Raise your hand if you’ve had a launch, are in the middle of a launch, are planning a launch, or have one on the back burner? I’m gonna guess your hand is up…? Thought so. Launching in online business is being talked about so much these days – things like strategy, and list building, and promotion, and all the things. But what about practical stuff that goes on during your launch period? Like, oh I don’t know, eating food and going to the bathroom? I thought it’d be fun to share some of practical ways for surviving your launch that maybe you might not be thinking of. Ok, maybe not going to the bathroom, but ya know 😉 Here's 4 tips for you to make it through to the other side...
1. Do some meal planning OR be okay with eating out a lot.
If this is your first launch (or even your 10th launch, really), you’ll quickly realize that there are a lot of little loose ends that come up during launch week that will crowd your brain and your to do list. And I’ve found that something that gets lost in the shuffle is, funny enough, eating food! Yep, meal times can add to the stress of launch week, so plan ahead for that in one of two ways:
Do some extra meal planning – especially you mamas! – so you don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner. Plan your go-to simple meals that always sound good and are quick to put together.
OR, just be okay with eating out more than usual. You’re not gonna want to put much brain power into figuring out meals all week, so why not just skip the figuring-outing and go straight for the drive-thru? And since you’re hopefully earning money each day of your launch, you can afford the extra expense.
This is also true for the week leading up to the launch (sometimes that’s the busiest!). Plan out meals or make the decision to be okay with eating out more so when the time comes to actually feed the family, it’s not an added stress.
2. Make sure aaaaaall your social media + emails are scheduled BEFORE launch day.
I do this with every launch, and it makes the whole open/close period sooooo much easier. I write, format, and schedule ALL of my emails before Launch Day even arrives so they’re ready to go. Do I tweak them throughout launch week, making additions or changes on the fly? Of course, you’re the boss, you can do whatever you want! But knowing the bulk of the task is done + ready to go is such a relief. Same goes for social media. I schedule out every tweet, post, and ‘gram beforehand so it can almost run on autopilot. Again, you can tweak posts as they come up, but try to have the bulk of them done done done.
3. Don’t schedule anything else for launch day.
This is tempting. You think once you “flip the switch” and your launch goes live, that you’ll have all this free time for the rest of the day, but not so! You’ll probably spend your day fielding emails, answering questions, making tweaks, and just generally not being able to focus on much – ha! It’s true, trust me. So do yourself a favor and keep Launch Day pretty open on your calendar, so you don’t feel the extra stress of not getting around to those other to-do’s. Cause trust me, you won’t get around to them today.
4. Celebrate all your hard work with something F-U-N.
Yes, I said it. Stop working for an afternoon. When the questions die down, turn off the computer and the notifications, and get outta the office. Heck, get out of the whole house, and do something fun. You’ve probably come into some extra cash flow with this launch, so treat yo self with some self-care. Go grab a coffee and read a book. Go out for a nice dinner that night with friends or family. Go to the mall in the middle of the day and hog the dressing room at Old Navy. Get a massage or your nails done or just take a nap for goodness sake. DO IT, I dare you. You’ll come back to the launch week madness feeling refreshed, and that’s a win for everyone.
So there ya have it, some simple, practical ways to survive your launch week and come out on the other side without pulling your hair out or losing your cool with the family. Another thing to keep in mind when your launch is all over – don’t lose momentum! Stay active + engaged with your regular audience, as well as all the new people who have invested in your product or service. They’ve taken a risk on you, so don’t let them down. Listen to their feedback over the next few weeks, and actually do something with what they’re telling you. Improve their experience with you, your product/service, and their success afterwards. Whatever you do, don’t take their money and run. Don’t go dark on them. That is THE worst.
Need to learn more about this whole launch thing? Here’s some other posts that might be helpful:
Free launch planner
When I’m planning a launch – literally every single time – I go into my computer and print off two pages, and these are my lifelines for the rest of the launch (besides Asana of course). I use a launch/promotion planner page, and a monthly calendar. Want to swipe these from me? Be my guest… drop in your name + email and I’ll send them right over!
YOUR TURN
How do you survive launch week? Do you have any unique ways to get through the madness? Anyone else eat a lot of Jimmy Johns those weeks? Just me?!
