Surviving a Double-Dip Launch and How Entrepreneurial Action Causes Earthquakes

So this week I asked the launch Gods for some entrepreneurial mercy on my tired soul, and this morning I definitely felt listened to. Twenty-four hours after I went live with 2 new offers, I woke up feeling clear headed and refreshed. I’ve not felt this way since … well … before I decided to launch some stuff.

To launch your most valuable offer requires you to step swiftly and decisively over your fear.

As a recovering over-analyzer, I’m feeling pretty smug with myself. Not because I’ve ANY read on the “success” of these 2 new offers yet (time will tell the rest of this story), but because I finally faced my fear of what’s possible. This is what we all struggle with as entrepreneurs, but especially if we don’t have big corporate teams standing behind us to fortify our every move.

I mean, what if you make the offer and there’s a stampede?

Nice problem to have, yes? A good excuse to NOT launch? NO. Besides, despite the proverbial “what-iffing,” once you suck up your courage and take action, the fear starts to melt away. Like really fast. In fact, by this time tomorrow I suspect the adrenaline will be replaced by calm. While I’m sure to remain absorbed by launch mode, the view from over here is so fresh and inspiring that I can’t be anything but READY for the day.

Not that the party is over by any means. I’ve still got to stand and deliver. However, it’s the PRE-launch period of deep thinking and introspection where the freaky stuff happens. My friend Charlie Gilkey might say the pre-launch is your time to sweat. And while a launch doesn’t begin and end inside of a day, “Day 2″ definitely feels a ton easier than everything leading up to and including launch day itself. (Shush though! As a marketing consultant I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you that. As a marketing coach, however, I believe it’s my responsibility TO tell you that!)

Your entire life changes when you decide to take action in your business.

Because once you do finally “go live” with something, you realize that you can’t go back to that comfy security blanket, to that place that felt familiar and safe and NOT risky. You can’t go back because the landscape of YOU and how you view your business has forever changed. You can’t “un-quake” the ground you just shook.

Like a real earthquake, the impact cannot be felt by just one house; the entire neighborhood is shaken.

I sensed this truth along the journey to my double-dip launch. Because as I was taking what appeared to be small actions toward my purpose, I could feel the earth shifting beneath me. Everywhere I went. In everything I did. As the soundtrack to every conversation I had, with clients, with friends, with colleagues and everyone in between.

Ali Brown says that if you want to work out all your life’s baggage, start a business. I tend to agree. I’d add that if you want to see what you’re made of, if you want to name your price without flinching, if you want to grow as a person and an entrepreneur, launch something.