Ever wonder how a niche audience and the right bonus strategy can put you in the Top 3 of a $5.7 million affiliate launch? Today, I’m bringing back a return guest to show you exactly how she did it. She used prep courses, long-term funnels, and collaborated with other affiliates to absolutely rock this promo and earn nearly $100,000 in affiliate commissions. Listen up to find out how!
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Previous Episodes of The Affiliate Guy
$5.7 Million Affiliate Launch Secrets: How Instagram Fueled a Top 10 Finish
$5.7 Million Affiliate Launch Secrets: How Justin Demers & Sara Temte Climbed to Second Place
$5.7 Million Affiliate Launch Secrets: How a Beginner Earned $18K on Their First Promo
$5.7 Million Affiliate Launch Secrets: How to Create Irresistible Opt-in Offers
$5.7 Million Affiliate Launch Secrets The Affiliate Playbook Part Two
$5.7 Million Affiliate Launch Secrets: The Prep Course & Bonus Strategy That Put Heidi Easley in the Top 3
Matt McWilliams: You ever wonder how a niche audience and the right bonus strategy can put you in the top three of uh, a $5.7 million affiliate launch? Well, today I’m bringing back a return guest to show you exactly how she did it. She used prep courses and long term funnels and collaborated with some other affiliates to absolutely rock this promo and earn nearly $100,000 in affiliate commissions. So listen up to find out how she did it.
Let’s get started. Well, welcome back to the final episode in this seven part series on our 5.7 million dollar affiliate launch breakdown. Uh, if you’ve made it this far, thank you. First of all, thank you. Uh, you should thank yourself because, uh, you’ve learned a ton, I’m sure. Uh, we have covered a ton in this series. We talked about the strategy behind the launch itself. We talked about list building tactics. We uh, talked through what’s working now for affiliates with small audiences and large audiences, uh, Instagram focused strategies, paid workshops, joint promos, you name it, we have covered it all.
Everything that was working in this massive launch, we have covered it all. And today I’m wrapping things up with someone who absolutely crushed it. Uh, Heidi Easley is not new to affiliate promotions, but she is proof that you can take everything you learn from one launch, refine it and come back even stronger the next time. Uh, the launch before this one, she barely cracked the top ten. Uh, that’s great. But it was still not where she wanted to be this year.
She came back and finished top three in the entire launch and didn’t miss out on winning by very much. As you’ll, as you’ll hear in this and in this interview, she’s walking us through exactly how she did it and what I love most about Heidi’s approach. It’s not about gimmicks, it’s not about hacks. Uh, it’s really about like you’re going to learn some cool new stuff. But it’s really about how she executed the basics and that’s an important lesson.
How she knows her audience really, really well and she served them really, really well. She created bonuses that actually filled a gap for them. This is one of the biggest lessons you can possibly learn is how to use bonuses properly. Some people just, oh, uh, just create some bonuses. No, you create bonuses that fill a gap for your audience.
She talks about using a prep course to get her audience ready for the promo and how she thought through her long term funnel strategy, how she partnered with other affiliates in a way that didn’t actually. It didn’t comp. Actually complementing each other. And I think that’s really powerful lesson. So whether you’re an affiliate manager, you’re trying to help your affiliates, um, make more sales, or you’re an affiliate yourself looking for some really smart. This is thing, like, everything is actionable in this. So if you’re looking for actionable ideas you can take for your next promo, either one of those, you’re going to want to listen closely to this one. So let’s jump right into my interview with Heidi Easley. Heidi, thanks so much for being with us today.
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Heidi Easley: You’re so welcome. Thanks for having me back.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah. Uh, super cool. And like, we had you on literally almost a year ago talking about the same promotion, but I think you finished. Was it ninth place or tenth place last year?
Heidi Easley: So tenth place.
Matt McWilliams: Last year, tenth place, which was, like, really awesome. And I was like, that’s amazing. And you were like, yeah, it was super awesome. And then this year, I mean, like, holy crap.
Heidi Easley: M. I’m still mad about this year.
Matt McWilliams: We’re going to talk about it, though. We’re going to talk about it because to give you guys kind of the very quick background, um, you know, Heidi promoted, uh, Stu McLaren’s tribe, uh, course this year and finished in third place, which is amazing enough. But she was in first place for, like, the whole thing just about up until the very end. And when I say third place, it was not like a third place. A lot of times third place is like, you know, the leader of third through tenth place. Right.
Uh, it’s so far from first and sometimes even so far from second. There’s not really like a real third place. No. Like, the top three spots in this launch were close enough that we didn’t announce the winner for almost 24 hours after the launch ended. Because it was so close. We had to, like, go in and do the audits and all that to see. So it was like. Oh, it was like, it was so close. Um, close enough that, like, based on the prize money, the average sale that first place made over third place was worth, like an additional 3,000, $4,000 a sale. Um, because first place is $100,000 so you’re rabbin.
Heidi Easley: Salt in the wood. Okay.
Matt McWilliams: What I meant was first place won by a lot, and Heidi never really had a chance. Uh, so don’t feel bad. Three were just like, um. It was so stinking close.
Heidi Easley: So close. I know. I told my husband, I said, you know, I don’t feel like it was a failure. It was more like defeat. It was that feeling of defeat. And I. And I even told Stu. I was like, please don’t take my. The way I’m feeling about this as ungrateful, because that is not what I wanted to get across. But I get so, so competitive, and I get very excited about a leaderboard. I don’t know why, but I do. And so when I was, you know, on, um, the first place for so long, and then knowing just by. Just by a few, like, I was this close, and it was, you know, I told my husband, I was like, it was for the glory. Like, I wanted the glory of having that place.
Matt McWilliams: It’s an intense feeling. Like, I mean, we’ve been there before. Where, um, you know, we were up there, like, right. Right up at the top. I mean, the first one I ever won, man, is like, five years ago. Um, smaller launch. You know, I think we did. I think it was probably like a, you know, half million dollar launch versus this one, you know, being north of $5 million. But I remember that last day. I remember staying up, like, until the cart closed.
I was up until three in the morning, like, Eastern. Like, is there anything I can be doing to move sales right now? Because I think at the. I think at that time, it was like, $10,000 was the first prize, and, like, you know, 3,000 was second. And I’m like, 7,000 bucks is a lot of money to me at this time. Like, I’m gonna. I did everything I could. And we were, like, tweeting people, we were responding to emails. Um, you know, small team. At the times, it was all me. Like, I did everything I could.
And then we won. And I’m like, yeah, you know, it was so fun. Um, so, yeah, I mean, we just. You did an amazing job. Just for the record, uh, make that very clear. Um, and we’re gonna talk about what you did. So let’s talk a little bit. Just quick background. If anybody wants, like, Heidi’s background. We do talk a little bit about this in, um, literally a year ago, guys. So, uh, we’ll link to that below. You guys can watch that previous interview below and learn how she finished in 10th place last year and learn a Little bit more about her. But let’s just dive into this promotion. So the price point was, was $2,000. Uh, the commission amount was basically $800. A 40% commission. When I say 2000 is $1997. Um, how many affiliate promotions have you done? I mean, I know you did try at least once. Um, how many other affiliate promotions have you done over say the past five years?
Heidi Easley: I would guess maybe 10 total.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah, maybe 10.
Heidi Easley: And it’s usually that like I have just a few people that I just frequently, you know, promote once or twice a year. So, you know, I don’t have, um, I don’t know. And I’m very, very selective of who I choose to affiliate with because I, you know, I want to make sure whoever I bring to my audience is something that they really need. So I’m very, very selective. So I’d say maybe at the most 10 over the past five years.
Matt McWilliams: Wow. So, you know, two a year. So enough practice. But still you’re, you’re still kind of getting your sea legs a little bit with what this is and to do what you do was awesome. So tell us real quick, I know we talked in the last time we talked about who your audience is, but give us just a very quick overview of um, you know, both like from an, from a what you do standpoint in terms of your audience and what they come to you for, but maybe a little bit of demographic, you know, info on them and who they are.
Heidi Easley: So I teach people how to make money teaching paint parties online, in person and with art kits. My demographic is really crafters, creators, artists. And um, a lot of them are doing this as a side gig. Like, you know, they have their full time job and then they’re doing this because they’re passionate about it, but it’s also bringing them extra money. And then other people are just retired and they just want like this next act and they’re doing something fun for retiring. So that’s who I serve. So it was really cool because, you know, I have this group of business minded entrepreneurs that want to make, you know, um, and they want to help people in the art space and so they follow me and then they start learning more about what I’m doing and they’re like, wait, can you teach us some of that? Like, I want to learn more. And so it really just became a natural fit whenever, um, I promoted tribe.
Matt McWilliams: Okay, and so how do you take. I know you said it’s a natural fit, but I think there’s still, there’s got to be Some strategy here.
Heidi Easley: Yes.
Matt McWilliams: You take people who want to learn how to do paint parties. I mean, I’m going to assume that’s what, 99.99999% female. Um, you have, like, you know, all the men by name. There’s two of them, right?
Heidi Easley: Yeah, we have like six. We have six men now. I think we have 2,400 members, and about six of them are guys.
Matt McWilliams: Um, and so you take this audience that comes to you about, you know, how to do paint parties, and then, you know, Tribe guys, as you probably know from past insider profiles, is all about creating a membership site, creating recurring revenue. It definitely falls under the bucket of what I would call Internet marketing products or online marketing products. Online business. How do you take that audience to being interested in this product?
Heidi Easley: So, great question. So the first time I promoted Tribe was really out of just people asking, and I said, oh, that’s a great commission. I’ll send my link. And I remember selling 19 of them and thinking, oh, crap. Like, that’s a lot of money. Like, that’s really great.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah, just about.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, yeah. And I bought this huge, you know, computer that I’m looking at you right now through. Like, I spent all this money on this really nice computer and just really cool. But what happened was I saw these 19 creatives and, um, that were paint party people that were just floundering.
So I had already had the background of email marketing. You know, I spent my entire first year of learning online business on how to build email lists. So I love that kind of stuff. And so I saw, you know, these 19 people join tribe and they didn’t even understand, like, what a funnel meant, what email marketing. They didn’t even know the base glossary terms of online marketing. And so it. It broke my heart because it’s like I sent people, you know, who I trust with, you know, with everything. I sent them to Stu. But then I felt like I let them down because I felt like there was this kind of gap. And so, um, the next year, you know, we. I basically, I was terrified, but I knew I had to do it. I was so scared that. Okay, do you know how sometimes, like, when you’re scared of doing something or you’re scared of launching something because you think it’s going to fail, that you, like, start doing random crap around the house just so you don’t.
Matt McWilliams: You can tell. You can tell when I’m procrastinating, my office will be spotless. Oh, man. If you.
Heidi Easley: If.
Matt McWilliams: Here’s what you can watch. If you ever Watch. So this is how the studio set up now.
Heidi Easley: Mhm.
Matt McWilliams: If this thing here is over here in three weeks and there’s new decorations and new books and new artwork up there and this and everything, it’s. You will know that at some point in the previous few days, I had a big project do that I didn’t want to do. And instead I’m remodeling the studio.
Heidi Easley: Yes, yes. So, okay, so I was like taking curtains down off of my windows and washing curtains. Like, who washes curtains? Like, I am not like a homemaker type personality and I’m watching wash curtains. I didn’t know either. And so like I’m washing, I’m doing everything. And so I was like, you know what? And I was sick at my stomach because I knew I had to launch this course. And my course is called Paint Party Outer Limits.
And basically what I did was I said, you know what, I am terrified to do this, but I know there is a gap. I know that these Paint Party people need to know the basis of this stuff. So when I promote Tribe again, which I will do, they will be ready for it. And so I talked to Stu about it and I even had, you know, Stu’s a guest in my course. Like, I wanted to make sure, you know, everything was okay. Cause I was teaching them how to start building your audience. All of these things that I knew they needed to prep for that. I have spent, you know, tens of thousands of dollars and multiple years learning. And so when I launched it, I kind of gave myself an out. I said, you know what, if just 10 people will sign up for this, I’ll feel like that’s a success. And so I launched it and a hundred people signed up for it. And I was like, okay, note to self, like, they really want this. And so then we launched Tribe again and I ended up top 10, which blew me away. And so then I was like, you know what?
Matt McWilliams: Top 10 had to have been 60 sales. 50 to 60 sales, at least.
Heidi Easley: 75.
Matt McWilliams: 75, yeah. Wow.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, 75 sales, which, you know, was amazing.
Matt McWilliams: Most of those probably came out of that hundred, didn’t they?
Heidi Easley: Yes, yes. So basically, basically I created a funnel that not only helps me, but it helps my customers.
Matt McWilliams: So price point on that prep course.
Heidi Easley: So it was 397 if you were a member, and then it was, um, 597 if you weren’t a member. Which this year we’re going to raise it because we totally overhauled everything. We have it so much better because, you know, like, whenever you Launch a course or something. At first you kind of, or trying to do what you think you need to do. And then this past year we like, I mean we just, we nailed it. It was so awesome. And people were like, oh my gosh, I would have paid so much more for this.
Like, I don’t want to say that but this is so good. And we really did do a good job like of what they needed. And so um, so what we ended up doing now is this past December we did the pre launch for it. We had 27079 people sign up for Paint Party Outer Limits. So it went from me hoping 10 would sign up to 100 signing up to 279 signing up. And so now and again Stu was a, ah, he was a guest in that course and we talked openly about funnels, about membership, about you know, this is the next step if you want this.
And that’s what led to um, the affiliate I think being so good and tried this year is because we have been prepping all year for it. So now the cycle starts again. So right now, even in my membership, you know, some people are like, well, I want to know about memberships or I want to know about, you know, email marketing. I’m like, that is for Paint Party, Outer Limits and for Tribe. Those are things that come up once a year.
And so it’s basically like just notifying my audience, like, yeah, if you want to learn more from me, you know, you’re paying so much a month right now, that’s great and I’m very thankful for it and we over deliver. But to learn that higher level, you know, online marketing, that’s a different, different strategy, a different course, a different, a different path. So the ones that kind of know that will know, okay, I need to go this route with Heidi if I want to learn that. So it really was just a very, very strategic thing from the beginning. And um, I think that’s why I just, when I, when I hit, I mean my goal was top five. But then once I saw myself in first place, I was like, okay, now my goal is first place.
Matt McWilliams: I never knew it was just top five because from about the word go you were like, where am I? Am I still in first? Am I still. Like there was no, like I just assumed you wanted to be first the whole time. I want to, I want to go back real quick and I want to come to where things are now with this, you know, the Outer Limits course. You mentioned something kind of interesting. You said, you know, that first year when you sold 19. You said, you know, people just, people were asking you. Mhm. And so you’re like, well, let me get a link. And I sold 19. What were they asking you?
Heidi Easley: So they want basically like what I’ve learned, and I’m sure you’ve learned this too, is anytime you start doing something and then you start doing it well, people want to know, so what happened with my Paint Party business? You know, I was doing that to make extra money on the side as a full time teacher.
And then all of a sudden I’m doing paint parties of 100, paint parties of 130. And all of a sudden, you know, I’m getting people asking me like, okay, Heidi, how are you doing this? And so it just, you know, brought me to the next step of, okay, well maybe I can teach some people how to do this. And again, you know, that brings you to the next step.
And so when I had Paint Party Headquarters, which I still do, um, it’s three years old now and we have over 2,400 members. Um, it was one of those things where, oh, sorry, the Creative Club’s calling. We have our group chat. Um, so it was one of those things where, um, where, you know, people started asking, okay, how are you doing this?
How are you making Paint Party headquarters happen? How are you making a membership happen? Because, you know, I was teaching people how to do stuff, you know, paint parties in person and online. And so then that started to become a question. And those questions are way more involved in than what they were paying me for Paint Party Headquarters.
You know, like, of course I’m spending lots of money every single month learning from, you know, people who are way smarter than me, um, and then also studying myself. And so I was like, okay, how can I structure this? Because what I also noticed, Matt, was people were skipping over me to go to different people to learn from just because I wasn’t offering it. And that kind of made because I remember going, wait a minute, I can teach them way better because I’m doing exactly what they want to do. And I thought, and that’s why I was washing my curtains, because I was so scared, so scared of like offering it. Um, even though I have found in this many years of doing business now, the things that I am most scared of are usually the things that bring me the most, um, the most money. Which is kind of crazy.
Matt McWilliams: That m was, uh, I’m writing that one down. That was good. Um, so I’m kind of like, that is super awesome. And that’s a great lesson because it’s like, people are asking you, then there’s clearly a market for it. And what started out as 19 people, you know, fast forward two years. Uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but you were 160ish.
Heidi Easley: This year, I think we ended at 149.
Matt McWilliams: 149.
Heidi Easley: And my goal was 150.
Matt McWilliams: No way. Did you really? Okay.
Heidi Easley: I’m really good with, like, having numbers and being, like, so close to them.
Matt McWilliams: But. So, um, that’s part because I remember one year I had a goal in an affiliate promote Michael Hyatt’s promo. This is forever ago. My goal was $20,000, and I made $19,991. And I was just like, I know sucks. And the worst part about it was I had a friend of mine, uh, really good friend of mine, who I was texting with, you know, on the last day, and he’s like, hey, do you need me to go buy through you? I’m like, no. I mean, like, I’m m not gonna ask you to buy a course just to make me, you know, like, I think I joked, I was like, if you want to send me a hundred bucks, send me a hundred bucks. You know, like. And I told him. I was like, I should have said yes to you, but it would have cheapened it. It would have felt bad.
Heidi Easley: I know. That’s how I was. I was like, you know what? That was the number, you know. But it does have that feeling of, like. And then it becomes. And I know, like, people listen to this where it is about the money. Like, for many, many times, I mean, I’ve gone bankrupt. Like, I know what it feels like to have no money. And so I have that feeling of, like, you know, like, that, well, it’s still that many people, it’s still that much money. But then there’s something inside that, like, drives you competitively, where it’s not even about the money anymore. It’s about, like, that was my goal. That’s what I’ve set up for. That’s what I’ve been working for for a year. Um, and yes, the money is great. Yes. I am so excited and have so many plans for that many coming in to help my family. But it’s like, something about hitting those goals and those numbers that just make it, like, exciting.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah, I mean, it’s, uh, I mean, it’s just in that competitive nature, you know. I don’t know about you, but, like, I mean, I grew up, I was a college athlete and, you know, played professional golf for a while, so it’s like, my thing is, like. I mean, I remember there were times where I would win a tournament, but I, you know, I screwed something up in the last three holes, and I’m like, that’s what I was always focused on. Like, man, I should have finished two shots lower. It’s like, well, you won by six. Yeah, but I should have won by eight.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, well, I was not an athlete by any means. And so I was definitely like the B team volleyball players, sitting on the bench, laughing, being stupid. But something with business, it’s like, you know. You know, even if you know, those of you listening, if you aren’t, like, it’s different. Like, there’s something with business that. Where you can have this competitiveness. And I like to turn it into game, so I like to make it fun. And we, you know, even me and my family get in. You know, my daughter’s 14, and my husband. And, um, we’ll get in on it, and we’ll be like, so and so. Like, you know, we’ll say names of the people that are on the leaderboard, and we’ll like, oh, my gosh, we got to take them down. And it’s all in good fun, but, like, the whole family’s involved, and, you know, we’ll be eating dinner. Like, well, where’s so and so at? And we’re like, I know we gotta take him out. Like, something’s gotta happen.
Matt McWilliams: Feeling like you have a dartboard with the faces?
Heidi Easley: No, I don’t, but that is a good idea.
Matt McWilliams: Well, and in the spirit of this, like, I do want to share with everybody before people think that Heidi’s, like, you know, plotting to, like, take these people down. And if anybody. If anybody ahead of Heidi gets food poisoning, it wasn’t her fault. Like, when Sarah Williams won, uh, we’ll share. There’s a video hopefully I think we can get a hold of from Stu’s team. Uh, when. When I have it. Yeah, when Sarah won, um, you know, um, I’m trying to think when Summer on Stu’s team had messaged me about two days before CART closed and said, hey, if Heidi or Sarah wins, like, I live, like, an hour from both of them.
I want to. What do you think of, you know, taking, like, a large one of those, like, Publishers Clearinghouse checks and, like, doing a whole thing? I was like, that would be awesome. You know that you would do that. Yes, please. Like, I’m, um, signing you up for that. I had no idea you were going. So, guys, when Sarah won, like, this. Like, this super Tight competition, less than 10% separating the entire top three. And they wanted to beat each other so badly. And, you know, again, I’m not rubbing this in, but, like, we’re talking an $85,000 difference between first and third. Like, it’s a. I don’t know if people remember, like, realize that is more than the average American family brings in an entire year. Yeah, it’s a lot of money, super competitive. Then I see, like, I see summer. I’m expecting to see Summer. And there’s Heidi, like, going to congratulate Sarah and taking the, you know, the big check. And I just thought that was super cool.
Heidi Easley: Um, Sarah is one of my dear friends, and every day. So on Sunday, she’s like, I don’t know. Should I promote? And I’m like, yes, you should promote. Like, I talked her into being an affiliate. I was like, yes, you have.
Matt McWilliams: Thank you.
Heidi Easley: You’re welcome. I was like. I was like, you have the perfect audience. You know, I mean, I’m an affiliate. I actually pushed some of my people to her, so I’m like, actually, technically, you probably have some of my sales. Like, I was giving her a hard time. But, I mean, we were on the phone every day. That was actually who called earlier and, you know, just heard it. It was from that group. And so. And so we’re on the, you know, every day. We’re on the, you know, the phone every day, like, strategizing. Where are you at?
Where are you at? Okay, what can we do now? I mean, there was nothing. She held back or I held back to have a more competitive edge. Like, we were both, like, you know, wanting each other to win. And I think it. That’s when it made it so fun, because, like, for her, you know, in some sorts, it stresses her around. Like, no, it’s fun. Like, let’s have fun with this. Like, let’s just go for it. And so, yeah, so we had a she, you know, especially with me being in first place.
Um, the first several days, she was like, saying, hey, I’m going to show up at your house with a big check. And so once we heard. Once you and Stu made the announcement, I remember, um, you announced third place, and you said my name, and I typed the word, damn it. And I was like. I was like, immediately, um, Shanna saw it, and she knew, like, I didn’t mean it in a mean way. She knew that I was just. I was so close. I wanted second. And, um, so I went on a walk with my husband right after, and I was like, I’m not. Like, I don’t. I’m not. It’s not failure, it’s defeat.
Matt McWilliams: And.
Heidi Easley: And we were talking about the feeling of it, and I was like, hey, I said, we’ve got to show up at Sarah’s house. Like, we have to bring a big check. We have to. Because she had been talking about doing it for me. And I was like, we got to show up. Like, let’s drive two hours. Let’s go surprise her. And then the next day, Summer had contacted me and said, hey, do you want to do this thing with me? I was like, yes, we’re already planning it. Like, yes, let’s do it. And so. So, yeah, um, it’s all in good fun. So it’s all in good fun and just, I don’t know. I love it. There’s something about it. Even though I wasn’t competitive in sports, there’s something about business when I know it’s a right fit for my customer, it’s different. If this is something that, like, I’m trying to sell my customer that I know they don’t need. Um, but when it’s something that I know they need and they want, like, I am like, game on. Let’s do it.
Matt McWilliams: That is so cool. I have so many questions for you now. Um, it’s, you know, just guys. I’ll let you know, insiders. Uh, we’ll be. We’ll be talking to Sarah, uh, to give you kind of the background on that. She had nine sales last year, and this year had more than 160 and won the $100,000 first prize. Like, that’s. That’s what’s possible when you go all in. Like Sarah and Heidi both did. Um, I want to talk about the prep course for just a moment, because I think this is a really cool concept, something that we’ve been teaching for, uh, forever.
You know, like, you find. You kind of find that part of your audience that, first of all, they’re willing to invest, you know, a little bit more. Uh, but secondly, like, they. They end up being the people who are one step ahead of everyone else, so they’re more prepared for the thing that you’re offering as an affiliate. Um, and so I want to, like, talk about, first of all, when is that prep course, because it gives people’s perspective. You start pushing people into the tribe launch in late March. We’ll just say April 1st, just. Even though I know you started in late March, but, you know, that’s kind of the prime time is from April 1st through the first week of May. Um, so what does that look like in terms of the prep course? When does that happen?
Heidi Easley: So right now, I mean if it comes up naturally or during a training, I say that’s for Paint Party Outer Limits. So I’m already seeding the fact that I offer a course once a year. December 1st is when I officially open it to Paint Party Headquarters for pre buys. So the course does not start until February 1st. Um, but what I like to do is give people an option to do a payment plan. So what I’ve decided is I do a webinar like the beginning of December for Paint Party Headquarters, which is all the people that are in my membership and I give them a huge discount. So this year it will go up.
So it’ll be um, instead of 397, it’ll be 497. But they have three months to pay it. So we do a three month payment plan. So before they ever start the course, like they’re on their third payment and now we’re starting the course so it’s paid, you know, they’re done and paid for. Um, and then January 1st, so they all get that discount if they’re in Paint Party headquarters. And then January 1st is when I launch it to the public. So I do like a big launch to the public. And I was really surprised. This year we had a lot of um, just new people that were paying the 597, um, and to do the course. So that will go up to 697 this year. But the coolest part was pretty much by the time everybody starts February 1st, they’ve already done two, possibly their three payments. And then, um, and then what I do is I just hold it all. Like I don’t spend a dime until the course because it’s a, it’s a 10 week course. So all of February, all of March, and then it basically just butts up to. That’s when tribe starts.
Matt McWilliams: That was the next question. Yeah, I mean that 10 weeks starting February 1st would be about April 10th, 11th, 12th somewhere and there would be the end of it. I mean, 10 days later, tribe workshop started.
Heidi Easley: Well, and a lot of people have been asking for like a mastermind level or for me to help them more. And when I did the survey, um, last year, and this may be something I want to do in the future, but right now I don’t want to do it. Um, and I’m like, if you want more time with me, you sign up for tribe and then I give them another 10 weeks of study group where I Go live once a week and answer their questions. So it was almost like a way where I can still bring in, you know, a really great income for my family, but I’m not having to push myself in every direction because it. It can be overwhelming because once you start seeing opportunities, opportunities show up everywhere. And so once you train yourself to see those, it’s like, oh, well, I could do this, I could do this, but that’s going to be an energy sack or time suck. Whenever I can just focus on, okay, paint party headquarters to outer limits to tribe, and then just have that very clean m, you know, funnel that helps my members.
Matt McWilliams: That is so cool. You see, earlier, and you said this a couple of times because you got a call and you mentioned the creative club. And I know a little bit about the creative Club from a few years ago, I think with stuff. But I know this is a little bit off topic, but I’m kind of curious. Tell us what that is real quick, if you don’t mind.
Heidi Easley: Um, oh, not at all.
Matt McWilliams: Because I think there’s some lessons in there that people would get some value out of. So what is, uh, this Creative Club?
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Heidi Easley: Okay, so, uh, when we first took tribe, this will be, uh, my fourth year going through it, there were several of us that kind of just got put in a Facebook group that were all artists. Well, it kind of dwindled. You know, some people would interact, some people wouldn’t.
And so there’s basically nine of us girls in there that have all gone through tribe at the same time, have all grown our businesses pretty similar, like, as far as, like, revenue and growth. It’s almost like. It’s almost like we push each other.
So if I see oh, so and so’s got 2,000 members now, well, I need to get to, like, it kind of like makes us want to, like, do better, but in another way. Like, we meet at least twice a year and we go rent a beach house. And we actually already have our August one scheduled and we usually do four or five nights and we do, um, one morning as a mastermind where we actually, like, go through, you know, the problems we have. And because we’re all at the same level, it’s not like this complaining type atmosphere where a lot of times when you’re just getting started, it’s like, well, I don’t know where to. You know, you just find that out and really you’re just needing help tweaking. But what the coolest part has been is I think just that, um, like, like I said, they were calling just A second ago. But we’re on a constant Facebook chat at all times. Like, I talk to them more than I talk to my family because we’re constantly on a. On a chat. Like, what’s going on? Here’s this. Check out this.
Matt McWilliams: What?
Heidi Easley: You know, and it’s. It’s not all business related. It’s personal, it’s fun. It’s, you know, check this out. Oh, my gosh. This is the TikTok when we’re 70 and we’re going to the beach and it’s two old ladies, you know, who’s going to be those two, you know, and we’re like, you know, naming each other out. Like, it’s a bunch of, like, different stuff. But it’s so cool because we’re all, um, we’re all cheering each other on and then we’re all helping each other. So, like, Tamara is one of them.
For example. She just messaged me the other day and she’s like, oh, my gosh, I had a cancellation. Can you jump in and fill in this spot for a guest, Guest artist? And I’m like, yes, no problem. What do you need? Tell me when, where, how to do it, and then it’s done. It’s. No, it’s like we, it didn’t just happen and we didn’t, like, all of a sudden just have this trust for each other. It took, you know, a good year of, like communicating online and then meeting each other and then knowing like, oh my gosh, we have so much in common that our families are sick and tired of us talking about Stew or Tribe or whatever it is that we can come to each other and, you know, what do I need to do with this? Where, where do I need to be with this funnel? Why is this not converting? And, um, even, um, during my launch. So I went from Stu’s launch straight into my three year anniversary launch, which I’ve changed the dates for next year because it was too intense because I had gone. So, like, I went. You saw me.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah, you were. I mean, those were full work days, like, for Tribe. Yeah.
Heidi Easley: Yes. And in the background, we were prepping for my launch too. And so it was, it was a lot. And we, we still, we didn’t hit our goal, but we still welcome like 520 new members into Paint Party headquarters on the back of another launch. But, but what I have to say about that is like, you know how, like, when you do a launch, the first two days, you can kind of tell where it’s going? You can tell based on those numbers.
Matt McWilliams: What.
Heidi Easley: What it’s going to be. And, um, and I had messaged the Creative Club girls, and I said, y’. All, I was like, this is killing me. I was like, I am nowhere near my goal. What am I going to do? Like, and they know I’m very, very goals driven. And, um. And they’re like, you know what? You know, what do I need to do? And, um. And they’re like, oh, my gosh. I just went and watched your live. You need to do this. You need to talk. I mean, immediate, immediate response.
And then I was able to tweak. And those last two days were so much better. And one last thing I want to say about the question, Creative Girls, because this is really telling. So you and Stu were still live, and you were still. You were still talking, and you had just announced, you know, the winners or whatever. And oh, my gosh, within two minutes, they started a group call, and it wasn’t about Sarah. Congratulations. You won.
It was like, heidi, are you okay? I mean, it’s like. It’s like, that’s how we are. You know, like, just like, I drove to Wichita to go tell her congratulations and celebrate her. It’s almost like they knew, like, that was. That was killing me because I wanted it so bad. And so I’m like, no, no, Sarah, this is about you. You won. Like, congrats. And they’re all like, but we know, Heidi. Like, we know what you are feeling right now, and we just want to be here and, like, know that you did everything you could. And I think that is the power of, like, when you’re doing this entrepreneurship thing, whether you’re doing affiliates, whether you’re building your business, like, find a group. I mean, I never thought in my 40s I would find eight other girls that I could call at a moment’s notice and talk business with. So that in itself is worth more than any money I’ve made over the past few years. It’s been pretty incredible.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah, that is super powerful. And that’s why I knew where you were going with that, and I wanted you to share that because I think, um, you know, all of our members and all of our. Really everyone you know in this journey. I know it’s cliche, but you really can’t. You can’t. You can do it alone, but it’s just not. It’s just harder.
Heidi Easley: It’s not fun anymore.
Matt McWilliams: I mean, it’s crazy. Like, you would probably agree. I know. Uh, I find this, like, I have a group, you know, that’s similar. We can Solve problems that I’ve been beating my head against the wall. Um, because my default, like, my default is to get very insular, you know, Insular. I don’t even know how to pronounce that word.
But, like, you know, it’s like, oh, I got to solve that problem. All I need to do is like, think. Like, think really hard for an hour and I’ll come up with a solution. And sometimes I do, and then sometimes I don’t. And I go to the mastermind and like, one thing, they’ll just say one thing. Like, what if you tried this? I’m like, oh, actually, no, I’m gonna just do. Nope, you gave me the idea.
Boom, we’re good. And it’s like, yeah, why don’t I just do that from the get go? You know? And that is that power of community. So, guys, if you’re. If you’re interested, we’re gonna put a link below to our mastermind. One thing you said in there that’s super important is you guys started at the same point. You were in very similar starting places, and you’ve each grown. So even four, three, four years later, you’re still pretty much roughly at the same level.
It’s really important to get around people who are at that same level because you’re around people who are way too advanced, they have different problems than you. If you’re around people who are way below, they have different problems than you. Like, if you’re in a million dollar business and people are asking, like, how do I set up my email list? That’s the wrong question to ask. Yeah, same thing. If you’re in a.
You’re in a thousand dollar a month business starting out, and people are talking about hiring their 43rd employee. It’s like, I don’t know what to tell you, you know? So, uh, we’ll put a link below, guys, where you can sign up for our mastermind. Um, and, um, you know, and get into that because it’s all beginners. So if you’re more advanced, uh, don’t click the link, don’t sign up. So I wanted. I want to talk real quick. Um, one of the things that you did that I thought was super awesome when we ran the very early. We called it the way too early to mean anything leaderboard. Um, I mean, unlike April 1, now the workshop, guys, doesn’t start till April 22. So we’re not even talking, like, the promotion starts for another two weeks. Really, you are already thousands of leads. So your Runway was like a month prior to the workshop. Um, I mean, I’m curious. Is that something that you think worked? Would you change? Would you change that? Would you start later, sooner next time? How would that go?
Heidi Easley: So the Runway was actually earlier than that because it was an outer limit. Like, we had. Yeah, we had Stu as a guest for 200 and something people inside Outer Limits, um, while that was going on, way before his stuff started. So, um. And yes, I would definitely do that again because I won that. You know, how y’ all do those different contests. And, um, because I won the contest, basically, I won enough money to pay for all my ad spend for the entire tribe launch. So at the beginning, I was like, oh, my gosh. You know, um, because I had spent, like, 15,900 for the tribe launch, for my ads, and I had won 15,000 by Tuesday. I was like, ads covered.
Matt McWilliams: So people know. I mean, you won $2,500 for most workshop leads, $2,500 for most webinar leads, and $10,000 for most overall, um, m leads. So, I mean, that’s that power of. It’s really hard to do that unless you have, you know, hundreds of thousands of people meet like, a half a million people on your list. It’s really hard to do what you did in five days. You can only do what you did if you have a few weeks, which was really, really cool.
Heidi Easley: Um, yeah, And I just went by Stu. He always talks about the long Runway. And, you know, and that’s what I kept thinking in my head, like, okay, if they’ve heard about him, they know they want to go this route. You know, I already had people. That’s the thing, too, that was really, um, curious. Was a lot of people that wanted to take it last year that couldn’t.
They immediately signed up like they were ready. And so I wanted to be that link for them because, you know, I knew they were ready. So it’s just a matter of, you know, when they’re gonna hit that link. You know, they’re gonna. As soon as they see it, they’re gonna sign up because they’re ready. And so I had a lot of people this year that basically, you know, it’s like, promo is like, pre advertising for next year that are ready to take it next year. And I’m like, you have 365 days to get ready. You know, and I offer all this cool stuff that goes with it. So it’s okay. Just take it next year with me. And so, uh, I think that’s the cool part, is it starts to Compound. And then people know almost, they almost know the sales cycle, you know, as well.
Matt McWilliams: So yeah, you have a certain number of people. I mean, I don’t know how many of the 149 this year you had lined up, but let’s just say it was maybe 30. You know, you had 30 people who like, they were like, they knew last year they were going to buy tribe through you this year.
Heidi Easley: Yeah.
Matt McWilliams: And you made so 120. You had to bust it for 129. You had to really work hard for one, uh, hundred nineteen, whatever the math is on that. Math was never my specialty. Um, but next year you’ll have 60 who were like, they’re ready in June of this year, you know, July. Like, they’re ready 10 months in advance to join next year. They’re already like, some of these people, they’re saving up their money. M. You know, they’re, they’re, they’re getting domain names. Like they’re doing some of the pre work. Like they’re going to be ready to go on April 21, 2022. Mark your calendars, tell all your friends. Um, like they’re going to be ready. Right. And so you could maybe do the same number of work for it. Sales 119. And just make 30 extra sales. Mhm. Of course you’ll make more than 119.
Heidi Easley: Oh yeah, I’ve got, um.
Matt McWilliams: Oh, I know you are. Next year it’s like it’s 250 or bust.
Heidi Easley: It’s 250. I haven’t said my number officially, but it’s.
Matt McWilliams: I think it’s 250.
Heidi Easley: I like that number.
Matt McWilliams: And here’s the thing, I just want to point out one other thing is like a lot of people think, oh, with the early Runway. Yes. You know, sure, she won the early contest. And maybe the overall, you still won the webinar leads contest, which is pretty freaking amazing because like, this happened. Just to give you, uh, guys some perspective, the webinar registrations really didn’t start until, you know, after about the second, you know, day of the workshop. So the webinar registration period is like five to six days, maybe seven if you go a little long.
And you think, oh, m. People are probably tired of Heidi and Stu by now. No, I mean, they like you still. You won that thing as close up until about the last 36 hours. And you blew everyone out of the water. I feel like it was really, really close going into like the last two days. And it was like, I’m just watching. It’s like Heidi’s up by 100, 200, 300, 400. I mean, it’s like she’s lapping the field all of a sudden, the end. And that just shows, like, the early Runway didn’t stop that late push either. I mean, it just made it even better, I thought. So, um, last few questions here. Heidi, what would you say the number one thing. What was the number one thing you did that led to your success in this promo? Because it really was an amazing promotion. I’m curious if, uh, there’s probably a hundred things you could point to, but is there, like, one that stands out that you say, if, like, if I hadn’t have done that, this would have been a lot worse.
Heidi Easley: Yeah. So one of the things that you were telling me to do, that I was terrified to do. And the reason I did it is because I was terrified. And I knew. I knew if I. You know, like I said earlier, like, when I’m scared of something, I wash curtains, you know? So, like, I was like, okay. So I remember messaging you and being like, okay, you’re talking about doing this, this private group. And I was terrified. I didn’t want to do it. I don’t know why I was so resistant to it, because last year I was basically, like, sharing all of Sue’s stuff into my membership, which caused a ton of confusion.
People who were, you know, not wanting to do it were starting to feel pressured, um, and they were just wanting to learn how to do the paint party. And here I am, like, blasting, you know, membership, Do a membership, do this, you know, all of this. And so finally, after, like, about two weeks of battling it and just being like, dang it, I don’t want to do it. Like, I don’t want to do it, but I feel like I need to do it. Um, I started this group called Artists who Want to Create a Membership Site. And I remember asking you, I was like, how can I do this where it’s very. Just done right? Like, I don’t want to be tied to it.
And you said something like, well, just do like a 10 day or a 20 day. And I literally named it, um, and 20 day, I named it artists creating membership sites. 20 day pop up group. And within a couple of days, I had over a thousand people join that group. And I just advertised it to my paint party headquarters and my Texas Art and Soul page. And I said, hey, this isn’t for everybody, but if it’s for you, this is where we’re going to be talking about all, ah, things, memberships for 20 days. That’s it. You got 20 days. We’re going to talk about it. I’m going to, you know, if you’re a fit for Tribe, like, I was very open about my, um, I was never like that.
Like, oh, you’re going to get something for free. Oh, here, buy a $2,000 course. Like, I was very open with. He’s going to talk about a course he offers that has changed my life. Like, I was very open about that from the beginning. I never wanted anybody to feel like it was a bait and switch. Like, we’re getting you in this group, and now you’re going to, you know, hopefully we can psychologically sell you on this. No. Like, even in my course, when I had Stu as a guest and when I talk about, you know, tribe, I always, always openly say, this is a course he does once a year. It costs this. But, you know, it’s, you know, we. We think it costs this this year.
This is what it cost last year. And I always kind of over. I’ll say, I think it’s around 2,500, because in case he raises the prices, um, and so I’m very open about it. So they know it’s coming, and they either know they want to learn it or they don’t want to learn it, but they’re never going to come in thinking, oh, Heidi’s doing this free thing for me, and now she wants to. Like, I never want that feeling because I’ve done that before, and it. It bites me in the butt. Like, it’s. It’s bitten me in the butt a few times, and I’m like, I don’t want that feeling.
And I don’t want my artists who were very sensitive souls, like, we. We. We are hard on our sleep. And so I was like, I don’t want to do that to my audience. And I really value, um, how much they trust me. And I really, like. I really put a lot of effort into not just being, here’s something you have to buy because I’m going to make a commission off of it. Like, I tell them this. And so that group was really cool because, um, I could be very unapologetic about. This is what this is about Stu’s lives now. Here’s his sale, here’s his webinar, and I can immediately start, you know, pushing as much as I wanted in that 20 days. And I never felt bad about it because they knew they were coming in for that. So that was a really big tip. So thank you, Matt. I really appreciate that.
Matt McWilliams: That’s awesome. And I love, I love the name, you know, because like I know it’s what we, um, you asked me, I think it was in Facebook messenger, like, well, what do I name the group? And I’m like, let me give you the formula. It’s audience who wants to blank whatever they want to do.
You know. And I was, and I remember we did the training was like, um, I’m pulling up the example. Like bloggers who want to create recurring revenue. Artists who want to start a membership. Like you just say what it is. Gym owners who want to start an online platform. Stay at home moms who want to earn a side income. Like when you’re naming these groups, people are like, oh, I got to get like super creative. And like use the thoris.comm the source. Yeah, whatever. Um, hard word. Like I, I grew up in North Carolina and went to government run schools. Pronouncing words like that is difficult for me. Look it up and get like super. Like no, you just say the audience who wants to and then the result. That’s it. That’s the name of your Facebook group. You can change it later if you want to come up with something creative.
Heidi Easley: Well, and what I love about that is again you were saying exactly what you’re going to be talking about. So there’s no question. And I can unarchive this group next year. And now I’ve already have like this huge base of uh, potential customers who really wanted to, I mean a thousand something people didn’t sign up. So I know I already have, you know, almost 900 people that want to potentially sign up for next year.
Matt McWilliams: And I love it because when you start talking membership sites. Membership sites, they’re not confused because the top of the page it says artists who want to start a membership site. And like, uh, you know that the people that are coming there are at least on some level an ideal client. And in a way you kind of want your Facebook page or your Facebook group name to repel people.
Heidi Easley: Yes.
Matt McWilliams: I mean I want them to look at it and go, that’s not for me.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, I even have a picture of um, me and Stu. I was at a training, so it’s him teaching me something so that they can immediately relate. Oh wait, this is not only artists creating membership sites, 20 day pop up group. But this is Stu teaching Heidi. Like to relate Stu to.
Matt McWilliams: Especially when your audience is, you know, almost 100% women and then suddenly you introduce a dude.
Heidi Easley: Yeah. They’re like, who’s this guy?
Matt McWilliams: Yeah. And there can And I know, I mean, you know, like 94% of his audience is female, but they don’t know that. You know, there’s still that like, wait, you know, it’s. You’re from tech, you’re a female from Texas, and he’s a dude from Canada. Like, could you get any more polar opposite, you know, demographically? Right. And so, yeah, creating those, um, like those connections and tying, you know, can like just those subtle things where it’s like, oh, yeah, that’s the guy that was on the whiteboard teaching Heidi. Oh yeah, he’s cool. You know, like. No, there’s no suspicion. So right here’s kind of. As we wrap up the last two questions, what would you do differently? I’m very curious. I. And I truly, I kind of felt like that your number one thing would be. Your number one thing. Uh, just I was narrowed it down to two things. Um, this one, I really don’t know what you would do differently. I’m curious to hear from you.
Heidi Easley: Oh, uh, my gosh, more sales.
Matt McWilliams: I know, but still.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, I definitely. Yeah, one more sale for sure. I should have just bought it myself. No, no, I would not have felt right. And um, I think I. For sure, which we have already tweaked and are ready for next year, that I moved my May launch, which I’ve always had because it’s kind of like anniversary, you know, it’s my third year anniversary. We just had our May launch. So, um, I moved my. I already have my plan, my marketing plan for 2022.
And so I moved my, um, my big spring launch to March. So that is the biggest thing because then that new influx of people is done. And I’m already in the middle of teaching Outer Limits, which, you know, I pre record. So that’s kind of already off my shoulders. And then I’m just, you know, helping people, um, and doing, you know, the Q and A and stuff like that. Um, but as far as like strategy, um, wise, I mean, we went, we went all in. So like, I think, you know, maybe I don’t know if I would open up the artists who want it, you know, the 20 day pop up group.
I think I would still keep that at 20 days. And um, I think I will still, you know, hopefully be learning some new tips from you, Matt, that will help me be able to do that, you know, even to hit those higher numbers. Um, I think I would maybe take a day or two. Like, I know this sounds cheesy, but I think I would just schedule out like time to go out to eat every day of the launch. Because I think what happened was I got very focused and then I just. I didn’t even. I just worked, worked, worked, worked, worked.
And it got. I kind of got a little. A little obsessed and so maybe like, you know, put it out all on the table just like I did. I would definitely still. And I will be going just as strong as I did last year, but, um, but maybe taking, like, some moments to just like, I mean, we had fun. Definitely. Like, I had so much fun with it. I will definitely add more of that in, like, the trash talk. Like, I love that. Like, I think that’s getting, um, my whole thing, get my teenage daughter to trash talk people on the leaderboard. Like, that is so fun to me. Um, in a competitive spirit. I hope y’ all can hear that. But I think just having like an hour a day to just go, okay, this is real life. Like, this is fun. This is intense for a few weeks, but we still have real life. You know, maybe that, but I don’t know. I don’t know. Like, I. Maybe I’m just still too close to it to know for sure.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah. And I think it’s important. Like, you know, it’s cliche, but self care and keeping up your energy for the end so that you can. You can be creative. Uh, here’s what I would say to that, I think, pre your launch, because, you know, your launch will be in March now, and you’ll need that decompression time between, of course. Um, so pre your lunch. I would do as much. You know, I would probably plan like a full strategy day.
You may even do this with your creative club, you know, and your team and do it to get, you know, just kind of like get away and do like a planning for this launch and outline even right down to like the email themes. And, you know, you might even like, have subject lines in mind and things like that. I would analyze what worked from this one and keep like, you know, let’s just say I’m just making up the numbers. You sent 10 emails, and seven of them had really good open rates and really good click rates.
Well, let’s just keep those. But let’s completely go back to the drawing board on the other three. Let’s everything about them. Let’s redo it, you know, and then I would. I would come up with my stories and my content. Like, I would have all that you mentioned earlier, like, all the content for the Facebook group. You had to, like, invent that this time, you know, and you’re coming up. Uh, sometimes you’re coming up with it, like, and posting it live, maybe, you know. Well, then next year, it’s like, we did this with one of the Facebook groups that we run for a challenge.
Oh. We preloaded everything. Um, like, these. These posts would go out, and I was like, oh, yeah, we scheduled that, like, four weeks ago. Like, nice. You know, and so you can schedule those things in advance. Right. And then, like you said that frees you up to, like, to execute the plan, to do the lives, to do all that. Like, you said, to be able to watch a movie, you know, and to go for a walk. And so if I know, for me, when we’re running these big launches, as you can imagine, it’s, you know, it’s 14 hours a day for about three straight weeks. It just feels like it’s go, go, go. But one of the things that we instituted this year was we, um. Basically. So Robby and I alternated, um, nights and weekend days. So I was off a full day every week of the launch.
Heidi Easley: Oh, good.
Matt McWilliams: And I was off, um, three or four nights of the week. So even if you. Even if. Just for the record, even if you got an email response from Matt McWilliams, it was Robby.
Heidi Easley: Yeah.
Matt McWilliams: Um, you know, like, I wasn’t working. And I just remember, like, I got to go to my kids soccer. Uh-huh. And it felt like. And I got to eat out and life was normal m. Half the time. And then the other half, it was complete and utter chaos and busyness and people messaging me, you know, and. And just what am I doing? Oh, that’s. Shoot, I forgot to send that email. Let me type. You know, that’s what it was only half the time as opposed to all the time. And so when it got to the end of the launch, like, you saw this, like, we did some really creative things, you know, during OpenCart. Most of that stuff actually came up on the fly because I actually had the mental bandwidth to be able to do those things. Whereas normally by about the third day of OpenCart, I’m like, I just want this launch to end.
Heidi Easley: Yeah.
Matt McWilliams: And so that’s important. If you plan out as much, advance and then, you know, and reuse as much as possible, identify where it’s at, and then, yes, take, you know, take the time for self care. Get the exercise. Like, that was like, I didn’t. I didn’t work out like an hour and 20 minutes. I was working out, like, 40 minutes, but it was 40 minutes, like, every day. Come Hell or high water. I was, you know, I was in the gym. Sometimes I’m like on the phone. I remember one day I was talking to, uh, um. Shoot. Who was it? I think it was Paul. And I was on the road. I’m like, dude, if you’re gonna talk to me right now, I’m on the rowing machine. He’s like, it took me like three minutes to explain something that normally takes five seconds because I was like, okay. What? You. Yeah, and so, yeah, that’s, that’s, uh, super important. I think that’ll keep you going through the end, which will help you finish strong.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, I think so too. I think just moving that launch, you know, ahead, it’s going to help a lot. And just taking a lot of the things I learned. And also the, the, um, tip you gave me at the end was so, so helpful that I’m like that I’m sorry email and that I’m sorry. And, um. Oh my gosh. I had people like messaging. They were just like, oh, my gosh, thank you so much for that. They were feeling so much pressure, you know.
Matt McWilliams: And this is. Which email was this? Because I. There’s two that I might have given you.
Heidi Easley: So this one was the. This was the last. Um, you said it was from this cupcake girl or Kara Andretta.
Matt McWilliams: The Carrie Andretta email. Yeah, yeah. So we name all of our emails. We name our emails after people are, um, you know, kind of like the theme of the email. So a lot of them, like we have a John Workman email, We have a Kara Andretta email. Uh, we have the screw you, Matt email.
Heidi Easley: What’s that one about?
Matt McWilliams: Oh, the subject line is screw you, Matt.
Heidi Easley: Um, what do you send them? Like, I think I’m seeing emails.
Matt McWilliams: It’s a re Engagement email that really works well. Uh, actually, I know we got a bunch of replies to it recently and it’s basically like, uh, hey, I noticed you haven’t opened any emails recently. Are you saying screw you, Matt, or what?
Heidi Easley: Oh, my gosh. My audience would not be okay with.
Matt McWilliams: That because they haven’t opened an email and you know, in like, in so many days. So it’s like I need them to open this to get reengaged, you know, So I get it. And like, we get a couple of anger emails, but it’s like, well, you haven’t opened an email in three months.
Heidi Easley: Yeah, we’re paying for you to be on that email list either.
Matt McWilliams: Get out. That’s why you’re getting this email. Uh, I’m cool if you Unsubscribe. But, yeah, so we have, like, the tough questions email. We had the midnight, you know, the midnight mover email. But, yeah, the Kara Andretta email. So that’s. That’s a good one. Um, tell it, like, tell us about how you use that real quick, and then we’ll. We’ll wrap up.
Heidi Easley: So basically, it was basically kind of giving them an out. So it was like, you know, I’m sorry, and it’s okay, or no, it was more like, it’s okay. And it was about, um, you know, it’s okay if you don’t do this. I’m still gonna love you if you don’t sign up for this. You know, course it. Maybe it’s not the right time for you. And so I did three different things with this basic script.
I sent an email and, you know, typed it up, and then I sent, um, a voice message, actually. I filmed it as, like, a video, and I, um, put it on YouTube. And then I sent it through my community app and said, I filmed a short video for you. Please watch. And so they immediately, from their text message, could see the, you know, it’s okay video. And then I also, um, ran it as I did a Facebook Live, or I took that same video. It was like a minute long. And then I ran it as a Facebook ad to all the people that I had been running ads to for the past few weeks, because I wanted them to see, you know, and I just put in the subject, it’s okay. And then that way, they wanted to watch it because they’re like, wait, why is it okay? What’s she doing different? You know? And so it really. I think it went a long way with, um. Again, I have an artist creative group that’s very sensitive, you know, and so talked about that.
Matt McWilliams: Yeah.
Heidi Easley: Yeah. When they’re getting hit a lot and they’re filling this. I mean, I literally, before I had sent that, I had gotten a message on my, um, text acts. I have about 3,000 people on my texting. And, um, one of the ladies was like, I am so sorry I let you and Stu down. And I’m like, you didn’t let us down. Like, I mean, they are taking it to heart. And I’m like, oh, my gosh. So then. So then I, um. So once I sent that, it was almost like the ones that couldn’t do it or weren’t ready for it, because a lot of people, you know, they.
Especially if you’re following somebody. And I know I do this too. Like, if I’m following somebody, and I just want to know what they know. Like, if they tell me to buy something, I’m just going buy it. Like, I usually don’t question it. And, you know, if it’s a 2000, our course, of course we got to have a little bit more of a talk about it. Sure. You know, but when you have somebody you respect and has always led you in the right direction, and then they’re telling you, buy this, buy this, buy this for, you know, well over a week. And, um, some of my members. And I’m so glad you had sent me that idea. It’s like they needed to know it was okay if they didn’t buy it, that I was still going to love them, that I was still going to show up for them. So that, um, really went a long way with my group. So I appreciate that.
Matt McWilliams: And I mean, admittedly, it works to sell, too, you know, because it’s, um. When you kind of do, you know, we want to turn the pressure because most people respond to that. But, like, to your point, you know, I, uh, literally read this article today, and it was talking about, um. I, uh, forget the exact context of it, but it was talking about how, you know, as we’re recording this, you know, the CDC has, like, completely reversed course in their messaging from fear to hope.
And the very simple reason they did that is psychologically fear. And there’s a reason they call it fomo. It is genuine fear of missing out. Fear works. Fear is a great form of marketing for a very short period of time. And what the CDC finally got and this. I remember talking to people about this back in, like, January. I was like, like, I’m not here to debate, like, the whole, like, wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, get a vaccine. Like, that’s not my thing. But you can’t hammer people with fear for an entire year and expect that to work. It’s psychologically proven not to work.
Heidi Easley: Yeah.
Matt McWilliams: And so they reverse course to this message of hope because the fear wasn’t working anymore and they had to do it. And the same is true with, like, there’s a deadline. There’s a deadline. There’s a deadline. There’s a deadline. You’re going to miss it for a year. For a year, For a year. Tribe only opens up once a year. Once a year. Once a year. And it’s like, oh, my gosh. People start to get. They get paralyzed.
Heidi Easley: Ah.
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Matt McWilliams: And then you come in with that message and they go. And then what happens is they take a big, deep breath and they look at things from a big picture and they go, okay, I think I’ll give this a try. Mhm. They buy. So it works from both ways actually gets people to buy. Um, wow, that was awesome. Okay, thank you for reminding me what email I told you to send.
Heidi Easley: Uh, I will have that in next year’s thing too because it really helps.
Matt McWilliams: See there’s another one. Like you don’t have to write that email, um, you know, this year, like or next year it’s like you’ve already got it, you know, and you can tweak it a little bit. But um, that’s awesome. So. Wow. Okay. I know we ran long guys, and Heidi, but thank you so much. This has been like a master class for our members on how to, uh, how to do affiliate promotion. So thank you so much.
Heidi Easley: You’re very welcome. I’m glad I could help. And next year I’m coming, I’m coming to win it.
Matt McWilliams: Talk about your win next year. How about that? So real quick as we wrap up where I know, I’m sure there’s somebody watching, this is like, I want to learn how to do paint parties or what the heck is a paint party? Like, or you know, I don’t know, like maybe they want to learn like how to. They just want to be around some artsy fartsy people.
Heidi Easley: We are the group.
Matt McWilliams: How can they do that?
Heidi Easley: So you can find me on Facebook, my, um, Instagram, as well as my website on Texas Art and Soul. So Texas Art and Soul. And then um, you do want to learn about email marketing, which I love. That’s my paint party Outer limits course once a year. And that happens, um, February 1st we started again.
Matt McWilliams: So yeah, check out, we’ll put links below. Make sure you guys check out Heidi. And Heidi, thank you again.
Heidi Easley: You’re welcome. You have a great day. Thanks for having me.
Matt McWilliams: So what a way to wrap up this series. You uh, can see why I saved this one for last. I hope you took away as much from that conversation with Heidi as I did. There are so many practical applications in her story there. You know, how she used that prep course, how she warmed up her audience, how she thought about those long term funnels strategically collaborating with other affiliates. Like seriously, if you are looking for a top, uh, you know, a top five playbook, you know, a playbook on how to go from maybe uh, just inside or just outside the top ten to top three or four, this is it. This is the playbook.
So this is our final episode. Like I said before, in this seven part series breaking down the $5.7 million affiliate launch. If you missed any of the other episodes, go back, binge them, listen to them again, whether you’re an affiliate, affiliate manager, I promise there is gold in every single one of them. We have covered everything from bonus strategies, cart, uh, close tactics, Instagram selling, joint promo partnerships.
We have covered basically almost everything you could possibly do to run or be a part of as an affiliate. You know, a $5 million plus affiliate launch. So go listen to all those episodes. Um, I mentioned in, you know, a couple of episodes, if you want the exact email that we send out on midnight, uh, on Cart close day, what we call our Midnight mover email. That’s a huge part of why this launch finished so strong. It was probably responsible for an additional 2 to $400,000 in sales. Just text the word Midnight to 260-217-4619 and I will send it straight to your, uh, your phone there. Again, if you have any questions or anything, comments on this series or anything else, um, you can text me there as well. 260-217-4619.
Heidi Easley: Hey.
Matt McWilliams: Hey. If this series helped you in any way, whether you got a new strategy, a fresh perspective, or maybe just some inspiration, uh, make sure you share this series. Share the podcast with somebody who needs it. There are people out there who definitely could use this information, so share it with them. And we’ve got another great, uh, we’ve got some cool kind of standalone episodes and then another great series coming up. So make sure you hit the subscribe button. We’ve got so much good stuff coming up and you do not want to miss it. So thanks again for listening and I will see you in the next episode.
See you soon.