Hey, hey, welcome to the summit host hangout podcast where you learn how to host a high converting virtual summit that leads to your biggest signature offer launch yet. I'm your host, Krista from summit in a box, and I have a special guest on the podcast today who I am so excited to introduce you to. This is someone who I got to work with in our launch with a summit accelerator program, and she has one of those stories that just fuels the work we do as business owners, right? Like those stories that keep you going, that let you know that you're making the kind of impact you want to make. So to give her a brief introduction, Heather Levin is an educator, herbalist and chicken wrangler of over 30 chickens. She's also the founder of the backyard chicken Summit and the chicken Health Academy, a pioneering online membership that teaches natural and emergency chicken care strategies so unique, so needed in her community. I love how niche This is. She's just really so wonderful, and I can't wait for you to meet her. So without further ado, let's dive in and talk with Heather from chicken Health Academy. Welcome Heather. I'm so excited to have you here.
Thank you so much. Krista. I'm super excited to be here too.
This is going to be fun. I'm excited to look back and remember your Summit, think back and all of that. And really the questions I formatted were kind of thinking back to your first summit. So that's when we got to work with you more closely. But you just got done with your second one too. So we can tie in whatever you want to tie in, take it wherever you want to take it. To start though, tell us a little bit more about your business, your membership, all of that.
So I started my business in April of 2021, and I had been a freelance writer pretty much my whole career before that, and was just at the point where I was ready to do something different. I wasn't really happy freelancing full time, so my husband had just started his business, so it was pretty risky for me to kind of leave our full time income and, you know, have me start my own business too. But we, you know, we were financially ready for a move like that. So we were like, let's just do it. We were both experienced entrepreneurs. I really didn't think it was going to take that long of a time to get my business up and running. So I went ahead and just, you know, left my paid client work and started my first business was the greenest acre. So it was like a homesteading, like a how to homesteading website. And so I started creating digital products and working with different business coaches and just learning how to set up funnels. And, you know, get get everything set up. But I started to realize that I really loved writing about chickens. Like, of all the homesteading things I was writing about, like, every time it came time for me to talk about chickens or write about chickens, I just got really, you know, I just got super excited. So after lots of failed launches and struggling with figuring out my audience, I'm like, I just feel like I want to do chickens, so I kind of pivoted my business after, I guess it was maybe nine or 10 months, I decided to, you know, just dive into focusing on chickens, and began to create chicken Health Academy, because I saw that there was such a huge need for chicken healthcare information like it's scattered all over the internet. And you know, when people get, you know, when they have chickens that are sick, they're scouring Google and they don't know what to do. And so I really, I really felt called to create a business that focused on helping people prevent illness and disease with herbs and natural care strategies and teaching them emergency care techniques so that when illness strikes their chickens, they know what to do, and they don't have to panic and lose their chickens just because they don't have the tools and the in the expertise to help heal them. So that was, that was kind of how I started chicken Health Academy.
Yes, that's amazing. Were you, like, nervous about niching down? Or could you just feel that it was right.
I just, I felt like it was right because, you know, the homesteading, it was like there was such a broad audience for that. And like I said, I had created some products that they just weren't gaining any type of traction. I don't know. It was just one of those, one of those moves that I just felt, even though I didn't have any proof that it was ever going to work, I just felt like to do.
I love that. I'm so glad you did. Can you think back? So that was 2021 2022 maybe. Can you think back and share a little bit about where you were at and maybe how that business was going before you hosted your first summit. So
So before, before the first summit, we were, we were really struggling. We had, you know, I had made the transition to chicken Health Academy. I was launching it as a core offer. So I would it wasn't a membership at that time, I was offering it to people as a one time fee. And every time I did a launch, it just never, it just never really took off. And I couldn't, you know, it's like we tried all these different things, doing, you know, webinars and different types of launches, and I never got the sense that this was a business that was going to be able to support my family, which was super discouraging, because I've been an entrepreneur pretty much my entire working life. So I've never been in a position where something i. Was working on, like, wasn't working. So it was really frustrating. And we so we were kind of at the point where, because month after month, you know, we were pretty much living on our savings while we worked on our business. And we were at the point before I joined summit in a box where we were like, this is just not going to work, and there's no way I was going to give up on my business. But business, but it was at the point where I was probably going to have to go back to freelancing, or my husband was going to have to go find a job. You know, we had, we had to have some money coming in. You know, that's just the reality of life. So when I found summit in a box, I'm trying to remember how I think I found you through Kate doster. I think you did a webinar with Kate doster, because I was in Kate's program, and I saw that, and I just was like, maybe this is the answer, because I had been in Shelby divorce summit with garden farm thrive. She had invited me to be in her summit the fall. This was fall of 22 so that was my first summit experience. I didn't even know summits existed. I didn't even know that was a thing, until I took part in Shelby summit and and that the experience was amazing. With Shelby Summit, there was, you know, I gave my presentation, and there was a live chat, and there were hundreds of people there in the chat, just like asking questions. And, you know, I was in the Facebook group, and she had so many people in there just talking and the community, like, even though it was online, you could really feel the energy. And I, you know, like I said, I didn't even know summits were a thing until I took part in Shelby Summit. So then, when I saw your webinar, this was a few months after the summit, I was like, Maybe this could work for me. So I decided to just try it. And truly, when I say that this was like, the last roll of the dice for us, like, I'm not being dramatic, because we were just truly at that point where it's like, you know, we have to this either is going to work or we have to find a completely different avenue, you know, to have some money coming in. So it truly was, like a last ditch effort to make this business a go, so I didn't have to return to freelancing. So it was, it was nerve racking.
Oh, no, pressure. Oh, wow, yeah, I'm sure that's crazy to think back to. And I can, like, kind of feel some of the pressure right now with that, I know,
just like talking about it like I can feel all the stress, you know, there was so much stress, like to make this work. So, like, even just talking about, yeah, maybe a little short of breath, because it was just like, it was so stressful.
Yeah, I love that you got that experience with Shelby Summit, and it sounds like it was so important with your journey. Also, I'm going to link to an episode we have with Shelby in the show notes for anyone who wants to come. Wants to kind of go hear what her experience is like with summits as well. Wow. Okay, so you decided to host summit because it was like, I don't know what else to do. And maybe we kind of have a picture of that already. But what were your biggest fears and doubts when it came to hosting your summit, specifically.
Oh, goodness, there were so many, um, I yeah, I was, I was so afraid this wasn't going to work. Because, you know, investing in the accelerator, which was worth every single penny, I'm so glad I did it, but at the time, when you think about it, like, because we'd had no money coming in, that was a huge it was a risk for us financially. So that was like, just making sure that I earned my money back from that investment was hugely important. But also just, I just really wanted leads. Like, I didn't, you know, like when I went through the program, like, of course, we set goals. I had very ambitious goals. But like, there was a part of me that really didn't think it was going to be as successful as it was. Because, you know, for the past, like, two years, I had tried so many different things that didn't didn't work, and so when this did, like, it blew my mind. It, like, completely blew my mind. So that's where I was. I was like, you know, yeah, I was just really afraid that it wasn't going to work, yeah.
And I know I had a note somewhere where you were also worried about the time investment, because you have, you had, like, three days per week where you could work, yep,
because, yeah, we homeschool our kids. So it's really just kind of two and a half days that I get to work, because my husband also homeschools. We kind of tag team, so we each have time to work on our business every week, and then also we get to take part in homeschoolering our kids. So the first time that I did, I kind of did in three months working, you know, two and a half or three days a week, and then I think the last month, my husband completely took over the homeschool and then I worked every single day that last month, because there was just so much to do.
Yeah, yeah, okay, I always feel like it's important for me to call those things out, because I think a lot of people come into the semi hosting process, even with me saying, you guys, it's a lot of work, you know, thinking that they can pull it off in an in four weeks. Or, you know, and like, I don't bring it up to scare anyone away from it, but to set the right expectations. So it's really interesting for me to hear like. You had to kind of work, change some things to make, make it work.
Oh, for sure. Yeah. And that the last like, four to six weeks. I mean, it was like a seven we were working seven days a week, and my husband was helping, because it there is just so much to do and so much to manage. So yeah, like, I definitely don't want to scare people off from hosting a summit, either, but it's, I do think it's super important to look at it realistically, like in all the things I've ever done in my career. But, you know, besides raising children, which is this was the hardest thing I have ever done, is the hardest, and it's also the most rewarding. You know, I'm career wise, like just bringing all these people together, and like creating this experience for so many people, it I mean, it's an amazing experience, but it is an extraordinary amount of work.
Yeah, did you have any kind of team, or was it all you?
It was, it was just me the first one, and then with the second one, my husband was a huge help, because he, his background is in it, so he helped handle a lot of the tech stuff, which was, which was wonderful this year, because we had so many tech, tech snafus this time. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, well, okay, let's, let's get to a little bit of the good side of things now, like, first of all, tell us about your event. Who was it for? What did i What did it help them with? What did it, what did it look like? Things like that.
So, yeah, the the backyard chicken Summit, you know, as the name implies, it was for backyard chicken keepers, because there's, there are poultry summits out there, but they, they're all for commercial poultry growers. There's no summits out there just for people raising backyard chickens. So I really wanted to create an event just for people that have flocks of four or 10 or 12 chickens, you know, small family flocks, and bring together educators that would, you know, just help them in all aspects for that, with that, like, how did, you know, make a wonderful coop, and how to keep them healthy with herbs, and, you know, just everything chicken keepers need to know to really raise a healthy flock. So that was the goal of, you know, summit one, and summit number two. And it really turned into an incredible experience. And I think one of the things that was most impactful about especially the first summit, was it, it really made me understand how people were craving like communities. So there, you know, there's all these different various chicken groups online, but when people came together for this summit, I don't know, the energy was just really incredible, and it made me understand that a sense of community was lacking in chicken Health Academy, and so I really, like after the first summit, made made a lot of effort to create community in my own membership, and I think that's made a huge difference in my retention and The success of the membership, because I didn't really understand until the first summit how much people were craving that sense of friendship and community in this niche.
That's really cool that you were able to use your summit then it sounds like to improve your membership, draw more people in, keep them there. Oh, that's great. Let's talk about the reality of the summit then, like, how did it how did it go for you, numbers wise, and anything else that kind of comes to mind with the question of, how did it go?
Yeah, the first, the first summit, went really smoothly. So we had for the summit just over $30,000 in total sales. With summit number one, my cut of that, so that was minus commissions, was 23,000 just over $23,000 so that's what I was able to earn from summit number one, the second summit. We did a lot better this time. So the total sales for summit number two was around $47,000 so my cut of that was 43 just over 43,000 congratulations. And with the second summit, yeah, thank you. It was, yeah. That was blew my mind when I kind of tallied everything up. But we also had sponsors this year, which we didn't have on the on the first time the first go around with the summit, and they brought in a lot of a lot of new people into the fold, so that it was a great experience learning how to work with sponsors. And I think I wrote in the slack group was, I was, like, literally watching the video that you made of how to how to do a sponsorship call, like, 10 minutes before my first sponsorship. I mean, it helped me so much. Krista, I mean, seriously, I think I was able to land that sponsorship because of some of the tips that you gave in that video. So that was hugely important. So thank you for that, because it was, it was really great.
So glad just coming in clutch right when you need it. That's what I love to do. How did registrations go? I think I have a note that you had about 5500 people registered for that first one.
Yeah, we had 5500 the first one, and I think the second one was maybe around 6500.
Have you seen ongoing benefits from being able to grow your list by those amounts since the summit's happened?
Yeah, oh yeah, completely. So yeah, goodness. I mean, at the end of the second summit, I think my list was up to it was over 12,000 so I haven't, I haven't done a launch yet. So I launched my membership. Right after each one of my summits. So I'm due for another launch in another like month or six weeks, so we'll see what happens with that. But yeah, the the amount of people that I got into my membership from summit number one and summer summit number two has completely transformed not just, you know, just not just the membership itself, but also just the income that we're getting from those regular memberships. So it Yeah, trying to remember how many we well, you wrote it down like didn't with the first membership. I mean, with the first summit we got, what was it like?
260 written but it could have been 280.
Yeah. Okay, yeah. So I think with the second summit we got, we got about 180 new members, I think after the second summit.
I mean, I don't have a membership, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but to me, it sounds like when, when you go from thinking of this is the last chance I might have to close down this business to adding 260 members at once. That kind of sounds like a life changing difference.
Yeah, no. It completely changed our life, because, you know, the membership just wasn't in front of enough people for it to gain any type of traction. But once all those people joined the membership, and we, I started doing all these things to create this community, the community just blossomed like really quickly. And I think, truly, I think a lot of people have stayed in chicken Health Academy because of the community that we've all worked to build, you know, since that first summit. I mean, it's really become a supportive, encouraging place for chicken keepers to go and not have to worry about getting judged for their questions. Because I know that happens a lot in other chicken groups. You know, especially with new chicken keepers, they'll go in and ask a question, and then unfortunately, you know, they'll kind of get made fun of, or, you know, people can be mean, and in our in our community, that is just not like that. So just learning that was such a huge lesson from the first summit, just learning that that's true, that's really what people wanted, is that sense of community has really been life changing for my business.
That's incredible. And so that's given you what you need to be able to continue on clearly, because you're still here. And that was what, over a year ago, maybe you hosted your first Oh, yeah, okay, well, I mean longer. Now this episode will go out later. So that's awesome. That's so cool to hear that all the pressure you felt at the beginning ended up paying off, and hopefully now it's just something that feels like, yeah, no problem. Yeah, no problem. I can rinse and repeat that and know, I can bring in a couple 100 new members whenever I need to really, like, that's so cool.
Yeah, it's, it's amazing. It truly is. And, yeah, I just, I can't say enough. I can't say enough good things about the impact that your program has made on our my business and my life and my family's life. I mean, we our life now looks completely different than just it did a year ago, because it hasn't even been a year since my first summit. I mean, my first summit was June of 2023 and this is May of 24 so it's like, amazing how much has changed in just a year because of, because of Summit in a Box.
I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. And really just this whole journey. It's, it's like, I don't know it. It's so weird to, like, look back at these different stages of our business and see the things that made the impact. And I hope, hope you can kind of, like, applaud yourself for taking those big, scary staff time. That had to be terrifying, but you did it, and it paid off. And that's that's so great. So I guess as like, my last question, is there any big takeaway that you want listeners to get from your experience as a whole, or specifically what we talked about today.
I would just encourage people, I mean, truly, just don't give up. Because you know, we weren't, we weren't at the point where we were giving up on our business, but it was on the horizon where we were gonna have to make a drastic change. And it's like, and that's what Shelby DeVore told me early on in my business. She was like, Don't you dare give up, because you don't know what's right around the corner. And it's so true. So I'm gonna repeat exactly what she told me is to you know, I know what it's like to be on the edge of a cliff with your business, and just don't give up. Find a way around it, find a way through but don't give up on your business because you don't know what's going to happen and and truly, like hosting a summit, I feel is one of the best ways to not only like dramatically change and improve your business, but the the connections I've been able to make with other speakers has been, has been really life changing as well. Like I'm I'm now at the point where I'm able to hire some of these educators, past speakers, to come create content for chicken Health Academy, and ultimately my members are benefiting from that. So just all these doors have opened for me and my business because of the summit. So yeah, please don't give up on your business. Everyone who's listening.
I love that so much. Yeah, so powerful. You. If you're ready to host a high converting virtual summit to replace your slow growth marketing strategies and use it to lead into your biggest course launch yet, I've got an exclusive training just for you. This training is for those who are interested in working with me in our launch with a summit accelerator to host a summit that blows industry standards out of the water, uses feel good, engagement based strategies to create an amazing experience for everyone involved. Seamlessly leads into your biggest course launch yet, and sets you up for additional post summit profits on the back end, inside the accelerator, we help our clients consistently host life and business changing virtual summits and in the free private training, I'll show you exactly how it works, along with all kinds of examples. So apply for an invite to the launch with the summit accelerator and the training at summithosthangout com, slash apply. Let me know where people can go to learn more about you. Get in touch with you all that good stuff.
Yep. So if people just go to chickenhealthacademy.com that's all about our program. And then also, I still have the greenestaker.com up. There's a link to some free downloads we have. If you want to just get on my list and see what we're up to, they can go to thegrenastaker.com to check that out.
Perfect. We will link to all of that in the show notes for anyone who wants quick access links. Thank you so much for being here Heather, and thank you so much everyone for tuning in for show notes and resources and links mentioned, go ahead to the link in the episode description, wherever you're listening for all of that for now, go out and take action to plan, strategize and launch your high converting virtual Summit.
