96 - Creating a Passive Income Stream By Launching a Digital Product or Online Course with Steph Taylor of Socialette
Launching a new online product or service? Steph has all the tips to make your launch a success!
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
This episode features an incredible guest - Steph Taylor of Socialette!
We dive into Steph's journey of entrepreneurship, and how she pivoted multiple times until she found her niche in helping business owners launch digital products. We also dive into tips on launching, so If you've been thinking of adding a passive income stream to your business, this Episode is for you!
More about Steph:
Steph Taylor is a digital product launch strategist for business owners who are tired of selling services, and want to scale with their first digital offer. Whether it’s starting a podcast or selling a digital course, Steph helps her students reach more people, grow their audience and become the go-to in their industry. She’s host of the Socialette podcast, with over 1 million downloads to date, and has taught more than 100,000 entrepreneurs how to launch their own podcasts and digital products.
Connect with Steph:
Instagram: @stephtaylor.co
Free Daily Biz Booster emails - stephtaylor.co/DBB
Podcast - stephtaylor.co/podcast or search "Socialette"
Overcoming Challenges:
Steph discusses her own entrepreneurial journey and the challenges she faced along the way. She initially thought that following the corporate path was the only way to achieve freedom. However, after starting an unsuccessful online store, she discovered her passion for marketing and began working with clients.
Transition to Online Courses:
As Steph's client workload became overwhelming, she realized the need for an alternative income stream. This led her to explore the world of online courses. She created a course on Facebook ads, addressing the gap in the market for small-budget advertisers.
Niche Specialization:
Steph's turning point came when she realized the importance of niche specialization. By focusing on her expertise in launching products, she was able to attract a specific audience and achieve remarkable success.
Growth and Success:
After niching down, Steph experienced exponential growth in her business. Her revenue increased from $5,000 a month to $350,000 a month within a year. This transformation showcased the power of finding a niche and capitalizing on it.
Lessons Learned:
Steph emphasizes the importance of perseverance, learning from challenges, and adapting to market demands. She also encourages entrepreneurs to embrace the fear of niching down and see it as an opportunity to serve a specific group of people.
Importance of Systems:
Building systems to handle client support is crucial for sustainable business growth.
Being prepared for rapid growth ensures that you can handle an influx of clients and maintain high-quality service.
Slow and steady growth allows you to establish a strong foundation and implement effective systems.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome:
Imposter syndrome and self-sabotage often accompany rapid success.
Feeling unworthy of success or doubting one's abilities can hinder personal and professional growth.
Recognize that success doesn't always require intense effort and that income-generating assets can provide financial stability without constant hustle.
Starting with Problem Identification:
Begin by identifying the problems your audience or community frequently encounters.
Pay attention to client inquiries, email messages, social media comments, and questions within relevant groups.
Understanding your target market's struggles enables you to develop solutions and tailor your product or service accordingly.
Pre-Launch Marketing:
Marketing starts before launching a product or service.
Communicate how your offering solves a specific problem, package it effectively, and determine its price and bonuses.
Consistent content creation leading up to the launch builds anticipation and generates interest among potential customers.
Testing the Market:
Consider launching and marketing your product or service before creating it entirely.
This approach helps gauge interest and adjust the messaging and strategy based on feedback.
By piloting a launch without fully developing the product, you can iterate and improve, reducing the risk of investing significant time and resources.
Building a Community:
The size of your community directly impacts the success of a launch. Engage with your audience, share valuable content, and establish relationships before introducing your product or service. An active and supportive community increases the chances of successful conversions during a launch.
Shift the perspective on launch success:
Launches should not be solely measured by six-figure results. It's essential to consider your existing audience size and conversion rates to set realistic expectations for success.
Plan a realistic timeline:
If you have an engaged audience that knows your work and the launch aligns with your content, a 60-day timeline before opening doors could work. Otherwise, consider a 90-day timeline for effective audience warm-up.
Focus on groundwork and content:
Most of the launch period is dedicated to preparing the product, packaging, pricing, and communication strategy. The content created during this time is meant to educate and move your audience closer to buying.
Choose content formats that align with your strengths and audience preferences:
Opt for podcasting, blogging, or video based on your skills and the way your target audience consumes content. Consider factors like time availability and convenience for your audience.
Prioritize building an email list:
Email marketing allows you to connect directly with your audience without relying on social media algorithms. It provides long-term value and consistent sales opportunities, even when social media engagement fluctuates.
Embrace consistency:
Regularly show up with valuable content to build trust and credibility with your audience. Consistency is more important than sporadic bursts of activity. Choose a frequency that suits your capacity and commit to it.
Don't be afraid to pivot:
As your business evolves, be open to pivoting strategies and tactics that are no longer working. Recognize the need for change and embrace it as an opportunity for growth and improvement.
Building a successful business requires strategic planning, audience engagement, and the ability to adapt. By focusing on realistic timelines, consistent content creation, and building an email list, entrepreneurs can set themselves up for successful product launches and long-term growth. Remember, the unsexy work behind the scenes often holds the key to sustainable success.
Our Top Business Resources to Support Female Entrepreneurs:
Masterclass: Learn how to Scale a Profitable Business Without Working Around The Clock
Action Takers Club: Our Signature Business Course + Community to Support you in Scaling a Profitable Business
Mastermind: An Intimate VIP Group Experience for Successful Entrepreneurs
Business Coaching: One-on-One Business Strategy and Collaboration Consulting with Danielle Wiebe
Free Resources and Recommended Business Tools, Courses and Services
Connect on Instagram:
Connect with Danielle Wiebe @danilivinglife
Connect with Business Babes Collective @businessbabesco
Have a Question & Want to be Featured on The Podcast?
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Danielle Wiebe: Welcome back to the podcast. My name is Danielle Wiebe. I am your host and I am so excited to introduce you to our amazing guest today, Steph Taylor. Steph is a digital product launch strategist for business owners who are tired of selling their services and want to scale their first digital offer. Whether it's starting a podcast or selling a digital course, Steph helps her students reach more people, grow their audience and become the go-to in their industry. She is the host of socialette podcast with over 1 million downloads to date and she has taught over a hundred thousand entrepreneurs how to launch their own podcast and digital products.
[00:00:37] I can't wait for you to tune into this conversation. We talk about Steph's journey of entrepreneurship, how she pivoted multiple times until she found her niche in the industry. And she also talks about how to launch a digital product. So if this is something you've been looking to do, if you have been thinking about launching an online course or launching digital product, this is the perfect episode to [00:01:00] tune into.
[00:01:00] And I also actually had the opportunity of being featured on Steph's podcast, so if you wanna go listen to that episode, go and check out her podcast, socialette. It was released on August 25th. So you can go check that out there. And one last thing before we get started, we have our free organic growth workshop happening on September 28th at 12:00 PM. PST. And you guys are not going to want to miss this.
[00:01:23] You guys, we are gonna dive super deep into all things, collaborations and partnerships in order for you to explode your reach and your impact and get in front of more of your ideal clients and customers so you can ultimately make more sales. So join us at businessbabescollective.com/workshop. Get registered.
[00:01:42] We are also gonna have a time of Q and a, where you can ask me any questions and I'll be answering them live. And if for any reason you can't join us live, you can still get access to the recording. So still sign up businessbabescollective.com/workshop. All right. Now let's go ahead and get started with the episode.[00:02:00]
[00:02:00] Welcome to the business babes collective podcast. I'm your host, Danielle Wiebe. In this podcast, you'll learn tangible business tips and strategies on how to grow successfully and sustainably. We'll also interview season entrepreneurs so you can listen in on their stories and see behind the scenes of what it took to grow and scale their businesses. Let's dive in. As we discussed the wild exciting, crazy, rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship.
[00:02:30] Hello, Steph. I am so excited to have you on the podcast today. Welcome.
[00:02:34] Steph Taylor: Thanks so much for having me, danielle.
[00:02:36] Danielle Wiebe: Can you just share a little bit more about you, about your business, all the things that you have going on in your world.
[00:02:42] Steph Taylor: Yeah. So I am a digital product launch strategist and an online marketer and also a podcaster. So like I wear a lot of different hats love, but they all tie in, I mean, who doesn't wear a lot of hats right. In their business. But so basically what that means is that my real sweet [00:03:00] spot is helping other entrepreneurs to launch a digital product.
[00:03:05] Now launching a digital product doesn't mean the process of taking that knowledge that's in your brain and turning it into a course. That's something that like you, as the expert, you do that really well. You already know what people need to learn from you to get those results. What I do is, I'm that person who makes sure that when you've taken that knowledge out and turned it into a course or a membership or an e-book, whatever it is, I'm the person that makes sure that that gets in front of people.
[00:03:31] I help you to reach those people and make sure that that launch actually sales because far too often, we get people who create something, they pour all of this energy into building an online course, and then they put it out there and nobody buys it and they're like, oh, nobody wanted it. But actually, no, they just didn't have the marketing.
[00:03:50] So that's kind of what I do. Um, I've been in the online marketing world for a little while now, and I've been podcasting for four years. Uh, no sign of stopping yet. I just love it so [00:04:00] much. And I'm actually thinking of launching another one because it's addictive.
[00:04:04] Danielle Wiebe: So fun, so fun. Okay. Well, first of all, you're in good company here because we have a lot of multi passionate people who listen to this podcast. So I love that. And also I love what you said there just about the, you know, a lot of people build something or they create something and they go to launch it and then they think that the thing that they created is not something that people want.
[00:04:25] And I love that you said they might have just not had the right marketing around it or the right strategy, but I love that you shared that. Or maybe they just don't have enough people in their community yet. And that's okay too.
[00:04:35] And so can you tell us a little bit of a backstory? Like how did you get to doing all these incredible, amazing things podcasting for four years, sharing with entrepreneurs, how to launch, tell us a little bit more of like the backstory. And did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
[00:04:52] Steph Taylor: I'll start with the second question first. I didn't always know that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I knew that I wanted, I, I was always having [00:05:00] these ideas and I knew that I wanted freedom. But I just thought that you had to follow the corporate path.
[00:05:06] I thought that you had to, you know, go to you, finish high school, you go to university, you get a job, you work, you have kids, you retire, then you get the freedom and you get to travel and then you die. Like that was kind of what was sold to me. And it's really depressing when you think about it like that.
[00:05:22] Uh, so basically, no, I hadn't thought I hadn't even thought it was an option to me to be an entrepreneur and it wasn't really, until I was in a corporate job that I absolutely hated. I was, they had me doing filing. I was way over overqualified to be doing any filing, but they had me filing for like hours a day. So while I was doing all this filing, I was listening to podcasts. I was listening to business podcasts because I don't know, like I just thought, Hmm, let's just listen to this.
[00:05:51] And that was where I started to get these ideas. So I decided, okay, I'm gonna start a little online store. It ended up being an eCommerce [00:06:00] subscription box, um, for health food. And that didn't go so well, but unfortunately it flopped after I'd already quit my corporate job. So there was a little while there where I was like, okay, cool.
[00:06:11] So I've just quit this job, my business hasn't taken off and now I have no money. That's not great. But of course being a serial entrepreneur, I realize actually, you know what, I'm really good at marketing. That's my skill. That's my sweet spot. And I started working with a couple of qu of marketing clients. I started working at, um, a startup doing their online marketing and little bit by little, I started realizing, okay, this business thing can work. It can create a sustainable income.
[00:06:44] Only as I was taking on more and more clients, I was getting really exhausted. Like I hit this point where I thought if I wanna make more money, I have to take on more clients or put my prices up. People are already telling me I'm too expensive, so I can't put my [00:07:00] prices up, but I'm already working so many hours a day, so I can't take on any more clients.
[00:07:05] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm
[00:07:05] Steph Taylor: and it was like this little cap, you know, it was like, somebody had said, Hey, like you've started a business, but here's your income ceiling. And it wasn't until I started exploring the world of online courses that I realized, oh, there's actually an option where I can i, I can serve more people, add a new income stream to my business and make more money without having to take on more clients.
[00:07:27] So I started creating that. I started creating my online course, um, which was actually a course about how to run your own Facebook ads, because as the person who was doing all this marketing for people, I was noticing there was a big gap. I was getting a lot of people emailing me saying, Hey, can you manage my Facebook ads? My budget is like $200 a month or $500 a month. And the light bulb went off in my brain. I was like, you can't, you know, like you can't pay somebody else to manage your ads when your budget's that small.
[00:07:56] Danielle Wiebe: Right.
[00:07:57] Steph Taylor: That budget should be going. All into your ads like that [00:08:00] $500 a month, you can spend that 500 a month on ads, but you can't spend it on somebody managing your ads, because then it's gonna cost you more to have them manage it than what you're spending on ads. So that was where the first idea came from for this course.
[00:08:13] And I was still working part-time still working with clients and I started creating this course. Started creating it, started launching it, know using all of like the marketing knowhow that I had basically. And I launch it. And that first launch went really well. Like I think it was a $10,000 launch and that was the signal that I needed to say like, okay, cool.
[00:08:35] I can quit my part-time job. I can go and spend two and a half months traveling through Europe while working with my clients and teaching this course. And it was like this, the turning point, I suppose, that first turning point, you know, when you, and like some of the listeners might not have experienced this yet, but I'm sure you have Danielle like that first turning point when you're like, oh, What I'm like, this is working.
[00:08:56] Danielle Wiebe: This is working, yes. Yes.
[00:08:56] Steph Taylor: I have validation now. Yeah. Rather than when you're [00:09:00] constantly, like everything you're doing is just not working, not working.
[00:09:02] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm ,
[00:09:03] Steph Taylor: you're not getting that momentum. That can be really hard. So anyway, fast forward, then I'd launch this course. I'm in Europe, I'm working with these clients and. I'm realizing, oh, I actually don't love working with clients that much. Like they're very demanding. And here I am standing in front of the Eiffel tower, replying to an emergency email from a client that wasn't really that much of an emergency.
[00:09:25] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:09:26] Steph Taylor: So the kind of new vision started to form in my mind where I was like, what could this business look like? I was just selling courses and not working with these retainer clients, you know, not having to get up at 3:00 AM for phone calls, with clients that were in on the other side of the world and that kind of thing.
[00:09:43] Uh, so slowly, slowly, I started, uh, letting go of my clients. I started launching more and more courses and I actually launched my podcast as well after I got back from that trip. Um, Socialette, which was, it started out as a general marketing podcast, as all of my courses were as [00:10:00] well. And then what happened was I was launching all these different marketing courses, but I was struggling to sell them quite a bit because, and I, I know this now in hindsight, but at the time I was like, why isn't anybody buying this course about Instagram marketing?
[00:10:14] Like everyone's telling me that they wanna learn how to market their businesses on Instagram. Here's the solution, but they're not buying it. And what I realized, what I know now was that. I was the generalist marketer. I was like the person that they came to to listen to my podcast for general marketing advice. But when they wanted to learn about Instagram, they would go to the person who specialized in Instagram marketing.
[00:10:35] Danielle Wiebe: Right.
[00:10:36] Steph Taylor: Yes. So that was kind of the other turning point, I suppose, where I realized, oh, I need to decide what my niche is. Like what's what do I specialize in? And it wasn't until I sat down with a business coach and I said to her, I was like, look like these are all these things I wanna launch. I wanna launch a course about Pinterest. I wanna launch a course about email marketing, a launch, a course about this, this, this. She was like, it sounds like the thing that you are good at is [00:11:00] launching because nobody else loves doing it. Yeah.
[00:11:04] Danielle Wiebe: Right.
[00:11:05] Steph Taylor: And she's like you love doing that.
[00:11:06] Danielle Wiebe: Aha moment!
[00:11:07] Steph Taylor: Exactly. Um, so it took probably another year before I had the confidence to go all in. Like anybody who's niche down will tell you it's really freaking scary because you are you're consciously saying no to all of these other people. You could help
[00:11:23] Danielle Wiebe: mm-hmm
[00:11:23] Steph Taylor: But by saying no to all of those people, you're also saying yes to a completely new group of people. Um, so a year later I decided, I was broke again. I'd let go of all of my clients, my courses weren't really selling that well because I was the generalist and I decided, okay, you know what? Let's, let's niche down.
[00:11:40] Let's double down on this thing. And if it doesn't work, I'll go back to a job. And thank goodness I did because once as soon as I niche down, that's that was 2019 that I niched down. End of 2019, March, April, 2020 was like $300,000 month.
[00:11:59] Danielle Wiebe: Wow.
[00:11:59] Steph Taylor: [00:12:00] From, yeah, from like $5,000 a month at the end of 2020 to $350,000 in April 20.
[00:12:07] Danielle Wiebe: Amazing.
[00:12:08] Steph Taylor: Yeah. 2019 to April, 2020.
[00:12:10] Danielle Wiebe: That is so cool. Okay. I just wanna take a moment to have the listeners really kind of comprehend what you're saying and kind of take a pause because I think what you said is so key of like you, there's so much of the backstory that, you know, a lot of people and I think a lot of people that are listening to this podcast, that's where they're at right now.
[00:12:31] Whether you ha, whether they have a product based business or, you know, service based, they're going along, they're making money, but they feel like there's this cap. Or they feel like there's not a cap on their income, but like something's not working or things aren't progressing.
[00:12:44] And I think when you said, when things click, I think of that as experiencing the momentum right? Of things are coming together. You know, a lot of the work as well that you have done in the past is also coming to help you. So [00:13:00] instead of like you having to do all of the outbounds, connecting with people or pitching yourself, a lot of that is coming back to you.
[00:13:07] And so tell us a little bit about like, what did that experience teach you? And I'm sure there's a lot of challenges along the way as well. Because it's obviously, it's incredible that you were able to launch and have all of that income, but what challenges did you experience in that season? And what did you experience coming out of that?
[00:13:28] Steph Taylor: Oh yeah, that was okay, so, this is the thing, when you are in that, when you're in that really like challenging low income point in your business where you're like, why is this not growing? Why is this not growing? You think that the minute you start making loads of money on your business, that it's gonna be like, you know, everything's gonna be solved.
[00:13:44] All your problems are gonna be solved, but as they say, like new level, new devil, right? So there's new problems at that next level that you can't even imagine when you're stuck there. Like how can I get clients? How can I bring in income? And then you start growing and it becomes things like, oh, [00:14:00] I need to have systems in place because I can't be replying to a hundred customer support emails every single day, because I would get nothing else done. Not to mention like, reading customer support, not good for anybody's mental health. Like there are some really mean people out in this world, uh, especially when you're selling something that's like at scale.
[00:14:19] So, yeah, so that was probably like the first realization was oh, like, okay, now I need to actually start thinking about team and what do we like, what processes do we have in place? I already had a VA, virtual assistant and she, I had to bring her in to do my customer support because I couldn't do it. So that involved, you know, outlining what are all of the common questions that people are asking? What are the processes to refund, or if somebody's double paid, how do we refund one and not the, like all of these little things?
[00:14:52] Uh, so that was the biggest learning I think was I, I actually wish that I had had the foresight to [00:15:00] start putting these systems in place before the growth. Uh, I wanted that growth, but I didn't think that maybe one day when it was growing, I would be too busy to find the time. And it would be really stressful to put all of those systems in place.
[00:15:13] So even if you don't have a team member, start putting, you know, customer support processes in place, start thinking about what is gonna become a bigger issue as you start scaling, because the little pebbles in your shoe, when you are like, when you are small, there's little niggles in your business, but as soon as you scale, the little niggles become massive pains. They become like rocks in your shoe that cause blisters.
[00:15:37] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:15:38] Steph Taylor: Uh, so that's probably, yeah. Biggest thing. Biggest mistake, biggest challenge. Um, mindset was another huge one because I, in my mind, I thought, wow, this growth happened so quickly. If it happened this quickly, it can go away this quickly. So the whole time, like the whole of probably April, may, June, 2020, I was sitting there like frozen. I couldn't [00:16:00] do anything because I was so scared that anything I did would break what was working and in hindsight, yeah, And in hindsight, I'm like, wow, I really I've missed out on an awesome opportunity to capitalize on this fast growth that was happening, uh, because I was too scared that I was going to ruin. And in doing nothing, it actually slowed the growth down. I did it myself unintentionally. Uh, so yeah, mindset was a challenging one.
[00:16:28] Danielle Wiebe: Wow.
[00:16:29] Steph Taylor: Yeah.
[00:16:29] Danielle Wiebe: Thank you for sharing that because I think too, like, it's so valuable to hear your experience because if, you know, especially with like, The systems. I wanna start there because you know, it's something that is always kind of on the back burner, I think because obviously, and as we should be always looking to like, okay, how can we bring in more revenue? How can we get more clients?
[00:16:51] Of course the marketing piece is very important, but also, you know, how are we creating systems to handle the client [00:17:00] support that, you know, if your business blew up overnight, like, say for example, you got featured in this like major publication. You know, would you be able to handle, like you said, a hundred emails that would come in overnight and for, I think for most businesses, the answer to that is no.
[00:17:16] And so I think it's, it's so like great to think about that on how would I handle this if this were to happen? Because I think too, that all also opens you up and I'm sure for you, it was kind of like, you just didn't know what you didn't know as far as when it blew up. But, um, I think also that can give us a better mindset around okay, I'm ready for growth, or like I'm ready for this scaling. And it would, will also kind of, I think, increase your confidence to make that happen as well.
[00:17:48] Steph Taylor: For sure. Everyone wants that growth. Everyone's sitting there like, oh, I want to be featured in that publication that brings me that growth. Or like, I want that moment. Everyone's waiting for that moment, but they're not ready for it. And I definitely wasn't.
[00:17:59] Danielle Wiebe: [00:18:00] Yeah. I love that. And also like, there. There is the value too, in that slower growth. So if people are feeling like, oh, well, you know, I haven't had that thing yet, that breakthrough or whatever. Sometimes the breakthrough happens over the span of a couple years. Like sometimes it doesn't happen the way that it happened for you and that's okay too. But again, like putting those systems in place as you're growing and sometimes that slow growth can allow you to put those systems in and make sure that it, you have a really good foundation for your business in order to experience that.
[00:18:30] But I would, I would love to also touch on the mindset piece because I think that's so interesting. And so do you feel like part of that mindset, did you have any imposter syndrome or how did those things come to fruition? Cuz I think a lot of times we self sabotage our own success. What did that look like for you?
[00:18:51] Steph Taylor: Yeah, i, no, I absolutely resonate with the self sabotage. Like it, for me, it was the, it was self sabotaging because, yeah, I didn't feel worthy of that success because it [00:19:00] felt too easy. It felt like even though, you know, forget the three years or four years or whatever, that I'd been working really hard in my business before that success happened.
[00:19:09] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:19:09] Steph Taylor: But my brain was like, this happened too easily. What like this, you know, you're not worthy of this. You have you, aren't working hard for this. Because we're taught so much, in society, we're taught, you know, you, the harder you work, the more money you make.
[00:19:22] Danielle Wiebe: Yes.
[00:19:23] Steph Taylor: In a business where you've got something like an online course or a membership or, you know, eBooks programs, that kind of thing, where you can sell a thousand of them, or you can sell 10 of them for pretty much the same amount of work, customer support aside, like there's you actually realize, oh, I have an income generating asset here and it's not tied to how hard I work. So that was a huge piece for me to shift was like, I can sit here and do nothing and well, I wasn't doing nothing, I was sitting there frozen, like in panic, like, what am I gonna do to make sure this doesn't end? How can I keep this growth happening? Uh, but I could sit [00:20:00] there and literally do nothing and it still kept growing.
[00:20:04] Danielle Wiebe: Mm.
[00:20:04] Steph Taylor: And it was like my brain, it was this cognitive dissonance where my brain just couldn't wrap any, it couldn't figure out what was going on. And that was yeah, where the self sabotage came in. And self sabotage. Isn't that obvious, sometimes. It can look like sitting on the couch freaking out because you don't know what to do in your business anymore, because you're scared you're gonna break it. That's self sabotage too.
[00:20:25] Danielle Wiebe: Oh, so good. Okay. I would love to now kind of talk a little bit about actually launching cuz I, I think that's so interesting and I love that you specialize in like helping people do this. So what would you recommend? Like for someone who's like, yeah, I'm looking to add a passive income stream to my business. Maybe they don't necessarily know what that is yet, but maybe they do.
[00:20:46] What would you suggest they do now as they're still in that, like, let's say dreaming phase of, okay. I think it might be this, or it might be this because for you, you help people on the marketing end and actually putting it out there. What do [00:21:00] you feel like needs to be there before they end up launching it? Like what is like the first step?
[00:21:05] Steph Taylor: Yeah. So this is okay. Big misconception is marketing, like the marketing of your product. When you're putting it out there, it's not just what to say on social media or what to write on your sales page or what to put up in an ad like that's, that's the very last step. The marketing actually begins with, what problem are we solving for people?
[00:21:27] How are we gonna communicate this? How are we gonna package this offer up? What are we gonna call it? What price is it gonna be? What bonuses are we gonna include? What kind of content are we sharing in the couple of months leading up to that so that when we open doors, people are already, they're already keen, like they already know that they want it?
[00:21:44] So the very first place I would start, like, even if you're, if you're thinking, oh, this is like a future thing. I don't wanna deal with it just yet. Start by spotting problems that your audience or your community is constantly coming to you with. If you [00:22:00] have clients, or if people are sending you emails, like what are they asking in your inbox?
[00:22:04] What DMS are they sending you? What, what are you hearing? Like if you go to in-person events or virtual events, what are people saying that they're struggling with? Facebook groups are a great place to see, uh, where people are struggling with things like what questions are people asking in there and just starting to keep an eye on like, oh, this might be a problem somebody has.
[00:22:23] For example, my podcast launch plan, which is one of my best selling products, that came about because I was getting a lot of people saying, Hey, step, I love your podcast, how can I start my own? And I didn't wanna be, I didn't wanna do one on one client work, launching podcasts like that wasn't my jam. But I thought, oh, there's people who want this help. There's potential for a product there.
[00:22:43] Now the big misconception is that you have to start with this amazing idea. You have to think, you know, It's gonna be some fantastic, unique way of launching a podcast that nobody else has ever done, but actually, no, like you can execute it differently to how all of the other podcasting [00:23:00] courses are doing it.
[00:23:01] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm
[00:23:02] Steph Taylor: um, start with that problem. Start with getting really clear on what problem you are solving and then looking at how we can start to post a bit of content around that problem and seeing what people are coming back to us. It creates that feedback loop, where we can see, okay, people, uh, have this problem, but they don't have this particular problem.
[00:23:19] They use this word to describe their problem. And through that, we can sort of bit by bit, we can start to gauge whether it's something that people want help solving, because sometimes they might have a problem, but they're not ready to solve it yet. And we can start to identify how we'll communicate that product.
[00:23:36] A lot of the time I actually recommend going through the full launching process before you've even created the product.
[00:23:42] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm
[00:23:42] Steph Taylor: uh, I did this with my own course a couple of years ago. Um, I launched a course about launching and I thought if nobody buys it great, I'm not gonna create it. If they buy it. Cool. I'll teach it week by week on zoom. And it was a really great way to test if people actually wanted the product or not, without going [00:24:00] into a launch thinking like, oh, I've just spent months creating this course. If they don't buy it, it's the end of the world. You know, I'm gonna be heartbroken instead it became, oh, well, if they don't buy it, I can do some more research and tweak the messaging and launch it again. So, yeah, that's where I would start is always start with that problem.
[00:24:17] Danielle Wiebe: So good. So good. Okay. I love that. And then when it comes to the actual marketing of the launch and kind of like driving people to potentially the sales page or whatever that is, we are both podcasters. We love podcasting, but I know there's a lot of different, you know, ways that you can create content and build that community.
[00:24:37] Cuz I think, what, what you said at the beginning of a lot of times people launch something and no one buys, there's probably a lot of different reasons for that. And I guess I'll ask you, like, what do you think some of those reasons are? Do you think one of them is that maybe they haven't built the community yet to kind of support a launch like that? And then what are some of the other things that kind of come up for you?
[00:24:57] Steph Taylor: Yeah. So if somebody's got a, if somebody's got too [00:25:00] small of a community, It generally doesn't show up in nobody buying, but it's where you'll see like maybe two or three people buy.
[00:25:07] Danielle Wiebe: Right.
[00:25:07] Steph Taylor: And that's a lot of the time you'll see people saying like, oh, only two people bought my launch failed, but they have like 50 people on their email list, which is actually a really good conversion rate.
[00:25:16] Danielle Wiebe: That's amazing.
[00:25:17] Steph Taylor: That's cool.
[00:25:17] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah, totally.
[00:25:18] Steph Taylor: Yeah. And that's a great place to be because now you have a little bit of income from those two people. You can maybe go and spend a bit on Facebook ads or you can do some more partnerships or something to start growing your audience a bit more. Launch it again. And then we keep doing it.
[00:25:31] It becomes a cycle where each time you launch it, you are bringing more people in. Where, where launches really don't work is when, when you haven't spent any time educating your audience on the problem that they have, on the solution to their problem on all of the things that they need to know to be ready to buy.
[00:25:49] So where people go wrong is they'll spend all this time creating a course, let's say. They'll spend months and months creating it. They make, they think like, if I can just make the best course ever, it's, people are [00:26:00] gonna buy it and they start adding more content to it and as they add more content, there's like more rabbit holes, so they add more content. And it becomes this really big course that they've spent 12 months creating. And then they send an email to their list. They put it up on social media and nobody buys it.
[00:26:17] And that's because. It's not because they don't want the course it's because they don't know why they should want the course yet. They don't know anything about the person who's selling the course. They don't know anything about the problem that they have, that the course solves. So there's so much work that needs to be done before then.
[00:26:32] So that's, that's one of them is launching to your audience when they're pretty much cold on that topic. The other one would be the, not getting the messaging right.
[00:26:40] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:41] Steph Taylor: So the messaging. The way, the product itself is one component, but we can have one product and communicated in completely different ways, three or four or five completely different ways. And one of those ways might sell, and the other three might not.
[00:26:55] And this is where launching becomes a lot of a, it's like an experiment, really? So if a launch [00:27:00] doesn't work it's the, the last thing is the, the, the last step would be like, okay, maybe nobody wants this product. The first step is let's find out why people didn't buy it so we can tweak that messaging. We can tweak that content.
[00:27:12] Uh, so those are, yeah, those are probably the two biggest reasons why launches fail audience size.
[00:27:16] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm
[00:27:17] Steph Taylor: not so much. Uh, adjust your expectations. If you have a small audience. First launch is gonna be small, but we grow it over time because we're launching the same product multiple times.
[00:27:26] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah, I love that. I love that you said that. And I think it's so key too, because you know, we hear about these big launches and then people just expect like, oh, if I launch and it's not like this huge six figure launch that, that, then that means it wasn't successful. But I love that you kind of broke down into, okay. Look at the numbers that you have. How many people do you have on your email list or other kind of platforms, and then have a realistic conversion rate on, you know, what that's gonna look like.
[00:27:52] So what would you suggest for people if they're looking for timeline? Cause I think that's. You where people maybe just put it up and they're like, okay, it's launch week [00:28:00] next week and I'm going to launch my course. So what would you say is like a realistic timeline for planning? Like you said, kind of warming up the audience to where they have the demand for the product and then actually having the open cart, okay, people are now able to buy.
[00:28:19] Steph Taylor: Yeah. So like, if you already have a pretty engaged audience, you're already podcasting or sharing videos on YouTube or posting regularly to Instagram and your audience is engaged and they already know what you do, and they know like the topic that you are launching is related to what you've been talking about, you could probably get away with 60 days before you open doors. Otherwise I would say 90 days
[00:28:43] Danielle Wiebe: mm-hmm
[00:28:44] Steph Taylor: and that, it seems like a lot of time, but you're actually, you're not talking about your product for the majority of that 90 days. It's only like the last. Seven days or 10 days, however long you wanna keep doors open for. And no, keeping it open for longer does not mean more sales. Could talk about that for days. So [00:29:00] it's only really like that last seven to 10 days, maybe two weeks at the most that you are promoting that product.
[00:29:07] The rest of it is groundwork. The rest of it is posting that content regularly that's going to move people to the point where they're ready to buy. Every, every product has things that people need to know before they'll be ready to buy it. I think about my podcasting course. Something that people need to know before they're ready to buy that podcasting course is that they don't need to buy a thousand dollars microphone.
[00:29:29] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm
[00:29:30] Steph Taylor: a lot of people think that a lot of people think, oh, I would love to start a podcast one day, but the equipment's too expensive.
[00:29:35] Danielle Wiebe: Right.
[00:29:36] Steph Taylor: They will never, they will never start a podcast until they understand that they don't need to have really expensive equipment.
[00:29:41] Danielle Wiebe: Mm-hmm
[00:29:42] Steph Taylor: uh, so that kind of content is helping to move those people to the point where they're then ready to buy when I open doors. The rest of that 90 days, you are getting all the bits and pieces together. You're getting you're packaging up that product. You're naming it, you're pricing it. You're deciding how you're gonna communicate what it actually does with the people who you [00:30:00] want to buy it.
[00:30:00] You're creating your sales page. You're writing those emails. You're creating any promotional posts, um, that you'll put up on social media when you open doors and like, you don't even need to be on social media to launch. This is something that I think like I'm relying on it less and less in my own business. And I think puts a lot of people off is because they think, oh, like I would love to launch, but I don't like putting myself out there on Instagram or like I hate doing reels or I hate, I don't wanna be on TikTok.
[00:30:24] You don't need to do any of those things. Like there's no must do except for choosing one place to constantly, show consistently show up and share content like a podcast.
[00:30:35] Danielle Wiebe: I love that. I love that you said that because I am so in agreement with you, because I am the same. I think I, we originally talked about this when I first reached out to you, because I was saying that the podcast episode that you did really resonated with me and that you are not feeling as much passion towards Instagram as you did before.
[00:30:54] And I've talked about this too, on the podcast here. Just about how I, you know, I'm still on [00:31:00] Instagram and I still like post, but I it's almost like I'm there when I want to be, but I'm not that I'm not relying on that to generate sales for me.
[00:31:08] Steph Taylor: Same.
[00:31:09] Danielle Wiebe: And that is like such a relief. Like it's such a weight off of my shoulders to feel that way, because before it was like, oh, if my engagement's down, then I was like, so upset about it because that meant that not enough people were seeing my content, which meant less sales.
[00:31:25] So it's so nice to be able to not rely on that as much anymore. And so I would love for you to share other than like, obviously there's podcasting, which we both love, obviously, which is great. But what other things blogging, video, what other content do you think people can create? Do you think it depends on the business and what does that look like as far as warming up your audience?
[00:31:49] Steph Taylor: Yeah, i, I think it depends on two things. It depends on your strengths and it depends on the people in your audience.
[00:31:57] For example, if you don't [00:32:00] like doing video, you don't know how to edit a video. You don't have the budget to, to hire somebody to outsource, to, to edit your video for you, don't do video. Uh, if you are really good at talking, do a podcast, if you're really good at writing, write a blog, like it really depends on your skills. But it's also that intersection of your skills and your strengths and how your audience or your ideal customer best consumes that content.
[00:32:26] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:32:26] Steph Taylor: So if your ideal customer is a mom, for example, and they are constantly running from a to B and they're doing a million different things, they don't have time to sit down and read a 2000 word blog post, that doesn't mean blogging won't work, but then you've gotta keep it really short. But maybe they would consume a podcast. Uh, maybe they don't wanna sit down and watch a 30 minute YouTube video, but a 30 minute podcast that they can listen to when they're doing school drop off or pickup, that might be a better, better option for them.
[00:32:57] So that's how that's kind of like the high level of [00:33:00] how I would choose which kind of content. I generally recommend that everybody does email. Everybody builds their email list and starts emailing their list regularly because when you are not on social media, this is Your audience, right?
[00:33:13] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:33:13] Steph Taylor: And I love it because you own that email list. Like
[00:33:16] Danielle Wiebe: mm-hmm,
[00:33:17] Steph Taylor: they can't go and change the algorithm and suddenly you don't land in people's inboxes anymore. Uh, but Instagram can, and suddenly your posts don't show up to all of your followers. And there's no, like I have 30,000 followers on Instagram and I often get posts that get like 40 likes.
[00:33:34] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah. It's crazy.
[00:33:34] Steph Taylor: And if thinking of. Yeah, it's absolutely crazy. And it's like, wow, all of this work that I've put into growing my audience on Instagram over the last, like four or five years, it's kind of pointless now. Whereas all of the work that I've put into building my email list over the last four or five years, I'm still making sales on that email list to people who subscribed four years ago. Like that's
[00:33:55] Danielle Wiebe: A hundred percent.
[00:33:55] Steph Taylor: It's wild.
[00:33:57] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:33:57] Steph Taylor: Um, so yeah, building that email list and then the [00:34:00] sharing that content, however often you can. Uh, for me, I podcast three times a week because I can, like, my main role in my business now is creating content. That's
[00:34:09] Danielle Wiebe: mm-hmm
[00:34:09] Steph Taylor: I know that's what moves my business forward, so I've, and it's what I'm good at. So it's, I've hired people in my team to do the other bits that take were taking up my time. But if you can only podcast or blog or video once a week, that's fine. Do it once a week and send that email with that week's content to your list. Uh, it's just more that consistency. It's not showing up three times in one week and then never again for like two months.
[00:34:34] Danielle Wiebe: Yes.
[00:34:35] Steph Taylor: Cause that's then your audience doesn't trust you. They don't know you. They don't trust you.
[00:34:39] Danielle Wiebe: You know, what's so funny about this is like, I'm just, you guys can't see me, but I'm like nodding along. Cause I'm like, oh man, these are all the lessons that I've had to learn over the, you know, however long, however long I've been in business.
[00:34:51] And I remember when I first got started in entrepreneurship, it was like, Instagram was everything like that was how I made sales. That was how I did everything. And [00:35:00] obviously was a lot different back. But, um, I didn't, I didn't put any time and attention into growing my email list at all. And, you know, I think back, oh man, if I would've put the same amount of effort or even like a quarter of the effort that I put in growing my social media into building my email list, or even I would've had, I think it was mostly just the confidence.
[00:35:22] Like had the confidence to start my podcast earlier or have content going out on the blog earlier, you know, those were the things that felt like. All the stuff that's like the more long term things that you do in your business and that content that's like building that momentum, but it is a slower growth than just like that immediate feedback of posting something on social media and getting like however many likes
[00:35:47] Steph Taylor: yeah.
[00:35:47] Danielle Wiebe: And get that feedback. Whereas, you know,
[00:35:49] Steph Taylor: you get the dopamine hit.
[00:35:50] Danielle Wiebe: totally, totally. But it's like, Sometimes it's like the unsexy stuff in business that has the greatest return on investment, which is why I love everything you're [00:36:00] saying just like, yes, like this is so, so important that entrepreneurs really understand this. Because I think a lot of people as well, I think a lot of people feel really discouraged right now because of all the changes and because things are changing so quickly, they're feeling like, wow, I used to get this engagement on my post, or I used to get all of my sales from this.
[00:36:19] And so, I would love for you to share a little bit about maybe pivoting, right? Because I think as we grow as entrepreneurs, we're going to have to figure out what is working and then what is not working anymore. And what do we have to maybe shift and change? Has there been seasons of your business where you've had to pivot and change because you're like, oh, this isn't working anymore.
[00:36:39] Steph Taylor: Yes.
[00:36:39] Danielle Wiebe: Like I need to do something different. And do you make those decisions, I guess, quicker now than you did in the beginning stages?
[00:36:47] Steph Taylor: Yeah. Before, before I answer that though, I do wanna say something, um, on what you were saying before about like, yeah. The, the less sexy stuff is the email and the showing up consistently.
[00:36:57] And I think the reason we think it's less sexy [00:37:00] is because all of the successful people who we follow on Instagram who have the really successful businesses, we see their Instagram content and they're selling us a lifestyle on Instagram. But then they, they're not showing us the emails, all of the stuff that they're doing behind the scenes that is that long term growth.
[00:37:16] That's the stuff that moves the needle, not the stuff that you're seeing on Instagram. Um, so I just had to say that.
[00:37:20] Danielle Wiebe: So good. Good.
[00:37:22] Steph Taylor: The pivoting, pivoting is hard. Like it's a real. It, it it's a mindset mark to get through because a lot of the time you're like admitting, oh, what I was doing was wrong and let's, you know, let's burn, let, let's burn this thing down to the ground and do something new.
[00:37:39] Sometimes it's not that drastic, but it's, it can be really hard because you don't know what's on the other side and you have to trust that the decision you make, that pivot you make is going to, it's gonna lead you to a better place.
[00:37:52] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:37:52] Steph Taylor: And one thing that I forget who it was, who taught me this, I think it might have been a coach I've worked with in the past. What they said was a good [00:38:00] question to ask yourself is, if I was gonna succeed either way., Which one would I choose? Which decision? Would I keep doing what I'm doing or would I follow this new direction?
[00:38:09] So I've pivoted multiple times in my business. Uh, sometimes it's been because things weren't working, like when I pivoted from being the generalist marketer to nicheing down into launches. That was one.
[00:38:19] The biggest pivot was probably closing down my first business, the eCommerce business, because there was this point where I realized like, wow, I've been doing this for a year now. And the growth is happening so slowly, where do I wanna be a year from now? Do I wanna still be doing this? Or do I wanna maybe put my energy into something else?
[00:38:37] But then there's other pivots where it's like, I'm noticing shifts around, you know, external shifts in the market where I think, oh, okay, this thing that used to work in launches maybe isn't working anymore. Something I've noticed lately is a massive anti Instagram sentiment from not just you and me, but from a lot of people who are just so over it.
[00:38:59] Danielle Wiebe: Right.
[00:38:59] Steph Taylor: And [00:39:00] starting to look at, oh, wow, there's a lot going on in the world of web three and that's gonna change social media. That's gonna change how we do marketing. That's gonna change how we launch. So starting dabble in those things and starting to share that with my audience as well. There's couple, yeah., There's those different levels of pivot.
[00:39:15] Danielle Wiebe: Yeah.
[00:39:16] Steph Taylor: But I think always if you're on that cusp of like, do I pivot, do I not pivot? Which if I was gonna succeed no matter what, which one would I choose?
[00:39:22] Danielle Wiebe: So good. I love that so much. And man, I feel like we could definitely talk for a lot longer.
[00:39:29] Steph Taylor: Yeah.
[00:39:30] Danielle Wiebe: Just on all the things and so many things that you said, I'm just like yes, so, so relevant, not only to me, but I think to my community right now. And so thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for sharing all of the ups and downs that you've gone through. And also just really tangible tips on if someone is looking to add a passive income stream to their business.
[00:39:50] Definitely, you wanna go check out staff's podcast. So, first of all, I wanted to ask you a question before we wrap up.
[00:39:57] Steph Taylor: Yeah.
[00:39:57] Danielle Wiebe: So you've been able to accomplish a lot. What is the thing that [00:40:00] you are most proud of, of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
[00:40:04] Steph Taylor: Oh, wow. That is a good question. I think the thing that I'm most proud of is I think it's that I've managed to build a business that gives me the freedom and fulfills the vision that I had when I was first dreaming about starting a business in that corporate job. I was dreaming about having a business where I could travel the world and keep working at the same time and just have all of this freedom. And I've done that.
[00:40:28] Danielle Wiebe: Mm, so good. And so inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you. So if everyone anyone's in like that messy middle, they haven't reached that point yet where things start to click or, or they realize like that moment where you're like, oh, this is what's working.
[00:40:42] And really starting to see that momentum, know that you've been through this. We've all been through this, any successful entrepreneur that you can listen to on a podcast or see on a blog that's featured in, you know, Forbes or whatever. Like they've gone through that messy middle. And so hopefully that encourages everyone [00:41:00] listening.
[00:41:00] So Steph, can you tell us a little bit more about how we can connect with you, how we can listen to your podcast? Anything else you wanna share with us and how we can be a part of your community?
[00:41:10] Steph Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. You can find my podcast. It's called Socialette, it's in all of the main podcast apps, or you can find it at Stephtaylor.co/podcast.
[00:41:19] I have a course called launch magic, which is my 12 week launching process. You can find that@stephtaylor.co/magic. Um, we run that twice a year and you can connect with me on Instagram, I do hang out there sometimes. I don't post that often, but I'm usually there in my DMS. You can find me there @stephtaylor.co.
[00:41:39] Danielle Wiebe: I love that so much. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate you and thank you. Appreciate everything you do.
[00:41:45] Steph Taylor: Thank you so much.
[00:41:49] If you love this episode, make sure you screenshot, post and tag us on Instagram @businessbabesco. Want to know when the next episode goes live? Subscribe on your podcast app, and [00:42:00] while you're there, leave us a review. Until next time, keep dreaming big, setting goals and taking action.