Why Great Launches Begin Long Before Opening Day

Hello. Welcome to Leading with Purpose. Today's guest is Elisa Bogarts, launch strategist and planner, who helps coaches, consultants, and experts successfully plan and execute their program launches and events. While many entrepreneurs focus on the excitement of creating an offer, Elisa specializes in systems strategy and implementation that turns great ideas into successful launches. Her work helps leaders bring structure into the creative process, so they can serve more, create greater impact, and avoid overwhelm that comes with growth. I'm excited to explore what it really takes to launch with intention, confidence, and purpose. Welcome to Leading with Purpose, Elisa. How are you?

Hey, Mark, thanks for having me. I'm doing great, thank you.

I know we were just talking about how it's 1030 here in the Eastern Coast, as we're recording this, 7:30am for you, and you're getting up early because you got some big plans, depending on when people are hearing this, but this is FIFA time in the United States. Yeah,

Yes, it's yeah, in the States, Canada, and Mexico. So, yeah, and I'm in Vancouver, and it's one of the host cities, and we have seven games here, which is pretty cool. And yeah, this afternoon Canada is playing in Vancouver, so the city's got to go crazy.

That's amazing. I appreciate you, your commitment to your message, and appreciate being on your podcast. So, thank you for getting up extra early and getting all ready for this podcast again. It's just a fun conversation, because what we do, we love doing so much, and the way that you support events launches and events, I'm curious, how those those two things fit together, because I think sometimes people just think about launches as either the typical pls style launch and other people think about like events as something separate, how do these two rules fit together for you?

Yeah, so I mainly work with coaches, and coaches often, when they are going to start a group program, or like a mastermind, or something like that, they typically run an event to sell that program in it, and so it typically has like a start and an end date, so it's really good to match up or align the event with, you know, start date of the program. So, yeah, so that's typically the launch that I do with them. So I strategize with them and kind of figure out everything about their program and the event that they want to do, and you know, kind of JV partners that they want to connect with, and speaking opportunities they want to do, and I put a plan together for them, and then we just kind of work on the plan bit by bit by bit to get everything done, so they can fill their events, and you know, get as many people registered and in seats and live at the event as possible, so that they can, you know, sell their programs and make the impact they want to make the world.

I love what you just shared, and I have some questions about it. So, first, when we talk about the, you mentioned programs, first, I love that you start with, like, what is it that you want to offer people, how do you help support them, and then reverse engineer what is the event that will get people that you want into your program. So, you talk about the different types of programs, there's also different types of events. So, are you talking about live events and person events, challenges, three day events?

Yeah, all of them, really. But mostly what I do is online events. I have done a couple of in person, but mainly what I do is online, especially, you know, since Covid, everybody's kind of gone online now. So, yeah, it can be anywhere from your right, like a three day to five day challenge. It could be a 30 to 90 minute webinar, it could be a four hour workshop, it could be a one day, a two day, a three day event. So all the events, and it really depends on that program and sort of the pricing of the program, and as to what sort of size of the event that they should,

I love that, because it's not the one size fits all, where you've got your strategy, and then you just try to fit people into it, look at their business, their offer, who their people are, and what they will be attracted to that will enroll them into the program.

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, and yeah, everything I do is completely custom, because I feel like you know everybody's sort of, or all the coaches that I've worked with, they've all been taught by different people, and they have their own ways, and they're very unique, and so I really like to make the launch unique to them, you know, even when we think about the ways and all the things that they need to do, and ways that they can fill their events, and the kind of marketing they want to do, we go through all that together, because, you know, maybe some people don't want to do JV partners, so we're not going to talk, we're not going to have that in the plan. I'm not going to make them do it, like I'll suggest it and ask if they want to, but if they don't, then that's cool. Or maybe they don't want to speak at all, or they only want to do, you know, sponsor stages. Or maybe, you know, there's so many different things that's kind of what we do in this big, like, planning session. I asked them. Lot of questions and get all those details to completely customize the launch for them and do it their way. Yeah, I don't, I don't impose myself on them, I just suggest and and let them decide what they want to do.

I so appreciate that one of my very first coaches taught me the biggest mistake, which is that if you do exactly what I did, you'll get the same results, and I think so many people teach that, like, okay, I have this process, and then if you do my process, you'll get the same results, and I love that you really look at again, not only what the each individual teacher is doing, but what are.. how do their students learn and receive, and. and buy,

Yes, exactly, exactly, and I think that you know, because there's so many strategies out there, there are so many ways that getting people like selling a program can work, you know, there are so many, and they do all work, but like, but like you said, like, but they don't all work for everybody, and so you gotta find what works well for you, and, and what really, I think the lines to you and your business and your values and even your purpose, and yeah, so I think that we need to, that's kind of something that I learned too, like when I was first doing it, I was like, you know, I kind of had this like good girl syndrome where I was like, okay, I have to do it exactly like you say, you know, when it's very strict, and I was like kind of stressed out by it, um, but then I kind of realized, like, oh no, I can take this piece, and I can take this piece, and in doing, because I originally started as a coach myself, and then kind of realized that, you know, my sort of more zone of genius is in project management, and doing all this planning and operations, but in doing that, I was able to, like, look at what's happening, and look at, you know, all the different teachings out there, and then put them in as options in my, in my plan of what I do now. You know, like, oh, how do you work? Or, like, we could do all these things, and even as I meet new clients now and work with them, I get new ideas, and so I'm like, okay, I'm going to add that to the plan, and see, you know, maybe someone wants to do that idea too. So, yeah, it's ever evolving and growing and changing.

I love the good girl syndrome of doing things the way that you're told, and I also love the chicken soup method of being able to take the ingredients that you like from different recipes and put them together. And I know a lot of coaches and entrepreneurs are very passionate about their mission, but they often struggle with that. The planning and the execution side of launching. What do you see as the biggest mistake that people make when trying to bring a meaningful offer into the world?

I think that one of the biggest mistakes is that they don't prioritize the promotional period of getting people to their event, because this might be overwhelming for some, but my, the plan that I have, like I said, with all those different options I have, like it's like a giant task list, basically. And so we go through it one by one, and if we did the entire thing, which nobody does, it's like 260 tasks long, like there's there's a lot of stuff to do, and so when, so, as we're going through the process and doing all these things, bit by week and week by week by week, you know, coaches, you know, they have their own clients going already, you know, they're already doing all their business as usual, their emails, their social posting, you know, their normal marketing, and then they're trying to, you know, maybe if their program isn't built, or maybe they're trying to tweak it, make it better, and then they're doing the launch on top of that, and they're probably in, you know, masterminds and courses and programs themselves, and so their calendar is pretty full, and so they, I don't think they realize how much promotion is needed to fill the event, and then also you know things get busy, life gets busy, so they didn't get a chance to do the tasks from two weeks ago or last week's tasks, and so all of a sudden it builds up, and we got the event coming, that's a hard date that we're inviting people to, and all of a sudden those few weeks leading up to it get very, very busy, like all of a sudden there's a lot to do, and and so then they don't prioritize the promotion of the event because they're putting the event together, they're doing the slides, I gotta get my program, we gotta figure out the onboarding, you know, there's all these things, and and then they don't prioritize the promotion as much as I tell them every week, like let's do all these things, so what I like to, an idea that I have for them is to actually block off

their calendar, so say the promotional window is two weeks or something. If they're doing like a free webinar, actually say like block your calendar and only have in there, you know, like the programs that you need to be going to, networking events, is that that's like part of your strategy of, you know, selling, filling your events, and of course, your client work, but other than that, like, don't let anybody else book on your calendar, like, you need that time to be promoting, and you need to be out there, like, it takes a lot of time to do all that, so yeah, block out your calendars,

That is such huge advice, like one of my mentors used to say that, saying yes. Your true purpose means saying no to 10,000 other things, and when your true purpose is to help these people, the only way that that's going to happen is by marketing to them, by getting that message out there, and like you say, so many people like wait to the last minute. I love the idea of blocking that out and prioritizing, and this is again so that you can serve those people, you need to be able to block that out and be only making all your decisions on does this help me bring the right people into my event,

Right? Exactly, exactly, yeah. And in terms of promotion, you know, I have like almost actually 40 different ways that you can promote, like there's like a lot of different things you can do, and of course nobody does all of them, we pick and choose the ones they want to do, but some people just rely on the email and social media, which really just isn't enough. They're not going to get enough people if you just rely on that, unless you have like a huge email list, but even then, like I know very few people that just rely on that. So, and actually are able to fill their events and have the kind of results that they want to have, so yeah, so you need to have the time to work on all those other things, and they take time to do, you know, if you want to call everybody that registered to get them excited to come, that can take hours, if you have, you know, 300 people registered,

Yeah, and you're doing things, you're doing it yourself, and even if you're hiring it out, that's a huge task,

Yeah, it's a huge task. It takes a lot of time.

You mentioned 40 ways, I think that you actually have a gift that we'll put the links to below, that actually gives 30 different ways, right?

Yeah, I think it says 30 plus, because I'm not sure of exactly 40, it's in there somewhere. Yeah, so over 30 different ways to get more registration, so they can fill their

30, maybe not giving us the top three, but share something that people might not think about normally, other than Facebook ads we think about, but really want to invest, especially when they're not sure how well they'll work to fill events. What else?

Excuse me, I think using communities can be really good, and some people have, like, a community in Alignable, or they have, like, a group in Alignable, or doing, like, Eventbrite, or having a group in Meetup, so some people, like, already have those accounts, and so if you actually create those groups, and then you can promote your event in those groups, which is kind of fun, like I know some people have used those, yeah, to invite people to their events, so I like to do that. I like to think about what you know, like Facebook groups, and I am, what LinkedIn groups am I in, what, like, do I have an alignable account, do I have a meetup account, and and using all of those different communities to to promote, because usually they have, you know, usually some of them say a Facebook group says you can't promote, there's no promotion at all, you want to respect that for sure, but one, like, for example, the GV directory, one on Wednesdays, you can promote your events, so you know, know that that's a thing, and that on that day you can go and promote your event, because a lot of those groups have, you know, hundreds of people, and that you can get good exposure to them,

Absolutely. And especially when you are showing up of certain service to these communities, people see you, they recognize you. You've been part of the JV directory for a long time. You're highly recommended by top people in the community. We've known each other, you've come live to the Soulful Leadership Retreat, so even like inside the soulful leadership community, where we don't really have sponsoring, when, when I hear about something like this, I'm like, oh great, you're doing an event of your own, and sometimes even if it's one of your clients that you're working with, we'd love to share them in our different communities, but Facebook, LinkedIn, so building the relationships, it's not just about like JV booty calls, it's like you're really building the relationship capital, and I think you've been doing that for a long time.

Yeah, actually, that's a point I hadn't really thought about that. Yeah, because you do, you want to like, yeah, show up and give and be of service, and yeah, and I think that's really important to be active in the communities that you are in, you know, even in some like circle communities, and I'm in some school communities, and a lot of those often have also like a channel that you can promote in, so yeah, just normally being active in those, and then when you promote, people usually get excited to kind of join,

Yes, yes, I often talk about how three great spiritual growth paths - marriage, parenting, and entrepreneurship and I often see that launching becomes like its own personal journey for growth as much as a business strategy, what have you learned about leadership and mindset and resilience from helping people bring their visions to life?

What have I learned from that, that yeah, that it really in turn. So like mindset, when you said mindset, that was one that kind of like stuck with me, is that like we said earlier, it is a lot of work to launch a program, to put an event on, to, and to sell that, and get enough people there, and so, yeah, I think you really need to be in that space of trust, you know, that you can get the right people there, and that the right people will, you know, you'll track them, you're magnetizing to them. Excuse me. Early, my throat isn't ready to talk yet, and, and I think that you want to be able to show up as your best self. So, like I said earlier, even though that that whole thing of blocking off your calendar that also gives you a little bit of time, because you don't want to show up to your event, you know, kind of run ragged and like burnt out, you know. You want to really show up to your event in a great mindset. You want to be like in your zone of genius, you want to be in your power, you want to be, you know, and deliver all your amazing content and your values, so that people, you know, will fall in love with you, and want your program, and so I think you really want to have that great mindset leading up to it, and that's why it's good to like hire people to help you with all that kind of stuff, so you don't have to worry about everything, you don't have to do everything, and wear all the hats, and you know, if an automation stops working, you're not going to be the one, like, you don't want to be in the weeds of your business, you want to be the one out there being the face of your business, and you know, taking care of yourself leading up to the event, so that you can show up as your best self as a good student.

Yeah, it's funny, because I think you just answered the next question I had, which is, well, a lot of times people go through launches and they feel exhausted, they're like, I'm never doing this again, or doing an event, and other people have it, and they're like, I can't wait till the next one. That's the difference between them, is getting the right team, so you can focus on your genius zone and be able to show up fully in the thing that people are investing in, rather than all the things that you need to support that.

Right, exactly. 100% agree. And even, you know, it's like spending the time as well to, like, how are you going to deliver that content? What do you want that experience to be like, and having the space and time, and being in the right mindset when you're thinking about that, you know, as you're kind of creating that event, and what it's going to look like in the slides, and all that kind of stuff, where you know if you're sort of rushing to do it at two in the morning before day one, or even on lunch break, or something like that. I think that that kind of sort of tension can kind of come through on it, that energy can kind of come through. And so, yeah, you definitely want to be in a good space, so that you do want to do them again, because many people don't, or you know, the, or they don't get enough people showing up. Like, I've seen that with some sort of newer coaches, where they again just maybe sent, you know, did a social media post and sent a couple of emails or something to their only small list, and you know, they had like two people show up, and that can be devastating, you know, and they're like, "I don't want to do that again, like why would I almost do an empty room? That sucks. This doesn't work. This doesn't work exactly

For everybody else, but not for me.

Yeah,

Yeah, I was just thinking about with you, because you're just saying with new coaches, and I had been talking about your building relationship capital over many years, have been doing this for quite some time. How did this come into your life? How did you get on this path of helping transformational leaders with their events.

Yeah, it was an interesting kind of transition, because in corporate, if I was in corporate for like over 20 years, I was in project management, then software development. So, those, you know, like being in operations and doing that is very much my skill set. But I fell in love with coaching when I was introduced to it, I was actually living in London, England, and I went to, like, this weekend kind of coaching retreat thing, and I fell in love with it, but then I kind of went on the back burner, and then, you know, COVID hit, and it was like, as many people did, you know, what am I doing with my life, do I want to be in corporate anymore, and I definitely did not, so I started my own coaching business, but I noticed throughout that, that I was, I was hiding in the back end, I was in the automations, I was in my CRM, I was doing the plan, I was creating, you know, that's actually how my program plan, that those 250 tasks got started, which was me just keeping track of myself, and so, and then I noticed as well that the coaching, it just didn't feel lying to me. I felt like it kind of stressed me out a little bit, you know. I was in this call with somebody, and I was like, "Oh, I have to give them transformation and that kind of that good girl thinking, you know? And I was like, "I gotta ask the right questions, and I was just like, "Oh, this is like, yeah, I love the industry, and I love coaches, but I don't feel fully comfortable as a coach, so I was actually went for brunch with Michelle Abraham, who you know well, and and she kind of sort of sparked that idea. She's like, well, like you could do project management in the coaching industry, like, you know, people need to do this, and blah blah blah. I was like, so it kind of like sort of. A, you know, tinkered in my head for a little bit, and then I went to a networking event, like a three day event in person, and James Lam was my coach at the time, and I mentioned it to him, and he was like,

yes, like that is the answer, like you got to do it, but it took me a couple of months to actually get my own mind around it, to feel comfortable with it, because I was, I had this fear that the toxicity of corporate, of being a project manager, I was going to bring into my own business, if I was, you know, like, to me, they were very much linked, and I was like, I don't like, why would I bring that into my own business, like, that's crazy talking, so, so it took me a while to realize, oh, actually, no, it's my business and I get to choose who I work with and I get to choose my clients and you know do it, I can do it. So eventually transition into that, and it was I'm really glad that I kind of did all that because as a coach myself I experienced the event, I experienced the no shows, I you know created the plan and I like, learned all these different ways, and it got to those many different ways of doing it. So I know the industry quite well, and I know how the process works. So then project management, it just came quite easy for me. Yeah,

I love that. And again, I think that's what so many visionaries and creatives leaders in their business are so focused on all of the different things that they can't really do the project management to bring it all together. Renee and I often say that there's kind of three parts of being an entrepreneur: there's the head, the heart, and the hands. The head is like the creative source of the visionary and everything else, and but they're also the organization, the part that keeps everything together. The heart is the creative part that is just out there trying to make a difference in the world and leading the way. And then you got the hands that actually make it happen, whatever it is that you're selling. And a lot of times, like a doctor or plumber can be great at what they do, but that doesn't mean that they can run a business, they're really good at their trade, but being able to manage all that stuff, and especially as an entrepreneur, focus on transformation. There's so, like, you can have your skill, you can have your specific tools, and all of that stuff, but being able to know all of the marketing and how they all fit together, like you said, there's so many different ways to do it, and we can get down so many rabbit holes that can cost us time and money investing in ads or strategies that don't fit with all the other pieces of our business.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of people, you know, start their businesses for reasons not to run a business, you know, they want to coach, they want to, you know, share their experience, they want people to not make the same mistakes they did, and they want to, you know, make an impact in the world, and then change the world, and lead, and they have these, these visions, and maybe they even want to create a legacy, but yeah, then also you get bogged down, you're like, "Oh, wait, but it is a business, and I don't like any of that stuff, I often say that to people, and I, at the beginning, I didn't sort of offer like a tech solution, where I was like, because I'm, you know, I worked in software development, I'm very comfortable with technology, and, and it, yeah, and I was like, oh, that's something I could offer as well, because people were like, I hate the tech, could you just like do that for me, you know, and I think there's part of people running a business that they just really don't like, and so it's like, you know, get someone else to do it for you.

It's so fun to hear you talking about James Lamb, and him hearing this idea, and be like, oh my gosh, yes, because so often this is the case with many experts, is that it's the thing that we're so good at, that we're just like, I just do that, but they take for granted that, oh my gosh, everybody else needs this, whether it's project management or tech skills. Those are two big areas that, again, visionaries and thought leaders aren't always in their genius zone.

Exactly, exactly. I love that. I was, they, I do work with a lot of like ideas people, and I can, I somehow have the knack of like taking that idea and like putting it into, you know, like actually executing on it, and doing the thing, and I remember I was talking again with Michelle, and she was saying that when we worked together for the first time, and she was like, you have this amazing way of like taking this big idea with this big complicated thing that to me just seems like, you know, like one of those big hairy audacious goals, and and she's like, but you simplify it somehow, and you just, you know, tell me the few things I need to do each week, and it gets done, and I was like, oh, like, I didn't realize that that was a superpower, I didn't even know that was a, you know, I just kind of did it, and it was just like, oh, this is what we're gonna do, like, that's fine, we can get it done, and she's like, are you sure, because it's like giant, like, of course, you know, yeah,

And I love this that you're sharing too, because again it reminds me back of the different parts of a business, and Renee often is plays that role that you're talking about, I would always compare it to Disney, Walt Disney has a. Department called the Imagineers, and there are two divisions within the Imagineers. There's the creative department and the engineering department, and the creative department can say, "Oh, I want to make Peter Pan fly, and then the engineering department has to make it actually happen. They have to make it look simple and easy, and like, "Oh my gosh, how did they do that? And that's what people like you get to do for a company having all of those skills together to be able to say, how can I take this complex idea and actually make it work,

Exactly? Yeah, yeah, and I, yeah, and like you were saying before, I didn't even realize that that was something that was needed, you know, because I'm not really the ideas person, so I kind of, I will get maybe a small idea, or someone will give me an idea, and I'm like, okay, I can run with that, and you know, just kind of go. I don't think I realized that people just have the ideas, you know, which is great. We need those people. Those people are amazing. Like, think of all the things we have in this world because those people exist.

Yes, that's absolutely well. Lisa, at least this is the Leading with Purpose podcast. We're talking about how you support leaders and how you are a leader in the industry. I'm curious, what does it mean to you leading with purpose?

As you say, that the first word that popped in my head was values and like integrities. I think that when we're leading with purpose, we very much want to be or I want to be aligned to that purpose, and what it is that I'm like marching towards, and do it as like what's the word I'm trying to say, like leading by example as well. So I find like if I am in my values and in my integrity and I'm leading with those along my purpose, I think that, yeah, that's kind of what it means to me to do it, making sure that, yeah, that you're really grounded in your values and in your integrity as you lead.

I love it, very, very appropriate and fitting. I think everybody will resonate. There's so many different things that you do and help and support. If somebody is thinking, oh my gosh, I need somebody like you, or yes, I need to at least be aware that there are different steps. Okay, we've got some your gift down below, but what can somebody do? Like, what is somebody that is feeling overwhelmed or exhausted, and maybe even ready to give up on coaching. Any ideas or suggestions for somebody that is again realizing, coming to realize that they can't do

I think there's kind of two things. I think one that they need to align or remember their purpose and their why as to why they're doing it, because I think that that can really motivate somebody. I was talking with someone here, an entrepreneur in Vancouver, and he said that he's like, he's like, I find that if people are finding like they're procrastinating on things, like, sure, there's fear and things like that, but if you're not doing the things you need to be doing in your business, it could be because you haven't realigned or remembered what your why is, and so I think that's really important to have, that you know that that North Star, that your reason behind it, which will motivate you to continue going, and then find ways that you know that you can get more help, so if someone is thinking of, you know, leaving the coaching industry, or they don't want to do any more, they don't think they can do it. I think that you can get really creative in, you know, and even like manifesting help, you know. So maybe you could do a swap with somebody, you know, maybe you know a bookkeeper and you hate doing your bookkeeping, and they would love to get coached by you, so maybe you could do a services swap, or something like that. You know that if you're in a place where maybe you can't afford anything anymore, that could be a good way of kind of getting creative of how you could get help. And, of course, if you can't afford it, yeah, think of those things that are just not aligned with you, that you like procrastinate on for forever and ever, until you know it's like the tax deadline or something like that, those things, and just, yeah, delegate it out, so that you can just do what you do best.

I love it, beautiful. And again, I know you've got a full day ahead, exciting soccer match coming off, balancing out their clients and big missions out in the world. Any last word that you want to share before we say goodbye?

Yeah, I think, like, you know, when launching a program, it is, it is a lot of work, but it's totally doable if you can just do it step by step, and not get too overwhelmed by it, and yeah, like you said, get the help that you need, because as a coach out there, I think that you know you have that purpose and you want to make an impact in the world, which is why I love this interest you so much, because there's so many amazing people wanting to make this world a better place, and so it's more. Really important that you do that and find ways in which to do it, so don't let any of that hold you back.

I love it. Thank you so much, Elisa. I appreciate all that you do and how you show up in the world, and grateful for our friendship. Yeah,

I'm grateful for our friendship too. Thank you so much for having me on the show, and I'm also love everything that you do. So, yeah,

Thank you so much, and for all of you listening. If you have questions, of course, post those below. Any comments, I'd love to pass those on to Lisa. We'll make sure to respond to all of them. Thank you so much. Keep shining your light.

Bye.