I’m facing one of the taboos of online business today: SHARING MY NUMBERS.

I don’t normally write posts like this, but I’ve felt the urge to do so recently and got the push the other day when my friend Maggie Patterson at Scoop Industries directed me to the killer article on Convert Kit’s blog called, “Most of the Launch Revenue Numbers You See are Bullshit”. I absolutely LOVED it.

At the end of the article, I even posted this comment:

And I realized… If I love seeing real numbers so much and my core brand value is “REALITY,” then it only seems right that I would share my numbers with you.

Because I haven’t posted a new article in the past month, I feel like writing this article here is a challenge to me to give you good information about how the recent launch of my new program, Yay for Clients, went.

Before I share the numbers, I want you to know why writing this post makes me nervous:

I “meet” a lot of people on the internet who think that I’m something I’m not.

I’m worried that setting the record straight will be like telling kids that Santa Claus isn’t real… though I now see how stupid that sounds when I write it down!

I don’t think it’s my responsibility to share my revenue numbers with the public, but I do see how it can be helpful to see the actual numbers of how someone else is doing. I love seeing other people’s numbers!

When you see my launch numbers, you might think it’s a lot. You might think it’s not very much at all. Honestly, your reaction says more about you than it does about me. I’m very happy.

My business is supporting my life and is growing consistently, but I’m not a fairytale or an overnight success. I’m constantly throwing shit at the wall to see if it sticks. Sometimes it does! Yay!

 

So why did I decide to share my launch details with you?

• I’m a “ready, fire, aim” kind of gal. I had the idea while watching Live with Kelly 24 hours ago and decided to go for it. Stop overthinking everything that you do! When you act fast, you’ll make more things happen. (To be honest, my team and other people had already planted the seed in my brain that this would be a good idea).

• I’ve felt a nagging need to set the record straight. I get the sneaking suspicion that y’all think I’m rolling in piles of gorgeously colorful Canadian cash. I’m very very proud of how I’m doing, but please don’t put me on a pedestal. That is the last thing I want. I want you to look at me and think, “I can do that!” not “She’s special!”

• I want to show you that I truly walk my talk. I don’t teach or preach anything that I haven’t done or don’t do regularly. I’m more than happy to tell you when I don’t know the answer to your questions. Feel free to post your questions in the comments!

• Entrepreneurs (and people in general) carry too much shame about money. We don’t talk about money and it makes it feel taboo. I like some things to be kept secret, but I do think it’s helpful for you to see real, actual statistics.

 

Let’s back up for a sec. Why did I decide to launch this new program, Yay for Clients?

Back in November when I made my plan for 2016, I had planned on re-launching my “TKO Summer School” program this July.

TKO Summer School is a great program that helps you create all of the copy you need for your website.

Buut…

Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned that most people are trying to polish a turd.

In other words, people want me to write copy for a business before they’ve proven their concept and gotten their packaging right. And then their services totally flop.

Great copy can’t sell a poorly packaged service.

In fact, copywriters often spend more time consulting clients on how to better package their offers than coming up with witty language. I saw this as a consistent problem (and have heard this “complaint” from other copywriters) so I decided to fix it.

And that’s when I decided that I wanted to craft a program to teach entrepreneurs how to get clients. I want to show people how to put together irresistible packages!

Here I am sketching out the outline of Yay for Clients. I was IN THE ZONE:

 

Also…

When I first started my business, I had a monthly newsletter called The Project Moolah Monthly Report where I reported my income numbers. My goal was to start making at least $2,000 per month.

When I surveyed my audience (you!) in June 2016, you told me that you also are trying to hit that $2K per month goal. This was a big “aha” for me because most business programs online are promising that stupid “six figure” goal that makes me want to vomit. Learning about where you really stand sealed the deal for me.

You don’t need help making 6 figures. You need help making 5 figures.

 

Here’s the launch strategy that I used:

Want more? Click here to get my entire launch checklist.

Originally I was going to just host a webinar to launch this program but I decided to add a 3-part video series to break up the content. I had so much to say and knew I couldn’t cram it all into a webinar!

 

Here’s what I have to say about offering a 3-part video series:

• I kept the videos around the 15-minute mark. The big mistake I see people making is making the videos too long.

• Videos are a great way to keep people engaged over a couple of weeks (vs a webinar where you have one time to show up live).

• If you’ve never shown your face on camera or there isn’t a lot of your personality in your business, hopping on camera to say “hi” is a great way of nurturing your audience. They’ll love it!

• Do not make this more complicated than it needs to be. Decide what each “mini lesson” needs to be and then create a short powerpoint to teach the lesson. BAM.

• I have some experience making videos over the past 3 years so it was very easy for me to “whip together” this video series. If you’re not in the habit of this, it will take a lot more time.

 

I also hosted a webinar. Here’s what I have to say about webinars:

Webinars are amazing! I’ve had a lot of success with webinars so this could be a post in and of itself. For now, I want you to know:

• Make sure to follow this formula when picking a webinar topic.

• The title of your webinar is so, so, so important. It needs to be specific and communicate the result.

• It’s easy to “pitch” your program when you are genuinely super excited about it and come from a mindset of serving others.

• Don’t cram too much into your webinar. Teach enough to help people get a result, but not so much that they feel overwhelmed.

 

Here are the actual numbers from my entire launch:

• List Size Pre-Promo: 3,584
• List Post-Promo: 3,775
• Video Series + Webinar Sign-Ups: 700
• Total Enrollments: 34
• Live Webinar Attendees: 143
• Enrollments at Webinar: 8
• Enrollments After Webinar: 26
• FB Ads Spend: $289
• Video Series Opt-In Page Conversion: 40%
• Webinar Opt-In Page Conversion: 48%
• # People who Paid in Full: 23
• # of People who Took Payment Plan: 11
• Total Revenue Earned on Yay for Clients upon cart closing: $13,253.34 (this is actual cash in hand, not payment plans)
• Total Revenue Sold (including payment plans not paid yet): $17,892.00 (in other words, $4,639 is left to be paid in installments. This is revenue that I am counting on in August and September).

Things I want you to know about the money:

• Because my business is in Canada, my Canadian customers pay sales tax (which is added into the total right now)
• Apart from the sales tax, I have to pay regular income taxes on this money.
• I also have regular business expenses. This is not all profit! Our business expenses are lower than most businesses, but we still have expenses.
• We do have a refund period, so the number could potentially go down.
• THIS NUMBER IS NOT MY SALARY! My business + personal expenses are totally separate and I am currently paying student loan debt, so I only pay myself what I need to survive each month. The rest goes to savings (retained earnings), expenses, debt repayment, and taxes.
• This is not an average month. I am going on vacation in August and won’t be launching or promoting anything. We still have revenue coming in from our products, but to be safe, some of the  money from July is set aside for all August expenses.

 

Why did I offer a payment plan?

A total of 11 people took us up on our payment plan option.

Most of these were at the webinar / early on during the promo. As the promo went on, fewer and fewer people used the payment plan option.

I have never really offered payment plans before because most of my programs are what I consider very affordable for what they offer.

I also have heard many horror stories from my colleagues / fellow entrepreneurs about people not paying on their payment plans. That sounds annoying to me. I have zero interest in having my team spend valuable time chasing down delinquent payments. We’ve got bigger fish to fry and I can’t stand people not doing what they say they’re going to do.

However…

For Yay for Clients, I knew that people would want a payment plan. We’re targeting newer business owners who aren’t making a ton of money so we wanted to make sure there was an affordable option.

We considered a lot of factors when developing our payment plan. Ultimately, it was from getting the opinions of trusted “advisors” that we decided to do a 3 x $197 plan. Here’s why:

• If we offered a payment plan for less, we’d have to make the plan go on way past the end date of the program which doesn’t seem right. (For example, 6 monthly payments of $97 is way too long).

• If we offered a cheaper payment plan, I knew we’d get enrollments from people who actually aren’t ready for the program. I like having a price point that still makes people stretch and commit. The point isn’t to make the program accessible to everyone. The point is to make the program accessible for the people who are a good fit.

 

That pretty much sums up the Yay for Clients launch. I’m extremely happy with it (especially because I had to create + execute everything in less than a month!).

There are a whole bunch of things that I would improve the next time around, but I’d probably keep the basic structure the same.

 

Please leave a comment and tell me: What was the most eye-opening part of this post for you?

• What information is the most helpful for you to see?
• Do you like blogs like this that reveal all of the nitty-gritty details?
• What information would you still like to know?