In September of 2014 I came up with a harebrained idea to try to make some extra money, it was called… Club Henry. I’m sure many of you reading this was a member of Cub Henry, to which I will say…you are much appreciated for partaking in that short-lived experiment! Because I adore traveling and experiencing as much as possible that life has to offer, I am always looking for ways to make some extra moola. Since I (brodjam) have so many repeat customers each week, I did some brainstorming on how I could offer something extra. I downloaded my eBay sales records for the previous couple of years and gathered all of the email addresses associated with those sales, there were thousands! I drafted an introductory newsletter explaining Club Henry and offering up a membership, sent it out to those thousands of email addresses and waited. Boy did I end up catching some hell! I had not familiarized myself with the “email marketing law” and several people kindly, or not so kindly, brought it to my attention. I felt like crap, my heart sank into my stomach and I worried if there would be any serious implications. Thankfully nothing like that happened, and I quickly learned about and set up an account with MailChimp and followed the guidelines to create an email subscriber list the correct way. What a major learning experience! As a Club Henry member, one would receive an email each week with the following week’s eBay auction lineup, first chance at exclusive deals, and a chance to win a brand-new Tonner doll each month. Club Henry lasted a total of four months, give or take a week or two, and then I realized that it was a lot of work with very little profit (because I only had about a dozen members). So, as humiliating as it was, I ended Club Henry and refunded the dozen or so members a prorated portion of their annual membership dues. I was left with a large box of Club Henry magnets and a bruised ego. Looking back on this now I realize how courageous and innovative I was to even give it a try; I wish I could say the same for the thousands of other grand ideas I’ve came up with.
Funny... there's a blemish under Henry's eye that looks like a teardrop, I guess even Henry's ego is a little bruised 🤣