Sam shares her secrets to a launch WITHOUT the anxiety and burnout. Plus, a free tool to help you plan your best launch yet!
SHOW LINKS:
Download the FREE 8 Phases of a Numinous Launch guide: https://www.thedirtyalchemy.com/phases
Get 2 Hours to Launch: the project plan template for a magical launch without the burnout: https://thedirtyalchemy.com/2-hours-to-launch
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TRANSCRIPT
Hey there, magical business owners.
The question I have for you today is: Do you feel like your online launches have you on a roller coaster of burn out?
If you’ve ever launched an online course, program, or membership before… you probably answered yes.
Because launches can be insanely stressful. Something as simple as “I have this amazing idea that will absolutely change people lives!” morphs into a 3 month project with hundreds of hours of writing and webpage creation and video production… and that’s only for the course promotion!
That doesn’t even include the backend of a launch -- delivering the program, giving live Q&A calls, managing an online community, and whatever else you are planning on doing within the program to blow your customers minds.
If launching is a significant part of your business’ revenue, then you know it’s kind of like childbirth. (I have not birthed a child by the way, but the stories from my mama friends goes a little like this -- When you’re in the middle of another wave of contractions you may swear that you will NEVER do this ever EVER again. But then a few months later with your beautiful baby in your arms, you’re already thinking about the name of your next one.
In the middle of your launch, making last minute changes to an email going out to a whole bunch of people in just a few minutes… you may be feeling haggard. Exhausted. And just fucking done. Desperate to find another business model than an online business reliant on quarterly or monthly online program launches.
And trust me, you don’t want your next launch to have all that negative energy when your awesome new product is just barely out in the world.
So today, I’m sharing a tool that I use to make launches more in the flow for the businesses we work with.
It’s called the 8 Phases of a Numinous Launch, and I think it’s a total game-changer. It completely rewrites the story of launches being a time for high anxiety, burnout, and turnover rates.
And by turnover rates, I mean the fact that you can’t keep people on your team because you’re burning them out expecting them to be “on” 24/7 during launches.
All of these things are actually preventable. The main reason why they happen for so many businesses is that most business owners only look at and prepare for HALF of an online launch… and without the other half you will continue with an endless cycle of push, push, push! burn out.
The 8 Phases of a Numinous Launch uses the phases of the moon to help guide you toward a launch with built-in time to evaluate your progress, congratulate yourself and your team on hard work, and have time to rest and decompress. And I think you’ll find that building these into your launch in an organized way can actually make your launch bigger and way more successful than you believed possible, because you and your team will be coming to the table with way more energy, excitement, tapped into your juicy magic, and able to do the hard work.
If you want this all written up for you go to thedirtyalchemy.com/phases And grab my 8 Phases guide, totally free.
From my own experience and the experiences of the businesses I work with, I know this can be a deeply transformative tool that can save you so much time, energy, and stress.
Whether you lead moon circles, or you only know about the moon from 4th grade science class and randomly staring up into the sky, most of us know that the moon cycles from new to full and back again.
The cycles of Nature were once inherent in our culture and somatically known by every member of society.
Decades of electric lighting in our homes, heating and cooling to buffer from the weather, and global shipping of food & any item under the sun, this has all divorced us from nature and our deep connection to her cycles.
But if you’re listening to this podcast then you are most likely already making strides to connect your body, mind, and spirit back to our earth and sky.
When we base our online launches on the cycles of Nature, we give ourselves and our teams what is truly needed in our physical plane. Though the internet is always “on,” our bodies and minds need rest.
Factoring this into our businesses and our project plans allow us to have sustainable growth, instead of extreme growth followed by burn out
(and what is burn out other than rest that our body forces us to take because we didn’t make time for it in the first place).
So if you have experienced adrenal fatigue, burn out, or have had continual turn-over in your team because “they aren’t fast enough” or “committed enough” or they think you’re a crazy person…
This is for you.
While a typical moon cycle is 29.5 days, Your launch will most likely be much longer than that.
Online launches from first design to completion are usually 2-3 months, or 2-3 moon cycles, so the New Moon phase of your launch will take 1-2 weeks, versus a few days like you see it in the sky.
So you’ll be Expanding each phase to your needs, but the importance here is to not skip a phase.
And again, you can get this all written up, calendar & dates of lunar phases & all at thedirtyalchemy.com/phases
The new moon is a seed planted under the earth, bursting with life. It is dark and unseen but it is full of potential. Now is the time to dream and vision. this is the time to reflect on your past launches with sober eyes. This is also a time of retreat. Take time to be with yourself & make your plans from your own deep knowing instead of searching Google or asking a friend.
Our theme for the new moon phase is: Setting Intentions
So what this looks like in a launch is:
With the excitement of a new project, you may be tempted to get started before the plan is fully formed. Take the time to really tap into your intuition and see what you’re trying to create through this project, and how it fits into your 3-year vision.
Our Theme here is: Taking Action
The waxing moon is gaining energy. Now is the time to start taking actions on the intentions that you set. Just as energy is flowing in your projects, it is time to start teasing your upcoming launch to your audience.
To Do’s here are:
There’s a lot of energy during this time, so make sure you connect back to the intentions and plans you made during the new moon phase instead of letting your enthusiasm take you off course.
With the Theme: Continued Action, Facing Challenges
So You’re halfway to the full moon and gaining momentum in your project plan. With half of the moon in light and half in shadow, now is when obstacles start to pop up that you must face. The best way to handle this phase is to be flexible. With your original intentions in mind, make decisions that are aligned with your inspired goals.
The aligned actions are:
You are likely to push yourself pretty hard during this period, so make sure to have systems in place to lighten your load in other areas of life. Look into healthy meal delivery, hire a house cleaner, and ask your husband or mom if they can lend a hand with the kids.
This is all about: Refining, & Patience
This is The final phase before the full moon, it’s time to focus on editing and refining our goals, tasks, and projects. Plans don’t always work out how you originally designed them to, so this is the time to make changes. And with your launch going live soon, this is the time to do final checks on what will be going out into the world.
Your waxing gibbous To Dos are:
Things may come up in this phase that need addressing. Don’t shy away from change at this time — embrace it! Ask yourself, what do I need to give up? Where do I need to change direction? How can we edit our plans?
Celebration & Tension
The full moon occurs when the moon is in opposition to the sun, in the opposite zodiac sign. At the peak of energy we’re asked to find balance between two extremes. Now is not a great time to make drastic decisions, but to instead reap the rewards of all of the work that you’ve done.
This is when you’ll:
Now is the time to receive the bounty of all the work that you’ve put in! Ask yourself: Am I truly open to receiving? What are my deepest fears around actually getting what I say I want?
But… the full moon is only halfway through this process!
There are a shit ton of things left to do & phases to go through before you’re done with your numinous launch.
Theme here is: Gratitude & Giving
The moon is starting to wane after the full moon. You’ve completed your open cart period and you have a new group of students/members/customers & the revenue to show for it! You’re feeling full of love and maybe a bit of relief.
This is when you:
But don’t be frivolous in your spending. Be generous, but don’t break the bank! If you overcame any challenges over these last few weeks, acknowledge yourself and treat yourself to your own generosity.
All about Release & Forgiveness
Again, the moon is half light and half shadow, halfway on its journey from full to new. This is a time when tensions may be glaring & it is time to face them head on. To prepare yourself for the next new moon, the next time of setting intentions, you must look at what has happened throughout this cycle and make amends, forgive, and let go.
Your To Dos are:
At this time, Be very gentle with yourself. A lot of people would rather numb out than be fully present in uncomfortable feelings. Instead, treat yourself with plenty of pleasurable self care and see this as a time of epic growth & evolution (because it is).
THis is The final phase of the lunar cycle, or our 8 phase launch cycle. This is not a time for action or planning, this is a time of true recuperation. If you expect to be your best self for your team, your customers, your audience, and the whole slew of people reliant on you completely separate of your business, then take this phase very very seriously.
This is the phase you will be most likely to skip or “forget”.
This is when you
You may be someone who thinks that work is your favorite fun activity... Well, I invite you to challenge this idea. If you fall into the “I love to work” category, think critically about what other areas of your life you find joy in, and work to give those areas the time and attention they didn’t get while you were preparing for your launch. If you look into the biographies of many “geniuses,” you will find that many of their greatest ideas come when they were not working. Give yourself & your audience your greatest ideas and teachings by letting go of the identity of “I love to work so I’m going to work all the time.” It’s great to love your work & your business, but it’s important to balance that with the rest of your life to avoid burnout.
And you’ll be way more willing to launch your next brilliant idea when you don’t dread the launch process.
Again, if you want all of this written up for you go to thedirtyalchemy.com/phases and grab your copy of the 8 Phases of a Numinous Launch Guide.
This process can be used whether or not you’re conscious of when new and full moons occur. You do not have to plan your launches to coincide with the moon cycle.
And that’s all for today, friends. I’ll see you next week where we’ll talk more about magical marketing and your business as a magical practice.
Music: Gaena by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.