GOAL DIGGER

How to Launch with What Ya Got

Jenna Kutcher 

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August 26, 2019

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I see you. You’ve spent months crafting your offer, you’ve built a course or ebook or *something* you’re so proud of, and you know people NEED what you’ve created, but there’s still one thing that keeps you up at night. The launch. What if all the work you’ve put in and the thing you’ve created goes live and… crickets. What if no one buys what you are selling?

The Launch is the most crucial phase of the whole process. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the thing we’re creating that we run out of mental stamina to craft a launch that leads to sales. If you’re sitting there listening to this with your hand raised saying, “YES, that’s ME! I’m feeling run down and worried about my launch…” This is your episode.

I’m excited to introduce you to Tarzan Kay, a launch strategist who helps entrepreneurs craft launch copy that converts. She argues that you don’t need a BIG email list, you need a mindset shift that will turn your list, at any size, into a money-maker.

Who is Tarzan Kay?

Tarzan started as a copywriter (after going to law AND music school) but her role has expanded beyond that now. She is a go-to expert on launches, helping entrepreneurs craft a stellar email sequence that converts. It wasn’t until she reached her thirties and had a baby that she felt she really needed to get serious about making money.

When Tarzan’s partner put his trust in her to support the family financially, and really build a business, she got serious about learning. She saw great results from B-School, she took more online courses and loved the style of learning and what she could do with the knowledge she gained.

Tarzan has churned out thousands of emails and hundreds of sales pages, and her service was in demand. Her “street cred” grew. She wrote for Marie Forleo and Amy Porterfield — Huge, dream clients! But she realized that some of the clients she was attracting weren’t even ready for a copywriter. They had so much left to do to design and conceptualize a launch for their online courses. That’s when she started to pivot into a “launch coach” role.

Investment Help You Grow

I talk a lot about investing in yourself and making decisions to spend money on things that will pay dividends in the future. I asked Tarzan about a big first investment she made to get her business off the ground, and it turned into a deeper discussion about running an online business and how hard it is to explain to the people closest to us how much is possible.

When Tarzan learned of a mastermind opportunity that would level up her business in more ways than one, she hesitated for a moment before dropping the money. It was her first year in business and she’d made about $60,000. Not bad. But the mastermind would cost nearly 30% of that. She called her husband.

Of course, her husband was hesitant. It’s not like they had money to spare in this season. When they hung up the phone, Tarzan pulled out her credit card and made the first mastermind payment.

“It was scary, but it was a good lesson. He is not in this world. Things to an outsider, things that we buy look really expensive,” Tarzan explained, “It’s hard for people who don’t work online — offline people — to see the true amount of possibility in the online space. It’s limitless.”

Launch First, Create Second

So many times we exhaust our efforts creating the *thing* and we forget to save space to plan an effective launch. Tarzan recommends a new way of thinking about your launch… Do it first.

Tarzan has seen the most success with the courses and products she launched FIRST, and then actually created the program second. The one time she didn’t follow this method, her program failed and she has since retired it.

If you want to have a big launch, start with a promo calendar. Create a Google Doc and start plotting out major events within your launch. Cart open, cart close, webinars, webinar invites, promo emails, Facebook ads, expiring bonuses… Every. Single. Important. Date.

Seeing it in a calendar format will make it clear what you need to create, and you can share the calendar with anyone you’re working with to create the items on the list. The promo calendar will guide the rest of the launch and serve as a reference along the way.

Hold Space for Your People

Tarzan used the phrase “hold space” many times throughout the interview, and I’d never really heard that phrase in the context she used it.

In the process of a launch, when we’re tired and run down, we often don’t hold space to really serve the people who are debating whether they should give us their hard-earned money or not. When you plan ahead, have a solid promo calendar, and prepare accordingly, you will have a greater capacity to hold space for those people.

For example, Tarzan is trying to spend less time in her inbox (same, same). But during a launch, she’s very aware that a potential customer who hits reply and sends an email inquiring about the program, is a potential customer who is READY for the sale with a little extra support.

Because she’s not exhausted in her launch process, she has the time and energy to respond to these kinds of emails and remind her people what is possible if they invest. Holding space is Tarzan’s way of saying “show up and serve.” I LOVE THIS.

Why Launch Copy is Different

You’re a decent copywriter, right? You can tell stories on your blog, captivated with your Instagram captions, and your email list is served with beneficial content on the regular. So why does launch copy feel so dang hard? (This is me, too!)

Tarzan explains that with those platforms, you have the ability to go deeper, to share more involved stories, and captivate people with that kind of messaging. But with a launch, the overarching message needs to relate to the transformation that will happen and meet the potential customer at the “phase of awareness” they’re at.

Press play on the episode above because Tarzan explains the different phases of awareness that people progress through. Your copy needs to address these phases and bring the reader through the transformation from problem-aware all the way to product-aware.

Launch copy is strategically focused to walk customers through the phases of awareness and eventually (hopefully) make a purchase.

A Simplified 3-Step Launch

I’ve been launching for years, as has Tarzan. Our processes have evolved and expanded to fairly complex beasts. That’s not how it looked when I started, and it might not be where you are either. So I challenged Tarzan to give me a three-step simplified launch strategy.

First, send an email to your list with information about your offer. A simple description, who it’s for, who it’s not for, and the end result they will achieve. Add a link or button that says, “Yes, give me more info.”

Second, when you get the responses, send out a video to those people explaining the program in more detail. That’s where you’ll share the price. If you have one, also include the sales page so people can click around.

Third, make the sale. Make the program, ebook, training, whatever it is, make it available and sell it to those people who said they were interested.

Don’t over complicate the process. Start where you can, learn the process, and more forward. Yes, it still takes work, but it can be as simple as three steps.

More from this Episode

How did Tarzan position herself to work with someone the leading women in the online course world? What was it like to make an investment and leap into the unknown as the sole provider for the family? And a game-changer discussion about small email lists and how you can make money no matter how many people are on yours. Press play on the episode above for one of the most tactical conversations I’ve had with a guest in a while!

Get the exclusive bundle from Tarzan Kay for Goal Digger listeners here.


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Before you get any further... Hi! I'm Jenna Kutcher!

A small town Minnesota photographer, podcaster, educator and puppy rescuer, my happiest days are spent behind my computer screen sharing my secrets with the world. I'm glad you're here.

I’m an expert at online marketing, a nerd when it comes to the numbers, and my obsession is teaching others how to make a living doing what they love (without it taking over their life). 

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