Quick question: can a bootcamp be both successful and kinda meh?
Yep! Mine was the best of bootcamps and the worst of bootcamps.
I want to tell you the full story, with numbers, wins, losses, goals, and everything in between. Because there’s always more happening behind the scenes than you know from the outside.
For context, I’m talking about The Newsletter Growth Bootcamp (link just for reference, registration is closed).
Let’s start at the beginning
When I created The Council, I wanted it to be a container for implementation. You know, where people actually get shit done instead of just learning and talking about it. And nothing speeds up implementation like putting a deadline on things.
The Newsletter Growth Bootcamp was the first sprint/bootcamp we ever had in The Council. I asked the members to choose between three options and the majority wanted to focus on newsletter growth.
So I put together a 4-week program, with 6 live calls that combined:
- Theory
- Application
- Q&A
- Homework
For four weeks, the bootcampers learned AND implemented a newsletter growth system. From positioning to content planning and from acquisition channels to lead magnets, we covered a lot.
We also had a bootcamp contest. The person who got the biggest newsletter growth during the month of the bootcamp was awarded my biggest sponsorship package (🎉 you’ll learn who won soon).
I was blown away by the progress that happened during this bootcamp, so I can’t wait for the next one. I’ll tell you more about that (with screenshots) in a second, right after a quick message from today’s partner, who happens to be one of our very successful bootcampers (more on that below).
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Bootcamp goals
A bootcamp is hard work. I can’t stress this enough. I’ve done workshops and launches in the past, and none of them compares to how much work I put into this.
Planning, nailing the curriculum, offering daily feedback on homework, speaking to each bootcamper individually — everything takes a lot of time and energy.
So why bother with it?
First off, because I absolutely love this hands-on approach where I work side-by-side with my clients. Secondarily, I had two BIG goals for this bootcamp:
- Test this approach within The Council, see if members respond to a single-focus sprint.
- Attract new people to The Council. People who weren’t members could join the bootcamp for a fee, while for Council members, it was included in their yearly subscription.
I met one of these goals — the one that matters (but failure still stings).
Bootcamp results
This part blew my mind. I knew that putting smart, driven people together in a room, and motivating them can do wonders. But I never expected these transformations.
Let me show you a few of them.
Ricardo Brito got extra clear on his positioning — firmly against the Bali bros who sell you the laptop lifestyle dream. And he built this hilarious landing page:
Katelin Tiernan’s glow-up is simply insane! She bragged about it on Instagram, where I grabbed this screenshot from:
And here’s the final version of her landing page:
See how crystal-clear her positioning is? Katelin instantly understood why a newsletter needs to have both a BIG idea behind it and a Job-To-Be-Done.
Stacy Eleczko’s lead magnet has an insane conversion rate:
Bryan Yates has a very bold positioning, the perfect way to tell you what’s in it for you if you subscribe — or make you hate it instantly, which is also a win.
Then there’s all this anonymous feedback that tells me everyone made progress, often in ways they didn’t expect.
I could go on and on but you get the gist.
The main goal of this bootcamp was attained. And then some.
I’m so f*cking proud of all the smart people in The Council and the hard work they put in. Even where progress is not shown in screenshots, everyone had movement.
Bootcampers loved it. Here’s what they said
I grabbed this screenshot during one of our live events, mid-bootcamp.
And there’s more:
I’m showing you not to sell you anything (registration is closed) but to show you what’s possible with the right container.
Now, here’s what things looked like from a business perspective:
Bootcamp business goals and results (the facepalm moment)
My goal was to welcome 20 bootcampers (new people, not Council members) for this bootcamp and then have 40% (8) of them join us as full Council members.
I got 9 people:
- 2 people joined directly as full Council members, but it was because they wanted in on the bootcamp.
- 7 people joined as bootcampers.
- Out of those 7 people, 4 have already upgraded to full Council members, one of them said no, citing budget constraints, and two are still deciding.
I was never this wrong about the numbers.
The bootcamp-to-full-member conversion rate is 50%+ higher than anticipated (66% instead of 40%), and it could still grow.
This tells me that the bootcamp went great, and people see the value in joining for a full year. I’m VERY proud of this!
What I’m not proud of is attracting only 9 bootcampers instead of 20.
Here’s where I f*cked up
I have this launch playbook that I lightly adapt to everything I do. It usually lands me close to my estimates because it involves a lot of personalization and enough touchpoints to convey the value of what I’m selling.
This time, though, I got cocky and I made a rookie mistake.
I trusted the format would do most of the heavy lifting. A hands-on bootcamp is VERY different from the cohort programs you usually see, and I KNOW people want this format rather than course-like canned advice.
So I dropped the ball.
I mentioned the bootcamp in a few newsletters and a couple of LinkedIn posts. I also sent separate emails to people who showed interest in it. I never emailed the full list about it and I didn’t do any outreach to people who didn’t raise their hand one way or another.
Overall, I had fewer than 10 touchpoints spread across two audiences (email and social media). Way too little and it showed.
I made the classic mistake of letting the product speak for itself, even knowing that people didn’t know the product yet.
There’s a lesson for you here
“Smart people learn from the mistakes of others” is one of my favorite sayings. This is your chance to be smarter than me.
Plan your launch properly and always add more touchpoints than you think are necessary.
Also, don’t be in such a big hurry. I was juggling regular Council work, planning the bootcamp curriculum, launching, replying to emails/DMs, plus my usual client work.
It was way too much in way too little time.
If you have something to launch, plan your emails and content in advance and, ideally, reduce your client workload for the duration of the launch. If you value your sanity, of course.
Would I do it again, though?
This one’s easy. I’d 100% do it again.
While I didn’t meet my business goals, the feedback was infinitely better than I had expected. Business-wise, I can use this feedback to tell the story of The Council and why people should join much better.
However, I’ll be doing a proper launch for our next bootcamp.
🔦 Community Spotlight
Josh Spector writes For the Interested, one of the world’s shortest newsletters. Yet, I always find at least one interesting or novel idea. I’ve been subscribed for years now and it’s still one of my favorite reads. Check it out (and get a free session skill as a sign-up bonus).
The Council Bulletin
As Council members and bootcampers put the finishing touches on the homework, I’m already thinking about the next bootcamp. Topic TBD.
In the meantime, we had a great member-led session this week. Lee Densmer taught us how to write, publish, and sell a book. She did all of this in 5 months, so she was the perfect person to teach it.
More about The Council and how to join us here.
