18:15Maria Wendt · Talking Head
What Really Led to My First $1M Month Selling Low-Ticket Digital Products
11,382 orders at $90 each, four stacked launches, and a three-year plateau that finally broke.
January 7thThe argument in one line.
A digital-product launch becomes repeatable once it is reduced to a fixed checklist covering content, pricing, and access order, and giving community members first access before the public launch protects both bonus scarcity and conversion on a short two-day window.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A creator or coach who already sells at least one digital product and wants a repeatable launch checklist instead of rebuilding logistics from scratch each time.
- Someone building a paid community or coaching group who is deciding what perks to reserve for insiders versus public buyers.
- A solo creator wondering whether a launch actually requires a team before it can work.
SKIP IF…
- You have not shipped a first digital product yet — this assumes you already have something to outline and film.
- You are looking for paid-traffic or ad-driven launch tactics; this checklist assumes a warm list and community-first audience.
The full version, fast.
The checklist is the same 13-14 steps every time: pick a launch date, outline the course, film it, upload it, build a mockup image, create upsells, write VIP emails and a VIP page for community members, write public launch emails, build the landing and checkout pages, install a social-proof widget, run a quality-control pass on every link and worksheet, and pick a bonus. Community and coaching-group members get first access to spots, pricing, and bonuses before anything reaches the public list — by launch day a chunk of the offer may already be gone. The public window itself is kept short, two days, rather than a long drip. None of this requires a team: the process was run solo for roughly eight years before any hires were made.
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00:00 – 00:44
01 · Cold open: the numbers
Last year's 12 products and $7M in sales versus this year's target of 50 products and roughly $20M, framed as the reason the checklist is being formalized for a new hire.
00:44 – 01:55
02 · Why she's sharing the checklist
She decided that if the new hire needs to see the checklist, so does the YouTube audience — no gatekeeping, plus a promise to show a real launch in action at the end.
01:55 – 04:00
03 · The notes-app template: launch date, outline, filming
Screen-shares the blank checklist template, sets the launch date as step one, then walks through outlining (an 80-video course can be 15 pages of outline) and filming (done in one sitting once the outline is locked).
04:00 – 05:05
04 · Upload, mockup image, upsells
Uploading to Kajabi takes seconds; the mockup image is built in Canva (she also sells a pre-made mockup template pack); upsells are introduced as the real profit lever, turning a $27 sale into a $450 order.
05:05 – 06:44
05 · VIP emails and page vs. public launch emails
Community and coaching-group members get first dibs on spots, pricing, and bonuses via VIP emails and a VIP page; public launch emails only cover whatever spots are left, and some offers never go public at all.
06:44 – 08:11
06 · Landing page, checkout page, UseProof, Samcart, QC pass
Builds a landing page (or skips it for warm audiences), a checkout page, and stresses installing a social-proof widget after conversion visibly dropped without it; recommends Samcart over other checkout tools; a team member does a final QC pass on every link and worksheet.
08:11 – 08:52
07 · Choosing the launch bonus
A bonus is chosen every launch — a coaching call, a challenge, or a training — and reserved for community members first.
08:52 – 10:32
08 · Real launch example: the 2026 Business Gameplan worksheets
Switches to the actual Google Doc from a launch that shipped the day before filming — a $1 worksheet offer — showing the checklist filled in with tasks assigned across three team members.
10:32 – 11:21
09 · Solo vs. team
Reassures viewers the process doesn't require a team — she ran it solo for about eight years, no employees, before ever hiring.
11:21 – 14:07
10 · Cash Spike pitch and testimonial wall
Pitches her paid course on two-day launches, then scrolls through a Google Drive folder of screenshotted student testimonials showing launch-day sales figures.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- A two-day public launch window is used deliberately instead of a longer seven, fifteen, or thirty-day drip.
- Community and coaching-group members get first access to spots, pricing, and bonuses before the public launch, so the best bonuses are sometimes already gone by the time a launch goes public.
- Some offers are never launched publicly at all because inner-circle members buy out the available spots first.
- An upsell that turns a $27 front-end sale into a $450 order is treated as pure margin because the base offer already covers production cost.
- Removing a checkout-page social-proof widget produced a measurable, noticeable dip in conversion rate.
- An outline for a large, 80-video course can run about 15 pages, while an average course outline runs closer to five.
- Filming a course happens in one sitting once the outline is locked, typically a few hours of webcam recording rather than a multi-day shoot.
- A dedicated quality-control pass — checking that every link and worksheet actually uploaded — is a separate checklist step, not assumed to happen automatically during filming or upload.
- The entire launch process was run solo for about eight years before any team members were hired.
- A low-price, roughly $1 companion offer can be used as a visible warm-up launch ahead of a higher-ticket course launch.
A launch is just a checklist, run in a fixed order, with insiders going first.
WHAT TO LEARN
Every profitable launch step here reduces to a repeatable checklist item, and the biggest single lever is deciding who gets access before the public does.
- Scaling from a dozen products to fifty in a year is framed as a reason to formalize a checklist, not a reason to improvise faster.
- A fixed 13-14 item checklist covering content, pricing, and access order removes the need to rebuild launch logistics from scratch each time.
- Setting the launch date is treated as the first checklist item, before any content work begins.
- A large course outline can run 15 pages while an average course needs about five, so outline length should scale with course size, not be fixed.
- Filming happens in a single sitting once the outline is fully locked, turning a large time cost into a small one.
- Uploading to a course host and building a mockup image are treated as fast, low-effort steps rather than places to over-invest time.
- An upsell that turns a $27 sale into a $450 order is treated as pure margin, making upsell copy and offer design a priority step, not an afterthought.
- Community or coaching-group members get first access to spots, pricing, and bonuses via separate VIP emails and a VIP page before any public launch email goes out.
- Reserving the best bonus for existing community members, so that public buyers may see it already gone, is used deliberately to reward loyalty.
- A checkout-page social-proof widget is treated as a required step, not optional polish, because removing it produced a measurable drop in conversion.
- A separate quality-control pass, checking that every link and worksheet actually uploaded, is scheduled as its own checklist step rather than assumed to happen during filming.
- A short, two-day public launch window is used deliberately in place of a longer seven-to-thirty-day drip.
- None of this process depends on having a team — it was run solo for roughly eight years before any hires were made.
Terms worth knowing.
- VIP email / VIP page
- Emails and a landing page shown only to a creator's inner-circle, coaching group, or paid community before the public launch, giving them first access to spots, pricing, or bonuses.
- Checkout-page social-proof widget
- A pop-up tool on a checkout page that displays recent purchases in real time to build trust; removing it is reported to visibly lower conversion.
- Upsell / order bump
- An additional offer presented during or immediately after checkout that raises the total order value above the base product's price.
- Mockup image
- A rendered product photo, such as a laptop, phone, or book-style cover, used on a sales page to make a purely digital download look like a tangible physical product.
Things they pointed at.
03:53toolKajabi
04:01toolCanva
06:51toolUseProof
Lines you could clip.
04:56
“It's all straight to the bottom line, straight to my bank account. So upsells are really important part of a launch.”
06:51
“If you don't have use proof installed on your checkout pages, you will notice a dip in conversions.”
15:49
“I did it for years and years and years by myself. I actually was in business by myself for, like, ten years, eight years, no employees, no team members, nothing.”
Word for word.
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metaphor
00:00In this video, I'm gonna give you the exact template that we use every single time we launch a new product. Now, you may or may not know this, but last year we launched 12 new digital products, made $7,000,000 doing that.
00:12This year, we're doing 50 products, and we think we're gonna end the year right around, like, 20,000,000, give or take.
00:19And so gonna be a big year. And it was a big year last year, and we're very grateful for it, but it's gonna be an even bigger year, um, this year.
00:27And so we were talking internally because we actually hired someone to come on board full time and help us with our product development because we need help with that. And we were talking with them, and we're like, oh, we need to show you the checklist that we use every time we go to launch a new product. And then I realized, oh, well, for sharing it with Erin, who's the guy we brought on, everybody on my YouTube channel should get to have access to this.
00:47So this is the checklist that we use over and over again to make our digital products go viral. Um, we love checklists like this. We find it really, really helpful.
00:55Um, I'm not gonna gatekeep. I'm just gonna show you everything that we do, and then I'm actually gonna show you at the end it in action. So this is the template, and then I wanna show you, um, all of this done in action with a launch that we literally just finished today.
01:07It's launching tomorrow, so we're, like, the day before launch, which means everything is done, fitting is ready, and I want you to see that screenshot too. Okay. So on the right here, this is the notes template that we use every single time.
01:21It's the exact same. So it's what we'll do first is we this is in my notes app, and then I'll copy this and start filling it in. So super briefly, I'm just gonna flip to one that's fill in.
01:31You can kinda see I made a copy, and then we just fill in it and assign tasks and keep it really simple. So first thing that we'll do is at the very top is we'll decide when the launch date is. So when are you launching your new product?
01:43That's the first thing. And then this is, like, the classic to do list. So if you have my course, um, Cache Spike, it walks you through all of these steps that you're gonna see on this screen in extreme detail.
01:56I'm actually gonna go pretty detailed in this YouTube video, but if you want the playbook to do all of this, the course I have is called Cache Spike. Um, you can find it on my website if you're interested. Uh, cash or I guess maybe I'll put it in the description as well.
02:09Cash Spike will walk you through how to do each and every single one of these. So I'm gonna go pretty deep, but if you wanna go really, really deep and just kinda follow my steps, my Cash Spike course will show you how to do that. Okay.
02:18So the first thing you gotta do is outline you want to know what product you're launching, you gotta outline it. So I keep my outlines pretty simple. I've been doing this for a really long time, so I kinda know what I need to say.
02:29I'll for a most of my courses are, like, 60 videos, forty, fifty, 60 videos, sometimes 80, as many as 80 videos. Those are the beefy ones.
02:40An 80 an 80 video course might be, like, 15 pages of outlines.
02:50An average course might be five pages of outlines.
02:53But, you know, even for me, like, a medium sized course still has a lot in it. Like, we do a really good job with our courses. And so, like, it's it's basically everything I wanna say jotted down in bullet form.
03:03And then I organize it by modules and just keep it really clean. But that's the first thing.
03:08And, honestly, honestly, as the person who has to actually create the courses, right, because I'm the one creating them, um, the outline is, like, the bitch to do.
03:16Excuse my language. But, like, that's the bitch. It's figuring out what you're gonna put in, more importantly, what you're not gonna put in.
03:22Like, just getting that right takes a hot second. That's, like, 80% of it. Then you're gonna film the course.
03:29But, again, like, once you know what you're gonna say and you've really thought it through and you've got it all down, filming doesn't take that long. It takes me a couple of hours.
03:39Um, like, less than I never I I always do it same day. I always start and finish same day.
03:45So filming the course does not take a long time. I use my webcam, same thing I'm using here. Super simple.
03:51This does not need to be complicated. Uploading it to Kajabi, that's where I host my courses. That takes seven seconds.
03:56That's not hard at all. And then we had to create the mock up image. I do that in Canva.
04:02Actually, you guys asked me. I have a product that show like, you can literally just use the mock up images we've created and just, like, put your own screenshots in. Um, we built that in Canva for you, so that's on my website too if that's something that would be helpful for you.
04:14The reason we created that mock up, um, image template pack for you guys is we've spent a ton of money on ads testing what mock up images work and what mock up images don't work. So certain layouts, certain formats actually perform a lot better. And so we spent a ton of money testing for you guys.
04:30And so they were like, oh, that'd be really helpful for everyone to have. So that's why we put that on the website. But you don't need it.
04:35You can totally go to Canva and just create your own out of Canva. That's totally fine. Creating upsells, there's a ton of videos here on my YouTube channel talking about upsells.
04:42Upsells are where the profit is. So we might create something for $27. That might be the initial thing.
04:47But then some people will choose to upgrade to, you know, take a $24 order and turn it into, like, a $450 order.
04:55And that 450, that's all profit. It's all .
05:01So upsells are really important part of a launch. Writing the VIP emails, making the VIP page. A lot for a lot of our launches, people get first dibs.
05:11VIPs get first dibs. If you're in my coaching group or my inner circle, you get first dibs.
05:16That could be first dibs on spots. That could be first dibs on pricing. Um, you always get better deals, better offers, more availability, the more in my world you are.
05:26That's just we reward our most loyal customers. That's how that goes. And so a lot of times, if you're in my world, um, whether you're a student or whether you're in one of my, um, more intimate spaces, you're gonna get better deals on things.
05:39And so that's, like, the VIP emails, the VIP page, and making sure that, um, my community members are taken care of. And then we write the actual launch emails. Those usually go out the next day.
05:48So say I have something where I have, like, um, let's just say 75 spots. Um, maybe, like, 60 of those usually are gone by the launch day because I let my community members have access first.
06:04And so the launch emails and all of that is for any spots left. Sometimes we don't even do that. Like, sometimes, if you aren't in my world and you're just, like, on my email list or you just kinda, like, follow me on social media, there's stuff we launch that you never even see because you weren't in one of the closer communities.
06:20There are a lot of times. There's a couple of things that I'm thinking of right now that like were publicly never launched because the people in my community or my inner circle or whatever it might be just snapped it up before I even had a chance to make it public.
06:34Um, but case you're wondering what we mean by VIP emails versus launch emails or VIP page versus landing page, that's what that is. Then you gotta create a landing page, and you gotta create a checkout page. Um, if you're not running ads, you only need to create a checkout page because your audience is more warm, that so kinda makes it a little bit easier.
06:51Installing use proof, highly recommend that you guys do that. If you don't have use proof installed on your checkout pages, you will notice a dip in conversions. Sometimes we forget to install it, especially earlier when we weren't doing this so systematized.
07:04We would forget to install UseProof. And we would be like, why are our pages converting so terribly? And then we realize, oh, it's because we don't have UseProof installed.
07:13So we highly recommend UseProof. We recommend Samcart, by the way, for the checkout pages. It's the best.
07:18Kajabi checkout pages have gone through just some terrible changes recently. Stance store took away upsells. Like, all the other ones just are not as good as Samcart, especially if you're interested in conversions.
07:27So highly recommend you use SamCart. And then we have a team member who will just look over the entire course.
07:34It's like a quality control. Look over the entire course, make sure anything we said we were gonna linked, um, got linked, any worksheets got uploaded in the right videos.
07:43Like, you know, we're kind of in get it done mode, and then Wendy comes in and does such a great job of making sure that you guys have everything that you need. Because nothing's more frustrated than, you know, frustrating than watching a video.
07:55And I'm like, okay. Now fill out this worksheet, and you go to, like, get the worksheet, and it's not there. And so Wendy does a really good job just watching the entire course, making sure everything that I mentioned was linked to, providing additional resources if it makes sense to.
08:08So she'll go and do all of that. And then we choose a bonus. We usually have a launch bonus.
08:13That's another great example of something that, you know, exclusive people who are more in my community would get. By the time the public gets access to to the bonuses, they're usually all gone. But we want to choose a bonus.
08:26We like to do them. They're fun. It could be you know, sometimes it's like a one on one call with me, which is really fun.
08:30Or it could be to get to participate in some kind of challenge, or it could be, like, a different training.
08:36There's a lot of different launch bonuses that you can do. And so part of our checklist every time is just to choose the bonus. Now that's the outline.
08:45That's what we do every time. I wanna show you an example of this in action. So this is I'm gonna scoot over because this I'll go this way.
08:53This is the big one. Um, so this was the first one that Aaron, he's the new guy on our team. Um, he's helping us with this stuff, and we felt how good he is at what he does right away.
09:03This was one of our easiest launches. So what we have is, um, we made some worksheets to help people plan 2026. Um, they're phenomenal, and we're testing something new right now where we're launching them for literally just $1.
09:16I'll put a you might want those. I'll put a link, um, in the description for those two.
09:23So that's what we were working on. These incredible worksheets to play in 2026,
09:27launching for just a dollar. Um, we launched it to our, like, inner circle community right now and it's doing it's doing insanely well.
09:36It's a dollar for these incredible worksheets. Um, but they're getting access to stuff first dibs because they're in my community. Um, so this is what it looks like in action.
09:44So, um, I had to write copy for for the order bump in upsells, done. I had to write the launch emails, done.
09:50And then you can see here like we decided on upsells, bam, those are the upsells. I had to make the IG content for the launch, done. I had to write the text for the text message marketing.
10:00I just made a YouTube video, by the way, on how to send text messages to make sales, so might wanna watch that. Aaron created the checkout page for us.
10:08He got all the integrations, um, connected, installed Youth Proof. I had to film a couple videos for them.
10:13Aaron did a final so Aaron, by the way, took over Wendy's job, which is a much better fit, which is to do final check drop related links in the description. Erin uploaded to Kajabi. Erin created the Kajabi product.
10:23We outlined the worksheet. We finalized the worksheets, and I can't see the last item from how I have it, but you can read it. So this was an actual launch that we did.
10:33The thing for me is, like, I've been doing these for so long. It's fun to have extra people to help. Like, we're kinda getting to the point now where we have three people on a product launch.
10:43But just so you don't feel like, oh, well, I could never do this by myself, you totally can. I did it for years and years and years by myself.
10:51I actually was in business by myself for, like, ten years, eight years, no employees, no team members, nothing.
10:59I did it all by myself. Um, and my students who are taking that cash spike launch course, the one that I mentioned, um, they're seeing so much success. And it's just them.
11:08Like, most entrepreneurs, all my students for the most part, it's just them, and they're doing a really, really good job. So, um, let me show you, just in case you're curious. I'll just kinda show you what the cash dyke thing looks like, in case you're curious.
11:21It's a really, really good one. I think especially for you if you here we go. It's it's a
11:28there's a couple things that we do really well with our launches. One of them being we do two day launches. Some people think you need to do fifteen day launches, seven day launches, like thirty day launches.
11:35I don't think any of that works. What works really well is a two day process where you go in and let me move my little thing really quick so you can see.
11:45This is the thing, by the way, um, that's popping up and down. That's use proof thing in the bottom left there. Um, so this launch strategy works really, really well.
11:55We keep it short. Um, the reviews on this are insane. Let me scroll down to the reviews.
12:00I don't know if we have them added or not on this page. Maybe they're on the checkout page. I don't know.
12:04I can pull up my Google Drive with the reviews because the reviews on this course are better than any of the courses that we have ever done. This is the of all the in terms of reviews, Cache Bike's the best one by far.
12:16So let me show you some of these guys. Let me find Cache Bike.
12:19Success stories.
12:21Oh, yeah. Users of all, there's a zillion in here. Just finished my first official launch.
12:27Made 20. Amazing.
12:31What was this one?
12:32Yeah. Day one, 3,000. Day two, about 1,500.
12:36Total, 6,000. A few years ago, I was a waitress making $400 a week. My husband was a farmer.
12:41I love that.
12:44Eight k launch. I mean, just really, really, really good testimonials.
12:51$2,000 on day one. Yeah. Really, really, really good stuff.
12:56Three sales. It's great for a first launch. That's fabulous.
13:03Bunch of sales. I don't know what that's about, but a bunch of sales. Cash spike, doing really well.
13:11$500 in sales. Just some really I mean, again, these are just some of them. These are really good.
13:17We could click through this all day. What was this one? Cash spike.
13:21What is this? What amount is this? I can't even see what amount this is.
13:24Let's see. This is the spike. So this is
13:27$3,000 and then, like, $1,500. It's a good launch.
13:33First 10 k launch in one day. A lot of good data too. Anyways, all of that to say, I love seeing them because, I mean, I think they're all a win.
13:42Like, if you're trying to make your first dollar, having a launch where you make $500 is so incredible. I love the big wins.
13:49I love the small wins. So this incredible course, I'm gonna link it in the description. I hope to see you there.
13:54It's really, really incredible. If you have a product that you want to do well, maybe you've already launched it but you haven't done it the right way, This one will show you exactly what to do. It's a really, really good course.
14:02Reviews like you saw were incredible. I hope I see you there.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
She opens with the scoreboard first: 12 digital products and $7M last year, scaling to 50 products and a projected ~$20M this year — then hands over the exact checklist behind all of it, the same one she just gave a new full-time hire.
Named ideas worth stealing.
01:15list
The Course Launch Checklist
- Decide launch date
- Outline course
- Film course
- Upload to Kajabi
- Create mockup image
- Create upsells
- Write copy for upsells
- Write VIP emails
- Write launch emails
- Make VIP page
- Create landing page
- Create checkout page
- Install use proof
- QC pass + drop links in description
- Choose bonus
The fixed, reusable checklist she runs for every product launch, shown as a Notes-app template.
Steal forany repeatable digital-product or course launch sequence
05:05concept
VIP-first access model
Community and coaching-group members always get first access to spots, pricing, and bonuses via separate VIP emails and a VIP page, before any public launch email goes out.
Steal forrewarding an existing paid community or email list before a public launch
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
14:03product
“I'm gonna link it in the description. I hope to see you there. It's really, really incredible.”
Soft-sell woven through the whole video via a scrolled wall of real student testimonial screenshots rather than a single hard pitch; the explicit ask only appears in the closing ~15 seconds.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
Visual structure at a glance.
