AMY PORTERFIELD: “Plan a staycation or a little getaway after your launch. So I mentioned this earlier, right? And you can keep this as simple as a massage the day after cart close. So if you don't want to, you know, go to a hotel in your town or do a little getaway, at least plan for a massage, and plan for it before that cart opens so it's actually on the books; or maybe a movie night with your partner or a friend or two; or just drinks, out with the girls; or whatever it might be; or you can book an Airbnb or, like I did, go to a fancy hotel, but in the town you're in; something that you get to shut off the world and just be.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: Real quick, I wanted to talk to you about another podcast that I think you might love. It's called Being Boss, and it's hosted by Emily Thompson, and it's really just an exploration of not only what it means but what it takes to be a boss as a creative business owner, freelancer, or side hustler. So Being Boss is an amazing resource for anyone interested in getting inspired and, more importantly, getting started as their own boss.
So, head to wherever you get your podcasts to check out Being Boss. And I recommend starting with her episode on releasing the sense of urgency in business. Especially coming back from my sabbatical, this episode was a great reminder to slow down and be intentional. You're going to love it.
Welcome to an episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast.
Friend, I have been looking forward to sharing this episode with you for a while now. You see, there have been whispers. I take it back. There are never whispers on Instagram. Everything is really loud there, right? So there has been a lot of loud talk about the fact that you should ditch the live-launch model. Live launches are exhausting. They're too much work. They just about kill you. So go to evergreen. Live launches are a thing of the past.
Now, I'm no stranger to how exhausting a live launch can be, but I'm also very aware of how powerful a live launch can be, even more so—dare I say it?—than the evergreen model. I've seen it, my students have seen it, and I wholeheartedly believe that a live launch can be done without running yourself into the ground. For me, it's taken some time to really hone in on how to do that. And listen, if I saw better ROI on my evergreen products, I'd be right there with the rest of those who say that evergreen is better than live launching. But it just is not the case. And if someone tells you that it blows their live launch out of the water, then I'm going to say they're an outlier. I've been around long enough to know they are an outlier.
So, in this episode, I've actually put together a live-launch wellness checklist for you to use, because here's my hope for you: my hope is that you won't give up on live launches. If you have never done them, then I hope you will at least entertain the idea of doing them. And if you've done them and they've been exhausting and you didn't like them, I hope that you'll revisit them. I want you to enjoy a live launch, not burn out from them. And I want your business to reap the benefits that they offer.
But I didn't just stop with this episode. I'm actually making this a two part-er. And next week, we're going to continue this conversation, because I believe that there's a beautiful way for live launches and an evergreen offer to co-exist in your business and offer you a ton of flexibility, a ton of time freedom, and so much more.
So next week is all about evergreen and how to move from a live launch into evergreen. You all have been asking me for more evergreen episodes. It's a hot topic, so I've got one coming your way. But for today, I'm giving you seven things I want you to be intentional about and plan for your upcoming live launch to keep your wellness and well-being in check and stay grounded. And then next week, I'll meet you back here for part two, where I'm breaking down how to build a business that supports an evergreen program, but also allows you to reap the benefits of live launching. And with this checklist, you'll find that it’s actually enjoyable to do both. Let's get to it.
Whether you've never live launched or you've done ten live launches, the importance of taking care of your wellness before, during, and after your live launch is paramount. It never changes. Just because you get better at live launching doesn't mean you can let your wellness fall to the wayside, or that you don't need to set the necessary things in motion to support your mental and physical well-being during your launch. In fact, I'd venture to say that the bigger your launches get and the bigger your audience, the more energy you need to expend. But either way, I want you to, first and foremost, really understand just how important it is to make your wellness, your health, and mental well-being part of your launch plan. Heck, we'll call it part of your personal pre-launch runway plan, meaning even before you get into launching.
So, let me tell you a couple of stories from my personal experience. I've done more live launches than I can count on both hands, and I'm embarrassed to say that I approached many of those the very same way: go full throttle, balls to the wall—I can't believe I just said that—into the pre-launch runway. Hustle. Be sleep deprived. Be exhausted. Be anxious throughout the entire launch. And then dive headfirst into the post-launch assessment and debrief and then start supporting my students, all while trying to welcome new people into my world and be the best I can be.
I recall a specific time—this was way back in the day—where I used to launch something, and the very next day I was in my private Facebook group doing Q&As and supporting them all weekend. This is coming off of, like, a three—or back in the day I would do four weeks of cart open. Hearing that now, it just kind of gives me chills. But in my early days, yes, I had a cart open for an entire month. And then, right when the program started, the very next day, I was like, go, go, go. And that did not support me at all, as I'm sure you can guess.
And then, there was this one time at band camp—just joking—that I launched something, did a live launch. And this was probably three weeks of live launching. Again, this is a while ago. And Hobie and I decided—we started these staycations after my launches. So I got a little bit smarter and I said, “Okay, class doesn’t start the next day. If a cart closes on a Thursday, class officially starts on that Monday. And we tell people we're not going to be in the Facebook group doing live Q&A until class starts. So I started to give myself at least, like, the weekend to decompress after a live lunch. So Hobie and I started to go on these staycations.
Well, we left, literally, like, an hour after the cart closed. I was still living in California, in San Diego, and we went to Laguna Beach at, like, a fancy hotel. And we fought the entire weekend. We fought so much on day one, and that's very rare for Hobie and I. We fought so much on day one of this staycation that I looked at him and I'm like, “Let's go home. Why are we doing this? This is ridiculous.” And the reason we forgot is I was so stressed out from the launch, I was so overwhelmed, I was wired, and I didn't even come down from it. And that same launch energy, it was all on him, but in the most negative, ugly way. I had to apologize. I realized, “Holy cow. What am I doing?” And so that, also, because I didn't take care of myself during the three-week launch and then I went right into the staycation hours later without decompressing at all, then I just put all that energy onto Hobie, but not in a good way.
So, I’ve been there, my friend. I know what negative consequences come when you don't take care of yourself during a launch. So I'm here to say, yeah, it happens, for sure, but it doesn't have to.
So as we're getting ready to dive into your live-launch wellness checklist, I want to take a moment and urge you to take this seriously. I get it. You have so many things on your plate and on your mind as you're heading into a launch, number one being to make it a success. And while enrolling a ton of new students and hitting your revenue goals usually equates to success, what if we added another layer? What if we said that part of a successful live launch is to wrap it up feeling calm, levelheaded, and present? Don't get me wrong, no matter how much effort you put into being mindful about your wellness, you will still have to give your all, and that takes a lot of energy.
And of course, you're going to feel a little bit more depleted when you close that cart. I hope you close the cart with an overflowing feeling of love and support from the people you're serving and your team members, and even if you didn't hit your goal, you feel like you really accomplished something. I'm hoping that's how you're feeling. But even if you have all those amazing, wonderful feelings, you're still going to be tired. Like, there's no way around it. But it's for a short period of time. So, my goal for you is to have a sense of calm and to feel like you were present throughout the entire launch.
In the past, I'll admit that I found myself just going through the motions, relying on another cup of coffee just to get me to the finish line. But the times that I've done that, I've looked back on my launch, and it kind of felt like a blur. So, part of live launching, the part that I want you to really get and start to feel is enjoyment, enjoying the process.
I can honestly say that I enjoy live launching now, and I've always made it a mission over the last few years that we better have some fun. There better be laughs. We better play some pranks on each other. Like, if my team comes to Nashville, we're always having fun and being silly and all of that. And I get to be present with my team and with my students. I love that.
So, implementing some of the things I'm going to share with you today, I found that I'm able to be more energized and intentional and present with not only my team, but, most importantly, my new students. And when I'm going live with them for a masterclass or for a Q&A, especially the ones where I'm getting on with them and coaching them through their reservations about enrolling, like, if they're on the fence—I do that with all my launches now—I want to be fully with them in the moment. They'll be able to know if I'm checked out or super stressed, right?
So, when you're not showing up for yourself, it shows through everything you're doing. Your students will know. Your community will know. So declare this with me: I will commit to taking care of my wellness and my well-being and use this checklist to guide me and keep me present and energized during my next live launch. I know that's a mouthful, but that's what I want you to commit. Put your right hand up. Ready? I’m going to say it one more time. I will commit to taking care of my wellness and my well-being and use this checklist to guide me and keep me present and energized during my next live launch.
Okay, so now that you took the oath, let's get to it.
Number one, set up some mindset hacks. You've got to get your head in the right place, and it's helpful to start using these before you even open the doors to your digital course. So, I'm going to say that you can kick these off when you kick off your pre-launch runway. So that's, like, promoting before you actually open the doors.
So here are a few examples. Maybe you write out some mantras, and to make it really easy, maybe you write three of them out. Like, three mantras, just do it. So one for pre-launch, to get your head in the game when you start to pre-promote. One for during the launch, to support you and keep you focused and give you strength when things get tough, because they will. Even if you're hitting your goals, you're still going to be tired. So, yes, just plan on running into a few tough moments, whether that be that you're losing your voice—this has happened to me—or you're doubting that you have one more masterclass left in you—yeah, that's happened to me, too—or you're not hitting your goals—yeah, that's happened to me, too.
So you're going to need a mantra for no matter what you're feeling, things will get tough—that's part of life—and I just want you to keep your head in the game. So these tough moments come in all shapes and sizes, so mentally preparing for them and telling yourself, “Oh, this is part of launching. This is part of being an entrepreneur. This is part of running a business,” and then using a mantra to keep you grounded, it's a simple thing, but it makes a big difference.
And then, lastly, maybe you also give yourself a mantra for after your cart closes. I want to give you a few examples of each. Like, take what you need; leave what you don't. But I'd suggest writing these three down on a Post-it Note with a Sharpie, of course, and having them somewhere you can easily see them throughout your entire launch, pre to post.
So pre-launch-runway mantras. Here's a few. “I'm excited, calm, and energized, and ready to enjoy this process.” Or “I'm taking care of myself and creating the space I need to feel supported and grounded.” Simple mantras.
And then, here's some cart-open mantras. “Everything is happening for me. I trust the process and know I am supported.” Or here's another one. “I breathe in, I breathe out, and I find joy and playfulness as often as possible,” or “I find joy and excitement as often as possible.”
And then, post-cart-close mantras, like, the cart is now closed, “I'm grateful for the opportunity to guide my new, amazing students,” or “My heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude for the ability to host another live launch,” or create your own. If those feel cheesy to you, which sometimes mantras do, create your own.
So, another couple of things you may want to consider is giving yourself five to ten minutes in the morning, before anything else happens, before you talk to anyone, before you shower, before you even have your coffee, to sit in silence and focus on your breath, say a prayer, meditate, whatever works for you. I can promise you, during my live launches, every morning, I am saying a prayer. That’s just what I do. And I’m just taking that moment to set my intentions for the day, because, holy cow, things can get chaotic, and I want to make sure I started grounded. And it doesn't have to be long. I'm talking, like, five, ten minutes, just gifting yourself this little amount of time before diving headfirst into whatever may come for your day. It just works wonders. And I got to be honest. I would argue this is one of the most important pieces of the wellness check, so make room for it and make a plan to take care of your mental well-being.
A side note to this and the mantras, I'm doing a lot of coaching with a business coach right now, and I just finished a quarterly leadership retreat, where my leadership team came into town. We do this every quarter for two days. And I was worried about some things in the business and unsure. I had just gotten off my sabbatical, so I was kind of unsure what was happening. And my coach said two words, “Calm and confident. How are you going to show up as a calm and confident leader?” And so I actually journaled about it before the retreat. And then when I felt I was getting anxious, someone brought up something that was making me frustrated, at the retreat, because it happens—we have to bring up all the issues that aren't working—and before I spoke, I said, “Calm and confident. Take a breath. Take a pause. Calm and confident.”
So, I tell you this to say, maybe it's as simple as how do you want to feel every day of the launch? What are your two words? I think two words is perfect. How do you want to feel every day of your launch? Choose your words, put them on a Post-it, remind yourself every day. And when you’re getting away from those feelings, in the moment, how do you bring yourself back? It really works, my friends.
Okay. Moving on to number two, let's talk about fueling your body. I have to admit, I know that prepping your meals and food is probably the last thing on your mind as you're gearing up for a launch. But it shouldn't be. For me, I know that (a) if I don't have a plan or something ready for me to eat, I’ll end up skipping eating altogether, or, worse yet, I will literally grab the sugary carbo-load thing that I can find. Like, is there a cinnamon roll around? Oh, great, because I just ate it. Or is there chocolate somewhere? Great. I'll eat it right before I have to go live. I'm not proud of this, but if I don't plan my food, I am grabbing sugary snacks.
And you might be saying, “Why are sugary snacks at your house?” Well, they shouldn't be during a launch because it doesn't serve me. But during my launches now, I have some team members come into town, and I might have five to ten team members at my house, and they have snacks, and they have food, and, you know, they can have whatever they want, and I'll find it. I'll sniff it out. If they've got a treat, I will find it even if I didn't buy it. So either I'll skip a meal or I'll find the comfort food, and both of them make me feel terrible afterwards, so I've learned this the hard way.
So to avoid these traps, I always have a plan for every meal when I'm heading into a launch. So for breakfast I’ll have all the ingredients for my favorite protein shake. And I’ll just make sure that the night before, everything’s laid out. I’m ready, and then, boom. I’ve got it the second I wake up.
And then, for lunch and dinner, I've done a couple of things. So when I was in San Diego, I used to order Model Meals. I can still actually do that now. They just opened it up to nationwide. But Model Meals was something, a local food-delivery service, everything was healthy and fresh and absolutely loved it. And what I’d do is I would just look, like, okay, if our cart is open for seven days—it's usually cart open pre-launch. I do fairly well. It's cart open. So let's say the cart open is going to be seven days, I will literally have seven lunches and dinners ready for me. I plan to cook nothing during that time. And so my fridge is stocked with healthy snacks and then meal prep.
And then, in Nashville, now that I don't do Model Meals, there's other services that I've been trying, nothing that I absolutely love yet, but I'll do something very similar.
And then, if you want to and this lights you up, you can meal prep. So you can decide, “Okay, before that cart opens, I'm going to the grocery store. I'm buying whatever I want to buy. I'm going to meal prep.” Or maybe you ask somebody else to help you meal prep.
Now, I am fortunate to have a wonderful mom, who's retired, who lives about thirty minutes from me now in Nashville, and I can call my mom and say, “Will you meal prep seven days of salads for me and then seven dinners?” And she would do it in a hot minute. So I'll ask for help. She's absolutely done that for me many times. So don’t hesitate, if you need help, to ask for it.
And there's a lot of options you can go with, whether you meal prep on your own, a delivery service, or if you want a DoorDash. I mean, if that works for you and you've got the money to do so, great. But I think it's the healthy meals, whatever healthy looks like for you, is so important. You know that fuel in the form of food fuels our brain as well, right? So this part is important.
Now, I know I have a lot of parents in my audience, so not only are you thinking about yourself, but you're thinking about your kids, about your family. We're going to talk more about this in a bit. So this is one of those areas that if you have a partner, you're going to need to lean on them because you can't do it all when you're going live. I get that.
So whether you have extra meals prepped or delivered for your family or you say to your partner that, “Hey, you're going to be in charge of food while I'm in a launch,” whatever it is, there's got to be some communication happening. So I get that.
There are parts of running my business that I absolutely love. My favorite part is getting to work on my brand mission. I love thinking about the big picture, where I want to take my vision and my business in the next year. Heck, I even love thinking where I'll take it in the next five years or the next ten years. But with every business, there are parts that I don't love as much, parts I don't want to spend my time on. You know, those tasks that you push off until the last possible moment.
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All right, number three, schedule some time to move your body during your launch. If you're used to getting an hour workout in, you may have to adjust that during your launch period. And I guess I need to reiterate this. Some of you pre-launch for thirty days or sixty days, that shouldn't be super stressful and overwhelming. You might be doing some lives, doing some new lead magnets. Really, this wellness checklist, it can definitely help you in pre-launch. It's going to be hugely helpful during cart open. So I kind of want to point that out.
So again, if you do an hour workout every morning and you find, “Holy cow, I don't have time for that,” maybe you still plan to move your body, but you're going to do it in less time or maybe do something a little bit different.
And also, something to think about: when you're really pushing yourself hard, which you will be during your launch, you might not want to push yourself hard in the gym as well. You might want to be a little bit more gentle with your body. I've heard experts talk about this, but when your cortisol is elevated, and it naturally will be when you have some nerves going through a launch, it's better to engage in low-impact-type workouts.
So for me, I love to schedule in a daily walk during my launches. And the key word here is schedule. You know when your masterclasses are. You know when you need to be ready or present for anything during your launch. So when, in your schedule, can you sneak in a walk? I think that walking is the best thing to do during a live launch. Otherwise, I can guarantee you if you're not scheduling it, you'll find that you've been sitting at your desk for twelve hours, you have had ten cups of coffee, you literally haven't peed, and you haven't moved your body. And so you aren't doing anyone any favors. So get up. Move around. Walk around the block. Okay, if you can't go on a walk, do some air squats or sidesteps or just get outside, get some fresh air. I think this is essential in order to maintain wellness and wellbeing during a launch.
Number four—and I think this one is probably the most fun. Definitely it has been for me. I hope it is for you as well—plan something special after your launch, whether it be a staycation, or maybe a little bit more elaborate and you go on a getaway, or maybe you just book a massage the day after cart close. I used to do that all the time as well. But you've got to book it before the launch starts, so it's something to look forward to once you close that cart.
I remember one time I was promoting B-School with Marie Forleo. And the cart closed, and she called me, like, an hour after the cart closed to thank me for being a part of her launch. And she had just gotten done with SoulCycle. As she closed her cart and went to SoulCycle. She worked out. And that is just not my jam. I wish I was that good, but the first thing I want to do after a launch is not go to SoulCycle and get on a bike and, you know, pedal my life away. But the reason she said she did that is she had so much energy. She was like, “Oh, my gosh. That was so great. That was so hard. That was so everything. I have all this energy. What am I going to do with it?” Boom, she went to SoulCycle. I’m like, each their own. Like, that's awesome. I wish that was me, but it's not. So I would rather massage or something way more soothing or a fun night out with the girls. We have absolutely done that as well, because in California I had a lot of my local team there. I really miss having them with me. And so we finished a launch one time, and we all went out for drinks afterwards at a Mexican restaurant. That was fun, too. But I love this idea of a little staycation.
Now, you might remember my story that I told you earlier. I went on a staycation, and I was mean to Hobie. I really regret it. But that was because I didn't have this wellness checklist. I didn't move my body during the launch. I sure as hell didn’t meal prep. I didn't have any mantras. I didn't decide how I wanted to feel at the end. None of it.
So, when you hustle through a launch and it's all a blur, you're not going to be really friendly and loving afterwards. So choose how you want to feel, that cart closes, do something special for yourself, whatever floats your boat. The key is that you have no meetings, you don't have to work for a few days, and, basically, you have minimal responsibilities once that cart closes, just for a few days. And if you want some responsibilities, the responsibility is that you find ways to bring joy into your life and decompress.
So I teach that closing your cart on a Thursday is ideal. And again, I mentioned this, but what I love is that then you take Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off and that you can jump back in with your new students on Monday. And you let them know that's what you're doing. “Hey, everyone, class starts on Monday. Get ready. Do something nice for yourself this weekend. Sleep in, go to the beach, do whatever you want, because class starts on Monday, and I want you refreshed.” That's the message you give them.
But I see this go wrong so many times, where the launch ends, and they say they'll plan something after and they never do. That doesn't work. So book it ahead of time. Before that cart opens, I want you to decide, how are you going to treat yourself once the cart ends? Put it on the schedule. Make it so. Deal?
Okay, number five, and this one is super important, talk to your family or those closest to you. Make a plan. Set boundaries. Ask for help. I mentioned this one a little bit earlier, but many of you have children, young children. Many of you have partners, whether they be spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever it might be. And communication is key here. If this is your first launch, it's essential that you paint the picture for your loved ones and those closest to you. You can just say, “Hey, this is how the next ten days are going to look for me.” And then you share how you're probably going to feel during and after. Ask for support, anything they may be able to do to help you, great. And then be sure to tell them that this is temporary, that you'd love to spend time with them, be fully present, once it ends, because you will not be fully present with your family during a launch.
I just feel like that is so not fair to expect of yourself. You can still be there for your family. You can still be there when you normally are there, getting the kids up for school, making them breakfast, making sure that you get story time at night. I don't mean check out and avoid your family for ten days. I just mean, let's be realistic. Things are going to look different. You want a business, my friend. You are launching a course, and I want you to have the space to do so while also absolutely loving and being there for your family. You can do both, but it will be different than a normal week.
So maybe this is where you plan that staycation and you include your partner. This is how I prepped Hobie. Like, “Hey, babe. Next ten days, going to be a little bit different than normal. Here's what to expect. And I planned a staycation the day after, where we can just be together and love on each other, and I can be present. We can have fun, and we can eat some good food and all that.” So, like, I paint the picture. I don't fake it. That's really what I've planned. And so if you've got a family in tow, just make sure you're setting up the support that you need, the support that they're going to need, so that you can have more time to be present for these students that are paying you and coming into your world.
So maybe you need some extra help with the kids, and think about who might be able to step in. And I know that some of you don't have the support that some of us do. Like, my mom living thirty minutes away is hugely helpful. In fact, she just walked into this room.
Mom, say hi.
AMY’S MOM _____(30:15): Hey, there.
AMY: She just walked in the room because she came over to drop some stuff off, and I said, “Give me ten minutes. I want to finish this episode.” But I have family nearby, and you might not. So I know that this is not necessarily easy for everyone, but if you can ask for help, please do so. And as entrepreneurs, I know that we often don't want to ask for help, and that is not easy for us, so I really want to encourage you to come out of that comfort zone. This is when you need it. You've been helpful to other people. You've been there for your family. This is when they need to be there for you.
And I also want to say that, remember, this is your business. This is your launch. So set it up to work for you. And if you're a parent of a child with special needs, maybe you have weekly appointments you can't miss for them, you need to be there in special ways, I totally get that as well. You're in charge. So how can you set up your launch to accommodate these important priorities? because like I said, you can't ditch your life during this time. I'm very aware that my circumstances look very different than yours. I have a son that is out of the house now. I have a mom that helps me with tons of things. You don't have the same situation as I do. So ask yourself, “Okay, what do I need, and what can I ask for help with? Where can I get it?” because you're worth it, my friend, and you deserve it. At the end of the day, communicating with loved ones so they understand it's crunch time but also that it won't last forever is really important. Paint the picture for them, let them know how you could use help during this time, and then celebrate with them after it's over.
Next up, number six, get an accountability partner. So, this one I have always done, and many of my peers do this as well. And it works great if it's another entrepreneur, especially one who live launches as well, because, basically, they'll get it. It's just someone that you can check in with throughout your launch. Share your successes. Share your frustrations. It's such a helpful way to just feel less alone. I know that the support of family and loved ones is so important. But when you go to them at the end of the day and you say that your email-service provider required you to clean your email list, moments before one of your most important email campaigns was supposed to send, their eyes will glaze over. And yes, that actually happened to me.
But if you have a friend in the industry, you can share this with, I remember I shared it with my friend Corinne Crabtree. I remember calling her and saying, “My email-service provider just shut me down during mid-cart, where I had a mid-cart bonus expiring, and they said that I had to clean up my email list because there were emails that were just not going through for one reason or another.” I, like, literally lost my mind for a minute, and she kind of calmed me down, but she had had that happen to her before as well.
And so you feel less alone, like, “Oh, this stuff happens to other people. I'm not bad. I'm not wrong. It's just how it is.” So having some friends that you can call on speed dial, I mean, during a launch, I probably reach out to Jasmine Star a hundred times, Jenna Kutcher a bunch of times. I’ve got my girlfriends that I’ll reach out to a lot. It means the world to me.
Okay, then, lastly number seven, remember to have fun and find moments of play within your launch. Yeah, I said it. Have fun. Play a little. So this is important because how else are you going to get yourself to repeat a live launch over and over again if they are not fun, right? Even if you hit your goals, the money is not going to sustain you if this is a horrible experience. So maybe you do this by surrounding yourself with people who keep the atmosphere lighthearted. For many years, that was always my sidekick, Chloe. So Chloe had this amazing way of keeping things light and infusing laughter and play into our live-launch days. And of course, I have other team members who are also great. I know that I can see a few of them rolling their eyes, like, “I'm fun, too, Amy.” And they are. I've got so many fun people on the team.
We did this thing where—Emmory is my copywriter, and she was not supposed to come out for my launch, because as a copywriter, she pretty much wrote everything already. And if we needed a pivot, she was on standby, but a lot of the stuff was done. But she's fun, and she's our biggest cheerleader, and she makes people feel loved, and she's silly, and she's always cracking jokes. And we knew, one of our launches, it was going to be a little bit tough for us for a few different reasons, and I was like, “Bring Emmory. She doesn't even need to be here work wise, but she can work while she's here, but bring her because her energy is needed.” Have people around you that you love to be around during your launch, and I'm talking about if you have a team, choose those people.
And here's the thing: even if you don't have a team member, is there a friend who would come over, and maybe just some nights where you're done with your launch, and you're kind of decompressing, and a friend comes over and has a glass of wine with you? Or maybe if your launch is two weeks and you've got a weekend, maybe you set up some fun time to be with friends over the weekend? A launch is not 24/7, so you can still have a life and launch, but you have to be intentional about that. Absolutely intentional.
And then, I will tell you that we do a lot of dancing and singing during launches. We always have these funny songs that tend to be, like, the theme of the launch behind the scenes. We blast the music. We make everybody get up. Even when I was alone, in the early days, I didn't have a team, before every launch or before every live webinar, I'd get up and dance. So, I'm telling you, it's a thing.
So, life can be very serious, but your launch doesn't have to be. I'm a firm believer that whatever energy you bring to a situation is going to influence how it turns out. Bring some more laughter, bring some playfulness, be determined to have fun during your launch, and I promise you, you can enjoy the process.
Okay. Now it's time for your action items. And I got to be honest, this episode was such an important one for me to share with you. I understand the sentiment going around in the industry about live launches, and I'll be the first to admit, if not intentional, if you're not intentional during your launch, it could run you to the ground. But I also have seen over and over again the power of a live launch, and I don't want you to skip that. I believe to my core that live launches are always going to produce better results for you than you can ever see with an evergreen, right off the bat.
Now, if you live launch and then you evergreen, which we're going to talk about in next week's episode, you could see some pretty amazing results. But going straight to evergreen? You're leaving so much money on the table.
So when you're intentional and set yourself up for success and really take care of your well-being and your mental state with actions like the ones that we talked about today, live launching can actually be something you look forward to. Imagine that. Again, I know that evergreen is shiny and attractive. I know that it's something that you've been thinking of. So again, next week, we're going to dive into how to set up your business that supports both a live-launch approach and an evergreen approach. You're going to really want to listen to next week's episode. And when you use this checklist, along with some of the suggestions I'm sharing next week, I think you're going to fall in love with your business structure and 100 percent enjoy live launching.
So, until then, thanks for joining me for another episode of Online Marketing Made Easy. I'll see you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
