22: 3 Mindset Shifts to Make Before Your Next Launch

Welcome to the Course Creators MBA Podcast. I'm your host, Destiny Kopp and in this podcast we are covering actionable tips to grow your online course business. But before we begin today, I want to let you know that this episode is sponsored by my free mini course, Course in a Box, which is your plug and play system that has templates and videos to get your online course created. You can grab your free course in the box by going to destinycop.com and I will make sure that this link is in the show notes. And today we're talking about three mindset shifts you need to make before your next launch. And my special guest today is Makee Singh. Makee is a launch strategist, copywriter, podcast host and coach who helps purpose driven entrepreneurs to build their authority in business so that they can thrive when they launch their signature course. As a launch strategist, she's at the front front lines during course launches from start to finish. And with five years of coaching under her belt, she is able to dig deep to understand the true desires and fears of her clients customers in order to create compelling copy. Makee, thanks so much for joining me today. I am so happy that you're here.

Thanks so much, Destiny. I'm so excited to be here as well. Thanks so much for having me.

And we've been chatting for a few minutes now and I know we have so much to talk. But before we jump into all the questions that I have for you, can you tell me a little bit more about you and your journey?

Absolutely. So Destiny, were you ever able to answer the question when you were younger, oh, what do you want to be when you grow up? When somebody asked you?

So I did have an answer for that and it was actually to be a CEO of a business. So I guess in that respect I actually made my goal many, many years later.

Well, that is amazing. Well, unlike yourself, I did not know what I was doing when I was little and it took me a while to figure out what one of my strengths were. And in my teenage years, my friends, luckily they pointed out that I was always a good listener and I really appreciated that feedback and I actually found myself on the journey to becoming a counselor. So I studied psychology at university and day one crashed and burned because I totally felt with every fiber of my being that I wasn't meant to be there. And it was soul crushing for me at the time because I worked so hard to get into my top university to study psychology and I pleased my parents and all, but unfortunately it just wasn't for Me, I mean, I did get my psychology degree, which is fantastic. But I found in my second year, I was in an abusive relationship. And not to go too deep into the details, but let's just say it was the most bottom of rock bottoms you could find. And for me, after that, I exited that situation. I found myself really diving into something. And so through the power of Facebook ads, I found a coaching school. And when I found out what coaching was, it was everything that I wanted it to be. I just wanted to be a coach. And so I wound up training as a coach as well. But like many coaches who just graduate and get their coaching certification, I was suddenly in a sea of sameness. And that is something that we can dig in today for. Sure. But I was just one of those people. I thought, oh, there's nothing special about me. And then, long story short, I managed to, through winning a seven day challenge of overcoming your fears, I managed to actually win a one year's mentorship with someone who I really admired in the business space. And actually that mentorship was four months in until it turned into an internship because my mentor wound up hiring me for his business. And through that time that we spent together, I worked on over 13 life launches in one year, which is a lot. And I picked up a ton of skills like MCing on webinars, one on one sales, community management, whiteboard animations even. And one of them wound up being copywriting as well. And when it hit our one year mark, he said to me, meikay, you're really an entrepreneur, not an intrapreneur. And I really feel that if you were to go all in to this business, you'd be really successful. And that is how I wound up leaving, running my own business. And he actually wound up hiring me because he still needed me for my launch, for my launch work. But that is actually how it all happened, all by accident, with no direct path or anything, lots of twists and turns. That is how I became a lawn strategist and conversion copywriter after being in the trenches for a lot of them and formalizing my education later with other courses. But yeah, that's how I got here.

So thanks for sharing, sharing that story and your journey. And you know the thing that kind of jumped out to me when you were going through that, you mentioned about getting your psychology degree, but that's not what you wanted to do. But you know, I just feel like marketing is so much psychology in it, you know, it's on the ground, go hand in hand.

Yeah, definitely. So it's Strange how it looped back. I think it wasn't psychology itself that turned me off it. It was just the approach where human beings were seen more like test subjects as opposed to human beings. And that's why, that's what really turned me off from it. But I know it's not the actual topic is just a way and it was just a context in which it was taught. But I do realize how much psychology is really fundamental in marketing and sales today.

So tell us, you said that you worked on 13 launches in one year.

Yes.

Okay, first of all, I don't know how in the world you did that. Secondly, tell us some of the biggest lessons that you learned from working on those 13 launches.

Oh yeah, 100%. So one of the biggest lessons learned is that your audience is really, really, really key. And that's why now in my business I help my clients folks on pre launch priming instead of just focusing on the sales page. Because I know the importance of copies today, of course, as a copywriter myself. But what most people don't realize is that, you know, copy doesn't start with the. It's not just writing is all, it's everything that goes into it. And actually all of that can be for naught if you don't have the right eyeballs on your, on your offers. And so actually constantly building trust and the know like and trust factor with your audience is so key before you launch. And that's the number one thing I kept seeing during these live launches because the way that we managed to fit in 13 in one year is because it was back to back launching and it was really well segmented based on because my mentor really segmented his audience right from the get go. And so that meant that didn't feel like it was launching all the time for all of the audience because it was specific segments that we were targeting at different times for different programs. So yeah, the key thing out of all of that is the power of audience because he was in a very generic market, personal development, which is huge. And you know, not all of us can be Tony Robbins. So yeah, that was one of the biggest lessons I learned very early on that is really key to have such a, an audience that is really dialed into your messaging and your brand voice. So that is what I would say.

So let me just ask you this. Obviously we have a lot of course creators who are listening to this podcast. So what areas of a launch do you feel that most of us may be overlooking that we need to focus on?

Oh, good question. And I listened to before we jumped on this call, I was listening to the episode that you did with Danny Page about sales pages and she covered a lot of amazing, you know, gems in there. And so I just want to kind of back her up as well. So I would say that one of the most overlooked areas is in the pre launch area because there is a lot that goes into before your car opens and when the car closes. Because it used to be pretty traditional in marketing where everyone comes. They were kind of underground when they was creating their products and services, sorry, their courses, when they are about to launch and suddenly they spring up out of nowhere and suddenly, hey, I've got a launch now, come buy my course. And so I feel like there's not enough emphasis on the need to actually prime your audience for your launch way before. And I know that is so tempting to want to jump into a launch like asap. We all wanted to launch yesterday. But actually any, any period outside of your actual launch is pre launch priming. So actually it's about being extremely intentional with your content and how it all links back to your grand umbrella of what you are known for in the marketplace. So yeah, in a nutshell is pre launching is in the pre launch area when you need to be super intentional with your messaging and just like leading people gently but surely to your launch.

I guess one question I had as I was thinking through while you were talking about that, what about forevergreen launches? Do you feel like you're always priming your audience for Evergreen?

Oh, that's a good one. I do primarily work with live launches, but I have worked with a couple of Evergreen as well. And if you are on Evergreen, then that's all about staying in alignment with your message for whichever course is on Evergreen for you. So it doesn't have to be all the time. But for example, if you were to do a series where it's a Facebook Live series or a YouTube series or podcast series, even, you know, just having intentional moments when you would like to spike some sales into your Evergreen launch, it's just as long as you're operating under the same umbrella of what your overall message is, that's totally okay. But it doesn't have to be every single content piece that you put out there. It doesn't have to relate to your course because surely there would be other things in your product suite, whether it's your one on one services or if you've got course brewing up in the background, you know, so if you do have an Evergreen launch, just, you know, being strategic with Coordinating your launches. So they, they're more targeted towards, you know, one or the other, but not mixing them too much, but just so that you know your audience able to follow a certain flow throughout the year.

That is a very great tip. So, so let's kind of jump into our main focus for today. And I think a lot of us, when we go out there to launch, and maybe it's time or second time, you know, quite frankly, makee it may be your 10th time and you probably feel these things too. You might be asking yourself, you know, who am I to be putting this course out there? Is anybody going to buy, you know, all these fears start coming up, right? You know what, tell us a little bit. You and I were talking a little bit before we jumped on here, but tell us a little bit about, you know, the first five level of courage that you focus on when you work with clients and that courage to convert relationship. You know, how do you kind of walk people through the courage to get to where they want to be in their launch strategy?

Such a good question. I'm so excited to speak about this because this is after working with a good handful of clients and they are, they tend to be in very competitive marketplaces, let's just say that. So I have developed this convert with courage scale. And I want you to imagine a pyramid with five blocks moving upwards. So the first level of courage, which is the most minimum level of courage, is the couch potato. And so a couch potato is someone who has big visions, but it's all theoretical and they only talk about it, but they're not doing the walk yet. So they have big visions, but they're not doing anything about it yet. And that is because there are a lot of limiting beliefs around that point. Because you're like, oh, I'm not quite sure. So this is how I felt when I was a coach, when I just started out, you know, like, how is I going to stand out? Everyone else has got the same certification. So that is level number one. Level number two is the conscious copycat. So when you've started to feel like, okay, I know I need to put myself out there, but I've got nothing original to say. And it is very tempting to take what, you know, the most popular, you know, topics are from really big influencers. It's very tempting to take their content and to kind of pass it off as your own. But you feel that conflict inside you, like, oh, but this isn't mine, but I'm still gonna put it out there anyway. So I'll just See how it is. So you're conscious about it. So you're not just being a copycat for the sake of copying, but that is level number two. And now I want you to imagine a line above that. You don't want to go below this line. So in other words, you don't want to be a couch potato or a conscious copycat. Instead, you want to be one of these three, if not all three. So level number three is the curator or the collaborator. So destiny, you and I, we're doing that right now. We are collaborating because, you know, we're bringing two pieces together, bringing two worlds together through what we are speaking about today. And so that takes courage, reaching out to people and trying to shift your mindset from competitor to collaborator. So that's level number three. Level number four is the creator. So this is when you really are starting to come up with original content, things that you can only pull from your own experience and skills, because no one has the exact same story as you. That is level four. And the final level, which is the level that we aspire to be as course creators, is the change maker. And the change maker is someone who has the original ideas, and they also have attached it to a grander mission. So any of those three, whether it's the collaborator, curator, the creator, or the change maker, is where you want to be and how you want to feel as well when you're creating your course. And the idea is that the more you move up this pyramid, you are narrowing your competition, because, remember, not everyone is going to have this courage to push themselves beyond copying others. A lot of people wind up staying there and hoping for the best. But that's not you who's listening right now, right? You want to put something amazing out there, and the more you climb up this courage scale, you're narrowing your competition as well as increasing your cash flow and your courage level, because there's no one out there who is just like you.

That is such a powerful message. And, you know, I think everybody listening, none of us want to be a couch potato. None of us want to be a conscious copy copycat. You know, moving on to the third phase, the fourth phase, and, you know, definitely expiring to be in the fifth, fifth stage. The change maker is something to definitely shoot for. So let's kind of delve into this a little bit more because we know where we want to go. But I think when we start going down these paths, maybe to launch our next goal course or, you know, you know, put out that next course or do Our next launch, whether it's our fifth launch, a sixth launch, or whatever. What are some things that we can do to brace ourselves for that growth before we launch so we don't move into that self sabotage stage?

Oh yes, the self sabotage can rear us ugly head when it comes to this point. So this is something that I encourage all of my clients to do because sometimes they're about to experience like a huge growth spurt in their business and sometimes they're not mentally ready for that. And actually that can manifest into physical actions of self sabotage, as you just said. So the one thing is to. This is what one of my mentors taught me very early on. And it's a fantastic reminder because when we are scared of what's about to happen next, we kind of retract into ourselves sometimes. But this is what I always think about when I feel I'm about to grow a lot. And that is this. He told me that hell on earth is meeting the person you could have been. And I agree to an extent. But in all honesty, I feel that hell on earth is meeting all of the people that you could have helped. And when I think of that, I literally visualize it. I imagine myself in a field, an open field, and suddenly being surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of people that I could have impacted. I chose not to because I was scared. And it is a powerful vision, destiny. And for those who are listening right now, I really want you to imagine that. Imagine the clients that you have been able to serve right now, the students you've been able to enroll in your courses already. Imagine them. You've been able to help them to succeed now because you have put yourself out there. But just imagine flipping the switch for a second if they were all surrounding you with sad faces of how their lives didn't change because you decided to back out. When I think of that, I feel, okay, this mission is beyond just me. It's about others. Because, you know, we're not launching these courses for ourselves to buy them. You know, we're not buying our own courses. It's for other people. And I feel that that is a very, very big mindset shift. And I always remind my clients that when they, when I find that they are feeling that sense of resistance, that it's not about shutting away, it's not about shutting out. You know, it's actually leaning into it and trying to understand why our minds and bodies are trying to protect us by actually creating this resistance that we feel. But when you imagine that, trust me, that is going to Help you snap out of that state of self sabotage when you realize that this mission is not just for you, but for everyone else who's waiting for you.

So that's a powerful picture that you just painted for us. So let's just say, you know, that's the vision that I have. I'm in the field. There's hundreds, thousands of faces out there that I know that I could help with my online course. But, you know, I still feel that, you know, what if nobody buys? You know, these are some of the. You know, my clients have told me this, and I'm sure some of yours have. What if nobody buys? What if I put myself out there and nothing happens? What do you tell people when they mention that to you?

Yeah, so that's the thing, because we're all trying to become rejection proof, you know, and it is. You know, I really admire every single course creator out there that's pushed past, you know, their fears and launched anyway, because it is scary putting yourself out there. And I think we don't acknowledge ourselves enough for actually doing that. And I feel that whenever I get into that space, if I'm creating my own course or if it's my clients, I say, well, that's just another thing for us to learn. And especially when it's your first time launching. You know, even I heard this piece of advice from John Lee Dumas the other day, and he says that launching, especially your first time is your opportunity to learn. We have to understand that it's not us, it's not our fault. The reason why it didn't work, because there are so many other factors involved. It's not just because of our offer. It's not just about our copy. It could have been because our ideal clients, they had a bad week, or the Internet, like, cut out during your webinar. There are so many things that are outside of our control, and so we can only ever focus on the things that are within our control and give ourselves a break and actually acknowledge ourselves and, in fact, destiny. This is something that I used to teach my coaching clients before I moved into copywriting. And it's the acknowledgement exercise. And I literally get them to hug themselves and say, thank you, me. And it may sound silly, but that actually came about when I remember I cut my finger once, and I just didn't love the way that it looked when it was healing. And my brother caught me one day, and I was like. And he said to me, that's your. That's your body's way of telling you that it's healing. And ever since that moment, anytime I kind of curse at my own body, I curse at my business when I'm like, oh, my God, I'm so silly. It's like, oh, my gosh, my business is, you know, it's not thriving the way I wanted to. I have to take a step back and actually hug myself to acknowledge myself, saying, you're doing everything that you can, and as long as you're able to say that honestly that you are doing everything within your power, then there's nothing more that we can ask from ourselves. That's what I do.

I love that.

I love that.

My key, any. Any other mindset shifts or tips that you have for the course creators listening that they could do for their next launch.

Okay, so this is gonna go. This is gonna kind of loop back to the courage to convert scale, and I'm gonna call it the rooftop reminder. Because this is what. This is literally the context in which this reminder came about. It was when I was managing an event a couple years back and there was this techpreneur and he was teaching everyone in the room how to start a technology business. And then there was somebody in the audience who said, but what if there's a competitor? Because as course creators, we are going to feel like, oh, there's some competition around me. Even though I said about the whole collaboration thing, you know, there are going to be people in our space who are doing something very similar, if not seemingly the same. And so the speaker said, okay, let me put it this way. If I were to start a business, you know, replacing all of the rooftops in the world with solar panels, do you think I could reach every roof in the world? And, well, they were like, well, no, there's a lot of roofs in the world. And he said, exactly. So I am thankful if there are competitors because at least we can do more together. So, again, it's shifting back to the collaboration piece. Yes, you are going to have people in a similar space to you, perhaps doing something seemingly the same. But the point is that your unique message, your unique story, experiences, skill set, no one can copy that. And when I think about this, I think to myself that, you know, my voice is going to land for someone and it's not going to land on another person in the same way my competitor is. But that is fine because, again, I know that we are creating these courses for our businesses, but we gotta really look at the big picture, that if you're really passionate about creating this course in the world, I bet it's not just because of money. It's because of the impact you want to make. And why not join forces with someone who's doing something similar to you and be thankful that they are helping you to reach the people that you can't reach because some reason they may not resonate with you and you're able to reach their people who don't resonate with them. So it's all about a grander mission, a grander collaboration that sometimes we're not aware of because we're so focused on our own work. And that's fine. But seeing that is a bigger mission that you're all fulfilling in your own little way. You may not reach the entire world, but you will reach your corner of the world.

So powerful. And you know what? I'll also, what I tell people, if there's competition out there, that's good, right? That means a demand in the marketplace.

Exactly. And that's an even better reason to go, you know, launch your course. Because if there are people interested in this, there's going to be people who are putting courses out there right now on the same topic. But people aren't buying from them because they don't like the way they speak, they don't like the way they teach, but they're going to love the way that you do. And that's something that I always remind my clients and myself when I'm in a course creation phase and I'm wondering if it's going to work or not. That's always a bigger picture. There's always a bigger reason. And for everyone who's listening on this podcast episode, I am certain that you are doing big, amazing things and you're not just doing this for money. I know that you're doing something bigger.

Well, Mei Kay, thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell people where they can find you?

Yes, absolutely. So I do have my own podcast. It's called the Quiet Rebels Podcast. And it's about helping you to create your courage to own your voice, your message, and your worth in both life and business. So you can find that over on my website@www.makeaysang.com. just M A I K E E T S A n G. But I'll ask Destiny if she can pop that link in the show notes because I.

Know my name, so remember that.

Yeah. So you can find me over at my website. And the top social media platform that I'm most present on would be Instagram. So my website, Instagram and my podcast are the best ways to find me perfect.

Thank you so much for joining me today Makei. I really enjoyed our confirmation, our conversation and course creators out there. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. Would love for you to rate and review the podcast on itunes or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great rest of your day. Bye for now.