What launches are on your radar right now?
Are you considering buying something or simply watching how someone else is doing it?
Every single day someone's about to launch or just finished launching or is currently launching something big, life changing, business evolving, the one course to rule them all.
Feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering how you'll stand out in the crowded launching landscape?
If so, then ask yourself a few more questions?
Are you listening to your audience?
What are they saying?
Do you know what you stand for – what your values are – and if you're communicating those clearly enough to your audience (or soon to be audience)?
It's in those questions where you can find the real stand out – remarkable qualities of your business.
I wanted to dig deeper into this topic, so I called up the values-driven Tara Gentile.
A few words come to mind when I think of Tara –
…impeccable, elegant, real, knowledgeable…intuitive.
I think you'll know what I mean once you listen to our conversation which starts on the topic of launching and then meanders to the art of listening to your audience, establishing yourself as an authority, and back again to how it all relates to the importance of your first launch.
“The Launch is about people not about the numbers.” – Tara Gentile
You can find more about Tara at taragentile.com and also check out her site scoutiegirl.com.
Now it's your turn.
Leave your biggest takeaway from my chat with Tara – and how you're going to apply it immediately to your first launch.
And if you're ready to learn how to launch your first paid offering online or offline – scurry over to to FearlessLaunching.com to find out how to do it!
Heh, Anne. I’m new to your site. Love it!
Your interview with Tara was a wallop of information. I agree with what Tara said about the importance of establishing yourself as an expert. I’ve always believed that no matter what you know, you’re not really an expert until your customers see you as one. Great interview!
Love, love, love Tara’s comment that “nothing quite establishes your authority like saying, ‘you should pay me for this. This is worth money.’ ” What a lucid point!
I don’t recall where I read it, but something I came across in the last few months mentioned something similar — that you have to train your audience to see you as a business, that giving away free for too long before making an actual offer can backfire, because you’re training people to expect all free, all the time. Giving away kick-butt free resources is all well and good, but that at some point you gotta make some greenbacks. : )
Thanks for an interesting and informative interview!
Awesome interview…so many useful little tid bits! I what love the most is hearing about how you both started off as bloggers and the transitions you went through to go beyond just doing it as a hobby. I love those kind of stories! Also, Anne, I agree with what you said about entrepreneurs building businesses around other people’s business models…I, too, see a lot of the ‘same’ things being repeated. It’s refreshing to hear that it is, in fact, a better idea to create a unique business model — not necessarily what other entrepreneurs are doing. Great stuff!!
Thanks Susan. I loved getting to talk to Tara – she’s one of those unique and memorable voices to me. So glad you stopped by and enjoyed what you saw!
Kimberly,
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. I was in the camp for 2 years of never offering anything on my site. When I finally did have an ebook, I felt kind of bad for offering it, for making people pay money. Of course, looking back it’s clear to me that I should have offered something earlier – you do teach people how to behave. This is interpersonal communication. If you are the person who understands when people flake, they will feel okay to flake for the long term. Online – if you don’t give people something to do, to take action … they won’t. There are sites that I go to, read, and say oh that’s nice…and I will never know to buy anything.
Start with the end in mind if you’re building a blog that will support your business in any way!
Desiree > I love talking about breaking blueprints…and the whole world we’re in where everyone seems to be going through the same course, doing the same type of business, programs, even site design…it’s making me crazy in the brain! Thanks so much for commenting! =) Anne
Wow! This is awesome content! Thank you for sharing your “secrets” with us. I feel so privileged to receive such insider information for two successful minds!
I walked away with so many good advice- people not numbers, balanced with authority by charging, not waiting to start your first launch, the thrill of creating a community and helping others, and more.
So glad you got a lot of the interview and thanks for stopping by! Any questions for Tara?
Anne,
That “feeling bad” feeling when you first make an offer on your site — I have that too! I know what I have to offer is of value, and my clients “in real life” pay me well for my expertise, but there’s something about making an offer that’s strictly digital, something on offer at my website or to my email subscribers, that’s been hanging me up. Not sure where that fear comes from.
But.
True story: last night after watching this interview with you and Tara, I decided, “What the heck? I’m going for it.” And I made my first ever offer to my very teeny tiny email list, after being online for close to a year. : )
Even if I get no takers, I *finally* made an offer, and that feels good. Plus, that fear? Now gone. ; )
Ah, speak to them in “their” language! Thanks for the tips. I am doing my first launch, really putting myself on the map/making my mark. This is scary but exciting. Thank you so much for your tips! I would love to join your 2 month program, I think that would help me so much.
Wow… Great interview, minds gone numb now, thought I would post being gent number 2… 🙂
Lots to take in there, I’ve been running my own business in the creative industry for 20yrs or so, mainly because getting a gob in the creative industry is difficult. So I just create or find my own work. Seemed easer to me some how. I am a self tort designer and have created many things from web design to building large aquariums.
My new venture ‘Battleboards’ is steadily growing through social network but the larger it gets the more disconnected I feel, so you interview was inspiring and reminded me that connecting with people is SO important, but it’s difficult when they are spread throughout the globe… any ideas
Kimberly! This is amazing! I’m waiting for an update – email me! I love that you took action like this!
Emily, thank you for stopping by! I’ll send you an email on the details of the email course. You can start it anytime, so no need to catch up or anything!
Rich – as your network grows, it is difficult to stay connected to every single person. You may want to find active people in various areas who can be your “street team” and almsot be your voice and representative in different parts of the world. I’d say to identify those people in your network who are really outspoken who can help keep the community connected!
Thanks Anne, I was thinking of something along those lines.. so you just confirmed my thoughts are in the right direction… now all I have to do is work out how to put in into action 🙂
Thanks for the reply
OMG, I LOVE this interview. I did not really know much about Tara, but after this interview, I’m a fan. I love her energy, so vibrant, so real. And this convo is full of valuable info. And of course, Anne rocks! xoxo
I am seriously in love with Tara and her work. She’s genuine, honest, soooo smart, and fun to talk to! Love to hear what your biggest takeaway was!??