Last week, I finished off a new product and put it out into the world.
It’s a workbook that takes you step-by-step through the 7 stages of creating a plan for your social media, blog, newsletter, podcast… wherever you put content out into the online world.
I’ve talked about the workbook and the steps in some detail over on my Facebook community, so won’t discuss that too much here, but did want to share a little bit behind the scenes of the launch.
Because this launch has felt easy. If you’re on my mailing list, you’ll know that I actually ended up cancelled a course I launched last year, so this was truly a completely different experience.
Here’s why:
I had it all written in advance
There is a lot of advice out there when it comes to course promotion that you should have the outline ready, but not write the full material until you know that you have at least one person who is going to buy it.
Last time, I followed that advice. I can definitely see the logic. But the pressure of knowing I then had to create the material by a set time period AND promote the thing at the same time as working on it just did not work for me.
This time, I knew when I wanted to launch it, so I worked my butt off to get it finished for that date, but I wasn’t also writing blog posts and newsletters and Instagram posts to promote it. I did that once it was ready to sell. I could focus on one thing at a time, and I know that is what works best for me.
Also, because it was written, I knew it was good! I sent it to a couple of people I trust just before launching to ask them to look over it to check for typos and also to sense check I wasn’t missing something huge or saying something stupid and they both came back to say how useful it was. And I know it is useful because I have been using it, too!
I worked with my cycle
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about our energy cycles, both as humans who are affected by the moon, and as a woman who has a period. It is FASCINATING. My co-mentor Jen got me on to it (and I’ve been religiously using her period tracker, which you can get for free, here).
Anyway, for this launch, I have worked with my cycle. I wrote the content between the new moon and the full moon, and planned the launch so that it would be around the full moon, which also very roughly coincided with my ovulation.
Pretty woo.
But this way of working is a game-changer for me!. If I had planned this launch for the days around my period, it would have felt miserable, because on those days (and I was paying attention this time) I felt like a failure who would never have a good idea again.
It is obvious now that launching something on those days would have been a terrible idea, but I’ve not been conscious enough to think about it in the past. So, this has really revolutionised when I plan things in for.
It was not going to make or break my finances
Everyone who buys the workbook will get a really compelling follow up offer to work with me one-on-one, a couple of weeks after they purchase. If they buy it, I will be delighted. If they don’t, I’m happy that they bought the workbook and hope it helps them get a clearer sense of what they’re doing online and why.
The key thing for me here is that I know that I have enough money coming in from my other work to pay my basic expenses.
Knowing that this is just one part of my income, and not expecting it to be the be all and end all means I treat it a bit more lightly, which I think makes people respond better to it.
Having said that! Being more visible around this lower-price product, which felt super easy, coincided with getting LOADS of other requests for other projects. Even if none of those transpire, the workbook has given me a reason to be more visible, which has resulted in more work requests. I consider that a major win.
I had fun with it
I have a constant battle with imposter syndrome and have a very love/hate relationship with getting out of my comfort zone. Since going self-employed, I’ve worked hard on both of those things, but it still never usually feels fun to promote myself!
But then my coach (she is awesome) and I were talking about making things easy. How would it look if this launch was easy? How would it look if this launch was fun?
So, while I was planning, those are the thoughts I kept in my mind. Does this feel easy? Does this feel fun? What could I do to be more playful around this?
Ruth Poundwhite talks about this a lot, and I have loved watching her launch stuff recently. So I went to town with this idea. I shared an Instagram story of me dancing every time an order came through on Friday. It was ridiculous. But I enjoyed just being silly and having fun with it all.
And that’s it, I think! They were big shifts in mindset that really helped to make a world of difference. And guess what – it’s been selling! Hoorah! If you’d like to get one of your very own, you can pick it up here.
It’s just £5.95 until the end of the month, when it’ll go up to £15. PLUS you’ll get access to that super exciting exclusive offer I mentioned above.
I think it’s useful and hope it can help you, too.
PIN FOR LATER
