This may, legitimately, be your last chance to attend a workshop intensive with me that's so intimate. It may be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Frankly, I vow to never be under registered for a series again. I don't want to create events that takes so much time and effort with so little compensation for me.
If you’ve ever wanted to attend a workshop series of mine, I can’t imagine creating one ever again that will be so intimate and valuable.
I hope you can come to one or more days of the workshop series!
http://www.anarreshealth.ca/workshop/workshop-intensive-make-your-own-pr...
Register now because Advance Registration ends Monday September 14th...