I was in the middle of re-writing my launch copy for the zillionth time when I got a phone call from my daughter’s school that I’ll never forget. It was a phone call that changed the way I chose to run my business forever…
First off, if you are an online course creator stuck in the launch cycle, then you know just how stressful they can be. It’s not just the work itself to prepare for the launch – it’s the pressure of needing everything to perform perfectly in a relatively short amount of time.
A high performing launch takes weeks or even months of preparation that lead up to an open cart period where EVERYTHING is on the line. If things don’t go well, you’re screwed. You just spent a ton of money upfront for a tiny return.
Even worse, if it doesn’t go as planned, you need to pick yourself up and do it all over again. Only this time, there’s more pressure because you have no extra revenue coming in.
I know this is true because I chose to live the launch life rollercoaster for years until the day I’d had enough.
That afternoon when the phone rang, I instantly knew what I’d forgotten…her.
A few days before (after weeks of non-stop working) I made a promise to my daughter that I’d pick her up from school for an afternoon of extra-special “Mommy + Daughter Time”. Her FAVORITE thing to do was go to the park and have me push her on the swing. She would scream with glee each time she soared forward and stretched out her legs as far as they could go – pointing her toes straight to the sky.
It had been a really hard couple of months. I was coming off a bad launch that broke even financially…causing me to dip into our meager personal savings account in order to pay my team.
I had a lot riding on my upcoming launch and my family knew it. I was working a lot during the weekends and evenings, which meant my husband and daughter felt like they were living with a ghost.
My daughter was SO EXCITED to have me all to herself for the afternoon at the park. It had been a REALLY long time since we did that.
By the time I arrived at school, she was the last one there. School was dismissed an hour earlier and all the teachers (but one) had left.
When she saw me come through the door, she ran over to me. Instinctively, I crouched down and she wrapped her tiny arms around my neck.
Hot tears poured out of her brown eyes and she whispered in my ear: Mommy. You forgot all about me.
The months of ghosting on my family, the emotional outbursts from me to my husband, the empty promises made to my daughter…all culminating in one softly whispered phrase in my ear.
“You forgot all about me.”
My heart broke into a million pieces and I knew I had to make a change.
I wanted to get off the revenue roller coaster and I wanted to stop launching…for good – but, I had no idea how to do it.
A few months later, I met a guy who was selling a home organization course and making over $300k per month…WITHOUT LAUNCHING.
His course was around $397 and it helped moms declutter their home and get organized.
He was a family guy and when I told him my situation, he agreed to pull back the curtain and show me everything. To say I was shocked by what I saw would be a massive understatement.
I had NO IDEA it was possible to grow a multi-million dollar course business from scratch WITHOUT launching.
Since then, I’ve learned there are A LOT of course creators out there (in every niche imaginable) running highly-profitable online course businesses without launching.
Profitable niches like fitness, mindset, sleep training, marketing, nutrition, photography, guitar, calligraphy, relationships, screenwriting, and more.
Once I became aware that course creators who ran profitable evergreen businesses EXISTED…
…I immediately stopped paying attention to all the launch gurus – not because their strategies didn’t WORK, but simply because I didn’t like the WAY they worked.
I loved the idea of building a REAL business that generated revenue every single day, not just a string of promotions. I didn’t really care about traveling the world or buying a lamborghini, but the idea of chaperoning my daughter’s field trip to the pumpkin patch while my business generated thousands of dollars a day sounded extremely appealing!
Of course I was a little nervous to make the transition.
The major thought that popped into my head was: What if this doesn’t work?
What if building a highly profitable evergreen course business was possible for EVERYONE ELSE EXCEPT ME?
What if my business was some STRANGE exception to the rule…
What if I tried…and failed?
The truth was, I was already failing – as a wife and a mother. I was also failing as a business owner becauseI hadn’t built a REAL business…just a string of launches – one after the next.
Getting real with myself and taking 100% responsibility for the life I created was uncomfortable for sure…but it made me realize something.
I CREATED THIS. Me.
Since I created THIS, I could also create THAT.
…and THAT was a profitable online course business that did three things:
1) generated tens of thousands of dollars a day…everyday
2) ran without me on systems (as opposed to sweat)
3) allowed me to build wealth, creating financial freedom for myself and my family
Creating financial freedom for my family was WORTH the temporary cost of me feeling uncomfortable and trying something new. I realized I probably would fail (at first), but I wouldn’t give up. I would keep going until I did it.
I wrote down my goal $1m in 1 year. Seemed a little crazy as last month I made about $5k, but the feeling of freedom for my family’s financial future pushed me forward.
I wasn’t stupid enought to try it on my own, so I signed up for a mastermind. This was real. It was going to happen. It was going to happen because I was going to make it happen.
No matter what.
That year I made my first million.
It wasn’t easy, but it was simple.
If you are stuck in the launch cycle right now and you’re THINKING of transitioning to an evergreen model…just know it CAN be done. (Even if you sell a $300 course on home organization.)
YOU have the power to create a business that supports YOUR lifestyle…NOT the other way around.
Have you been thinking about going evergreen? What questions do you have? Follow me on Instagram @caitlinbacher and slide into my DMs to let me know!
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Today’s episode is brought to you by Scale With Success® Accelerator — an online course designed to help you generate launch-sized revenue without lanching. If you want to learn MORE about our proven method for success, click here to watch my free masterclass. See you in there!