You did the brave thing. You picked a launch date, said it out loud (maybe even typed it into your stories), and circled it on the calendar: six weeks out, no plan yet.
And now that little circle is staring back at you like it knows something you don’t.
If your brain keeps flipping between “I have so much time” and “I have no time at all” every fifteen minutes, welcome. Both are true. That’s exactly why a six-week launch plan helps: it tells you what this week is for, and it gives you permission to ignore everything else.
Short answer: A six-week launch plan works backwards from the day your cart opens. Spend weeks six and five deciding and building (the offer, the price, the checkout), weeks four and three warming up your audience around the problem you solve, and weeks two and one writing, scheduling and rehearsing. End each week with one yes-or-no “gate” question, and don’t move on until the answer is yes.
Is six weeks enough time to plan a launch?
For most solo launches, yes. Six weeks is enough when you already have some audience (even a small one) and an offer you can describe today, even if it isn’t fully built yet.
Here’s where six weeks gets tight:
- You’re building the whole offer from scratch. If you still need to record twelve videos or write a workbook, give the building its own runway before the countdown starts, or sell it as a live first round you create alongside the people who join.
- You have no way to reach anyone yet. No list, no followers, no community. Then your first few weeks are really audience-building weeks. That’s okay. Just name them honestly.
- It’s a big-ticket offer. Higher prices usually need more conversations, so your warm-up may need extra room for one-on-one calls.
And here’s where six weeks is more than you need: relaunching something that already sold well, or opening a small offer people have been asking you for. Three or four weeks can be plenty there.
The Six Gates Countdown
This is the six-week launch plan I’d hand you if we were sitting together with your calendar open between us. Every week has one job and one gate. The gate is a yes-or-no question you answer on Friday. A yes means you move on. A no tells you exactly what to fix before Monday, instead of at 7 a.m. on launch morning.
| Week | The one job | Friday’s gate question |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Decide | Can I say what it is, who it’s for, the price and the close date in four sentences? |
| 5 | Build the money path | Could a stranger buy this today and get exactly what they paid for? |
| 4 | Warm the room | Have I talked about the problem (not the product) where my people can see it? |
| 3 | Invite early | Do the people most likely to buy know it’s coming, and when? |
| 2 | Write it all | Is every email and post for open week drafted and scheduled? |
| 1 | Rehearse and rest | Have I walked the whole buying journey myself, start to finish, on my phone? |
Notice what isn’t on there: a new logo, a podcast tour, a forty-page bonus workbook. Lovely, maybe. Not gates.
What should I do each week before a launch?
In a six-week launch plan, do the week’s one job first, then spend any leftover time on nice-to-haves.
Week 6: Decide. Write your four sentences: what the offer is, who it’s for (and who it isn’t), the price, and the date the doors close. Choose the close date now, and give it a real reason: the group starts that Monday, the live calls begin that week, or you want to give your full attention to the people who join. A real reason makes a deadline honest. “Because the timer says so” does not.
Week 5: Build the money path. The sales page (a simple one is fine), the checkout, payment options, the receipt, and whatever happens after someone buys: the welcome email, the login, the calendar link. Then buy it yourself with a real card, refund yourself afterwards, and watch every screen. This is the week that saves you from the classic launch-morning discovery that the checkout link goes nowhere.
Week 4: Warm the room. Start talking about the problem your offer solves, in the words your people actually use. Share a story, a mistake you see often, a myth you’d love to retire. You’re not selling yet. You’re helping the right people recognize themselves.
Week 3: Invite early. Tell people it’s coming and when. Open an interest list if you like, and send personal notes to the people who’ve asked you about this kind of help before. A real note to a real person beats a perfect graphic every single time.
Week 2: Write it all. Draft every open-week email and post, then schedule them. Build your sales page FAQ from questions people have genuinely asked you. Do it in two or three focused sessions, so you’re not writing a sales email at 11 p.m. on day three.
Week 1: Rehearse and rest. Walk the whole journey again on your phone: email, link, page, checkout, welcome. Block time on your calendar during open week to answer questions. Then (and I mean this) protect a little rest: a long walk, a candle, a quiet minute to remember why you made this. You’re about to be the face of something, and exhausted you writes cranky DMs.
How long should the cart stay open?
Long enough for people to notice, ask questions and decide, and short enough that the energy stays focused. For most small launches, I like five to seven days.
Whatever you choose, close when you said you would. If the doors close at 8 p.m. Pacific on Friday, they close at 8 p.m. Pacific on Friday. No countdown timers that magically reset, and no “closing forever” on something you already plan to reopen in spring. Your people can tell when a deadline is real, and honest deadlines are the only kind that make your next launch easier.
What if I fall behind on my launch plan?
Then you cut, you don’t cram. Some tasks hold the whole launch up: the offer, the checkout, the sales page, the open-week emails and the welcome after someone pays. Protect those. Everything else is decoration.
If you’re a full week behind by week three, try this triage:
- Shorten the warm-up, not the build. Two weeks of warm-up with a working checkout beats three weeks with a broken one.
- Swap big for simple. Trade the webinar for a short email series or a casual live Q&A.
- Reuse what you have. Your best old post about this problem is brand new to everyone who followed you since.
- Move the date if you must, and say so plainly. “I’m moving this by a week so it’s truly ready for you” is a sentence people respect.
A worked example: Rosa’s six-week launch plan
Let’s say Rosa is a ceramics teacher (she’s made up) launching a four-week online glazing workshop. Her goal is 12 students at $240, which is $2,880. Her email list is about 600 people, and she posts a few times a week.
- Week 6: Rosa writes her four sentences. The workshop starts on a Monday, so the cart closes the Thursday before. That’s her real reason, and she says it out loud.
- Week 5: She builds a one-page sales page, sets up checkout, buys her own workshop, refunds herself, and catches a welcome email that still says “Hi {first name}.”
- Week 4: She posts about the glaze mistakes she sees most often and emails her list a story about the first kiln opening that made her gasp.
- Week 3: She tells her list the workshop is coming, opens an interest list and messages eight past students personally.
- Week 2: She drafts and schedules seven emails and ten posts, and writes her FAQ from questions students have actually asked.
- Week 1: She tests everything on her phone, blocks two hours a day for replies during open week, and takes Saturday completely off.
When the cart opens, Rosa isn’t scrambling. She’s answering questions, which is the part of a launch that actually sells.
Try this today: the reverse calendar (15 minutes)
Open your calendar and work backwards:
- Mark your close date and write the real reason next to it.
- Mark the day your cart opens.
- Count back six Fridays and label each one with its gate question from the table.
- Find this week. Which gate are you working toward? Write that one job at the top of your to-do list and let the rest wait.
That’s it. You now have a countdown instead of a cliff.
If you’d rather not build the countdown by hand
That’s exactly why I made Launch Countdown. You pick your launch date and it gives you the countdown: tasks, emails and posts, week by week, with an email and social post schedule and a checklist that saves your progress. It’s $27 and yours for life. It’s also one of the six tools in the Purposepreneur Toolkit, if you’d like the whole set.
Quick answers
How far in advance should I plan a launch?
For a small online launch, start planning about six weeks before your cart opens. That gives you two weeks to decide and build the offer and checkout, two weeks to warm up your audience and two weeks to write, schedule and test. Brand-new or bigger offers may need extra time to build before the countdown starts.
What should a launch plan include?
A launch plan should include your offer, price and close date with a real reason behind it, a tested checkout and welcome for buyers, a sales page, a warm-up period of problem-focused content, personal invitations, scheduled launch emails and posts, and time blocked to answer questions while the cart is open.
How long should a launch cart stay open?
For most small launches, five to seven days is a comfortable cart-open window. It gives people time to notice, ask questions and decide without the energy fading. Choose a close date with a real reason behind it, like a start date or live call, and close exactly when you said you would.
Can I launch in less than six weeks?
Yes, especially for a relaunch or a small offer people have already asked for. Three or four weeks can work if your sales page and checkout already exist. Shorten the warm-up and writing weeks if you need to, but never skip testing the checkout and the welcome your buyers receive.
What should I do the week before a launch?
The week before a launch, test the whole buying journey on your phone and laptop, make sure your open-week emails and posts are scheduled, block time to answer questions and get some rest. Avoid starting anything new that week. Your job is to rehearse and get ready, not to build.
The date on your calendar isn’t a threat. It’s a promise to the people who need what you made. Six weeks is plenty when every week has just one job.