If You Build It, They Will Come: Thriving Artists Project Report

Living in the heart of Silicon Valley as I do (10 min from Google HQ, in fact), I hear a lot about product launches from my friends in hi-tech.

Stories of intense weeks of long hours, of all-nighters to push through to make the deadline.

I’ve always nodded in sympathy, but until now I only had an intellectual understanding of what was involved. Kinda like, oh, cramming for final exams in college, maybe..?

Well, now I’ve joined the ranks of Product Launchers everywhere, and I’m here to tell you, it is an insane amount of work!

Particularly when your entire R&D team, Sales & Marketing team, Tech team, Customer Support team, and every other team there is is composed of you, and you alone.

Um, yeah.

But the beautiful thing is that the launch, err.. pre-launch/soft launch/whatever launch of the Thriving Artists Project is going swimmingly! Yes, there’s been the usual share of technical SNAFUs and frustrations, but orders have been coming in, both for the Basic membership and for the Basic membership + One-on-One consulting packages. A community is being born!

If you build it, they will come

When you put something out there in the world, you never know what the response will be. The fear, of course, is nothing but *cricket*cricket*. It sucks to throw a party and have nobody show up.

But people are showing up — people I’ve known for years (which is hugely flattering), and total strangers too (which tells me I must have done a pretty good job with my copy and my promo!)

The responses have also been gratifying.

From Amy Crook, of Antemortem Arts:

The things, they are like mushrooms! You look under one pile and there’s mooooore hiding in the corners! <3

From Mike Davenport, of Stick Figure Simple:

Had a chance to listen to the Ann Rea mp3. Rocked

From photographer Dianne Poinski (who does amazing hand-colored b&w photos):

So excited! This looks great! Thanks for putting this all together.

From Nelly:

Melissa this looks great! I can’t wait to really dive into the content.

From Kim:

Very glad to be here, Melissa, in this community of thriving artists. I know it will be an inspiring place. Thanks for all the work you put into it.

Yes, I’m exhausted, but very, very pleased, and very, very excited about what I’m creating. As with anything creative, the more you do, the more ideas you get, and that’s definitely the case here.

Just 6 months ago this course was no more than a glimmer in my eye, and now it’s walking on its own! And because it will be shaped by the Ground Floor Inner Circle Members who join during this launch, it will be fun to see what kind of adult this toddler grows into.

Still time… but not much

If you’re interested in signing up yourself, or buying a membership as a holiday gift for someone, I recommend you skeedaddle over to the Thriving Artists Project site right now, because the doors on this pre-launch/soft launch/whatever launch thingy are only open until 9am PST tomorrow. After that, nobody gets in until I re-launch next year (at over twice the price).

Just sayin’…

Oh, and tell your friends too! You can score big points with an artist or creative type by showing them you believe in them and what they do, and pointing them to a course like this is a great way to do that.

And now back to work. I’ve got MP3 interviews to edit!