Issue 38

This Webinar Was a Disaster. The Results Weren’t. Here’s why…

What Leading Through Chaos Really Looks Like

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to run a business while chaos itself plays whack‑a‑mole with your sanity… pull up a chair. I promise you, you cannot make this kind of crazy up.

The Two-Week Spiral Before I Hit “Go Live”

Before I tell you how everything unraveled, let me say this: I’ve been running monthly live webinars for a full year now. I’ve got my system dialed in. It’s rinse‑and‑repeat at this point. I’m not cocky, just confident in a process that works.

Which is exactly why this whole situation felt like watching a well‑oiled machine suddenly burst into flames.

This didn’t start as a disaster. No, no… it built into one. Slowly.

T-minus 12 days

It started when I betrayed myself. That’s the only way to say it.

Instead of using the website registration page that has NEVER failed me, not once, I thought, “Let’s use the direct Zoom link. What could go wrong?”

(insert ominous organ music here)

Turns out: everything.

T-minus 10–6 days

For starters, because I used the Zoom link, every person had to be added manually into my CRM.

Except… my CRM said, “No thanks, Alison. Not today.”

Due to some bizarre caching glitch, it wouldn’t add new contacts. Wouldn’t tag RSVPs. Got it fixed and simultaneously upgraded to the lifetime plan and the system UN-SUBSCRIBED ME FROM MY OWN ACCOUNT.

Yes. I got kicked out of my own CRM. For FOUR DAYS.

Meanwhile (because why stop there?), my team member who handles all my invites and follow-ups had her roof torn open by a typhoon. She lost internet for two days.

When she came back, trying to catch up, she accidentally invited 1,000 of my connections to someone ELSE’S event and then loaded THEIR RSVPs into MY CRM when it was finally up and running again.

I sat there staring at names thinking, “Who are all these people suddenly obsessed with my event?”

Oh. Wait. They aren’t.

T-minus 2 days

My home internet took one look at everything happening and said, “I’m out.” Completely died.

I packed up my laptop, my nerves, and my dignity and drove to Starbucks to finish prepping while inhaling caffeine like oxygen.

Day of event

I logged in 30 minutes early, because I’m a responsible host.

My producer was not there.

Instead, his newer team member was in charge. I have worked with him before. Very kind. Very green. Very “I’ve never seen a crisis but I can sense one is coming.”

He asked what my husband looked like. (A strange question, but… okay.)

Then he said: “An ‘Alison Simmons’ joined before you. But it was a large African American man who didn’t introduce himself, so I put him back in the waiting room.”

My stomach fell straight into the center of the Earth.

And as the waiting room began to fill…

There weren’t one or two “Alison Simmons” accounts.

There were DOZENS.

Why? Because that morning, I’d used the WRONG Zoom link in my reminders. I shared the attendee link I got when I registered. Which meant…

Forty people logged in as co-hosts.

FORTY.

You know what co-hosts can do?

Screen share.
Rename themselves.
Kick people out.
Take over the room.

And “I” did, and by that I mean “they” did.

Let the games begin.

As attendees were joining, someone shared porn on their screen.

I kicked them out. They came back. Or maybe there were multiple people in the “Let’s ruin Alison’s day” club. I don’t know, but it stopped, I took a deep breath thinking the worst was over…

It. Was. NOT.

Forty minutes into the webinar, right when I was sharing my offer, another “Alison Simmons” took over host controls and enabled multi-screen share.

Suddenly my face disappeared behind a WALL of explicit videos. FIVE OR SIX SCREENS AT ONCE.

My producer was frantically removing people. He accidentally kicked out real attendees. People were confused. It was chaos.

And me?

I stayed calm. Apologized. Regrouped. Kept going.

Not because I wasn’t panicking.

But because everyone in that room needed me to be steady more than they needed me to be comfortable.

When it was over, I ended the call, skipped the debrief, closed my laptop… and cried. The kind of cry that comes from the soles of your feet.

I took the next day off and just let myself be mad, sad, and completely exhausted.

The Lesson

Here’s what this week taught me:

Leadership has nothing to do with controlling outcomes.

Leadership is how you show up when the outcomes are completely out of your hands.

My attendees didn’t know any of the chaos I was walking through. They were there to learn. My producer needed me in control of myself so he could figure out what was happening.

In that moment, my responsibility was to lead, not to panic.

So I did.

Was it easy? No.

Was it embarrassing? Do I even need to answer that?

And yet, even with everything that went wrong, I sold out all five program spots. And signed a 1:1 client the next week.

Not because the webinar went perfectly. But because I showed up as the leader, regardless of the madness happening behind the scenes.

Weekly Challenge

Even the best systems blow up sometimes. And sometimes, it’s not the systems at all, it’s people doing messed‑up things with messed‑up intentions.

You can’t control any of that. But you can control how you respond.

This week, I want you to choose one thing and show up for it with leadership energy, no matter what chaos is swirling around you.

Here are 3 ways to do that:

Take bold action on anything you actually can control.
Release the outcome of anything you can’t.
And if something blows up? Give yourself a real reset day.

Leadership isn’t about perfection.
It’s about presence.

What Happens Next

You might think I’d swear off live webinars forever after this. And listen… that thought did cross my mind.

But real leaders don’t quit when things get messy.

They regroup.
They rebuild.
They show up again.

Next Event: Dec 11 @ 1pm EST

Save Time & Make Money with AI in 2026

Imagine getting more done in the first 90 days than most founders do all year.

This one will be chaos-free…probably.