You're listening to Cubicle to CEO episode 250. Want to weed out the freebie seekers in your next launch? Try this pre launch strategy on for size. Kelsey McCormick, founder of Coming Up Roses knows that launch strategies are ever evolving. So she's tested multiple top of funnel approaches, ranging from challengers to workshops to quizzes. But she recently discovered that the best way to get intentional buyers for her $1,500 program was to identify the people in her community who were serious about the transformation she offered and had buying power. She did this by creating a limited series private podcast priced at $99. To access this strategy converted 30% of listeners into programs students, generating over $108,000 in sales between two live launches.
In today's case study we dig into the data from Kelsey's January and May launches to uncover the private podcast content structure and timelines that move listeners to take action.
Welcome to Cubicle to CEO, the podcast where we ask successful founders and CEOs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host, Ellen Yin, every Monday go behind the business in a case study style interview with the leading entrepreneur who shares one specific growth strategy they've tested in their own business, exactly how they implemented it, and what the results and revenue were. You'll also hear financially transparent insights from my own journey bootstrapping our media company from a $300 freelance project into millions in revenue.
Hello, everyone, welcome back to our show. Today. We have Kelsey McCormick here with us to talk about one of my favorite marketing strategies. And that's private podcast. So this case study is really juicy, we're actually going to combine two different launches, one that happened in mid December through January and then one that was much more recent, actually, April, May. So you're really getting the stats in real time. Before we introduce the case study, though, I would love for Kelsey to share her Cubicle to CEO story. So Kelsey, you tell us what was that catalyst that helped you leap into entrepreneurship?
Hey, Ellen, first of all, thanks so much for having me. This is one of my absolute favorite podcasts. So it's so exciting to be here. So my Cubicle to CEO story. I definitely came up in the kind of open office, like open plan office time. So it was kind of a cubicle. Did you ever have like an open plan office?
Oh, I wish I mean, in some ways, I guess like technically we were in an open a pretty open room. But it was definitely blocks of cubicles when I was in the blocked off. Yeah. So like, I mean, if you're sitting down, you couldn't really see anything except for like the person right next to you or like diagonal from you. Gotcha. And also, we worked in the lower floor of a building where my side of cubicles like the wall that we were next to didn't have any windows. And so it really felt more dungeon II it was very, like fluorescent lights. And not at all I'm sure what, what you're describing right now.
Yeah, I'd say I had that experience very briefly, when I worked at Warner Brothers, when, like, right out of college, I remember that, like I used to kind of decorate the sides of the cubicle to make it feel a little bit more fun, but it was still pretty horrible. And then I worked in content marketing in the music industry. So that's when I had like a cool office. It was very open plan. So cubicle esque. But um, but I worked there for about 10 years and content marketing in the music industry and in the entertainment industry as well, before deciding to start my own thing around when I turned 30 and had a baby.
I love that I love that it coincided with such like a momentous chapter in your personal life both, you know, turning 30, which I just turned 30, like a month ago. So it feels very, very welcome. Welcome to the club. Right, thank you. And also, of course, becoming a mother. So that's really exciting that that happened during that time of your life. And I would love to know, just like one little add on before we get into the case study because that is unique that it kind of happened right around those milestones. Was it those milestones that pushed you to decide to try your own thing? Or was that just more coincidental not necessarily related to your decision?
It was 100% because of when I always wanted to start my own thing you thought you're a little bit younger than me so I'm not sure if you quite came up in the same girl bossy era as I did. But when I had graduated, I was reading like all the books about like doing your own thing and like multi hyphen method and all of these books around doing your own thing, but I just never really had the confidence to do it. In my 20s I also had a really cool job with very cool perks. Like I was backstage at Coachella.
I was like going to all these concerts for free. It was very much like tied up in my identity as a person and all my friends worked in that industry. So leaving just felt like Such a impossible thing. But when I became a mother, I just couldn't see a path, you know, when you like look around yourself in your cubicle and you're like, there's literally no one here that I can relate to, or that I would want their job. And that's like the only upward trajectory here, so I have to figure something else out. And that's kind of when I started my creativity journey and coming up roses, which has had a million different versions of it, but now is kind of a space for creative entrepreneurs to learn skills around marketing, and like messaging and sales.
Such a cool background, one of my really close friends also came up in the music industry and is now a business coach. So I think that so many of those life experiences make you a better, especially what you do now like teaching creatives, how to market themselves, I think so much of your background really, probably brings in a unique lens that they're learning from you in a way that if you didn't have that experience, you might not think about marketing the same way, especially being from a different industry. I think that's a huge strength and advantage that I always encourage people to try to get outside of their industry in their bubble whenever possible, because that's where my best ideas come from. So-
Totally, I don't know if you relate to this too. But I feel like the conditioning from corporate worlds like the volume of emails, I had the amount of hours I worked like, nothing will ever be as hard as that was, nothing will ever be as stressful as like working on, you know, a multimillion dollar tour and putting it on sale with like a massive teams across agents and managers and labels. And you know, Artie like nothing will ever be like that big of stakes. So I just feel like it gave me this like resilience conditioning that has been so valuable for creative entrepreneurship. I don't know if you can relate to that being from the corporate world as well.
For myself, unfortunately, no, my corporate job was actually I'm not going to lie it it felt very easy. Like it was definitely one of those jobs where I felt like I had to find things to fill up the time or like I'd be assigned something that the you know, the project timeline was like two weeks, but I knew I could accomplish it in two hours. And you know, there it just it was very creativity stifling. I think totally different industries, though, you know.
So I have very much heard that from friends who work in entertainment or in music industry, anything that's very fast paced, I think in a lot of ways mirrors startup culture, so I can totally see why that build up resilience in you totally. I love that though. I love that you have that background. I want to get into this case study because there's so much goodness to uncover today. So just to give our listeners some background, so basically, Kelsey has this program launch your own way. It's about a $1,500 offer.
And recently, this program was launched in December, January, we'll call that the January launch. And then April, May so spring. And with this launch in December, Kelsey launched a private podcast. And this is an eight episode series. I just want to make sure I got the name right. The warm up is the private podcast. To my understanding, Kelsey, this is a paid podcast, right?
Yes. So it was anywhere from 49 to $99, depending on when I almost gave it its own, like mini launch. So depending on when you purchased it, yeah.
Okay, awesome. Between these two launches, your program has made over six figures, congratulations, by the way, that's huge. And 44 of the total students who have enrolled between these two launches came directly from the private podcast and for a $1,500 offer that's very significant. So we're going to get into the details of not only the private podcast, but also how these two launches worked in terms of the flow and the structure. So let's first I think I'm going to zoom out first and kind of just get a picture of the overall launch.
So I was deep diving into some of the dates that you provided. Thank you, by the way for being so detailed with your dates. Correct me at any point, if I miss summarized any of this, but from what I could tell, for each launch, you had a five day presale available to your waitlist, and then the following week you would do you would open it to the public and you would have an early be pricing for anyone who bought during that first week of the public launch. And then you would have an additional week after that, where the price would actually jump up. And then at the end of that the program would start so overall, it was about a three week open cart window if you include the pre sale to the waitlist, is that right?
Correct. For the live launch? Right? Yes.
Okay, awesome. So knowing that as we're getting into this about a three week window where someone could potentially join the program, the first launch the what we're calling the January launch, you actually decided you had at that point already opened it to the waitlist, and you had already opened it to the early B and then right around mid December. So December 11, I think is what you shared. You decided to launch this private podcast.
Why did you decide to do this what was like the strategy behind doing it in the middle of a launch?
I think because the holidays are coming up. So I just know you lose momentum over the holidays. But also you have loads of downtime over the holidays, right? You're just like hanging out with your family. I don't know, just like trying to sell time over the holidays. So I thought what could be a great way to continue with this launch and promotion with something that people can just like listen to on the go listen to other with their families.
And that's where the private podcast just became this amazing thing to to launch that people could purchase, listen on their own time. And then I could like, record all the episodes and also take time off over the holidays. So that was really the reason it was kind of like a seasonal reason. Which ended up being like a really good assumption, because I think a lot of people, yeah, they were taking time off and they enjoyed that format for learning.
Did you know going into this December slash January launch that you were going to do this, like employ a private podcast? Or was it kind of a spur of the moment? decision? I only ask because I would assume if you had, you know, preemptively decided you were going to do it, that the private podcast would have been available from the very beginning, like even with the waitlist, but you know, obviously it came later. So was this kind of more of an impromptu decision?
Yeah, it was very spur of the moment, because I was like, oh, everything's slowing down around the holidays. But this live so long term way, my program, I teach it live a couple times a year. And that wasn't happening till January. So I was like, I don't want to lose all the momentum over the holidays. What can I kind of do to continue that? I'm so it was very spur of the moment, I always kind of wanted to do something around this idea of the warm up, like what do you do before a launch, right, because so many people can like put together a whole launch plan.
But they haven't actually created like the audience and offer alignment, they haven't actually like engaged our audience enough and built that trust for people actually want to purchase whatever their offer is. So I wanted to create the warm up so that it could really teach people really simple methods to employ within their businesses before the launch period. So it was kind of like the perfect lead in offer for my offer as well.
And it's really meta to write your teaching about one. And then you're getting to showcase in real time, like, Hey, I'm literally doing this with you, right, I'm warming you up through the warmup. And here's how you can experience I guess, like what you're going to learn. Okay, that's really, really interesting. So this was happening impromptu. For you. How did you previously I guess, set? What was a main sales mechanism for selling launch your own way before you had the private podcast? Did you use a webinar? Or was it just sending people straight to a sales page?
What was the modality through which they were being converted prior to the existence of the warmup?
feel like because I teach launching, I always like to test new things. And I always like to kind of play around with different possibilities. So in the past, I've done challenges. I've also done I guess, I would call them more workshops and webinars. They're very, like hands on and actionable. I would do quizzes, like, there's just so many things I've tried. So yeah, I would usually do some sort of a freebie actually, like, I've never done a paid thing. So the podcast was it's the first like, paid, almost like in between, because I had already done a challenge, I believe, yeah, I had already done a challenge.
So then I was like, What can I put like in between, that's paid before they purchase, because I also kind of wanted to like weed out people with buying power. I don't know if that makes sense. But I was like, there's so many people that just like sign up for freebies, and then like, kind of participate and like kind of don't, I was like, I really want to see like who within my audience has the purchasing power is really invested in this journey of launching and marketing in their business. And so I wanted it to be paid so that ecotone was like really tell who was in my audience that had that.
I think that's so smart. And it's been a long time since we've done really a live launch into any sort of product or program over $1,000. You know, since we've retired our coaching program, but I will say even with our just one off live workshops, we have found that getting people to pay any amount, even if it's, you know $1 amount of their choosing sometimes will even test pay what you want pricing, it totally shows up differently in terms of how like you said not even invested in in like a monetary way but just how invested they are in getting the results and learning and consuming the information.
I feel like people actually attend live and they implement faster. And so I mean, as educators, the results that our students get really drive our business forward, right. So obviously, anything you can do to increase the transformation that they get and the speed at which they do it, I think makes a whole ton of sense. So love that you use that as a filter. So you've tested a bunch of different modalities. Early hot take, I'm just curious compared to the prior methods that you've used challenges workshops.
How does the private podcast stack up in terms of conversion? Would you say it's your favorite one the best one. Is it about the same? What are your insights?
Yeah, well, since it's paid, it's hard to say right? Because I almost look at it as the funnel, like all the freebies are kind of at the top, right. So they're just like bringing a lot of people onto my mailing list and stuff, but obviously not converting at as high of a percentage, because there's more of them. And also, it's free.
So I'd say the fact that it was paid again, you're just segmenting out part of your audience that has purchasing power. And also, yeah, it's been way more like the conversion rates have been way higher, because not only like were people listening to it in December and converting into the January, a lot of them who listened in December continue to listen and then converted in the next launch.
So I think if you're trying to create like a big warm up over a long period of time, it will do so much legwork for you far after you create it, where's the challenge? It's like, the challenge happens. And then it goes away, right? Or webinars like, yeah, you can create a lead magnet for it. So it keeps people keep watching it, but they watch it and then they're done. And they convert or they don't, you know, I have so many people listening to episodes again and again and again, and sending me DMS about how great it is. And I dropped new episodes every launch. So it just becomes this amazing sales machine and my business.
So true. That makes a lot of sense. I have like a bunch of questions percolating in my head right now around like, why new episodes are like, yeah, the consumption patterns that you've noticed with people. But before we get into that, let's kind of break down the actual eight episode structure. So the original version of the private podcast, right had eight episodes, a combination of solo episodes and interviews with past students.
Can you share with us like how many of those episodes were your own, recorded by yourself versus ones that featured students on the ones that featured students? What exactly were you asking them? Why did you want them on the episodes? And if there was like a certain flow, perhaps that you followed with the A episodes if they kind of all stacked up and built a narrative, like an overarching narrative? If you could walk us through that, that would also be super helpful?
Sure. So I think with any private podcast, it's really smart to think about, like, what is the short and sweet transformation, I can take people through, like, I wouldn't necessarily do like this ongoing. I mean, you could if you want, but I liked the idea of it being like almost its own little mini course that could exist on its own, and had a really specific transformation. And the transformation is, by the end of this, you'll have the tools implemented to be engaging your audience and building trust with your audience.
So that was kind of the format of it, it was five episodes of me recording and giving a training. So I almost took people through that funnel idea like top of funnel like let's think about how you're actually bringing people in, how are you like taking them from lukewarm to more warm? And then how are you like kind of bringing them down the funnel, and then at the end, it's like, okay, if you want to convert them during launch your own way. That's like the episode structure and I take them through like very actionable steps. They're like 10 minutes, each very easy to kind of like, listen and learn.
And then the interviews are past the launch your own way. Students, so alumni, talking about how they warmed up people ahead of their really big launches. So yeah, just kind of taking people through what worked, what didn't work, really like candid, fun conversations that are super educational as well, because it's like people who are a little bit closer to the students, right, it was maybe their first time launching, they tried a couple things, they maybe didn't have a super hot audience at the time.
So just super, super helpful. And again, like hopefully, listening to that seeing themselves and wanting to purchase and I also wanted to interview people with different kinds of offers. So not only one too many offers, right, but also one on one, like, how do you launch a service? Like, what does that look like? What is the template shop look like? You know, so I wanted to kind of have a variation around that.
Very smart. So five of the eight, like you said, short 10 minute actionable trainings. The other three were interviews, did each of those three episodes focus on just one past student? Or was it like a kind of like a round table compilation of several interviews with different students within one episode?
Where like a roundtable idea, I'm no, it's just one on one, it was just like this, but roundtable, maybe in the future?
Yeah, that can be an interesting format to test. And, I mean, I love the one on one, like deep dive case study style interviews, because you can get all these juicy details that sometimes you don't have the opportunity to within a group setting, but that would be very interesting to test how different people respond to those different formats.
So I want to first share a few stats about the podcast and the listeners consumption habits with it. So here I see you have shared that so far, there's been 330 signups so 330 people have purchased access to the warm up and from those 330 people you've amassed 1694 downloads and a 36% Listen rate. So to my understanding, that's the average listen right across all the episodes, right?
Yep, that's exactly it.
So I mean, that's a really excellent, I think, I mean, if you're comparing to let's say, the average watch rate of an evergreen video training, I think 36% is quite like, almost four out of every 10. People are kind of, you know, listening through all of the episodes. So, of the 153 people, this was what I found most interesting of the 153 people who listened to nine episodes, or more 45 of those people converted into customers.
So that's like a 30% conversion rate. I'm curious, as these people were listening to these episodes, were you getting any feedback in real time from listeners, like were people popping into your DMs and saying, Oh, I just listened to episode three. And, you know, I got this takeaway, or I'm gonna try this tip, or was it kind of more like a one sided experience for them, and then all of a sudden, you just got a notification, like so and so joined the program.
I got so much interaction with the people who are listening, like more than any other freebie I've ever gotten, like, people posting on their hot girl walks, that they're listening to it. People DMing me about how helpful it is, yeah, loads and loads and loads of feedback, which has been so amazing, because I heard on another podcast, like your voice is like your thumbprint, and getting your voice in people's ears. It's just like almost building trust at superspeed.
So you probably find this with your own podcast. It's like people get so it's like that parasocial relationship where you're like, Oh, they're talking to me. I felt like that with your podcast. I'm like, I love that. I can't believe I'm on here because I love listening to it. And yeah, so it was more than anything I've ever done as like a warm up kind of tactic. It's been incredible feedback. And people still post it all the time. I just shared like two people posting it on their walks this week.
That's amazing.
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That's really, and I imagine actually that a limited series that's very concentrated on you know, a specific outcome, like you said, probably initiate that type of engagement even more than a regular weekly episodic series, like what we have here on Republic podcast, because, you know, it's kind of I don't know, like, we definitely get interaction from our listeners. And we're so so grateful anytime someone takes a second to reach out and share an episode or even just a privately DMS and tell us you know how an episode influenced them. But I imagine that for like a short series that the engagement would be much higher.
So I'm not surprised to hear that. But it's also really great to hear that there is that level of interaction, it kind of makes me wonder across all of your eight episodes. So I know you're kind of saying each of the five solo episodes that you recorded, we're kind of walking people through the funnel until the end where you get to the conversion level and you're like, hey, go join, launch your own way. In the other episodes like episode 123. And even in the ones with the students.
What was your call to action at the end of each episode was always consistent, like hey, go to this link and join our program or did you ask people a question and tell them hey, DM me your answer to this like how were you initiating engagement if at all, or was it totally organic?
I would tell people to share in every single episode, I told them to tag me so I could share too. So that was definitely a call to action. I love the idea of having them DM me something though. Maybe I'll do that in future episodes. You're going by so many good marketing, I always say your podcast is like having an MBA though like every single episode, you just get so many gems. So that was a good one. And then I also just like really naturally woven the call to action into long term way into every episode.
So it was just like very like, by the way, like, if you're interested in hearing more about this, my program, launch runway is open the links in the show notes kind of thing. So I would almost put it like at the beginning ish of the episode, and then again, toward the end of the episode.
Okay, so kind of book ending it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, exactly.
I love that. I think that's actually really great. I know, as a listener, I personally like if I know I'm going to be potentially sold or pitch something I actually really prefer, if someone kind of gives me a heads up about it, it almost like sets the context, I guess, for the conversation that's about to happen, or that I'm about to tune into to understand, okay, we're talking about warm up through the lens of launching, which I can get support for by doing XYZ.
So I think it's a great reminder for all our listeners, don't be afraid to be really upfront, at the very beginning, you don't have to save your pitch until the last possible second, you can state it right there upfront, and invite people that way. The first time you launched this private podcast in December, how did you promote it? Kelsey, were you blasting this all over to all of your organic channels? Did you put any ad spend behind it? How are people finding out about it?
Yeah, I'm lucky to have a super engaged audience. So I basically always work in public I like share as I'm doing things, so I was kind of like I'm launching this I would I shared the cover art of it, I would share myself like doing the episodes and kind of build a little waitlist around it. Yeah. And then I gave like an early price to the waitlist. That was the $49 that people could get in like super early. And then I had all those CTAs of people sharing so right when it launched there were loads of people listening that I would share.
I always just like shared my stories. I would share you know, I don't think I ever shared like a feed post. I think it was all through stories and email. Oh, watch is usually how I sell anyway. No, no paid ads or anything. Yeah. But yeah, just posting it often like giving people a CTA to purchase, having other people share, and then work that idea of working in public. So really, like actually sharing the process of creating it, I think gets people really engaged and intrigued and wanting to purchase.
I could not agree more. I'm such a huge fan, both as a consumer and as a creator of the concept of building and public. I just think it's so fascinating to get into the weeds of someone's process and like their real time experiments. I prefer that I think to a fully fleshed out beautified product, it feels like to your point that I have some I don't know like skin in the game, I guess in the success of whatever they're building if if I'm part of the process.
So I love that tip. For anyone listening today who's thinking maybe I want to try something similar for my next launch. Don't feel like you have to have it fully ready to launch before you ever talk about it. Feel free to you know, even start the idea of what the private podcast might be about. And start talking with your with your audience today about that.
Yeah, and start a waitlist and then like have people maybe even vote on polls about like, what they want to learn about or what the first episode will be. There's so many ways to like have them as part of the creation process.
Greattip, after you launched it the first time in December, and the January open cart closed. You mentioned that there were still people who were listening to it on evergreen, like in between the January and the April May launch. Do you actively continue to promote the private podcast during that window? Or was it more so just people who had bought it earlier? We're catching up and listening to it after the close cart window?
Yeah, so I would definitely still promoted here and there. People were still sharing it, but I also had it in a funnel like an email funnels. So if you signed up for a free workshop, then it was almost like a tripwire kind of within that, I guess is the word for it. Although I hate that, I hate that word. It sounds like you're trying to pull a fast one on somebody. But you know what I mean? It's like it was like kind of tacked on to a freebie. So that converted a lot of people in between, which would then kind of convert people into long term way in between us as evergreen students.
So in between live launches, and you're saying people can still join at at their own time at anytime.
Yeah, so it's always on evergreen, but then I'll do a live it's kind of a hybrid program like it's always on evergreen, there's a membership, that's part of it. So you get access to six months of like the membership, the marketing membership and you can watch the replays. But you also get your ticket to the next live launch when you when you join and that's when I teach it live. And I'll do that a couple times a year and I love teaching it live just because launching isn't something that is ever evolving people's purchasing habits change.
I'm always testing new things I'm always refining. So I just like love kind of that live energy around teaching it. And I love giving people kind of like my latest learnings around it as well. So I love to kind of keep that as an element. But in between, yes, you can still kind of purchase into it.
No, I think that's so true. Like anything related to marketing, I think is always I mean, there's some tenants that like, never really changed about just buyer behavior and buyer psychology. But I think the method in which you present that information can definitely change month to month, year to year. So I love that you still keep your pulse on that. I think that's really important and very beneficial for your students.
Yeah.
For the April May launch, when you, you know, went back full force into life launching it this time, because you already had the private podcast ready and made. It was present in that launch from the very beginning. I believe I read somewhere in your case study submission that there was a presale discount or code tied to the private podcast. Am I remembering that correct?
Yeah, I tended to the private podcast, I tied it to close friends, which we could do a whole nother episode, close friends on Instagram. And it was also tied to the waitlist. So kind of if you were like in those pools of people and you hadn't converted previously, you would have gotten kind of like the waitlist early B, which was like is like a private presale. That's like an email only kind of presale. Yeah.
What's the discount on the program for that?
I believe it was $300 off.
Yeah, that's pretty significant for a $15 offer.
Yeah.
Do you like the the actual technical mechanics of this? I'm sure some of our listeners who have not produced a private podcast may be wondering this. When you're sharing time sensitive codes, how do you deliver that and then retracted? I guess, when it's no longer applicable? Like if someone's listening on evergreen? Do you leave it in there? Do you re upload a new file with that piece cut out? Or how are you inserting that kind of time sensitive information into those episodes?
Yeah, so I don't actually put it in the episodes. I do have like a discount code that's like evergreen in the episodes, but I don't actually put it in there. For that very reason. I just might. I'm very like, I call myself squiggle brains, like I would never, like my mind is just like blah.
So I just would never remember to do that. But what I do do is I have a list of all the people who have downloaded who are listening, and I send them emails like Oh, weightless presale email funnel, that gives them the discount.
Okay, yeah. Okay. So it's more of like a what do you call it like a back end way of getting them? They're not hearing about it as they're listening or reading it in the show notes at all?
No, no, they're just getting it via email as being listeners.
That's very cool. Do they know when they purchase the podcast that they are going to be getting an incentive like that? Or is it totally like a surprise and delight strategy there?
I'd say it surprise and delight. Yeah. I don't necessarily tell them like when the next live is happening, or like when I'm launching it. But if they've been following me for a while, they probably know that I always do some sort of a pricing incentive to a waitlist. So yeah, I think it's just nice to include them as well for being part of that thought podcast experience.
I love that. And then you said for the Evergreen people in between launches, they're hearing a certain evergreen code that's just always present. What what is that discount? Is it? Is it slightly less than what you offer during life windows?
Yeah, that's $50 off. If you are like listening to the podcasts, you just like always get that code. And then if you're on the Evergreen funnel, so if you're like, opting into that free workshop that then goes to the private podcast, and then into launch your own way. I think that's actually $200 off. So there's like a lot of different It depends, like where you come in through, I guess. But yeah, the Evergreen funnel you do like always get $200 off in between launches.
That's nice. And when you are referring to the funnel, I'm assuming like, no matter what the optin entry point is, the ongoing funnel so to speak, is I'm assuming like an email seat sales sequences?
Yeah, it's like an email funnel. Yeah, I just switched everything over to Shopify, and clay vo so I don't have like up to date stats on all that stuff. I like literally just got it set up this week. But um, loads and loads of people grow through that funnel. It's like, pretty much all the CTAs on my website for the freebie or to that funnel. So it's not as highly converting as I would like. I think there's definitely things I could do to adjust it. I think I would also like to maybe try some ads this year, once I have everything up and running in Shopify, but yeah, I find email like a one of my best kind of sales channels for sure.
I totally concur with that. I'm right up there with you. Yeah. Kelsey, to wrap up this case study I would love to ask you about the thought process behind adding new episodes you you have alluded to this several times in our conversation say that, you know, the original format, it was eight episodes that launched in December. And then for the May one you added in new episodes, these new episodes, are they new interviews with launch your own way students? Are they new solo episodes? And if so how does that fit in with like the structure of the first five that you originally launched with?
Yeah, it's a mix. Okay, so I added a couple of interview episodes, because I just had some awesome case studies I wanted to share between the January and May launch. And then I also added a q&a episode, because there were so many people from the third lesson that just like sent questions or like were in my DMs. So I wanted to do kind of a q&a episode, I think I'll keep doing those because they're quite fun. And then I wanted to add an episode on working in public, that actually hasn't gone live yet. I'm thinking about putting it live with the Evergreen funnel that's going live in clay vo to kind of do those in conjunction, but I want to do one all about kind of that idea of working in public and how this is like just a great warm up strategy throughout any kind of launch campaign.
So yeah, I think as training has come up, and if I have an idea that like fits well, within the curriculum of what I'm teaching in the warm up and doesn't isn't covered and launch your own way, right, because I want to make sure they're like very separate kind of trainings, then it's a great thing to kind of drop in there.
Yeah, definitely. I and I think that it's really smart to continue to add in new case studies, especially, like you said, to show the wide breadth of students that go through your program and how they're seeing success. And the q&a is super smart, too, because I'm sure each cohort of students kind of have their own unique questions that might come up. I guess my one, if I'm playing devil's advocate, like one of the appeals, right of what you said at the beginning of a limited series, podcast is its brevity, the fact that you could potentially, let's say, binge it in a weekend, and it's has kind of like a finite end.
Do you plan to continue adding new episodes every launch? And if so, at what point? Do you feel like you would want to cap it so that it doesn't become like, like, let's say, someone seven launches down the line, you know, downloads this private podcast, and there's like, 50 episodes now sitting in the library? Do you feel like that would impact its effectiveness at all?
Yeah, that's such a good question. I definitely want to keep it short and sweet. I don't know if I'm going to keep adding to it every single launch. I do see myself maybe updating the episodes in the future, like re recording or just freshening them up the same way that I do with a long term way. program every couple months, because I think, you know, you learn and you grow, and you have kind of new perspectives on things. But yeah, I think I'll definitely keep it kind of no more than like 15 ish episodes. It's a 12 right now.
So I can see myself kind of capping it there. It is a great idea for a series, but I just don't want to put myself on the hook for having to deliver consistent content in that format quite yet. I think I just have too many other ideas and things that I want to do. And that's one of the things that keeps me away from doing like a public podcast, because I mean, I admire you so much for always putting out episodes, but I think I would have a hard time with the consistency of it.
It is difficult, I'm not going to lie, like we're five years into it. And it doesn't necessarily get easier, I would say it really is an act of discipline. But I will say I think it's really smart what you're doing in terms of how you're approaching this because I feel like, again, like listening to a private podcast for a very specific reason. I do appreciate the brevity of something. So like how you formatted it in such a concise way, I think is part of why it is effective.
So for our listeners, by the way, I'm a huge believer that the best way to learn is by literally experiencing said things. So if you're at the end of this case, study thinking okay, I I kind of get the concept of what Kelsey sharing, but I want to like really dive deeper into this. Download the podcast and like literally go through it. And I think you'll get even more takeaways as you're listening and then comparing it to what like Kelsey is sharing here behind the scenes. So, Kelsey, where can people go and download the podcast?
On my new Shopify site, which I will give you the kind of like direct link to but it's cominguproses.co is my new Shopify site and have a click around. It was a big, big project moving it felt like moving a house. I don't know how many times you've had to build a new website, but there's just I felt like I have nothing left inside of me right now.
But thank you for showing up today. Because I totally get what you mean. Like that side of business is really not my favorite thing. And so yeah, it's a Herculean task. Congratulations for completing it. Where else besides your website, which we will include in the show notes, so if you want to check out the warmup, the private podcast or anything else Kelsey is doing you can go look below, but where else can people connect with you Kelsey?
Well I'm a millennial girly, so I'm always on Instagram. That's where I live. That's where my business lives. If you want to say what up like, slide into my DMs, I also have a marketing close friend. So if you're interested in any of these conversations around podcasts or other data around launching, q&a is around launching, like, that's where I'm hanging out, kind of with a group of about 500 people who are really opting in to close friends and wanting to learn more about marketing.
So smart. I know you're really enticing me. I feel like now I have to have you back on to talk about the close friend space. We'll have to. We'll have to do a part two. Yes.
Yes. Love that.
That would be so much fun. Kelsey, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us today and all of your data for all of you listening in, make sure you go say hi to Kelsey, give her a thank you tell her what part of this episode stood out to you the most. You don't know how much that means to us as creators. It really does make a difference when you take the time out of your day to share even privately not even you know something you have to post publicly but we love to hear from listeners what they're getting away from each episode.
Also, if you are thinking about starting a private podcast, I did want to plug this in Kelsey mentioned she used Hello audio. Shout out to Lindsey Pedia the founder of that platform, awesome platform, highly recommend looking into it. Or if you're already using Kajabi or are wanting to host things all in one place. We use Kajabi for our private podcast. So if you want to try that out for yourself, we have a 30 day free trial link that I will link below. Alright, thanks everyone for tuning in. We will catch you in the next episode.
Bye thanks so much.
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