Last Friday, my friends and I ran our very own “Launch Project” and it was such a great time and productive challenge! I’m sharing this experience with you here on the blog so that you can learn more about launch projects (because maybe this is totally new to you, as it was to me until just a few days ago), see how to incorporate launch projects into your own business, and get an idea of what to expect if you set up something similar with your friends/peers!

This was my first time taking part in a Launch Project so I admittedly didn’t know what to expect or what kind of results we would get. I went in kind of clueless but enthusiastic, ready to take on the challenge as best as I could!

Also, since my friends and I were putting the Launch Project on ourselves as a self-directed project, it was super informal so I wasn’t sure how disciplined we’d actually be - and whether or not we’d actually get sh*t done :)

As I look back on this Launch Party and the work we all created together, I can’t help think that it was so much FUN! I loved participating in this challenge and it pushed me to create something totally new, just for the heck of it.

During this Launch Project, I created and published my Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding which is a digital product resource for web designers/developers.

In less than a day, I went from barely an idea > planning/outline > create the digital product > LAUNCH it on my website!

I’m excited to share this Friday Night Launch Project & Party recap here on the blog because it hope it inspires you to try out something similar - either on your own or with a group of friends!

Alright, let’s dive right in!

What is a Launch Project?

If you’ve ever dabbled in the tech space, maybe you’ve already heard of “hackathons” - these are events, typically lasting one or several days, in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming. They are sprints where participants get together to work and collaborate on projects - ideally start to finish with some sort of presentation at the end.

I guess you could say that we were inspired by hackathons but we tweaked it a bit, naturally.

4 of us came together to build and launch our own brand new projects online.

Beyond that, there weren’t a whole lot of rules, just a few guidelines that I’ll go over below.

Who participated in this Launch Project?

I was joined by 3 of my friends in this Friday Night Launch Project & Party:

Half of James, Daria and Bart - working hard or hardly working? :)

James Potter
Bart Proost
Daria Shchukova

We are best buds who live long-term here in Bali and all work in tech/online, in some way or another.

What were the Launch Project rules/guidelines?

Arrive and start by 8:30am and launch by 7:30pm. Order in lunch but otherwise, you better work b*tch.

Beyond that, there weren’t really any rules!

We each worked on and launched our own projects, on a whole variety of topics/scopes. I created and launched a brand new digital product from scratch all in one day whereas James & Bart finished and launched projects that they’d been working on for a few days already. Daria’s Launch Project was more of a “get sh*t done in a major way” kind of day, all those outstanding website & portfolio projects that have to happen before starting a new business!

What did everyone work on and launch?

Charlotte (me): Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding - digital product that I now sell on my website

Bart Proost : New Indie - make and remix beats online

James Potter: Jackfruit - an always-on video room for every Slack channel

Daria Shchukova - website and UX portfolio projects

Where & when did the Launch Project take place?

At a private villa in Canggu, Bali on Friday July 12, 2019.

James, Daria and Bart live together and converted a room in their house into a home office, so we just stayed in and worked from home. Another option would have been to camp out at a co-working space or something, but we liked the idea of having our own space without distractions - and strong, reliable wifi!

Why did you call it a Friday Night Launch Project & Party?

Because it took place on a Friday and we all launched at night and it was a party :)

My Launch Project experience

James and Bart were already working on their own projects (Jackfruit and New Indie, respectively) and decided that they would both launch on Friday evening. They then invited me to join them and launch something new for my own business.

I wasn’t sure at first because “I have nothing to launch!” but after thinking it over, I realized this would be a fun challenge and a cool thing to participate in! Why the heck not, eh?

My Launch Project - the Getting Started Guide

The day before the Launch Project, I sat down for a few minutes and brainstormed different launch project ideas - things that I could realistically create and launch in a day. I wrote down a whole list of ideas, including:

digital products to sell online - templates, guides, resources, workbooks, etc.
a free challenge (e.g., to run via email the next week)
a mini online course
a new video masterclass
a new business service to offer

Ultimately I decided to go with the Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding, for a few reasons.

First of all, it was a new digital product that I could sell on my website - thus creating a new income stream that could kick off the moment I hit “publish”.

Secondly, I could leverage something that I already had, reformat it and package it up as a template for other web designers/developers to use. This meant that I could skip all of the major planning, outline and prep work that goes into creating a brand new digital product and instead just work with something that I already hand on hand.

Another reason why I decided to go with the Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding is that it was a natural next-step digital product for anyone who had already purchased my Pitching Your Web Design & Development Services Guide. I already knew that many people who had purchased the Pitching Guide were web designers/developers who were looking for resources to grow their business, so I figured that they might also be interested in a complimentary product that helped them streamline and up-level their business too.

Remember, I launched the Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding purely because it was something that interested me, a digital product that felt good to create and wanted to share & offer to my audience because I knew that if it was helpful to me, it would be helpful to them too. I didn’t do any market research before launching this digital product - no survey was sent out, I didn’t poll my newsletter and ask what they wanted me to create, didn’t analyze the purchasing trends of my various products. Nope, I straight up just launched something to see how it turned out, purely for the fun of the challenge haha!

Creating & launching the Getting Started Guide

Once I decided on the Getting Started Guide as my project, the next step was to come up with a plan of action. This was fairly straightforward and I knew that it would be do-able before the 7:30pm deadline, so long as I worked efficiently and stayed on track.

I made a list of all the different tasks & steps that I needed to do and basically just started working on it.

Goofing around before recording the tutorial video

This included tasks like:

Review my existing Getting Started Guide
Make any changes/updates so that it could become a template for other web designers/developers to use
Choose a way to deliver/format the Guide template - I decided to go with Canva after weighting the pros/cons of different options
Create a new Canva template for the Guide
Create a new Squarespace digital product in my online shop
Sales page for the new Getting Started Guide
Record an instructional video training
Set up all the tech/digital product delivery details

Phew, that’s a lot but I felt confident that I could get it all done before the deadline!

Once I had a game plan and list of all the steps I’d have to take, I dove right and and just got to it.

I’d say the two most time consuming parts of the Launch Project were creating the Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding customizable template in Canva and then writing the sales page.

I also had a Squarespace SEO Audit & Consulting Session booked for that day that I didn’t want to reschedule so I ended up taking nearly 2 hours out of the day for that - ah well, still made it work in the end!

Race against the clock & pushing through perfectionism

It’s crazy how a deadline kicks things into gear because I didn’t want to “fail” by not launching by the 7:30 deadline, it really lit a fire under my butt to complete the project!

The last digital product I launched on my website was the Pitching Your Web Design & Development Services Guide and let me tell you, that took wayyyy longer than a day to create and put out there!

Part of the beauty about a Launch Project is that you just decide that you’re going to put your work out there by the deadline and if you need to, you can always go back and make any changes/edits after - so long as it’s live by the deadline! This took a HUGE amount of pressure off me - all day long, we kept saying “done is better than perfect” but now that I’m a week out after launching, I can honestly say that I’m proud of the Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding that I launched on the first round!

Launch Project PARTY

As the clock inched closer to the deadline, things kicked into overdrive as we all worked our little tails off to hit our launch plans.

We we wrapped up the Launch, we all showed off our projects, demo’d our new products and played around with the cool stuff we had all created! We blasted new beats on Bart’s project New Indie and played around with the video conferencing that James made for Jackfruit. Everyone got a look at my new Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding and Daria showed us her design projects.

We then hopped on our scooters and drove off into the night to feast on a late dinner - it was time to celebrate our new products, projects and launches!

Final Thoughts

I had such a blast taking part in this Launch Project & Party and would 100% recommend that anyone else try this out too!

You could do it solo but I definitely think it’s more fun to put one on with friends or peers. Round up a couple people (either in person or online), set your goals and deadlines, and just start building and creating! There’s something to be said about collective energy and knowing that you’re all working on something at the same time - even if it’s not on a collective project, it’s still high vibes and you’re feeding off each other’s energy as you work together!

Like I said before, I was able to create something brand new in less than a day and it’s now a product that I sell on my website. without any advertising, launch plan or marketing hype, I’ve already made sales of the Getting Started Guide for Client On-boarding, which is something that wouldn’t have existed if I hadn’t pushed myself to take part in this Launch Project.

GET THE GUIDE NOW >>

Plus, did I mention that the Launch Project was FUN? I haven’t done something like this before and I didn’t know what to expect, but I ended up loving the experience and can’t wait to try it out again and create another new thing!

Now it’s your turn to tell me, have you ever taken part in a Launch Project? What did you create? Is this an idea that you’d like to try out yourself? What ideas do you have or what do you want to launch? Who are you going to invite to join your very own Launch Project? I’d love to know so leave me a note in the comments below!