Laura Smith is a wife and mom of two little littles, plus she runs an online business at IHeartPlanners.com. And actually this is the second time Laura has been on our show! I am excited to have her back, especially because Laura has agreed to get really real with us and talk about a really juicy topic. You don’t want to miss this one! Listen Now On the Podcast 1:11 - What’s New With Laura 2:55 - Bravely Talking About Failure 4:23 - Disconnected Freebies 8:46 - When Hiring Help, Doesn’t 12:48 - Affording To Fail 14:28 - Laura’s New Plan 16:26 - When Deadlines Set You Back 20:00 - The Course BLowing Laura’s Mind 20:26 - More Successes Than Failures 26:14 - Advice if You’re Afraid of Failing 27:27 - Laura’s Adorable Mommy Moment What’s New With Laura Wow, so much has changed since we first had Laura on the show back in 2014! Her little girl was just 12-weeks-old and the business wasn’t quite 2-years-old yet. Not one thing feels the same! That little girl is now almost 2 ½ and she has a 7-month-old baby boy. Her family made the move from Pittsburgh, PA to Iowa, and her business is incredibly different. Laura says, “So much has changed! Not one thing is the same. I don’t think hardly anything I was selling when I last talked to you is what I sell now.”  She has shifted away from physical products to digital, since, like many people these days, she has found that digital products work better with her lifestyle; they’re less stressful and more profitable. Back then, Laura was a true solopreneur, but now she has a ton of people helping her with her business - and plans to expand that. One of the best things Laura says she has done in her business is bring on people to help so she’s not doing it all herself. (And I know we say this all the time around here, but hiring help is truly this AMAZING thing. It’s a game changer.) Laura Bravely Shares About Failure For Laura, this past year she’s hit her biggest failures and greatest successes. And we are all so so lucky that she’s agreed to let us peek behind the curtain. In terms of revenue, profit, and growth, 2016 was Laura’s best year. That said, it was also the year that she tried many things which totally bombed. “If you find the magic way to go through business and have everything work out perfectly, let me know!” Laura joked. “The bigger you get, the bigger the successes and the bigger the failures.” Laura agreed to talk about her failures in order to encourage other women. (Thanks, Laura!) One “Failure” from the Year: Disconnected Freebies One major thing that didn’t work out well for Laura was a launch she attempted in September. After not being heavily involved with her business while welcoming a new baby and moving, she poured a lot of time, energy, and money into this launch. This launch was supposed to be her first big venture after coming back, and a way to boost sales before the end of the year. She hosted a free challenge with a partner to kick off the launch, and everything was running smoothly...except she only made 10 sales in September, whereas the prior year, selling the same product, she made over 700 sales! Laura is still really glad she did the launch, but was hoping for more of a change in her business, and for sales to really pick up! So what about marketing going forward? Laura says it was definitely a learning experience as far as marketing. She remembers mentioning briefly during the planning stages, “I don’t think the connection between my free challenge and the product at the end is really tight. Eh - I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Learn from Laura! If you doubt your own idea, or hear an offhanded concern about your strategy, don’t dismiss that warning bell. She says anytime you offer a freebie that should then lead to a sale, make sure there is a tight correlation between the freebie and the product you are selling. You want the product you’re selling to be the next logical step for people after consuming the freebie. In Laura’s case, she had a TON of people excit