So I recently had a live launch for my Next-Level CEO Mastermind.
It was my second no-sales launch for this program in four months. And I am so grateful for that second no-sales launch, because it has done more for my business than having that launch go exactly as I planned, ever could.
And that’s what today’s episode is all about.
I have decided to begin pulling back the curtain and be totally transparent with different aspects of my business in what I’m calling Behind the Scenes (BTS) episodes of this podcast.
While I’ve always shared openly about my own business and haven’t really hidden anything, I know the value of intentionally taking a look at lessons as I’m learning them. So you can learn them as well. And this is one of those episodes.
Big Takeaways:
- Listen in as I share the story of what happened before, during, and after my no-sales launch
- Learn my three biggest takeaways from my launch
- Understand what you can do if you’ve have a no-sales launch
Links in this episode:
Rather read than listen? ⬇️
Okay, so I recently had a live launch for my Next-Level CEO Mastermind and it was my second no-sales launch for this program in 4 months. And I am so grateful for that 2nd no-sales launch because it has done more for my business than having that launch go exactly as I’d planned ever could.
And that’s what today’s episode is all about.
So, I have decided to begin pulling back the curtain and being totally transparent with different aspects of my business in what I am calling Behind The Scenes episodes of this podcast. While I’ve always shared openly about my own business and haven’t hidden anything, I know the value of intentionally taking a look at lessons as I am learning them so you learn them as well. And this is one of those episodes.
I will be the first to admit, when I had my second no-sales launch for this program, I was ashamed at first. I thought, man, is this really no good? Am I really no good at this? And I was embarrassed. I didn’t want to admit to those around me like my husband and my mom and especially not to my clients or my community that I had failed again. Something that I was supposed to actually know and be teaching!!!
But that didn’t last very long, because I allowed myself to be vulnerable with myself and ask, what is the lesson here. And in that, I realized that this no-sales launch wasn’t about me. It was an opportunity for me to share my experience and these lessons with others in order to support them in creating, building, and living the life & business of their dreams.
So in my 1:1 client sessions that i had, i shared the story I’m getting ready to share with you here. And the overwhelming response was gratefulness for the transparency and vulnerability and ability to relate and the lessons.
So, here’s the story:
So, I had been planning on launching a mastermind for about 6 months before I actually launched it back in March 2021. I approached that launch much the way I had for my previous courses but tried a new launch strategy. And about halfway through that launch it became apparent that what I was doing wasn’t working, so I ended the launch early and hid away for a bit to lick my wounds.
Once I got over the sting of that no-sales launch, I decided to try again. So, I planned a super elaborate launch for July. I’d been putting out pre-launch content for weeks, and mapped out a busy-but-organized launch in my Asana, my project management software. Now, this is my sweet spot. I’ll be the first to admit that I LOVE planning of all kinds but especially looking ahead at a month or a quarter and planning out how to make it successful. And my not-so-strong spot is follow through on these plans. So, I often wait too long before starting to implement these plans and that leads to some problems.
So, I had planned on running a brand-new masterclass and doing a 5-day workshop as my launch plan. Why both? Well, I’d had marginal success with masterclasses before but I had also been reading about and witnessing many have success with the 5-day workshop model. So, I said, what the hell an decided to throw everything at it.
Until 2 weeks before the launch was supposed to begin and the whole thing went up in smoke.
I unexpectedly had my daughter home with me for three days that I had planned on using to build out the majority of the assets for the masterclass & workshop registration. So that didn’t happen.. at all.
I was tired and defeated and had a call with my biz bestie Amanda Warfield of the Chasing Simple Podcast & founder of Club Content Batching.
I was sharing with her my despair over my pre-launch prep when she said something that changed my outlook on the launch and my business. She said “simplify it. This is just another day in business. This doesn’t have to be THE launch. It’s just the next one.”
She went on to remind me that my Goal-Getter Workshop is absolute gold (she’s taken it a few times and even had me teach it in her membership program) and that I could reach for what I already knew worked in order to make this a success. I didn’t have to create something brand-new and shiny and time-consuming.
So that day, I went back into Asana, wiped the slate clean, and planned out a more simplified launch.
I focused on hosting the best version of Goal-Getter Live updating examples and extending the workshop to 2 full interactive hours and encouraging those who I know would be a good fit by sending out personal invitations via email and instagram DMs.
And it was a success. I had 17 incredible entrepreneurs pay their $7 to attend along with 4 VIP clients who got a free ticket for being my 1:1 clients. And 13 people showed up live (a better show up/sign up rate than I’d ever had before. And the feedback during the workshop and even after was incredible. People loved it, even my really silly jokes.
But I had never used slides with this workshop and didn’t think to use them this time, but when it came time to share about Next-Level CEO, the pitch aspect of the workshop, I stumbled through it. And I had gone 30 minutes over the already 2 hour workshop time. The workshop fizzled out rather than ending with a bang.
But I wasn’t to be fazed. I pulled together the replay and sent out emails, posted on social media, went live to share answers to FAQs, positioning Next-Level CEO as the solution to pressing problems overwhelmed solopreneurs were having, and most important, showing up. I went all in, convincing myself that the right people would hear what they needed and all my sign ups would occur in the last 10 minutes of the launch.
Until 2 days before the end of the launch. I was defeated. No one had shown interest or DM’s me for more information. But I didn’t stay there for long.
I rallied and put my heart and soul into those last 36 hours or so.
And when 11:59pm CT hit on July 28, I had 0 new members of Next-Level CEO.
Okay, I am not gonna sit here and pretend I wasn’t bummed. I’m human and I was disappointed.
And people around me showed their disappointment to. My husband and mom both were beyond bummed for me saying things like, “I’m so sorry. That sucks. That’s frustrating.”
And even my clients when I shared that with them. But others’ expectations of me were what I was using to determine my success. I had long been convinced that I had to live up to my expectations.
So in that moment I had a choice to make: Do I sit in disappointment & pout or do I move forward, learn what I can, and try again?
And you may be saying, well duh there is a right choice. But it isn’t that cut and dry. Both choices are equally valid. Because there is no objective “good” & “bad” or “right” & “wrong” isn’t this instance. That again is living by others expectations. When it comes to how you live your life and the choices that make up that life, the relational subjectivity is based on your unique situation and where is it you want to go. Meaning…
That choices aren’t should’s or should not’s.
There is only that which is going to push me closer, forward to becoming who I want to become and towards the dream vision I have for myself and that which holds me back. So the decision I had to make in that moment between those two choices was which one will help me and which one will hinder me.
So I decided to make a giant pitcher of lemonade out of the lemons I found myself lugging around. I chose to see the launch as a no-sales launch rather than a failed launch.
Because it wasn’t actually a failure at all. And here’s why:
- I had more people sign up for Goal-Getter Live than ever before. And while that $7 workshop isn’t making me rich right now, it is me showing up and serving and positively impacting more people.
- I showed up better & better. Every time I showed up live, I got better and better with communicating the message, no matter if there was one person watching or several. It was confirmation that success isn’t what you do once but what you continuously do.
- I didn’t hate launching. One of the major negatives I hear about live launching is that it is soul-sucking and all-consuming for basically the entire pre-launch and launch phase and once it ends, you just want to sleep for a week. You know that I preach sustainable productivity and not creating a business that you need to recover from. Burnout is not a measure of success and with this launch, I had scaled back and simplified to where I was working 16 hour days and paying zero attention to my other responsibilities, obligations, and things that I wanted to do.
And finally, one of the biggest takeaways: I now have 2+ weeks of data and information that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I talk all the time about treating business as a series of experiments and now I have just run a really good experiment and get to utilize all that information I now have to move forward strategically and ask myself and others really good questions: Is my offer any good? Does my audience really need this now? (PS I did validate this before I built it but it is still a valid question). Is my audience large enough? Am I communicating properly? Is the messaging and positioning on point? A ton of questions that will lead me to my next right step.
And there is more and more unfolding even as I record this episode that is leading me more in the direction that I want to go that I haven’t even fully processed and implemented, which is what business is all about. We evolve and change and shift as we gather new information, get bursts of inspiration and support, and gain clarity every single day.
Action Step:
I always like to end each episode with an action step that you can take right now to help you move forward and begin to implement immediately. Here is your action step for this episode: Has this ever happened to you? If not, imagine you have a no-sales launch. Be honest with yourself and journal on how you would handle it. Then look back at that and decide if that response or reaction would be helping you or hurting you.
