How I pulled off a US$100K launch week

Find Your Superpower newsletter 081

Read time: 5 minutes

Topics covered: digital product launch, personal branding, mastermind

Hello, this is Juliana, your rocketship captain speaking! 👋

I hit a milestone two days ago on a Friday morning.

I officially closed early-bird enrollment to my Brand Builder Mastermind launching in January 2025, which also represented the first time I had a US$100K launch week. 

This may be normal for other digital content providers, but it is kind of a big deal for me.

To provide you with some context, I am the CEO & founder of a STEM communications firm with 18 teammates, but I operate my branding coaching side hustle as a solopreneur.

The Mastermind website? I built it on Kajabi.

The Mastermind brochure? I built it on Canva.

The Mastermind launch emails? I wrote all 1000000000 of them on Kajabi. 

I feel strongly about providing this context because without it, you may incorrectly assume that I have a massive team managing the launch, with copywriters and designers creating the website, marketing collateral and copywriting.

PS: in full transparency, my amazing teammate sends an onboarding email to new Mastermind cadets, but that is after everything is said and done.

Therefore, if I can do it, so can you.

Today, I want to share with you some of the key features of launch week that helped me hit this new milestone.

Please take notes!

1/ I built a clear and compelling offer that is hard to refuse

Now this is probably the most critical step when designing a digital knowledge product. 

When people come to me saying, “Juliana, how do I get more leads for my 1:1 coaching gig?”

I look at their ambiguous offer and say, “Hmm, are you sure that it is leads that we need? I think we need a clearer and more compelling offer.”

With 1:1 coaching, unless I have worked with you before, I have no idea what I’m gonna achieve in those 60 minutes, and I am already stressed about having to do all of the heavy lifting and thinking.

I have to prepare for it very carefully and write down all of my questions so that I don’t waste any of those precious 60 minutes (which certainly aren’t cheap).

Once the clock runs down to zero, the outcomes are squarely on my shoulders, not the coach. You can see how maximizing their money’s worth in 60 minutes can be a huge barrier to signing up for many people.

In my Mastermind offer, on the other hand, I am very clear that for around the same price as a 1:1 consulting session, you would receive virtual group coaching from more than 20+ expert speakers and coaches across one entire year on:

• building a powerful brand
• speaking persuasively
• writing convincingly 
• monetizing our skills and knowledge

I explained that for $1,000 (which is in fact some coaches’ hourly rate), you would have access to an awesome professional community of industry experts and all of the above workshops and fireside chats for 365 days, akin to an HBO or Netflix subscription.

It was a no-brainer for 100 people to sign up in one week.

2/ I killed my darling (sob...). I killed my incredibly popular, always-sold-out bootcamps.

One year, four bootcamps and 160 bootcamp clients later, I sent an email to thousands of subscribers with one simple headline: “Why I am shutting down my super profitable bootcamps.”

My bootcamp waitlist has since grown to 1,200 strong. Very regularly, I receive DMs and emails from awesome people telling me that they are planning on joining the next cohort in 2025, explaining that they couldn’t join the previous cohorts due to work or personal commitments. These bootcamps require a serious investment in time and energy, and so my potential clients aren’t always available when I launch these bootcamps.

To say I could have continued staying profitable by running six-week bootcamps is the understatement of the year. 

But something in me said no.

No to doing the same thing for the fifth time round. 

No to staying stagnant, no to resting on my laurels, no to having a “rinse and repeat” mindset.

Because I didn’t try to be greedy and keep BOTH my Mastermind and six-week bootcamps, everyone could see how serious I was. 

Basically, if you want to work with me in 2025, this is the only way possible.

I killed my darling. (Sob.)

3/ I ran a very tight, limited-time, limited-seat launch campaign

Many of us instinctively understand the concept of creating scarcity with limited-time offers, but I think it takes guts to pull it off.

Why? I make people upset all the time.

Let me explain what I mean.

When I write that I have exactly 100 seats at early-bird rate and only payment secures your seat, I really mean it.

On Wednesday, 30+ people applied when we were already 90% full (unbelievably, 12 more joined while I was sleeping).

You do the math.

My emails were getting increasingly urgent that our early-bird phase was nearly full, so this information was clear to everyone.

Those who picked up on the urgency secured their spot immediately when they received the payment gateway link.

For those who didn’t manage to pay in time, I had to take a deep breath and send them super disappointing emails that the early-bird phase had closed, and that the price has gone up (by an additional US$200).

My point is that I could have just closed one eye and earned the money… and nobody would find out.

But I wanted my clients to understand I run a transparent business and these rules apply to everyone, even if you are my best friend.

Yes, it may upset people in the short term, but in the long term, I believe that they will respect me even more for this.

In addition, it also proved that my “limited seats left!” marketing announcements are indeed real.

4/ I created a quiz to help everyone evaluate rationally their situation for what it was 

Earlier last week, I created a simple quiz of 16 questions to help people assess their professional competency in branding, speaking, writing and monetizing.

I know it worked, because I saw many people go directly from taking the quiz to signing up for the Mastermind.

Data is the new oil. When you see for yourself a score of 20% for writing and 30% for monetization, it is pretty self-explanatory.

Also in my marketing emails, I explained the three options they had for their branding in 2025:

• Option #1: Do absolutely nothing: If you already have a powerful, differentiated brand that sets you apart from your competition, and your job is secure with guaranteed promotions and raises... then maybe you don’t need all this brand-building nonsense.
• Option #2: DIY the whole thing: Find an all-rounded coach to train you 1:1 at $800 an hour. Or enroll for an executive education module that costs $5,000 per week. Or sign up for an MBA program that costs $100,000 and lose all of your free time for the next 18-24 months. And if bills, work projects and business trips take over... That’s alright, you can just try again in 2026.
• Option #3: Let me do the work for you: I’ll invite expert coaches and speakers and my LinkedIn Top Voice friends to unlock their secrets about branding, speaking, writing and monetizing. Go enjoy your kids, your pets, your friends, your workouts... Just show up virtually when we have fireside chats, workshops, clinics and Q&A sessions. Let Juliana plan your learning & development for you.

It seems that 100 of them (and still counting) have picked Option 3.

5/ My past & present clients are the best leads I will ever find

Over one year, I have worked with many senior professionals in my six-week LinkedIn bootcamps.

One of the main reasons that I am pivoting from a bootcamp model to a Mastermind model is to continue working with my awesome clients for a more sustained period of time. I am sure that you agree six weeks goes by lightning fast.

I am also incredibly self-aware about the limitations of my knowledge. Therefore, I want to offer in my Mastermind long-term coaching from other expert coaches, as well as a much expanded learning portfolio beyond LinkedIn.

By delivering them value in my bootcamps, I didn’t have to search for many new leads.

A flex here is that 50+ of my bootcamp participants have already signed up for the Mastermind. At this point, I’ve stopped counting. They’re still joining daily!

Many of you reading this have never worked with me before, but these 50+ have.

Each of them have paid me close to US$1,500 in 2024, and the fact that they’re back for more in 2025 must surely mean something.

Surely that is the best testimonial anyone can give me—testifying with their wallet.

(And thank you, from the bottom of my heart.)

PS: Ask them yourself!

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We are now in the last phase of enrolling Founding Members for the Brand Builder Mastermind.

In addition to expert speakers and coaches, joining this Mastermind gives you access to a tight-knit group of industry experts also on the same journey as you:

• Celebrate your wins with fellow industry experts
• Make friends and allies for your journey
• Find new collaborators and clients

After the Mastermind launches in January 2025, I plan on enrolling TEN new members once every 1-3 months.

Basically, it will be incredibly difficult to join after take-off.

PS: Are you joining my rocketship as a Founding Member?

Thanks for reading issue 081 of my weekly Find Your Superpower newsletter.

For those of you who are new to my newsletter, Find Your Superpower is subscribed to by 45,000+ people, and discusses the following three goals: (1) Making a career transition, (2) Professional branding on LinkedIn, and (3) Reinventing ourselves for the future of work.

PS: Follow my new Find Your Superpower LinkedIn page!

PPS: Waitlist here to connect brand building with money making!