Brand, Ideas, Story, Style, My Life: The $101 Pizza: Creating Unforgettable Moments of Triumph & Celebration in Your Business

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

The $101 Pizza: Creating Unforgettable Moments of Triumph & Celebration in Your Business

It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon of October 25, 2018, the last day of our third annual Experience Product Masterclass launch and I was sitting at my computer watching sales come in over Slack… One. At. A. Time.

At this point in the launch, my work was done. I had…

Delivered 3 live webinars…
Hosted an epic 5-hour livestream…
Rallied our partners…
Done 3 cart close Facebook lives…
Proofed the final day emails…
Designed the new student on boarding experience…

and it was all-hands-on-deck with our customer support and sales teams fielding calls and inquiries…

The launch was in good hands. Now, all that was left was for me to surrender and trust that we had done enough to bring us to our target goal of $1.5M.

Now I’m not the type to sit around watching paint dry and I was getting seriously restless.

Two thoughts tugged at me, “I’ve gotta get outta here before I go nuts.”

And, “what if someone needs me? Is there anything else I can do?”

Thankfully, the first thought won out and I jumped in the car and headed to my favorite boutique… I had to release the pressure valve… and what better way to bring in more money than to spend it?

I spent 2 hours trying on clothes and luxuriating in color, texture and design… as sales kept coming in over Slack. Chatter on the sales team channel reached a fervent pitch as the team rallied into the final 6 hours…

I tried to think back to what I was doing this time last year as we hit our first million-dollar launch and I came up blank. Then I tried to think back two years to our first EPM launch and — again — nothing.

My guess was that I was sitting at my computer nervously watching sales come in on Slack…

And I realized that I had to find a way to punctuate this moment. To celebrate. And ultimately to remember… so I wouldn’t find myself 5 years in the future with 8 launches under my belt and no special moments to remember other than hustle and arithmetic.

After all, people burn out or lose their passion for what they’re doing when one year, one launch, one milestone bleeds into the next and the non-stop pursuit of more leads to more and — at the same time — less, because nothing is ever enough. There’s always the next goal on the horizon and another hill to climb…

But I had worked hard to get there and goddammit I wanted to sit on top of that hill and enjoy the feel of the grass beneath me, gaze up at that blue sky and just watch the clouds drift and gather into all kinds of shapes and visions… I wanted to feel the now. Remember the now. And not just be like an arrow that never reaches its target…

So I asked myself…

“What can I do to make this moment special? What can I do to remember this launch? This milestone? Our first $1.5 million dollar launch?”

And I remembered a restaurant down the street with a pizza called the 24K. It cost $101. The exact opposite of the $95, $97 or $99 price points used in internet marketing. Lol

And on that pizza? There was mozzarella, white truffle cream, porcini, foie gras, black truffle, fontina and gold leaf.

Yup it was a gold pizza…

And I had never given myself permission to spend $101 on a pizza…

Until now.

I called in the order — one 24K to go — and headed over to pick it up.

The owner came out to meet me because — in his words (cue Italian accent) — “Nobody’s ever ordered my 24K to go before. You’re the first one.” And he slipped me a nice bottle of chianti on the house.

My car filled with the scent of truffles and porcini as I drove the last few blocks home feeling like the $101 was already worth it. Just fetching the pizza was an experience.

Murray was waiting for me and together we destroyed that pizza. Savored every bite. Marvelled over the gold, the edible flowers, the flavors.

We cracked open that bottle of wine and toasted to hitting our targets…

We created a moment that I know I’ll remember one year from now when it comes time to launch EPM again.

We created a moment of “just enough” to punctuate the endless quest for more.

$101 is a small investment to create a memory that will last a lifetime.

I had my entire team read a book called “The Power of Moments” (*highly recommended*) which is all about intentionally creating moments to remember in life and business…

And I’ve become obsessed with creating moments for myself, my team and my tribe…

So tell me, what’s one success you’ve had in your business this year that’s worth celebrating? How can you design a moment of triumph and celebration that you’ll remember and share? Let me know in the comments.

After all, if you’re going to have the juice to fling yourself at your next Everest goal, you gotta savor the pay-off of this hill, this summit, this milestone.

Otherwise business becomes the endless pursuit of more… a pursuit that can leave you by the wayside…

So take a deep breathe, celebrate and create a moment to remember. You deserve it.

Now go out there and Live Your Message!