131: Behind the Scenes of My Most Recent Launch: A Launch Debrief with Sage Polaris

 Dolly: Hello, and welcome to another Systems and Workflow Magic podcast episode. I am your systems and workflow BFF and guide, Dolly DeLong. And today, I have a Friend. I will call her a friend I have known since early last year. I’ve just followed her for a while and learned much from her. She came into my world because of the systems and workflow magic bundle. She was a contributor. Her name is Sage. I’m so excited to have Sage on the podcast today, and we’re going to do this podcast a little differently. Sage will be interviewing me about the launch because we just got off of a launch together, and it felt like a rollercoaster for me. Sage thought it would be a fun idea to do a post-launch interview, not necessarily an analysis, but just sort of like a post-launch interview so that you guys could hear what’s happening in my head. And I know Sage has been behind many different types of launches. So I’m happy that when she suggested this, I was like, this is a perfect idea. Plus, you all are going to love Sage. You are going to learn so much from her, and I encourage you to give her a follow. But Sage, do you mind sharing a more formal introduction to who you are?

Sage: Sure. And Dolly, thank you for having me. These are always like, I find it so interesting when people are willing to take us behind the scenes of their business, and I have been behind the scenes of companies for the last 12 years. I started doing brand copy for websites, and then I quickly switched to launching because I love the connections made. And my clients have done over 1. 25 million in a single launch, which is wild. I’ve worked with well-known names Chalene Johnson and Lynn Twist. And then, you know, I also work with more emerging business owners who are not as established because I’m grateful to say, like these last 12 years, I’ve been able to build relationships and many different circles. Launching lights me up because it’s about making connections between people. Right. And there’s this beautiful opportunity that even one generation of women didn’t have before me: to connect with people through social media and build businesses online. I quickly had a global brand. Within the first couple of years, I worked with people in Ghana and Australia, and I live in LA and all over the U.S. and Europe. That part is such a gift that I will never squander. I’m like, this is important. It is excellent that I can do this work. And I went through many things on my journey in my business. Of course, you can imagine there were many wins and flops, like everything. And so, uh, you know, this is. I do this debrief with you and look at what happened with your most recent launch all the time in my own business, and I do it all the time for my clients as well. As you said, it’s essential to reflect on what has happened previously and where we’re going next. So that’s a little bit more context about me. I’m excited to talk about your bundle and what happened inside it. I wanted to start with a framework for the conversation. So we talked a little bit about this, but I want to talk about what worked, what didn’t, and what could be improved. And, of course, if you want to add anything to the conversation. I’d love to hear it. So, with that being said, what did you feel worked if you’re ready to get into it? 

Dolly: I think it’s funny you say that. So, I have some notes pulled up on the side. So, if I’m looking to the side, I’m just looking at my notes to remind myself of these talking points, but what worked? I enjoyed collaborating with other business owners because this was the type of launch where it was more of a collaborative effort, and I was cause I love building relationships online. After all, as an introverted person, I consider myself a pretty introverted business owner. I also know the value of building relationships and having connections. And I am so happy that I pushed myself; I’ve been pushing myself for the past two years, mainly developing relationships and getting to know people worldwide. We may not like to meet physically in person, but we’ve met online on Zoom and done coffee chats.  What worked was building relationships with the contributors, and I hope I did this well. But I wanted all the contributors to know that I don’t want you to feel like I’m using you during lunch; you’re just a means to get through this launch. I wanted everyone to feel valued, and I was so excited to feature everyone. And. I hope that I executed; I hate the word execute so much, Saige, like so much. I hope that I still made sure that the relationship with the contributors stayed strong during the launch period and that I enjoyed the collaboration during the launch period. Does that make sense?

Sage: 100%. I love that you and this is something important for people to consider with bundles: you’re not just building a community of new subscribers for everyone. You’re also building a community of collaborative partners. That’s an extra but essential step. And I feel like, from my experience, you were very much ahead of the curve, right? You organized yourself early on, and that’s something I see a lot of people miss. So I want to acknowledge that what was amazing to watch is that you were working, I think, a good six to eight months in advance to start getting people ready. There was no last-minute anything. It felt like everything was very thought out and very communicative. I could tell you poured a lot of love into the communication between all contributors. Even during the launch, you kept that communication going because sometimes, when the launch starts, we forget that we must continue talking to our partners. And so I think one thing, too, that I always try to do is stay on the pulse of the numbers. Like I have my team put into Slack, how many people came from each partnership? Because I do affiliate partnerships for my copy course. And when I see those numbers, I send them a message and celebrate with them. Even as the launch started, you did the same when you told us what was happening. So, I love that the preparation was on point, and you had excellent communication during the launch. Were there any other things that worked that you wanted to celebrate? 

Dolly: So, it’s strange having somebody interview me about what works because I’m like, am I allowed to brag about this? But you know, I’m proud that I was able to create the prelaunch content leading up to the launch. I feel like one of my strengths is in the prelaunch so much, like making sure that. As a solo business owner, I had as much as possible, all my ducks in a row. I would. I’m pretty organized, I feel, and I was able to have still launch content for the podcast, this podcast, and social media. And even for YouTube, to a certain extent, then I wasn’t.  Going over, I tried not to go over at least 30 hours of work per week for myself. So, I feel like preparing and executing went well for me. Oh, there’s that word. I don’t know what other word to use—preparing priming. There we go—priming for the pre-launch-pre-launch launch runway. I feel like I’m firm at that. And I feel like that is something people have told me, Dolly, that’s one of your strengths. So, I’m trying to lean more into that. And I’m proud that I don’t know. I feel like the launch pre-launch launch.

Sage: Yeah, I love that. What was remarkable about the pre-launch phase was that someone gave us a prelaunch launch spreadsheet, and I noticed you used that. It’s always fun to see when someone offers a bundle; how are they using it? What are they excited about inside the bundle? Seeing you implement what you were sharing with your audience was fantastic. I enjoyed that aspect of it. And I’m curious what else worked. Do you have more you want to celebrate?

Dolly: What worked well for me was—the video component. I’m pushing myself to get and do more, not just Instagram. I guess living with no IGTV is gone. You can tell I’m behind on the times, but I’m just trying to get more on video and more comfortable showing my face. I shared this with everyone before we hit the record. I was sharing with Sage. I sometimes struggle even to like my voice. I’m like, I could hear my voice through the echoing thing before we hit record. And I was like, Sage, I’m so sorry. And she’s so chill about everything, but I had to get over, even. Hearing myself and then looking at myself. And so this launch period helped me overcome that a little more. And it’s helping me get more comfortable getting on video now. And that has helped me so much with getting more and feeling more at ease on YouTube now. Cause I know I have a lot. There is a lot of fun education to share about systems and workflows, but I need to get comfortable putting myself out there. So what worked well was being pushed, like holding my feet to the fire, and doing it like I showed up and was consistent.

Sage: That is so major because many people can identify with your words. They may not feel precisely the same as you do, but so many people have different reasons that I hear, like a whole variety of reasons as to why they don’t want to show up on camera. It’s a real struggle that people go through. And I think it’s beautiful that you’re sharing with your audience and being so transparent. This is not my forte. It’s not what I love. And I think that I, listen, I can remember the first videos I made when I first wanted to release a course about two years into my business, and it was, I was so nervous, and everything felt so intense. And you are now, having ripped the Band-Aid off. Right? And then it just gets easier over time. The more you practice, the more you allow yourself to make mistakes. You build a resiliency to it, and then you’re like, I got this. And now I love doing videos. So, it’s interesting how that spectrum can widen and change for people over time. So yeah, I’m excited you’ve taken this step into the video world. I think that it’s not going anywhere. We’re still going to need to continue connecting with people over video. And I’m happy that you shared that with everyone. Is there anything else you want to celebrate?

Dolly: You know what I am going, okay, this is a bizarre thing to celebrate, but the fact, Like during, okay, so I’m sure we’re going to get into this, but during the launch week when the data wasn’t dating,g and the numbers weren’t numbering for me, I was like, what is happening? I did something vulnerable for myself because I wouldn’t say I like feedback. I wouldn’t say I like it, but it’s because I like it. I’m crushed in spirit and want everything to be perfect. I’m sure like I have, there’s something wrong with me. But I reached out to all the contributors who I knew had. I have way more experience than I did with launching because I’m frank with everyone. I am five years into my full-time business. No six years will be this year, which seems like a long time, but other business owners have over a decade’s worth of experience like you. And so I wanted to reach out to everyone with more experience than me and say, Hey, do you have any, I guess, like quick tips that I could integrate into this launch week right now, or changes I should make, or any advice or come to Jesus tips for me, just like reality checks, because. That was hard for me to do, but at the same time, I was like, if I want to learn how to be a good educator and a good launcher myself, I need to know how to ask for help. Reflecting on that, I’m happy I did because I learned a lot from several people, including yourself. I got individualized messages encouraging me and saying, okay, here’s a quick tip. Maybe you can do that. And it wasn’t like, I don’t know, like a life, a launch changer, but it still helped me think of a launch in a new way. It also helped me put more things into perspective. Like, Hey, some launches will be unique, and some are still significant, but they won’t be like that home run you had assumed. So it was. It was good. It was perfect to get everybody’s feedback. Of course, I took copious notes and learned from them.

Sage: Yeah, that’s beautiful. And I think it is a very normal reaction. First of all, thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing this piece behind the scenes because when we pivot to what didn’t work or start that piece of the conversation, it’s a lot to process. Still, having that conversation with yourself and others is essential, but I think it’s more typical for folks to want to hide. And interestingly, some people want to hide when things flop. Sometimes, people want to hide when they have a big, huge success. They’re embarrassed at how well it did. So, yes, there’s both sides to this conversation, right? Like where you are, you’re pushing your growth edge is what you’re doing. When you’re doing a launch, like for anybody, you’re pushing your growth edge of what you’re used to, and it’s a very intense cycle. There’s a surge of growth and a rise of expectations. There are so many things that happen in our minds that I’m very into understanding emotional regulation, all those things, because I had to learn that, right? This dopamine rush happens in your body when you’re doing a launch, and then you have to know how to regulate your nervous system after that. Now, I’m not a therapist. I don’t know all the scientific details of this, but I’m very aware of this because I feel things deeply. I’m super empathetic. I see these growth edges are a lot for us to process. It’s normal to want to hide if something’s not going the way you want it and to reach out to your community. I like to lick my wounds on my own a lot. I’ve got a lot of stuff. There’s a lot I will not share with anybody. I’m like, keep that close to my heart. And. The fact that you allowed your community because you had built a relationship with all the contributors wasn’t just a transaction. Yeah. You felt comfortable coming to all of us and having a very transparent conversation about what was happening with the numbers that you had expectations that weren’t being met and how we could support you. It is so crucial that you do that. I thought it was more of a celebration, for sure.

Dolly: Thank you.

Sage: But you know, it came on the heels of what was not working then, and what should I do next? So I love that you did that. And we gave some excellent Hail Mary tips about trying this subject line. It got the highest open rate. Can you do a recent unopened email with a new subject line for the people who haven’t seen it? Trying those types of things to see what happens is essential. Then, continue to watch the data and the numbers and see if you see a pivot or a shift. And so that’s another thing, like, even during my launches, I will tell my partners, I’m like, hey, we did this subject line. It got the best click-through rate. Use this if you feel called to, and people love it because they’re like, Oh, this is what people are responding to now; reaching out to your community was so important. Were there other things that you felt weren’t working, or were there other things? I’m curious more about them; I know you’ve done bundles before this. Yeah. I’m curious about what changed between the last bundle and this bundle because that can sometimes help you identify what didn’t work, and I know you might have some ideas already.

Dolly: One of the most significant two things comes to mind because I’ve been chewing on it for a while. Maybe my messaging didn’t hit as hard as it did with whatever bundle I did last year. I believe this was more of an okay thing. So, my bundle in early 2023, I keep forgetting what year it was last year in 2023; I think it hit home because people want to learn about it. Digital funnels. Maybe because it’s been just so created, such a sexy topic, and it’s very cool, I’ll make a million dollars in my sleep if I have this funnel. That is the association. I did not, I do want to clarify to everyone listening in, I did not create that bundle because I was like, Oh, I put a trick everyone into thinking they’re going to make a million dollars. Okay. That’s not it at all. I created that because there are so many different components of a funnel. There’s the top, the middle, and the bottom, and what happens and what leads to it. Let’s systematize that and create different phases to help people understand it. I ran with that and successfully launched it as a small business owner. And I was like, okay, I like people, like things broke up, so I did something else for email marketing in the summer, which was relatively successful for me. And then I thought, okay, I will do something specifically about launching. Part of me is thinking maybe the theme was, too. It was noticed, like it wasn’t specific enough, or it was. I want to launch it, but I can’t conceptualize it. Or I wasn’t helping people conceptualize it enough. Or I wasn’t like, it didn’t just, but the people who did buy were like, Oh, this is, this is. Everything in here is excellent. I love it. This will help me launch my grip program or a digital product. But I think it was just the messaging. I did not message it correctly. This is a skill I’m still growing into. And I think, I’m sure you can say you have, that skill didn’t just happen for you overnight. I’m sure it took you Years of honing it in, learning, and iterating. And so I am. I’m okay with that. I’m OK with learning, iterating, and admitting that the messaging was off.

Sage: Yeah, that’s interesting. Also, I want to ask you one more question. Did you do a prelaunch like you did for this last offer? In 2023, were you ahead of the game with the prelaunch and the launch content that went out?

Dolly: Yeah. So, I pretty much did the same type of launch. They slightly differed from mine; I did a private podcast for both. The open cart, uh, that podcast before, like in 2023, featured the contributors giving more juicy tips about funnels and the bundle’s theme. For this private podcast leading up to this launch, I just decided I’m going on my own and want to be the voice. But the whole point of a collaboration is to bring all the voices together, Sage, and I missed that. I forgot that point. It’s just that I was like, oh, I don’t want to. I’ll warm up the audience with my voice. But I needed to amplify all of the voices, like to showcase, wow, there’s so much that goes into a launch that this person knows Sage knows about sales pages. Ash Chow knows about priming and all of these voices. And I missed a mark on that. So I think. Next time, if I do, when I do, Oh, because I like doing a variety of launches. And if, when I do another bundle, I love launching with a private podcast, I will bring more voices to the table, like meeting the contributors so that people can get a taste of it. What would it be like to be using air quotes? They’re not physically working with them but learning from them.

Sage: I love that because you’re building a relationship between the contributor and your audience. But I also think that when you feature those voices, the contributors are even more excited to share it because it’s their teaching, and their audience wants to hear from them. So it’s feeding two birds with one seed. You’re introducing them to your audience, but they’re also introducing you to their audience. Then there’s this deepening of the relationship, and it builds a bridge between you and them and also their audience. So I love that you’ve identified that, and you’re like, okay, that step is done; I can’t skip. Listen, I’m always looking back. I just looked back at my latest launch and wondered, what can I cut here? There was so much work. Yes, it’s a lot of work, like additional things you must coordinate. And so it takes a lot, but I love that you permitted yourself to try it. And be like, okay, that didn’t exactly work how I thought it would. And I do want to acknowledge, though, alongside realizing that you did a great job at sharing contributors on social, right? But the private podcast to your email list is probably your most vital marketing channel.

From our conversation today, it sounds like you’re experimenting more on social media. So now, right? Like where the strength is. If I were you, I might be like, maybe I can cut social next time and focus on the private podcast if I feel I only have so much energy to give. And I want to highlight everyone, which you could be in all the places. It’s fun and a good experiment, but I don’t know.

When I realize what’s working, which we’re identifying here together, I will put 90 percent of my effort into that. I will experiment with 10 percent because I only have so much energy to go around, and I want to enjoy the process. But being discerning about that is the hardest part. It’s not what I can do more next time; it’s always more, so it’s what I can cut next time to have a better result, focus, and double down on the things that I know now, you know, yeah.

Work best. But without that experiment, you wouldn’t. I have that clarity now, so I think experimenting is good. I don’t want to take that away, but I also want people to be more discerning when they launch, and having these conversations is so meaningful for that. Then, I want to address the messaging piece because it is a thing.

So one of the things I do with my audience, and you might have some clarity around this already, is getting clear on who my audience is. So, do you feel you have mostly service providers and course creators? Do you have a sense of that man? Well, since I have a background in photography, that is one of the main hats of my overarching business. I know many photographers follow me, but I also know that many service-based business owners follow me. So I call them creative-minded business owners because they have lots of. I think creative-minded business owners are geniuses, but then there’s that missing puzzle piece of being meticulous and planned out for the back end of the business. So I don’t want to; I don’t want to attach that to all creative-minded businesses. I’m just going to attach it to a human. If you’re a human and struggle with understanding how to organize the back end of your business, then you are my people. You don’t have to be creative. You want to learn about systems and workloads. So, I feel like an assortment of business owners follow me. And that might also be an issue, but I don’t want, I’m not trying to serve everyone. I know that. I want to serve the business owner in the messy and messy middle. Still, they don’t have a team working for them, or they have one or two people, and they need to understand how to put these systems together on the back end of their business.

Sometimes, it can be hard to identify precisely all the time with a theme, especially because some themes hit and some themes. Like, are confusing. I hear you. And I feel like some messaging you could weave into the prelaunch content. And I know you may not go back to this theme.

You’re like, yeah, but this is how I would address it. So I love that you identify that you have service providers and a lot of photographers, and they feel like they need to systemize their business more. If I were going into a conversation with mostly, it’s OK if you have an assortment. Ng, I want to address this briefly before I get into actual messaging. I have always had this in my business: a wide variety of emerging and established entrepreneurs. I cross through service writers, course creators, and a small group of e-com folks because I don’t want to leave them out.

That’s just from being in business for so long. I know what the more significant percentage is, though. It is worth assessing, writing to your email list, and asking them what category they fall under. You can get fancy with some segmentation and have them click, as I fall into that category or the other category because then you’re clear on who they are.

And it’s a simple email where it’s just like click one of these three and tell me what you. How do you identify yourself in your business so I can support you specifically for who you are? And the other thing I would say is when I have the launch conversation with service providers, as Iy to them, you are launching.

I want to redefine that term for you because you are a business owner getting new sales. You’re an evergreen launch. You may not think about your business that way, but I want to stretch the definition of that word for you. So that’s one way, in terms of pre-launch, talking about the objection they have to the term launch, right?

Then, I will let them understand that the systems I want to share with you are still for you, even though you may not identify as a course creator. So that’s one thing to do to pivot the language. And, Start doing that early on, right? I had that conversation with them, which I loved. You’re so good about having those early conversations.

Another thing about launching for service providers is that you can give them tools they don’t need a team for, like you said. The tools are great. That catches their attention, even if it’s just quick tip tools before you get into the more extensive launch tools available in the bundle, so they can start seeing a difference immediately.

Tools could greatly help their business; they’re not even considering this. So I feel like that’s another way to pull them in. I’m like, come with me. Let me show you why this is still important, even though you may never want to have a course.

And then the last thing that I talked to my service providers about a lot is things like VIP days. These things will allow them to serve their audience in a new way. But again, that requires a launch when you put out a new thing, even if it’s your existing offer repackaged. So, all these conversations. I could go on and on about the messaging piece.

You can tell I love it. Yeah. No, that’s why you’re good at it, Sage. That’s why you like us. A launch strategist to the stars, as you call it. So, well, no, that’s good. Cause I, I was also thinking about this. I have liked this light bulb moment. In about November or December, I would say December going into this launch of, wow, like launching is like promoting yourself.

Over and over and over and over again. So I noticed that I use the terminology of promoting and marketing yourself because, essentially, you’re right. If you’re a solo business owner, you have to promote yourself. You must sell yourself constantly and get comfortable selling and promoting yourself in your services.

Like your VIP days, or if you’re a photographer—many photographers follow me—like your mini sessions or your, let’s say, boudoir photographer, and you want to do four boudoir sessions a year, like an event. It would help if you led up, prelaunch, packaged, and promoted that event.

And that is launching.  Late last year was beneficial for me in rethinking the launch. And so I’ve communicated well with, like, in conversations with others cause I don’t talk about this often. Maybe this is what’s wrong.

Another thing like this is a therapy session with Sage. I do a lot. I help—one-on-one service-based business owners with their launches. I act as their integrator and launch strategist, but I like it for just them; they don’t have a giant team. It’s just them. They’ve either never launched before or.

They have all these validated products but don’t know how to launch them. So, I helped them pull it all together. And so when I was having one-on-one conversations with them, I just helped them see, Hey, you need to learn how to promote yourself and market yourself consistently.

You have these validated offers and people who love learning from you. Let’s put it together and create a launch because I will say this stage during our launch week, Collab launch week. I was feeling like I didn’t know anything. I guess I’m a poser or not a loser. I’m not a loser, but I thought I knew it. However, I don’t know anything about launching.

I’m a failure. Here, I am teaching others about launching. And then, literally the next week, my one-on-one client had her first launch ever, and I was leading her through it. And I was thinking, what if everything I’ve been teaching her fails? She had a 50,000 launch, and it was her first launch.

And I was like, okay, I’m not a failure. I think my theme and messaging did not resonate with everything else. But her offers were validated. Her people were like she had. I was like, I’m still blown away. She had 50 percent of her email list out of the gate, and I was so proud of her.

And I was like, okay, I know what I’m talking about. Not all launches look the same. And seeing somebody else win, I was like, it’s okay. I’m not like, I’m not making this stuff up. Like, I can’t teach this. Yeah. So it’s so weird how it worked out. Even my husband was like, So you’re happy?

That is, I was like, yes, I’m thrilled. I’m not; I know what I’m talking about. I am willing to learn and grow, and there must be something wrong with me, Sage. I just was so happy the following week. I love that. And I think everyone needs to hear that. You are not defined by your last project, whatever it was, right?

Sage: There will always be more opportunities; we know what we know but question ourselves. And it’s because we care so much, right? If we didn’t care about our work, Dolly would say, Oh, that didn’t work. I don’t care. No, like she was the exact opposite. She cared so much. She put so much love into the launch, and the communication blew me away. I was. And to be able to celebrate a client doing so well on the heels of that, that’s beautiful. Of course, you want everybody to win, including yourself. And so I think that’s important for people to hear, though. And one thing that I will share is a quick tip that I have in my closet. I learned this from Rachel Rogers from We Should All Be Millionaires. She was my coach for a while. And she said this in passing one day. She was like, yeah, I have a little altar in my closet, like a little altar of all the successes in my life. So, every day, I see what I’ve done well. Right. It’s straightforward for us to fall into the trap of what we’ve done that hasn’t worked, and our mind likes to go there. Like you said, a lizard brain loves to chew on work, but we Are. Also, it’s a yes. And right. We also have had incredible successes for ourselves and our clients. So, having a space in your home dedicated to those successes—and it’s not always to do with business, right? There are pictures of my kids, pictures of my parents, and pictures of how I’m a good sister—all these things that are very, very, very important to me. I have to see them every day when I get ready. It reminds me that I emptied a whole closet section just for that. Not for clothes. It’s for an altar to remind me that I am a baddie.

Dolly: You are a baddie. Oh, I love that so much. I will say this. This is immensely important; maybe this will help encourage somebody, a listener out there. But during this launch week, I was down in the dumps. And what also brought me up and put things in perspective for me is I found out that one of my dear friends had just been diagnosed with ALS, and it put so many things into like, I don’t like, cause I’ve never, I’m 39 years old. Like I, people like my friend group, people my age, I’ve never had friends who’ve had been diagnosed with something so wrong. I’m used to it. We’re used to it. When you get older, in your seventies or eighties, you expect, but you don’t expect that to happen in your life, friend group, or community. I don’t know. That’s been my experience so far. And so I was like, why am I? I am so worried about my business, of course, and I want it to be successful. Yes, but life is so short, and life is bleeding. And I need to see what you are saying. I must focus on the things that aren’t going well for me and celebrate that. Like my boys and my husband, I’m a believer. I’m so grateful to God for my life; these are all opportunities. Just because doors don’t flood open for me the way I expect them to, life is still good and will still be okay. That kind of thing puts things into perspective for me. I want listeners to hear that I was still disappointed. Oh man, but my life is not over. I will still move on. I’ll still show up. I still have a lot to celebrate and was able to like. I was like, okay, I need to make time for my relationships, which matter, like with that friend. And anyways, like that, I don’t know if that makes any sense, but that just like your, your, your story about like what your business coach shared with you years ago about like setting aside a place to remind you, like what to focus on, like that just made me think of that.

Sage: That’s beautiful because we need the resiliency to continue showing up. Right. And what a lovely way to honor your friend. I won’t let this one week in my business affect my relationship with the people around me. I will continue loving up about and for the people right before me.

Dolly: Yeah. 

Sage: Yeah. And so you’re not squandering any of that. And that’s beautiful to hear, see, and witness. It’s just incredible that you can continue to support your friend, and I’m sure there are ways that she supports you, too, right? So that’s incredible to hear. So, is there anything else you wanted to share with us, just overall lessons from the launch?

Dolly: Um, I can’t think of anything. You helped me think of a wrap-up point. You just said resilient. Something about owning a business, whether online, physical, or brick-and-mortar, is this: You’ve got to be resilient. You have to keep on keeping on. And if you have a purpose, like a drive, not to say. You’re a failure if you don’t have a drive. No, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s like, you have to be willing to. Keep picking yourself up when, quote-unquote, you fail according to whatever standards and have something unique to offer. Everyone has something unique to offer. And I want to encourage anybody listening if you’re in the trenches and want to. Throw in the towel before you throw in the towel, and talk to somebody about it, like who has gone before you or who’s been in the trenches, because that always helps me. If I go and I talk to somebody who understands the context of everything, they can take it, help me get the emotions out of it, and help me think through it logically. I want to encourage people to do that and keep going. If it’s time to end, pivot to something else, but don’t give up so easily. Please don’t give up easily. Everyone.

Sage: Yeah, I love that Dolly. And I do want to highlight this. If something doesn’t go how you expected, there must be. For example, and I think you pre-planned this, this isn’t something you just did, but Dolly had said from the beginning that the bundle would be 97, and then after this specific date, I think it was in February, you could still buy the bundle for 197. I love that you allowed it to continue to live on as an evergreen product that people can buy whenever they listen. Yeah, and I think that’s smart. Allow yourself to continue to sell something. Don’t create deadlines that will hinder your business’s growth. Right. So, be mindful of how you position your offer. That’s a whole conversation, but I love that you still have the product. They can still get it, and I’m excited for them to take advantage of it. I know there are some incredible tools in there. And guess what?

Dolly: There are. People are still buying it. Like a trickle every day. I was like, wow, it is a solution, and people must find it through others.

Sage: So yeah, that’s a testament to the value of it. A hundred percent. It’s like you pay one 97 and get 3,000 worth of tools. That’s incredible. It’s like a no-brainer for most people. I know it’s an investment for some, especially if you’re early in business. For others, it’s, Oh yeah, I’m going to pay for that to have all of this available. And I think the most important thing when I’ve been a part of other bundles in this bundle is that all the tools are there for you. In the time that you need them. People don’t know we’re often just thinking about one launch ahead. Okay, I need this one launch to work for my business, but you will do that one launch. And then you’re going to have to launch again and again and again. And that’s what I love about this bundle, which is that it supports people beyond just that first launch. Like the next 12 months in your business, you will have. Everything in there is enough to consume over an entire year. And so I always tell people, when you have resources like that, your fingertip, think of it like a buffet, and you want to eat what makes you feel satisfied. You don’t have to use everything simultaneously, but that’s true.

Dolly:  Oh, that’s a good analogy. I like that.

Sage: Yeah, I want people to feel like it’s this way in my business. I have a 12-month membership. I’m like, listen, you all are here. Don’t try to eat everything at once. You’re going to feel overstuffed with information. It’s not going to be fun. I want you to have a good time here.

Dolly: I know we’ve been talking—oh wow, we’ve been talking for over 45 minutes. So, I will wrap up, but Sage, I want to say thank you so much for interviewing me and for coming on the podcast. Do you mind sharing with everyone how they can find, work with, and connect with you? 

Sage: Thank you for opening up your circles to me, Dolly. In all the ways we have collaborated, it’s been so much fun. And if people want to stay in touch with me, you can grab my triple email, open rates, and copy templates if you go to sageplayers. Com slash Dolly rocks because she does. Thank you. Yes. So those three templates help you copy, paste, and personalize sending to your list. Sticking your list is fantastic because you can reappear in your subscribers’ inbox. If you’ve had a list for a long time and haven’t scrubbed it, like removing unengaged subscribers, the triple email open rates will help. So that’s the best way to get into my world. You’ll then be on my list and receive all kinds of messages from me just about helping you grow your business. I love, like I said, working with service providers, course creators, and e-commerce folks. So, I would love to stay connected with you all. Grab the bundle because inside that bundle, I have my multiple six-figure sales page templates, and they’re fantastic. It will shorten the time needed to write your sales page and get your offer out there so that you can test it and ensure your audience is excited about what you offer.

Dolly: Yeah, grab it. And you all, this will come out way before June 1st, so that’s when the bundle goes away forever. You will have plenty of time between now and June 1st. Again, Sage, thank you so much for coming on for any links or that great free offer that Sage spoke about. The show notes, and this episode’s blog post will include that information. Until then, stay streamlined and magical, you amazing muggle, and I will talk to you all next week. Bye.