When (and When Not) to Launch Your Offer: Ask These 3 Questions First

Your Dream Business

In this episode of Your Dream Business Podcast, host Teresa Heath-Wareing explores one of the most common (and often overlooked) questions in entrepreneurship: When is the right time to launch? Teresa dives into the strategy behind launch timing and walks you through three essential questions to ask before putting your product or service out into the world. From understanding your audience’s seasonal behavior to factoring in your own personal schedule, she shares practical advice and personal stories to help you launch with confidence and clarity. You’ll also discover why September and January are two of the best times of year to go live—and how to make the most of these natural momentum points. If you’re planning your next launch or just want to avoid overwhelm and guesswork, this episode offers clear, actionable guidance to help you get it right.

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

• Strategic timing sets the tone for your launch.
  • Teresa explains why aligning your launch with your audience’s energy and attention (like in January or September) increases your chances of success.
  
  

• Ask the right questions before you launch.
  • Clarifying your goals, timing, and preparation windows can reduce stress and lead to better results.
  
  

• Balance business with real life.
  • Personal circumstances—like school holidays, vacations, or burnout—should be factored into your launch calendar.
  
  

• Advance preparation is key.
  • Teresa emphasizes the importance of giving yourself ample lead time so you’re not rushing or launching from a place of pressure.
  
  

• Momentum isn’t just external—it’s internal too.
  • Launching at the right time also means tapping into your own energy, confidence, and readiness.
  
  

If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful. Connect with Teresa on Website, (Grow, Launch, Sell), Sign up to Teresa's email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook

Transcript

Have you ever wondered when is the best time to do a launch? Well, unfortunately it's not quite as easy as me giving you a date on the calendar, although. In this episode, I am gonna share with you the two months in the year that are launching sweet spots that seem to work for pretty much everybody. But I'm also gonna share with you the three questions that you need to ask yourself in order to maximize your launch. Welcome to the Your Dream Business Podcast. I'm your host Teresa Heath Wareing. An international bestselling author, award-winning speaker, TEDx speaker, certified coach, and the host of this number one ranked podcast. I am so excited to guide you on the journey of creating a business and life that you not only love, but one that perfectly aligns with you and the season of life that you are in. In each episode, I'll share with you easy, actionable, and insightful strategies to grow your online business. Plus we'll be diving into some mindset, tools and [00:01:00] strategies that keep you focused, motivated. And gonna stop you from getting in your own way. So if you're a course creator, membership owner, or coach, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. How are you doing? I hope you are good. And a voice message sent to me earlier today from one of my one-to-one clients. As you well know if you've been in my world a while, I'm a big talker, so I don't like typing, so when I work one-to-one with people, we tend to use Voxer and therefore I can do like a back and forth, which is so much easier. Anyway, I digress. I had this lovely voice message that said that she was talking to someone else, she's over in the States, and that they were talking about my podcast and how much they liked it and how it was really practical and it gave them good stuff. And then when I was at Atomicon I had a really lovely lady come up to me and basically show me that she was listening to an episode of the podcast, which was awesome. And I just wanted to say that first off, [00:02:00] thank you. I massively appreciate you listening. And obviously I've done a lot of episodes. This is like 410, I think I'm on recording this one, and I'd like to ask a favor, would you be so kind as to do one of two things, or if you're feeling extra, extra kind, you might wanna do both? The first thing is, could you possibly share this on your social media and tag me in and I will share it because it really helps for. People to obviously see what you're listening to. Hopefully encourage some other people to listen to the podcast too. Obviously. From a business point of view, the podcast is my biggest expense. And actually there isn't a return that you can see. There is absolutely a return, but as in there's not an ROI on it. I can't go, okay, it costs me this much, but it makes me this much. 'cause it doesn't, it just costs me money, but I love it and this is my way that I can help so many people By giving you really kind of inspirational [00:03:00] interviews and I've got a great one next week. I'm so excited. He's amazing, but also very practical, strategic and tactical solos. And like I said, it just would really, really help if A, you would share on your social media and tag me in. I'd absolutely love that you'd make my world. And B, if you haven't already, if you could go and give me a review wherever you are listening to this again. That would be such a massive, massive benefit to me and the podcast, and I would appreciate you so very greatly. Okay, let's get on with today's episode. Today we're gonna be talking about when should you launch, and I've got a few questions that I'm gonna be going through that you need to ask yourself before you decide to do your next launch. Now, one thing I wanna caveat before I get started is people work in different ways now I. I'm one of these people that I like to plan. I'm not always brilliant at it, but I do like to plan. We have a plan in for pretty much the rest, not even pretty much. In fact, we have a plan in for the [00:04:00] rest of the year. I know when we're launching, I know what we're doing. I know what workshops we're doing when, and then come towards the end of this year, I will do the plan for next year. And. I really enjoy knowing what is coming up and planning my time accordingly. As you know, and I've talked about it before, and in fact we'll link to the show notes, the amazing Louise Miller is my productivity mentor. I don't like calling her a productivity mentor. I like calling her a productivity coach. She doesn't like me calling her a productivity coach, but basically she helps me stay productive and she's amazing. So she's able to then look at my plan coming up and we are able to make sure I've got everything in place. The reason I tell you this is because not everyone's like that. So I am gonna give you some questions to ask yourself about when you should launch. I'm obviously gonna give you some advice, I'm gonna give you some thoughts, but at the end of the day, and I'm so flipping passionate about this, it's your business. You get to decide, and that's [00:05:00] really, really important. So I will give you all the support advice. Tactics I can, but if it doesn't work for you, don't try and force it. Don't try and make it work for you. Find out what works for you. Some people work really well last minute. Now I'm gonna argue against why I want us to be a little bit last minute, little bit less last minute I should say. However, some people just work better like that. They work better off the cuff, they're more creative. They do things fast like, and if that is you, then obviously keep that in mind. As we go through these kind of questions, I want you to ask yourself and. Like I said, it's your business, you work in a way that is only unique to you, and my job is to empower you to find the best way for you to work. And that honestly is my job with anyone. I work with anyone that's in the Grow Launch Sale program, my job is to find out what they need and what is important to them. In order to then create the launch that works with them. Okay, that being said, I've got that off the table. I've hopefully empowered you enough [00:06:00] to take what you need from this episode. So what should we be asking ourselves about what or when do we launch? So the very first thing I want you to think about is who are you launching to? Now this is important because there are going to be seasons. Now again, I'm gonna. It comes straight in with an unpopular opinion maybe. But unless you are working with people who have children, who you can guarantee will pretty much take the summer off. I think there is a, how do I wanna describe it? I think there is an opinion that no one works over summer and that's just not true. Like I work the whole of summer. I always have. I always will. Like there are lots of people, you know. The supermarkets don't shut. Amazon doesn't stop delivering. Like the world doesn't halt because it's summer. However, I think often in small business we often think that's the case. But like I said, in saying that, I also want you to know and be [00:07:00] confident that if your customers are parents and they are likely to be off the summer or not engage, then yes, you might not wanna consider doing something or launching in the summer, but I do, like I said, I wanted to caveat it both ways. So you need to understand your audience's seasonality. If they are, like I said, parents, they might not be doing stuff in the summer. If they are e-commerce, you might have to launch something way before they're doing it. I was talking to someone just the other day about launching for Black Friday. And as I record this, it's June and we are talking about when she's gonna launch to talk about how she can help them with Black Friday, and it's gonna be very soon. So you need to have a think about that. I've got students who work with teachers. So there are particular times of the year where the teachers are up to their neck in exams and that sort of thing. So again, that's not great. I have got students that I've worked with that they [00:08:00] teach students and they're going to promote their support. Either right after an exam or right as someone's enrolling. So you need to bear in mind when are they going to be ready to buy or when are they going to be able to focus on this thing. Now, like I said, one thing that I am trying to get away from is going, things don't work in August because everyone's off. I am actually doing something in August. You've got a sneak peek. I've never done anything in August before and I'm gonna see if it works. We will find out and I'm sure I will share all. So that's the first question. Who are you launching to and understanding what seasonality they might have and whether it's a good time for them or not. Also, don't let that entirely put you off. You know that my word this year is everything's a test. It's not one word. It's like three. Everything is a test. That's actually four. I'm so sorry. Yeah, so like, I'm just [00:09:00] saying for you to, to take it into account, but don't let it paralyze you. Okay, the next question, what is going on in your own personal world? So the first question is, what is happening in our customers? What is going on in your own personal world? So for instance, oh, sorry, can I just go back one second. This is how you can tell my podcast is never scripted because another thought has just come to me. Obviously you might want to avoid real seasonal things. So for instance, I was once planning on launching and as you know, I have an American audience as well as a UK audience. And it was actually going to be like Thanksgiving. Well, that's a terrible time. I can't do something when it's gonna be Thanksgiving 'cause everyone's off and I would know that everyone's off. So I changed it. So that's something else for you to bear in mind in like, is there national holidays in the. You know, audience that you're dealing with. So, sorry. Now question two, what is going on in your world? Now you obviously need to be available and have the [00:10:00] energy to launch, and I'm not gonna sit here and say that it doesn't take energy or I'm not gonna sit here and say that it's, you know, like it's easy. Or you can have really low level launches that take no energy. It will, like launching in its very nature is creating an experience and therefore it will take some extra energy and some extra time from you. So again, make sure that you are looking at what capacity you have. Consider your own holidays, your own personal time, your own other commitments, and think about. Where are you going to have the time and capacity to do this? Because if you are, I don't know, if you were like speaking the right mid launch, then that might not be great because for me, speaking and being at an event or a conference takes energy and again, launching takes energy if I was going to be away. So for instance, I've just done a small launch and I say it's small, it's like a private launch. [00:11:00] I'm, I need to explain, maybe I'll do an episode on how I launch, but I've just done this kind of small private launch and basically the car opens yesterday as I'm, as I'm recording this and I go away tomorrow to France. So I've had to do all the calls 'cause I offer a one-to-one call to. Discuss whether they want to join Grow launch sale. The calls are today. So I kind of, the timing wasn't brilliant 'cause I could have done with, given them a chance to have a call with me next week, but it just ended up being the way it was. Like I said, it's not that you definitely rule it out because you're going away or because you've got an event, but you just need to bear in mind also from an energy point of view, like running things back to back. So not only do your audience need a break from launching, so if you are selling continuously to your audience, not only do they need a break and do they need you to add some value and give them some love, but also you need a break. So keep that in mind. When do you need or when will you have the time and energy? Now, don't say never. I heard you [00:12:00] say that to yourself and I'm not sure that it's like as easy as saying that, you know, we'll have the time and energy, but when can you clear your diary? The other thing that I have to say that has worked really well for me is in launch phase, which is basically the phase where you are promoting your launch experience. When I have been speaking, that has actually worked really well for me in that phase. I wouldn't do it when I'm actually launching IE. When I'm either delivering the bootcamp or the workshops or whatever it is, because that's too much. But right before that, that's actually worked really nicely for me from a list point of view in getting people in that launch. But yeah. Okay. So you're gonna consider who you're launching to and what affects them. You're going to consider what's going on in your own world. So if you are away with the kids, you've got something personal going on, you are doing something else in your business and you won't have the time and energy. Don't do that. And then the third question is, how much time do you need to [00:13:00] prepare? Now this is the question I get asked a lot. How much time should we have to prepare in an ideal world? So as I record, record this, it's June the 26th and I am doing a launch at the mid to end of August. I think it's mid-August actually. I was just looking at my calendar and I can't read it for me. So that's no good. I am currently preparing for that now. Now this is going to be a big launch and it's something that I've not done before. It's a bootcamp that I've not done, so keep an eye out for that, but. I am already starting to prepare for that. Now, what you guys will see is two weeks prior to when the bootcamp starts, when I start talking about it. But what I'm going to be working on now is the pre-launch content. I'm going to be actually creating everything for the launch. Like it's a beast. All the things you need to create, the emails I need to write. So the more time you can give yourself the better. And the other reason I suggest that [00:14:00] even though. When we get into the launch phase, we, that's obviously done over. So if I'm doing a bootcamp, I'll span that over two weeks and then I'll promote the bootcamp two weeks before I start. So technically, from the minute I start promoting the bootcamp until I finish the bootcamp, you're almost talking four weeks. So you could say to me, well, why don't you just do all your emails in the sales page and all that in that four weeks? Because one, you're gonna be tied up doing the other things. And two, I like to have and I recommend to everyone that I work with, that we have everything prepared as much as possible beforehand. Now, that's not to say that we shouldn't tweak and move if things happen during the launch. Absolutely. We wanna be able to have the head space to go, oh, this just came up and this is brilliant. Let's add this in. However, one of the reasons we get everything ready. Is because launching is an emotional rollercoaster, and what happens is if things aren't going to plan, you might not write [00:15:00] that email or you might not put that post out, or you might not show up in the same way, or you might not write in the same way. So I would much rather, before you even launch that, you've written all those emails, you've done all that stuff as much as possible. It's just scheduled and therefore when you're in the launch, you're not having to worry about that. Also, as much time as you can give it to warm your audience and to build your list is really, really important. So when I'm launching, if I was deciding I wanted to launch to, you know, not today, but if I was gonna come up with a launch soon, I would need to give myself a minimum. I'm just thinking now, so I'd want. Two weeks to plan what I wanted to do and maybe do a little bit of pre-launch content, although that's not very much, two weeks to promote the launch and then...