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How I Made $775K with an "Unplanned" Launch
Hey ,
We just wrapped Freedom High, our virtual summer school, and I need to share something REAL with you:
I broke my own launch rules... and it led to the strongest conversion rates I've ever seen.
This is both a breakdown of what happened AND the roadmap you can use to launch smarter, simpler, and more profitably.
Grab your favorite drink, settle in, and let's get specific:
Three months ago, I had zero intention of launching anything major. I'm heading into maternity leave. The last thing I wanted was a delivery burden I couldn't fulfill.
But, I DID want to run a fun marketing activation that I could deliver before I went out and really use that opportunity to connect with and pour into our audience. So much has changed in the last few months when it comes to digital marketing because of AI, and creating the content live felt way more fun to me than not.
So, I put together a Canva document and pitched it to my team one Monday morning.
I pitched the idea "Freedom High", a $97 virtual summer school. Pure value delivery. No backend promises. Just fun education for our community.
Here's what I told myself: "If this flops, no big deal. If people love it, maybe we'll see what happens."
I turned my garage into a 90’s high school backdrop, ordered every pink prop I could find and did a fun photoshoot (bump included!🤰).
The only reason I even considered selling anything afterward? We'd finished building out our AI tool earlier than expected. If people bought, great. If not, no harm done.
What happened next shocked me.
The Numbers (Because Transparency Is Our Thing)
Let me show you the exact breakdown:
2,076 students enrolled in Freedom High
$168K revenue from the challenge itself
$119K spent on ads total
710 people bought our $697 AI tool afterward
Total launch revenue: $775,000
Note: the math might not “math” to you, because our funnel (as always!) included order bumps, upsells and downsells. So a $97, $197 or $697 purchase is never just that.
Conversion rates that blew my mind:
34% of people from Freedom High purchased the offer overall
What’s crazy is, 63% of my VIP students bought the offer!
The kicker? This happened with zero launch plan. No 47-page strategy doc. No Asana project board. No psychological triggers mapped out. Nothing.
I only decided we’d sell the AI tool midway through the challenge, rather than waiting to announce the new tool later in the year.
What Worked (Our Winning Formula)
After analyzing the results, I found 5 patterns you can copy for your next launch:
1. Create Problem-Awareness Experiences (Not Just Content)
Most people create content about problems. I created an experience where people lived the problems.
For 5 days, students implemented real strategies in their businesses. When they hit obstacles, they felt the friction viscerally. By day 5, they weren't just intellectually aware of their challenges - they were emotionally invested in solving them.
Your move: Don't just talk about problems. Create situations where your audience experiences them firsthand.
2. Introduce Solutions at The Moment of Need
Most launch advice tells you to stick to a rigid pitch timeline. But real people don’t follow arbitrary dates, they follow their own challenges.
By Day 5 of Freedom High, students had been implementing strategies all week. Naturally, some friction points surfaced. Instead of ignoring that, I responded in real time: “Here’s a tool we built that actually solves what you’re running into.”
No script. Just meeting them where they were and offering real help.
Your move: Don’t force your pitch into a calendar slot. Pay attention to when your audience genuinely needs a solution, that’s the best time to share it.
3. Build VIP Qualification Systems
My VIP tier wasn't just an upsell - it was a buyer qualification system. People willing to pay an additional $197 to upgrade (vs the original $97 main offer) showed higher commitment levels. Hence, the 63% conversion rate.
I also really got to pour value into our VIPs, by offering real-time audits and showing them how quickly their problems could actually be solved.
Your move: Use pricing tiers to identify your most serious prospects, then tailor your offers accordingly.
4. Apply The "Transparent Authority" Principle
I admitted I hadn't planned to sell anything. Instead of hurting credibility, it built trust. People believed my recommendations because they felt authentic, not manipulative.
Your move: Share the messy middle. Authority today comes from honesty plus results, not perfection.
5. Treat Every Launch As Data Collection
This is probably the most important point. I didn't stake everything on this launch succeeding. I approached it as an experiment.
No pressure. No "make or break" mentality. Just: "Let's see what happens and learn from it."
There was nothing riding on this financially in our business, if we didn’t pitch anything at the end, we’d have been just fine.
Your move: Define success metrics beforehand, but approach each launch as valuable data regardless of financial outcome.
What We Learned & Could Do Better
The Reality About Ad Spend
$775K revenue from $119K ad spend looks like a 6.5x return. But here's the critical context: This worked because we have a strong organic audience. The ads amplified existing trust - they didn't create it from scratch.
The real lesson: Please, spend time building your distribution! Building an audience and community is more important now than ever.
Launch Reality Check
My first launches in business completely sucked.
Zero buyers, zero interest. But, I kept learning how to market, and it’s a skill that will compound and stay with you forever.
There's no such thing as failure, only feedback. Your launches will get better every single time if you keep launching and keep learning.
The Counter-Intuitive Truth
The highest-converting launches aren't always the most planned ones. They're the ones that create genuine value first and let monetization emerge naturally.
I want to share this because sometimes I think we need permission to throw the strict rulebook out of the window and follow our guts. I knew that if I poured my heart and soul into genuine business training for my audience, the outcome would only be positive.
The 3-phase framework this proves:
Create Value-First Experiences: Make the journey worth paying for
Let Problems Surface Naturally: Implementation reveals real gaps
Offer Solutions At The Right Time: Timing beats tactics
The ROI Reality Check
What matters more than the numbers:
Zero delivery on the back end (hello, easy maternity leave!!)
No team burnout. In fact, my AI tool helped draft most marketing materials
Scalable systems doing the work
Most of all, the strongest feedback we’ve ever had from any training we’ve done
This is how modern business works. You're not building a business that depends on ad spend… you're building leverage that compounds over time.
Your Next Steps
1. Grab the Super-Detailed Launch Breakdown
If you got value out of this email so far, I created something wayyy more detailed to support you in implementing these strategies and insights into your business…
I’ve taken the major learnings and data from this newsletter, and added in even more detail in this debrief here. I’m sharing:
Our entire high-performing email marketing strategy
Even more specific data (to illustrate what you can aim for in your own funnels)
Key dates + timelines, so you get the exact day-by-day playbook
Specific messaging points that worked best for us, so you can use those insights in your own marketing
2. Want to Replicate This for Yourself?
If you want to see this system in action - exactly how I ran Freedom High live, created problem awareness, and introduced the solution naturally - grab the Freedom High Replay Vault. It's the closest thing to being inside the room, watching this $775K launch unfold in real time.
Not only will you get the full training vault that literally changed businesses (and lives) within the week, but you’ll get insight into the entire launch and how we did it. Success leaves clues.
3. Hire Me as Your Marketer(!!)
…okay, well the next best thing is hiring my clone.
If you're ready for the actual solution that made this possible - the tool that eliminates random acts of marketing and tells you exactly where to focus for predictable revenue - check out Freedom Engine AI. It's not just what I sold; it's what I use every single day to scale with freedom.
We used this to create our actual launch assets: the social posts, the emails, the strategy.
Because when you pair the strategy with the tool, you stop guessing and start scaling.
The Bottom Line
Sometimes the best strategy is having no strategy at all - just exceptional value, authentic response, and solutions that truly solve.
That's what modern marketing rewards. And that's how you build a business that creates both profit and freedom.
XO,
Natalie
⌛I love a fiction book that also crosses over into founder life, so I’m patiently waiting for my copy of The Raise to arrive. I think it’s going to be one of those that I devour in one weekend!
💻 Every year I see founders overcomplicate their funnels during the Black Friday rush with a dozen tools they don’t actually need. We’ve scaled multi-million-dollar launches at Bossbabe using just one platform - Kajabi. It’s the simplest way I know to build funnels that actually work. Use this link to get your free trial.
🩷 With baby #2 just weeks away, I built the recovery system I wish I’d had the first time…every protocol, checklist, and resource in one place. This isn’t theory, it’s the exact roadmap I’ll be following myself. The CEO Mama Complete Postpartum Recovery System is about more than “bouncing back” - it’s about rebuilding stronger, supported, and ready for what’s next. Learn more about it and get your copy here.