There are so many ways to launch a product or service online from doing a small promotion to a big production. I’ve done all kinds of launches and want to share 15 big lessons that I’ve learned along the way:

1 – It never goes as planned

Nope, never. Planning is essential so that you know what actions to take and in which direction to march, but you better be ready for sh*t to hit the fan.

You might think that your sales page sucks but your opt-in offer is solid but you could be completely wrong! The bonus you think won’t work might be the most popular thing you’ve ever created. You never know until you put it out there.

2 – You always want to do more than you can

When planning a launch it’s fun to dream big. I’m going to create a graphic for this and a video for that and a custom workbook and Facebook ads and, and, and….

You probably can’t do everything. Make a list of the essential elements and a list of the dream elements and do the best you can. You can always add more next time!

3 – It’s important to set goals

I’m all about tiered goals as I talk about in this blog post: How to Find Your Goldilocks Goal (comes with a free goal setting worksheet)

What are tiered goals? Well, I have a “keep the lights on goal”, a “goldilocks goal” and a “unicorn goal”. (I explain what each of these are in the blog post above).

4 – Buuuut i’s more important to be unattached to your goals

Say whaaa? Unattached to my goals? What’s the point?

Goals exist to give you clarity, much like a plan. Unfortunately, many of us get so attached to what we WANT to happen that we become completely crushed when it doesn’t go that way. (See point number one!)

How do you unattach yourself from your goals? I’ll show you in #15 🙂

5 – Launching is crazymaking

This is obvious to anyone who’s done it and I feel obliged to warn anyone who hasn’t yet!

Creating something and then putting it out into the world and asking other people to spend their hard earned cash to buy it is scary.

You can ease this craziness by not getting yourself in over your head. Launch small before you go big. Beta test your offer before you get a sales page created. Make damn sure that people want that thing before you invest in selling it to anyone.

6 – You’ll get better the more you do it

Like anything, right?! Last year I forced myself to do a mini launch almost every single month so that I could get used to it. This is exposure therapy at it’s finest and something I recommend for newer entrepreneurs.

7 – Scarcity matters…a lot. So do bonuses.

Human beings wait until the last minute to do ANYTHING. You do know that, right? So why do you think that you can “soft launch” your new service and then magically have clients coming to you? It doesn’t work like that.

80% of your sales will happen just before the cart closes, the bonus ends, the price goes up. EIGHTY PERCENT!!!

You’ve got to have a reason for people to buy now. Limited time, limited bonus, limited number, limited price. It’s up to you, but it’s gotta be there if you want customers.

8 – You need to be your biggest cheerleader

There’s a lot of B.S. online about how “easy” it is to launch an e-course and make millions.

Not in my experience.

You can’t half-ass an email sequence that’s completely impersonal and expect peopel to buy.

You’ve got to craft emails that feel like personal letters from friends, tell stories that make people root for you, consistently deliver value that makes people think, “how did she know I needed this?!”

9 – You have to repeat yourself 100x

What do you say in a sales email sequence without shoving your offer down people’s throats?

Essentially the same thing over and over again… but without people being able to tell.

You have to be in love with your topic so much that you WANT to talk about it all day because if you don’t, you cannot possibly make anyone else want to listen to you all day.

It’s all about stories, vulnerability, possibilities, truth.

Oh, and you’ve gotta tell people when those bonuses are expiring…because that’s when they’ll buy 😉

10 – Good customer service is magical

OMG it amazes me how many people just want to get a personal response. (Probably because I NEVER email other business’ customer service? Maybe I’m weird?)

But it’s true.  So many people just want to talk to a human being, share their questions, get validation, and then they are ready to buy.

This means that you need to prepare for customer service in advance. Who will be answering emails? What dates and times will be the most crucial? What will be your answers to the common questions?

11 – Everyone is wondering “But is it for ME?”

This is the essence of every customer service question. People want VALIDATION.

It helps to decide in advance who is / isn’t a good fit and make a list of qualities so that you can honestly answer people’s questions.

12 – Tech glitches.

They happen. If you whine about it, you’re unprepared. Have a plan B (and C) and a good sense of humor because… why not?!

13 – Never, ever, ever launch to a cold audience

No one wants to hear about your brand new service if they can’t remember who you are or how they got on your list.

I’ve found that it’s best to warm up your audience about a topic at least 4 weeks before launching, but more is better of course! One reason we get high conversion rates at The Rule Breaker’s Club is because we’ve sent out weekly newsletters for more than 3 years with valuable content.

14 – You need support

It’s ok if you’re doing your first launch solo but you’re definitely going to want to hire at least a VA as soon as you can. There are so many moving parts to a launch and you will kill yourself trying to manage all of them.

15 – Prepare for the worst

Maybe a weird tip for the end? But for serious, my friend, prepare for the worst.

I can’t stand seeing business owners investing their life’s savings into launching an offer and being crushed when no one buys it. I know you’ve got optimism coming out of your pores so here’s how to balance that: Prepare for the worst.

What if your launch doesn’t go well?

What if no one buys?

What will you do then?

What’s the worst case scenario?

Making a plan for this will help you with tip #4 (stay unattached to your goals) because you won’t be betting your life’s worth. This is truly the best and most important tip that I can give you about launching. If you plan for the worst, you’ll wind up implementing all of the other tips by default because you’ll have your head on straight.