Which one of these statements sounds most like your approach to planning your launch:

a) You hit the new year with a fully fleshed-out vision of where you want to take your business – and you put each year’s plan together by November before the new year hits!

b) You like to start each month by asking yourself, “Okay – what am I promoting or launching or “doing” this month?”

c) You do a little bit of both.  You plan some in advance, but you don’t like to get too far ahead of yourself in case you change your mind.

or

d) You start off the year with a plan but then promptly change your mind on almost everything you thought you wanted to do.

Good news – you’re not bad or wrong or in danger no matter which option you picked.

But if you aren’t doing some sort of pre-planning for the year here’s the truth….You might have some success and minimal peaks in your revenue here and there, but along with that intermittent income, comes a whole lot of other things.

Stop right now and ask yourself:

How’s the consistency of your content?

How’s your stress level on a daily basis?

How do you really feel about your business?

Are you growing?

Are you making money?

If your answers point to a gloomy existence – one where anxiety rules – you might want to do yourself a solid and spend some time mapping out the rest of your year (or at the very least the next 3-4 months).

How the 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 Launch Mapping Method Will Help Your Business Grow

If you’re not looking ahead or at least to where you want your business to grow – how will you get there?

Planning isn’t setting goals – it’s mapping out your battle plan, your game strategy, how you will get from here to where you want to go.

My stand by business and launch planning method is to layout everything I want to offer almost like it’s a giant map (I do this on my paper btw) and then I try to stick to a pretty basic marketing schedule.

I usually start by deciding when I want to launch throughout the year – only because they generally have more pieces to deliver than normal content.  But – I also do this exact planning exercise for my blog content too!

Here’s a look inside my basic launch structure. You’ll notice a few things that each of these has in common:

Fearless Launching – used to just launch in the Spring and Fall every year.  I like the energy of both sessions for different reasons.  I’ve changed this along the way, but initially, it was my main offering that I launched LIVE 2x a year.

Launch Lab – Then – usually if it feels right and I get enough requests, I like to offer something to keep the launch party going.  10 person mastermind – 2 months – offered to Fearless Launchers only.

(update: This has now been replaced by my Fearless Launching Incubator, which is an application only small group coaching program).

Launch Walkthrough was a little email course that was a surprising winner especially for people who want the “what to do next” instruction and do it yourself price! I used to promote the program 2 times a year with a special bonus — during times like Black Friday or mid-year when people were renewing their interest in their business!

(Update: I use another lower-priced product now in special promotions and as bonuses…but aim for 2x a year still!)

The Launch Toolkit – This is my free toolkit and introduction to Launching…think basic training and get-up-to-speed kit filled with worksheets and a mini email intro course. I generally like to do some sort of social media sharing whenever I feel like it for this resource – but I plan 2x a year when I can do something a little extra – promote an update, make an addition to the toolkit and I put the toolkit through the same process as I would launch. It’s a small launch of course – but I follow the same basic process as my main program launch.

(This has since become a list building promotion using another resource, but I still schedule 2x a year to make it amp up my focus!)

One thing to know about all of these is that there’s been a gradual layering.  I started with Fearless Launching, later added the toolkit, then later added the Launch Lab…and then even later added the walkthrough.

And we are now still evolving and changing!

You can easily start with one paid offering and one free offering that you focus your launch energy on – and then as you discover new things about your audience, you will likely come up with other marketing activities and promotions to run.

The Key To Each Launch In Your Map

Why does this structure work?

First – I keep the launch process the same for all of them–whether it’s a webinar or it’s Fearless Launching.

I might do social media for some and others not…some require an order form and others do not…some require a sales page and others are promoted completely through email.

Second – I try to stick to doing each of them 2x a year – while still allowing myself to drop any of them to 1 any time I want.  I make room for each type of launch to happen 2x a year, but I’m not boxed in. It’s my business, right? I can decide what I spend my time on!  The planning lets me carve out the time required to prep each one.

Third – There’s a mix to free and paid. This is important.  I like to spend most of my time providing free or relatively inexpensive content.  Fearless Launching might be the signature program, but I have plenty of other free things I like to give to people – now I have The Fearless Launching Show as well as the Launch Toolkit and soon some free webinars.

Need Help Mapping Out Your Next Launch Or Next 12 Months of Launches?

There are a few ways you can learn my proven planning and mapping process. First – inside Fearless Launching, you’ll get access to my planning bundle so you can:

• Plan your very next launch from top to bottom!
• Map out your next 12 months using the 2 x 2 x 2 x method
• Plus, we have regular hot seats with members to help them do everything from planning their launch to mapping out the strategy they’ll use!

Click here to learn more about Fearless Launching.

Love to hear from you in the comments below. How far in advance do you like to plan? Do you stick to your plan?