How I shipped 7 projects (with a toddler in tow) in 12 months
When I came back from maternity leave in 2019, my only goal was to get my business back off the ground.
Of course, I was also trying to keep a human alive.
But as far as my business and career were concerned – I was essentially starting from scratch.
So I needed a new game plan.
Less time and more personal responsibilities, meant I had to be laser-focused.
And by approaching my massive goal (start a new business) with a combination of short project cycles and just-in-time learning — I was able to create the results I wanted.
The “Always” First Step: Reduce your knowledge gaps
Before I got stuck into the doing, the first thing I did was get my learning sorted.
I knew I would need some help with making all my post-baby goals happen.
So I leveraged other people's strategies, systems, and frameworks to cut the learning curve and catapult me past ground zero.
I didn't want to have to do a lot of the thinking and guesswork.
And I had already spent so much of my time finding great mentors online and great people to learn from — that it was easy to tap into the resources I needed.
Here is what that first year looked like.
And a breakdown of the core projects I worked on:
Project #1 — New website
I needed a new website.
So that became my first project to attack.
I used my friend's Squarespace course and threw together a five-page website. I'm typically a WordPress gal, but at the time, Squarespace felt suitable to use. Mainly from a financial perspective.
Given I was still looking after my new baby full-time — focusing only on my website made sense for this project cycle.
Project #2 — Email list (and newsletter)
I needed an email list. So that became my next project.
I used my audience-building course from Brian Clark map out a weekly newsletter format that you're likely familiar with; it's called Flourish.
And I used my new website to promote my newsletter exclusively.
At the time, it was the only thing I asked people to do on my site.
Again, I focused only on this one thing to make sure I could focus and follow through.
And using the resources (I already had) to implement what I needed to.
Project #3 and #4 — Create and launch a new lead magnet
Next, I needed something (besides my newsletter) to showcase my expertise, build my authority, and do so on autopilot.
So I chose to create a free email course as a lead magnet.
This became my next project.
To do this, I used a course I took from Brennan Dunn called Mastering Convertkit to help me with automation and deliverability, and I even managed to test-run my skills for a client.
(Which, by the way, is the fastest way to get ROI from any course you do.)
This was by far the biggest project to date, and it took two cycles to produce.
I divided the projects into content creation/editing and technical setup/polishing.
The content came first (of course!)
Project #5 and #6 — Create new paid product
I knew my next course of action was to create a paid product.
This was super daunting — but again, I just broke it down into specific, smaller projects and aligned my learning.
I knew I would need to sell it, so I worked on the copy and automation of the sales funnel first.
That gave me more clarity about its positioning and what content I would need to create.
Then, once I had the sales funnel mocked up and most of the copy was there — I got to work on creating the actual product.
This meant mapping out the program (which was helped by having already done the sales funnel) and producing the content.
I didn't need much help with the course creation, but I always struggled with the selling side of things.
So I purchased a sales funnel guide from CopyHackers and used that to pull together a sales page and sequence, and I layered that on top of what I was learning from my automation course.
I got to the point where I had the first module ready.
And knew that it would be enough to put it out into the world.
Project #7 — Launch the new product
The next project was to polish up the sales process, fine-tune the content, and launch to my list.
Having worked on many launches in my freelance career, this wasn’t a complex process, and I knew the steps involved.
That prior knowledge and experience made the work easy to map out and execute (we all have projects that are easier to finish than others!)
And I launched that course at the end of 2020.
Most importantly: I produced the intended result.
Which was to have that alternative source of income to client work.
Of course, I would still need to promote and market it in the future.
But the asset was built.
Project cycles break up big pieces of work and make outcomes more concrete
In my case, instead of some elusive goal of "build in a passive income stream," I worked towards:
Building a website to have a home base
Building an audience with an email list
Building authority with a free course
Building and launching a product to make some money
I managed to ship all that in between October 2019 and October 2020. While also being the primary caregiver to my baby/toddler.
I never had more than two, maybe three hours a day, for everything I had to do.
But with laser focus and working in project cycles toward each specific result – and using my resources with the just-in-time mentality — I was able to pull it off.
And I believe you can too!
If you’re interested in taking more action (and would like some accountability and a proven framework to make it happen) — consider joining my six-week project accelerator.
You get access to:
Action-oriented asynchronous project support and feedback
Tons of accountability with twenty-four (multi-time zone) coworking session
A proven framework for managing the workload and prioritizing the important stuff
Bonuses to help you pick an idea and turn it into a doable project