Back in January, we dropped a little teaser: We were going to pull back the curtain and share our journey as we built out the Oh My Hi Affiliate Program. The wins, the lessons, and all the messy in-between moments. This approach, often called “building in public”, lets your community be part of the process, giving them a behind-the-scenes look at the creative chaos and strategy that goes into bringing something new to life.

Now that we’re officially in it, it’s time for an update!

The Launch: A Wild Ride

We kicked things off with a solid week of teasers and countdown posts, hyping up our big live announcement video. And in true entrepreneurial fashion, we were literally building everything in real time, finalizing guides, setting up webpages the night before, and even tweaking things the morning of. 😅

And just when we thought we had it all together? Our mic decided to betray us. Not once, but twice. We had to restart the live event two times before we finally got it right. 😵

But none of that mattered. The launch was a massive success. Our community LOVED it, and the momentum hasn’t slowed down. Right now, we have over 65 affiliates actively working toward earning a spot at the Business Beach Retreat! 🌴🏖️

What’s Working So Far

✅ Clear, exciting incentives – Turns out, people are more excited about the retreat than the cash prizes. Lesson learned: Experiences trump money when it comes to motivation!

✅ Building as we go – Perfection is overrated. Progress is the name of the game. We didn’t have every little detail nailed down (like the trip tracker on the dashboard or a freebie opt-in), but we launched anyway—and it’s working.

✅ Done-for-you marketing support – We made it as easy as possible for affiliates to share, providing them with assets and messaging so they could hit the ground running.

✅ Selling for them – Just last week, we hosted a live behind-the-scenes event where affiliates invited their audiences, and we did the selling for them. Win-win!

What’s Been a Challenge?

⛔ Community engagement – We intentionally built an affiliate community space on our website instead of using a Facebook group, but getting affiliates to engage there has been a struggle.

⛔ Creating urgency – Most people have “create website” or “update website” on their to-do list, but actually getting them to prioritize it is proving to be a challenge. We may need to introduce a short-term promotion or a limited-time coupon to nudge them into action.

What’s Next?

We’re constantly learning, tweaking, and refining as we go. And if this kind of behind-the-scenes peek is something you’re into, let us know, we’ll keep sharing!

Have any ideas, feedback, or experiences launching your own affiliate program? Drop a comment below, we’d love to hear what’s worked (and what hasn’t) for you!