Should you join my 90 Day Course Launch Sprint?
Episode 120 • 22nd March 2022 • The Courageous CEO • Janet Murray
00:00:00 00:27:24

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My 90 day course launch sprint. Won't make you a million overnight because no online course will do that. Sorry, but it will help you get your online course languished and start generating recurring revenue for your business. I'm Janet Murray, I'm a content and online business strategist. And in this episode of the courageous content podcast, I want to tell you about my 90 day course launch sprint.

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So you can decide whether it's a good fit for you. Before I tell you about the program, I do want to share why I created the 90 day course launch sprint. And it was simply because I was fed up seeing people with real expertise, but hold back from launching online courses, because they were waiting until they had enough time to create an umpteen module online course,

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or until they had fancy tech or a team to help them. But you don't need any of this to launch an online course. You can deliver a ton of value in a one-off masterclass ebook, or a resource kit, and you definitely don't need a fancy online course platform or email automation to launch an online course. And not only do you have the right to launch because launching is not just for online celebrity influencers,

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sipping cocktails on the beach and boasting about how much money they're making you absolutely should be running launches. And if you want to find out more about that, I do have a podcast episode. I'll link to it in the show notes, it's called what is a launch anyway, and it's definitely worth a listen. And we'll share more on this in an upcoming episode,

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but I've just had a client Kate who launched her first digital products with me anyway, and sold 19 in the first 15 minutes, she joked to me that she made $400 while she was having a coffee, which is something most of us can't say every day. And the reason she was able to do that was because she started small with an online challenge rather than a big umpteen module course because she followed a launch plan.

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And part of that was my wait-list strategy, which meant everybody was super excited. They were already primed up for the date and time. Her challenge was going on sale. They knew that were going to be limited numbers. So they were excited and ready to buy. And finally, she kept things low tech. She didn't get bogged down with worrying about fancy online course platforms or sales pages.

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She kept it really simple. And for me, that's what my 90 day course launch sprint is really all about. It's about providing real education and realistic targets because there's a lot of sensationalist content out there. You've probably seen it make money in your sleep, build a six or seven figure business. And the implication always seems to be that this is going to happen overnight,

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which is rarely the case. Where's my 90 day launch sprint. When I want to provide an alternative to these high ticket, so-called passive income programs that promise the world, but often deliver very little in the way of results programs that give aspiring course creators unrealistic goals about how much they can earn from so-called passive income products overnight. And aren't always upfront about some of the realities of launching an online course,

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things alike. You need an audience to sell to the average conversion rate for online sales is just one to 2%, which should give you an idea of the kind of numbers you need on your email list to sell an online course and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible sales pages for these types of programs. Also often fail to mention that you do need experience to launch an online course not to create the digital product itself possibly,

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but you need to create a ton of content to launch your product. And as in that example, I just shared with you, or Kate's launch, you need to have a sense of what to do and what order to do it in. And if you've never run a launch before, why would you know how to do that? And also need to learn how to create sales pages,

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email marketing campaigns, social media posts that will sell your digital products. And unless you've created this kind of content before, you probably won't be brilliant at it. Most of us aren't brilliant at things we haven't done before. The other key bits of misinformation around these types of programs is that you can make passive income in no time. I could make an entire episode on why I don't believe any income is ever truly passive,

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but that's for another day. But the implication is often that you can make money straight away, but unless you already have a large audience and are skilled marketer or have the budget to pay someone else to create your launch content for you, the reality is you're unlikely to have a six or seven figure business overnight. So you might be wondering at this point,

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why I'm saying all of this, you might be thinking Johnny isn't, this podcast meant to sell your 90 day course launch sprint program. Why are you telling me all this negative stuff about online course lawn chairs? I need to say here that I really am not trying to be negative or put you off launching an online course. I absolutely want you to do it.

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And I would love you to come into the program so I can show you how to do it and save you a ton of time and trouble, figuring that all out for yourself. Now, I want you to have realistic expectations regardless of whether you ever work with me, because it is totally possible to launch an online course without an audience and with very little experience and I would absolutely encourage you to do so.

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I would encourage you not to hold off, to create your course, to get out there and sell it. As long as you have realistic expectations about what can be achieved. And you're not expecting to replace the income from your one-to-one your done for you or done with you services by next week, or maybe even next year, because this stuff takes time.

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And the last thing I would want you to do is to embark on your online course creation journey and end up feeling rubbish about yourself. And this is one of the reasons I do have a problem with some of these big high ticket programs that promise passive income, recurring revenue, to help you make money in your sleep, because I've seen it time and time again,

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how they can make women. And it is often women because they are typically the ones looking for flexible ways to make money around their caring responsibilities. I've seen how these kinds of programs can make women feel as if they're failing. And to put this into context, I sold 13 of my first online course. I was devastated at the time I thought I had done terribly well.

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It turns out I hadn't done so bad at all because the average conversion rate for online sales is one to 2%. I had converted pretty much bang on. So one to 2% of the people on my email list at that time had bought, but she's actually quite good for a newbie, but had I not discovered the crucial information on conversion rates, then I may well have ended up feeling really awful about myself,

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feeling like a failure and giving up there and then, and never would have grown a multi six figure business selling digital products, because I would have felt like I was a failure before I even started. Another thing that might be holding you back from launching your online course is the perception that an online course has to have multiple modules that it's going to take you a ton of time to create.

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Now I have covered this in previous podcast episodes, which I will link to in the show notes, but one that's definitely worth listening to is three types of online course you can create in morning because an online course can literally be one video tutorial, one PDF, download one resource kit. The kind of thing you can create in the morning with resources you probably already have on your computer.

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And another thing worth bearing in mind is that as a new course creator, unless you already have a massive email list, you're likely to be selling in very modest numbers to start with, which means you don't need a fancy membership site or a subscription for an online course platform like teachable or Kajabi to have a podcast episode on that too. What's the best online course platform.

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The answer might surprise you. I'll link to that one in the show notes too, and you don't need fancy email marketing software or automation either. This is why my 90 day course launch sprint. We keep it really simple. You'll create a one module course so you can create and get your calls on sale quickly. You don't have to spend months trying to find the time to record dozens of video tutorials that no more will probably watch.

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We'll also keep your launch low tech. If you have email marketing software or a online course platform that you use, and you're comfortable with setting that all up, great. If not, we will keep it low or no tech, so you can avoid tech overwhelm. And you'll also have a tried and tested launch plan to follow. So you don't get stuck on what to do when and you have checklists and templates you can use for your email marketing,

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your sales copy, social media posts. So you don't feel like you're always starting from a blank page. So what can you expect if you join my 90 day course launch sprint? Well, first off, if you're listening to this episode around the time it goes live, so that's the end of March, 2022. You should be in time to join my April intake and enrollment's closed on March 27th.

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I've already shared how we'll keep it simple with a one module course. We'll keep it low tat unless you already have fancy tech and a comfortable using it. And you'll have a launch plan to photo. They will be 10 live sessions or with video and audio replays. So if you can get to the live class is great. You can ask questions and get more personalized feedback.

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If not, you can catch up on the videos or the audio recordings. And I'm also including a live launch week. So you have the accountability to actually launch locals, which is crucial because it's so easy to keep making excuses. And if it turns out that you happen to be on holiday joining that week, or there's some other reason why you can't notch that week,

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you can still have a live launch week. We have a very clever messenger bot that we use for all of my programs, which will check in with you. It will ask you to set your goals. It will check in with you every week to see how you're getting on. And it will give you the virtual experience for anything that we're doing. Even if you can't do it live.

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So I will take you step by step through everything you need to do to launch your online course and sell it, including how to choose a topic, how's work effective sales, copy how to create a launch plan, where to host your course, we'll be using free or low-cost options wherever possible, and how to create effective course materials and just be a good online teacher.

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A lot of people don't really think about that, but that goes without saying that this program is not a magic bullet, it's up to you to implement what I share. If you don't implement, or you only implement some of it, or as some people sometimes do, you ignore my advice. If I tell you, I don't think your course will sell.

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You may not get the results you hope for. So what are the costs involved? The cost of the program is 5, 9, 7, so that's in pounds, but there is an option to pay in three installments. I've also opened up a few spots for people who would like one-to-one support, which is 1,597. And that might be suitable for you if you would prefer a one-to-one there's 3, 1, 2 ones included in that.

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And you'd like me to look at your sales page. Personally. You'd like me to give you some feedback on your email marketing, and you just want more of that personalized feedback, full disclosure here. One of my trusted business buddies said to me that given the other commitments I've got at the moment that I should launch this initially as a group program for a maximum of 12,

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which would be much easier for me to sell. It's much easier to go through. It's much easier to make a list of people in your community who you think would benefit from a particular program, reach out to them personally and invite them to join. That will be a much quicker way for me to fill this program. I wouldn't have to do a launch.

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I probably wouldn't even need a sales page. I launched something similar last year with no sales page, no email marketing campaign or any of that stuff. However, I'm aware that that wouldn't be very inclusive because I know there are many people in my community for which that is just unaffordable right now. And let's face it 5, 9, 7 is a big investment, even paying it in installments.

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But that feels to me like it's priced fairly to reflect the additional time that I will need to spend. And we'll say the additional team members I would need to support me, but that's not to say that I'm not aware that there aren't people for whom that price point would not be accessible at all. If that applies to you, I do occasionally offer subsidized places.

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So it is worth getting in touch. However, I do need to be diplomatic, how I share this being resourceful and being able to find ways to bring money into your business is an essential skill as an entrepreneur. So when someone approaches me and asks for a subsidized place, I would expect that they've already exhausted ways of generating income to cover the cost of themselves.

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Not because I'm a meanie who doesn't want to give people programs for free or to give subsidized places. But because like I say, part of being an entrepreneur is about being resourceful. I know that if I needed to bring some money into my business today or into my family, the first thing I'd probably do is think, have I got anything that I can sell?

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Can I do an eBay sale? Are there any direct debits I could cancel that kind of thing. So that's definitely something to give some thought. If you're thinking of reaching out to any entrepreneur to ask for a subsidized place or free place for anything. So what's the potential return on investment for my 90 day course launch sprint, well have to be and say,

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I would never make any promises about what you can achieve. Sales wise. It's unlikely you'll be making millions by the end of 90 days because there's a lot to learn about notching online courses. But if you already have an email list, you may easily be able to make that the cost of your investment or even exceed it. And even if you don't,

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you can probably still achieve that as long as you are scrappy and determined and are willing to get out there and sell your course. And I'll show you how to do that. Even if you don't have a list or an online community, but it's worth bearing this in mind, it may not even be about the money for you. It may be about giving you the confidence and also the kick up the backside that you need to actually launch your online course,

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just to get it out there. It may well be that you're not looking to replace your one-to-one income or your done for you or done with you services with so-called passive income products. It may well be that you would just like to generate a few hundred extra pounds a month, which I think is very doable or that you'd like to be able to offer those people who maybe can't afford to invest in your one-to-one or your done for you or done with you services and alternative way of working with the,

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and again, this is why keeping it simple and creating a one module course or a very short course is the way to go with this. I remember doing a clubhouse Q and a anyone remember clubhouse. I think it's still a thing, but I think most people have moved on from it now where someone was asking me about launching an online course, and this lady was saying exactly that,

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that she wanted to create an online version of what she delivers one-to-one because she has people approaching her who can't afford her one-to-one services. And I remember saying to her, well, you could go all out and you could create an all singing, all dancing online course, but that might take you months and you might end up selling eight of them. If you think about the number of people that you speak to every month who approached you and can't afford your services,

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it might actually only be a small number of people and you could spend months creating content for people for a few hundred pounds. And I remember asking her whether it might actually be a better use of her time to compile some useful resources, some blog posts, or refer them to a course creator with an already established program. But the great thing about a one module online course is you can add to them.

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So theoretically, you could create them one at a time. Instead of trying to find a block of time to create 12 modules of an online course, you could over the course of a year, create ten one off master classes and then bundle them together and sell them as a program. And you'd be bringing in some recurring revenue along the way. So why am I the right person to teach you this stuff?

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Well, maybe I'm not. That's one of the reasons that I'm recording this episodes. So you can get to know a bit about me and how I work. But what I will say is that there are tons of people out there, flogging courses on how to generate passive income, many of whom who have never sold digital products at scale, as I have to their own community,

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they may have sold in large numbers, but they've used the affiliate launch model, which is basically where you build a network of people who will sell your online program for you. And if you are looking to launch an online program and trying to make decisions about where to get your education from, I think that's a really important distinction because there are people out there who are making tons more money than someone like me,

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but they're using the affiliate launch model rather than selling direct to their audience as I am by their own email list. So if you're looking to learn how to run big affiliate launches, absolutely you should seek out a teacher who specializes in that personally. I wouldn't recommend going down that route because you can end up building someone else's business rather than your own. And I do have a podcast episode on that called why I don't do affiliate launches.

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If you want to find out more, if that's what you want, I'm probably not the right teacher for you, but if you want to be able to sell your own digital products direct to your audience, and you want to get started now, regardless of whether you have an email list or a large community, and if you have realistic expectations about what you can achieve based on the audience size that you have,

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and the experience that you have, I could beat the right teacher for you because I have sold digital products at scale to my own audience. I have experienced very extensive experience in facts of the thing that you want to achieve. So to give you a few examples in August, 2021, I generated 45,000 pounds worth of product sales in a week. So that was a combination of my courageous content planner and my courageous content live online event.

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And as an aside, I remember having this moment where I wondered whether I should share that because it felt almost shameful in comparison to some of these big affiliate launches that people were running. I mean, in what world would generating 45,000 pounds in sales direct to your own audience without using affiliates be shameful. But nevertheless, I'm not proud to admit it that did run through my mind.

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That was around 750 products in a week. My courageous concept live event 2020. I sold more than 650 tickets for that event. Again, sold direct to my own email list without the use of affiliates. And in January, 2022, I sold 515 digital products by my website, a mixture of online courses, memberships, masterclasses, digital planners, you name it.

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I have sold it from eBooks. I've sold thousands of those to online masterclasses. I've done big complex launches, but online courses, memberships online events, offline events, I'm really experienced at selling one to many at scale. So all I'm saying here is what I might not be the right teacher for you. It's important to find someone who has the right style for you and approach,

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just do your due diligence around finding someone who has experienced of the type of business that you want to build. Because, and just using this as an example of running big affiliate launches is not the same as selling direct to your audience is not the same as selling high ticket group programs in small numbers. So just do your due diligence around checking out what the coaches and teachers that you're thinking of working with have actually achieved.

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So what kind of results could you expect if you join my 90 day course launch sprint? Well, first off, I want to point out that any results or testimonials you see from me may not be typical because testimonials are never typical. Each of us brings our own set of skills, unique personality, and our privilege, or lack of every time we take an online course or program or do any education.

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In fact, which means we are never starting from exactly the same point. The example I often give is biting. So I feel like I have a natural advantage to other people in the online space, because not only was I a professional writer, if you like for many, many years, I was a journalist, but I've just always been good at writing.

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And it's always been something that I've found easy. I've had to learn new skills. I've had to learn how to write sales, copy, email, marketing, copy, Facebook ads. All of those things are very different disciplines and very specialized disciplines. But I know that I've found that easier because I have some natural ability in that area. And maybe not just natural ability,

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it's obviously a skill of I've honed and practiced on top of having natural ability. But I know that's something that other people can really struggle with and setting an online course does mean being able to write copy that makes people want to buy. So some people are naturally going to pick that up quicker than other people, which is why it's really unhelpful to compare yourself to other people.

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And there's so many other skills that you need to create and sell online courses. I mean, teaching's another example. I'm a trained qualified school teacher. I've been a university lecturer. Again, I have been professionally trained in understanding how people learn, how to put teaching materials and resources together is a skill that I've been honing and practicing for many, many years.

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So comparisons can be really unhelpful because we're not all starting from the same point. And again, I would do your due diligence when you're checking out testimonials on sales pages because not all clients will be starting from the same point. So to give you an idea of some results that have been achieved in seminar programs last year, I ran a recurring revenue summer school,

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where I had a couple of clients who made around 1500 in masterclass sales, along with increased sales in other products that they were selling at the time. But one already has an established online community and creating a free Facebook group and an email list. Another one sold to just eight masterclasses, but at a higher price point. And they were a very well-known figure in that industry with a strong following on LinkedIn.

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And I'm sharing that with you honestly, so that if you do decide to join me on the program, you're coming into it with your eyes open. You're not being blinded by any testimonials that you might see another client I'd say will be a more typical results. So that was a coach who sold 11 master classes at 27 pounds, which I think is a great result for a newbie and somebody without an established audience.

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And then there was another student who only sold one masterclass, but the experience of taking the program helped her to see the actually she could make some changes to her one-to-one offer, which would make it easier and quicker to deliver. And actually she could generate a lot more money by those tweaks that she made to her one-to-one offer. And she subsequently decided not to go down the digital product route,

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but the experience was invaluable because not only did she make her money back, but she also was able to make some quite significant changes in her business. And by the way, on all my programs as any online programs, there were always those people who life gets in the way they don't finish. It happens. We do our best to make sure it doesn't happen.

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We use our messenger bots to check in with people regularly and we send reminders for classes. Our communications are excellent. People often say, but it's not Bulletproof. And there will always be those people who they enroll and then something comes up or maybe they decided it isn't for them, or they just don't do the work. And I want to be really upfront with you about that.

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I'm a teacher showing up providing online education. I think I do pretty much everything I can to ensure that people are successful, but I can't do the work for people and short of driving around to people's houses and standing over them while they do the work. Well, I think I do everything I possibly can to ensure success, but there will always be those people who don't succeed and that's normal for any online course.

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So I hope that's given you an idea of what to expect in my 90 day course, launch sprint, and a bit about the motivation behind creating this program. I know it's a big decision to decide, to invest in any kind of online learning, which is why my inbox is always open. Janet, Janet murray.co.uk. No question is too small or too silly.

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We've been asked most things millions of times. And if someone asks something that I haven't asked before, I love it because I can create new content then it's great. There's never any pressure from me, by the way. I think sometimes the perception in the online space is that's because creators like me are just trying to grab people's money at any cost. And I can tell you hand on heart.

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I actually have my hands on heart. And I'm saying, this is not the case for me. There is no value for me in involving somebody on a program that isn't right for them. I've been delivering online education for quite some years now, and it never ends well, which is why if I don't think it's right for you, I will have you straight.

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And why I'll also tell you if I think it is work for you. So any questions at all, please reach out. And even if you ask a ton of questions and not in wording this time around, that's fine too. There is never any pressure on this. So it will link to you the sales page for the 90 day course launch sprint in the show notes.

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And if you are interested in being part of the April cohort, remember that enrollment's closed on March 27th.

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