Hey Reader,

You may or may not know this but...

I just finished rounding up the launch for my new ebook "The Content Creation Blueprint" which helps coaches and service-based business owners gain their first 10K Instagram followers the right way using CONTENT.

As this was my first time ever publicly launching an offer, it was a learning experience filled with many ups and downs...

Here are some of the key lessons I learned during this period so you can take a few of them and apply them to your own launch if you're considering running one soon (trust me, you don't want to miss the last one)

But first... why did I decide to do a launch?

Why I decided to launch my digital product

There are two main reasons...

The first is obviously to generate sales, running a structured launch allows you to let more people know about your offer and how they can get value from it.

The second reason was to generate awareness.

I've been on Instagram for about 3 years and this was my first public launch. Most of my selling up to this point had been done through this newsletter, in the DMs, and on sales calls.

There was a certain percentage of my audience that didn't even know I had something to sell so a launch was the perfect way to let them know that this is a business and I'm trying to generate revenue.

Now that that's out of the way, here are the main lessons I learned from my launch.

3 key lessons learned from my first launch

1. Having a strategy is a must:

Running a launch is much more than just putting up a product and sharing the link to your stories or email list.

Since this was my first time running one for myself (I had helped a bit with the launch for a client in the past), I knew there was a lot I didn't know and had to educate myself on.

Therefore, while I was writing The Content Creation Blueprint, I also learned as much as I could about how to successfully launch a digital product.

I even went ahead to purchase a course from a creator that I trust which was a big eye-opener.

Through this, I was able to create a strategy for my launch and decide on:

• How long the launch would last for,
• The different phases the launch would go through,
• How to create excitement during the launch,
• How to sell strategically during the launch,

And much more.

This roadmap helped me feel more confident and show up much more consistently which helped the launch execution go as smoothly as possible.

So if you're planning a launch and it's not something you're already familiar with and you won't be getting outside help, dedicate some time to learning.

Free content like YouTube videos, Instagram posts, and so on are a great place to start. If you want to move faster then invest in an ebook, course, or coaching.

Launching is a valuable skill as you'll keep creating more offers for your business over time.

2. Preparing in advance is a lifesaver:

Planning things out in advance saved my launch.

Otherwise, I would have stopped on the first week, not because of a lack of sales but because of how busy things got in my personal life.

This was one of the reasons why I had initially shifted the launch to this month of July, I assumed I would have the time to dedicate to it.

I even had fewer 1 to 1 clients which cleared my calendar even more.

But... I was wrong.

July turned out to be packed in different ways.

• I fell sick for a whole week,
• We had to plan my Dad's birthday,
• My schedule at school got changed and I was taken from teaching computer to mathematics which was double the work (I'm a corper so I work part-time at a school)

And of course, laziness tried to creep in as well.

However, I was still able to show up every single day on my Instagram stories to either hint about the launch, talk about the waitlist or sell directly.

This was because everything was planned in advance long before the 1st of July.

• Story slides for promotions? Pre-designed for each launch phase and waiting in Canva.
• Launch emails? Pre-written and waiting in Google Docs.
• Ebook design? Outsourced and ready before launch.
• Sales page? Pre-built and ready to go.

I had less time to spend online than in previous months but that didn't stop me in the slightest.

I was able to keep going because it was just about uploading either the story for the day or scheduling the email.

So plan as much as possible in advance. It'll help you stay consistent, feel more confident, and make sure last-minute emergencies don't derail your launch.

3. It's okay to sell your stuff:

I have limiting beliefs about selling in public which have held me back for a long time.

• What if my story views drop?
• What if people unfollow me on Instagram?
• What if people unsubscribe from my email list?

This is why I previously kept my selling to private environments like DMs or sales calls where it's a 1 on 1 interaction.

This launch shattered my fears and got me much more comfortable with selling. It is the best gift I got from this launch (yes, even more than the revenue).

Funny enough, I'm not entirely sure why I was so scared of selling in public before.

If I were to guess, I'd say that I always want the audience to be my top priority and don't want to jeopardize that and the value they are getting.

I mean... if my subscriber count or story views drop to 0 then who do I sell to?

But I came across a quote from a creator which really changed my thinking and made me more comfortable showing up and selling.

It's a really simple answer to a question that came because someone in her audience who had the same fears (losing followers, story views, and subscribers) asked her whether to send more sales emails to her list.

Here was her answer...

It sounds stupidly simple, right? I've learned that the best things usually are!

I don't want an audience that grows without making money from it, I'm running a business after all.

So I went ahead and did what was required.

• I posted the daily stories selling.
• I sent the launch emails.

And the money came in but besides that, certain things surprised me.

Shockingly enough, my Instagram story views actually went up (probably because I was telling people to respond to them and they were)

And while I did lose subscribers...

I lost less from my sales emails than from my value-packed newsletters. Crazy right?

More of you will unsubscribe after this newsletter than after my sales emails.

This has shattered my beliefs about selling my stuff, needless to say, I'll be doing it much more from now onwards.

You should do the same. Sell your stuff!

Final words

Now, I know you may be wondering...

How did my launch go overall?

Did I hit my revenue goals?

The short answer is...

No, I didn't!

-cue sad music-

But a certain amount of revenue was never the real goal of this launch.

My goal was to learn as much as possible about what's involved in creating a digital product and launching it because I have many more planned down the road.

And on that end, I achieved my goal of learning.

I'm several steps closer to becoming a legend at launching offers.

Information is good but you learn 10 times more from implementing and failing which is exactly what I did.

So keep that in mind as well.

​

Happy weekend Reader,

Niyo

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P.S.: Thank you so much if you're one of the awesome people who got The Content Creation Blueprint during launch. If you missed out, it's not too late as the ebook is still available for sale.

If you're a coach or service-based business owner ready to gain your first 10K Instagram followers the right way using CONTENT, click here to check out the ebook!