Launching Isn’t Just for Courses: Here’s How It Transforms Service-Based Businesses with Kelsey McCormick

Colie: Hello.

Hello. Welcome back to Business First Creatives Podcast. I have somebody on here today who has convinced me of the Power of launching, which I never really thought that I would go for. Every time I hear launches, I think of selling digital products, selling digital courses, false urgency, opening close carts, like all of those things.

But it wasn’t until I did my launch of the CRM blueprint back in what was. that, may of 2025,

and it Didn’t go as well as I’d hoped that I was beginning to really pay attention to emails from Kelsey of coming up Roses about her launch your own WAY program. And so I have finally convinced her to come on my podcast and convince you of the power of launching two.

Kelsey, welcome to my podcast.

Kelsey: Thank you for having me. Yes. I’m very excited to give hopefully even more people that that mindset shift around launching.

Colie: You were

the first person that I think ever connected

for me launching with services. And it could just be that I’m constantly in a world where people are talking about creating digital products, creating courses, and I mean, I even had

a few launch products before I joined Launch Your Own Way,

but none of them ever

convinced me. To sell

anything other than,

a course, through

a formal launch. And

So I would even go, as far to say I was anti.

launch before I met you, Kelsey, so you

Definitely.

turned me around.

But let’s, let’s get into launching. So why should everybody be paying?

attention to launching, especially if they’re trying to sell pretty much anything in 2026?

Kelsey: Great question. Also, I love that I’m like a launch converter. Like I, I, I help people totally change their mind on it. Well, I think the biggest thing is that, especially we’re talking service providers, is that your services are always on. Therefore, and for most service providers, what I see is that they’re kind of.

Sitting dusty on a services page. Maybe they’re presented with a couple bullet points and a button to book now, so when you have to think about someone, a total stranger finding you, wherever you are are on the internet. It might be threats, it might be Instagram, wherever you are showing up and their journey.

I know that’s what you talk about all the time to booking a project with you. Right now, they’re presented with offers that are always on with minimal. Description that are very generalized often, and a lot of people are just like, okay, this seems like something I might need, but maybe not. It doesn’t sound geared toward me.

There’s no reason for them to kind of book right now and, and inquire. So they’ll just end up in your audience as lurkers. And I always describe it as like, there’s so many people in your audience right now just lurking. They’re probably interested in working with you. They probably would really benefit from working with you, but they just have no idea what you’re offering them because you’re not.

Presenting it to them, you’re waiting for them to come to you. So it’s this real flip of like, this passive kind of whenever, come on, come on in to like actively being like, okay, this is what I have for you. It’s built for you, it’s perfect for you. And really giving your, all for the dignity. I say that it deserves, with, you know, a brand, a, a moment to really shine and sell.

Um, so yeah, I think that’s why it’s so important now, so people will actually inquire and experience your, your talent and your magic as a service provider.

Colie: I feel like as a service provider, so many people,

loathe selling,

and I’m like, no, that’s not me. I love, selling, and more specifically, I love it when I get the chance, to have a conversation,

with someone. To make

sure that they have all of the

information that they need

in order to make.

a decision about working with me, because I do Feel like a lot of people just kind of, leave that out. and you were, right, you were talking and I, grabbed my marker and a piece of paper. I don’t know why I didn’t think I was gonna have to do this with you, Kelsey, but you said a word and then I was like, oh, proactive. And I do feel like that’s what you are kind of encouraging people,

to do when you are helping people focus on launching, is that

it puts you in the driver’s seat and you are really being proactive

about sharing what you offer, who

it’s for. And how they can work with you instead of just putting a sales page up and hoping that Google is gonna bring people to you, Which I mean, you know, in some cases that works, but often it. doesn’t. 

Kelsey: I just would never rely, my personally, my livelihood on happenstance or whatever the word is.

Like to me, I got into my own business to have control over the money that’s coming in, when it’s coming in, when I’m not working, when I am working. So then to like start my own business and leave so much up to whether or not someone refers me to someone else or whether or not someone happens to find me on LinkedIn or Google or whatever, just never makes sense to me.

I am a very like, go-getter person and I think that that’s very much reflected in the way that I show up. And I also think to kind of double click on the idea of like, people. Service providers, creatives hate selling. I think sales, they really need a mindset shift around it. Sales are just a byproduct of trust.

So if you are showing up, being generous, giving value, if you’re great at what you do, if you trust that you can deliver on what you’re promising, sales are pretty much easy. Like I think people just think like, oh, I have to show up and be like, buy my thing, buy my thing. Like that’s not what selling is at all.

You learn in the program that I teach and launch your own way, like. Sales just comes as a result of the things that you do before you even open the cart. So, so much of, of that even idea of sales, I feel like needs a whole rebrand and could be an o its own podcast in and of itself.

Colie: I

mean, it could be. And we’re about to talk about the warmup because I feel like this is also something that really makes you unique in how you talk

about warming up.

for your, launch. But before we get to that, you had said something about trust. And

Basically, you know, putting what, it is that you do and how you can help people. And I feel like for a lot of service providers, they’re providing a lot of value, but then they forget to like literally present how you can work with me. It’s like they’re, they’re giving you know, all of this content, they’re creating it, and then at the end of the day someone’s like, oh, all of that makes sense, but like, how can you help me with that?

I feel like a lot of people don’t connect. Yes, you can give value but you also have

to talk about the

offer.

which is how you help your audience solve the

unique problem, that they may have. 

Kelsey: That’s such a good point. And that’s where launching comes in. I think it’s like, it’s the process of getting used to doing that, right? Of closing the loop, of going, okay, yes, like I can help you X, Y, Z, or Here’s how you do X, y, Z by the way, if you want me to do that for you, or if you want me to teach you how to do that, like this is where you go.

And launching kind of is that like bridge into sales,

Colie: Did you see

that trend? Because I know that you’re all over Instagram and threads. There were like these posts that people were putting like, you know, just outta curiosity, do you know what I offer and then like people were responding, with whether or not they could name the offer.

or the service that they provided.

And you know, if you’re posting often enough, then people could probably scroll through and see, but like at a glance like I want everyone to know Colie James.

helps you set up your systems in Dubsado and HoneyBook.

Kelsey McCormick helps you

launch your services and products,

through launch your own way.

I feel like there is that name recognition and that visibility, but you.

have to do it enough to where people say your name even when you’re not in the room.

Kelsey: Yes, exactly. And I think part of that goes with being really specific about how you help people. There’s such a bigger shift beyond just launching and being kind of like the generalist ser, uh, service provider, word of mouth freelancer, where someone’s coming to you, telling you what they want and you’re like, okay, lemme get a proposal together.

And I’ll like, you know, do a custom for everyone to being like that person that does that thing. And I think there’s a real apprehension. To do that for some reason because you think you’re gonna be like cutting off some sort of income stream because so much of your current income stream is people giving you like a prescriptive thing that they need and you saying, okay, here’s how I can help.

Whereas when you are more proactive, you have to be like, I’m the launch girl, I’m the systems girl, and that. I don’t know, maybe people feel like they’re boxing themselves in, but to me it just leads to so much more opportunity, with the way that you deliver things with how creative you can be. It’s like, you know how they always say creativity needs a container?

I feel like giving yourself a specific role within the service provider space provides that container and then you can have so much fun and so much play. I think when you give yourself just like, I can do anything, that’s when it gets. Really overwhelming. And then people Yeah, they have no idea what you do.

Right? 

Colie: cause then you can never really productize what you do. Like if you’re constantly creating something custom for

Every single person that comes across you and is like, Hey, like you seem really great. I wanna work with you. Can you help me with this? If you have 20 different inquiries of 20 Different things, and you’re basically

creating this new offer for

every single one of them, how can you get really good?

at the one thing that you could

Focus on to actually like bring your business.

to a new level?

Kelsey: Exactly. And I think that’s where launching becomes this like all encompassing, like sprint into this new kind of direction of your business.

I used to teach how to grow your own brand, how to make like ownable products and services and have like. A thing that you’re known for. That was like my first ever course. And through that process I realized it’s actually in the implementation that that comes to fruition. And that implementation process is a launch because you are presenting your expertise on a productized platter to people and saying, this is how I help you come on in.

And therefore you’re like going through that ownable brand process. But it’s only through that like launch that you’re able to. Kind of create that for yourself. You build the sales page, you create the branded offer, you get really distilled on your messaging. You get really good at sales. Um, so it’s just this like all-encompassing moment to, to make that shift.

I think.

Colie: No, I love that. And

I do think that,

a lot of service providers are scared to put themselves in a box.

um, and I, I’m not like that, you know, that I declared to the world recently. Oh.

I wanna be the person who sets up systems for

photographers.

using Dubsado. Does that mean that I stopped getting inquiries from non photographers? Nope. I’ve had three this week. that were like, Hey, Colie, I just wanna make sure like I’m not a photographer.

Will systems and session work for me? So

Even when you

Define that

box for yourself, people are still gonna inquire about whether or not the thing that you’re offering.

Will work for who They are, who they serve and what they need.

So

it’s not like giving yourself this very narrow focus

is going to

repel people. In most cases, if they’re unsure, they will come ask you, Hey, I just wanna make sure, like your offer seems

Great.

but I don’t seem like I’m the best fit. Will this work for me? And then you have the opportunity to have that conversation,

Which I do think.

that launching is really about

Opening conversations with people so that you have the

opportunity to

talk.

to your ideal clients a lot more.

Kelsey: I love that. I always say that is like it, it starts a dialogue. People who are like, oh, I hate launching. I never wanna launch. I mean, maybe it’s a bit of a hot take, but to me, you’re going to lose the pulse of your audience because the pe people’s patterns and their buying patterns change.

When I started in 2020, everyone was selling like bundles and like, it was all about like how many things you could stuff into your, your offer. Now it’s a lot more about implementation and like community and, and the human behind the brand because of ai. And if you didn’t have your finger on the pulse through that big shift, you lost the, lost the narrative basically.

And you see that a lot with coaches now who are trying to resuscitate on like threads and substack and like coming up with new offers to try to get it back and, to me, launching is essential to continue that dialogue, to stay on the cutting edge of what’s happening. And also if you ever wanna pivot, like yes, maybe you don’t wanna box yourself in, maybe you don’t wanna be the photographer person or like whatever, but.

You can start there and then you can always pivot. Like I started out being a brand designer and I was launching brand design services, and then I went into growing, uh, growing a brand course. Now I’m the launch girl. Who knows? Maybe in the future I always have a dream of. Painting, like maybe I’ll be an artist, who knows?

But at least with that skill of being able to launch and, and communicate and like build community through that process, I can kind of do anything. You can evolve, without it, I feel like it’s a lot harder to do.

Colie: We’re gonna come around to the warmup. Now, Kelsey, it only took us 13 minutes,

so Kelsey’s got this idea and we’re gonna start with, we’ve hopefully convinced you guys of the power of launching, even if You’re not a hundred percent there Like, go.

with us so you

don’t decide one day, Hey, I’m gonna launch.

and then you basically start writing emails like that’s not how it goes.

So Kelsey, tell me about the concept of a warmup and why it is so important

to the success of your launch.

Kelsey: Yeah, it’s something I discovered back when I was launching my, my brand design offers. I realized like anytime I would just start showing up and being like. Okay guys, I’m opening up my spots for this offer. Like, let’s come on in.

It would just be really slow until maybe like a couple of weeks in, then people would start clocking it and starting to inquire. And by that time I’d be like, oh, I’m over talking about this. Like, I’m trying, yeah, like hard selling for two, three weeks. To an audience that like needs to be prepped is, is hard.

Then I realized, okay, if I actually start a month before I open my wait list, I start prompting people, letting them know about the incentives that the price might be going up, letting them, you know, see social proof, things like that. Then they’re waiting for it. And when I open doors, I pretty much just have to open doors and within the first few days, the spots are gone.

So I kind of just through trial and error, saw that. Actually, it’s not when I open cart that matters. It’s the trust I’m building before I open cart where the magic happens and where the launch really happens. And that’s kind of where the whole warmup concept came to be. And now it’s something I teach really intensively in my programs because I find it’s the biggest issue with creatives.

They go from. Over nurturing to hard selling, and there’s like nothing in between, like there’s no bridge. Right? And that, I guess the warmup really is the bridge, and I see the warmup as part of the launch, as an essential part of the launch.

Colie: Yeah, they try to go from zero to a hundred with absolutely like no kind of conversation, no dialogue. It’s just,

Hey, buy my thing. And it’s like, well, First of all, who are you? 

Kelsey: Who are you?

Who are you? 

Colie: What is your offer

and how does it help me? And like you haven’t prepared them to receive the offer so that they could consider like working with you.

So I’m gonna ask you the question and I know what you’re gonna say, but I’m gonna ask anyways because I feel like the

audience needs to know, Hey Kelsey,

what is an appropriate warmup for

me to, launch my product? like,

is two weeks enough? Is three weeks enough?

how do I, determine how long?

my warmup needs to be?

Kelsey: I always just say like, how long is a piece of string with that? And that’s like a saying that I hear a lot, around other concepts, but like, it just means like you don’t know until you do it.

I do think I’m gonna create like a guide around. Like a freebie guide around how long? I would probably do based on some factors, but it really depends how warm your audience is currently, not how big your audience is because most people in launch room may have less than a thousand followers and they have massive launches.

So it doesn’t actually have anything to do with the audience size. It just has to do with how much they trust you and how much they recognize that you are the one to create the transformation you’re promising. Um, so I’d say look at your audience. There’s a few things that you can tell with how hot they are.

Are you getting like regular dms? Are you getting pretty good engagement on your posts? Do you have a really, do you have a good engaged email list? So when you send your weekly newsletter, are people opening it? Is it. You know, 40, 50, 60%, 70% and beyond. Are you getting a steady stream of inquiries right now even though you’re not actively launching?

That’s a really good indicator. And when you show up, are you clear on like how you talk about your offers? Are you clear what your offers even are? Is your audience clear about what they are? Maybe do that thing that we said earlier, that’s a trend of like, do you know what I do? Because that’ll give you a lot of insight into what it is.

And then based on your audience level, if, if you’re answering all of these like, Nope, nope, nope. Like no engagement, no email list cold. I would probably like do a couple of months of really intensive warmup around one offer that you’re pointing them toward. ’cause the biggest issue I see often is I. Go on a creatives page and they don’t have anywhere they’re leading anyone, right?

There’s just a bunch of like posts, like a confusing link bio. Sometimes they don’t even have a website. So you really wanna like start leading them and bread crumbing them into deeper areas of expertise. Over two months, three months. If they’re warmer, I’d say like a month, a month and a half. Like you really don’t need that much time.

I’m launching something right now. I did two weeks because it was like, I already have a really, really hot audience around it. So it can be really quick. It just depends on your current audience and how long it’s gonna take them to get to that warmer place.

Colie: You do actually have to look at your audience.

You do have to engage with

Your audience. I think that some people are like, oh my gosh, I mean Kelsey, two months. Like, what am I gonna talk about for two months? Guys? There’s so much stuff.

that you can talk about in two months, and when Kelsey just said that her warmup period, very meta her warmup period to sell a

warmup offer. Was

only two weeks. That’s because she’s constantly talking about the warmup. She has a podcast dedicated to the warmup. It’s one of the biggest things that she teaches inside of Launch Her Own Way. So when she creates this new offer around the warmup, yeah, she doesn’t need more than two weeks because people are constantly hearing about the warmup from her.

But. Let’s say that Kelsey had a baby, which she did,

and that She just

completely stopped talking to her

audience.

which she didn’t, but if she did and She had,

ghosted them for five months,

yeah, she.

would need more than a two week warmup even to sell them an offer on the warmup.

Kelsey: Yeah. It’s funny that, your audience does cool down very quickly because there’s so much noise. So if you aren’t like at least showing up somewhere consistently, and that doesn’t mean you need to show up everywhere, but at least somewhere consistently, it’s gonna be really hard for you to keep that warm.

So I, I do kind of say like, the warmup is forever. It just tends to be like a little bit more intensive and a little bit more specific around one offer when you’re gearing up toward a launch. One way to really figure out how hot your audience is that I didn’t mention. Is creating like an interest list or a wait list around your offer, right?

Going back to sit thinking like there’s tons of lurkers in your audience. They maybe have been to your website, they’ve maybe perused your page, and then they’ve been like, not now, no reason to book. Now, not sure if she’s the right one for me. And the algorithm, who knows if they’re showing you. Them your stuff or not at the moment.

So you wanna get them onto an email list and, and really capture them and, and say, okay, like, these are my hottest people who are most likely wanting my service. So you can just create a really simple form, use flow desk, do a quick and dirty, and just start putting out, like, I’m growing a wait list for this offer.

Like, if anyone’s interested, get on here, obviously, like be more. Like, don’t like be so directly salesy, but just start putting out the wait list. If people are joining it, you know that you have a good offer that people want in your audience.

Colie: So let’s talk about incentives. You said that word, and we

don’t,

have to go into a lot of depth because you talk about this a lot in launch your own way, but. It is more than just educating. You do have to give them a reason to buy. And in some cases, we were talking about urgency and we don’t wanna do false. urgency, But giving incentives is a way to do urgency, because if they want this thing, then now is the time for them to sign up for your wait list. or your interest list or actually

buy. so what advice do you give people around? incentives Like should they be giving people everything?

Should they be giving people one thing? I mean, incentives are another like huge pool of like ideas that

we could talk about.

But I just wanted to like ask you this question because you threw the word out and I feel, and probably you feel that when you say incentive, everybody goes to discount. Is that what you mean by incentive? 

Kelsey: not at all? No. And I would like to first talk about the false urgency idea because I do think a lot of people are really put off by launches because of false urgency. So when we say incentives, we’re not saying, oh, pretend that your price is going to go up, or pretend that you only have a certain number of spots.

Or, the worst thing I saw over Black Friday, cyber Monday were like big brands being like. Oh yeah. Like we have this discount and it’s the biggest discount we’re gonna have. And then the next week they’re like, now it’s even more of a discount. And you’re like, wait, I just bought last week. Like you said, that was the biggest discount.

Or like, oh, the door’s closed on this date. And then they’re like, oh, nevermind. The doors aren’t closed. Like, I’m not saying stuff like that. Yes, that might work like for urgency, but I, I really don’t recommend lying or doing things like that. There are things that are true about your offer. One is that you might have limited spots.

I know both of us have offers that we can’t have infinite people in because of how much time it takes us in those spaces. For me, launch room A-V-I-P-I pretty much cap it at 50 people because I give a lot of support in that space. I know systems in session, you only have a couple spots, a, a month and a quarter because it’s, it’s done with you.

It’s like a big. Or it’s done for you, isn’t it?

Colie: It’s done with. you? No, It’s done with you, but, and I’ve been tracking how much time I spend with people

and like right now, Kelsey, I have more people than Ever’s 10 active people, which

feels like a lot to me,

but, so I don’t have false urgency like

Kelsey: Yeah, it’s real. So that’s one area. So look at your offer and see what is real about it, right? You probably do have a limited amount of spots. You probably either are like raising the price. I know a lot of people right now with the cost of living, the cost of the fact that every single platform that we use has just raised their prices.

Your skill level probably improves, you know, gradually. There could be also bonuses and stuff that are seasonal. You know, only work at a certain time of year or you’re testing out for the offer. So there’s lots of things that can be true. I would start with what is true about the offer and then don’t overstuff it.

Like some people are like, oh, I have to give like something for this, and something for that, and something for that. You really can get away with just a few simple things and it absolutely does not have to be a discount. A lot of people in long-term way don’t discount and do great. I just signed up for a TikTok course.

She didn’t discount, she just said There’s eight spots for this, this cohort, and it goes on sale on this date and get in if you want. And I got it ’cause I wanted to do it and she did such a good job selling. So yeah, it’s about choosing what is true about the offer and what, what you feel aligned with as the leader of your business.

Colie: So

you mentioned, bonuses, and I’m always curious, because I have played around with like a,

lot of bonuses between my course and my, you know, done with you and all the things.

What have you found is the most effective way to choose a bonus for a particular launch?

Kelsey: That’s a really good question. It it depends because like you could either go really high value, which is always gonna be your time. So I’ve played around with that a lot in the past because I’m just like, oh, I wanna get as many people in during this time, so maybe I’ll do like a one-on-one call or something like that.

That’s really good if you want like high, high sales. But I also think if you don’t wanna use your time, a lot of things that are great, that don’t require more time from you are either, like extra course material that would be a benefit to them. I guess this would include your time a little bit, but something I’m playing around with for launch your own way is like a, a lifetime access, like special channel or like a renewal special channel for people who renew their memberships that they can like get in a special channel for extra feedback.

I think people just love extra access, you know, more knowledge, more implementation. So anything around those ideas are, are really great. Have you seen anything in particular work? go ahead. 

Colie: I love the one-to-one offers, even though, and

the, thing is

when you do a one-to-one offer,

they are limited?

because again, if you only have

limited.

space, you definitely have limited, you know, capacity to do all of these bonuses. So I’ve personally seen that one-to-ones, you know, work well for me and my audience, but also like a bonus training, that works really well. Also, I, I always have guilt and now that I know my human design, I realize this is where it comes from.

but I have guilt when I offer a special training as the bonus because then the people who perhaps don’t find me until

after the launch is over, they don’t get the special training. and so then I feel bad and I feel guilty, and so I

tend to avoid that

because like, like you said. I have.

capacity, and so when I say the first five people get this, you know, 30 minute one-to-one call, I mean it because I can’t offer that unlimited. Whereas my, you know, bonus training, I

mean, I record it once, I

could literally give it to everyone, but I’m using it as an incentive to get people to make a decision.

Kelsey: Yeah. That’s interesting. That is something to think about too, like what aligns most with how you feel internally, and that’s something I always teach in launch Your own way is like, and that’s why it’s called Launch Your Own Way. It’s like you have to feel good and aligned about how you show up and how you’re selling and the things that you’re offering.

So if, if there’s a coach out there being like, you have to launch this way or follow this formula, but it doesn’t sit right with you, it’s never gonna feel good. And I’m finding that with social media a bit right now because I’ve gotten so much input around how to create on Instagram, how to create on TikTok, and I’m like.

But this doesn’t feel good for me. You know? And like you have to have the discernment of like, okay, yes, maybe that’s successful for that person, but if I don’t feel good doing it, even if it makes me successful, it’s not gonna be sustainable. So I do wanna just like make sure that people are hearing that, even if one-on-one is like, Ugh, I don’t wanna show up to a five, 30 minute calls with my students.

You don’t have to do that. You don’t even have to really offer any incentives except limited spots or, or like you, you could have, I would have one incentive for sure. At least one. But, you don’t have to do any of that. Like, you don’t have to do limited spots or you don’t have to do a discount or you don’t have to do bonuses.

I would have something, but you don’t have to do anything.

Colie: Well, and I feel like I just wanna like clarify to

Ask,

you, you want to have

something because otherwise, why should they buy now? instead of next month

or next quarter? or next year. Now. That’s what

you’re presenting in the offer. And then there’s always the internal urgency. So

we’ve already talked about,

like the external urgency with the bonuses and limited spots, but.

People also have internal

urgency

to fix their problem. and so I feel like that’s where.

the warmup really comes in,

Because if you want to make sure that your clients understand, Hey, if we fix your systems this month, when you start getting lots of inquiries for your fall sessions in the next six weeks, you’ll

be able to handle

it.

You won’t be

caught in the middle of stressing out.

because you know that you’ve got five inquiries that you didn’t have a chance to answer.

And so a lot of my content warm up and even going into the launch is kind of,

seeding that internal urgency. I don’t

want them to feel guilty, but I do want.

Them to understand that where they are right now isn’t where they have to be. If we could like you know, sit down and make a plan and get their systems in order. 

Kelsey: Yeah, I love that. That’s such a good point, is like making it also. In your messaging, why is now the right time for them to book?

You know, like why? And that is an objection you’ll get throughout your launch a lot is like, oh, I just don’t think it’s the right time, or I’ll join next time. And I’m never until like convincing people like, you have to do it right now, but your messaging should like let them know, okay, but waiting another six months is like, you know, well, there will be things that.

You will miss out on like bookings potentially, which is money. So I think that’s, that all comes out to messaging. And obviously at the end of the day, I think you should just empower your potential clients, your potential customers to make the best decision for themselves. And to me, the warmup is what does that it really preps to purchase or to not purchase and to make that empowered decision for themselves.

Colie: Excellent, Kelsey. ’cause

That’s really all I want at the end of the day. I used to refer to my sales calls as alignment calls,

decision calls, if you will. I’m just there so that you can ask me the questions and I can give you

the information that you need in order to say,

yes or no. Because

one of the worst things that I feel like,

a business owner can do related to launching or not is just sit in indecision.

Like you’re spending so much time thinking about the pros and cons and making a list and basically leaking all of your energy

that you Never make a decision and move on because guess what? If I’m trying to sell you on systems in session so that I can help you design, and implement, you know, full client experience systems in Dubsado, and you decide not to work with me, hopefully that means

that you go find another solution

so that you actually get your

systems set up.

But I don’t want.

you to still be sitting here like, oh, well, should I work with Colie? Should I not work with Colie? And all of a sudden it’s three months later. And you still have not taken a single step towards solving the problem that we’ve already identified that you have.

Kelsey: Yeah, and that’s what I was thinking too about launching. In a way, if you kind of like think about what you just said, it’s really a generous act because you’re giving people. You know, a timeline in which to make a decision. So they’re not umming and gnawing about something for the next six months.

They’re saying, okay, yes, this is a decision I wanna make right now. This is something I wanna move forward with. Or, oh no it’s not, and I can move on. Um, and I think that’s actually really generous as a business owner, to have someone, to have a place where people can easily decision make, because you’re being proactive about the way you’re presenting it.

Colie: Everybody’s launch plans are gonna be different, but I’m

curious for you, because I’m currently launching once a quarter,

and that feels like a lot. We’ll

talk about that in, in In office hours. Kelsey, but in office hours. But for yourself, what do you.

find is the sweet spot for your launches? Because I really think that you take a very unique approach to launching for your own business.

Kelsey: Yeah, it’s evolved so much. Like I used to, so when I was doing one-on-one services, it was once a quarter and it did feel like a, uh, I don’t know if it really felt like a lot because the, the alternative was always on, and then it was like that low key stress of like always trying to book. So it felt a lot better than that, but it, it was like, it did come up pretty quickly.

But it did also gimme the structure around sales. Then like being sold out in advance for a quarter was also like, okay, sweet. I don’t need to worry about sales again until next quarter. So to me, it actually was much better than the alternative of like that low key stress of where’s the next client coming from 24 7.

But then when I moved to more of a scalable business model where I have. Courses and stuff. I just wanted to get my reps in and learn as quickly as possible what people wanted and needed. So there was a year where I was literally launching something like every single month, just to learn like, okay, what product do people want?

What offers do people want? Where’s my audience at? You know, really opening up that dialogue and failing quickly so I could figure out, okay, this is what they want, or this is what they didn’t want. And that’s how I developed. My first course, grow Your Own Brand, which was really successful for two years and launch your own way, which is now my entire business.

So I’d say if you’re early on in launching, like the more reps you can get in, the better, it’s kind of like content where like the way that you figure out what your audience wants to see and what they wanna hear is by doing a lot of content. If you wait like. You know, if you’re only posting once a week, it’s gonna take you a lot more to get that information.

Same with launching now, because I have this repeatable sales system in my business, I have a scalable offer that brings me recurring revenue. I only really need to do two big launches a year. I do smaller launches in between that are more like warmups for those bigger launches. And those, those big launches bring in.

A lot of income, recurring revenue, so that I really only focus on those two big ones a year. And that’s working with my current energy as a, as a new mom. As a mom of two, as someone who’s in a season of her business where she can’t be launching every single month. Um, so I also think, like, look at what works for you in, in this season that you’re in.

Colie: But The thing is,

you can’t figure out what works for you if you don’t make a decision and actually launch.

Kelsey: yeah, exactly. You gotta do it. 

Colie: I feel like one of the, one of the best things of being and launch your own way, and I just wanna preface this, with guys, this, this doesn’t, this is not me. I think I’m talking about my other fellow students in there, but I think the best thing that Kelsey does is she doesn’t tell you what to

decide, but she pushes you to make a decision. She gives you. the feedback that You need in order to decide and put a plan in place because again, if you get people that just get too far.

in The weeds thinking, what if is a hundred dollars discount enough or should.

I make it 150? And I’m screaming in my head, that doesn’t make,

a, it’s not gonna make a difference.

Kelsey: you’re like my co-coach on Nicole. You’re like my co-coach On calls, you’ll come and just be like, listen, I just have to say something really quick. I’m like, yep, take the floor. Go ahead. Totally. I think it, it’s, that’s a really lovely compliment as well because it’s, it’s a hard balance between wanting to tell someone what to do, but also knowing that.

I don’t wanna be that coach that’s like, here’s the a, b, C plan that you have to execute. Because I don’t want, I never wanna tell someone that they have to do something that they, that they don’t wanna do or that isn’t aligned. So yeah, I do, I try to like give them the next steps. Okay, this decision’s made, here’s what I would do next.

And I would like to see that in the next office hours. Five times outta 10, they will come back in the next office hours. You are someone that always comes back in the next office hours. Even if it’s just to update me on what you’ve done, you’re very much an action taker. And I think that if, if you’re, if you have a tendency to take action, messy action, you will do very, very well in launch your own way.

If you are someone who overanalyzes, This might be a business thing in general. You may act, you may struggle, for sure, but I guess that’s why VIP is great ’cause I’m there to push it along.

Colie: Yes, and those of you not watching me on YouTube, I was vigorously shaking my head and saying yes, because you do have to make a decision. You cannot sit there forever. And I think that one of the

Things that really helps

push people along sometimes is just when they

spend money. and so.

I mean, I feel like. I had just had what I would quote unquote call a failed launch. And you always correct me and say, your launch was not a failure. You learned a lot from it,

everybody else does as well, but I, didn’t hit my goal, and so by paying you to first

join, launch Your own way, and guys, I was harassing her like I think on a weekly basis on Instagram.

Is there a spot in VIP yet? Is there a spot in VIP yet? And then I got in and of

course, you know, I just I hit the ground running again, showing up in office hours every week. I do feel like, I just wanna highlight one more time what she said about the messy action. And that’s just not how you’re successful in

launching or in launch your own way or with systems, but for your entire business. I mean, I feel like if I, could make, if I can make a T-shirt and basically be, this is what Colie says to do, it’s don’t sit an indecision. Sometimes You just gotta make a decision. and Take a leap. And if it doesn’t work, write down what you learned and try. again. 

Kelsey: Yeah, I think that’s such a good, uh, like I, I always say launching is never a failure because even my last launch didn’t hit the numbers. I had 120 k goal. I think I hit like $86,000, which is still a really great launch, but it wasn’t even close to what my goal was.

And that’s. Fine, because guess what? I’m going to look at the data. I’m gonna figure out maybe where people were at, maybe what I needed to do, maybe more warming up, maybe the time of year I launched during Black Friday, cyber Monday. I don’t think I’ll do that again. And it’s just information that then I need, I get to look at and be like, oh, okay, that’s interesting.

And then move on to the next thing. If you spend too much time dwelling in your failure, you’re just never gonna move forward in business like everything is. Hardly ever works out the exact way that you want it to. Um, and then as far as not sitting in indecision, I think that’s where, again, like launching is a place that is just going to help you make lots of decisions very quickly.

Um, and I think that’s why it’s like this perfect container for growth. Not only growth in your business, but growth with yourself as well. Like getting comfortable with things that. You have to do as a leader, like showing up, selling, um, you know, believing in yourself, uh, leading your students, leading your, um, community into a sale.

All of these things are skills that are going to help you not only grow in business, but grow as an individual.

Colie: Kelsey, I was gonna wrap this up, but unfortunately there is just one more thing that we have to talk about based on what you just said.

Uh, post-mortems, tell me what a

postmortem is and why I should care about,

it related to launching.

Kelsey: I know I feel like I need to give it a different name ’cause it sounds very like morbid for some reason. When I hear the word postmortem, I’m like, maybe it’s that Taylor Swift song where she’s like a sad about a relationship. Is that a Taylor Swift song?

Postmortem.

Colie: I would not know. Uh, one of my

Kelsey: we’re both not Swifties, we’re 

Colie: Swift. We’re not swifties.

Hey, please don’t hate us.

Kelsey: two Swifties brought up a Swift song and we’re both like, is that right? I might’ve just lied about that, but if, let us know in the YouTube comments if I’m being correct or not. My two sisters are Swifties, so I’ve heard enough songs, um, in my life.

But, uh, yeah, it’s the idea that. Once you’re finished with the launch, most people just move on to the next launch or like forget about it all done, and they don’t actually look at the data. There’s so much good data. You could look at your email, open reach, you could look at where people clicked. You can look at the Instagram stories that people were the most like.

Viewed or, or that people clicked onto. You can look at your website traffic and your conversion rates and all of that information, if you collate it in one place, is going to then give you so much good nuggets into how you’re going to launch next time. The things you’re gonna talk about, how many more emails you’re gonna send, or less emails.

You know what you’re gonna post about. So do a postmortem in launch your own way. There’s a whole unit on, or a whole like module, I guess you call it, on how to do a postmortem with some tools, that I use for mine. And yeah, it’s, I’d say it’s just as important as the launch for sure. It’s like where you get all the valuable information.

Colie: And you said something, and so I’m gonna follow up.

I think that a postmortem is the best way.

for you to make strategic

data-driven decisions going forward? for your next launch. because I think a lot of us, and listen, I’m not excluding myself audience, like I have been guilty of this, but I feel like sometimes we make really emotional decisions in business. Now, I don’t do that often, but like sometimes I’m like, you know what?

This doesn’t feel good. 

This is not something that I wanna continue, like I’m gonna stop doing this right now. but There are other times that I just have to like sit with my energy. 

Kelsey: energy. 

Colie: force myself to continue and see it through, because in the end, it’s going to be more data for me to look at and analyze before I plan my next launch.

And so, I mean, I just, I wanted to make sure that I mentioned that ’cause I’m all about the strategy. I’m all about the data. I’m all about not just throwing shit on the wall to see what sticks. You can do that the first time, maybe even the second time, maybe even little parts of your future launches will be, Hey, I just wanna try this out and see what happens.

But every time you launch, every time you are building the habits of doing this, you are learning more to potentially make your next launch.

more successful.

Kelsey: I love that. Yeah, it definitely helps with decision making. There were lots of things that came out in my last postmortem around my launch that helped me see, ooh, okay, here’s what I’m gonna do for even before the launch, during the warmup, the products I’m gonna put out.

Because even after a launch, I’ll send out a survey to say like, why did you, or didn’t you join this round? And even in that, you just get people being like, oh, I didn’t understand this, or I thought this. And you’re like, oh, what I need to do way more. Content that helps them explain that helps them understand.

So, so yeah, it really helps with decision making. And I know we keep coming back to like making decisions in your business to help move you forward. And when it’s, when you have the data, that makes it a lot easier than an emotional decision.

Colie: I mean, Kelsey,

normally this would be where I’d be like, Hey, can you talk about and and talk about your offers and where people can find you.

I’m gonna do it for you. I’m sorry.

So again, it’s Kelsey of coming up Roses and her

Offer.

is Launch Your own Way. And just so that you know, I was in there for a six month stint.

then I bought lifetime access. So Kelsey’s never getting rid of me.

And I think you guys know by now, I would not bring

somebody on the podcast that I did not think would legitimately make your life or your business better? Um, when I’m over here like promoting.

their offers for them.

So if you are someone who is currently struggling with sales, you can’t figure out how to get a rhythm you’ve heard about.

launching. You think it’s

not for you. I would highly recommend that you join Kelsey’s email or maybe that you get, um, a few episodes that she puts out of her warmup podcast for free.

You can Go to her website

The link is in the show notes so that you can listen, because I really do feel like it’s a perspective that has really made me

a better sales person.

I mean, I thought I was good before, but

Now it makes me actually

do the

things that I need to do in order to keep my business.

moving.

Kelsey, do you wanna add anything to that?

Kelsey: I just think you’ve done so incredibly in the program. It really speaks so much to like the kind of business owner you are.

I like you came in with a certain set of offers and through the process of launching, have really like found what your star offer is. You’ve like never given up. You’ve always been willing to try and, and see what, what works and see what doesn’t. And I just admire the way that you show up so much. You’re also someone who like really does it your own way.

Like you’re not on every social media platform. You’re not trying to do TikTok like my, my Sleep. But I don’t know why I’m trying to do TikTok right now. Um, you know, you do, you, you do have a really simple launch system and I personally find that really inspiring as well. So I just wanted to give you some credit because I feel like you’re just so great at it and you’re such a leader in this space, and I’m really lucky to have you in the program

Colie: Aw, Kelsey Hugs.

Alright everybody, we are

gonna end it here because you know, I talk to

Kelsey almost

every week in office hours and I 

Kelsey: Yeah. 

Colie: we could just go On forever. So once again, the show notes, have all of the,

links that you guys need.

and that’s it for this episode.

See you next time.