5 Things You Can Do Today To Get In The Right Mindset For Your Next Launch
We're talking about launching (again), but we're going to talk about it in a different way this time. We're going to talk about your mindset. Honestly, I'm a strategy girl. I'm an execution person, and I love when we get shit done. But launching is just as much mental as it is action. And today, we have to talk about it.
To get your mind in the right space for launching, I'm going to first tell you what not to do when you launch. I'm also going to tell you what I did wrong, I’ll share some that my clients got wrong, and I’ll share some lessons learned as well. All in all, I’m giving you four specific examples of what not to do in launching.
Then I am giving you the top five things to do to get you in the right mindset for launching. Because your mindset and mental approach to launching is just as important as anything else (if not more important!).
When it comes to launching, a lot of it comes down to whether or not you’re setting yourself up for success –which is the common thread in these examples. So hopefully, these examples will help you get in the right mindset so you can set your launch (and yourself) up for success right from the start!
If you aren't sure how to launch, don't know what you need to do, or don't even know what a launch is, check out Episode 119, where I break down the exact five things you need to launch. But first, let’s talk about things you should NOT do when you’re launching.
4 Things To NOT Do When You’re Launching
Having No Plan
Number one, having no plan. Been there, done that. I’ve had failed launches, too, and the short of it is if you build a new thing, like a podcast, a course, or a workshop, you can't just post it once and assume people will buy it. It just doesn't work like that. We are inundated with information nowadays.
The other day, a friend of mine had a baby shower, and I was invited to the shower. I got a screenshot/one-time text about it but I'm a busy girl. So if it's not on the calendar, it ain't happening. It’s on me for not following up and making sure I put it there. But it was such a good reminder that just because we see something one time doesn't mean we buy or take action – even if we want to.
So don't not have a plan. Avoid just throwing something out there and thinking it will help people. I see it so many times, someone will get the idea, then they post about it, maybe they send a message to people, but no one goes and then their feelings are hurt. One time is not enough. How many one-day sales has Macy's had, right? You need to talk about it more than you think you do.
2. Don’t Go On Vacation
Number two. Don’t go on vacation. Meaning don’t go MIA or not show up during your launch. How do I know not to do this? Because I did it.
When you're launching something for the first time, and you have a solid strategy –there's a section where you do have to show up a lot. Show up meaning, post stories, being engaging, contact people, and follow up with people. You have to be available, and it’s hard to do that when you're on vacation. So going on vacation when you launch is maybe not the best option. Going on vacation immediately after you launch? I highly recommend it.
3. Do Not Discount Out Of Desperation
I've done this. I know other people have done this and it feels gross. Don't do it. Don't discount it because you're desperate and no one has bought anything. Don’t think, maybe it's just too expensive. Maybe I priced it too high. No.
Perfect example. How much is a cup of coffee at Starbucks? A lot of us pay for it. We don't go there because it's cheap. We don't go there for a deal or sale. We don't expect them to be like, our vanilla latte is a little pricey so we're going to bring the price down. We would never expect that, yet we still go there. Because they're selling an emotion. They're selling a sense of belonging. They're selling a sense of status. There's so many other layers involved in sales. It's not a price issue. If you're having people not buy the thing you're launching, it is not a price issue. There are so many other factors to address. And trying to change the price in real time during a launch is not the time.
4. Don’t Post & Ghost
Don't post and ghost back to vacation. If you are promoting a new thing, and you post it one time on your feed, and you expect that that's how people are going to hear about it, and people are commenting, and they're asking questions, and they're DMing you, and you're not following up with them, you're gonna lose out on that momentum.
So do not post and ghost, especially stories, if you're asking them to vote, leave a poll, ask any questions, things that are designed to be engaging. If you're asking for that, and they're engaging, follow up with them. This means you need to create time to follow up with them.
5 Things To Do To Get In The Right Mindset For Your Launch
Now, for the launch mindset, I want to be proactive here and share five things that you should definitely do that will help you get in the right headspace to launch. I want to start by saying there's nothing wrong with postponing or canceling a launch. I've done this before. I would rather you not launch something if you're not in the right headspace for this because there's going to be a lot expected of you during a launch.
It requires a lot of consistency and showing up, especially if you're brand new or your offer is completely new to your audience. Energetically, it's demanding. So you need to be in a place where you can handle that.
If you can't, the best thing you can do is postpone it. No one needs to know that you already recorded three podcast episodes and you're pushing it back a month. No one knows and no one cares. So do what's best for you. That's my bonus tip for you.
But now we're gonna dive into the exact five things to do to get you in a launching mindset.
Define What Success Looks Like For Your Launch
Number one, define what success looks like for this launch. I don't want you to put a dollar amount or a number of clients and just set it and forget it or have that be a success –especially if this is your first time ever doing that.
In my personal opinion, you're setting yourself up for failure. If you write down that a launch success equates to three clients and you don't get three clients, you failed. And that’s not true. There's lessons to be learned in launches that don't go as planned if we're open to them. So really take the time to define what success looks like.
I had a client recently transition her in-person business to online. With that, she redesigned her website, her branding, and had a coming out party, if you will. Coming out meaning her new brand was put into the universe. What she was doing wasn't really changing, for the most part. In general, just having an official brand behind what she was doing was enough.
But we had to really talk about what does success mean to her? When this launches, and we tell people about it, how do we know we're successful? For her, honestly, it was just education. It was getting new followers, it was getting new clients. If she could book a new client, who she had no connection to, and they booked through the internet, that would be a success.
So it's super important to define what that means for you. Write it down somewhere where you don't forget it, share it with a neighbor, share it in our Get Shit Done Facebook group. Wherever. Just define what success looks like for your launch and share it with people who can hold you to it.
2. Take Care Of Yourself
Point number two. Take care of yourself. I'm going to be very real and honest, we had a launch plan for June, but we're not doing it. Why? I’ve got a lot going on and a lot of great momentum. I had an entire launch mapped out that we're not doing because it just doesn't feel right to me right now. And that's okay.
I know what it takes to have a successful launch. So I'm focusing on myself right now. I need to prioritize myself. And then share that authentically with you. Because you may have all the best intentions to launch your podcast or workshop, whatever that thing is. But if you come to that starting point and you haven't done a great job of getting into a routine, automating some systems, and creating some sustainability and flow in your business, that is not the time. And that's okay.
So take care of yourself and make sure you're in a good routine with that. That can mean having a solid morning routine that could mean exercising. I want you to be feeling really good in your body and in your mind before you go launch something because launching is so exhausting.
And the next three points I'm going to share I'm going to show some of the vulnerability that happens behind the scenes that we don't talk about. So take care of yourself and if you're not put it off, do it later.
3. Mentally Prepare Yourself For No One Buying
Point number three. Mentally prepare for what will happen if nobody buys. I'm not saying to tell yourself that no one is buying even if you give this launch your all throughout the entire process. I’m not saying that.
Previously, I talked about three weeks' launch time and what should happen each week. There are certain moments where you're going to have more interest, and then it will dip, and then more interest that you create, and then it will dip.
So what happens if not a single person signs up? Are you going to be okay with that financially? Is that going to work? Are you putting all your financial eggs in this one basket to perform for you? If so, you’ll have a very hard time having a solid, clear mindset going into your launch. So what are some other ways we can get some cash injection into your business so that you can launch this thing with a very clear level, head and expectation?
It's important to go through this exercise because if you go through the process and no one buys anything, it doesn't mean you're a failure. It's hard to acknowledge that and a lot of people don't talk about this part of launching. They just sell you their click funnel, their process, their evergreen model, their webinar that funnels into a freebie that funnels into a course that people just buy and buy and buy.
At the end of it. What happens if no one buys? Do you let that get to you, yes or no?
If the answer is yes, that really helps. If someone doesn't buy, and you feel like a failure, that's something worth revisiting before you launch. It doesn't mean you go into it assuming no one is buying your thing. They're not worthy or you’re not worthy. You shouldn’t feel that way. But every single launch you put out there, be prepared that no one will show up.
For me, this allows me to be stronger and more consistent, and unwavering in my approach to launching. So when I host events, there are times where less people are there. There are times when a younger version of me would have been upset or felt like I didn't do a good job or that I failed. Now I've come to a place where if I show up to my networking group, and there is one person in the room, I am serving the hell out of that one person.
Same thing for launching. Just focus on your strategy, commit to consistency, and be in a headspace where you don't need them to buy. You want them to and you want to help them, but you don't need it. Because the energy feels desperate. We don't want to feel that way when we're launching something.
4. Mentally Prepare Yourself For Selling Out
Point number four is the exact opposite of preparing for no one buying. Instead, get into a headspace and walk through the exercise of what if it sells out? What if it totally blows up? Do you have the capacity for that?
A great service industry example is offering group coaching. Do you have a cap on how many people you can take on, yes or no? Because if you don't, and you get to a place where you're not able to deliver the quality work that you promised, that's a problem, too. If you're a product based business here’s an example. I had a client do a big launch with packages and some individual launches to continue on the momentum. She sold out of those packages within hours. So she's like crap, I planned on posting and talking about this for a couple more days and now it's sold out. So she had to be able to pivot and come up with Plan B and promote other things to fill in the gaps.
I want you to be prepared and go into this launch, knowing hey, if I sell out, if my spots fill up, if the workshop gets full, what do I do? Because at the end of the day, when you're done launching doesn't mean you just go away and hide forever. In fact, the way I see business and launching is there are different moments where you inject more momentum and more hype. But we still want this consistent flow of business. And we are the ones that have to steer that ship.
So mentally prepare that it sells out, that it blows up, that you get totally full, know what those parameters are and have a Plan B. Have some ideas ready. If this goes even better than expected, I have some systems in place to handle that demand and that interest in my business will be okay.
5. Believe In Your Offer
Number five, believe in your offer,that it kicks butt and it helps people. If you don't believe your course, your workshop, your podcast, your blog, or your newsletter is the best value ever –it's going to be so hard to sell it. You have to firmly believe in what it is you are promoting and putting out there.
I can tell you firsthand how crucial that is. When we launched the podcast the first time around again it was called When I Grow Up and it was advice you would give to the younger you. What I realized is, I believed in it, I thought it was cool. I had interesting people on. But it was really hard to sell. Because I couldn't promise anything. Some people would come on and share their story. There are, frankly, some episodes where people are promoting their books and just kind of talking about that a lot. There are some people who just talked the whole time and I barely got a question in at all.
I say this because it makes it hard to tell people to listen to a podcast when the range is wide and the audience is wide as well. Now with Get Shit Done, I can confidently say, Hey, if you're a business owner or entrepreneurial spirit, and you have a specific goal in mind that you're struggling to execute on, this podcast will give you the tools to do that. Whether it's a solo episode where I'm giving you five things to do, a group episode where I'm interviewing other entrepreneurs who share their journey, or a live coaching episode –you're gonna get value out of this, and it's going to help you execute on your goals.
The new podcast brand and the previous podcast brand still produced a podcast. So I'm technically delivering the same thing. But by having a laser focus on the branding and confidence in my offer, it's a lot easier to talk about it. This is something that we discount. We don't know that sometimes we're launching the wrong thing.
Oftentimes, if you search Instagram, Facebook, or the internet on what to launch, people are going to push you to do a freebie or a webinar, a five day challenge, a three week challenge, what have you. If you don't believe in the thing you're putting out there, you're not going to talk about it as genuinely as you would.
Imagine a new coffee mug that you love. People talk about what they love, new shoes, new pants, people compliment and you're like, oh my gosh, I got them at so and so. You have to buy it. Someone the other day on Instagram said, I like your jumpsuit, I need it. I immediately was able to find it in my purchase history and I sent her the link to it because I love it. It's easy to talk about right? So we have to do that for business too.
If we're launching something, our offer has to be the best thing, and we have to firmly believe in it. We have to know who it's for and who it's not for. There's power in saying no. If you get nothing else from this, at least know to focus on who you're speaking to, and be okay saying, Hey, I don't think this is the right thing for you. But here's another way that I can help support you. I think there's so much power in that. And that's something we don't consider in all of this.
These tips are meant to equip you mentally for what's to come. Anytime you're launching something, there is a mental toughness that has to exist there and we do not talk about it enough.
Why Having A Strong Mindset Is So Important For A Launch
Having a strong mindset is so helpful. I had a client who, in certain seasons of her launch, was not tough mentally. She learned about things she would do differently moving forward and why she would do them differently. One big takeaway was that she had this perfect person in mind of who needed her offer. It's an actual person. So when she's talking about her avatar, she's picturing this person. But sometimes, your offer may not be the offer for that person. And that's okay. But that's a mental mind F, right? Because we want to work with people we like.
When I was a hair salon owner, I had people who sat in my chair, who were business owners. I was like, Oh I would love to help them with their business. I help them with their hair right now but I would love to help with business. Guess what? We may not be for them even if we like them. We know we can help them but they may not need what we have –and that's okay.
So we have to really train our mind to be strong and resilient and weather the storm that is launching. Things will come up. There may be a night when you have all this media planned. Maybe you plan on going live and doing stories and all that stuff. And maybe you don't get any sleep. But you have to do it anyways.
Where is your mental toughness in this equation? How can you set yourself up for mental success for this launch? How can you separate your identity from the success of it? That's what’s super valuable and something we don't talk about enough. What is going to lead to sustainability in your business? Because the truth is, your first launch is not going to be gangbusters beautiful, amazing blow-up sale.
Unless you're famous, most of the time, your first launch is not going to be your best one. But that's okay. There are so many lessons to be learned along the way. Practice giving it your all, then you can go back and really dissect, hey, here's what worked. Here's where things were a little bit off. Hey, no one commented on anything. Okay, I need to look at my messaging. There are some things I can adjust here.
I want you to be mentally tough going into it. Because what I don't want is for you to launch the thing, nobody buys it, and your immediate reaction is, well, I gotta launch something else. How can you ever know if it worked? You'll never know if your offer is a good offer if you don't give it that second chance, that third chance, that fourth chance.
When we talk about launching, you have to be obsessed with the thing you're putting out there. You have to be in a place where you believe so firmly in what you're putting out there. If the process of the launch process doesn't work for you, you're still going to launch the thing. Maybe you'll make adjustments in your launch process. And that's okay. But it just gives you clarity so you're not just guessing a bunch of things.
Imagine if you were not totally obsessed with what you're launching. You didn't have a solid launch plan. Your mindset wasn’t strong. If you weren't consistently up there, how can you know what worked and what didn't? There's way too many variables in that equation that you would not know. If you're trying to improve it for next time, you can't. Unless you start over.
Make sure you're taking care of yourself leading up to this time and during this time. To quickly recap the five things you need to do to et in the right mindset for your launch:
Love the thing that you're launching.
Define what success looks like for you.
Mentally prepare if nobody buys
Mentally prepare if it sells out.
Believe that your product kicks butt
Those are my five tips for getting you mentally tough for launching, I encourage you to really be honest with yourself. If that means postponing a launch, reworking a launch, reworking your offer.
Now's the time if you have been quietly working on this stuff and not sharing it. People don't know or care if you've been quietly working on it, and you've teased it here and there once or twice in your stories, or maybe you did a post something is coming. No one will know if you decide to put it out a month later or even further out. They won't know and they won't care. You need to steer the ship. I really believe you need to set yourself up for success and promote this thing.
Here’s the deal, you are more than your launch, you are worth more than that. You provide more value than that. This launch isn't going to save the day in your business. However, if you want to get to a place where you're putting new things out there and you're building hype and energy and momentum, you have to have a plan for that. And before that, you have to get your mind right. That is the underlying current of what this is all about.