Again, I think failure is a respectable part of everyone’s life and I support being out in the open about it. I don’t think failure is a bad word, so here’s another story about one of mine. (And here’s another nother story of failure)
In 2015 I launched Welcome Dialogue, a coaching business that helped white-collar, professional internationals learn American culture. I worked with educated immigrants who came to Chicago because their company had transferred them to the U.S. office. They spoke fluent English, had well-paying jobs, often had families they had brought with them and didn’t need much help with grammar or vocabulary. But they were bewildered by things like small talk, networking, American idioms, American pronunciation, and a million other things they don’t teach in English language classes.
I went at this 100%. I hired a small business attorney and incorporated so WD was an LLC. I hired a business coach to help me with the business plan. I hired a designer for the logo and a web designer to do the website. No amount was too much because this was MY BUSINESS and it was going to succeed. I even spent a regrettable $1,500 on an SEO expert who got me no clients and eventually turned into what I personally define as a jackass.
I loved the Welcome Dialogue work. But in three years I was never able to build a client pipeline. In spite of tireless networking, social media promotion, and trying various way to connect with international professionals — from meeting immigration lawyers to creating a Meetup for internationals — I had only two clients.
The best way to reach internationals turned out to be the Meetup I started. We had regular meetings and social events, and we talked about all aspects of American culture, from government to sex. I met people from all over the world and we had a good time exchanging information about our cultures and becoming friends. But none of it turned into clients. I never did land a third one.
In 2018 I finally realized that the problem was that there’s no market for what I was offering. Well-off, fully employed internationals that have a full social life with people from their native country don’t think they need to learn more about Americans. They don’t realize they could earn thousands of dollars more a year, make more friends, enjoy more promotions and better dates if they learn more American professional and social behaviors. They’re apparently earning all the money and getting all the sex they think they need.
After three years of explaining what was valuable about Welcome Dialogue, I finally realized it just wasn’t going to earn the revenue I’d envisioned. I couldn’t close the sales. I couldn’t build the market. It was time to earn my living in a different way.
That different way is called The Detail Conductor, which is me working as a virtual assistant and content writer. It’s much easier to promote and since July, I already have a good roster of clients. But it’s sad to think about Welcome Dialogue. Last week I realized I can’t afford the attention, time or money to maintain two websites, so I let the Welcome Dialogue website go. WelcomeDialogue.com no longer exists. I’ve taken down the all links to it on my blog, Facebook page and other places. The day that website came down my depression symptoms came back.
It hurt. It was the end of a dream. It still represented where my heart was. I started Welcome Dialogue because I know linguistic and cultural alienation. I’m passionate about making outsiders feel comfortable. I’m passionate about clear communication. I know words so well and explaining the American version of them felt like such a valuable service. And I wanted to reduce loneliness. I regularly hosted social events where internationals could come and practice American English and make friends with each other as well as with Americans. I offered a place where people new to Chicago could feel like they belonged, unjudged for how they spoke. (I still offer those social events.)
It hurts that in three years I couldn’t sell Welcome Dialogue and had to give it up. It also hurts that what I have left from that experience is $13,450 in credit card debt that I recently took steps to consolidate because I can’t keep up the payments.
But what I also have from the experience are friends from all over the world, social media chops, and experience using many online apps for customer relationship management, newsletters, graphic design, website maintenance, and other business tasks. Now those are the skills I use in my new business as a virtual assistant.
I must also mention that Detail Conductor launched in mid-July 2018 and I had seven clients by autumn. That would NOT have been possible if I hadn’t had a huge network of business contacts and fellow entrepreneurs that I had built while promoting Welcome Dialogue. From those hundreds of people, a few immediately spoke up and said they’d hire me as a virtual assistant or writer and I owe that early success to the years of trying to get Welcome Dialogue off the ground.
So thank you to my second business — wait. WD is my third, since my very first business was back in the late 90s when I worked as a freelance voice teacher. Okay, so thank you to my third business which died on the vine, but allowed for the success (so far) of my fourth business. I’ve heard that entrepreneurs fail a few times before they succeed, so I’m actually right on track. Me and El Idiota, eh? (ugh, no…)
In 2015 I launched Welcome Dialogue, a coaching business that helped white-collar, professional internationals learn American culture. I worked with educated immigrants who came to Chicago because their company had transferred them to the U.S. office. They spoke fluent English, had well-paying jobs, often had families they had brought with them and didn’t need much help with grammar or vocabulary. But they were bewildered by things like small talk, networking, American idioms, American pronunciation, and a million other things they don’t teach in English language classes.
I went at this 100%. I hired a small business attorney and incorporated so WD was an LLC. I hired a business coach to help me with the business plan. I hired a designer for the logo and a web designer to do the website. No amount was too much because this was MY BUSINESS and it was going to succeed. I even spent a regrettable $1,500 on an SEO expert who got me no clients and eventually turned into what I personally define as a jackass.
I loved the Welcome Dialogue work. But in three years I was never able to build a client pipeline. In spite of tireless networking, social media promotion, and trying various way to connect with international professionals — from meeting immigration lawyers to creating a Meetup for internationals — I had only two clients.
The best way to reach internationals turned out to be the Meetup I started. We had regular meetings and social events, and we talked about all aspects of American culture, from government to sex. I met people from all over the world and we had a good time exchanging information about our cultures and becoming friends. But none of it turned into clients. I never did land a third one.
In 2018 I finally realized that the problem was that there’s no market for what I was offering. Well-off, fully employed internationals that have a full social life with people from their native country don’t think they need to learn more about Americans. They don’t realize they could earn thousands of dollars more a year, make more friends, enjoy more promotions and better dates if they learn more American professional and social behaviors. They’re apparently earning all the money and getting all the sex they think they need.
After three years of explaining what was valuable about Welcome Dialogue, I finally realized it just wasn’t going to earn the revenue I’d envisioned. I couldn’t close the sales. I couldn’t build the market. It was time to earn my living in a different way.
That different way is called The Detail Conductor, which is me working as a virtual assistant and content writer. It’s much easier to promote and since July, I already have a good roster of clients. But it’s sad to think about Welcome Dialogue. Last week I realized I can’t afford the attention, time or money to maintain two websites, so I let the Welcome Dialogue website go. WelcomeDialogue.com no longer exists. I’ve taken down the all links to it on my blog, Facebook page and other places. The day that website came down my depression symptoms came back.
It hurt. It was the end of a dream. It still represented where my heart was. I started Welcome Dialogue because I know linguistic and cultural alienation. I’m passionate about making outsiders feel comfortable. I’m passionate about clear communication. I know words so well and explaining the American version of them felt like such a valuable service. And I wanted to reduce loneliness. I regularly hosted social events where internationals could come and practice American English and make friends with each other as well as with Americans. I offered a place where people new to Chicago could feel like they belonged, unjudged for how they spoke. (I still offer those social events.)
It hurts that in three years I couldn’t sell Welcome Dialogue and had to give it up. It also hurts that what I have left from that experience is $13,450 in credit card debt that I recently took steps to consolidate because I can’t keep up the payments.
But what I also have from the experience are friends from all over the world, social media chops, and experience using many online apps for customer relationship management, newsletters, graphic design, website maintenance, and other business tasks. Now those are the skills I use in my new business as a virtual assistant.
I must also mention that Detail Conductor launched in mid-July 2018 and I had seven clients by autumn. That would NOT have been possible if I hadn’t had a huge network of business contacts and fellow entrepreneurs that I had built while promoting Welcome Dialogue. From those hundreds of people, a few immediately spoke up and said they’d hire me as a virtual assistant or writer and I owe that early success to the years of trying to get Welcome Dialogue off the ground.
So thank you to my second business — wait. WD is my third, since my very first business was back in the late 90s when I worked as a freelance voice teacher. Okay, so thank you to my third business which died on the vine, but allowed for the success (so far) of my fourth business. I’ve heard that entrepreneurs fail a few times before they succeed, so I’m actually right on track. Me and El Idiota, eh? (ugh, no…)