How To Survive Launch Season: Do you REALLY Need to Buy a Course?
This is part 1 of a 3 part series called How to Survive Launch Season. Part 2: What’s Happening Behind the Scenes is available here, and Part 3: Deciphering the Selling Messages will be released on Friday, January 19th.
If you turn to the internet to learn… pretty much anything, then this time of year can be more than a little stressful.
It’s not that it’s midwinter.
It’s not that it’s the start of a new year.
It’s not that you made 17 commitments to yourself.
It’s course-launch season.
That’s right — people who run online businesses, ESPECIALLY those targeting other entrepreneurs as their customers are gearing up for what is typically the biggest selling event of the year.
January and February are when teachers, trainers, coaches and personality gurus are banking on the fact that you’re going to be willing to pay between 200 and 2000 dollars (or more) to make sure that THIS is the year you actually get your business off the ground, get skinny, get calm or learn to code or whatever you’ve been trying to do but haven’t yet.
You’re going to be sold courses and workshops and coaching and masterminds and blueprints and infopacks and eBooks and memberships. It’s affiliate season in high gear and a lot of companies are counting on making a good showing in terms of sales to start their year off right.
Last year was a bit harder than usual for online marketers. The audiences are, as always happens, getting saturated, and the market (you) is becoming more sophisticated. That means the competition is skyrocketing like: woah.
So you are going to be BOMBARDED with offers for programs and training and opportunities that will change your business and your life.
And you know what — one of them might. There are a lot of really smart people offering really good information out there. But IF a course (or coaching package, or mastermind) is right for you — how do you know which one, and how do you know it’ll deliver what it promises?
An online course or experience or program can and does work if it’s the right information, at the right time for the right price with the right amount of support.
So let’s talk about how to figure out if that super limited time opportunity that 4 different people have emailed you about this week is going to actually help you.
This is your launch season survival guide as you attend webinars, scroll past Facebook ads, read emails, see sales videos and try to survive the conflicting information. I’m going to share with you what is happening behind the scenes at the companies who are planning to sell you stuff, and then talk about deciding what you should invest your time, and money in. I’ll also be sharing some questions you should have answers to before you buy ANYTHING — and I’ve drawn on the expertise from some very smart folks in the industry to make sure that you’re well equipped to survive launch season on your own terms — not anyone else’s.
Let’s begin.
Should you engage AT ALL?
One of the BIG problems with the information-selling industry is the promotion of the idea that you can’t do it without a specific type of help.
So here’s something very, very important you should know about the information marketing industry. If I were writing this for BuzzFeed I’d say it’s the ONE secret that marketers DON’T want you to know… Are you read for this? Here it is:
People start businesses (and change their fitness habits, and declutter their houses and learn to meditate) without paying for specific training or coaching all the time. Not everyone can, and not everyone should — but to say that it’s impossible is a blatant lie. People ran businesses before there were internet marketers, I promise.
There are as many, or more reasons for people to BUY courses as there are for them to sell them, some of these might be familiar to you:
· You can’t afford to hire someone for your team who can do it, or you want to be comfortable with a topic before you hire someone to take it over.
· You can afford to hire a Done For You Service.
· You have no idea what you don’t know.
· You feel like you’re missing information you need to run your business.
· You feel like if you just had a process to follow you could have the business of your dreams.
· You know there are specific things you need to learn to get from point A to point B.
· You enjoy learning and collecting information for the heck of it.
Any of these can be a great reason to buy a course, or get coaching or any other kind of information based project. BUT if you have more time than money, and you have spent more time learning about business then getting out there and TRYING things — don’t buy a course or training. You will have so much more success if you have an idea of what you don’t know — and the only way to get that is some trial and error. Desperation, or the feeling of being totally lost and pressed for time, and out of money doesn’t lead to great business investment decisions! There are lots of ways to learn for free, and you can practice before you decide you want to invest in training. I’m going to list some free or really inexpensive options at the end of this post. If you’re a total newb — start there.
What you need to do, however, is think of the training or coaching exactly like any other business investment.
I talked to Andy ‘The Implementation Beast’ Thompson about how to decide if you should invest in an info product for your business. Andy has, of all the coaches I know, the single best track record for getting his students to succeed. I advise you to heed his words. 😉 If you heed them and like them — find more of his stuff right here.
“The 5 step mental checklist I think through before making any kind of business investment works like this…
1. In general, does the thing I’m considering investing in, fit into my short and long term business growth strategy? (or am I being sucked into following another distraction based on a slick marketing pitch?) If it does fit into my growth strategy…
2. Is it the RIGHT thing for me, RIGHT NOW… and will I immediately implement it into my business or will it just sit on my hard drive collecting virtual dust? If I determine it’s what I need right now, I ask…
3. Who is the person selling the thing and do they have a provable track record of producing the stated outcome for their clients? If yes…
4. If and when I have questions, is there direct access to and support from the person selling the thing?
Ultimately, the ends have to justify the means, so…
5. If I take action and implement the strategy, will it deliver an ROI?
For example: If I join this mastermind will the advice I’m given and the relationships I cultivate help me increase revenue or leads? Will the course teach me how to create a specific asset for my business? Will the training help me save time and make running my business easier, faster, less frustrating?”
I wanted to explore Andy’s 4th question just a little bit more, because the biggest names with the most “successful” courses often spend the least time with the people they sell them do. In the vast majority of cases, buying a smaller, less expensive program from someone who has more time to focus on YOU is going to be a better use of your time and money than buying the big course from the famous person that comes with little, or low-quality support.
Andy says: “Ok, Guru’s aside (because most gurus don’t give direct access unless you pay out the nose for it) but genuine B level expert coaches, consultants will and that is the level most people should be shopping at. Gurus are great at selling information but experts are great at getting people results.”
Words to live by. 😉
All right, if you’ve decided that you DO want to invest in training or coaching for your business or goals, the next post in this series will take a look at what is going on behind the scenes of a launch, so that you have an understanding of the whole picture, rather than just the part that has been carefully prepared for you. (I’ve created a simple checklist you can run through as you’re evaluating courses — it’s available right here!)
If you want to try it on your own a little longer - here are some free places to get started. You should assume that when you sign up for any of these free courses you’ll get onto a mailing list, and eventually, something will be offered for sale. That’s okay! When the time comes, maybe it’ll be just the right thing for you.
Internet Marketing For Smart People — CopyBlogger — this is an oldie, but still a greatie. Free.
The Niching Spiral — Tad Hargrave. If you want a niche, you want Tad. Free.
Facebook Blueprint — Facebook. It’s dense, but the information is all there. Free.
Launch your Online Business Already — Business School for Humans, Regina Anaejinou. Free.
Email an Influencer — Lisa C. Baker. Pitching your services is always going to be the most effective way to build your business. Always. Free
Do it… Then: Fast Idea Generation and Validation. Megan Dougherty (yes, that’s me!) Pay What You Want. $0 is fine.
That’s it for today — in the next part of this series we’ll be talking about what is happening behind the scenes of a course launch, and what that means for you as a potential student!
Read Part 2: What’s Happening Behind the Scenes right here.
