How many times have you been inspired with a great idea or new, must-have product that needs to be launched, but instead of getting it out in the world where it’s needed, it stayed on your “Future Plans” board instead? Maybe you’ve set dates, done a little of the reverse engineering, but overthinking and overwhelm reared their ugly heads. Suddenly it’s the end of the year, and that great idea you had is STILL in your head. If this has happened to you more than you’d like to remember, read on for four tips to get unstuck and launch!
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What's Keeping You Stuck
The internet and online space is both a curse and a blessing. There are so many different ways to launch. Add to that, there is no one perfect way to launch your offer. Depending on who you follow, you might feel the need to create a 30-day launch with three webinars like Amy Porterfield. Or, if you follow Jeff Walker, you see a launch with a video series and wonder if a webinar is really necessary. Some influencers promote challenges or summits as part of their launch strategies.
No doubt this leads to overwhelm and indecision: should I plan a webinar? Would hosting a challenge be better? Do I need all this? Before long your squirrel-brain is in overdrive!
Then it becomes the string of endless tasks. If you finally decide on using a webinar in your launch plan, you’re suddenly remembering you need to create slides, wondering about the tech, and so on. You procrastinate and get stuck in an endless cycle of indecision.
Are you worried about list size?
Newer entrepreneurs or people that don’t have big email lists, often focus on list size before they launch. They feel pressure to create a new lead magnet and build their list before launching. The truth is, this is really something you should be doing all the time, not just in the panic of a launch. Growing your audience should be something you are working on 365 days a year.
Make a practice to grow your email list and network with people on your favorite social media platform like Facebook or Instagram all the time. I’m guilty of not implementing this habit myself. There are ebbs and flows in business. Sometimes you’re really good at advertising your freebie and getting people on your list. Other times you just fall off the wagon.
In the meantime, get over the fact that you don’t have a gigantic list before you launch. Everyone starts somewhere. People have made good money with less than a hundred people, it just depends on how engaged your list is.
Once you start attracting people to your email list, begin reaching out to them regularly. There may be people on your list that you’re networking with that are prime candidates to buy whatever it is that you are offering.
Are you worried about where to start?
As I mentioned earlier, there are so many choices in how to launch, it can be hard to know where to begin. This is especially true if you are following any influencers online; they each have their unique style in launching. So you might begin asking yourself: Should I have a seminar? Should I have a webinar? Should I have a challenge? Should I do a video series?
My best advice, especially if you’re first getting started, is that you don’t need any of them. You can use social media and email your list. It’s actually one of the things that I recommend for new launchers.
Are you worried about tech?
The other major area you can get stuck is with the tech. Do you really need this fancy tech tool? Can you use Zoom? What about Google Meet? I know someone who recommends Crowdcast or WebinarJam; which is better? Then what’s the best way to create a webinar slide deck? Canva? PicMonkey?
The next thing you know you’ve wasted two hours looking for the perfect slide deck templates. This is my favorite place to buy them.
If tech is holding you up from launching, know that you can always hire someone to hook up things and do the tech for you. I offer Launch Tech in a Day set up, for example.
Are you worried you're doing it right? Have imposter syndrome? Are a doubting Debbie?
One of the other places I see women get stuck is the mindset piece. They agonize thinking they aren’t an expert, they aren’t visible enough, no one knows them, and those that might know them might think they aren’t qualified. The whole imposter syndrome creeps in. Or maybe you are at the point in your business where you aren’t visible at all yet, and you question the idea of putting yourself out there.
The truth is – You’re going to have to do it. Whether you are looking for clients and referrals, you are getting visible. You may not be getting visible on social media but you are getting visible. You’re getting in front of people with referrals because you’re talking to other people. If you don’t network, if you don’t get visible, you really don’t have a business in my opinion.
4 Ways to Get Unstuck and Launch
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, how can you get unstuck and launch? Here are some easy tips to help you get started.
Get Unstuck from the Small List Worry
If you’re worried about having a small email list, wanting to create a new lead magnet, thinking you need 500 or 1,000 people on your list yesterday, and wondering where to start.
Stop and ask yourself if you really need a new lead magnet. Chances are, probably not. You probably have something in place that you’re already advertising, or there is something on your hard drive you could whip up pretty quickly and just send it off to people.
Make sure you are sharing your lead magnet everywhere you can. It should be on the front page of your website above the fold or in your sidebar. Do you have a hello bar or announcement bar at the top of your site? You can share your lead magnet within your email signature and in your social profiles.
Networking is another solution. Start reaching out to people. I don’t know about you, but I know I get at least 5 to 10 friend requests every day. I am not even actively searching, and I get requests. Start having conversations with these people, get them on your email list, and start building relationships. No landing page required!
Get over the idea that you are oversharing. Reframe the mindset that it’s too much or icky. It’s never too much. Just stick it out there. The worst thing that could happen is that people scroll by without signing up. Or they sign up and later unsubscribe. And that’s why it’s recommended to have seven to 12 touches before someone takes action.
Get Unstuck from Analysis Paralysis
Let go of the idea that you have to have this big official launch. Forget the idea that your launch has to include a webinar or a challenge. Just share your offer on social media and email.
Why do I say this? Because when you launch, especially if you’re just starting, you’re going to have to go through the content creation phase. You are going to have to create all the social media posts, write all the emails, and then schedule the content out. I highly recommend using templates for this, repurposing content you already have, and bringing all the pieces together.
The point is, there is a lot of content creation that goes along with launching. If you start easy with social media and email, the bulk of your content will be in place. Then when you relaunch, those pieces will be completed. You can focus your energy on the webinar, webinar registration page, and then a few emails, like thank yous and reminders.
What you are doing is taking small actionable steps that grow over time. Your content – all that social media and email you’ve done in your initial launch – has now been tested. You already have data on what resonated and what didn’t, which emails got the largest open rates and clicks. Now that you have that information, you can repurpose what works and just update what didn’t to try again.
Get Unstuck from the Tech
If you’re worried about tech keeping you from launching, you probably aren’t giving yourself enough credit.
The reality is you probably know how to schedule emails. You’d probably know how to schedule social media posts. You probably know how to use Zoom if you are planning a webinar, or a workshop-style launch (this eliminates the need for a slide deck). Instead, you are running a workshop, work off an outline, and share it through Zoom. With Zoom or Loom, you can even run a video series launch. (If you do this, I recommend Jeff Walker’s Launch). Another easy tech option is using your phone and creating videos that can be placed in an email to create your video series launch. You can always change them out later.
Looking for ideas to promote your launch? Facebook lives and Instagram are super easy. Just press a button and go!
Get Unstuck from all the Doubts
It’s so easy to get stuck in this spiral. Maybe you’re seeing you aren’t getting views or reach you want. It doesn’t have anything to do with you or your ability. In reality, if you are recording on your Facebook business page, we know that doesn’t get like a humongous reach. You need to drive traffic there, whether through ads, networking and inviting people to view it, or embedding the video link in an email and sharing with your list encouraging them to check it out.
As an example, I did a video about this topic on my Facebook Business page. Chances are, hardly anyone saw it live; most people will see things on the replay. So start practicing! Just go live, get it done, and if you hate it, delete it and blame it on a tech glitch! 😉
There’s a lot of mindset stuff with launching. You could easily talk yourself out of continuing to show up strong through a launch but be aware of how the cycle works. Typically, once the cart opens one of two things will happen: either people are going to buy, you’ll be excited that people love you and are buying your offer, or you won’t get the sales you hope and you’ll feel deflated.
It’s also common for people to purchase in the initial and final hours of a launch. There is a lull during the “messy middle.” This is another opportunity for doubt to creep in, for you to feel you aren’t good enough, for you to start doubting that people like your offer. This might cause you to show up with lowered energy, get down on yourself, and prevent yourself from finishing your launch strong.
My recommendation? Do a three-day flash sale where it’s quick and dirty. If three days isn’t sitting well with you, run a five-day launch. I don’t recommend seven to 14-day launches. That is a long time to keep your energy up and it can be very draining.
Remember to set up your launch emails to remind people of the cart closing. I suggest at least two emails. Schedule these in advance of your launch so they automatically send and you don’t have to think about it. Remember you aren’t bothering anyone. Best case scenario, there’s someone who has forgotten to buy and your reminder is helpful. Change your mindset to understand that you’re doing them a service. Your product has the power to change someone’s life. Don’t let them miss out because you are worried about being annoying.
BONUS: Get Unstuck with Realistic Expectations
A bonus piece of advice with mindset and launching is to set realistic expectations. Ignore the social media posts that boast those $50,000, $100,000, and $1 million dollar launches. Maybe they sold ten $10K products. Generally, the average entrepreneur will not have these huge launches and you need to set realistic expectations.
So how do you set an expectation of how many sales you’re going to have?
Look at your list size (remember, it doesn’t have to be huge!). Converting one percent of your list is good, one and a half is better, and two percent is considered best. Then multiply that by the dollar amount of your product. This is a reasonable expectation for a launch. Even if you don’t hit the sales numbers that you wanted, you need to celebrate what you’ve accomplished.
You have knocked a few things out of the park.
🎉You made a decision on an easy, simple way to launch your offer.
🎉You’ve got all the social media content and emails written!
🎉You set up the tech needed for your launch. That’s amazing!
🎉You launched and you got something out the door. Not everyone does that. A lot of entrepreneurs sit, think about it, and don’t actually do it.
🎉You’ve gathered valuable data from your launch experience. What content resonated with people? Was your messaging strong? What were your analytics like? Who’s clicked on that link? Who’s looked at your sales page?
What can you do next? Take advantage of surveying people who didn’t buy. A sample email might look something like, “Hey, just following up. I saw you clicked on my sales page, and I’m wondering if there were any questions you had. Why didn’t you buy at this time?” Use that data to help you do better next time. Maybe the feedback will indicate the pricing was too high, there wasn’t a payment plan in place, or maybe it just wasn’t the right time.
The important thing is to celebrate yourself. You did it!
When I work with clients, I have a launch debrief with them and we work to retool the launch so it performs better next time. You will only get better by doing. You can keep what worked well and tweak what might need to be adjusted so it converts better next time.
You can launch roughly about every eight weeks. If you have a smaller list, you might want to stretch that out because you don’t want to tire your small audience, but it also depends on your list growth.
YOU CAN Launch with Ease
Those are my four tips to get unstuck and launch. I hope that I’ve provided you with easy ways to stop overthinking, get out of your head, use what you have, make it easy on yourself, and keep going forward.
If you need help with this process, I offer VIP launch intensives where we can map this all out for you in a launch strategy. Support from someone with launch experience will help you get unstuck and launch. You’ll feel less overwhelmed and more successful. You’re not going to need a vacation from life after you’ve put in all this energy into launching, no matter how it goes. Whether you’ve had all the highs and you had a really great launch, or maybe not as great as you had hoped, either way, I don’t want you to be overwhelmed and exhausted.
2 Responses
Thanks for the tips, Karrie. Sometimes just bracing oneself and doing a launch is the best way. Jeff Walker’s system is good and can be adjusted to a small list too.
Your welcome. Yes you are right! I love the flexibility of Jeff Walker’s system.