Actually, you should take your time.
Why you shouldn't "launch before you're ready."
Here’s a piece of advice you’ve heard approximately 4,000 times:
"Launch fast. Ship before you are ready. Perfect is the enemy of done."
Sounds smart. Sounds like the kind of thing people who actually get things done say.
And for a specific type of person, it is the right advice. The person who has been noodling for two years and has never shown anything to anyone. For them, ship fast is a lifeline.
But for most new solopreneurs—and even not that new solopreneurs—”launch before you’re ready” is SO the wrong thing to do.
Here’s why.
By launching before you’re ready, you only answer two questions:
How many people need this?
How much do they need it? Like, are they willing to pay the price you’re asking for it?
That’s it, those are the two questions you answer. Well, you kind of answer.
Because if 50 people saw your offer, then you don’t really know whether people need this, because is this a large enough representative group? Not unless it’s a very specific group of people for a very specific offer.
Which is what makes you fall for another silly advice: build the audience first. Then more people will see your offer.
And if they don’t want it, you can just launch another, then another…
So now you’re driving yourself crazy, building the audience, posting more on more platforms, and launching offer after offer.
Then, if you’re lucky, you find me. (Modest, I know.)
And I tell you: STOP! Breathe. You can win without an audience, without launching fast, and without all this unnecessary racing towards… I’m not sure what.
My former boss has always been all “Done before perfect! Done before perfect! Sell, sell, sell! Do it yesterday!”
I hated that. It taught me a lot but I’ve seen it lead to poor first impressions with important people and ruined deals.
Yes, overall it’s been a successful strategy, but not a perfect strategy.
And it’s worth mentioning that he has 500 employees.
So when he says “I want it done!” it’s not him who has to do it. And if it fails, it’s not him who has to fix it.
And if it’s something he’d find tedious to do but it sells well, that’s fine, because it’s not him who’d have to deliver it.
And if he has to keep the prices low at first to penetrate the market, that’s fine. It wouldn’t affect his income that much.
Do you start to see why this strategy isn’t perfect for solopreneurs?
Here is what to do instead, in 3 steps.
(And for paid subscribers: I will also review your offer and assess its sales power. Will tell you how to get this at the end of this email. Here is what people tend to message me after getting a report back.)
