How long does a launch really take?

Three months after beginning in my first online business job, I was thrown into a launch… while my clients went on vacation. A month later we did another, bigger launch that closed north of a quarter million in sales.

In those days I wasn’t strategizing, managing and running a launch – I mostly kept the balls up in the air and did anything that needed to be done.

Three years later a different client contacted me to run their new launch and it was just weeks away from my first vacation in years. We met, spent hours on the strategy and decision making and, 17 days later, closed the cart with nearly 6-figures in sales when I flew off to Cabo for some R&R.

Successful launches *can* be done in short periods of time with a dedicated and talented team, but if you want your next launch to take off, then don’t stop reading because the truth is most businesses need twice as much time, support, and investment to get anywhere close to those results.

How long does a launch really take? Longer than you think!

There are 3 big reasons your launch is going to take longer than you think it might:

#1 Your launch isn’t all consuming

If you drop everything else in your business to prepare for a launch, your business is not ready to launch. Often, we think everything has to be “done”, but for most of us, launches just layer into already busy companies and personal lives.

Because your launch isn’t the only thing you’ll do, it will necessarily take longer than you expect. Additionally, working on a launch usually takes bigger blocks of time than other work. For example, you might be able to draft a blog post in an hour, so you assume that launch copy will be equally time consuming. Instead, writing sales emails, webinars, or sales page copy may take 10-100 hours each and require blocks of time much longer than usual.

Instead of committing to an arbitrary date, focus first on creating your strategy and understanding all the work that needs to be done – on top of your current schedule – and what team support you’ll have before choosing dates.

Speaking of teams, it might take longer to launch if…

#2 You don’t have a team of launch experts

One of the most frustrating things I see in “6-figure launch secrets” posts and programs is ignoring how those entrepreneurs invest in their team. Too many business owners pretend they can do it all on their own, in no time at all.

Doing a launch is so much more than strategy, managing tasks, and planning each stage of the process. You’ll also need to write the copy, record and edit videos, create graphics, setup your technology, design the web pages, send emails, prepare webinars, test the shopping cart, answer customer service requests, manage affiliates, and so much more!

If you don’t have a team in place, then each of these things will require your personal time.

When you do have a team, they’ll need to be taught and trained in how to do the same work for a launch. Again, writing an email for a newsletter is different than a sales email. And customer service during a launch is way more chaotic. Creating a launch strategy requires knowing the experience of your team around a launch and possibly shoring up that support.

Even if you have enough time to do all the work and an amazing team, your launch might be too fast if…

#3 Your list isn’t ready

Even if you’re a magical unicorn who can create all the content in preparation of your launch, that doesn’t mean you can, or should, pull it off in a few weeks. One big reason is that your list may be unprepared for your offer.

Maybe…

• You haven’t been sending regular emails and need to get back into the habit
• Your offer is in a new field or speciality
• Your offer is brand new and your audience needs time to understand its value
• Your price point is above the comfort level of your audience
• It’s a bad time to launch (mid-summer, Christmas week, etc)

The timing of your launch is critically important and knowing the holidays, busy times, and vacation habits of your ideal clients will impact your launch calendar.

All of these things impact the timeline of a launch from the moment you get that brilliant idea to the day your cart closes. While it’s totally possible to implement a fast launch and make a good income, it’s not a guarantee. In fact, it’s much more likely that you’ll be unable to reach your goals, get frustrated, and think there’s something wrong with your offer.

Many times, I see offers that have great promise but are not yet fleshed out, have incomplete sales sequences, or not enough team support to reach bigger numbers.

Even if your launch doesn’t result in 6-figures of income, it can still be successful. But if you want a bigger launch, higher income, and more clients, it will likely take much longer than you anticipate.

Action Step: If you’re working on a launch, the most important thing you can do is map out exactly what you are going to accomplish and line up your resources: time, energy, money and team.