As we approached the end of January and I found that our promotion plans for the first half of 2022 were not yet revealing themselves, I started asking myself:

How can we launch an online course in a way that feels better?

Over the past 13 years since I’ve been in the online marketing world (yep, I’m one of the elders in these parts) we’ve done all the strategies:

• 3-part video series
• Extensive, segmented email sequences (my favorite as a writer)
• Facebook and IG lives
• Case studies
• Long launch runways winding our message into our podcasts, blogs, and videos
• Paid advertising on social
• Webinars
• Challenges
• Affiliates
• Evergreen funnels
• Upsells, downsells, cross-sells
• And more!

Before I go on, I first want to say that I’m incredibly grateful for the internet and the opportunity to learn from my mentors and peers and also learn on the fly as we tinkered with our laptops and tweaked until we found what worked.

I’m very much aware of the profound privilege I have of making an amazing living doing work I love with the ability to spread my message to millions of people around the world with nothing more than an internet connection and a couple of digital devices. 

For better or worse, though, I’m a tinkerer.

As an Enneagram 7 and a Manifesting Generator in Human Design, repeating the same thing over and over again is terminally boring.

Plus, there’s been a body of work bubbling up in me over the past year asking me to shake things up.

It felt like it was time to color outside the lines and let some of the digital marketing strategies we’d been using for years go to make room for what’s asking to come through.

An Answered Prayer

Cut to February when I found myself carving out 5 hours in one single week unplanned to devote my rapt attention to my friend Cathy Heller’s free abundance event she was teaching live in a Facebook group.

At first I popped on just to support her and see what she was up to but I was hooked and then I was transformed.

Diving in with her over a short period of time helped me shift my energy and beliefs about what’s possible for me differently than reading a book or even working 1:1 with a coach or therapist could do.

There was something about the power of her full presence, her ability to plug into Universal truth and just let it flow, the short period of time and the other people connecting in with the same messages together from all over the world that popped something open in me.

Watching Cathy felt so good. It also felt like the answer to my questions:

How can we launch an online course in a way that feels better?

She didn’t have slides. She didn’t have an intricate email sequence. She didn’t have a super dialed-in, highly strategic 7-day challenge that would take people through a series of calculated action steps preparing them to buy her program.

She simply showed up and allowed herself to be a conduit of love, healing and abundance for a bunch of days in a row in a forum that people could plug into.

Cathy was kind enough to sit down with me and walk me through the way she does a launch of an online course and I could feel my whole body relax as she explained.

I could feel how its simplicity could allow me to show up more fully to the messages that want to come through me into the world right now.

I could see how doing fewer things during the launch would allow us to do the things we did decide to keep in an even more devoted way.

I could see how good it was going to feel in the process of launching. (Hallelujah!)

So, that’s what we’re up to over here at The Origin Company.

We’re doing it a little differently from Cathy, adding in some elements, removing a few others, but mostly just listening to the call to show up in real time with folks and build connection and intimacy.

The Behind the Scenes of How and What We’re Doing to Launch An Online Course Right Now

It feels a little edgy and like I’m not supposed to share the behind the scenes of what we’re doing in real time while we’re doing it, but I’m gonna do it anyway.

So, here’s what’s happening:

Right now we’re inviting our community (that’s you!) to the 3-day live Replenish Masterclass I’m teaching starting next week.

(If you haven’t signed up yet you can get your ticket here.)

I’m SO excited to take the journey with you during the Replenish Masterclass and help you start to switch your fuel source from stress and pressure to wholeness, joy, and pleasure.

It’s gonna be delicious and healing.

Folks who join Replenish can use whatever they invested in the masterclass as a credit toward a future program with The Origin Company. 

(It doesn’t apply to every single program but it does to most of them.)

After Replenish is over, there will be some folks who want even more.

Some will have made subtle shifts. Some will have made dramatic ones.

And some will be primed and hungry for what’s next.

For those, I’ll show them how we can keep the journey going in our next program (which is something we’ve never offered before but is based on the curriculum I co-created with the Origin Mastermind last year.)

I’ll keep showing up and building that intimacy and connection so those who feel called to the next thing can make a decision that feels really great for them.

And then we’ll begin the deeper dive in mid-April.

In this moment in our history when we’re all “connected” at all times through our devices, something I’m craving even more of is real time connection where I can see people’s faces and feel their hearts shine through their eyes.

This time around, we’re going for less automation and more connection.

I feel really excited about it and really relaxed about it simultaneously. There’s a deep exhale of trust that I’m using as my guiding principle in this launch season.

I’m practicing unclenching and letting the waves of intensity roll through rather than using the “push, push, push, explode!” model of launching that’s been the Gold Standard in this industry since I’ve been around. (Read what I wrote about online marketing and orgasms for more on this.) 

If you want to follow along, the best way to do that is to join me for the Replenish Masterclass.

As always, I’ll keep you posted on what I learn along the way.

Here’s to heeding the call for more ease and flow and knowing when it’s time to ditch the rule book (or at least skip a few pages.)

OVER TO YOU:

What strategies have you tried when you launch an online course? What have you loved as someone following along as a potential customer in a launch? What haven’t you loved? I’d love to hear your experience in the comments!

P.S. It’s going to be so delicious to connect with you during the Replenish Masterclass as we go on a journey to breaking the addiction to stress and learning how to repattern our minds and nervous systems so we can do the work that we love without stress and pressure being the driving forces. 

Get your ticket for the Replenish Masterclass so you can be part of it.

Kate Northrup is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, mother, and founder and CEO of The Origin Company, which reaches hundreds of thousands globally. Kate is committed to supporting ambitious women to light up the world without burning themselves out. She’s the author of Do Less, the Do Less Planner System creator, and runs The Origin Membership, which helps business owners grow their business while doing less.