Ask Annie: How Can I Not Feel Totally Freaked Out During A Launch?

I got a message from one of the grads of Create Your Program recently saying that she was in the middle of launching her program. She said that launching was both a soul expanding and soul draining experience. I want to talk about some ways to protect and take care of your soul while you're launching your program. First I'll define "launch": The time when registration is open for a time limited with a deadline, and the things you do to promote your program during that time. When we're launching, we're opening ourselves up to a lot of different feelings and voices, both internal and external. Some of these feelings and voices can be really painful. Scarcity, shame, and fear can come in. We might have thoughts like : "Who am I to offer this?" "What if no one signs up?" "I'm annoying people." Some of these feelings and voices are exciting. You might feel joy that you're offering a wonderful program, and excitement that people are asking questions and signing up. You might have fun talking about your program and getting to run a free event. You might feel abundance as people sign up and as you give great stuff away. I've found that I need to manage my energy and feelings during a launch. Here are some things that work for me and lots of my clients: Allow yourself to feel your feelings and don't tell yourself that you're doing something wrong if you feel stressed. That only adds judgement to stress. And at the same time… Remember that you are not your launch. Say it to yourself. I am not my business and I am certainly not my launch. Don't compare the inside of your launch to the outside of other people's launches. The tough moments of a launch are usually not visible. Don't count on this one launch to pay the bills. See if you can set up your business so that it doesn't live and die by this one launch financially. If you get less people than you hoped, you can be disappointed, but don't let that destroy your finances. Track and know your numbers. Some good numbers to track from launch to launch are: The number of people on your email list at the start of your launch The number of people on your waitlist when you open registration (if you've got one) The number of people who signed up for your free event during the launch The number of people who attended your free event The number of people who viewed your sales page during your launch When you've got that data, you can compare it from launch to launch and the process will feel less like a mystery. Plan your launch at least a month ahead of time. Create a calendar of what you will do to promote your program. Plan to send more emails than you are probably comfortable with. (Remember that you're sending these to the people who are interested in your program. Tailor your launch experience for the people who are most interested in your program, not the people most likely to unsubscribe from your list.) Pre-schedule those emails and do everything you can ahead of time so you're not taking action from a pressured place during your launch. Stick to your plan. Don't panic and remove things from your launch calendar. Don't panic and add a bunch of things. Repeat your launch. You don't need to rewrite every single email from scratch. You don't need to create a totally new free event. Make small tweaks each time you launch rather than exhausting yourself with a totally new plan each time. Create a document where you place your intentions. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Write down what you most want for your participants, What you'll be creating for them, how you want them to feel as they go through your program, and any other intentions you'd like to set. Then create a blank spot for each participant you'd like to have in the program. Draw an empty oval or rectangle for each one. As they sign up, fill in their names. This is just for your own private use. It's a physical place to represent your launch and your program. Remember that you don't know how your launch went til it's over. Once I spent most of a 2-week launch feeling bummed out because my program wasn't filling. Then it totally filled in the final 48 hours. I realized I'd never get that time back. Now I return to that memory when I start to think I know how a launch is going before it's over. Set your schedule in a way that will support you during your launch. Maybe that means working less during your launch because you expect to feel distracted. Tell your loved ones how to support you during your launch. This might mean: "Remind me that I am not my launch. Remind me that I don't know how it went until it's over." Give yourself a big dose of credit at the end of your launch for doing the things you decided to do, NOT just for the results. If your launch has ended and your program didn't fill, go listen to episode 162: When Your Program Doesn't Fill. Show notes at https://rebeltherapist.me/podcast/198