Hi
First up, my apologies for your multiple emails yesterday.
It was entirely my fault. If you are interested in what went wrong I’ll explain at the end if this message.
This is Day 2 of onboarding. We take a week to complete this process as there are always a few anomalies to sort out.
I’m on a break for a couple of days, but did notice a few people in the group saying they were panicking or worried about using the technology (Zoom etc).
Relax. This is totally normal and we’ll all help.
We now have 123 members, all at various levels of technical and writing skill.
I’ve noticed those who are a little more technical are already helping those who are less so. Isn’t that great?
Just think, over the next few months those same people will be helping each other and returning the favour with story ideas, sense checking and encouragement.
The key to Onboarding is one step at a time.
Zoom is a brilliant tool for us. Who hasn’t heard about this new technology over the last couple of years? It’s even become a verb!
On Sunday evening at 7pm we have a session to ensure everyone is up to speed with Zoom. The link is in your onboarding email.
So whether you’ve never been in a Zoom meeting before, or you are keen to tweak your talents, the session is there to gently go through some of the basics.
Zoom will work directly from your computer, tablet or phone’s browser. But you can also download the Zoom App.
Some people find this easier to use. But relax, both will work.
If you’d like to download the app you can do it here.
Q & A
Out of 123 members, an amazing 88 of you have already completed the Q&A. Thank you.
If you haven’t, please could you take ten mins and complete yours here:
That’s it for today.
If you’d like to know what went wrong yesterday and the lessons I learned, it’s below.
Be Brilliant!
Michael
How to accidentally email 956 people who shouldn’t have had an email and simultaneously email another group - three times....
Remember, you don’t need to read this!
Automation is a joy. In an ideal world, tasks can be carried out while you’re in your bed.
However, there is a downside.
The first onboarding email you received was completed on Friday and set automatically to send on Monday at 9am.
So far so good. It worked.
On the day you close your program, you need to update your automatic emails; the one’s that say welcome etc.
While doing this yesterday, I added the main onboarding email to a 'follow-up sequence'. This meant that anyone who joined on Sunday night would automatically receive their onboarding email on Monday night.
Are you still with me?
This would have been brilliant, except I added it to the wrong list.
Everyone who was registered for the Write That Book Challenge and Pop-up group received it. Instantly.
I quickly wrote an apology to these people, several who thought they’d won a place on Masterclass, and explained what had happened.
Then I added the original onboarding email to the Masterclass members follow up series.
Still here? Gosh you are a glutton for punishment.
But I didn’t tell it to not email those who had already received it.
This then triggered a 3rd copy of the email.
If you are still reading this you are as geeky as me!
Lessons learned.
Check tech twice, press 'send' once.
Don’t try to be too clever with automation.
Most people are wonderful.
I received lots of kind messages saying don’t worry, amongst a couple of negative ones.
If you flip it you can do your best to find a positive.
I sent another message last night apologising again and offering those people an opportunity to just book a place on a webinar.
Only a handful have, but it was nice to be able to offer something.
If you're still here, thanks.