It’s been a long road getting to the launch of Idea Majesty’s website. One that stretches back to 2013.
Why did it take so long?
Entrepreneurial journeys are never a straight line. Mine was unusually twisty.
Discovering the Path
At the end of 2013, after a long divorce, I decided to treat myself to a one-on-one consultation with Robert Ohotto. My thinking was that one session with him was going to garner me more healing and guidance than a year’s worth of traditional therapy.
My goal for the consultation was to find healing for my broken heart. Instead, Robert spent most of the time talking about my career, business, and its future. He told me my current sweepstakes business (Contest Queen) wasn’t the mountain. It was just one step on that mountain. I needed to grow and expand my business model. I immediately began to create a digital marketing business.
Beginning the Climb
At the beginning of 2014, I put my thinking cap on, came up with a new business name (Idea Majesty), got a DBA license, bought the URL, opened an email account, and opened all the social media accounts. I stopped short of designing a website. I only made a holding page. Then I waited only to discover the Universe has a sense of humor. Ten months later, my first client was Robert.
Every year, on my annual goal list, I stated I would design the structure and write all the content. Then I wouldn’t. In 2017, I even paid my webmaster to start. I began. It fizzled out.
Muddy Road
You think I would have launched my Idea Majesty website immediately to solve the biggest business hurdle I faced; no one knew what I did.
Companies and agencies thought I was a sweepstakes aggregate. They didn’t see my value as a marketer even though I have a track record for increasing sweepstakes entries by 2-10x, increasing the ROI of any giveaway.
Entrants didn’t see my value as a teacher. They loved my free tips, some bought my books, and hardly anyone signed up for my online classes, even though I have helped others win over $1M in prizes.
I wasn’t the only one who saw the problem either. My colleague Tom Cavalli (owner of another sweepstakes business) prompted me for years to split my business. Make Contest Queen a place to teach others how to win and Idea Majesty a proper digital marketing agency. Somewhere, I could offer my sweepstakes marketing services, consulting, training, etc.
A New Trek
So what finally made me finish a project collecting dust for six and a half years?
Helene Hadsell.
Helene was known for winning every contest she ever entered, including a fully furnished custom home. She wrote about her adventures in her best-selling book Contesting: The Name It & Claim It Game.
I had the good fortune to spend four days with Helene in her home in Alverado, Texas, in 2008. At that time, she told me I should start teaching her WINeuvers for the WISHcraft course as she would no longer teach it. In 2010, Helene passed away, and in the decade since, I have had countless requests for her books and Blueprints.
At the end of 2019, I finally decided to stop holding the gauntlet Helene passed on to me and start running. I reached out to her family and bought the rights to her books.
Some had not been available in print for thirty years, and even then, only in paperback. I have spent months transcribing, editing, and formatting. In January, I republished Contesting: The Name It & Claim It Game; in April, I published In Contact With Other Realms.
Her first book was about winning, so it would naturally live on Contest Queen. However, In Contact With Other Realms, Confessions of an 83-Year-Old Sage and A Man Called Friday, did not fit in. They needed a home.
Starting the Next Leg
At the beginning of May, I logged into my dormant WordPress account and started laying out Idea Majesty, creating content, and designing the site I should have created in 2014. Today, I reached the summit of this leg.
Please look around and let me know what you think. I have been a Toastmaster for fourteen years and know constructive feedback is the only way to grow and improve.
What leg of your journey have you been avoiding?
