754: Your Launches Don’t Have to Suck! Here’s How

0:01Okay, I have been on this ruthless pursuit to purge any clothes that I'm not actually wearing. Like if I haven't reached for it in months, it's got to go. I am trying to be really intentional about what I bring into my closet right now, which means I am only buying pieces that I know I will actually wear and use. Revolve just gets it though. I'm literally wearing my brown Autry sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse. It fits my laptop in it. So it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything. I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life.

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1:15So happy shopping. We've heard that thing where it's like people create 90 % of the time, promote 10 % of the time. But if you want to have a successful launch, you need to flip that you need to create 10 % of the time and promote 90 % of the time. Hey, my name is Jenna Kutcher and I am obsessed with all things, business, marketing numbers, and helping you to navigate both the messy and the magical seasons of this thing called life. I'm a small town mama who took a$300 camera, grew a successful photo biz, and now I work from home and run a seven figure online business. I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore.

1:53Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss, and marketing are all topics we discuss here. Think of this as your one-stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Hello there from Launchland. We are currently in the midst of my biggest launch of the entire year, and I am so happy to report that I am still sane. I'm not all that stressed, which if you've ever launched anything is a feat in and of itself. Now, as we speak, we are launching my signature program.

2:29It's called the Pinterest lab. It is my four step fluff free process that takes under an hour a week and can help you 20 X your traffic. Now, if you're listening to this episode, the day that it airs, I'm doing my final two live free webinars today. If you want to learn more about my Pinterest program that we're launching right now, you can head to teach me pinterest.com. That's teach me pinterest.com. Or you can head to my Instagram at Jenna Kutcher and DM me the word Pinterest. I'll send you more info on what it is that I'm talking about in today's episode. Now I am so, so, so excited to be leading thousands of you through this free masterclass this week and welcoming in the next class of Pinterest lab students.

3:11This launch week honestly feels like Christmas, but in so many ways, launching didn't always feel like this. I can't wait to tell you my story. Now launching is intense, no matter how you toss it, but it doesn't have to suck. So I'm going to share how we prepared for this massive launch, some tips for what you can do, no matter what it is that you're launching, whether it's a new website, a podcast, an online course, a brand new offer, or heck even your business so that you know exactly what to do in advance so that launching doesn't suck and you can actually enjoy the process. Let's dive on in.

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4:27HubSpot for startups has it all. So get ready to build a brand everyone loves and make your startup growing pains a thing of the past. Visit hubspot.com slash startups to see how much you can save. That's hubspot.com slash startups. Okay, so we have to kick off this episode with a funny story. So I was recently on a team call, we were talking about the launch, different things that were going on. There was this lightness, this fun, this airiness to all of the conversations surrounding the launch. And I had this like visceral memory of what launching used to be like. And I have some team members that have been with me for seven years, five years, they weren't with me in the early days.

5:06They didn't see what I went through when I used to launch. And so for me, having this fun around launching feels like crazy because it's not where I started. So here's kind of a funny story. So over seven years ago, I believe it was around eight years ago, I was an avid listener to Amy Porterfield's online marketing made easy podcast. Now, Amy, if you know, is my best friend now, but at the time she had no idea who I was. And she talked a lot about these different launches that she was doing. And I was so intrigued. Now, at the time I was mainly a wedding photographer, but I was starting to dip my toe into the online education space.

5:45And Amy totally intrigued me, like the way she talked about her launches and what was possible and how she was making an impact and what she was teaching. Like I wanted it all. So I very boldly emailed her a stranger and said, would you teach me how to launch? Like I will pay you. Can you mentor me? Now Amy or her team, we still don't know, politely declined, which we now laugh about. And they forwarded me to a guy named Rick. Now Rick was somebody that Amy knew. So I reached out to Rick and I said, Hey Rick, you know, I'm thinking about building this program. I've had a lot of personal success.

6:19I've been doing one-on-one mentoring. I want to take what I've learned in those mentoring sessions and put it into a course. I want to do a launch. Can you show me how to do it? Now, Rick politely declined and sent me to someone else. Now he sent me to this woman who we knew through a mastermind and he was like, she has the capacity. She can do it. So I connected with this total stranger who I'd never met. And I paid five figures to go and learn from her. I flew to a Northeastern state, stayed at her neighbor's house, which they just had a mother-in-law suite. It was like, they were college professors.

6:53I remember they were very kind stayed in their house. And for two days straight, we like sat at her table. We use this whiteboard. We planned out my launch, all these different things. And it was honestly really amazing because she walked me through so many parts of the process that I hadn't even thought about, or hadn't even considered. If you have ever launched anything, whether it's your website or a podcast or a YouTube channel or a business or like anything, you know, that it feels like there's these like unwritten rules that you're not totally sure that you're doing things right. You want to make the biggest impact.

7:25You want to get the best results. And so to have somebody walk me through, it was amazing. But one thing that happened in her teaching me was that she brought out this very like urgent, stressful energy about launching. She made it seem like we were going to war. Like it was one of those things where it was kind of this mentality of like you are going to hate every minute of this. And at the end, hopefully it'll be worth it. And I subscribed to that because that's what I was taught. So it was literally like, have your meals ready to go. You're going to eat in front of your computer. You're going to be available at all hours, like have your phone next to your nightstand, like just intense energy.

8:06And that was the energy she used. But that energy, if you know me, like my motto is like, let it be easy, like flow, don't force. And so that energy always just like made me approach launching with like stress before it even started before it even began. And so it was so funny on this team call, because my team and I, we were talking about this launch that we're in. And it was just this beautiful, like alignment. And I was like, it was not always like this. Let me tell you. So today I'm going to walk you through some of the things that we did to prepare for this launch, which is our biggest launch of the year, and how we got to this place where we can actually enjoy the process.

8:45Now, no one teaches you how to launch, at least I haven't found anyone that teaches it well yet. It feels kind of like this mystical world where people are doing it. And a lot of times we can watch from the outside looking in, but we miss all the little intricacies and the things that need to happen in order to have a successful launch. And while that can be really frustrating and confusing, you have to figure out what your style of launching is, what's going to work for you, and how you can have joy in the process. Because let me tell you, your launches are probably going to be some of the biggest things that you do in your business, whether you are announcing a new product, opening up a new service, having a sale, doing mini sessions, creating a new product, like whatever that is.

9:30And if you're not enjoying that, you're missing the beautiful reason why we likely became entrepreneurs in the first place. So let me walk you through what we did this time around because this launch has been pretty darn epic. So first, start way earlier than you think. So we in my business, we do one big launch per quarter. So if you think about it, we do four launches a year. That's it. So we have these windows of 90 days to prep, get everything ready to launch and to decompress post launch, which we'll talk about. And so one thing that happens is creators and entrepreneurs are working so hard on the thing that it is that they're launching, that they are not preparing for the launch itself, right?

10:20We've heard that thing where it's like people create 90 % of the time, promote 10 % of the time. But if you want to have a successful launch, you need to flip that you need to create 10 % of the time and promote 90 % of the time. And so you have to start way earlier than you think. So we already know what launches are going to be happening this year. We can start preparing for launches six months out. We are constantly working ahead. And I think that part of the reason why launching is now joyful is because we are not coming at it from this place of urgency or this level of stress, we are approaching launching with joy, peace and ease because we have a plan.

11:00And so we started preparing for this launch last year, right? We knew it was coming. We knew what the plan was. We knew the timing for the launch. And so my first recommendation is start earlier than you think. I have had so many times where I'm looking at something on my calendar and I'm like, Oh, that's like four months away. That's five months away. It feels like forever. And then all of a sudden you blink and it's there. And so start way earlier than you think. Now, I would say that the longer the runway you have, the more successful the launch. And so a lot of times as creators, we have this tendency where we create something amazing and we want to just like get it out into the world.

11:39And so we're quick to throw together anything that looks like a launch. And then we get really disappointed when it falls flat. And so do not rush the process start before you think you need to don't rush the process and really embrace and have fun on the journey like find joy in the journey when we were young we dreamed of castles and fairy tales and as we grow up those dreams might shift into building something real like starting a business you need a website payment systems a logo and a way to reach customers it can all be overwhelming and confusing, but thankfully that's where today's sponsor Shopify comes in.

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13:08look I've become kind of a systems nerd and anything that gives me more space in my day I'm all in and a reliable connection is a huge part of that because when the internet lags or cuts out everything pauses and suddenly the simplest tasks take forever I learned really early on that dependable internet it's not a luxury it is a must whether you're a content creator like me a restaurant owner or running a busy dry cleaning business you need that steady connection to support your team and your clients. That's why I'm excited to share a solution for my fellow business owners. Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all types connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services, all with connectivity solutions built for your budget.

13:51And they have a truly incredible offer. Business owners can get free business internet advantage forever when you add four or more mobile lines. It's simple with no contracts and no added fees. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. Restrictions apply services not available in all areas. Okay, number two, this is what I learned from the person that I learned launching from be conscious about the energy that you bring around every part of the launch. You want to get really honest and clear on what is your why. You want to have clarity around who it is that you're serving.

14:32You want to make sure that you are looking at things beyond just the results, right? You want to look at the impact you're making, the awareness you're bringing, the way that you're showing up and serving. And when you can really connect to a deep why, it totally helps shift the energy from scarcity and urgency to peace and ease. Now for me, for this launch, I remember talking to someone and telling them all about Pinterest. And it was funny because I love Pinterest. Like if you've ever met me in real life and we start talking about marketing, probably one of the first things I'm going to ask you is, are you using Pinterest?

15:08And I was on a stage at this beautiful convention filled with amazing female entrepreneurs. And somebody asked me like, well, why Pinterest? And I was like, okay, here's the deal. I love Pinterest, but what I love more is getting a return on your investment with the investment being your time. I have always said time is my currency. And I want to make sure that every single hour that I spend on my business is worth it, right? I'm in this season where I have these young kids. Time is so fleeting. It moves way too fast. And so if I am spending an hour on anything in my business, I want to make sure that there's a true return on that investment.

15:45Why do I love Pinterest? Because we spend one hour of it a week and we can 20 X the traffic to my website. It is the number one way we organically drive eyeballs to my hard work and it lengthens the lifespan of the content. So I'm not going to go super nerdy here, but I just want to like explain like why I'm so fired up about this launch and why it's exciting to me. If you post something on Instagram, it generally lives and dies within three to five hours at max 24 to 48 hours. The average lifespan of one pin is four months. You can 120 X the lifespan of your content in way less time. And the best part is, is that if you have a VA, you could pay your VA for one hour a week to set it and forget your Pinterest strategy and drive more traffic than you could ever do on social media.

16:37And Pinterest is not social media. It's urgent. And okay, I'm nerding out. But the point here is be conscious around the energy that you bring to your launch. I love this program because it's so simple. It takes a few hours to learn this entire system, one hour a week to implement it, and it can transform your business. Now I could talk about this all day, which means that like my energy around it is excited. And so just be thoughtful about like how you're going into the launch. Are you excited? Are you energized? Are you ready to show up? Do you think you're going to change lives? When you have a beautiful conscious energy around the entire thing, selling becomes a service.

17:15It doesn't feel scammy. You don't feel sleazy. You are literally serving people while you sell because you are putting your customers in the driver's seat, helping them to discern, is this the right offer, the right message, the right leader, the right time? And they are these confident purchasers excited for what you have. It just shifts everything. I feel like I've been on webinars and I've watched them where you can just feel the energy shift. When the person starts selling, they suddenly get quiet or they start talking really fast and you can tell that they're just not confident in what it is that they're selling.

17:51And so I think that again, if you bring this level of consciousness to the energy around your entire launch at every single piece of it, your audience is going to feel it. They're going to experience it. And it's just going to bring about a whole different level of joy in the launching process. Okay, number three is tactical use a project management software. This is something that took me way too long to implement like years to implement. And now I can't imagine launching without it. So we use monday.com. If you go to Jenna loves monday.com, Jenna loves monday.com you can see and get a free trial it's an amazing project management system my entire team uses it now in the past i was literally trying to keep things on track and organized with like notebooks and google docs everything was a mess i did not have a clear system i didn't have deadlines i wasn't able to track the progress like there's just so many things missing and i think that was in part why launching was so stressful because there are a lot of moving parts, regardless of what it is that you're launching.

18:59And if you're not confident that they are stored in a safe place so that your mind can release them at the end of a busy day, then you are going to feel like a chicken running around with its head cut off. And so having a project management system has been incredible. And it's a really beautiful and visual way to track every single step and process. Now, at the beginning, I was a person that was tracking this. Now I'm a team member. So I can literally click over to our launch board, see exactly where everything is at know exactly what needs to get done what we're working on what is complete it is beautiful and it helps ease my mind so much that I'm not going to bed and being like oh wait do we create those graphics oh my gosh is that sales page ready like all of these different things and so you are not only going to save yourself so much time from hunting and pecking through your google docs or trying to remember which notebook you wrote down that list in, but it's also going to help create a system and a workflow so that anytime you go to launch, even if it's something that's totally different than what you're currently launching, you can look through and be like, okay, do I need these things for this upcoming launch?

20:03Again, a project management system. Oh my gosh, such a game changer. I now use it all the time. I constantly have a tab open with what I need to do. And it's just a beautiful way to track everything. Okay, number four, and this is the area where I think my team is the best in all the universe, is anticipating every possible need before you go into the launch. So this is where we excel. I think my team is so good at thinking through every single thing that we're going to need as we go into a launch from landing pages to thank you pages to confirmation emails to email funnels to add graphics, to pop-ups.

20:46Like we can anticipate just about every single thing that we need for the launch. Therefore we can do it in advance. So this is a huge thing. And this is an area where I think so many people get stressed because they announce that they're going to launch something. They get into the launch and they have not anticipated anything that they need. So all of a sudden they're like, wait, I need to send an email. Oh my gosh, I need to write an email. Here's a funny story. So I hired that woman. She taught me how to launch. She walked with me through my first launch. I will never forget how much stress there was because we booked people in for these webinars.

21:25It was basically my first stab at doing these live webinars. The webinars ended and she goes, where is the replay email copy? And I was like, what does that mean? And she's like, wait, we don't have emails. I was like, what emails? I thought, wait, what? I thought the webinar was it. She's like, no, no, no. After the webinar, you have to email people the replay and you have to email them this and this and this. And she starts listing off things during the launch in real time. I was typing up every single email and I didn't even know what the emails were. Like I would literally need someone to like, tell me, okay, this is the next email that's going out.

21:58And then I typed that one up and then it'd be like, okay, we need two emails for this day. I'm like, oh my gosh. So we now work from this place where we anticipate every single need before the launch happens. And our goal is to have every single thing done and wrapped up before the launch even begins. Now, this is so huge because my main goal as the face, the voice of the brand, the person showing up and teaching, my main goal is that I can show up to launch week. And the only thing I have to do is just serve my brains out on these free masterclasses. That's it. There are very few things at this stage of my business that only I can do, but only I can be leading these master classes.

22:40Only I can be doing the Q and A's live on Instagram or things like that. But basically everything else can be anticipated and prepared and ready. We're talking about having our emails locked and loaded, tested, links working. We've got pages built. We've got a social media plan to execute so that I can literally open my phone and just hit publish. We have graphics ready, like everything is ready and done. And again, our goal is to have all of this wrapped up before the launch even begins. In fact, a week or two before the launch begins, just so that we have time to decompress and bring the right sort of energy into the launch itself.

23:19So anticipate needs, think of things like what web pages or lead pages am I going to need? What emails will I need copy for? What graphics do I need to create? What is my social media plan? Where will I be sharing this launch? What needs to be updated before we go live? Think about all of those things and anticipate. If you can be great at anticipating the needs, your launch is going to blow you away because you're going to walk into it rested, excited, and ready, not exhausted, stressed, and frazzled. Okay. Number five is this, ask for help. I joked that this episode today should be talking about my team member, Michelle.

23:59Now, Michelle was hired a year ago. In fact, she was with me for this launch a year ago. And she was basically a spectator to it. It was like, watch and learn. Here we go. Now, last year's launch was kind of a surprise to us because I hadn't live launched the Pinterest lab in two years. I had my book launch, I had babies, there were so many different reasons why we hadn't live launched it. And so when we went to last year, we were blown out of the water with the volume of people who were attending the masterclass, people who were curious about Pinterest and the volume of new students. Like it was amazing.

24:37It was like a spectacle. And Michelle got to watch all of this. Now I did not always have Michelle because this year Michelle has already done this. She has been managing and running so many pieces, but keep in mind when I first launched, I was the person who was writing every email, building the sales pages, promoting on social media, creating the webinar slides, hosting the webinars and doing every single role. And so it did not always look like this, but I think that number five is ask for help. There are so many areas in a launch where you are likely not the best person to do the job, whether it's creating graphics or writing copy or building out that landing page, like whatever that is.

25:20And so if you are in a place where you feel confident that this launch is going to yield a return, you're going to actually get results from it. It might be an opportunity for you to invest in getting some help so that you can really focus on the most important parts of launch. Remember, I want you to get to a place where you are creating the launch item 10 % of the time and promoting it 90 % of the time. So asking yourself that question of where can only I serve and how can I offload some of those places that I'm either not proficient in, I don't enjoy doing, or I just don't want to do anymore.

25:58So even for this launch, it was actually pretty amazing because last year we made some really big investments in hiring out for new contractors to help us so that this year was literally a rinse and repeat in the most beautiful way. So last year we hired a team of copywriters to help us with copy. We hired a new web designer to help us with the pages. We hired a measurement team to measure our results. So we had this fully stacked team. And so, so much of this year's launch was looking at what went well and redoing it. But I say this because you probably don't have capacity to hire out every single thing in your launch.