When your launch doesn't go as planned | Ep. 51 Content Magic with Lindsay Smith

In this episode, I'm telling you all about how life happened in the middle of my launch for The Content Code, my signature program and the lessons learned from trying to revive that launch and how I'm not emotionally attached to the outcome.

I'm also chatting about how we are NOT content creating machines and taking a break is completely normal. And, you don't have to apologize for it.

And, as always, I'm giving you some important content takeaways to consider!

Tune in for an insightful and heartfelt discussion on navigating the ups and downs of content creation without losing your mind. Let's get started!

Lindsay [00:00:00]:
If you don't put out content in a week, nothing's going to happen. If you have an online business, you're creating content and the way you create.

Lindsay [00:00:10]:
Content is more important than ever. It's really noisy out there and learning to stand out is the only way. Hey, I'm Lindsey and I'm the host of the Content Magic podcast. All about being an entrepreneur and creating kick ass content to market yourself and your business. I have a not so secret superpower for copywriting, marketing and content content. And I've helped hundreds of folks just like you show up with a ton of confidence in the online space. I've been doing this content thing for 20 years and I believe thexa real magic is a combo of intuition, creativity and strategy. You can create content for your business without losing your mind.

Lindsay [00:00:50]:
I promise. So tune in every week for tangible content tips, inspiring guests, and some real spicy opinions. Probably mine.

Lindsay [00:00:58]:
Ready to dive in?

Lindsay [00:01:00]:
Let's go.

Lindsay [00:01:01]:
Well, hello friends and welcome back to the podcast. So firstly, here's something I believe that when it comes to your content, you do not have to like apologize for taking a break. You don't have to be like, oh my God, I'm so sorry, I've been mia. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Because nobody notices. So I'm going to guess nobody noticed that there's been no new podcasts over the past two weeks. And here's what's happening. So firstly, my youngest is seven and he had over Canadian Thanksgiving weekend he had an appendicitis, so we had to spend a couple of days in the hospital with him after he got his appendix out.

Lindsay [00:01:48]:
So my husband and I sort of switched off. He was there for four nights, so my husband and I were switching off and spending the night with him. Meanwhile, I also have a 10 year old, so thankfully my mom was able to help out with her. So that's what happened. And then you know when like you have to care for somebody else, whether it's a child or a parent or an animal or whatever, all of your energy just goes to caring for that person. And I found that as a mom especially, you don't even question what needs to be done, you just kind of do it. So that's what I was doing. And then he was home for a little while because he had to recover.

Lindsay [00:02:36]:
And at the time of this recording he had, he just went back to school. So I finally kind of had like a quiet home. Then on the other side of being in a hospital when you have no idea what time it is, I Am in a lovely mastermind group with my friend Jan, and she had a business retreat sort of in the Ottawa ish area. So the following weekend after that, after my son was in the hospital, I went to this business retreat. It was delightful. It was really awesome. And I'm still kind of, like, processing it. So the way I just wanted to describe it was it was kind of exhausting, but also I just felt, like, filled up.

Lindsay [00:03:29]:
So these are women who, while I knew from, like, Zoom meetings and stuff, I had never met them in person. So even that part was, like, awesome. And I think there's something to be said. Like, I know we throw around this idea of, like, women supporting women, but there's a lot of women who don't actually support women.

Jan [00:03:51]:
And this is a group that, like.

Lindsay [00:03:52]:
Actually does like, that, like, champion. We champion each other and we lift each other up. And the other thing is, we are all super smarty pants.

Jan [00:04:01]:
I think there is a huge difference.

Lindsay [00:04:03]:
Between randomly starting an online business and being like, okay, I'm. I. And then being good at it and then being like, okay, now I'm going to teach other people how to build an online business when the only business they built is themselves, their own business. So I think it's wildly different when somebody has real life experience from out in the world and then shifted that experience to offer things to other people online. So I feel very lucky to be surrounded by those people.

Jan [00:04:44]:
Most of us are all over 40.

Lindsay [00:04:45]:
We've worked out in the world doing something for like 10, 20 years, and then we brought that expertise to the online space. Okay? So those are the two things that have been. Have been happening. And that means there was just no time for podcasts. There was just no time. There was no time. So at first I was kind of like, oh, I gotta get something out. And then I was like, wait a minute, Lindsay, here's something that you tell people, right? It's okay to take a break from your content.

Jan [00:05:23]:
You don't have to be constantly churning.

Lindsay [00:05:25]:
Out content just for the sake of churning out content. So I kind of took my own advice here. And, you know, that first weekend that I was in the hospital, we got home on a Monday, the Thanksgiving Monday, and I was kind of felt like, oh, my God, I gotta get out, gotta get it out. And then even my. My podcast editor, Mike, he just was like, if you can't do it, you can't do it.

Jan [00:05:48]:
Like, don't worry about it. And I had. And I had a lot of help.

Lindsay [00:05:50]:
Like, I had some people offer to Just like, do you want me to, like, record a random masterclass so that, you know, all you have to do is the intro and the outro? You know, a couple of people offered to do that, but they were just too. They're like, I don't know what to say about content. I was like, just say whatever you want. So it didn't happen. And then the business retreat. I got back on the Sunday, however, my son was still home. And if you want to know something about seven year olds, they will, they will wait until you're recording something to interrupt. So my, again, my editor, Mike, he has a six year old, so he knows what's up.

Lindsay [00:06:35]:
He knows, he knows, but still. And also, this is the thing. This is just my life. It's just my life. And one of my huge brand values is authenticity and transparency. So I'm just going to be transparent with you. Okay? So while all these things were happening, I was also launching another cohort of my signature program, the content code. And the way I have, the way I launched it previously, I did like a live challenge, I did a bunch of trainings.

Lindsay [00:07:13]:
I, you know, I had a super engaged audience and my launch was going really well until I kind of got derailed a little bit and had to spend some time in the hospital. So I kind of had two choices at that time. After we got out, it was kind of like, okay, just leave it and take care of myself, take care of my kids and figure it out later or try to pick up the momentum and because I am me and I can't not just like, sit around, I was like, okay, let's try to pick up the momentum. Didn't quite work out how I thought. So the doors to the content code closed like last night at the time of this recording. And I would say this is a launch that one might consider a failure.

Jan [00:08:10]:
However, I think I've shared before on.

Lindsay [00:08:12]:
This podcast that failure is kind of like a funny word because it's one.

Jan [00:08:17]:
Of those words that you sort of.

Lindsay [00:08:19]:
Have to, like, attach meaning to. And I don't think I assign much meaning to it because when you think about it, and you guys know, like.

Jan [00:08:30]:
I'm a word nerd when you think.

Lindsay [00:08:31]:
About it, what is, what does failure even mean? What does it mean? Like, I don't know, like, is it a, you know, like, if you consider like a failed marriage, is it failed or is it just moving on? And if you think about like a failed launch, is it a failed, or is it just information? And so to me, I have no emotional Attachment to what somebody might consider is a failed launch. I'm just kind of like, okay, cool, what do we do next? So to me, and you know, one of my, I've always been very curious and I don't know if that's my journals and training or just my own brain is that I ask a lot of questions. So to me I'm kind of like.

Jan [00:09:19]:
Okay, what's the feedback? What's the data?

Lindsay [00:09:21]:
Like, what happened? You know, and, and getting inside the minds of my ideal clients and the.

Jan [00:09:29]:
In the minds of those who were.

Lindsay [00:09:30]:
Part of my challenge and kind of being like, okay, so what happened here and how can I shift that for the next time? Because like the actual offer, the program, I, I 127 million percent believe in it. Like, it's not, doesn't mean like the offer is a failure. It just means, and even the word failure, like I'm the program, I'm going to launch the program again because I believe in it. And I know, like, and I've seen how it's transformed people's relationship to creating content. So that part, you know, it's, that part doesn't phase me. And you know, I, and I think we're, especially if you have a service.

Jan [00:10:16]:
Based business and you do these big.

Lindsay [00:10:18]:
Launches right, there are a ton of work, work. It's a lot of energy output. And to me I'm kind of like, all of that is still worth it. Like, all of that is still worth it. And to me, if like even one person took away from any of the trainings that I did, to me I'm kind of like, well, that's cool, right? Like, I, to me, I, I don't, it's, it's all worth it because it's all just information. It's all just data. It's just like, it's just learning. And I think something we forget is that this is just part of business.

Lindsay [00:10:55]:
It's part of business. And something I was talking about with.

Jan [00:10:58]:
My friend Amy recently was this idea.

Lindsay [00:11:00]:
Of like, I think we are still.

Jan [00:11:04]:
Sold into this idea that we have to continually invent new things.

Lindsay [00:11:09]:
Especially creative folks like me, we're always like, oh, but what about, what if I offer this? What if I offer that? What if I offer this? And I think, you know, so many of us are guilty of that. Not guilty, but it's just like that's our nature to, you know, we're creative. And I honestly believe anybody who has created, has their own business or works for themselves or is creative.

Jan [00:11:32]:
Even if you have a Brick and mortar business.

Lindsay [00:11:33]:
Like, you have to be creative, right? All.

Jan [00:11:35]:
I believe all of us are creative because all of us just, like, invented something from nothing.

Lindsay [00:11:41]:
So I think it's kind of maybe it's just like the human condition to continue to find new ways of doing things. And so much of business, entrepreneurship is just doing what's working, figuring out what works, and keep doing that until it stops working. And I think the other thing I think is, like, things have, like, shifted big time. So from the last time I launched this program to this time, things have changed. Even in the past, like, six months, I feel like in the online space, in the online business game, and if.

Jan [00:12:23]:
You'Re a small business or if.

Lindsay [00:12:25]:
Even if you're a business with a team, like, I feel like things have shifted.

Jan [00:12:29]:
And even what worked, like, six months.

Lindsay [00:12:31]:
Ago is maybe not working quite as well right now. And I've seen it everywhere, right? Especially when we talk about content, so. And you see it all over the place. Like, everybody's whining that their Instagram views are down or whatever. Which also goes to show that you just can't build a business on Instagram only. P.S. you need to be moving your people to something that you own. That's my psa.

Lindsay [00:13:05]:
So, you know, and it's. And I think, like, I. I hope if you're listening, you don't end up in the hospital for any reason, appendix or otherwise. But I want this to be a reminder that if you don't put out content in a week, nothing's going to happen. Nobody's going to know, nobody cares. And you do not have to apologize or like, just popping on because I've been mia. Sorry, guys. Sorry I haven't been.

Lindsay [00:13:41]:
Sorry I haven't been here. No, don't apologize. It's normal. It's normal that life happens and the content is not coming out as frequently as maybe it did.

Jan [00:13:56]:
And also this whole thing about consistency. Like, are the gurus even still talking about consistency?

Lindsay [00:14:02]:
Because even that word, I feel like it doesn't even mean anything anymore. Like, you know, I saw something the other day that, you know, it was. It was this whole sort of, like, cheat sheet for Instagram specifically. Like, post two stories per day, but wait for the first story to expire before you post the third story. Use a viral hook, but only if you know your hamster is orange. And also, don't use a viral hook on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Also use a carousel on Fridays, but.

Jan [00:14:38]:
Only if it's a full moon.

Lindsay [00:14:39]:
It was like a list, like, that that was like ridiculous and it was like a real person that put it out. And so to me, I like that that is like the opposite of what people need. People are already overwhelmed with this whole content creation thing. Why would you put something out? That just makes it more complicated. And so, you know, and so much of what's out there for learning content is very. It's like create 30B roll videos in three days. Okay, first of all, B roll videos are only for Instagram or TikTok. Like that's not stuff that like you can repurpose and like a viral hook, whatever the hell that even means.

Lindsay [00:15:23]:
That's also only really for social media. I mean, yeah, a hook can also be like a subject line for your email. But I think what's offered out there is very social media heavy. So I just want to remind you that not.

Jan [00:15:40]:
You don't have to build a business.

Lindsay [00:15:41]:
On social media if you don't want to. There are other ways to do it. You can write blog posts and get some help with your SEO. You can build an email list with a really valuable lead magnet. Not a shitty lead magnet that you just throw together or that like ChatGPT told you to do, but one that actually answers question that your people have. And the only way you're going to do that is with by asking your people what they need the most and by creating that. Anyways, this is just kind of like a rambly episode because it's been like a cuckoo couple of weeks. So it's the 24th of October, which also means Halloween is coming up at my house.

Lindsay [00:16:29]:
So there's a. There's just a lot on the go. And so in conclusion, I don't. I'm not sure I have a conclusion for this one other than sometimes your stuff gets interrupted by life and it's not the end of the world. Sometimes what you think is maybe a failure is really not.

Jan [00:16:51]:
There are.

Lindsay [00:16:53]:
And you know what? You know what? The way I look at it, I'm like, I'm still good at what I do. I'm still a really good content strategist. I'm still a really good copywriter. So this offer has nothing to do with me going, being good at what I do. So I just want you to remember that if what other people say is a failure, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a failure. And even I like and I would.

Jan [00:17:18]:
Encourage you to examine the word failure.

Lindsay [00:17:20]:
And what that even means to me. It's just like, okay, this thing didn't work. What are we doing next? And what do we want to learn from the thing that didn't work the way we wanted it to? And finally, if you don't have some business besties that you can like voice message, we need those. We really do. Part of the business retreat that I was at, there was a therapist who worked mostly with entrepreneurs. So we had like a chit chat with her and she talked a lot about mental health and entrepreneurship. And while yes, we do operate in.

Jan [00:18:01]:
Silos.

Lindsay [00:18:04]:
It'S really important to have community.

Jan [00:18:07]:
Where you can bounce ideas off and.

Lindsay [00:18:09]:
Be like, is this cuckoo or is this a great idea? You know, and I'm, I feel very grateful that I have those people. So if you don't have those people, one come to our content and coffee meetings. We, we have those every Tuesday at 12:00pm Eastern Standard Time. And we talk about content and we talk and I also give you a bunch of content ideas. So something you should know about me, my superpower is that I can. As soon as I figure out what you do and what you're good at and when it comes to your content and what you don't love about creating content, I can probably give you like 10 ideas in like 10 seconds. Not 10 seconds. Now.

Lindsay [00:18:54]:
I'm that person who's like offering you like a ridiculous offer, but I'm very good at content ideas. Oh my God. I'm getting real rambly. Okay, so thanks for tuning in and that's all for today. I'll see you next time. Toodaloo. Until then, bye.

Lindsay [00:19:14]:
Thank you so much for listening.

Lindsay [00:19:16]:
If you loved what you heard, don't.

Lindsay [00:19:17]:
Forget to subscribe, leave a review or share this episode on social media. And don't forget to tag me on Instagram @lindsaysmithcreative.

Jan [00:19:25]:
And if you do all three, I'll.

Lindsay [00:19:26]:
Be your best friend forever and invite.

Lindsay [00:19:29]:
You to all my birthday parties. That's it for today, and I'll see you next time.

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