Go back a few years and I was addicted to launches! My life seemed to center around one launch after another. It was exciting. Yet it was also exhausting. The good news is that I made a lot of money and built even more momentum.
The bad news… looking back, I now know I could have built A LOT MORE!!!
We’ll get into that in a second. First, I want to reassure you that it’s okay if you relate to this.
- The never-ending hamster wheel of one launch to the next…
- The constant new trend and fear that you have to try this specific launch type…
- The on-top of the world feeling when you smash a new six or even seven-figure launch…
Followed by the crippling realization you need to do another just to keep afloat!
A few years ago, this was my life. I mentor successful entrepreneurs today that go through a similar cycle over and over. Yet I escaped it because I learned one VERY important lesson. This not only made my life easier but allowed me to make far greater returns.
AND serve my audience in a more effective and relevant way!
In this article, I’ll show you how 👇👇
This is what we’ll explore today:
- Should You Do Launches (+ How To Do Them The “Right” Way)
- The Levels of Consciousness and Launches
- 1: Reactive
- 2: Willful
- 3: Intellectual
- 4: Intuitive
- Conclusions & Next Steps
Should You Do Launches (+ How To Do Them The “Right” Way)
Before we even think about how a launch should look, the first question you need to ask is…
Do you need a launch?
Many online businesses do. But not all of them. It’s important to take a step back and think about your brand, your product(s), and your audience. As you’ll soon see, a standard launch doesn’t work for everyone. And this is fine. You can build success in many ways.
Keep this in mind as you read on… this is about you and your business!
This is where I went wrong for many years. Too often, I did what I thought I had to do. I didn’t think enough, instead acting and always pushing the needle. In many ways, this helped me get to where I am today. I made money and built momentum because I was addicted to making progress.
If you’ve followed me over the years, you already know this.
- In 2015, I created the SSF Method
- In 2017/18, I built The R.O.I. Method
- In 2020, I published The Nuclear Effect
Launches played a large role in all of them. I tried every type of launch and approach you can imagine. And although I experienced more successes than failures, I always felt like I missed something.
Then I read the Levels of Energy, by Frederick Dodson. Reading this book changed everything!
I won’t go into all that here because I dive much deeper into it in https://scottoldford.com/2023/02/15/the-4-hidden-levels-of-consciousness-for-marketing-your-online-business/
As you’ll see, it centers around four levels of consciousness:
- Reactive: This is the level we see most in the online space, full of heavy-hitting tactics that focus on scarcity, FOMO, and quick fixes.
- Willful: This is the level where someone opens their eyes, pushing fear to one side and feeling highly motivated toward a vision or goal (most associated with hustle culture).
- Intellectual: At this level, someone moves away from tactics and focuses on strategy, not wanting to work hard, but rather work smart so they can be more efficient in their pursuit.
- Intuitive: This final level is when someone lives in the present, feeling whether they should or should not do something.
I encourage you to study these four levels in greater depth before you move on—check out: https://scottoldford.com/2023/02/15/the-4-hidden-levels-of-consciousness-for-marketing-your-online-business/
In this article, we’ll look at how these four levels impact the type of launch you build (if you even need a launch, to begin with). So grab your pen and notebook and get ready to make lots of notes 😎
The Levels of Consciousness and Launches
Before you read on, it’s important you remove as much outside noise as possible.
Those latest trends… the new exciting launch method… all that stuff doesn’t apply here.
They all work, to some degree. But none of it matters until you appreciate:
- Your Level of Consciousness
- Your Customers’ Level of Consciousness
There is no perfect launch or approach. And even if you find one, it only works for so long.
Keep this in mind as you read the rest of this article. Once you learn this, you can make almost any type of launch work, giving your audience what they need when they need it.
Reactive:
A business owner at the reactive level of consciousness will always struggle to commit to a launch.
In this state, they’re too distracted. They may feel inspired to do a launch after watching a video, but this quickly fades as other aspects of their life take over.
It’s at this point you make a start, move away from it, forget about it, and then maybe revisit it once more a few months down the road. This is a common theme for any business owner at the reactive level.
If you’re not at the reactive level yourself but are targeting people that are, launches can work.
The key here is to focus on and trigger the pain they feel.
You need to make them believe there’s a solution.
Scarcity tactics work here, such as countdown timers and soon-to-expire bonuses. With the right approach, you can make a lot of money targeting people at the reactive level. The problem is that all this relies on manipulation, which isn’t a good long-term business strategy.
Beyond this, you constantly have to reinvent yourself.
As I dive deeper into this article, it’s a level of consciousness I don’t recommend you focus on.
Willful:
When you’re at the wilful level of consciousness, you literally will yourself to success.
You likely come across someone online and say, “I can do that too!!”
There and then, you read up on their process. You study their launches. You listen to interviews. You learn everything you need to know and then hustle hard until your own launch is ready.
You don’t hire a team or outsource it, though. You don’t have a plan. You figure you’ll figure all that out later. Today, you do it all yourself—even if it means you have to work one hundred hours this week.
The focus here is to replicate what others have done and get your launch launched as soon as possible!
When I mentioned how I was addicted to launches at the start of this article, this is the level of consciousness I lived in. I was willing to do what it takes and work harder than everyone else. I was caught in a hamster wheel of launches where one led into the next.
No plan. No strategy. Each time, I adapted, make adjustments, and kept grinding those gears.
Time spent at this level of consciousness *can* be great because it *can* lead to a lot of momentum. Yet it isn’t sustainable. You cannot build a real business this way. It’s great to get started and validate what works but it’s important not to spend much time here.
I speak from experience!
The same applies to those you target at this level of consciousness. Overall, a wilful person’s more aligned with the solution they need but are still at the mercy of their pain/problem.
What they want from you are promises and results. Not down the line, but in the next thirty days.
This is one of the reasons one launch leads to the next. You target a group of people that only focus on the next few weeks. As such, you have to keep grinding just to keep up.
Intellectual:
At the intellectual level of consciousness, your focus turns toward working smart, not hard.
Everything centers around strategies and plans.
You don’t only plan the next launch, but pencil in each cycle for the year ahead.
You decide on what every launch will look like, how much you’ll budget for each, set goals for them, and build a specific team to deliver specific outcomes. It’s all very logical, and it is all calculated in the detail.
When it comes to sustainable launches, this is the level of consciousness to be in.
You’re not reacting, and you don’t constantly play catch-up. Instead, you’re on top of what you need to do and come up with solutions to systemize part the process, pre-record content, and automate roles.
It’s a great way to take something that works and scale it to the next level.
The problem is, doing all this is a risk until you know your launch works!
This is why it’s important to appreciate that there is no right way to do any of this. As we’ll look at soon, sometimes you need to work from a wilful level of consciousness… sometimes intellectual… and on other occasions, intuitive.
Intuitive:
In many ways, the reactive and intuitive levels of consciousness aren’t that different.
They both come from a place of *right now* and what you feel in the moment. The difference is, at the reactive level you’re at the mercy of your emotions (often, your pain). Whereas at the intuitive level you’re aligned with them.
- You don’t worry about what other business owners do or what the latest trend is.
- You don’t create an annual calendar of launches and stick to it no matter what.
- You work on what inspires you at the moment and gravitate towards this.
(and people who also align and gravitate toward this)
When it comes to launches at the intuitive level, you shouldn’t launch until you feel inspired and ready to do so. No plan. No strategy. No goals or detailed expectations. Wait until the time is right, create the content you need to, and then launch it. Unless you’re excited and NEED to get it out, don’t.
It’s that simple.
Although as I’m sure you can appreciate, it isn’t always sustainable.
This is why focussing only on one level of consciousness won’t help you…
Conclusions & Next Steps
Leaving the reactive level of consciousness to one side, you likely need to launch from all the other levels at some point in time—at least, this should be your aim.
Remember, you need to appreciate:
- Your Level of Consciousness
- Your Customers’ Level of Consciousness
Over time, you’ll evolve as a person. You will move from one level of consciousness to the next, and then, sometimes, due to one life experience or another, you may drop down a level or two.
Appreciating the level of consciousness you’re in guides you toward the sort of launch you need to create. Yet this only tells half of the story because there’s also the person the launch is for.
- Maybe you’re at the same level of consciousness as those you serve. Maybe not
- Maybe you can create the content that “speaks” to your aueience, or maybe you need to delegate
- Maybe you serve one type of person, or maybe you serve people at multiple levels
Every business differs, and your situation WILL change over time.
This is the whole point of this article and it’s why no single type of launch works for everyone.
You have to take your and their level of consciousness into consideration. You also have to take your product/offer into account, because, in the early days, you likely have to step into wilful consciousness to build the momentum you need.
Then, once you’ve validated it, you need to evolve to the intellectual level to scale.
Then, when it’s a well-oiled machine, you need to embrace your intuitive level and do what feels right to best serve your growing audience.
It’s an organic journey full of twists and turns. The best way to navigate it is to embrace these three levels of consciousness and the types of launches each one requires. There’s no perfect solution. No method that works at all times and in all circumstances.
It all comes down to the level of consciousness you and those you serve are in.
Your next step is to take action on this and download the guide that accompanies this article—not only does it cover online launches as we discuss here, but other vital tactics like paid ads, content creation, funnels, and much more.
To get instant access to this guide, complete this form now…
