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Private Practice Startup Podcast
Episode 190: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Launching an Online Product or Service
00:42:34
Laura Long, Kate Campbell, & Katie Lemieux
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to the Private Practice Startup Podcast where we help ambitious private practitioners across the globe to brand themselves and grow their dream practices. We chat with successful private practitioners, business coaches and marketing experts, bringing you tons of practice building Ninja tips. Visit privatepracticestartup.com for awesome resources, attorney approved private practice paperwork and our signature marketing E course. Here are your co hosts, Dr. Kate Campbell and Katie Lemieux.
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B
Hey, hey Startup Nation.
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C
Welcome back to another episode of the Private Practice Startup Podcast. We're really excited that you guys are here for our podcast today. We hope that you guys joined us last week as we talked to Dr. Andy Dobo all about where are they now? The episode miniseries that we are doing that are piped into our other podcasts. Really just understanding the successes of our past alumni. So he shares how he was able to scale into a different level of income and revenue by opening his EMDR training practices. So you'll definitely want to join us for that. Today we are talking about the good, the bad and the ugly of launching a product. And unfortunately Allison Per Year was going to be joining us today, but she came down with a stomach flu on recording day and we have to have the show must go on because Kate then she might not be joining us because she might be in labor or having a baby. So unfortunately Allison couldn't join us today. But I'm sure we're going to give you enough goodness about the good, the bad and ugly without her. And of course maybe we'll pipe in some of her stories because we are literally on a group chat, the four of us, and we have like this Private Practice coaching support group through chat and also Marco Polo that Allison introduced us to. So we talk about this stuff all the time. So I hope you guys sit back, relax, grab your favorite beverage and enjoy. That is unless you are, you know, driving or something like that. So stay safe on the road. But we hope that you guys really enjoyed this podcast. But before we get started, if you're brand new to us, I love when you guys join us for these types of podcasts that we're really excited about. What a great way to, you know, start off your relationship with us with this podcast. But we have a gift for you. That is our A to Z cheat sheet. The essentials for building and growing your dream practice. Head over to privatepracticestartup.com head on over to the Resources tab and there you will see it there hanging out. So grab the A to Z cheat sheet that also comes with five days of practice building emails to support you in your private practice, growth and development. And that's really what we want and desire for you. So joining us is the lovely Laura Long from your badass therapy practice, a regular on this podcast. By now, actually, I think, Laura, you probably have now taken the cake. It was like you, Ernesto, Allison, but you. I mean, like, this is the fourth, maybe fifth time that you're joining us.
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D
You are the queen.
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B
I mean, I'm not keeping count, but, like, I may or may not have Italian mark on my wall of how many times I've appeared on this podcast. And my goal is 10 when I make it to 10. I don't quite know what I'm gonna do, though. But I'll send you guys some fancy wine that Kate hopefully will be able to drink after this whole, like, birth thing that she's about to have.
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D
Yes, I'm very excited to be able to drink my wine again. It's been a long time. Way too long.
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B
I thought of you last night. I had a really nice bottle. I mean, nice to me. Nice to me has made me not nice to Kate, but if it's more than $15 a bottle, it's nice.
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D
I love when Laura randomly texts me. She'll text me and she'll be in, like, the grocery store or the wine storage or she'll video me and she'll ask me, what wine should she get? I love it. It's a random surprise.
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B
Just FaceTime, hey, tell me which bottle. And I just slowly pan the aisle. And you're like, that one top left.
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D
Yep, totally. By the way, how was the Chardonnay that I recommended?
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B
Amazing.
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D
Did you have it with stone crabs? Because if you have it, you gotta have it with stone crabs.
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B
No, no, I did not have it with stone crabs, but I will. I will now. If Kate says to do it, by God, I'm. Ha. It's happening.
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D
Yes. Do it.
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C
I feel like we're getting into Laura's wine live on this episode.
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B
I considered it. However, it is 1:30 in the afternoon, which is a little early for me.
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D
But on a Tuesday. Yep.
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B
Tuesday.
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C
Yes. Why don't we dive into the topic at hand? So all of us have launched, not once, but many times, products, services, and things like that. And I don't know. Where do you guys want to start? You want to start with the good, the bad, or the ugly?
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B
Let's start with the good.
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C
Yeah.
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B
That's what people want to know, right? They want to know what is the dream of launching.
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C
Okay, let's start there. So I don't know I think it'd be good to just even start with, like, how did we all decide to be crazy online entrepreneurs?
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B
Okay, do you want me to start?
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C
Yeah.
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B
Well, first of all, I had no idea what I was getting into. I took a course on how to launch an online product, which was really helpful, but I didn't. I mean, you know, it's almost like I'm going back to the whole birthing a baby thing, but it's like you have no idea until you're kind of elbow deep in it what it entails. So I, for those of you who maybe know, I had a crap ton of student loans to pay off. So that's kind of the catalyst that brought me into even having an online business to begin with. And so that was really like, what my. Why was I want to get these things paid off? Because every single month I pay so much money on my loans and after maybe 10 years, looked and I actually owed more than I did originally. After paying like a thousand dollars a month for 10 years.
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D
That's so depressing.
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C
That's horrendous. And then you've paid off your loans, right?
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B
I was able to pay off $88,000 in 18 months.
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C
Oh, my God. That's amazing. I knew you paid your loans off, but I didn't realize this is how you got into the online world.
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B
Yep, that's how I did it. And so that was my why of doing it to begin with was I want to launch so that I can break free. Because I literally felt like I had a chain wrapped around my neck. I couldn't do anything. Like, we couldn't go on vacations, any. Any extra money I spent on anything. I was like, crap. You know, I could. If I was out of my loans, then I wouldn't feel so guilty about buying shoes or something. So I was like, I worked way too hard to be in this amount of debt. So that was what it was for me. What about you guys?
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C
Amazing.
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D
I think for us it was. We were doing face to face trainings and events, and you're limited to how many people you can reach. And online you can reach so many more people. And we initially started with launching our paperwork, the attorney approved private practice paperwork. And we would have about one launch of those a month. And we started to see that once you have a couple launches under your belt and you have it all systemized, it's really easy to show up and do the webinar and then watch the sales come in. And we always knew that we wanted to have a private Practice marketing E course and it took us so many years, it was like climbing a freaking mountain to finish the whole, all the content, the systems around it and everything that that entails. And then when we initially we've launched that twice now, it's been quite the roller coaster ride and I know we'll get into some of that in a little bit but really I think it's just too it the idea of expanding our reach, the idea of bringing in some more passive income because once it's created, once you climb that mountain up the hill and it's created, it's a whole lot easier on the back end. There's like ton of front end loading to set it all up. But it was, yeah, just the desire for more passive income.
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C
That would be the bad part. All that front end loading because it can be very exhausting. And when tech doesn't work, which has happened during all of our actual launches live, that would be one ugly. But I know Laura, that you want to start off with the good. So let's start off with again, start off with the good.
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B
So loans are paid off. I mean like the good is amazing, right? Like from a financial perspective, loans paid off. I was able to secure my dream house. Just a whole story in and of itself. I can send my kid to a nice school. I don't have to worry about paying my bills. I never thought this would happen, but my therapy practice is now my side hustle like when I started. And I don't know what it's like for you ladies, but my private practice was full when I started your badass therapy practice. And in order for my online business to take off, I had to over time see less clients. And I was nervous about doing that because I didn't know what the future held for your badass therapy practice. But something had to give. I couldn't have two full time jobs all the time. So now it's gotten to the point where I maybe see eight therapy clients a week and the other 30 hours of my week are spent doing things like this and creating content and videos and working on more courses. So it's really exciting. But I never knew if you had told me three years ago that my private practice would become a side gig to an online business, I'd be like, you're crazy.
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C
You'd be like, what am I selling?
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B
Shoes?
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D
What do you mean?
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B
Yeah, do I have like an Etsy store?
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D
It's pretty fascinating. It's kind of happened the same similar way for me too. I have Bayview Therapy, the group Practice. And that's still really a priority for me and still really important. But I have it so streamlined and systemized that I don't even have to see clients there for any income. I'm able to. I actually stopped seeing clients earlier this month because of maternity leave. I needed to make sure I didn't go into preterm labor. Doctor was like, cut down the workload, responsibilities, anything that's extra stressing you out. I'm like, okay, this is time. Cut the cord, buy clients. So at this point I'm not seeing any more clients. I'm able to focus on the bigger side of growing the business, scaling the business and that sort of a thing. But it allows me to basically spend pretty much all my time on the private startup and really like working on propelling things forward. So, yeah, I never even really thought that that was going to happen.
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C
And I too have cut down over time. I'm probably at about eight clients now as well. And I think one of the great things about the online stuff is, you know, being able to impact more people, right. When you're face to face and you're local, like you can only reach as many people, but you have a wider potential pool of people also to reach. So, you know, when you're thinking about the online world, the income is far greater. I think one of the difficulties, which is no longer difficulty now, but when you're in launch mode and stuff like that, I mean, you know, we have payment plans and pay in full, but you know, there's times in your business where it's like you're getting a ton of money all in at once and then maybe for six weeks or eight weeks or however you manage things, there's really like nothing or it's small. Right. And so I know that I take care of the finances, so I've been able to orchestrate that and pay us consistently over time. So it doesn't feel like, oh, we got all this money now, where is it?
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D
Right.
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C
So that's been an interesting learning curve to manage for sure. But yeah, I mean, it's so cool to also see therapists doing just amazing work in other areas of the country that number one, you like sometimes. I've never met them like face to face and haven't been able to squeeze them yet. And then you finally get to see them face to face and it's just like this really cool opportunity. And you know, we have very close relationships with all of our alumni, as do you. So that relationship continues and they're doing good in the world and you can support them. And that's exciting. So that's a lot of fun. I think the other good is like what Kate was talking about, like when you have something and it becomes systemized and it works well and you can kind of show up and do the work that you love. Like with us in the podcast and the paperwork. Right. It's our paperwork webinar. It's just we have to remind ourselves, what do we need to do here? Is it on? Does the link work okay? It does. Is the payment right? Okay, that's good too. Then our team does the rest. That's a really cool aspect, but it does take a long time to get there sometimes because you're refining and tweaking and refining your processes and making sure that whatever you're putting out there is what, you know, simplified. And so that's an interesting thing that you really don't have. I mean, you have in business, but not as much with the face to face stuff.
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B
So. Yeah. I remember when I first started coaching people online, I always would comment on how I felt like I was using a completely different side of my brain than when I was seeing therapy clients. And that was really just a nice change up that I could have, you know, three, four or five sessions. And then in the middle, smack dab of all that, I get to do a business coaching session, which is like totally different. And so I feel like that just, it helped sustain me during those long days. But yeah, going back to what you were saying, Katie, about those relationships, I mean, I had no idea when I first started this whole thing that the relationships I would form with my readers and my subscribers and those who eventually became students, those relationships are long lasting. It's not just like they buy a product from you and it's over. Like, that's just the beginning. And that's been really exciting. I know we can talk about all the different launches that we. What we've done because we have kind of different things. You know, it's like I've got mostly courses and I do some masterminds and I just did my first in person retreat. And then you guys have the paperwork package, you have your new E course, and you do group coaching too. So just like, it's just been really fascinating to see those relationships that were born out of someone just needing to figure out how to make their practice sustainable. And now it's like we text each other and we can like get on voxer and chat and I can like meet these people at conferences. It's like, wow, this is, it's really cool.
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C
That is, it is, it is a lot of fun. And I'm like, another good thing is like, I'm kind of, kind of know Kate and I often get blown away really by the results that people are producing. Like right now, you know, our coaching program is a 90 day, 12 week, 10 week program, right. And then, you know, either run in your coaches or they follow up with you. I mean, one of our alumni, Shaun Davis, he follows up with us a lot and he recently sent us, he's like, I just want to show you a graph since I took your coaching program. I think it's almost a year and a half ago. I saw that 205% what growth? Like, that's like mind blowing. And like, as I talk about it, I get chills and it's like, you know, I kind of feel like there's a portion of it, like with clients, like they attribute this success to you. And it's like, I know that there is a portion of it that we are responsible for, but like, just to see them grow. And I think it's really the possibility of we don't even know what's possible and they don't even know what's possible. And then they're starting to get the results and they tell us like, that's pretty freaking mind blowing. I love that aspect.
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B
I love knowing that If I help 200 therapists and they end up getting full caseloads, whatever that means to them, then I'm essentially helping thousands or tens of thousands of people every single month. Because that's just amazing.
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D
The extent, yeah. The amount that you're able to extend your reach and really make a greater impact is just so cool to think about. It's really rewarding. And that's a lot of why we do what we do, right?
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B
Yeah.
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C
Let's shift moving into the bad and the ugly. But before we do that, let's take a quick break. For our sponsor. When you're in private practice, it can be tough to find the time to review your marketing efforts and make improvements where needed. Whether you're a seasoned clinician whose current website needs to be revamped or a new therapist building a website for the first time, BrighterVision is here to help. By first understanding your practice and what makes it unique, Brighter Vision's team of developers will create you a custom website catered to your specific marketing goals. Better yet, they provide unlimited tech support to make sure it stays updated and professional search engine optimization to make sure you rank high in online searches. All at no additional cost. To get started for $100 off, head to brightervision.compps Again, that's brightervision.compps There are.
- [16:44]
D
So many ways to keep your practice organized, but TherapyNotes is by far the best. They're easy to use, secure platform, lets you not only do billing, scheduling and progress notes, but also create a client client portal to share documents and request signatures. Plus they offer amazing unlimited phone support. So when you have a question, they're there so you can get help fast. Get started with TherapyNotes today, trusted by over 60,000 professionals. Go to therapynotes.com and enter promo code PPS as in Private Practice Startup and you'll get two months for free. Also, you can listen to episode 54 where we interviewed Brad Pliner and took an in depth view into their ehr.
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C
I kind of feel like as we talk about the bad and the ugly, I think they're just going to kind of start to move on over. So we'll put them together and we'll just kind of go from there. I think one of the interesting things, and obviously you guys aren't privy to this until today because you're not on our little chat, but there has been some crazy crap that has happened during the middle of launches. Go ahead Laura.
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B
Well, the tech for one. You alluded to it earlier. I feel like it's not a good launch unless there's some tech fiasco.
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D
So true.
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B
Let's see, the worst tech fiasco I ever had was my last launch. I decided that I was going to do a webinar launch for the first time, which was always really intimidating to me. So I figure if I'm really scared to do something, why not do it? So it was my first time ever doing a webinar launch. I did as best as I could, all of the prep that I thought I needed to do in terms of like finding a platform and getting people, you know, the tech is crazy. Guys like how much I have to know about back end stuff and all the different software programs and I even have to know a little bit of code for a lot of what I do. So I did everything by the book. I was excited. I got people to register. I had I think 500 people registered for this webinar. I planned for weeks this like beautiful presentation because I hate going to a webinar and not actually learning anything. It ends up being like an hour long sales pitch and I was like, I'm going to be different. I'm going to actually in this hour whether people buy my course or not after this, they are going to have actionable, deliverable things they can do. So 500 people register for this webinar. I know you guys know how it ended because you were a part of the chat. And I start the webinar and there's only like 98, 99, 100 people at any given time. And I was like, 500 people registered. And I specifically said there was not going to be a replay, so I didn't record it because I meant what I said. There's no replay. This is it. You come live or you don't get in. And so when only 100 people came, I was really, like, disheartened. I sign off at the end of the webinar feeling pretty good because overall it went really well. Like, my presentation part went really well. And I check my email and I have 80 emails of angry people who couldn't get in because apparently the software program that I used for the webinar only admitted they would only allow a hundred people in, regardless of how many people registered. So then I had to, like, I panicked because here are all these people accusing me of just like stealing their emails, knowing that they couldn't get in. And I was mortified. So dagger to the heart. Oh, yeah. So I, I spent a day trying to figure out, because it's in the middle of my launch. I mean, here we go, this is it. It's launch week. Trying to figure out what the heck to do to make it right. And I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna re record the webinar by myself, do it, you know, all from start to finish, and then I'll just plop it on YouTube and send it to everybody for like a limited time. So that's what I ended up doing. And people were grateful and gracious about it. But yeah, there were people who were not, not happy. And I was. I don't even think there's a word to describe. Like, I was just mortified.
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D
So stressful, right?
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B
Biggest. My biggest tech blunder.
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C
Yeah. And you have this like, attack, right? And a lot of times, either people are just, they don't know you, right? So they don't really know who you are and what you're up to and how you handle things. So you're getting this attack as they're pissed off. So you have to manage that. You have to manage your own emotions because you go into feeling like an asshole or a jerk or. And then you have the time pressure of tech and deadlines. Like, I have to make this Right. Right now everything has to just. Everything is on hold. I'm sweating. I can't think because I'm emotional. This was during a paperwork launch. As you're talking about this, I remember. So it's me, Kate, and Jessica sitting at the table. So Jessica manages our chat, and, you know, she helps do a whole bunch of other things. So we're sitting at the table, and I went to move the list into another list or something like that. And what ended up happening is in the second that I thought I was doing that, basically everyone who registered for our webinar was about to get our paperwork for free.
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B
Everybody.
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C
Oh, I. Like, I was sitting there, and I went like this.
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D
Oh, my.
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C
Oh, my God. And I just felt, like, sweat coming over me. Like, panic, right? And. And I don't remember what. Kate's like, get on the chat.
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D
And I'm like, okay.
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C
And Jessica's calm as a cucumber. She's just calm as a cucumber. She's like, oh, just do this and unhook the thing and whatever. So I was like, okay.
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D
Okay.
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C
Well, I guess the list was, like, big enough. Like, it didn't have enough time yet, technology wise. So we blocked everything, right? And then we had to, you know, scramble and do some other tech stuff. That reminds me, that was like a full on, like, panic mode. Like, because your product is digital, it's easy for people to get if you hit the.
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D
The wrong things.
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B
Oh, wow.
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D
I forgot about that. I thought you were gonna tell. I thought you were gonna tell the story about the huge, like, giant glass of water that we spilled all over all of the equipment. Like, the second we're getting ready to go live, it's like a waterfall happening.
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C
The glass was behind the computer, so I didn't see, and I pushed the computer back. Water all over the place. Like, literally. It's like, 12 o'. Clock. We're going on 12 o'. Clock.
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B
I love how we can laugh about all this now, but when it's happening, y' all the worst.
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D
It's crazy. I remember. Laura, you were. You were super sick. I think you had the flu for one of your launches.
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B
I had. Yeah. I think. I think that's almost like I'm cursed now. So. So this last launch was when the tech blunder happened during my webinar. The launch before that, I got the flu during launch week. And once you pick a date and once people start paying for your product, you know, for me, it's a. It's a cohort model course, so I can't just change all the dates because I got sick. Whereas if I was selling maybe more of like an actual product, like your paperwork package and I got really sick, it probably is okay, like, you can still move forward. But man, I had a live Q and A scheduled with all of my alumni who arranged their schedules. Like they made sure they didn't have a client during that hour because we're going to do this whole, like alumni tell all of my program.
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D
So.
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B
So I had like a hundred alumni rearrange their schedule to be here for this. Tell all that I was going to stream live on Facebook and I get the flu and I just had to cancel everything. And shockingly, that up up until that point, that launch ended up being my best launch. It hasn't been my best since, but like up until I had launched like five or six times at that point and that was still my best one. Even having the flu, that's crazy and.
- [24:29]
C
I'm glad you said that. And one thing that I have learned is that when you make mistakes, people realize you're human as long as you clean them up and whatever. And I think there's times that we've had those times being our best launches. I don't remember what it was, but we did do a paperwork webinar and there was some issues, but that was our best launch. So that's a good thing, is when you're human and can fix things and own your mistakes, for some reason that helps. I don't know.
- [24:57]
D
This last launch that we had in September was the most insane, never ending, crazy, stressful.
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B
The hurricane, right?
- [25:06]
D
We literally, oh my gosh, we were.
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B
Like, you can't make this up. You can't.
- [25:11]
D
You cannot make this up. So here we are. We had planned for a 10 day launch. It was a little bit longer of a launch. We'd been working for three months solid on revamping things, tech tweaks, going through all the marketing content strategies and the whole system, going through and refining our course based on everybody's feedback, making sure everything was perfect, right? So we've been slaving away, doing all of this work on the front end and then we start the launch and then there's like this massive Category 5 hurricane that's like looming in the distance, right? And so we're watching that come and here we are mid launch, we're like in the middle of the launch, The Hurricane Category 5 looks like it's going. It is dead. Beelining straight for Fort Lauderdale. Looks like it's gonna completely demolish us Right.
- [26:00]
C
This is. Guys, this is Hurricane Dorian that demolished the Bahamas. Like that's what we were up against. And Bahamas just give you some perspective, is 90 miles from us, so not, not that far.
- [26:09]
D
The hurricane literally sat over the Bahamas for two days straight, category five, over 200 mile an hour wind, and just pummeled them. And that is like right next door to us. Here we are mid launch, they're getting pummeled. We don't know what's gonna happen. And we had to basically push everything back mid launch. So it became like a three week long launch. And it was the never ending launch. We did 80 coaching consults during this time because the window was so open. And not to mention all the hurricane prep that you have to do for your multiple properties and office and, you know, hurricane shutters going up and bringing everything inside and then figuring out it was absolutely insane.
- [26:57]
C
Yeah. And if you've never been through a hurricane, the way I describe a hurricane is all your family is going to come for the holidays and they just told you a week before you're cooking all of the food that you have because you don't want it to go to waste. And you're basically moving all at the same time in one week or less. Like that's what it feels like because you are running out fighting all the crazy lines like it's the holidays. But so you have this, you're working, right? And then we had to move everything. And it's not easy just to move everything because you have to, you have to figure out your system and undo things and undo dates and then redo them. And the other thing too is we don't know if we're gonna get hit or not with the hurricane. So we're prepping our VA in Africa of like, hey, you probably might not hear from us for how long, I'm not really sure. But just wait till we come back online. Like, you know, manage the email. Like, so there's all these aspects and of course you forget several. So then you go like, you wake up in the middle of the night, damn it, I forgot this thing, you know, or like in the morning you run to your computer to like take care of it. It's so the emotional exhaustion and the physical exhaustion is crazy. I mean, I remember when we first launched the eCorp, Kate and I were like, yeah, private practice clients, that's cool, whatever. Right in the middle. No, do not. If you're launching anything big, do not schedule anything else because you will spend time dealing with all the stuff that comes up because now it's like you're live and you're in the middle of launch and things that you didn't anticipate definitely come up. And then I would say one of the bad things about launching is the refresh button, the end of your launch, like, or like in the middle of your launch. So statistically speaking, most people buy in the last, in the last day, the last 24 hours, 12 hours, whatever. That's the time you get most sales. But if you don't know that, you're constantly going through email. Like, does someone purchase, oh, maybe, maybe I'm not refreshed. Let me refresh again, let me refresh again. Right? And then you're like. And then that's when all like the mindset chatter creeps in. Like, I suck people. Bitchy Brenda, Bitchy Brenda comes to town. She's all like.
- [28:49]
B
Well, I think there's pretty much a reverse U curve for all launches, right? So if you, whether you do. I've tested 5 day launches, 10 day launches, 14 day launches, and they all follow the same trajectory regardless of how long they are. It's the first day or two. I get a lot of sales and I get really excited thinking that I'm just gonna go, but it dips, right? So if I do a five day launch and I start Sunday night and I end Friday night, Sunday night through Monday night, awesome. I get a lot of people coming in, a lot of interest, a lot of emails. I'm like, yes, it's gonna be a great launch. By Wednesday, I have zero sales. Like, there's nothing coming in. It's just like complete crickets Wednesday. Even into Thursday, I might get like a couple of sales in there. And I'm like panicking because you don't know how it's gonna end. So it starts off great. And then you're like, what's happening? What am I doing wrong?
- [29:39]
D
No one's coming, no one's buying.
- [29:42]
B
And then of course, like you said, Katie, the last 24 hours is when the bulk of people buy because they're like slackers and they need to be like, pushed. And it's like, I think I send like two last minute emails being like, guys, seriously, it's closing. And that's when everyone buys because they're like, oh, crap.
- [29:56]
D
Yep, all the procrastinators out there.
- [29:59]
B
Because while our launches are the most important things to us that week, our launches are not the most important thing to other people. Even if they really want to enroll, it's not like the first thing on Their mind when they wake up in the morning, like, oh, got to make sure I enroll for that E course, because it's ending on Friday. So. Yeah, so Friday night, then I get a ton of buyers at the end, and then I'm like, whoo. All right, we dodged that one. But, like, every single launch is that. So I have now become super relaxed. So even my VA is like, it's Wednesday, and people have stopped buying. I'm like, it's fine. They'll figure it out. And they do.
- [30:37]
C
And there really is a psychology behind that and a psychology of buying behavior. And for you to understand that, that's really important. You were talking about the webinar. Remember when Kate and I first did our paperwork webinar, we literally had, like, 800 people sign up. So we're like, oh, my God, we don't have spots for 800 people. Like, we freaked out, right? And so we found that we could utilize GetResponse so we could have a place for 500. But the interesting thing is only, like, 30ish to 40% of the people actually show up live. And then another percentage actually watch the replay. We were, like, panicking, really, for no good reason, but we were in the same boat as you are. But sure that we had more seats available. But I would say, learn the numbers, learn the statistics. You're gonna go through your own emotions about it. It's tough, you know, dealing with all of that stuff. I know. Last launch, Alison, poor thing, she sprained her ankle.
- [31:26]
B
Oh, my gosh. I remember that.
- [31:28]
C
A lot of craziness has happened, you know, during these times, for sure. What would you guys say is, like, something, like, super ugly going through launches or something that's happened. I mean, those things that we've shared are really tough already, but I don't know if there's, like, anything that just kind of really, like, sticks out.
- [31:48]
B
Well, I think it's when a launch doesn't go as well as you hope, right? I think we all have these. Everyone who launches something has a minimum amount of product they'd like to sell. You know, maybe to, like, to even have a launch, we have to have software, and we have to have these subscriptions. So it's like, we have overhead. So there's, like, some level of, okay, I need to at least sell these. This number of whatever to make it worth it that I did all this work and that I'm paying for all these services. And then there's the middle number, which is like, this would be really cool. Like, that I would Be. I would consider this a successful launch if I make this middle number or if this amount of people purchase this product and then we all have this like. I don't even. I'm not gonna say what Alison calls it, but it's like a poop your pants. If this number then like I'm retiring and moving to Hawaii or something, you know. But I think everyone. Do you ladies have that too? Where it's like we've got. I've actually had a range.
- [32:52]
C
Yeah. But I've had to scale back because I get disappointed with the numbers. Like. Cause I'm like, I go pie in the sky. And then, you know, Kate always has. So like. But we did good.
- [33:00]
B
Look.
- [33:01]
D
We did.
- [33:01]
C
And then she has to give me all the pep talk about, you know, and then. And then I have to remove myself from the numbers and just get really present to what we're up to. And that's really, like you said, helping therapists stay in practice and affect many, many lives.
- [33:13]
B
Yeah. But I think that's the ugly though is like focusing on the number because at the end of the day it's less about the number. Those numbers will come as long as we are doing things that really help the people who we serve. Right. Like once you stop, once you lose sight of that, then the numbers will never come.
- [33:29]
D
For me, I don't get invested in a particular number because it just puts way too much pressure on it for me and it's just not helpful. But I always want to do better than we did before. So there still is some expectation there that we want it to do better than before.
- [33:46]
B
Yeah. And sometimes better. Like for me, better doesn't always mean that I made more. Sometimes it's that I was able to increase the price because the value has also been added to the course. So it's like, alright, well I didn't sell as many. Like maybe I had a cohort of 45 instead of 50, but I was able to successfully raise the price of the program overall and people were still excited to pay it. So that to me is a successful launch, even if the bottom line isn't a ton more than it was last time. Getting like less people but of a higher price point, knowing that they are excited. That to me, as a success, successful launch, when people are like, oh my God, I did it. Like, I finally saved up and I'm.
- [34:29]
D
Here, let's do it.
- [34:30]
B
The energy of.
- [34:31]
D
Exactly.
- [34:33]
C
Yeah. One of the things that just kind of popped my mind when we first launched our E course. We had to like abandon Our whole marketing strategy right in the middle of the launch, and we had to switch into consultation calls because that's really what people were needing. And I'm the systems person in our relationship, so I'm constantly looking at the systems and I think my line is always like, this is not working. This is not working.
- [34:55]
D
This is not.
- [34:56]
C
We have to change this. Not working. Kate's like, no, we're doing good. I was like, no, but it's not working. We gotta figure this out. And so, like, we had to really shift gears and like, and again, it's that time pressure, deadline of, okay, we're launching from here to here, and we only have this amount of time and so we gotta figure this out. So that's definitely like super ugly and stressful. And it is because you have to clear everything off your plate to get it done. And it's a lot. That would be super ugly.
- [35:21]
B
Yeah, that is ugly.
- [35:22]
D
Probably the ugliest.
- [35:24]
C
Yeah. But so, you know, I'm just kind of thinking like, you know, as we talk about this stuff and launching and the good, the bad and ugly, what do you guys want people to really hear from what we're talking about today?
- [35:36]
B
I think for me, if we don't know a lot about how to do something, we can often get lost in this research overwhelm. Like, read all the books and the blog posts and listen to all the podcasts about how to do the thing. And it's not until you're actually just doing it that you learn stuff. So I see a lot of coaches, whether they're in our industry or just coaches for anybody out there, and they'll promote things like, you know, create an E course and make thousands of dollars a month. Just follow this, you know, five step sales funnel sequence. And they make it sound really, really tactical. Like if you just do these things, then you'll be successful and you'll make six figures. And what I want people to take away from today is that it's about so much more than that. It's about creating products that really serve your population. And listen, listen to what it is that whoever it is, like for us, it's therapists and private practice for you out there. Like, if you're wanting to create an online product, maybe it's for something that is closer to your clients. So if you see couples, like, maybe you're contemplating creating something for couples, right? But really think about and listen to what your clients are already telling you that they struggle with, and just try to come up with creative solutions for that. The Tech stuff and the click funnels and the email service provider like automation series and all these big fancy terms like none of us knew that starting off you just find a problem that you really want to solve and people whose problems you want to solve and just go about doing that and come up with creative solutions that work. And if they do work, then the people who you help will tell other people like them and other people like them. So up until this point, this month is the first time I ever invested in any, any advertising. And I've had this business for three years because for so long and it's slower growth the way I did it, but it's organic. It's people really getting a lot of value out of what you do and how you serve them so they tell other people about it. And so if we're really passionate about something, we can create a product and we don't have to get lost in all of the minutia. So there's what I would want them to take away.
- [38:06]
D
What about you, Kate? Beautifully said. Yeah, I really agree with what Laura's talking about and I would also add to be to try to have realistic expectations with yourself throughout the process because I know for Katie and I, we, you know, we'll have these great ideas and this vision and we'll really be passionate about it and we'll be like, okay, we just need six months. We need six months to create this whole, you know, platform and course and everything. And I think it took us like close to a year and a half to do and yeah, it's a lot. So try to be realistic with yourself. And then also when you're launching, clear your schedule, give yourself time so that you can handle those unexpected things, have lots of support, have other people that you can turn to in your launch support group like we do with Allison and Laura, to be able to just have that support because it is an emotional roller coaster ride, especially the first few times that you go through it. And ultimately though, it is such a great way of really extending your reach and helping so many more people with whatever it is that you want to do and can be a great source of additional income for sure.
- [39:12]
C
And I agree with you ladies too. Like, it's all, it's all a learning process. And if you're, you know, an entrepreneur, you're a junkie, go down the path and you know, you can always start off small. Like we created this by doing one on one coaching and then group coaching and we were beginning to test and measure and we kind of created our product as we went. And there's a lot of schools of thoughts of doing that. Like, you don't even have to know. You just ask them, you know, what is it that you need to know about this topic? And then you create that next time, like, within a week, right? So it's all there. And if you do have a message and you have a creative solution, like Laura was saying is, like, don't be quiet. Like, it's not Kate. And I always say it's not about you. Because if you don't share your gifts out there in the world, so many other people are missing out. So if you're thinking about, you know, launching something, creating something, we want to encourage you to do, so know that it's going to be a crazy ride. We're big on coaching and mentoring, and so I would definitely recommend that and also to find awesome people in your corner. Like, we have Laura and Allison, and I think it just, you know, I just want to highlight this because, like, it's proof that when we think about the practice builders in our arena, like Laura and Allison and us kind of have similar things in what we do, but we play in the same sandbox. Like, we reach out to each other the most. There is a place for everybody. Laura has a very specific brand, if you know her already and you know, Alison does other things, and we all have our own brands and niches and things like that, but we completely support each other. And it's always collaboration, never competition. So find the other people that are doing what you're doing, get help, get support, but most importantly, get your message out there. So we hope you guys enjoyed the good, the bad and the ugly of launching this.
- [40:45]
D
Hopefully has given you a little, like.
- [40:47]
C
Insight of what it's really like to experience launching a course, a service, a product. And we hope that you guys join us next time for another important podcast as we again put down the business talk and talk on a more personal level. We're going to be talking with Joe Eckler, really managing life and what happens when life throws chronic illness your way, and how do you keep a practice? How do you maintain a practice, and what's that like? So she's going to share her journey and some tips for you guys. So join us next time for that one.
- [41:17]
D
Thanks so much, everybody, for listening. And if you guys are really enjoying this podcast series, definitely, definitely let us know, subscribe, rate, and review the show. We love when we get emails from you guys or post on Google review, all of a sudden it'll just pop up and we're like, yes, this is why we're doing what we're doing. And we're really on track with all the content that we're providing for you. And if there's a topic that we haven't shared with you guys yet or talked about, definitely let us know. We would love to be able to support you. And as always, we will look forward to continuing to inspire you from startup to mastery. We'll see you next time.
- [41:47]
C
Thanks so much, Startup Nation. We will see you later. And if you want to hang out with us more, check us out in Facebook, of course, join our group there. So have an awesome, inspired day, everybody. Take care.
- [41:56]
D
Thanks for joining us on the Private Practice Startup. Visit the private practices startup.com for for awesome resources, free trainings, attorney approved private practice paperwork, and so much more. It.