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Failure to Launch

11 Reasons You’re Failing to Launch and How to Fix Them

Why do launches fail?

Often it has nothing to do with the book, podcast, website, or business idea. Most of the time it’s a completely avoidable and fixable issue.

That issue is YOU.

Take my story. One night I was sitting on my back porch thinking about how much I wished there was a virtual community for fiction writers with classes and resources that would inevitably lead me to making my living as a full-time author.

Then I had one of those if-you-build-it-they-will-come moments.

Fireworks exploded. The entire vision unfolded in my imagination—the way it would look and feel, all the people I would help, the possible financial security it would bring me, and the novel idea (pun intended) of working on a business that I’m passionate about.

Of course, once the adrenaline rush wore off, I immediately thought about the billions of reasons it wouldn’t work, and especially why I wouldn’t be the one to do it. What about my day job? What if I can’t keep up? What if it’s a complete waste of time and energy that I should invest in other things? What if it’s a flop and I look like an idiot?

But the vision wouldn’t let me go. I kept getting new ideas for it in the middle of my everyday activities. Like, “Oh, this feature would be great! And users would love this!” When I was in a meeting with a potential new client, instead of discussing how I would execute her marketing plan, I couldn’t stop gushing about my new idea.

Needless to say, I did not get hired by that client. It was pretty obvious my mind was elsewhere. But the way I talked about launching this idea proved to me that I had to pursue it. If I didn’t, I’d regret for the rest of my life.

No doubt I’m not the only one who has this idea, and I thought about what it would feel like five years from now when someone goes for it and is thriving in the life I could’ve had.

I’m preparing to go live with the project in early 2020, and no matter how many blocks I overcome, I’m still fighting myself. Who am I to carry this out? What credibility do I have? Isn’t wild success for those other more confident people who possess some secret magic that transforms their dreams into reality?

Here is a list of my biggest hang-ups that you also might experience during your launch process.

Maybe your idea is great, but you feel unsure. Maybe it actually is a bad idea. Is it feasible? Is there a market, need, or audience for it? Is the investment overwhelming? Is the return too small?

Yes, you should chase your dreams, but they must have some practical thinking behind them too. We all get tons of ideas, and let’s face it, not all of them are good; if you have a valid reason to hold back, maybe you should. If you don’t believe in your heart and mind that it’s going to fly, it won’t work (even if it really is a sound idea). Create a business plan or outline. Play it out and see if there are any holes or hitches so you can move forward knowing you have a good shot.

This is the first and most common reason for failing to launch. You think you’re not a good enough writer to win readers’ respect or you’re not savvy enough to be an entrepreneur or you’re not charismatic enough to be a thought leader or coach. Or you’re too old, young, smart, fat, pretty, skinny, dumb, scared, tired, smelly… you’ll think of any excuse why you’re not the one to pull this off.

The great news is, you don’t have to believe in yourself. You won’t believe yourself yet. Why? Because most likely you’ve never challenged yourself on a deep level like this before.

So what to do?

Listen to your negative thoughts. They're not going to go away. Let them be there.

Then act anyway.

Start with small challenges, and then build to larger and larger ones. You will build confidence along the way. Eventually, all the “I can’ts” will be replaced with “I cans.”

Have you asked yourself why you want to do this idea? Is your reason big enough to see you through the hard times? Would you enjoy working on this project even if there was no reward?

If your only reasons to launch are for money and fame, you might want to stop before you begin.

I’ve worked in self-publishing and notice that most authors start out with the lottery mindset. They slap a book up on Amazon and check their stats every day waiting to see if somehow they magically sold a million copies overnight (even though they didn’t do any of the work required for a successful launch). When they don’t get instant gratification, they give up on their dream of becoming a writer and go back to their day jobs.

On the other hand, I see authors who lost money on the cost of producing their books but kept pumping out new titles, getting better every time. They now have a large backlist that brings them regular income.

Sure, everyone desires financial security and abundance, but when you’re not raking the millions in six months, one year, three years from now, are you still going to be motivated to follow through with your plan without a bigger ‘why’ behind it?

When you’re working toward your launch, do you hear yourself saying, “Holy crap, I have no idea what I’m doing”? That’s okay. You don’t need a formal education to make your dream a reality. Yes, you need information and guidance, but we are blessed enough to live in an age where those resources are available to us at the click of a mouse.

Unsure about your writing? Take a writing course.

Clueless about marketing? Read up on top marketing blogs.

Technologically challenged when it comes to producing a podcast or running a website? Hire someone to do the technical stuff for you.

Feeling lost when it comes to structuring your business? Hire a business coach.

If you’re not feeling confident, it’s probably because you really don’t know what you’re doing. This puts many people in a state of paralysis. Don’t let this stop you. The more you learn, the more capable you will feel. Empower yourself with knowledge.

Did it ever occur to you that you don’t have to do this all on your own? For most of us, it feels like the responsibility of materializing our ideas is ours alone. We don’t want to drag other people into it in case it doesn’t pan out. We don’t want to seem needy or admit that our experiment is scaring the hell out of us.

Stop this silliness. The shortcut from novice to expert is to talk to people who’ve traveled the road you’re about to embark upon. They can tell you the pitfalls and surprises. You can bypass all the mistakes they made.

Seek out mentors. Search for local organizations. Join Facebook groups, forums, and other online communities for a tribe of people who can help support, motivate, and guide you. You’re not the only one in the world braving the daunting task of a successful launch. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help, especially when you’re low on inspiration.

If you don’t risk it all, you have nothing to lose. If you’re not putting yourself out there, then you won’t get hurt. Right? So if your launch preparations aren’t getting you the results you expected, check yourself first for self-sabotage.

Are you being consistent? Or only working on your project when you have the time and energy?

How committed are you?

What is the real reason for your launch sputtering out?

For instance, I wanted to grow an email list for my community. I wrote a few blogs that corresponded to two free downloads. In the end, I only had a handful of signups.

To Fearful Me, this was a sign that no one liked my idea and it was never going to work. Phew, relief! Now I didn’t have to leave my comfort zone and risk bigger failure down the road!

But Logical Me called me out on that BS. In reality, I had only just started the blog. These things don’t happen overnight (I too am guilty of the lottery mindset), and honestly, I didn’t promote my posts thoroughly on social media. I knew I could do a better job but chose not to. My self-doubt was looking for validation, the lackluster results reaffirming that I should trash this idea.

Nope. Nah-ah. When you catch yourself here, get real. Are you playing small? Is this self-sabotage? Don’t let yourself off the hook.

If you’ve spent your life working for others, it’s hard to become your own manager or boss. We’ll get up when the alarm rings so we won’t be late for work, but we’ll hit snooze when it comes to our own projects. We let ourselves down without even thinking about it.

No matter what you’re launching, don’t slack off. Your launch is your dream, and if you don’t give it all you’ve got, you will be filled with regret. Worst of all, you’ll be reluctant to ever chase a dream again.

Set up a schedule. Outline goals. Hold yourself accountable. If you can’t discipline yourself, team up with an accountability partner who will help you stay on track—a spouse, a friend, a colleague, or cyber friend.

If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough. Have you ever seen that saying? So, if you’re scared, rejoice. You’re on the right track.

But big dreams also come with a massive to-do list and if we start thinking about all the things that can go wrong, we will get so overwhelmed we won’t know where to begin.

The best way to avoid overwhelm is to have a solid plan. Create some big picture plans, like a 5-year plan and a 1-year plan with your major goals. From there, reverse engineer on a quarterly, weekly, and lastly daily basis.

There is only so much you can do in one day, and you have to make sure you enjoy life during the journey. With a detailed plan, you don’t have to worry about all that’s looming in the future. Just follow the next step, taking comfort in knowing that each day you are moving forward.

Fear is probably the most powerful reason launches fail. And fear shows up in many sneaky forms.

There is the fear of failure, of course, and the fear of rejection, the fear of looking like an idiot. And strangely enough there is the fear of success.

What happens if your launch takes off? What will that mean for your relationships? What new responsibilities and demands will you have? Will you be able to handle it?

Humans naturally fear change. It’s more comfortable to stay where we are than venture into the unknown. But as Joseph Campbell says, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” And this treasure might not be the fame and fortune, but the person you’ve become along the way.

Negative, small-minded people will drain you of energy and extinguish your fires. They are not courageous enough to create something new, so they will try to keep you at their level.

Likewise, people who are on the same creative path as you or have already achieved what you dream of will light you up and inspire you.

Take inventory of those you spend the most time with. Limit your time with negative people. Make more time for positive influences.

If you don’t have any positive influences in your life, seek out books, videos, and podcasts. Surround yourself with the very best minds that ever existed in the world!

You don’t have to be religious to have faith that the world is waiting for what you have to offer, and you’d be doing it a huge disservice if you did not go through with it.

There is a reason you felt compelled to launch your idea. Trust that inner voice that said, Eureka!

The most important thing to practice is self-awareness. That vague sense of fear or resistance is a sign that you need to address one of these issues.

Don’t become paralyzed. Get to the root of what’s holding you back and take action to resolve it.

Then 3, 2, 1. Blast off!

Christa lives in the mountains of Panama with her husband and two dogs where she blogs about writing and dreams up strange stories.

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