Amy Miller – Artistic Director

Transcendence Theatre Company is a group of artists with an extensive list of Broadway, National and International Touring, Regional Theatre, Film and Television credits.

They are a nonprofit organization established in 2008 dedicated to developing a new approach to the performing arts. The company is united in a passionate belief that a movement truly integrating health and well-being into the arts and entertainment world will help thousands of artists already suffering from eating, addictive, anxiety, and emotional disorders due to the pressures of the current entertainment industry.

A new holistic approach for the artist will revolutionize arts education, the commercial arts sector, and have an unbelievable impact on the artists’ ability to serve our youth, our communities, and our world. The Company’s mission is, through their art and lives, to encourage individuals to commit to living their best lives ever.

So when this theatre company needed to raise money for a production down in Mexico – they created this video, placed it on Facebook and YouTube and also contacted various large-list natural health personalities to promote it to their lists.

The video is nicely done because it is a good example of blatantly asking for something – but doing it in such a cute, funny way that no one minds.

I think what would make it even more powerful is to combine it with an opt-in; get people to give their name and email in return for some freebie. This would have two benefits:

1. It would catch the people who like the video, but are not quite moved enough to donate. It would get them more involved with the theatre company over time (as they would now be on the newsletter list) and they are all future potential donors.

2. Sometimes people want to donate, but if it’s not super-easy, then they just move on to the next thing. If you received this appeal in someone’s newsletter (like I did), then you still have to take an extra step into the unknown (= hassle) in order to donate. You would have to then go to their website, or paypal, etc. If, however, they offered you something free on their site – “Click here to get your free_____” that would provide the added motivation to get you to their site, where of course they would have the very easy DONATE button right there on the landing page.

Anyway, watch the video and see if it gives you some ideas for novel ways you can appeal to your customers…

soar higher,
Jini

Andy Jenkins – StomperNet CEO

The last time Stompernet opened its doors, soliciting for people to join its elite monthly membership program, I signed up.

Like most internet marketers today, they used the SCARCITY tactic – if you don’t sign up now, we’re closing the doors and who knows when you’ll be able to get in again?

So I joined and if I cancelled within 30 days, they would return my money for the membership. However, it was not disclosed in their No-Risk Guarantee that I would have to pay separately for shipping the course materials (about $40), and upon cancelling, I would also have to pay for the return shipping to send them back.

You’d think that for a membership fee of $800/month, they could send you the course materials for free. But perhaps this is indicative of a high cancellation rate on their products. Who knows?

At any rate, I joined and I spent about 6 hours a day powering through as much learning as I could glean from their membership site and simultaneously implementing some key tweaks on my website that they claimed should immediately result in a 15 – 20% increase in sales.

By the end of about two and a half weeks, I cancelled my membership. Why?

Well, I can tell you that if you’re fairly new to doing business on the Internet, Stompernet Membership is probably worth your money and you should see a good return on your investment.

However, I’ve been doing business online for 10 years now and while a lot of their stuff was useful, it did not lead to any increase in revenue for me – either immediately or longer-term. Also, a large portion of their stuff I already knew.

But the big disappointment was the coaching and mentoring. This is the main reason I joined. Stompernet promised a one-on-one coach who would work directly with me on my business. This is what was worth $800/month to me. Since it is very hard for me to find people with more experience than I have to take an objective view of my biz. I get lost in the classic “can’t see the wood for the trees” scenario.

An independent, objective, yet highly experienced internet coach was definitely what I needed… and didn’t get. Stompernet’s excuse was: Wow! We’ve had so many people join, we’ve run out of coaches, so it’s going to take us a while to get new coaches up and running.

Can you believe that? I’ve never heard anything so pathetic in my life! And just where are they going to find all these new, highly trained, specialized, experienced coaches? What are the odds I would eventually be assigned someone with less experience than I have? Pretty darn high, I think

An Aside: This is exactly what happened to me when I joined IMC’s (Internet Marketing Center’s) mentoring program (cost: $10,000). First of all, they were honest and said it would take a while to find me a coach with more experience than I had. Okay, that’s fine, I appreciate honesty. But then the coach they eventually assigned me had WAY less experience than me and then they also wanted me to go through their cookie cutter “website-improvement” program without taking a close, individualized look at my business. Ridiculous.

Anyway, back to Stompernet. So there I was, after nearly 3 weeks (that’s $600 gone) and NO COACH.

My second problem with their excuse/reason for not having enough coaches is that it reeks of amateur planning. Anyone with any business experience would have figured out in the planning stages how many people they could accept for membership, based on the number of coaches they had.

Either that, or they got rampantly greedy and decided to wing it. Not good either way. They’ve betrayed my trust, I wonder as to their skill levels and business acumen and I’m now suspicious of their motives. I’m not feeling a whole lot of care and regard for the customer here.

Now, IF they had brilliant support and coaching on their membership forum, that could have made up for it somewhat. But here’s what I discovered about the Forum Experts – and I posted extensively: As long as I asked generalized questions, I would get a response.

But as soon as I asked specific, detailed questions, directly applicable to my unique situation – that would require the expert to actually go and have a look at my sites – I got….NO response. I’m not kidding. They would just ignore any specific questions entirely, or else give me a generalized answer about the topic in general.

So there you have it in a nutshell:

• If your business is less than three years old, you’ll probably benefit from Stompernet Monthly Membership because you can learn a ton from their automated content; videos, articles, forum posts, etc.
• But, if you really need some one-on-one, experienced coaching, or specific advice and feedback, give it a miss.

Personally, I wonder just what their rate of cancellation was… it must have been really high.

My membership site has a teeny-tiny number of members by comparison. But I’ve only had 2 cancellations since I launched 8 months ago. Apparently, this is unheard of for membership sites. But you know what? If you actually deliver what you promise and you don’t scalp people for it, why would they cancel?

It’s a real shame, because I’ve remained on Stompernet’s mailing list since they do put out excellent content for free (wonder if we’ll see a backlash with Eben Pagan’s “moving the free line” ethos after a while…) and I really like Andy Jenkin’s personality. I think he’s a great guy.

But due to that bad experience, I simply don’t trust them anymore. Case in point: I just received an email from Andy inviting me to their StomperNet LIVE 7 Event on March 6-8 in Atlanta. Ordinarily, I would seriously consider going as it looks right up my alley.

However, I DON’T TRUST THEM ANYMORE. Hence, I’m not willing to take the chance and waste any money. Because my last experience keeps playing through my head; where they made some very attractive promises and so miserably didn’t deliver. It’s sad really.

p.s. One good thing about the StomperNet Membership – they were so late getting the course materials sent out, that by the time I cancelled they still hadn’t shipped them. So I avoided all the shipping charges. Again, poor management, or, delayed on purpose due to high cancellation rates? Another positive: Their customer service was really good; responsive, pleasant and absolutely no hassles.

all the best,
Jini

I just finished reading through a bunch of Frank McKinney’s websites launching his 3 new books ( biz book, spiritual book, kids book). Then I watched his video compilation of all the tv shows he’s been on and his many successes in real estate. And I find myself wondering yet again: How do these people accomplish all this whilst raising children??

Now you can tell me all you want about working hard vs. working smart, and delegating. But here’s the thing: you’re preaching to the choir. I am the Queen of time management and outsourcing. And at the end of the day, there are only so many hours and so much energy available in that day.

So call me judgmental, but if you’re raising young children (before school babysits them for a nice 6 hour chunk each day) and accomplishing monumental work successes, then something is suffering – and it’s obviously not your work stuff.

I figure people who are seeming to “do it all” probably have very little downtime in their lives. And they’re cutting corners in their child-raising. Because my main business is natural health, I know how extremely important nutrition is. Both to the growth and development of a child and to the long-term health of all family members. So you tell me that “do it all” moms like Carrie Wilkerson are cooking organic, unprocessed food from scratch for their 4 children every single day. Have they breastfed each child for at least 1-2 years? Have they been there for the child at night, or have they let the child “cry it out” and gone to sleep themselves, thereby preserving their energy for the next day’s work?

Or, the other thing I suspect, is that these have-it-all powerhouses have a spouse who is completely dedicated to them and the children and that is the person who is putting in all the work on the home front. Or, their business was cemented and generating a high income before they had their kids. Because, as we all know, most of the work is in the set-up.

My husband and I each have our own business and we each parent our children and suffer sleep deprivation and a crushing work load from just meeting the children’s needs. And these needs range from the emotional to the spiritual to the physical. My husband volunteers at school to help kids learn to read, he coaches soccer, he drives for field trips, and he’s done all the nights and night feedings (I pumped the breastmilk into bottles) with our youngest.

I did the all the nights and nightfeedings with the first two. I did not sleep more than 3.5 hours in a row for three years. You tell me how you can do all that (whilst breastfeeding day and night) and simultaneously be hosting teleseminars, going to conferences, marketing consistently, coaching and doing speaking engagements? It’s simply not physically possible.

So I’m here to stand up and tell the truth: Yes, you can have it all. But not all at the same time.

it’s simply not physically possible. And personally, I’m getting a bit miffed at listening to all these people purport that they are doing and having it all and there’s something wrong with me that I’m not! So to all those “I’ve got it all: family, multi-million dollar business, spiritual growth and purpose, community involvement and charity” people. I have six questions for you:

1. Do you parent your children yourself? Or does your spouse, daycare, nanny, etc. do it for you?
2. Do you breastfeed each child for a minimum of one year, and preferably two?
3. Do you prepare 3 meals a day of organic, unprocessed food, cooked from scratch?
4. Are you available to nurture your children and show them compassion when they are upset or crying, day and night? Or do you leave them to cry it out on their own while you get your sleep?
5. Do you spend time every day connecting with your children and teaching them the important things of life: spiritual, business, health and nutrition, etc.
6. Are you doing some form of exercise every day (this could be with your kids – doesn’t have to be going to the gym on your own) to preserve your own health?

I would really like to hear from anyone who really and truly is doing/having it all, so they can explain to me how it is physically possible.

In my experience, all you can do is your best. And that’s really going to vary depending on your personal energy levels, work habits, functionality, etc. It’s also going to depend on whether your work is “work” or something you love, that provides you with a break, stimulation and enjoyment. If it’s the latter, then obviously, you’re going to get a lot more done in your business. Because although it will still use up energy, it’s also giving back to you in various ways.

But until you get that last child full-time into school, there’s a definite limit on what you can accomplish in your business. And all of us active, compassionate, nurturing parents need to stop feeling guilty that we’re not doing better financially during this difficult time! We need to challenge all these “have it all” gurus and say, quite bluntly, “You’re lying!”

And on that note, I think I’ll go get the porridge soaking for breakfast tomorrow, and the meat marinading for dinner tonight!

My Young Family in Playa del Carmen, Mexico