Married to the Hustle: Faith, Love, and Business for Entrepreneurial Couples

From Pre-Launch to Profit with a Simple Strategy

• Alex & Jessica Fortis • Season 2 • Episode 18

Share episode

What if launching your next offer felt exciting instead of exhausting?

Jessica Rosario welcomes business coach and launch strategist Rachel Monnin to share her simple and powerful approach to launch strategy. From growing your audience to creating engagement and closing the sale, Rachel breaks down the essentials of a successful launch without overwhelm. She dives into key concepts like evergreen vs. open-close launch styles, pivoting mid-launch, and the importance of pre-launch preparation; all while sharing her own journey from farm girl to thriving entrepreneur.

Rachel also shares her “Launch Your Life” membership and a free launch checklist to help you get started with clarity and confidence. Whether you’re planning your first launch or improving the next one, this conversation is packed with insights and support to fuel your momentum.
 https://Jessrosario.com/fbgroup


Website: https://www.rachel-monnin.com/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/startinganonlinebusiness

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelmonnin/

Free launch checklist: https://www.rachel-monnin.com/launch-checklist

Now that you've listened to the Married to the Hustle Podcast, it's time to join the community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/marriedtothehustle

Another way to support the podcast is to leave a review. Your feedback helps us to continue creating valuable content and reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support!

Alex & Jessica Fortis

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the Maximize your Day podcast, a place for entrepreneurs for building their business, in pursuit of freedom and flexibility to do the things they love. I'm your host, jessica Rosario. I'm a New Yorker turned Floridian who knows a thing or two on how to effectively manage your time while juggling multiple priorities. I'm an ex-corporate leader who walked away from my nine-to-five-ish to launch and grow my business. Launch and grow my business. In this podcast, I share insights on mindset, business productivity, habits and strategies to help you take control of your to-do list and maximize your day, which will help you feel more confident and less overwhelmed and getting more done in less time. I am so excited you're next speaker and I can't wait to share a little bit more about her with you and how she helps online service providers and coaches in the online space on getting some cool things started when it comes to launch strategies. But I'm going to tell you a little bit about her and, of course, allow her to introduce herself and then let the conversation flow from there. So, rachel Monin I had the pleasure of meeting her through Instagram actually a couple of weeks ago, and I knew I had to have her on the show because we are in a season of launching, and I'm hearing everyone launching new products.

Speaker 1:

I'm launching a new product, everybody's launching something new, and I thought that it would be really, really powerful to share some of her skills. Rachel is a business coach and launch strategist. She excels at helping female entrepreneurs sell out their offers through successful launch strategies. Her launch strategy is super simple growth, engagement and then sales right. So Rachel has helped many entrepreneurs to start their businesses, grow their audiences and successfully launch their amazing offers, and I just cannot wait to share what she has in store for you guys today. So, rachel, go ahead and introduce yourself and share any information you'd like for us to know to get started.

Speaker 2:

Hey, well, thank you, Jessica. I'm very, very excited to be here today. So my name is Rachel. I am farm girl turned entrepreneur, started my own business a couple of years ago with no plans of ever being an entrepreneur, but I'd say the entrepreneur life found me and I'm very glad it did so. I started out with business coaching and then focused in on launching. I love launch strategies. I've done a bunch of launches myself and I've helped my clients do launches. I am always excited to talk about launching and, Jessica, thank you so much. I'm just excited to be here today.

Speaker 1:

We're so excited to have you. So tell me something farm girl to entrepreneur how did that transition? How'd you get started?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely yeah. So I was born and raised on a farm actually here in Ohio, grew up with chickens, cows and everything. Left for college, got a BA in communications, started in the corporate world, thought I was going to climb the corporate ladder, and actually I reconnected with someone that I had gone to college with and she had started her own business actually while we were in college together and so I kind of knew what she was doing. And then she's actually a seven figure entrepreneur now. So we reconnected and she was like, yeah, I'm doing this, it's amazing, I love it. And I was like, wow, well, show me, like what are you doing here? So then started my own business and she was kind of my first mentor and showing me the ropes and showing me how to do everything, and then I've taken it from there. So a twisty path, but ended up in a really good place.

Speaker 1:

That's so awesome, and isn't it incredible how we tend to connect with people from our past that really help us excel and push forward? Same thing has happened to me. It's like people that I went to school with 10, 15 years ago and they just kind of come about after all these years, not even knowing that perhaps they were placed in our path for a reason. So that's a really, really neat story. I love that. So so tell me something, because before we start to dive into what you do with launches, I had a similar story on climbing the corporate ladder, and when I got to the top, I felt like it really wasn't what it was all hyped to be. So I know that a lot of the women in my audience they really connect with that. What was the thing that you know, aside from you meeting her? What was there? Was there a different passion or some type of desire that you knew that you were meant for more? What was that thing?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. So I didn't get very far in my corporate journey, but you know, I started and the goal was to really climb the corporate ladder and I think for me this seems like such a small thing, but it was such a big thing. For me I think it's actually really useless and no one accomplishes eight hours of work in an eight hour workday. And so I kept looking at my daily job, what I was doing and what everyone else was doing and the amount of time we were wasting in meetings and around the water cooler and just all of this, and I was like, you know, it'd be kind of cool if I could like set my own hours or like do my own thing.

Speaker 2:

And then, of course, a couple of years after that, covid hit and everyone kind of started doing that anyway, but at the time this was pre COVID and I kind of the idea sparked of like, oh, I kind of like to do my own thing or like have my own business or something. And then that was right around the same time that I reconnected with my friend from college and she showed me like hey, you can have your own business and, like you get to decide what you want to do, and so that really sparked it for me. And then I've loved being my own boss and getting to decide like this is what I'm going to focus on, this is what I'm going to do, this is where I get to spend my time, and that all kind of started from seeing the corporate environment, and really I could go on and on about the eight hour workday. I think it's so annoying.

Speaker 2:

I have a lot to say about that, but that's kind of what sparked it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I, I, I agree with that and and the whole you know, 40 hour work week and working on Fridays like I give myself Fridays off now and it took some time, you know, to do that, but but I definitely, I, I find value in making the hours that you want and then working on your most, in your most productive state. I always talk about working when you are the most creative and and doing the things that you love to do and then understanding what you know your bodies and how they react. Because, let's face it, let's face it, you know you're you. If you're not in your most productive or most creative state, then are you really being efficient with your time? Likely you're not. So so I love that, I love that story. I think that's so neat. So tell me what led you to focusing on launch strategies?

Speaker 2:

Okay. So, like I said, I started out kind of more in the business coaching realm and I have a background in really marketing and sales, so I brought that into the entrepreneur world and started out with that and then I was actually doing launching. So I think the first year yeah, it was in the first year that I started my own business I put together a course and I launched it and we can dive into kind of the strategies that I used for that, but I launched it and really enjoyed kind of the launching part. And so then what I ended up doing was actually for six months in a row I did one launch per month. I launched different products or I relaunched something, but every single month and I did different launch strategies for each one, kind of testing out like what works, what doesn't, what do I enjoy? What's the most time consuming, what's the most laid back? You can be in a launch and I wouldn't recommend that strategy to anyone because at the end of the six months I was exhausted. But it really opened my eyes to launching and I actually really enjoyed the process.

Speaker 2:

So I think one of the things I enjoy about launching and this really fits my energy is that I have very much like bursts of energy and to me that's what launching is. Launching is like this fun burst of energy where you get to put yourself out there, you get to talk about your amazing program, your amazing service, you get to make money and then you kind of get to retreat and you kind of regroup and you have like that downtime between launches. So that's the part I really love. But that's what got me into it is I did that first launch and then for the next six months I did launches and I was like I actually really love this. And then my business coaching started transitioning more into launch coaching and then I fully transitioned to I will just help you with your launch, because that's what I'm most passionate about.

Speaker 1:

I love that, and you know, there was something that you said that was really important. When you mentioned that you were launching every month. It actually terrified me because you know, it is well known that launch takes a lot of energy right, and if you're launching every single month, that really can take a toll on you. But there was something that you did is that you launched every single month, which was giving you the practice that you needed to really master the craft of launching. So you see that to me, that was more purposeful than just launching, just to launch, and I love that you were able to identify and really niche down in that craft so that you can help others that are doing the same things.

Speaker 1:

Cause we're, like I said, this is especially right now. This is a big season of launching. A lot of people are coming out with new products and new programs and spring 2022. I've seen so many more things now than I ever saw before, particularly in the last few years with the pandemic and whatnot, but this message is going to be so critical for those people that are maybe getting ready to launch their program and don't have the support. So, with that said, I have a lot of solopreneurs that follow me, whether it's in my Facebook group or throughout the years, people that I have worked with that are not ready to hire someone yet. People that I have worked with that are not ready to hire someone yet. Why do you think someone would feel that they're not ready to hire someone like you?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. That's a great question and I really I think a lot of my audience sometimes feels like they're not quite ready for that step, and I think so. First of all, launching in general to a lot of people seems really overwhelming. It's this really big task and it seems really daunting. I think we need to acknowledge that first.

Speaker 2:

If you're listening to this and you're like, oh my gosh, launching just sounds scary and like something I am not ready for, don't worry, you are not alone.

Speaker 2:

But why would you not feel ready to hire a launch strategist? I think for that there's a lot of unknown. So again, it kind of goes along with launching feels daunting, launching feels stressful and there's a lot that people don't know that goes into launching. So if you see someone else launching, you don't see any of the behind the scenes and a lot of entrepreneurs, before they hire me or before they hire someone to help with their launch, they're looking at a sevenure entrepreneur and they're trying to replicate their launch from what they can see on social media and they are missing all of the behind the scenes. So a lot of my clients actually try to launch without any help first and they miss all the beforehand, they miss all the pre-launch, they miss all the behind the scenes and then launching just becomes even bigger, even scarier, even like, oh my gosh, I tried this and it flopped, and I don't understand. So people don't feel ready to hire someone to help with their launch because they don't feel ready for the launch itself. Does that, does that make sense?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely so. So, when it comes to you know, walk me through the process so someone, someone sees you. They see that you're a launch strategist. You know, I am knees deep in the middle of a launch and I, I, I have a chat with you. What are some things that you, that you can, that you can help with in? You know, easing my mind when it comes to the launch strategy.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. Typically, I work with clients before they've even started the launch strategy. I don't typically come in like mid strategy, but if I had someone you know, even if they are beginning stages or even if they were halfway through their launch, I would say first of all, we need to analyze. So if you're halfway through your launch, you need to analyze the launch itself. You need to look at the content you're putting out. Is it getting engagement? Do you have people hopping on sales calls? Do you have people in your DMs? We need to analyze the launch itself. Are you showing up everywhere that you can? Are you showing up in a way that feels good to you?

Speaker 2:

I have a lot of people that they feel like they have to go live when they're doing their launch. They don't go live any other time, but they feel like they have to go live during their launch. And then, of course, their launches are very rough. They're not sure what they're saying, they're not sure what they're doing. So we want to make sure that when you're launching, you're showing up in a way that feels really good to you, in a way that your audience expects.

Speaker 2:

So I would start with analyzing the launch itself and see how it's going, what's been happening? Are you building any traction, that kind of thing. If it's before your launch at all, we would analyze your audience to start out, so the number of people in your audience, the current engagement inside your audience, how many platforms you're on. If you want to do a launch and you have 200 people in your audience and you want like 20 people in your group program, we look at the percentage. What percentage of your audience would need to convert. So maybe we need to focus first on growing your audience and then we can dive into the launch. But it all starts with analyzing what is currently going on so we can create the best plan moving forward.

Speaker 1:

And I agree with you about showing up in a way that feels good, in a way that's authentic, that you don't feel A lot of people say, oh don't, I don't want to sound like a like a sleazy or slimy salesperson, right? Well, are you showing up for your audience in between, right? So?

Speaker 1:

that they don't feel that you're constantly jumping in and selling. So I agree with that. When it comes to to launching with authenticity and doing the things that that resonate with you that are not, you know that you don't feel like you're completely outside of your element, although launching a new product regardless should really make you feel challenged, right, you're doing something different. So what are your recommendations when it comes to launching a product? Do you recommend that they launch a product multiple times or do they change it up every single time? Walk me through that.

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

So first I think we understand kind of the two main types of launches. So the first type of launch is an evergreen launch and the second type of launch is an open-closed launch. So evergreen would be something that you would open the doors for your audience and it would be available for an extended period of time. Like I'm going to open the doors, you can purchase it now or you can purchase it six months from now. An open-closed launch is where I open the doors for a very short period of time and you have to purchase within that time period. So, for example, I might do a two week open close, where I'm going to open the doors today, on the 4th, and if there you have to join the program within the next two weeks or it's not going to be available. And the reason you would do an open close launch you might like again, kind of that energy that I talked about. You might like that surge of energy where you promote, promote, promote for two weeks and then you kind of get to regroup and show up for your clients.

Speaker 2:

The big reason people do it is if you're doing like a group program and you want everyone to start on the same day, then you would do an open close launch. People can only join up to a certain day and then you start your program the next day or you know the day after that or whatever. So which kind is best or what fits best for people? You would want to look at kind of, what are you launching and when you say like, do you want to launch it once?

Speaker 2:

Do you want to launch it multiple times? Well, do you want to do an evergreen launch where you have it available? Do you want to do an open-close launch? So that would depend kind of on your goals for the launch. Open-close launches can sometimes have a higher income over a shorter period of time, but then some people want that more passive kind of evergreen launch for the passive income side. So depends on the launch goals, depends on the product that you're offering or the program you want to put out there. And that's one thing that I work with my clients we sit down and figure out the launch goals so we know which type of launch is best for them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, love that. Is there anything specific that you'd say? Are the maybe the three biggest myths or mistakes that anybody can do when it comes to launching a new product?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. So I would say biggest mistake number one is no pre-launch, no lead up into your launch. So getting people ready to that you're having something new coming out or kind of building that hype, especially if someone's doing their first launch, they tend to just go straight into the launch and then their audience is like whoa, whoa, what's happening, you know, remember, we need to see something like 8, 10, 15 times before we purchase, and the pre-launch can be a big part of that. I would say the second big thing that people don't do and this is kind of similar to pre-launch, but I would say they don't focus on growth and engagement before their launch. So that's my launch strategy is growth, engagement, sales.

Speaker 2:

And again, a lot of people dive straight into the sales part and they're like I have this program and I'm ready to put it out there. It's like, well, did you get your audience engaged first? Do you have a big enough audience, kind of that side. And then I would say the third biggest mistake is not, it's getting locked into a launch strategy for better or worse, and typically that means that when it's not going well, you try to stick with it. So one thing that I work with my clients is pivoting, their launch, and that's if you're in the middle of your launch and it's not working or your audience isn't resonating or you're not getting the sales that you want, we focus on pivoting and really figuring out like what's the missing piece? Where do we need to fill in that gap? So I'd say the third mistake is not being willing to pivot mid-launch or not being able to pivot mid-launch to really meet your audience where they are.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that's awesome, that's awesome. So so I've heard of so many entrepreneurs that are mid-launch and their, their cart's not even closed yet but they haven't had a sale and they're like freaking out, you know. So usually they'll ask me well, I think I think I should just I should just stop promoting it, right? Should I stop promoting it? And I'm like no, wait until the car closes. Because there are some people that usually are those last minute people that jump into an offer. They're just waiting to see or they may be insecure about the offer or making the investment, and I always tell them wait until the cart closes before you make any decisions. Do you agree with that? Or do you usually tell them nope, scrap it, scrap the whole launch.

Speaker 2:

I 100% agree with that. So, first of all, you need to remember a lot of sales will happen in the last 48 to 72 hours of a launch, especially so if you're doing an open close launch and your your cart is closing Sunday night. You need to be promoting all the way up until your cart closes because people will purchase last minute. It's just human nature. We're like we're waiting for that email to be like this is your final call and we're like, okay, I've been planning on buying for like five days, but now I will actually purchase.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, I think that's where a lot of people, especially you know, if you've had a flop launch before, maybe in the middle of your first launch, if you're doing like a two week launch and you're one weekend and you haven't had any sales, it is hard to keep going, it is hard to push through. It is hard to push through, and I think that goes back to kind of third mistake I was talking about, where you need to pivot or you need to find that momentum to keep going. And it's that mix between you want to make sure that you're still showing up. You want to make sure that you are still going, that you're. Are they responding to your content. Is there something that you're missing? Is there a gap in your marketing that you could fill? Maybe that one final thing that your audience needs to hear before they go? Oh, yes, this is what I need to purchase, but to directly answer your question yes, 100%. Keep going all the way through until the cart is closed, because you might have people that dive in at the very last minute.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And the beauty of working with someone like you is that it gives the ability to really analyze what worked, what didn't. And if my first launch I had no support, then I can say, well, you know, I can try some of that, because maybe I didn't think about it. You'll come in with fresh ideas, and not only are they fresh ideas, but these are, you know, tactics that you've implemented with other clients. So you have a little bit more experience where someone that's launching brand new from scratch, they just they know what they know Right, and a lot of us entrepreneurs we start. We start out scrappy because you know that's, that's what we do, especially in the very beginning. We just continue to move forward until you know we're ready to bring in that additional support.

Speaker 2:

So oh, a hundred percent. I you know there are some people who it takes a little bit longer before they feel ready for that additional support. But I like the saying you can't see the forest because of the trees. So, hiring someone to help you with your launch, they can have a different perspective. Where you're sitting here going, oh my gosh, nothing's working, and I go well, have you tried this? Have you thought about this? Like, oh, I didn't, like I was so stuck on this path. So, having someone that can kind of give you that, that external view or you know a different way of looking at it, and you go oh my gosh okay, that's what I needed to like, keep going to give me that push to to still show up through the end of my launch, awesome, awesome.

Speaker 2:

So do you have anything that's coming soon? Are you launching anything? So, funnily enough, I am not launching anything right now. I launched a membership at the beginning of this year which I'm really excited about, and that's on Evergreen actually. So I've been toying with some new marketing strategies and trying some fun things with Evergreen. But I've been toying with some new marketing strategies and trying some fun things with Evergreen, but I've actually been focusing a lot more on helping my clients with their launches, and so I've scaled back my launches somewhat, but I kind of get to live vicariously through my clients.

Speaker 1:

I love that. I think that's so cool that you have this membership. So tell me more about this membership, in case someone that's listening might be a good fit for them.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. It's called the Launch your Life membership and it's kind of a play from my Facebook group. So I have a private Facebook community and it's called Launch your Life. I love my Facebook community very excited about that. But I launched this membership at the beginning of this year and it's a low-ticket offer for the people inside of the membership to really have an opportunity to promote their business, to grow their own audience and to sign ideal clients. It's a way for them to get their offers, their programs, directly in front of their ideal clients. So the membership itself is not directly related to launching, but it's kind of the precursor to launching, because it helps people grow their audiences, which then gives them a bigger audience to launch to.

Speaker 1:

That's very neat. That's very neat because a lot of times, when it comes to building an audience, they just don't know. They don't know where to start. They don't know, you know they're constantly in a period of what they call resourcefulness, but we're just getting lost in doing online searches and, to your point in the very beginning of our call, is that you know they're also watching what a seven figure coach or someone else has done and you know, we start to feel that comparison of, well, they've done it longer. You know they do it so professionally. So I think that's a really cool concept to get them started and get longer. You know they do it so professionally, so I think that's a really cool concept to get them started and get them, you know, prepare them for that launch period.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I've been wanting to do a membership for a while, so I'm excited that 2022 is finally the year that I made it happen.

Speaker 1:

Love that, love that. So where can the audience find you if they wanted to learn more about you?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. You can find me on Instagram at Rachel Monin. That's M-O-N-N-I-N. My Facebook group. Like I said, it's called Launch your Life. If you go to facebookcom slash groups, slash, starting an online business I'd love to have you in there. I'd say that's where I'm the most active. Or just find my Facebook profile. Again, it's Rachel Monin.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. I'll be dropping some of those links inside of the show notes also so that you guys can follow her and if you need any support, she is your girl, so make sure that you reach out. But I am so excited that you're also sharing with us a free launch checklist, so that I'll be dropping that into the notes as well. So tell my audience more about your checklist. What was this little free piece?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. Yeah, I created a free checklist for you guys so you can go download that, but it walks you through the three stages of launching. So pre-launch, launch itself and then post-launch. All three phases are super important and the checklist just dots on like what you should be doing at each stage. So if you're brand new to launching, if you've never launched before, or maybe you've had a launch that flopped or didn't do quite as well as you wanted, this is a really great place to start and it's just a simple way for you to know exactly what you need to be doing in each phase and you can go through. If you want to print it off, you can go through and check off each item as you do it, and then you'll have your completed launch at the end Very neat.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much. I think that was very generous of you and I'm sure that you're going to get some cool downloads and some people reaching out for some additional support there some people reaching out for some additional support there. So I cannot finish my uh, my podcast episode without asking you a very, very important question, and that is what does maximizing your day mean to you?

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, I would say maximizing my day to me means getting the most out of my day, and that doesn't really mean being the most productive or getting the most things done. I think to me it means more like having the most fulfilled day. So maybe that's taking time in the morning for like my cup of tea, or taking time to journal, while also like writing an amazing email or showing up live for my audience. I think it's getting the most fulfilled day that I can.

Speaker 1:

I love that and I love journaling, so I'm a journal junkie.

Speaker 2:

I just love writing in general. Like anything that has to do with writing, I am there.

Speaker 1:

Me too. Me too. Well, it was such a pleasure having you on the show, rachel. I am sure that there's going to be some more things coming in the future and you know we, we should. We should plan for a holiday launch strategy session, probably early fall. I think that would be super neat yeah.

Speaker 1:

Cause everybody's in that launching period then too. So I really look forward to working with you and to being able to see how you continue to grow, also on the social platforms and all of that good stuff. So thank you for being on the show.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you, jessica, it was amazing. I'm so glad we connected and it's been amazing to be a part of this, and thank you for indulging me and letting me talk about launching.

Speaker 1:

So cool, so cool. Thank you so much, as always. Thank you so much for listening in. Don't forget to subscribe to the show to be notified the second a new episode is released and share with your friends who you believe could benefit from listening. Contact me at jessrosariocom forward slash podcast to share your feedback, ask question, make topic suggestions or even be a guest on my show. You never know if your topic will be next until next time. Maximize your topic will be next Until next time. Maximize your day and own it.