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We’re Jason and Caroline Zook, a husband and wife team running two businesses together and trying to live out our version of a good life in the process. In this business podcast, we share with you our lessons learned about how to run a calm, sustainable business—one that is predictable, profitable AND peaceful. Join us every Thursday if you’re an online creator who wants to reach your goals without sacrificing your well-being in the process.
[00:00:00] Caroline: Welcome to Growing Steady, the show where we help online creators like you build a Calm business, one that's predictable, profitable, and peaceful. We're your hosts, Jason and Caroline Zook, and we run Wandering Aimfully, an un-boring business coaching program and Teachery, an online course platform for designers. Join us each week as we help you reach your business goals without sacrificing your well-being in the process. Slow and steady is the way we do things around here, baby.
[00:00:29] Jason: All right, cinnamon rollers, that's you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the podcast. Here we are. We're going to get started, and we are getting into the podcast right now. This is the beginning of the podcast. We are here.
[00:00:42] Caroline: I want you to know we're here. I want you to know everyone listening, Jason did start with a few vocal warmups that sounded...
[00:00:47] Jason: Do you want me to redo them?
[00:00:48] Caroline: I don't.
[00:00:49] Jason: I'll just, real quick, I'll put the mic away. I'll put the mic away.
[00:00:56] Caroline: Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy.
[00:00:57] Jason: [vocalizing] So those are a couple vocal warms that I do as a professional podcast man.
[00:01:01] Caroline: Okay. Yeah. And he pulled the microphone away...
[00:01:04] Jason: Uh-huh.
[00:01:04] Caroline: ...from himself when he did that, but...
[00:01:06] Jason: I would ask you to do it, but I don't believe you could get your mic positioned back where I want it, and then we'd have to fight about that.
[00:01:12] Caroline: And you'd be right about that.
[00:01:13] Jason: Yeah.
[00:01:13] Caroline: So that's a good call.
[00:01:15] Jason: I have a quick little preamble top.
[00:01:17] Caroline: What's up?
[00:01:17] Jason: We got an email from Spotify saying that this is all podcasts that are submitted to Spotify, that there's a new feature of commenting on Spotify...
[00:01:27] Caroline: Okay. Mm-hmm.
[00:01:28] Jason: ...which I actually am very interested in just knowing how many people who listen to our podcast.
[00:01:33] Caroline: Because, what? You know I'm a Spotify girly.
[00:01:35] Jason: I know you are.
[00:01:36] Caroline: And you have always, for this longest time, been like, "What type of serial killer listens to podcasts on Spotify?" This one.
[00:01:42] Jason: Exactly. So if you're a fellow Spotify serial killer, I would just love to read some of your comments just to get an idea. So after I finish this sentence, please do this small task. Hit pause.
[00:01:53] Caroline: Okay.
[00:01:53] Jason: Go to the episode you're in Spotify listening, and there should be a little place to add a comment. Again, I don't use Spotify, listen to podcasts.
[00:02:00] Caroline: Just look for the place.
[00:02:01] Jason: Look for the place to leave a comment and just say, like write your favorite episode of our podcast that you've maybe ever listened to. It could be...
[00:02:07] Caroline: Or what are you doing right now when you're listening? How about that? One or the other. I just, I know people struggle with picking favorites. I've really struggle with that.
[00:02:14] Jason: All right, you get two options.
[00:02:15] Caroline: Thank you.
[00:02:16] Jason: You get three options. You get to pick a favorite.
[00:02:19] Caroline: Yup.
[00:02:19] Jason: You get to write down how and when you listen.
[00:02:22] Caroline: Yup.
[00:02:23] Jason: Or the third option is more cinnamon roll content or double more cinnamon roll content.
[00:02:29] Caroline: Perfect. Yeah.
[00:02:29] Jason: Because there's no other option.
[00:02:30] Caroline: There is no other option. Yeah.
[00:02:31] Jason: Yeah. All right. So Spotify listeners, hit pause, leave a quick comment. I don't know how you do it because I don't use it for podcast listening.
[00:02:37] Caroline: Go to the place.
[00:02:37] Jason: Go to the place. You know it, you're there. You're in Spotify.
[00:02:39] Caroline: You know. We're all there. We all know about it.
[00:02:42] Jason: Congratulations. And leave a comment.
[00:02:42] Caroline: Okay.
[00:02:42] Jason: So just love to see this. Thank you so much. That's our preamble top. All right.
[00:02:45] Caroline: That's the only preamble top?
[00:02:46] Jason: Yeah. That's all I have.
[00:02:47] Caroline: Nothing else you want to share?
[00:02:47] Jason: You haven't baked me anything in six years.
[00:02:49] Caroline: I told you, I did officially decide that was a short-lived thing. And I think every year for your birthday month, that's when I become a baker.
[00:02:57] Jason: May. It's going to be May.
[00:02:57] Caroline: But I cannot commit to anything beyond one month of the year.
[00:03:01] Jason: What about for your birthday? Because your birthday is coming up. You could bake me something. That would be nice.
[00:03:05] Caroline: That sounds terrible.
[00:03:06] Jason: I think that'd be really lovely.
[00:03:07] Caroline: What are you going to bake me for my birthday?
[00:03:09] Jason: You asked for biscuits.
[00:03:11] Caroline: I did ask for biscuits.
[00:03:12] Jason: Yeah. It's really always biscuits.
[00:03:13] Caroline: It's always biscuits. Yeah.
[00:03:14] Jason: They're a good go-to.
[00:03:14] Caroline: They're my favorite thing.
[00:03:15] Jason: Yeah. All right, let's get into some helpful stuff for folks who...
[00:03:18] Caroline: Wait, I have a good preamble top before we get into it. Because biscuits...
[00:03:20] Jason: Oh, sorry. Let me rewind that back, and I'll just do a quick edit. Hold on.
[00:03:26] Caroline: That's a pretty good.
[00:03:26] Jason: All right. Do you have any more preamble tops before we get into with?
[00:03:29] Caroline: I do, one more preamble top.
[00:03:29] Jason: Yeah.
[00:03:30] Caroline: Speaking of biscuits.
[00:03:30] Jason: Could you do a quick rewind of yours, though? Pretty good. Nice.
[00:03:36] Caroline: Okay. We just did something for the first time in our monthly live coaching sessions. We always do a segment at the very end for anyone who just wants to hang around and like...
[00:03:48] Jason: Oh, yes. Yeah.
[00:03:48] Caroline: It has nothing to do with teaching content, but it's just, like a fun hangout thing. And Jason...
[00:03:52] Jason: Let the jury know quickly before this is brought up. I'd let the jury to know that I had this idea about six months ago, and I was like, I think this could be a fun addition to the very end of our podcast. And the defendant... Sorry, the, what's the other person?
[00:04:07] Caroline: The prosecutor.
[00:04:08] Jason: The prosecutor. Yeah.
[00:04:10] Caroline: No, that's the lawyer.
[00:04:10] Jason: Yeah.
[00:04:11] Caroline: The plaintiff. Plaintiff.
[00:04:12] Jason: The plaintiff...
[00:04:13] Caroline: Mm-hmm.
[00:04:13] Jason: ...was adamant in saying, "I don't think this is a good idea. This seems dumb." So the defense rests in bringing up this argument. Objection sustained. Go ahead.
[00:04:23] Caroline: It was a great idea. So Jason does a tier list where he picks the subject, and then he ranks those things. You know what a tier list is. It's like this is F list. This is D list all the way up to A list, and then S tier is like the best of the best. And so, we've done everything from Halloween candy to holiday movies to salad toppings.
[00:04:40] Jason: Sorry. Christmas movies. Because everyone agreed I did perfect Christmas movie ranking. We didn't do Halloween movies yet. That'll be this year.
[00:04:46] Caroline: I said holiday movies.
[00:04:47] Jason: Oh, I thought you said Halloween movies.
[00:04:48] Caroline: No, we did holiday movies.
[00:04:49] Jason: Which Halloween movies, I'm excited because...
[00:04:51] Caroline: Oh, we should definitely do Halloween movies.
[00:04:52] Jason: ...there's like three good ones. The rest are trash.
[00:04:55] Caroline: Because true. And Jason always does it. And so, Jason was like, "You need to do a tier list this month."
[00:05:00] Jason: Just to be clear. I always do the full ranking. Like, you show up, you have no clue.
[00:05:05] Caroline: I have no clue, which is the best.
[00:05:06] Jason: And you're just like, you're wrong. But with everybody who's there in our coaching session, you get to also be a part of the...
[00:05:13] Caroline: And the chat just goes on fire because it's just like, I think it's healing. I think it's healing because it is a space where we can just be absolutely silly, and we can all channel our sort of outrage at the state of the world...
[00:05:28] Jason: Yeah.
[00:05:29] Caroline: ...into this very safe and silly place where people are just like, "Jason, absolutely wrong. You're incorrect."
[00:05:35] Jason: Yeah. I think I put Butterfinger in the F tier list, for candies.
[00:05:37] Caroline: Oh, you got some shit about Butterfinger. Yeah, big time.
[00:05:40] Jason: Which it's a trash candy. Like, it's not good.
[00:05:43] Caroline: And I disagree.
[00:05:44] Jason: Yeah.
[00:05:44] Caroline: And I think the fact that we can still have a healthy marriage in spite of this disagreement is great. So Jason asked me to do the tier this time, and he prepared it all for me. He grabbed all the things, and it was potatoes. It was different preparations of potatoes.
[00:05:56] Jason: I think it was 31 ways to prepare the potatoes.
[00:05:58] Caroline: And when I tell you that this is some of the hardest decision-making I've ever had to make in my life.
[00:06:02] Jason: Because I gave you the out. Normally you have S, A, B, C, D, F. That's the ranking. S is super. F is terrible.
[00:06:09] Caroline: I was like, how am I supposed to put a potato in an F tier? Like that doesn't feel right.
[00:06:11] Jason: So I gave you the out. I was like, you could just have like S, A, and B.
[00:06:14] Caroline: And what did I say? I was like...
[00:06:15] Jason: And you're like, "I'm not going to do it. I'm going to actually make some tough choices."
[00:06:18] Caroline: I'm not going to do it. I'm going to make some tough choices. And...
[00:06:19] Jason: The most controversial of the group.
[00:06:22] Caroline: I put potato chips, I think, in D tier...
[00:06:24] Jason: D, yeah.
[00:06:25] Caroline: ...and that really got the...
[00:06:27] Jason: Would you say it ruffled their feathers?
[00:06:29] Caroline: It ruffled some feathers.
[00:06:30] Jason: Nice. Nice.
[00:06:31] Caroline: People laced down their love for WAIM. I don't know.
[00:06:37] Jason: No, no.
[00:06:37] Caroline: It's a stretch, but it was really fun.
[00:06:38] Jason: Yeah. If you do a live...
[00:06:39] Caroline: We just never talk about that, so I just thought it'd be fun to let podcast...
[00:06:39] Jason: Yeah. If you do a live call, I highly recommend just trying to add something that's more personality and interest. And it's not just about showing up to learn a thing. We can do that anywhere.
[00:06:52] Caroline: Yes. And also, I think a part of the benefit that we like to promote with WAIM is it's not just about learning, it's also about connection and being in an online space with people who you're having fun with.
[00:07:05] Jason: Yeah.
[00:07:05] Caroline: And so, we try to remember that as well and create experiences that are not just about learning.
[00:07:09] Jason: And it also, it does create these like fun little inside jokes...
[00:07:13] Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:07:13] Jason: ...that can carry forward, which I think like...
[00:07:14] Caroline: It's some lore.
[00:07:15] Jason: Yeah. And it makes your community stronger.
[00:07:17] Caroline: Yes.
[00:07:18] Jason: These are the things that's like a good business community, it's great to teach, and it's great to help people move forward in their lives, but it's those types of things that people remember forever.
[00:07:27] Caroline: Totally.
[00:07:27] Jason: That brings them back to like, "Oh, yeah. And also, I got...
[00:07:30] Caroline: Yup. This is the lesson before the podcast episode. If you run a community of any kind, try to lean into more of your thinking outside of the box, doing things a little bit silly. WAIM of Stones is another perfect example of just an out of the box idea we had about creating a fictional game for our accountability game. And talk about WAIM lore. It has become there's like a whole thing. And like, people are selling stones on this offshoot market.
[00:07:55] Jason: Yeah. I don't have it on hand, but we did a recent survey just asking folks for feedback of different parts of WAIM and the WAIM accountability WAIM of Stone section was so fun to read because people are like they agree to like, it is very silly.
[00:08:07] Caroline: Yes.
[00:08:08] Jason: But it's also the most accountable I've ever been in a weekly basis to my to-do's ever in my life.
[00:08:13] Caroline: Yeah.
[00:08:14] Jason: And like, there's no actual reward. It's absolutely all made up and dumb. But I love it. And I think it's great.
[00:08:19] Caroline: It reminds me a lot of you have been really into watching The Dropout videos lately, the short comedy videos.
[00:08:26] Jason: Yeah.
[00:08:26] Caroline: And I don't know where I was living under a rock of.
[00:08:30] Jason: That existing.
[00:08:30] Caroline: I had seen some of these videos maybe come across my feed before, but I'm really into comedy lately, just because sometimes you just need an escape.
[00:08:37] Jason: Yeah, the world's a little much.
[00:08:38] Caroline: And it always makes me laugh. But the way that they do, they're like point system, which reminds me of the old whose line is it anyway? Where it was just totally made-up points. They mean nothing.
[00:08:47] Jason: So arbitrary. Yeah.
[00:08:47] Caroline: And the more absurdity I think you can infuse into your membership, of course, for us, it's very on brand.
[00:08:54] Jason: Yeah.
[00:08:54] Caroline: So you want to make sure it aligns with your brand. But I do think that, like Jason said, those are the things that stick with people. So yeah, that is a preamble, sort of into a business lesson into let's get into the episode.
[00:09:04] Jason: Yeah. Fantastic. All right, so we are in the season of talking about launching.
[00:09:10] Caroline: Yes.
[00:09:10] Jason: This is what we really want to focus on in a couple weeks, you will hear us talk a lot more about this because we have the Calm Launch Formula coming out, which if you listen back to the previous episodes, we talked about how we're building that product and helping people have launches, but we want to give a little bit more background and also talk about why we think this is so important, which you've already done. But again, we're going to really harp on this because we really think it is a linchpin to running a nice, Calm business.
[00:09:34] Caroline: Yeah. And the place that I want to take this episode is just trying to explain more about why I believe so wholeheartedly that if you're someone who's overwhelmed in your business, if you are a solopreneur who really feels like you struggle with figuring out what to focus on in order to get momentum, well, we both do, believe that calm launching is the number one place that you should place your focus. And I want to explain why that is, because I want someone who is feeling pulled in a million different directions to leave this episode feeling like, okay, I know what I need to focus on now. And it is like, if I can just check off on the list, having this Calm Launch of putting together an irresistible offer that successfully gets launched to my list, like if I can check that off in my business, I am on my way to a thriving digital products business. Like, that is the first feather in my cap that I need to focus on. And everything that I'm doing all the activities need to be sort of pointing towards that one goal.
[00:10:33] Jason: Yeah.
[00:10:33] Caroline: I really believe that. And I want to state my case as twice believe that.
[00:10:37] Jason: Yeah, sure.
[00:10:38] Caroline: So backing up a little bit, you and I, since the dawn of time, since the beginning of Wandering Aimfully in 2018, our mission has always vaguely been helping people build online businesses that also allow them to live a good life in the process. The business has taken on many different forms of how to get that. But if you had to boil down what our mission has been from the beginning, it's been that.
[00:11:01] Jason: Yeah.
[00:11:01] Caroline: It's this belief that business does not have to sacrifice your well-being, that you can run a business that is sustainable, that you can live a good life in the process.
[00:11:09] Jason: It doesn't have to be insanely overwhelming and all the to-dos and the tactics and the building of a team and all that stuff.
[00:11:15] Caroline: That's right. And using business as a tool to live a good life.
[00:11:18] Jason: Yeah.
[00:11:18] Caroline: Also, not just to grow for growth's sake. And for a long time, you and I were like, okay, well, what do we think is holding people back from doing that? And a clear thing answer that always came back to us was just the lack of knowing what to focus on. Because if you are someone who is a solopreneur or a small team, you're just wearing all these hats all the time. Right? It's like, do I focus on marketing? Do I focus on my audience? Do I focus on content? What about my website? What about my branding? Like, there's a million different things. And so, for a long time live, our monthly coaching program was our answer to that because we thought, well, if we can at least just give you one topic per month, that can alleviate some of this indecision about what do I focus on, and it can just give you one thing to improve on each month. Right?
[00:11:59] Jason: Because you do have to do all those things.
[00:12:01] Caroline: Because you do have to do all those things.
[00:12:02] Jason: The reality is that a business especially an online business selling digital products, it's not as easy as just making the product and putting it up for sale.
[00:12:09] Caroline: Correct. So that was great. That was a good start. And we did find that people were like, "Oh, this is great, because I feel like I'm making progress every month because I'm giving myself permission to just shore up this one thing in my business, whether it's like, I'm going to work on my newsletter this month or I'm going to work on my offer or I'm going to work on my website, et cetera." The evolution of that, I feel kind of like 2.0 version of that was then people started saying like, "Okay, this is great, but I still feel like I'm hopping from thing to thing. I need a clear sequence of what needs to be prioritized first." Right? And so, that was when we launched the Un-Boring Business Roadmap, which was this very clear, like five steps. And it's like, start here at the beginning, and it's this cascade where if you get these things in order, then it tells you what order to do those things in. And that was really helpful. People were like, "Okay, thank you. This gives me some direction." The 3.0 version that I feel like we have now learned with many years of doing WAIM Unlimited is even that I feel like is so many steps where you and I took a step back and we said, okay, what are the core things where if you got these things, you're well on your way to a thriving digital products business? And what are those core things that put... Okay, picture a circle diagram where you have this core, like the Earth's core, and then you have these rings that go out beyond that core. Right?
[00:13:30] Jason: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:30] Caroline: But the core is the most important. And if you just get those things in check, then everything else becomes supporting around it.
[00:13:36] Jason: Yeah.
[00:13:37] Caroline: And that is where we landed on this idea of launching.
[00:13:40] Jason: Yeah.
[00:13:40] Caroline: Because launching is the essence of you have a thing of value, you have an audience to sell it to and people are paying you money for it. And if you can get that working, then everything else can be improved in order to support that. Does that make sense?
[00:13:56] Jason: Yeah. Absolutely. Quick little dumb metaphor that just came to my mind.
[00:13:59] Caroline: Oh, do it.
[00:13:59] Jason: Back when I was 12 years old, I think, I took taekwondo.
[00:14:04] Caroline: Amazing.
[00:14:05] Jason: I think I got to like, I don't know, green belt, didn't stick with it very long. I was 12. I mean, attention span of 12-year-old.
[00:14:10] Caroline: Yup.
[00:14:11] Jason: But when you're taking taekwondo, they're teaching you all kinds of stuff. You got a roundhouse kick, you got a front kick, you got a crescent kick, you got a high punch, you got a low punch, you got a mid-punch, you got a back spinning kick, you got a jumping kick, you got all these different things. Right?
[00:14:21] Caroline: Wow.
[00:14:21] Jason: So you're just learning all this stuff.
[00:14:23] Caroline: Yes.
[00:14:23] Jason: And it's like what we've been doing with WAIM, we've been teaching all this stuff. But when you get into a, let's call it a sparring match, not a fight. When you get into a sparring match...
[00:14:31] Caroline: Okay.
[00:14:31] Jason: ...what really matters is like, can you block?
[00:14:34] Caroline: Yup.
[00:14:34] Jason: Can you throw a punch?
[00:14:35] Caroline: Yup.
[00:14:35] Jason: And can you throw a kick?
[00:14:36] Caroline: Yup. Those were fundamentals.
[00:14:37] Jason: It's like all the other stuff, I can't do all that at the same time, I can't crescent kick, to a front kick, to a back kick, to a jump kick, like it's good to know all those things and have them in your repertoire because they might come up. But the reality is it's like, there's three things that you just need to be able to do.
[00:14:52] Caroline: Yes.
[00:14:52] Jason: And so, I think my dumb metaphor here...
[00:14:54] Caroline: I love that metaphor, Jason.
[00:14:55] Jason: ...is like running an online business, especially digital product business, you do need to know all those things and you do need to have the ability, which is why WAIM Unlimited, selfish plug or shameless plug, is so great because you have access to all that info. And I think we did it in the right way. We taught you all the moves in business for the past five years, and now we are moving into the era of, great, you can access all the lessons on the moves.
[00:15:18] Caroline: Yes.
[00:15:19] Jason: If you want to do your business, crescent kick. If you want to do your business, jump kick. If you want to do your business, high punch, you can learn all those different things. But also, now we want to focus on these three main fundamentals that actually are the things that like when you get into a sparring match and you got to show up for your business this month, these are the things you need to absolutely do.
[00:15:35] Caroline: Yes. And what I love about this is by identifying what those core things are, now it puts all of the kicks into context. So what I mean by that is by saying, well, first, let me just introduce, Jason and I have decided that for running a Calm business, which it doesn't mean all business, right? There are a million different ways to run a business. This doesn't mean this is the only way to run a business. But if you want to have a business like the type that Jason and I run, because we're just teaching our blueprint, the type of business where it doesn't feel chaotic, the type of business where you focus on simplicity, the type of business that allows you to take time off, not work completely, burning the candle at both ends, that type of business, right? That you can live a good life at the same time, then we really believe in these three things that we're calling the Calm business trifecta, which are, number one, an irresistible offer you can sell with repeatable launches.
[00:16:32] Jason: Yup.
[00:16:32] Caroline: So this launch formula is why we really think that's the linchpin. Number two, engage audience that you grow with a sustainable content system. You're listening to our podcast right now. This is a part of our sustainable content system that we've been doing for years. And then number three, and this is really, I think the differentiator that really sets Calm business apart is a peaceful daily schedule that comes with an enough mindset. You're not trying to squeeze out every single drop of revenue from your business because you know what enough looks like and you know that you're prioritizing your mental health, your well-being, your balance, right? So repeatable launches, sustainable content system, enough mindset. Cool. What I love about this and this new framework of making those the heart of a Calm business is that if you picture that as the core and you picture the ring that goes around it with all of, like Jason said, all your taekwondo kicks, your special kicks, suddenly all those things become a lot more, they make a lot more sense because they exist in the context of the core. So what I mean by that is like, before, you're just being like, "Okay, my newsletter, I need it to be valuable. Okay, a lead magnet. I want to attract this type of person." But now, because of the new kind of arrangement and framework, your newsletter and your lead magnet need to be strategic in order to lead back to that repeatable launch that you're trying to have. Right?
[00:17:48] Jason: Yeah.
[00:17:48] Caroline: Because that is the core. And so, it all makes more sense. You're not just sort of like doing this one-off thing over here and then you're moving on to your website over here. It's like it all funnels together to make sure that you have this repeatable launch that can bring you revenue. Because we know a lot of you are listening to this because you want financial freedom and that's what we want for you.
[00:18:07] Jason: Yeah.
[00:18:07] Caroline: So I really am liking the evolution of just a better organization of steps that we can tell people to take because it takes something that's very nebulous and very scattered and a problem they already have. You listener are probably already have of feeling pulled in a million different directions, and it gives you this focus. And when you feel focused, you feel in control, you feel confident, you feel like the sequence of events that need to happen in order for you to reach your goals with your business.
[00:18:38] Jason: Yeah.
[00:18:38] Caroline: So that is the underlying belief that we have evolved into with why Calm launching is the linchpin to get you to a place of momentum in your business.
[00:18:50] Jason: Absolutely.
[00:18:51] Caroline: And to further illustrate this point, I was taking a walk down memory lane.
[00:18:55] Jason: Before we go to story time.
[00:18:56] Caroline: Yes.
[00:18:57] Jason: I have a quick shout out to subscribe to our newsletter. If you want to get our Calm fundamentals email series that's going out right now.
[00:19:04] Caroline: Yup. Calm launch Fundamentals.
[00:19:05] Jason: You can go to wanderingaimfully.com/newsletter, but the newsletter that's going to come out either with this episode or after it is one that is about evergreen versus launching.
[00:19:16] Caroline: Yup.
[00:19:16] Jason: And I really, we've been on this train for a long time that people tend to believe that evergreen is the way to go. It's easier, it is the more predictable route.
[00:19:25] Caroline: And that'll be next week's podcast episode.
[00:19:27] Jason: And we will talk about that. But if you want to get that in your inbox, if you want to have that happen where you can read it, and you can go back to it, I think this is going to be a really, really helpful episode. I think it's going to be one of the best episodes in newsletters and probably even a YouTube video. Like this really feels like a moment for our content that we want to stand by is that launching actually creates predictability where evergreen doesn't. And so, we'll come back to that with that other episode. But I want to give a shout out to the Calm Launch Fundamentals newsletter series, wanderingaimfully.com/newsletter.
[00:19:56] Caroline: Excellent shout out.
[00:19:57] Jason: Thank you.
[00:19:58] Caroline: So I wanted to go down...
[00:20:01] Jason: Memory lane.
[00:20:01] Caroline: Memory lane a little bit.
[00:20:02] Jason: Yeah.
[00:20:03] Caroline: And some of you who have been listening for many, many years will remember my business before Wandering Aimfully, which was called Made Vibrant. And those of you who are new will be like, "What business? Was there ever a time before Wandering Aimfully?" And there was. There was a whole business...
[00:20:15] Jason: Was there ever a time before, like four years ago?
[00:20:18] Caroline: Exactly.
[00:20:18] Jason: Everything feels very cloudy before then.
[00:20:20] Caroline: It's so true. But I was really thinking back to, because I was trying to put myself in the shoes of this person that we're really trying to help with WAIM Unlimited and Calm Launch Formula of you're kind of existing in that stage of online business where maybe you have a digital product or you're transitioning to digital products, but like nothing is really feeling calm. Everything feels like I don't have a strategy yet that feels like it has clicked. I am really exhausted. I don't know what to focus on. And I just don't feel like I've gotten momentum, right? And I was trying to put myself back in that place, which is when I was starting my own personal business, Made Vibrant, that's exactly how I felt. I had just discovered digital products. So I had created my first online course called Better Lettering course. And I'd gotten some sales and then now I was doing... But I had never done like a really big launch with Better Lettering course. It was more just selling it on the back end of my newsletter and blog at the time, because blogging.
[00:21:18] Jason: Yeah. Also, we didn't really have a lot of experience with "launching" at that time.
[00:21:22] Caroline: Exactly. So my first I would say, real launch was of my second course, which is Better Branding course. And this was all about how to create an authentic personal brand and design it from start to finish, even if you weren't a designer. And I went back, Jason, and I found my sales dashboard spreadsheets...
[00:21:39] Jason: Nice.
[00:21:40] Caroline: ...from 2015 and 2016. 2015 was the first year that I launched Better Branding course. And I saw that in the spring, I did my launch and I made $8,000.
[00:21:50] Jason: Yeah. To an email list we think was about like 1,000 subscribers at the time.
[00:21:53] Caroline: I think it was like maybe 1,500.
[00:21:54] Jason: But it was probably mostly like hand lettering people who found it that way.
[00:21:59] Caroline: Yeah. But I saw the spreadsheet and I was like, man, I remember that was such a moment because I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm doing it.
[00:22:07] Jason: Mm-hmm.
[00:22:07] Caroline: So that was my first I have an offer that people want. Like, I think it was like maybe a $200 product online course. And so, $8,000 in sales that's something.
[00:22:18] Jason: Yeah, for sure.
[00:22:18] Caroline: And so, I really felt like I was getting this momentum. But then I looked at my sales, and I looked at where my strategy went from later that year in 2015 to then 2016. And I now, having the benefit of hindsight, I recognize that moment as this moment that I'm trying to talk about in the earlier part of this episode where I had this chance, I had this irresistible offer, which I could have even poured more into to make it like that much better of serving this audience.
[00:22:44] Jason: Yeah, there's a very clear signal there that people want that thing.
[00:22:46] Caroline: Exactly.
[00:22:47] Jason: Yeah.
[00:22:47] Caroline: And I clearly executed a launch that brought in sales. So my sales page was doing what it was supposed to do and my pre-launch content was doing what it was supposed to do. And I truly believe that I could have, after that launch for the next four months, really tailored my content to this audience. I could have then done a second launch of it even better and probably doubled the revenue. Right?
[00:23:08] Jason: Oh, yeah.
[00:23:08] Caroline: And that could have really made my business take off. But I look back now and I'm like, what did I do instead? I totally abandoned it. I decided to pour all my effort into creating a different product.
[00:23:22] Jason: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:23] Caroline: Then a year later, a lower priced product actually, which brought in far less revenue. Then the following year, I shifted my entire business into the selling of my art prints. The 2016 dashboard is wild because you see all of my revenue streams by product.
[00:23:39] Jason: Start to stack up.
[00:23:40] Caroline: Side note tangent, if you have not done this, please create a spreadsheet where you see your revenue stream by product.
[00:23:45] Jason: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:46] Caroline: Because this is going to help you narrow down your offers, which is something I did not do. At 2016, I'm selling Better Lettering course, I'm selling Better Branding course, I'm selling your first e-course, I'm selling in my art shop, I'm selling e-books, I'm selling a workshop called Make Money Making. I have all these revenue streams, right? Like I basically was creating more work for myself. So I was making less money with more effort, which I think is the opposite of what I really needed at the time. And I only share that as a lesson to say with years of experience under my belt, I can now look back and go, if financial stability is what I was after at the time, I really wish I would have focused on taking the momentum I had built with Better Branding course and doubling down and creating this like Calm Launch repeatable formula that we're teaching.
[00:24:36] Jason: Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's definitely one of those lessons that looking back 10 years from there, you look back and you go, hey, all these other products that you made in the next two years, they just stressed you out and they just added so much clutter to your life when you had a clear winner.
[00:24:52] Caroline: Yeah.
[00:24:52] Jason: Like no other product ever got close to making the amount of money that Better Branding course did.
[00:24:57] Caroline: And listen, I want to say I know why I made that choice. I don't think it was a bad choice. I know that it was because I really wanted to scratch my creative itches. I was a brand new business. I really was just looking for something that felt like my thing that I could do, right?
[00:25:12] Jason: And you just had all these ideas you learned to get... Yeah.
[00:25:13] Caroline: And I had all these ideas and part of being a creative entrepreneur was being creative and I wanted to be creative. So the financial stability piece wasn't of the utmost importance to me at that moment. I was still getting by whatever, but I look back and I can see how much stress and chaos I was living in, because I thought that that was just the price I had to pay for like, doing all those creative ideas, but again, the thing, the bit of wisdom that I want to share with anyone who feels like that's them right now is if you want to scratch your creative itches and you know that that's what you're doing right now, is like tasting and testing all these ideas, by all means more power to you. Keep doing that. Like you are the ultimate authority on where you want to take your business. I'm not saying don't do that. However, if you're the listener right now who you know you're doing that and you want something different, which is you're just tired of the instability. You're tired of the unpredictability. Yes, it feels good to have your ideas come to life, but you just know that if you had six months to a year of predictable financial cushion, you'd be a different person. You'd be a better version of yourself because the stress would be off of you. That's who I'm talking to.
[00:26:17] Jason: Yeah.
[00:26:17] Caroline: And the piece of wisdom that I want to give you is if you can allow yourself to focus on just finding that sweet spot offer and putting together a launch plan that doesn't require you to live in chaos, one that is simple, one where you don't even have to do webinars if you don't want to, because Jason and I don't do webinars. That is, I believe, a viable path to the stability that you're looking for.
[00:26:48] Jason: Yeah. And we have coming out this previous weekend, as of this episode going up, there's a YouTube video about how we simplified our business with four exercises.
[00:26:59] Caroline: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:59] Jason: And one of the exercises is the offer scorecard, which is where you actually take a look at what are all your offers? How much money have they made? And there's also an enjoyment score. And it's choosing from those, because I can hear a lot of people who may be listening this are like, "Well, yeah, but I haven't had an offer that's made $8,000."
[00:27:17] Caroline: Right.
[00:27:18] Jason: "I've had one that's made 500 or one that's made 1,000. And I don't know which one is making enough for me to move forward with." And I think the offer scorecard is the perfect exercise where things are close. That really what's going to break the tie is the enjoyment factor of which one you want to work on, because there might be one that you, It's like a one out of 10, and 10 being great. It's like a 10 to work on, but maybe made half the money. But you could see yourself putting so much more effort into that, and that can actually lead to bigger launches. You just have to then formulate, okay, what's my marketing plan? Like how am I reaching more people about this thing? How am I creating more content?
[00:27:50] Caroline: Exactly.
[00:27:50] Jason: All that. And so, what I was going to say is, I think that if you're someone who is juggling a couple of offers and you just don't know which one to pick because there hasn't been a clear winner like you had, that exercise is the perfect one to decide that. And then, just like we say often is, just choose boldly. You just have to move forward, and you have to say, "Okay, this is what I'm going to stick with." And that, I think, is one of the biggest lessons that we've learned running WAIM Unlimited for the past six years and getting it to a multiple six figure business that is very calm to run, is we chose boldly.
[00:28:18] Caroline: Yeah.
[00:28:18] Jason: We just decided this is a thing we believe it exists in a niche where people pay for things, which is just business coaching. That is the niche that exists. How do we carve out our differentiator? Now we just need to create a launch system that's repeatable, create content around that. And this is a Calm business.
[00:28:33] Caroline: Yeah. And you're doing this, obviously, no one can see you, but you're doing this sort of circular motion with your hands.
[00:28:39] Jason: Yeah.
[00:28:39] Caroline: And this is why I think the diagram going back to the top of the episode of the core with the surrounding concentric circles is so powerful because I see it as this like spiral, right? Where I'm trying to get someone momentum, I'm trying to get someone leverage where they don't feel like their attention is being pulled in 12 different directions. And I can now visualize it in my head as like a spiral, where to your point, you're in that concentric, Calm Launch circle. You're in the Calm business trifecta circle, the very core of your Calm business. You find that offer, you choose boldly. Suddenly now you go, who's best suited to buy that offer? Okay, now I know who I'm talking to in my audience. Okay. I survey that audience. I understand what are their problems. I start creating content that is based on those problems that offer solutions. I learn more about what works and what doesn't. I pour that back into my offer. I have a lead magnet that's really powerful that they're very interested in. Now I can update the messaging on my website to speak to that person. Now I have my Calm Launch Formula. Right? Like it all now spirals upward into this momentum where you're no longer scattered. Like one thing is a domino to the next thing, and that is what brings you momentum.
[00:29:47] Jason: Exactly. Yeah. And I think that it's one of those, it's a little bit of discipline, but it's also a little bit of patience to know that you may not have the right offer right now.
[00:29:59] Caroline: Yeah.
[00:30:00] Jason: And that is something that we have learned for years. And that comes with trial and error. It comes with experimentation. It comes with not giving up when something doesn't go well. And I do think that there are some people who are more built for those types of circumstances. And listen, I think the other thing that doesn't get said enough in the digital product business space is if you're not cut out for experimentation and the ups and downs of it, that's okay. You just should choose something else. It's not a bad thing to realize that's not for you. But if you're like us, where you're like, "I like the puzzle of it."
[00:30:33] Caroline: Yeah.
[00:30:33] Jason: Like, I don't like how it feels when I have a floppy launch. Like, we talked about this episode. Like, that sucks. But also, I get inspired by those moments to go, well, what can I do better? What can I learn from?
[00:30:44] Caroline: Why didn't it work?
[00:30:44] Jason: Exactly.
[00:30:44] Caroline: Exactly.
[00:30:44] Jason: And I think if you're that type of person where you just crave that, building this system is going to be a game changer for you, where it doesn't require you to focus on all these crazy tactics and all these things and paid Facebook ads and all this stuff that just feels so hectic and chaotic and it's more of, "No, I just, I have a great offer. People understand what I'm selling. It is a need in the market. I have a differentiator. I have content that I create around it. I have a repeatable launch formula that I can go back to." Like, that is a business.
[00:31:14] Caroline: Yup.
[00:31:14] Jason: That is a repeatable business that people will pay for and sign up for in a consistent basis.
[00:31:18] Caroline: And that's how we keep it calm. We go back to the fundamentals, right?
[00:31:21] Jason: Yeah.
[00:31:21] Caroline: We're not searching for the bells and whistles that are going to...
[00:31:24] Jason: We are not doing jumping back flying crescent kicks.
[00:31:26] Caroline: That's correct.
[00:31:26] Jason: We're just doing roundhouse kicks, because you know what?
[00:31:28] Caroline: What?
[00:31:29] Jason: We just threw a punch. Person blocked with their left hand, the right sides open. A right roundhouse kick. We got them.
[00:31:33] Caroline: We got them.
[00:31:34] Jason: If we do a Jean-Claude...
[00:31:34] Caroline: But we're just sparring, we're just sparring.
[00:31:36] Jason: Exactly. But if we do a Jean-Claude Van Damme jumping back spinning crescent kick...
[00:31:40] Caroline: Yeah.
[00:31:40] Jason: ...they're going to see it coming.
[00:31:42] Caroline: Of course.
[00:31:42] Jason: We're going to look amazing. We're going to do the full splits in the air. It's going to be fantastic.
[00:31:46] Caroline: Majestic.
[00:31:46] Jason: It's not going to work, though.
[00:31:47] Caroline: Correct.
[00:31:47] Jason: It's too much.
[00:31:48] Caroline: It's too much.
[00:31:49] Jason: I had to bring it back.
[00:31:49] Caroline: And I love it.
[00:31:51] Jason: Yeah.
[00:31:51] Caroline: I love your brain, babe.
[00:31:52] Jason: All right. Anything else you want to share about this...
[00:31:54] Caroline: No, but it was really fun for me to revisit the Made Vibrant days and to look back now almost 10 years later, and go, wow, it's cool to see how much experience we've stacked up over that time. And it did take me back to this place where I remembered how chaotic it felt, and I remember how stressful it felt. And I don't think there's any, I don't think it's a coincidence that the two to three years following that time period in my life was when things started to crumble around me. Right? The anxiety was worse than it had ever been. The stress was at an all-time high. I really had sort of a mental health crisis that I had to come back from. And I think that is what makes me look back at that time and go, I wish I could go back and tell that version of myself. Of course, it's no regrets, because you learn everything.
[00:32:45] Jason: Yeah.
[00:32:45] Caroline: But if I could have prevented myself a little bit of needing to learn that the hard way, maybe I can't do that for my former self, but I can do it to a couple of listeners and go, yeah, you can't keep living like this.
[00:32:58] Jason: Yeah.
[00:32:59] Caroline: You can't keep running at this pace in every different direction. You have to start thinking a little bit differently of how to be more focused, more strategic, so that you can get some momentum and leverage. And that's what I want for people.
[00:33:12] Jason: Yeah. And I do think we have learned this over time and again, now we've done almost 60 monthly live coaching sessions. And the thing that you learn as the people who are running those and the patterns that you start to see is that what we really want for people is just to simplify the heck out of your business. And I think that so many people overcomplicate because they listen to all these stories and they see a really well-known person who has a team of 20 people that you don't see behind the scenes doing all the things, and you go, "Well, they make it look so easy. I just need to execute on that." It's like, yeah, but you're comparing your apples to their lemons. Like, it's not a close comparison. And so, I think we're just, we're really trying to be the voice of it can be simpler, it can be more predictable. It does take work. There's no easy button...
[00:33:57] Caroline: Exactly.
[00:33:57] Jason: ...that you can press here, but you can figure it out. And there is just so much opportunity in the online space to solve a problem. Do it in your own unique way, bring your unique skills, but those are things that you have to continue to experiment with and trial and error and again, if you're up for the game of it, there's so much opportunity, and it doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't have to be difficult.
[00:34:17] Caroline: And I also believe that, yes, it's we believe this because we want you to bring more calm to your business life. Right? So it's like the less things you have to manage, the less complexity.
[00:34:26] Jason: Yeah.
[00:34:26] Caroline: Yes. But I also think there's this unintended benefit, which is the less complexity you have to manage in your business life, the less distraction you bring to your personal life. Right?
[00:34:35] Jason: Oh.
[00:34:35] Caroline: Because it's like you're not trying to keep it all in your head and you're not trying to manage it all with duct tape and gum. And it's like, so that when you're present with your family, you're fully present. When you're out having adventures, you're fully present. Because there's not a list of a million things that I have to do.
[00:34:50] Jason: Totally.
[00:34:50] Caroline: And as Jason said, I just want to point out that doesn't mean that we don't get stressed out. It doesn't mean that we don't overload our plates sometimes. You all know, if you've listened to this podcast, we love to do that because we're ambitious and creative, but it does mean that the overall picture of your business is like you can breathe.
[00:35:08] Jason: Yeah, yeah.
[00:35:09] Caroline: And that's what I want for everyone.
[00:35:11] Jason: Cool. All right, I think that's it for this episode. That's wrapping it up.
[00:35:14] Caroline: That's it. If you made it all the way to the end of the episode, I just want to remind you, if you're not on our email list, definitely head to wanderingaimfully.com/newsletter so that you can sign up for our Growing Steady newsletter and you can get the Calm Launch Fundamentals series that we're doing before Calm Launch Formula comes out when WAIM Unlimited opens August 26th.
[00:35:34] Jason: Very exciting. All right, we'll chat with you next week.
[00:35:36] Caroline: Okay. Bye.