When I made the switch from launching to selling my course on autopilot, I thought the hardest part would be the marketing and sales strategy – things like figuring out my funnel, dialing in my ads, tweaking my sales page.
And yes, all that does matter. But looking back?
What nearly took me out wasn’t strategy at all. It was the emotional baggage I brought with me.
I see this same trap holding back course creators all the time when they ditch launches for evergreen. They think, “I just need the right funnel and I’m good.” But they’re not aware of all the mindset work that goes into it – the inner shifts they’ll have to make if they want to create and sustain real, consistent profits.
Today, I’m going to share the #1 mindset shift that helped me pass 8-figures in revenue. This is something I wish someone had pulled me aside and told me years ago – so, I’m going to do it now – for you.
My name is Caitlin Bacher, CEO of Scale With Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. I’m sharing revealing insights about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join me here to discover the tough decisions I’ve had to make, the biggest failures I’ve had to bounce back from, and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. I’m so grateful that I have the chance to tell you everything right here on Scale With Success®: The Podcast. Let’s get started.
If I’d understood this sooner, it would have saved me months of frustration and made me a lot more money, a lot faster.
So if you’re ready to sell your course on autopilot with an evergreen funnel – let’s dive in.
I want to share why every course creator making less than $1m a year should prioritize evergreen sales.
When I first started my business, all I ever heard about was launching. I was told it was the “best” way to grow and the fastest way to hit my goals. But for me? That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Launching meant up to three months of intense list building and content creation because a good launch depends on a big list. Finally, the cart would open for a few days and I’d crossed my fingers, hoping someone would buy. Then… nothing. No sales. No revenue. Just silence until the next launch cycle begins again.
It was exhausting. And risky.
If your course is making less than $1M a year, putting all your time, effort, and energy into a launch is like pouring your savings into a slot machine.
I can think of one launch in particular where I went all in. I spent $20k upfront to make it happen… and I only made $20k back.
Sounds fine, right? Break even- not so bad. The problem is that breaking even means there was zero profit for me or my family. Just months of work for no actual financial gain. That was a wake-up call.
A business needs consistent revenue to grow – something that launching couldn’t provide.
I needed a selling system that worked for me 24/7, not just once or twice a year.
The Moment Everything Changed
I joined a mastermind and met this one guy who sold a $297 course all about decluttering your home. No launches. No big team. Just evergreen. He was making $300,000 a month.
At the time, I’d never heard of anything like that happening.
He was super generous with his time and walked me through all his numbers. That conversation cracked something open for me. If he could do that with a decluttering course, what was stopping me from doing the same with mine?
So, I came up with a plan and got to work.
By the end of that year, I had taken a course that barely made money during launches, started selling it on autopilot and made $1m. The following year I made more and the next year even more.
That kind of growth takes a great sales and marketing strategy – which I clearly created for myself…But, here’s the part I didn’t expect: All that growth was messy – and it led me straight into the mindset trap I’m about to share with you.
The #1 Mindset Shift I Had to Make
If you think switching from launching to evergreen is just a matter of repurposing your launch content into an automated funnel… think again.
That’s exactly what I tried to do at first – and it flopped. Hard. To make matters worse, when sales weren’t coming in – I thought I just needed more traffic. So, I started running ads to that broken funnel – which just made things worse. I was losing money fast and I was panicking.
I started thinking, “Maybe evergreen just won’t work for me. Maybe my audience will only buy during a big, fancy launch.”
I was spiraling. My negative emotions were running the show – and guess what? Those emotions were influencing my actions in all the wrong ways. I thought every mistake I made meant that I just wasn’t cut out for this. But, eventually I learned: Avoiding mistakes is avoiding growth.
The Two Jobs of a CEO
This is the mindset shift that changed everything for me.
As the CEO of a growing business, you have two jobs:
- Manage your emotions
- Measure your results
And here’s the kicker – you can’t measure results effectively if you’re not managing your emotions. Because when you’re stuck in frustration, fear, or self-doubt, you make reactive decisions instead of strategic ones.
What Managing Your Emotions Really Looks Like
Managing your emotions doesn’t mean you have to be “positive” all the time. And it definitely doesn’t mean doing it alone. I’m a big believer in asking for help. In fact, reaching out for support is one of the best ways to take accountability for your emotions.
What it does mean is reframing your relationship with setbacks, challenges, and mistakes. Big goals require growth. And growth requires you to be uncomfortable, face unexpected problems, and make a lot of mistakes. Mistakes are not a sign you’re failing – it’s proof you’re learning and that is the work that leads to big results.
Since then, I’ve learned to see every challenge or setback as nothing more than an opportunity to get stronger. I’m not saying that’s always easy to do, but when I see things this way, it makes it easier for me to bounce back and move forward.
Here’s what I know: You can’t have a million-dollar business without building the mental stamina to handle million-dollar problems.
Why This Matters Even More for Evergreen
Selling an evergreen course gives you the chance to manage your emotions in a different way than launching does.
With launching, you have this big adrenaline spike, then you crash out and try your best to recover before the next one – it’s an endless up and down cycle.
With evergreen, you can leave that emotional rollercoaster behind. You’re seeing data come in daily and running your business by the numbers – not by crossing your fingers.
You’re making tweaks in real time. You’re able to learn from your mistakes in a sustainable manner.
Making mistakes and learning from them is a gift because it gives you the opportunity to grow.
It’s a waste of time to make them mean something they don’t. Without strong emotional management, you’ll start second-guessing every change, overreacting to every dip, and burning yourself out trying to “fix” problems that don’t even need fixing.
Less Drama = More Profits
Here’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned: Less drama always leads to more profits.
When you’re not perpetually stuck in a glass case of emotion, you can look at your business objectively. You can identify the real problems and solve them without making ten other changes that just create more chaos.
Switching to evergreen sales will require you to:
- Try new things
- Make mistakes
- Feel uncomfortable
- And keep going anyway
If you can do that without getting sucked into drama or blame, you’ll not only make more money – you’ll actually enjoy the process.
Putting It Into Practice
So, how do you actually start managing your emotions better?
Here’s what’s worked for me:
- Pause before reacting. When something goes “wrong,” I give myself time to look at the data and the facts before making a decision.
- Seek perspective. I talk things through with my coach or mastermind before I make big changes.
- Reframe setbacks. I ask myself, “What is this teaching me? How can this make me better?”
- Protect my energy. I block out time away from my business to recharge because burnout makes everything feel worse than it really is.
Switching to an evergreen model has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my business and my life. But it wasn’t just about the sales and marketing strategy.
The real turning point came when I realized that my results were directly tied to how well I managed my emotions – so I could make better decisions. When I took responsibility for that – everything else got easier. And it’ll be the same for you.
Remember even when you:
- Make mistakes
- Face unexpected challenges
- Feel like you’re moving slower than you’d like
You can still hit your goals – if you can keep yourself out of the drama and in the driver’s seat.
Because remember: Less drama. More profits. Always.
Thanks for being here and tune in next week for another episode of Scale With Success® The Podcast.
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