6-Figure, 100% Asynchronous Course Launch Debrief

🚀 I recently wrapped up a 100% asynchronous launch where we did 6 figures in sales without live webinars, live streams, being on video or calls.

It certainly wasn't our biggest launch, we've had plenty of $500k++ launches by using our Launch Your Signature CourseⓇ and Iconic Virtual Events strategies (you can find all of our launch strategies inside Profit Architecture .)

But it was a really great experiment to try something 100% async and be a model for some of our clients who need this level of flexibility to work around their creative constraints. If you're in a chill low energy season, or can't do a lot of live stuff for any reason, an async launch can be really lucrative and strategic, designed to fit into your life and schedule.

➡️ What is an async Launch?

• An asynchronous launch just means no "live" elements - everything is pre-recorded

• No live webinar, no live stream videos, no live Q&A before cart close, no live on zoom - all pre-recorded

• Your process requires no sales calls, but you can have asynchronous conversations with potential clients in the DMs (we call this social selling, and we teach it in High Ticket Hybrid which is also inProfit Architecture).

• We focused on prelaunch podcasts, blogs, emails, recorded webinar, and launch emails during cart open

➡️ Why might you choose to do an async launch?

• I like my launches to reflect the delivery of the program so they get a sense of the experience of the course through the launch (like my first Evergreen EnginesⓇ launch years ago).

• You have chronic illness, low energy, or just need a chill strategy

• You can't make it work with your schedule - childcare, unpredictable calendar, etc

• Your offer is better suited to it (doing live stuff just isn't practical, you have more technical topic you teach, need to record and edit demo style videos, etc)

➡️ What are the pros and cons of an async launch?

Pros:

• Works with your variable energy

• Great for chaotic schedules

• Allows you to create everything in advance and pre-schedule everything so that no matter what happens during the cart open, your launch goes off smoothly (aka, kids getting sick, unexpected family stuff, losing your voice, tech issues, etc)

Cons:

• It's just not as energetically engaging - it can be 90% there, but if you are good live, you'll feel the difference

• You will do a lot more work BEFORE the cart opens than during it - meaning more of a schedule crunch if you don't plan ahead

• Creating connection will have to happen in other ways - DMs, private messages, etc

It works really well if you have an engaged audience you're regularly connecting with through podcasts, weekly videos, social media etc - people are already 99% "sold" on you and your offer before you actually launch, and the launch itself is just the logistics basically of what's included, how it works, enrollment process, etc. If you've done a lot of heavy lifting elsewhere through content and engagement, it can work!

But if you are not showing up regularly providing value, connecting, building relationships with your audience, then don't expect the launch to be stellar (but that's true for any format).

💣 TRUTH BOMB 💣

The success of your launch has very little to do with the actual 6 days of cart being open.

It has EVERYTHING to do with the 6 months, and the 6 weeks, leading up to your launch.

• How have you shown up and served the last 6 months?

• How much have you been preparing and planting seeds for the 6 months prior?

• How much has your list or audience grown in the last 6 months?

• Have people been warmed up to your offer via an evergreen funnel the last 6 months? (search Turtles + Hares on my blog)

• Have you executed a strategic, intentional 6-week pre launch campaign of champagne client content and explicitly telling people about your offer before the doors even open? (We teach this in Champagne Client Content + Profit Architecture ).

Your launch can be relatively "effortless", when you put in the foundational groundwork in the 6 months and 6 weeks beforehand.

➡️ What my async launch looked like:

• 4 Weeks of Pre-launch content ("OCM" = Organic Content Machine, our system for publishing a newsletter + blog + podcast each week). The call to action was to join the waitlist for bonuses/early access

• Promoted a waitlist for early access to the enrollment page and limited edition bonuses

• The pre-recorded webinar went live on the enrollment page when the cart opened to the waitlist - so cart opens and the recorded webinar is live all at once

• The recorded webinar audio was also available on the podcast for a limited time during enrollment open

• I sent about 12 emails total (in the days before and during the launch) - I wish I had sent more!

• I always resend to unopened and A/B test on days when there is time

• The core of the launch during cart open was really mostly emails and reminding people to watch the masterclass

• I specifically decided not to publish a lot of new content during the cart open period and just direct all energy to promoting watching the webinar, the course tour, and enrollment page.

• In my last launch I talked about "content overwhelm" and I felt like asking people to watch a hour long video AND keep up with new blogs/podcasts was too much - so I kept it simple once the masterclass was published on the sales page

• We did not run ads either, which I will talk about more in the what went well, what to adjust, what went poorly section

➡️ The results:

• 6-figures in sales

• 34% were renewing or previous clients wanting to keep working with us - which is such a testament to what we do and how we serve our clients, that they want to join again and again

• I share the data on the reasons people joined in the deep dive part of the debrief (for our clients only)

➡️ Would I do it again?

• For me, probably not - unless circumstances were such that I really had to and this was the only option

• I think this launch is an amazing example for other people to model if they are in a situation where they just only can do an async launch or only want to and live elements are just not something they will do - it is 100% better than not launching at all!

• I'm going to be brutally honest: For me personally and my skill set and what I know I personally am capable of, I just kept thinking through this launch "I am playing so small. I am not showing up how I know I could be. Why am I in such weird energy?" I knew I was self-sabotaging in a way.

• Everyone's "100% effort" looks totally different, and trust me I have been in seasons of only having 20% effort to give - but for me I had this keen feeling of not having given it my 100% and so I was not expecting A+ results from C level effort.

• Even before the cart opened, I said to my friends I wanted to re-do things and do things differently next time.

• The webinar is one example: It takes work to create a webinar slides. It's just a tiny bit more work to deliver it live (in some ways it's easier than recording on your own, for me). So I wished I had done the webinar live.

• I just kept having this feeling of "I could be showing up in such a powerful way but I'm not", and digging into WHY, and then had a huge breakthrough and uplevel immediately after and I feel like the next few months you'll see the result of that.

➡️ Lessons Learned + Next Steps:

• Overall, I am absolutely celebrating a 6-figure, 100% async launch! 🎉

• To show it is possible to have a lucrative launch without a live webinar, live streams, live videos, sales calls, etc

• I'm really glad I did it - because I've been able to help my clients outline their own async launches and get creative for their own unique situations.

• This is a testament to the simple 3-part launch that we've been teaching for almost 9 years now -

• the 3 core assets are a Webinar, Email Sequence, and Sales Page

• And no matter what you launch, at whatever price point, you have these 3 solid assets

• And they do the heavy lifting for you

• If you want my help creating these assets, you can join Profit Architecture here .

• Name changes are rarely warranted and cause so much confusion - I have learned this lesson 3 times now and it's finally really setting in. I'll talk more about this in the deep dive for our clients, but you guys can probably expect a name change back to Profit Architecture soon!

• Why Didn't You Buy survey: full of gold as always. It confirmed a lot of the feelings I had through the launch of what I want to improve next time. (I have a blog post + template about how to send a WDYB survey HERE).

• This launch has been a catalyst for me in many ways. I have so much clarity and lessons from this launch that I will be taking action on ASAP. Changes are coming, prices are increasing, I'm excited!

⭐ FAQ: Answering your biggest questions

Thank you to everyone who sent in a question on social media!

Q: "How many hours and how many team members went into the launch?"

• I have 1 team member and myself

• We spent about 4 weeks on this

• I typically work about 3 days a week, but in the week or 2 leading up to the launch it was full on M-F

Q: "How did you create sales without the live energy? How do you attract new clients without live webinars/events? How do you make the launch engaging and compelling without all the live engagement?"

• Have a compelling offer people actually want and need

• Create demand BEFORE the launch for the offer

• Champagne client pre-launch content for 4-6 weeks minimum

• It's going to feel different than a live launch

• I was creating the connection point in the DMs - having personal conversations with people rather than these big scaled up zoom calls with hundreds of people (we teach Social Selling in High Ticket Hybrid, included in Profit Architecture ).

• Make sure to proactively invite people to DM you and have conversations

• Also make your recorded content a way to feel like someone is having a 1:1 connection with you - podcasts are great for that

• Your webinar can still be super valuable, high energy and engaging even if you pre-record it (we do have a lesson on this in Profit Architecture ).

Q: "How much time/energy/capacity did it free up for you during the launch? Was it more pre-launch 'heavy' because you had to get it ready before the cart opened?"

• When you do it this way, 99% of the work happens in the lead up to the launch (the pre-launch). You're shifting all the work to the before the cart open period.

• And the actual cart open is SUPER chill - there is really nothing left to do but hit send on those emails (or pre schedule them, but I like to send and tweak based on that day's questions/vibes).

• The actual launch week itself is super chill, low key - I had about 30 minutes a day of answering questions in the inbox, DMs, etc

• I did all the heavy lifting up front before the launch - pre launch content, recording the webinar, and writing emails.

Q: "How much did your free Creator Party community play into this launch?"

• Not enough! And that's my fault, I dropped the ball here

• I did not leverage our free Creator Party community nearly enough

• I was so focused on the emails/podcasts/webinar/sales page - I didn't do a good job actually distributing that content to the group, engaging the group, or being active in there during the launch

I hope you enjoyed this debrief of a totally asynchronous online course launch!

We include a whole collection of my in depth, detailed launch debriefs inside Profit Architecture. If you like the nitty gritty behind the scenes numbers, lessons, strategy, and ROI - you'll love the entire launch debrief collection inside!