#17 - BTS of my first ever course launch (+ what I wish I knew back then!)

Then I sat back and I waited and amazingly, people started buying and I was shocked. Like, I think I sort of half was hoping that they wouldn't because I would then have to go and figure out how I created and actually ran this damn thing.

This is the Doing It Online podcast with your Host, serial entrepreneur, 6 and 7 figure funnel strategist and super nerd Kate McKibben, where every week we're here talking, nerdy and sharing the things that act actually work to help you do what you do online, but better, easier, and with a ton more profit too. Are you ready? Let's do it.

Hey. Hey, everybody, and welcome to episode 17 of the Doing It Online podcast. Now, I actually sat down the other day and I figured out that in the last six years, I think it roughly is, I have created, created and launched over 12 different courses and online programs. Yeah, I said 12. I think it's probably a bit of an illness at this point, but today I wanted to take you on a trip down memory lane and walk you through my very first launch because it's all well and good to hear about how, you know people's launches and funnels who've been doing it for years and years and years and have spent a lot of time mastering certain things. But I know a lot of you who are listening, you still haven't pressed the button yet. You still haven't taken the leap. You're still thinking about creating your first course or launching, sorry, your first online program. Or maybe you have launched before and it didn't go how you wanted. So I think it can be so useful to, you know, to lift the curtain and see where people started, not just where people are. A little segue before we dive in. I think the thing that actually prompted me to do this episode was I saw a memory pop up on Facebook and that memory was a screenshot I shared. And I shared it several years later. So it still was, you know, it wasn't quite accurate time wise, but it was a screenshot of my very first web design, which I designed myself and my logo. I did myself in paint and then did a screenshot of the. What I designed in paint. And that screenshot was my logo. I think the logo, the file even said, like, screenshot, whatever, whatever. So, you know, now, you know, my website is, you know, I actually, this year, for the first time ever, paid someone to design it for me. And I constantly keep tweaking it because, again, it's another thing that I like to do. But, you know, I think looking back, there's such a big difference. But that, that difference took years and that start was still a great start. It was imperfect, but at least I started the same with my online program. As I'm going to take you through now, you'll see that my very first online program and the launch of that program was very, very imperfect. But the most important thing was that it happened and that I started and that it started me taking those first steps which have ended up with the business that I have today, which is very, very different from then. But you had to have that start. So let's dive in to, as I said that, that walk down memory lane of my very first online course launch. So a little bit of background of where I am at this point in my sort of life and career. I have.

So it's about 2014. I've been running my business drop dead gorgeous daily since 2007. That business is, you know, quote unquote, successful. It's earning multiple seven figures. Not seven. My gosh, I wish I was earning multiple six figures. Sorry. You know, I had a team about five content creators. We had our own little office, we had an online shop. We, you know, we were getting about half a million visitors a month to the website. It was one of the biggest ones in Australia at the time with that kind of nation topic and, you know, said, quote, unquote, very successful. However, the profitability on it sucked big time because of the office and the team and all the other expenses that kind of went on behind the scenes. So, you know, I was the, the main, I said the main breadwinner for the business was me and how I spent my time, like I had to, it was all around ad sales. I had to cold call companies and try and convince them to advertise with us. And it wasn't even something I really believed in because, you know, trying to help a large, you know, cosmetics company to be able to sell more cosmetics just didn't really light me up. You know, that was not really what I felt like I was here for. And you know, at this time, I'd taken a couple of courses myself. I'd had a few people suggest to me to create an online course, particularly around, you know, this around blogging, around setting up a successful blog because it was something that a lot of people, you know, were trying to do and hadn't been able to do anywhere near as successfully or as quote, unquote easily as I had. But I just, I kept rejecting it. I kept pushing this, the suggestion away. I had this little story in the back of my head that, you know, those that can't do teach. And I know that is awful. And I don't mean that to like teachers because I have so many great friends who are teachers and I don't believe that about them at all. But I had it sort of like that this was like, like the fallback for people who couldn't succeed in the thing that they wanted to do. They kind of always had this fallback option of becoming a teacher. And I don't know where this came from. I think it's just some nasty little bit of folklore that we have floating around in our society and it's not true. But yeah, it was a little story in the back of my head. So I kept rejecting the idea. And then two things happened pretty close to each other. One was I went out for dinner with one of my blogging friends and we're just, you know, as you do when you have catch up with someone who's in the same who has a small business like yours. We basically spent the entire meal talking about our businesses and things that we were doing. And one thing I noticed that I thought was a bit unusual is that she actually started taking notes and I was like, oh, aren't you doing this? Like, isn't this stuff pretty? Isn't everybody doing this? And you know the stuff that I was talking about and she was like, no. Like no. And I haven't even read this stuff before. Like it was all brand new information to her. And she had had a blog for just as long as I had. So I was quite shocked by that. That realization that not okay, maybe not everyone does know what I know. Maybe I do have something bit of value here.

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And the other thing that happened was I'd been given like a massage voucher for my birthday and it was months and months later and I was just feeling so burnt out and I was like, no, I'm going to go and finally make some time and have this damn massage. And it's having a massage. It's it's almost like I feel like I channel directly to my intuition whenever I have a massage. So I need to definitely have more of them. But it's where all my good ideas come up or where maybe I'm just relaxed enough that I'm open to hear them. I don't know. But it was on this massage table and it was almost like. It was like a slap to the back of the head because I was, you know, I was lying there. The massage was amazing. It's actually one of the best ones I think I've ever had in my life and. But I just kept going over my head, like, why can't I fix this? I need to find the solution. Because I was, you know, I was working so, so hard, but I wasn't earning enough and, you know, I just wasn't ready to, you know, I was like, I can't just work harder. Like, that can't be the thing. There has to be an easier way to make money. There has to. You know, I've got this great audience, I've got this great team. Like, I feel like I've done all the right things, like, why can't I make more money? And the, you know, it was like this. Yeah, this lightning bolt slap on the back of the head or whatever it was. I was just like, why don't you just create the bloody course? Like people literally, the two days earlier had somebody taking notes from what I was talking about and what I felt was really basic stuff. And it was the first time I kind of allowed that suggestion to sink in. And by the end of the massage, I was like, yeah, why not? What have I got to lose? That's kind of my motto with a lot of things. Give it a try. What have we got to lose? So that was sort of how it came about. Now at this point, you know, we. I didn't have. We had an online store, which was through WooCommerce. We had a WordPress site. But, you know, I'd never tried to set up any of the tech kind of side of things for, you know, for creating an online program. Like, yes, we were creating content, so we're pretty confident with creating images and writing text and, you know, scheduling and uploading things. But it was a whole different kettle of fish to doing an online course and myself being the impatient person that I was. Like, now that I had this idea and I was starting to get really excited about it, I just wanted to do it now. Like, I. I sort of knew that there was like this little window that I had where the excitement was higher than the fear, I think is really the best way of describing it. And I just had to go in, I just had to get it started. I just had to, you know, to do something to keep the ball rolling. So I went and I whipped up the most basic sales page you've ever seen. I wouldn't even call it a sales page. It was a blog post. I wrote a blog post. Um, I think it had like, I again used my excellent paint skills. I don't think canva it was even a thing yet. Um, at this point, you know, whipped up Super Basic graphic. The name for the course was Secret Bloggers Business. It just popped into my head. Um, again it just felt like. And the. When things like this happen, when, you know, when I find come up with a name for something really easily and it just works, then I almost, you know, sorry to get a little bit woe, but I almost take that as like a little bit of encouragement that I'm on the right track. So the name came to me really easily. As I said I'd had that or allowed that sort of download during the massage, I was like, yeah, okay, let's go. So sat down, create a super basic graphic, super basic logo. Again, it was just text screenshot. Even seven years after my creating my first website, I was still using that as my go to. I then wrote literally a blog post explaining that, hey, I had this idea. People been asking me about how I've done X, Y, Z. Would you like me to teach it to you? Was pretty much the crux of it. It was text based. I think it was like two images in there. And then I had to go and figure out how we were going to take payment. And again, I hadn't really heard of teachable. That teachable is probably around. I know at the time I was so concerned with not creating another expense that I spent probably the majority of my time was trying to find basically a free way to set this all up. So I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to spend money on plugins if I didn't have to. I kept it all very, yeah, very down, dirty, cheap and easy. What seemed to be the easiest way to get be able to take payments was to literally paste, you know, create a PayPal button. I don't even know if you can even do this anymore. But you used to be able to just go into PayPal, create a button like say what the price was and everything. And it gave you a little bit of code and you Pasted the code into, you know, your blog post or your website or whatever and people click it and the money went into PayPal and then that was it. You kind of had to go and then retrieve their details manually. So that was my, that was my sales page, blog post, PayPal button, not connected to anything. And then I sent out an email, which is just basically what it said in the blog post, to my email list. Now, one little caveat here is that email list was a good size. It was, I think it was over 30,000 by this point. However, they were not the target market. This was drop dead gorgeous daily. My first business, it was a shopping website. So it was about finding cool places to buy things online. Not exactly, you know, a website full of people who are trying to make a profitable blog. Yes, there's some crossover because there's a lot of fashion bloggers and things like that, but definitely was not, you know, 30,000 of my target audience. So I sent that first email and I can tell you that was probably one of the scariest things I've done with, done in my life, apart from sending the first email of my first business that was up there as well. And then I sat back and I. And I waited and amazingly, people started buying and I was shocked. Like, I think I sort of half was hoping that they wouldn't because I would then have to go and figure out how I created and actually ran this damn thing if they bought. And yeah, people started buying and it wasn't like a crazy tidal wave. I sent a few more emails over that week. I think I said I gave it, I think I promoted it for about two weeks, which gave me time to, now that a few people had bought it, gave me time to actually get in there and start creating the content.

And by the end of that, we had. Now, unfortunately, I don't have the exact numbers, so I know it was. The product was $197. I ended up putting that price up over time to $497 and that was in Aussie and ended up switching it to US because charging in Australian dollars with when you have a US market just confuses everybody. But I know that first launch with a $197 product we made, I think it was around about $14,000. I know it was above 10,000, wasn't quite 20, so somewhere in between there. So there's probably about like 60 or 70 people bought over two weeks just from whacking a PayPal button into a blog post and sending out an email. And I was, I Said I was shocked. So then the next thing I had to do is obviously go and figure out how do I deliver this thing. And again, I had this mindset, even though I just made some money that I didn't want to spend more money, like I wanted to keep that money that was like much needed funds. And I definitely didn't want to go and then spend it on something like, you know, something sensible, like a really good robust platform to host my online course. So again, I cobbled and sticky taped together using free plugins and my own very basic coding skills. Something that I tried, I was trying to make it look as close to B school as possible. I think that's what everyone did back then. B school was one of the only courses that I'd purchased. I think I did the first model, sorry, first module, and then was too busy and I never completed it. But you know, I loved the look of it, the feel of it, and I thought that's just what it needed to look like. So I tried to replicate that in the most low tech, low budget way possible. And then I ran the program and, you know, people loved it. And again, that was another surprise. I kind of, I think when, you know, that first day, seeing that first email saying, you know, first content's live, I was expecting everyone to ask for a refund. I was expecting them to get in there and be like, oh, this is rubbish, or this is so basic, or you don't know what you're talking about. Like, you know, that whole imposter syndrome thing is real. And I think everyone has it and they didn't, they loved it. I don't think we got a single refund request. And this was like the most budget looking, you know, I, I wish I'd taken screenshots. That's one thing. Actually, I say to anyone who is getting started, take screenshots of everything and save them somewhere. Like, you might not think, like right now you're probably actually looking at it going, this is pretty awesome. I'm pretty proud of myself. Or you might be looking at thinking, this is really basic and budget and I hate it. But either way, take photos of it, take screenshots, because five years from now you will find it hilarious to look back regardless of whether you love or hate what your current setup. So anyway, just segue.

That was my first dip into online courses and it sort of was after that. I definitely had the bug. As I said, I think went and created 12 different online programs, all varying successes. And, you know, it's been a real, like labor of love ever since. And, you know, I've definitely never looked back. So as far as. With that first launch, I would say my biggest wins were, first of all, that I got it done, that I did it, that, you know, I didn't let the fear or those little limiting beliefs that I had at the back of my head saying, you're not good enough. What do you know? Or this is giving up. You know, I didn't. I didn't give in to those. And I actually, you know, just put myself out there and I got it done. The fact that I think, I think, and that is with any launch, getting the first biggest thing is the fact that you've actually taken the action and done it. It might not feel like that, but it is so important, and it's such a big win. I think the second win was proving the concept. And really, with any first launch, that's just the goal. Like, I know everyone wants it to be the most successful launch ever, and, you know, any extra money is always nice, but I think just proving that this idea that you had, that this topic that you're passionate about or you have experience in, it's something that people, you know, they want your help with and they're willing to pay for it and that they value and they connect the messaging, like just proving that concept, that initial, you know, in your initial launch, if you do those two things, those two things are your biggest wins. Even if you only get a handful of sales, it's still proven the concept. You still got there out there and did it. And I don't, you know, I think a lot of people get discouraged from their first launches if they don't quite go to plan. But really, those are your only two goals for your first launch. And then you will, you know, can keep launching, keep promoting. You know, whether you put it into a funnel or you do live launches or whatever it is, but you keep showing up, keep making offers, keep perfecting your messaging. And, you know, those launches, those offers, those promos, those funnels, they will get better and better over time. Like, mind, it doesn't necessarily have to take as many years as mine has.

But, you know, I just. That's probably like the most important thing for anyone who's thinking about creating a course is just know that that is your goal with your very first launch. As far as what I would do differently if I was to, like, right now, if I was launching my very first online program again right now, probably just two things. The first of all is that I would give myself a Big slap over the back of the head about getting so hung up on trying to find a free way of doing everything. I mean, particularly nowadays because the tech is so good and so smart and so affordable. You know, the fact that, you know, you've got things out there, like Podia, which is one of my favorite online courseware platforms, I think it's about $39 a month. It can take your payments, it can, you know, it means that when people purchase, they get this seamless experience. They go into really professional, nicely designed area. You don't have to worry about, you know, manually adding people from here to here. You don't have to worry about awful like login issues or there being a weird update in WordPress and it breaks your short codes and all of a sudden all your content's publicly available, which has happened to me before. So I think, and the amount of time I spent trying to, as I said, sticky tape together this thing using free plugins and little snippets of code here and there, like it's worth my. That time is worth way more than the $39 a month that getting a proper tool in place would have cost me. So, although they probably were a bit more expensive back then, but even then, if like that, even just that first sale would have covered like three months worth of courseware hosting. So that would have been the first thing and the other thing I would have loved to have done. Although again, I know myself and I know that I need to be able to take fast action on things and almost like get a little bit of skin in the game to make sure I keep going.

So it was good that I just, as I said, just out of nowhere whipped up a blog post with a PayPal button and said, hey, I'm doing an online course. I was able to do that, I think in like a 24 hour period from when I came up with the idea. But I think what I would have liked to have been able to do would be maybe just do a public announcement that the course was coming. Like that might have been enough just to have that bit of skin in the game and then spent a few weeks doing some warmup content just to give, you know, so it wasn't such a shock to my poor email list who was never previously been spoken to about blogging or business, who was all like, you know, look at this cute manicure and this cocktail recipe and hey, these shoes are half price. And they're like, boom, here's my business course. So I would have liked to have done that probably Particularly to the list that size as well. Spent a little bit of time doing some warm up content, maybe segmented the email lists a bit and just target people who are interested. But again, at the end of the day, those two most important things, the fact that I got it done, I got it out there, I got over the fear and I just acted and I proved that not only did people want to learn from me and was I able to actually deliver them something great and something useful, but that I really enjoyed doing it and it was just such a better business model for me and a better fit for me and my business and the business that I wanted to create. So that's it guys. That's my little wrap up as of my first ever course launch. Seeing as I've sort of lifted up the proverbial online skirt and showed you mine. If you want to snap me a picture not of your undies, please, of your, your first course or you know, anything like that and shoot me a DM over on Instagram, I'd love to share stories of, you know, the, where we started because I think it's, it's so important that we sort of honor that start and have a giggle at it as well and can look back at it and you know, because just the fact that we, we've started, the fact that we took action, that's so people don't get past that point. So, you know, high fives to all of everyone, all of us who have started, who had our own imperfect launches. And for those of you thinking about it, I hope this has given you a bit of a kick up the bum and you're going to get out there and get yourself launched as imperfectly as possible. You just get it done. But that's it from me, guys. I hope you all have an excellent week. And make sure you tune in next week where I've got another awesome episode. I can't wait to share it with you. It's very exciting. In the meantime, keep doing what you do, guys, and I'll see you all next time. Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to the Doing It Online podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. And if you're ready to take your online course sales to the next level with your own six or seven figure funnel, let Kate show you exactly how today@Stealmyfunnel.com.