How I Sold Out my Group Program (and made $25k) Without the Usual Launch Burnout
Launch burnout is something that so many online entrepreneurs experience that it’s started to feel like it’s just unavoidable, part of the package when it comes to launching.
You know what I mean.
During your launch, you work work work non-stop, put all your energy into the launch, and by the end of it, you’re soooo exhausted that you need at least a week to recover before you can do anything (let alone deliver the offer you just sold!).
But launches don’t have to be like that.
Last year, I relaunched my group coaching program Rebellious Success, and my goal the whole time was to avoid launch burnout.
And I did!
Not only that, but I also sold out the program, and made $25,000 cash-in-hand, and nearly $32,000 after payment plans.
So in this post, I’m going to give you a no-holds-barred behind the scenes of this burnout-free, successful launch.
I’m going to be sharing what worked, what I’d do differently next time, and a better way to understand the true “long game” of organic marketing that’s based on relationship building and authentic connection.
The Offer: What we’re working with
This launch was a re-launch of my group coaching program Rebellious Success.
It’s a 6-month program for people who’ve been in business for around a minimum of a year and have tried all sorts of things, but are still struggling to understand how to consistently grow their business. They feel like they’re working too much and doing all the things, but the results they’d hoped to have by now just aren’t there. Or they’re starting to reach capacity, but they don’t know what to do next so that they can move past their income ceiling. Lastly, these are people who have zero desire to do anything that resembles bro-marketing or any tactics that feel unethical or unaligned.
This launch was for the second cohort of the program. Both times I launched I gave myself an entire month to enroll new members.
This is currently my only offer that has a specific “cart close” date, because I hate the feeling of being rushed.
The first time I did it I was hoping for 20 people and got 7. In hindsight, this was actually great! Twenty would’ve been too many. For the second cohort I capped it at 12 and got 12. YAY!
If people paid in full, they got two 1:1 calls with me to use during the program. If people joined during the “early bird week” (the first week) they also got a Personalized Profit Plan intensive with me, regardless of which payment option they chose.
Starting with a “Hot Leads” List
During the first launch, I had several people who told me they’d be interested in a future round, but couldn’t join just yet.
So I created a “Hot Leads” list and put these people on it so I wouldn’t forget to reach back out to follow up.
The weekend before the cart opened for this re-launch, I reached out to all of these people. There were 13 people in total. I was very upfront that I’d likely not launch it again for about 7 months, and that when I do, the price was definitely going to increase.
Because of this, I was certain a lot of those people would jump on it.
When they didn’t, I started to get worried.
One thing that’s super common with launching group programs is this fear that not enough people will join and not only will it not have the same impact with lower numbers, but it will feel embarrassing because the people who join might judge you or be disappointed.
Kicking off the launch
Monday came and I started promoting it both to my email list and on Instagram. I had to leave my house to run some errands, and I was really getting in my own head about things, even though the launch had only just started. Especially because while I was out, I checked my phone and saw an email from someone I was absolutely certain was going to join, who told me maybe she’d join in the fall instead.
I came home and started to do some work and realized I had two people submit applications. I went to go check, fully assuming it was two of my Hot Leads.
But when I opened them and clicked through, I realized that I had no idea who these people were! HUZZAH!!!
This helped me quickly shift my mindset, because it proved that what I teach really does work when you trust it and do it consistently.
Why is that?
Because as I scrolled to the very bottom of the application where it had space for a referral name, both had come from other people I knew.
Two perfect strangers were going to pay to learn from me simply because someone they trust had talked about me before. BOOM! YES! I was ecstatic! Now we were off to the races.
In total, 7 people joined during Early Bird week. Then the next 4 were in the middle two weeks, and the final member joined at the very beginning of the final week.
The Marketing Plan
Here’s a breakdown of all the different pieces of the marketing plan for this re-launch of Rebellious Success.
eMaIlS
I typically email my list on Tuesday and Thursday. The Thursday email always focuses on my Wednesday podcast episode. The other email is really an assortment of teaching on something and/or updating them on cool things that are happening, such as places I’m speaking, podcasts I’ve been on, free or low-cost paid trainings they can register for, or something I’m actively selling.
I emailed a little bit more during that first week because of the cart opening and the early bird bonus.
The following week, I sent an email only to the people who had clicked on the sales page to let them know there were only 5 spots left. I originally planned to do this towards the end of the launch period, but I moved it up since spaces filled faster than I had planned.
I also planned to post almost every weekday on Instagram and talk about it consistently in my Instagram Stories.
I tell my clients all the time that nobody is paying attention like we are to our own stuff. It’s imperative to talk about something more than seems necessary, because it’s easy for people to not notice something or to be ready to check it out, get sidetracked, and forget to come back to it.
Even though I know this, I’m also human and initially felt a little worried about annoying people. But I could either annoy people and risk them leaving (if they did, we aren’t a good fit anyway), or I could be sure I spoke about it enough so that nobody who really wanted to join accidentally missed out.
I also did something which I’d wanted to do for a long time but it felt scary and vulnerable: ask clients to share their experiences on IG live with me.
I also asked them for feedback even though they had only completed 2 months of the program so far. (These were members of the first cohort; I overlapped these 2 cohorts.) I took their feedback and had my assistant make graphics with their words and headshots. And I scheduled times we’d do the interviews.
fReE gRoUp CoAcHinG fRidAyS
On weeks 1 and 2, I did a free group coaching session on both Fridays.
These were no-strings-attached sessions where people could show up to Zoom and get a question answered for their business.
I like doing this because it allows people to experience what it’s like to work with me before they decide if they want to invest. Obviously this might not work for everyone depending on their business, but it was fun and easy to set up.
fReE trAinIng
Lastly, I had a free training I was going to do the Friday of Week 3, a week before applications closed.
My original thought was that it would serve as a final push to get the last several people in.
Ultimately by the time I did the training, I only had one spot left. I created this training during the first launch, and while I tweaked it a little for the second launch, there are still updates I want to make to it.
I also tried to run some ads for this training, but didn’t have success with them.
Also, I think you’ll be happy to learn that my email list is only around 850 people, and my Instagram has just over 3,300 followers. Nowhere close to that “swipe up” feature (which was still a thing at the time).
Here’s the breakdown of the members and how they came to join the program
I’m not going to be sharing anyone’s names here, so instead each new program member will be designated by a letter.
Hot Lead. We initially met through IG, but ended up in a paid membership program together too. We mostly stayed connected via IG though to keep growing the relationship.
Hot Lead. We initially met through a paid program that I was assisting with, but stayed connected via IG to keep growing the relationship.
Came as a referral through B. I had never met her before.
I had never met her before. Came as a referral through a woman I met in the same paid membership community as A. The referrer and I had also spent time chatting via Voxer when she needed some help with her offers; the referrer had me as a guest on her podcast too.
I had been Facebook & Instagram friends with her for a while. We originally met through a mutual friend. We would just casually chat. I had no idea she was interested in joining.
We connected on Instagram several months back through mutual friends. I had no idea she was interested in joining.
We met via a speed networking event put on by a mutual friend. Then we had a virtual coffee chat after. I had no idea she was interested in joining.
Another referral from B. B had posted on IG sharing about me and how she likes my approach and H saw it. B also had me on her podcast during the launch and posted about that on IG, but I’m not even sure if H listened to the episode or not. I had never met H before she applied.
Hot Lead. We had met through a mutual friend who she does some work for. We had done a virtual coffee chat several months before when she wanted to ask me some questions that would help her with her work for our mutual connection. She realized what I did, was kind of interested, and we stayed connected on IG after that.
Hot Lead. I believe we originally connected via IG and have been friends in the DMs over there for well over a year.
Same as J except she wasn’t a Hot Lead. Meaning I never directly reached out to her asking if she wanted to join. She’d been a previous client for a 1:1 Personalized Profit Plan intensive, but no ongoing coaching. I had no idea she was interested in joining.
Same as K. I had no idea she was interested in joining.
Once the launch wrapped up I had several new Hot Leads to add to my list for next time.
Conversely, depending on how the existing Hot Leads responded, I made a note for next time too. This was everything from, “check back in the fall,” to “they are a better fit for a different offer now,” and “No response either way.” The people who didn’t respond at all won’t be contacted again during the next launch.
What worked really well in this launch
I made a promise to myself I was going to go “all in” for this launch.
I wasn’t “graspy” about filling all 12 spots, and knew I’d be happy at whatever number we ended at.
But I also wanted to make myself proud. If I didn’t fill them all I wanted to be able to feel like I still really showed up for the launch and didn’t flake out halfway through.
For the record, I also definitely had the “Winter Blahs” during this launch, and only worked about 82 hours total during the month. That number includes all of my regular coaching calls and paid work too, not just the launch.
So I definitely wasn’t “hustling” to fill it, but I know I tend to be a strong starter, but don’t always have the best follow through and I wanted to break that habit.
I’m also glad I got out of my comfort zone and asked for help from the first cohort.
Ultimately, I realized that my current clients were so excited to get to participate in the launch and I had almost talked myself out of it.
Many of them even shared my IG posts and told their followers about their experience in the program, and that any stranger was allowed to DM them for an honest conversation. This definitely made me emotional in the best way, and was a huge confidence boost. (Even at 2 months in, the first cohort are already asking what comes next because they don’t want it to end! WOW!)
What I would change up for the next launch
As I already mentioned, the price will increase. I’m not sure by how much, but it’ll be more. I may change some of the bonuses as well.
I’m going to have my team help me prep more of the content the month before. I was super organized with the content and creating SOPs this time, so a ton of it can be repurposed. We already repurposed some from the first launch, but the next one can be even more streamlined because of the good systems we’ve now put in place.
I’m going to pre-schedule IG Lives with past clients so I’m not trying to fit them in as I go.
I’m going to create a “Raving Fans” folder of assets for past clients to use to be able to share if they want to. This will contain verbiage and graphics. Special shout out to Zakia Haughton for this suggestion.
I’m going to move the free training up to the 2nd week instead of the 3rd. It felt weird to be telling people about an opportunity when there was only one spot left.
I’m going to be even more proactive about adding to my Hot Lead list between launches.
I also have a waitlist form on the sales page now so I can keep growing that and give those people first dibs the next time.
I’m going to be more proactive with the “Free Coaching Fridays” because I forgot I did that for the first launch and when I remembered I wasn’t great about giving people much lead time. I’ll add it to the emails and talk more about it on IG.
I’d like a better system for being able to segment my list of warm leads who’ve clicked onto the sales page. Toward the end of the launch I was worried some of them were hearing from me a bit too much. I also couldn’t track who had been to the application but didn’t fill it out because it’s currently a Google Form so I couldn’t “pixel” it.
I tried to run ads to the training but they completely flopped. With some of the recent changes to FB ads I had set up a few things incorrectly on the tech end and by the time I realized it and changed it, it wasn’t really enough time to change course and get sign ups. Next time I’m going to bring Jenn Possick in earlier for help in setting up the ads.
My goal next time is to have all the spots filled by Week 3 so I can completely shift gears to onboarding in Week 4 and resting even more before the new cohort begins.
Maybe even a full week off while my team does onboarding!
And I want to be even more present and talk about the program on social media, and I’ll do this by leaning on our solid systems now to get more prepped ahead of time.
The Results!
In total I brought in $25,308 cash from the launch initially, since ¾ of the people paid in full. And the total expected revenue from the launch was $31,968, which is the total including what came in later from payment plans.
I wanted to clarify this because often in the online coaching space there’s a lot of misleading talk about launch numbers that sound like cash-in-hand, but actually aren’t.
As the investment amount for the program increases, I imagine I’ll likely have fewer people who pay in full.
Final thoughts on this Burnout-Free Sold-Out Launch
As you can see it wasn’t flawless, but it worked!
The main takeaway for me is that many of the people I thought would be an instant “YES!” ended up not joining (only 4 of the 13 Hot Leads joined; and I never heard anything back from another 4). And people I didn’t expect to join...did!
As I track the relationships back I can see how it can take a longer time before people are ready to invest.
This is something I teach and preach, but it was nice to see it actually play out in the data. It also shows that word of mouth is super powerful and showing up, even when it feels like “too much,” also works.
