How to plan your launches for 2022

Planning out my launches for the year ahead is probably one of my favourite things to do. It sounds a little bit weird, I know, but I love just seeing out on a calendar this is what I'm going to be working on each month. It helps to give me a little bit of focus, it helps to give me some goals to reach for, and it helps me to know what I'm working towards at any one point. Otherwise I end up kind of aimlessly just running my business, not really with any focus or direction in mind.

 

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Steps to planning your launch in 2022

I highly would recommend that if you're planning on launching, even just once in 2022, that you set aside some time to plan out the launch dates so that you know, okay, this is what I'm working towards, this is what I need to be doing at any point in time.

 

Step 1. Big calendar to scribble on

my first step in planning out my launches for 2022, I would always start by getting a large calendar or a wall planner, something that you can scribble on. The one that I bought you could write on it with a dry erase pen, which was great, because I moved quite a few things around, based on when I wanted to fit in holidays, when I wanted to fit in different products, et cetera, et cetera. So if you can get one of those, that's awesome. Otherwise you can download some awesome PDF calendars online. I'm sure there'd be loads of those if you search for them on Google. And then you can scribble on them, if you've got an iPad or even just in a PDF editor on your computer. So we want to have a calendar so we can see exactly what dates we're working with, how many weeks we've got, because sometimes there's a five week month that just throws us off.

 

Step 2. Block out non-negotiables

Once you've got that calendar in front of you, your next step is to block out anything that is already set in stone. So anything you've committed to, any holidays that you've booked, any deadlines, any client commitments. Anything that you already know you're giving your energy elsewhere and that you can't change or that you don't want to change. So anything like that, block that out next, because these are now your little confines that we have to work within. And that's good, we want to have these confines.

 

Step 3. Intentional planning for the year

Then I want you to think about intentionally designing your year. For me, I know that I have this two week hike that I want to do through the Northern Territory in winter. It has to be done in winter because otherwise it's too hot. So I know that that's going to be two weeks of me off the grid. I can't have my laptop. I probably won't have much phone signal. So I know I need to fit that in somewhere, in winter. So I played around a few times with where I wanted to put that, based on where my launches were going to be and based on what else I was going to be doing in my business.

So when you intentionally design your year, put in particular holidays you want to take. If you want to take every Friday off, cool, block your Fridays out. This is about you. You started your business to have that freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. I want you to get clear on what is it that you want so that you can make time and space for that in your calendar. Rather than letting your year happen to you, we're intentionally setting yourself up for the year.

 

Step 4. Plan in quarters

I want you to look at your calendar quarter by quarter. So I try to have a rough plan for the entire year, but I don't stick to it as much, because so much can change. 2020 was the first year that I really did a solid plan for a whole year, and by halfway through quarter one everything had changed. So do a rough outline of the whole year, but get really focused on each quarter at a time. So at the end of December I was planning for quarter one. Towards the end of quarter one, I'll be getting really deep into quarter two. I do really like to know though a year in advance when I'm going to be opening and closing doors for Launch Magic, when I'll be teaching it, so that I can plan my year around it, so I know I can go off the grid now or I can't go away here. It's good to know those spaces.

 

Step 5. Get specific with launch dates

Once you've filled in those cart open dates for your major one launch, two launches, three launches, however many launches you're doing. I want you to put in those cart open dates. Doors open, doors close. Once you've got those dates, block out seven to 10 days before that as webinar promotion time. And then I would pencil in roughly 10 weeks before that as your launch. Those 10 weeks are a lot more flexible. You don't need to be at your desk, you can go on holiday, as long as you've got everything scheduled and you're still willing to show up a little bit. That's just penciled in, but you know that it's still going to be a little bit more work in those 10 weeks.

 

Step 6. Think about what other business launches or activities you want to schedule in

Then what I do once I've got my launches fitted in I will fill in the remaining spaces in quarter one with other activities and launches that I want to do. So, for example, in February I'm running Launch Magic Live, tickets will be on sale for that in mid Feb, actually on Valentine's Day I think, so we'll have tickets available for that in mid Feb. So I'm doing that in mid Feb. I know in March I'm launching my course Boost Your Brand's Superfans. Cool, that's my quarter one filled up. Quarter two, I know I'm doing another Launch Magic launch, but when I get closer to quarter two, I'll see how I'm tracking with everything else. I'll have a look at the spaces and see if I can fill in a few other little fun activities in between there. But I'm not going to plan it down to a T just yet. As I go through the year I will pretty much always have new ideas that I want to implement. And I just fit these in around my major launches.

But for me my two Launch Magic launches each year, those are the biggest things that I do in my business. So I all always want to make sure that I have a hundred percent focus while I'm launching Launch Magic. And I would encourage all of you, even if you're still working on client work, I would encourage you to block out your one or two, however many big launches you have, treat that like it's gold. It cannot be moved. It's an appointment in your calendar that has to be there, it's a priority in your business. I think where a lot of people get stuck with launches is they don't realize that it is a major project, that it's supposed to be a lot of work. And they start doing it and they think, oh, this is too much work, I can't fit it in, I've got all these other priorities. But the problem is that if you don't prioritize it you are never going to find the time to do it.

 

Step 7. Planning your launch content

Then once you've got all of those dates locked in, planning your content for the year becomes a lot easier. In those 10 weeks before your launch you're sharing content that's strategically designed to get your audience to where they need to be, to be ready to buy from you. I don't recommend doing a million different launches, I really don't, because you end up exhausting yourself. And I don't recommend launching a lot of different products either. Three or four would be a lot. Anything more than that, you don't need to worry about doing that. Anything more than that, you're going to end up confusing your audience, exhausting yourself. But yeah, absolutely, launch the same product more than once. I launch Launch Magic twice a year, I have Boost Your Brand's Superfans coming in March, which I'll be launching multiple times a year, and I also have the A-Z Podcast Launch Plan, which is available for people to buy all the time. But I do occasionally still live launch.

The good news about all of this is that you get to design your year however you want to. If you want to do 10 launches of the same product, cool, you can do that. You might be a little bit tired, great, but you get to choose what you want. If one big launch is more than enough for you, then that's cool, just do the one. If you only want to work three days a week, block that out. If you want to take two months off, do it. This is what I did last year, I took the whole month of February off, and it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. And because I'd blocked that month out I knew I wasn't launching anything, I didn't have anything major happening in my business, I knew I could be off the grid completely. I didn't open my laptop once in four weeks. And it felt really good.

So get intentional. I really do encourage you to sit and think about what is it that you want. How do you want your year to look? How do you want your months to look? How do you want your weeks and your days to look? Because unless we get intentional about this, it all just passes us by and we end up looking back at the year and thinking, what did I even achieve?

 

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