When I first spoke with Jen McLellan, she had already built a massive social media following, spoken at numerous professional events, and co-authored her first book. She had also monetized her blog authentically (mostly with advertising) and was receiving a ton of traffic through search engine optimization. Her voice and message were already making a massive impact in empowering women during their pregnancies to love their bodies.
Yet, I felt like a saw a bit of me in Jen. Because about 5 years ago I had built what seemed like an impressive social media following and email list, but I wasn’t generating the cash flow I expected. It was like I was sitting on this huge well of potential abundance that I just didn’t know how to tap.
If you know me, you know that I love digital products! I couldn’t help but see how Jen’s business could turn a bigger profit if she had her own product to offer. And she knew this too, as she’d been wanting to create one for quite a while.
I was so honored when she decided to join my Digital Product Challenge so we could take the plunge together. She ended up creating a product that would further solidify her as the expert in plus size pregnancy, empower many more women to have a positive pregnancy experience, and be a foundational piece of a profitable business model.
That’s enough from me. Let’s hear from Jen McLellan, because she has graciously answered questions about what it was like to create and launch her first digital product.
Laura: Where did the idea for your digital product first come from?
Jen McLellan: For the past 5 years, I’ve been blogging about plus size pregnancy and body love. During that time I became certified as a childbirth educator and did a public speaking tour. I’ve wanted to write a book on plus size pregnancy for a few years but it seemed like a lot of work for not a large financial return.
I know many authors who set me straight on the fact that books are your best business card and way to get speaking engagements. While they might end up paying the monthly electric bill, they hardly ever pay the mortgage.
Connecting with Laura Brandenburg and her MomStyle Your Business Facebook group, helped me to start re-thinking a book and writing a toolkit instead.
Laura: What were some of the more challenging parts of getting from idea to done, and how did you work past them?
Jen McLellan: I could write out all of the basics here – finding time to write, setting the right price point, and wanting to get feedback from a few people before launching. And while all of those things are true, the most challenging factor for completing my product was fear of failure.
I’ve been working incredibly hard growing a Facebook following of over 177,000, blogging, speaking, and pouring all of my passion into my work. What was this all for?? Yes, I’ve helped so many women and that has been incredibly rewarding, however, I’ve also sacrificed a lot of time away from my family and have gotten into a significant amount of debt. What if the guide wasn’t well received? What if it failed? I was paralyzed by that fear.
What helped me to move past my fear was co-authoring a book with another business partner (I actually met Laura at my book launch party) as well as really believing in the digital product I was developing! It’s everything I wanted to read when I was plus size and pregnant, as well as everything I want plus size pregnant women to know as a birth professional. As my toolkit started coming together, I became really proud of the resource I knew it would become. Feedback from close friends and other birth professionals gave me the confidence to complete my toolkit.
Laura: What did it feel like to see that first sale come in?
Jen McLellan: For the past 5 years, while building my blog, I networked my butt off. Therefore, I had a strong feeling that I had set myself up for success! I was posting teasers in some mom and birth professional groups and someone made a purchase a few days before I went live.
It was exciting and then other sales came through. The day before I launched, I read the most amazing review from someone I didn’t know, “Hands down the BEST $17 I have ever spent. I feel lots better about being pregnant now! THANK YOU Jen!”
That testimonial meant everything to me and I knew in that moment that I wasn’t going to fail – that I had succeeded!!!
Laura: What kind of results have you seen since that first sale?
Jen McLellan: Let’s just say that my launch paid not only my electric bill but also my mortgage in August. It was incredibly exciting seeing sale after sale coming in!!! As well as the positive feedback I’ve received!
Laura: What actions and steps do you feel were most critical in creating this result?
Jen McLellan: I’ve known for years that having a newsletter list was incredibly important for building an online business. I cringed each year doing my taxes seeing how much I was spending on my list of 5,000 and not seeing a financial return.
Well, my newsletter list of 5,000 outperformed my massive Facebook following of 177,000 in sales. I believe investing in growing my list and coming up with a strong launch e-mail plan was a big key to my success.
I’m also really proud of my product landing page and you can check it out here: plussizebirth.com/my-plus-size-pregnancy-guide. It includes a testimonial from a well-known plus size model and that’s where networking for all of these years has really paid off!
Laura: Can you give us a peek into what’s coming next in your online business?
Jen McLellan: My first toolkit, My Plus Size Pregnancy Guide, only covers pregnancy so my next guide will cover labor, birth and postpartum. I’m excited to start diving into it since these are topics I’ve given presentations on numerous times.
Laura: What would you recommend to other women who are putting together their first digital product?
Jen McLellan: DO IT! Just dive right in.
With that said, I think it’s super important to establish yourself as an expert in your field to encourage sales. Jump on as many podcasts that will have you as a guest and write tons of guest blog posts. Network, network, network!!
Laura: Yes, it is so important to build up your expertise to experience a successful launch and ongoing product sales. Thanks for mentioning that, Jen! And, congratulations! I’m so happy for you and I can’t wait to see where your digital products take you and your business!
To learn more about Jen’s work, visit plussizebirth.com and connect with her via Facebook here: facebook.com/plussizemommymemoirs.
