I want you to finish out 2025 feeling proud of what you built and to walk into 2026 with that clean-slate, big-momentum energy.

Here’s the way I see it: a great Q1 doesn’t start in January. It starts in Q4.

Not in a stressful, hustle-y way – more like… this is the season where you set the stage. Where you warm people up, give them a little appetizer, plant the idea so that when January comes, they’re already in the headspace of “yep, I’m ready for this next step.”

And it really doesn’t matter what you do – at the core, we’re all in the transformation business. People hire you to help them/or their business change. To feel different. To become different. To step into their next version, etc.

And when do people crave that the most? The new year. That “fresh start” energy is everywhere. Resolutions, routines, goals… people are actively looking for their ‘thing’ that will help them get there.

So the play here isn’t “wait until January.” The play is: use Q4 to prime them. Give them the small win, the perspective shift, the thing that opens their eyes to what’s possible. That way, come January, your signature offer feels like the most natural next step in the world.

That’s what today’s blog is about – I am walking you through exactly how to use Black Friday (and the rest of Q4) to set yourself up for your biggest Q1 yet!

Step 1: Decide What You’ll Sell in Q1

This is your core transformation offer – the program, package, or service you want to be known for.

Ask: What is the #1 transformation my people want most when the new year hits?

Example: If you’re a Virtual Assistant, maybe it’s your full-service retainer package where you take day-to-day operations off a business owner’s plate so they can finally focus on growth. By January, entrepreneurs are setting big business goals and thinking, “I need help to actually make this happen.”

That’s your Q1 offer – the premium, transformation-based solution that makes their New Year resolution feel sustainable.

Step 2: Reverse Engineer Their Readiness

Now that you know your Q1 offer, work backwards:

• What do they need to be pre-trained on?
• What foundational win do they need to accomplish?
• What mindset shift or open loop needs to be revealed so they can’t “unsee it”?

👉 Example: Let’s say your Q1 offer is a full-service VA retainer package.

Before a business owner is ready to commit to that, they first need to believe that outsourcing actually works for them. If they’re stuck in “I can do it all myself” mode, they’ll never hand over the reins.

So in Q4, you might offer a holiday special on task bundles (like email clean-up, CRM setup, or calendar management). This gives them a quick win – they see how freeing and effective it feels to offload something.

By January, they’re not just curious about outsourcing. They’re convinced they need more of it – and your retainer package becomes the obvious next step.

Step 3: Package Your Q4 Offer

This isn’t your premier offer. You don’t want to de-pedestal your high-ticket. Instead, think mid- to low-ticket:

• Micro course
• Sprint / challenge
• Workshop or workshop bundle
• Template pack
• Discounted existing course

Keep it digestible. Something they can consume over the holidays that sparks momentum, not overwhelm.

👉 Example from our past Black Fridays: The Content Puzzle Piece Quiz
For Black Friday 2024 (I think), we built a quiz that showed people what piece of their content strategy was missing (growth, nurture, or conversion).

• Quiz results → a tailored landing page with their personalized feedback and a plan of action.
• That page → linked to a private podcast where I broke down content psychology and strategy in depth.
• The podcast → pitched our discounted content packs, sold individually or as a bundle.

And here’s the kicker: most people bought the bundle, because the quiz had revealed how interconnected the pieces were.

That single Black Friday campaign generated six figures on a low-ticket offer and primed hundreds of leads for our Q1 sale.

Step 4: Build a Real Campaign (Not Just a Discount)

Most people slap “holiday sale” on their product, send three emails, and call it a day.
But the best results come when you treat your Black Friday like a mini launch:

• Lead up (educational content, problem awareness, or a quiz to engage)
• Campaign (themed, fun, but strategic)
• Activations (sprints, challenges, community tie-ins)
• Live touchpoints (workshops, masterclasses, Q&As)

👉 In our Content Quiz campaign, we layered in two powerful activations:

1. Real-time connection. We told people to DM us their content piece, and we’d give live feedback. It felt personal and immediate.
2. Future invitation. We double-dipped and invited them to our masterclass, Turning Posts into Profit. That fed them right into the bigger Q1 sale.

Step 5: Map It Now (Not in November)

If you wait until Thanksgiving week to plan, you’ll end up with another generic discount.

Instead, take time now to map your Q4/Q1 ecosystem:

1. Decide what you’re selling in Q1.
2. Identify what needs to be pre-trained or revealed in Q4.
3. Choose your Q4 offer format (bundle, sprint, workshop, templates, quiz).
4. Plan your campaign lead-up and activations.
5. Make it a moment-something that feels intentional, not slapped together.

Try This: ChatGPT Prompt for Your Q4 → Q1 Plan

Prompt to Copy/Paste into ChatGPT:

Let me clarify my Q1 offer for you & then from there can you help me figure out what you think the pre-work could be for my audience and what a Q4 Black Friday launch and sale should be – with any touch points you suggest as well.

My Q1 sale of my signature offer of [insert name of offer] is aimed to help with [insert the transformation/result it provides].

Please create for me:

• The pre-work my audience would need to be primed and ready for this offer in January.
• A Q4 product idea (with suggested format – sprint, bundle, workshop, etc.) that delivers a small but meaningful win without overwhelming them over the holidays.
• A suggested Black Friday campaign theme and any activations that would boost engagement (DM prompts, live sessions, masterclass invites, etc.).
• A sales flow (how to open cart, how to structure options or bundles, how to carry momentum from Q4 into Q1).
• A rough 6-8 week timeline showing the lead-up, launch, and cart close, with key touch points mapped out.

Final Thoughts

Quarter 1 sales don’t start in January. They start now.

If you use Q4 to strategically prime your audience-through thought-shifts, quick wins, and fun campaigns-your Q1 will feel less like hustling for clients and more like welcoming a wave of ready buyers.

✨ Want to get your Quarter 4 started the right way? Join me for the FREE 3-day Bootcamp, Demand on Command: