I’ll never forget presenting a session in Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche’s incredible closed Facebook group-Dream Buillders-Live Richer Academy about self-publishing and my course “Make Money with Ebooks.” This is a space with around 26,000 women and a few men, who paid to have access to her content, and additional content provided by guests that she invited into the group. I was one of those guests. What’s unique about me being a guest in the group at that time was the fact that my course had launched eight weeks prior to that off off the success of my first book that I made $540 on during the first month of self-publishing. In 2020, my mission is to help YOU make more money by monetizing what you already know how to do using skills that you already have. At the heart of Michelle is Money Hungry is my mission to help empower listeners financially not only with their personal finances but with earnings. My mission for 2020 is help listeners make more money in 2020. Preferably by monetizing and optimizing the skills that you already have. With that in mind in today’s episode, I’m sharing 7 reasons why now is the time to launch the product that you’re keep thinking about launching (but haven’t) and ask: what are you waiting for?
*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*
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To access the Show Notes go to: https://michelleismoneyhungry.com/time-to-launch. Make sure to grab free mini-course “Do It Ugly” with tips on on how to launch your first podcast, blog, book, or course. And, once you grab that course you will have ongoing access to weekly in-person or pre-recorded workshops focused on helping listeners make money selling what you already know with skills that you already have.
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Show Notes
Even though I’m very comfortable presenting in front of groups, I can honestly say that I was super nervous about being in front of Tiffany’s group. What if I did a bad job, what if they asked questions I couldn’t answer, what if I didn’t resonate with her community? But, I learned a number of lessons from that experience and the first one is this.
- When Opportunity Knocks Answer the Door– Tiffany had recently asked for presenters for the Live Richer Academy. I just happened to have a course when she put the request out there. So, I decided to pitch my presentation and her team approved it.What if I didn’t have that course? I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to present to her community.
As the first cohort of students went through my course I learned several valuable lessons. Here are three of the most important lessons.
- Your first product won’t be your end product-What I launched with is different from what I do and teach now. How I structure the course, how I run my closed Facebook group, and what I focus on during the course has been tweaked and adjusted since I initially launched my course.
- Your course, product, or content needs to do what it promised-Whatever you promised the course would do, is what you need it to do. And, as your students ask questions during the course-Listen to those questions and improve your content by answering those questions.
- Content trumps beauty every time-There are those of you who keep waiting to launch a course, podcast, or book because you want things to be perfect and pretty. That’s a mistake. When I first launched this podcast it had a different name and the audio was awful. It really was. I was nervous to pitch for guests, a little uneasy about how to conduct interviews, and for the life of me couldn’t figure out if people would even listen to the show. I focused on getting great guests, asking great questions, and getting comfortable putting myself out there. The thing is, I’m an extrovert. I enjoy talking to new people, having random conversations. and asking questions. Despite this I still needed to get used to the process of putting myself out there in a different way. My students/listeners/readers just needed my course/podcasts/and books to do what they were supposed to do: educate/inspire/entertain depending on what they were interacting with.
At the end of that hour long workshop in Tiffany’s group, it was time to share my course. The workshop itself was selling and sharing the concept that the attendees could become self-published authors too. Then, it was time to share my course.
That was hard. Why?
- I had to share the course and the price. I found myself asking the following questions:
- Was I charging too much? No, I wasn’t
- Was I in the right community for sharing my product?
- Was I using the right language to address the issues that would be authors of either non-fiction or fiction books were using that would be attracted to my brand?
Figuring Out What to Charge
My course is currently priced at 3 different tiers ranging from $197-$647. I soon learned very quickly the type of students I was looking for, the amount of work it took to move some students from doubt to done, and what the cost was in terms of my time and energy.
There was no way I would or could continue running my course at the initial price that I’d offered it at. When you’re launching a product there are several components to figuring out the right price to charge:
- What is the minimum you would like to earn after taxes?
- How much time does it take for you to work with the 20% of students who take up 80% of your instruction time?
- What is your student’s perception of your course based on your pricing?
- Who are your students? Who are you trying to attract to your course? My ideal student for Make Money with Ebooks is a digital content creator who has been working on their online platform for a minimum of a year. They are looking to start a podcast/create a course/write a book/or launch a retreat and are nervous about the next steps.
- Knowing who your students will be, will help you position your products in better. I’m much better at knowing where to share my course in 2020 than I was in 2018 when I initially launched it. That includes connecting with students who have the basic infrastructure to support the future products that they would like to sell.
It Gets (Somewhat) Easier
The more that you believe in your product and the longer it exists, the easier it is to sell your product. It is much easier for me to substantiate my claims about my products over time for the following reasons
- Students provide feedback and testimonials
- Readers provide reviews
- Listeners provide reviews and downloads
Market Your Products in The Right Spaces
Now that I have a little over a year marketing my course, I have a better idea of the platforms that work best for it. I also have a better idea of how to address the following:
- The pain points that my future customers are struggling with. Basically, why they are afraid to start?
It’s Time to Launch
I hope that this episode has helped encourage you to get started on launching that podcast, writing your first book, creating your course, or first in-person event.
Your product has a life cycle just like any living thing.
- You give birth to it
- You nurture it
- It matures
- Things change
- You decide to table it
- You launch (give birth) to something new
That lifecycle could run a year, to 5 years, but you won’t know unless you launch. I often joke that my course is ugly but that it get’s the job done.
Launching my course has done several things for me.
- Increased my confidence
- Extended my brand
- Increased my passive income
- Given me something to teach and share beyond my original area of focus=personal finance
- Taught me how to market my projects/goods/and services
At the time this show is being shared it’s the beginning of 2020. What will launching your product do for you? What do you plan on getting out in the world?
Resource Mentioned
When do you plan to launch?
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