My Launch Day Curveball: Here’s What Happened

Yah…things didn’t happen the way they were supposed to.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Issue #57 | September 26th, 2023 Hi, it's Pat! One week ago, on September 19th, 2023, the world threw me (and my team) a giant curveball on one of the most important days of the year for us—the launch day for [Power-Up Podcasting 3.0.](​ After almost a year of preparation, this happened. Me to myself: Breathe Pat…breathe. 😮‍💨 I’ll share exactly what happened and what I learned from this situation, just in case it happens to you, too. Not to scare you, but most likely it will… QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” -Mike Tyson THE STORY One hour and thirty minutes into the [best webinar presentation of my career](=), and it was time for the pitch. My style of selling is to be very upfront and honest. Multiple times during the webinar, I mentioned Power-Up Podcasting and that I’d share more about it at the end of the presentation. I even asked permission to go into a pitch and was met with a resounding “YES” in the chat. Here is that moment in the presentation: ​ Everything was working out perfectly, and the audience was ready to buy. Unfortunately, they couldn’t. The servers from our checkout process had just gone down, and there was no indication for how long. Messages in the chat started coming in about it being unavailable. ​ This is a launch team’s worst nightmare. I started to see messages on Slack from the team, scrambling to see what was going on and racing to email support to fix the issue. Unfortunately, the time came to end the webinar. Afterward, I checked the sales report to see that a couple of sales did go through before the entire thing shut down. The servers eventually came back on, and sales started coming in again, but we missed that golden opportunity when excitement peaked for the live viewers. Now—I’m not asking for any sympathy here, and if you feel bad, please don’t. It happens. And I don’t share this to scare you, but rather to show you that it’s normal for things like this to happen, even for businesses that have been doing this for a while. And it’s okay! This isn’t even the first time something like this happened: - In 2012, my website was hacked and I couldn’t get back in for three weeks. - In 2015, a software company I owned glitched and charged customers three times what they paid. - In 2016, one of my books was printed with the wrong cover. Thousands of copies! - In 2018, I was late for an important speech because my plane was delayed. - In 2020, I had to cancel a group coaching program due to Covid. - And the list goes on and on. Plans always look great on paper. But when it’s time to execute, sometimes things happen, and in many cases they’re things you can’t control. However, you can control how you react to those situations and you can make the most of them. In the case of this recent webinar: - It’s an opportunity for me to pass on a lesson to you and be an example to others. - It’s an opportunity to look into a backup plan in case this happens again (which is totally worth doing due to the scale and importance of these launches). - It’s another reminder that no matter what, things will eventually work out. They always have. Maybe not right away, but over time with a what opportunity does this make for us mindset and a serve first attitude, great things will happen. I hope you’re not going through anything like this right now. But if you do in the future, hopefully this email will help you get through it. I appreciate you! SPI New Sponsorship Program We are testing out some new sponsorships with our partner ConvertKit. This is specialized content based on demographic information that ConvertKit knows about you, based on all the subscriptions you have on ConvertKit. This is an experiment on our side, and we don’t have the ability to see all the potential ads that may be shown to you. We’re doing our best to make sure the ad providers are relevant and are very open to hearing your feedback. SPONSORED CONTENT = = ​ SPI NEWS AND EVENTS Calling all aspiring podcasters! It's your last chance to enroll in our newly revamped Power-Up Podcasting 3.0 Accelerator, kicking off on September 28th. This course is your ticket to launching a successful podcast, establishing your online brand, and creating meaningful connections with your audience. Our upgraded version includes the latest podcasting insights and a brand-new module on video podcasting. [Enroll now]( and pave the way for podcasting success! How do you succeed when the odds are against you? Check out the latest episode of the Smart Passive Income Podcast, where Pat Flynn engages in an insightful conversation with special guest Chris Guillebeau. Together, they explore the essential role of taking risks to thrive in today's fast-paced world. [Tune in now](=) and discover how to build hybrid communities, monetize your existing skill set, thrive in the age of AI, and more. Our monthly Community Networking Event is back! Last time, we showcased businesses and collaborated in diverse breakout rooms. What's on the agenda this time? Join us on October 11th, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET, to discover the latest engaging discussions and activities. [Secure your spot now]( for the chance to connect with a supportive network of like-minded professionals. DAD JOKE OF THE WEEK How does a ghost plan his day? … He makes a to-boo list Did a cool person forward you this email? [Sign up here for free](. Want to reach over 125,000 entrepreneurs? [Become a sponsor](. 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