If you're here, then you want to turn your skillset or your expertise into a highly
scalable and highly impactful online education business or an online course and you're in the
right place. Not only have I helped thousands of people do just that in every nation imaginable,
from book builders to dancers, to doctors, to foot jugglers, to lawyers, to accountants, to spiritual
healers, to everything in between. I kid you not, I've been doing this a long time. I've also been
able to grow my own online education business to multiple eight figures since I started. I've
learned so much and that's why I want to share this with you so you can avoid some of the common
mistakes that people make and truly understand how to sell a course without having followers,
an audience or even paid advertising. If that sounds exciting to you, give this video a like,
be sure to subscribe for more videos every single week, and this really is the place
to be to create a peaceful, purposeful, and profitable online education business.
That's what this channel is dedicated to and it's all about. And if you really want to take
this seriously, then I encourage you to check out the link in the description where you can
fill out an application to share your goals in terms of the online course business that you want
to create so that you can potentially speak to a real person on my team and we can guide you on
that process and see if you're a great fit to work with us in helping you bring your online business,
online course business to life just like we've done for so many other people.
Check that out. Fill out the application as thoroughly as possible at the link in the
description. All right, so you have a skillset, you have an expertise, you just have no idea how
to actually monetize it, sell it, turn it into an online program that actually works and that's what
we're going to dig into to today. Because the last thing you want to do is go down the rabbit hole
of so much crap information out there from people who really haven't been doing this for very long,
or maybe they had a one hit wonder and they're trying to share advice and it's well intended,
but it's incredibly confusing. There's a lot of free information
online out there that isn't really going to help you. I wanted to kind of sift through the clutter
and give you the clear game plan today. Also, you might be considering, "Okay, well nothing's
working. Let me just throw a bunch of money at ads." Oh my gosh, please don't do that. Please,
please don't do that. I'll explain why in a second. We're going to share the five steps in
this video today to help you get your course off the ground. And just to give you a little context
here, I'm going to actually share a story with you of two clients that I've worked with. One came to
me with over 200,000 subscribers here on YouTube and she could only sell two courses. That's it.
When she started working with me, she had only sold two of the courses that she spent so much
time creating and generated less than $700 doing so. 200,000 subscribers, $700 in course sales.
I also had another client who ended up building an audience using the methodology I'm going to
share today of 61 people. That's it. That's it. That's all from scratch. And she ended
up generating over $200,000 with her online program launch. I actually have a whole video
that I did about that as a case study, and I'll share that with you in a little more
detail on that story a little later in this video. A couple things we need to know right off the bat,
paying for ads before you have a proven offer and clear messaging is like throwing money into a
dumpster fire or just throwing it down the toilet. It is complete and utter waste of your time,
your resources, most importantly, your hard-earned money, especially in the beginning of your
business. You don't necessarily need ads at all. We have clients who have scaled to multiple six
figures a month without ads at all, and if you are going to use them, you don't need them until much
later and you have a ton of proof in the door. Having a small audience is a good thing. Having
a massive audience does not guarantee sales, as I just mentioned. A small audience and building
an audience from the ground up is the best thing you can do because you're actually building an
audience of buyers as opposed to an audience of followers. The outdated and most inefficient way
to build and sell an online program today is hands down to try and build your audience and
then sell. We're going to dig into why it's important to build and sell at the same time.
The whole goal of this is what I like to call the three Cs, which are the fundamentals to
building a successful online education business. Cash flow in the door so you have stability in
your business and proof of profit and proof of concept that people actually
want it. Client results, so you have social proof to be able to scale and prove that what
you have in your curriculum actually works. Most importantly, confidence in your offer.
If you aren't confident in what you're selling and have practice in it, you're
never going to sell it. Okay, without further ado, the five steps we're going to dig into.
Number one, search and rescue. ICAs. You'll understand what that means in a second,
but basically it means search and rescue your ideal clients. Number two,
optimize for authority. Number three, build a buyer's list. And number four, pre-sell. Finally,
number five is scale. This is all without paid ads or a following. Let's do it. Step number one
is search and rescue your ICAs. Now, you cannot possibly find clients for your program unless you
actually know where to look for them. I'm going to talk about where to find them in a second.
But most importantly, you need to understand that your messaging and your ideal client are
the absolute foundational pieces of building a successful business. Because if you don't know
these things, you're going to be shooting fish in a barrel and never be able to actually land
the client that you want. First and foremost, your messaging is fundamentally based on what
we call a transformation statement or unique selling proposition. I help blank go from
blank to blank so that they can blank. I've gone over this concept in many other videos.
I'm going to put a whole playlist below that's going to be an extra resource for
you. But essentially it means I help my ideal client. Describe who that ideal client is. Go
from zero state to hero state, so their worst, most challenged, most frustrated place to their
desired outcome so that they can deeper desired outcome here, so that they can have freedom,
so they can have self-esteem, they can have confidence, so they can achieve the true desired
outcome behind that end goal of the program. Once you understand this, then you know who you're
looking for and how you're ultimately serving them. Most importantly, you really understand
the three fundamental key factors of your ideal client, which are the one ideal client at one
specific tipping point. This is probably the biggest mistake that people make when they build
an online program or even start to think about one, they think I'm just going to jam a bunch
of information into a course and hope it sells. That doesn't work. What we need to really know is
where is the pain and urgency? Where are they at when they're most likely to take this seriously,
to invest and to do the work? That's what you need to identify. Then the one specific outcome that
they are seeking, which is there. Knowing these three factors and knowing your transformation
statement allows you to pinpoint exactly where your ideal clients are hanging out. Now,
how do you actually find them and eventually go and rescue them? You need to think about
this in the sense that you cannot just post on social media and hope people come to you,
especially if you have no following, no audience. That's not how it works. In the beginning stages
of social media, and even today, I still do this today, you have to be active, you have to
be proactive and put yourself out there. In terms of where you can find folks and where our clients
have had a lot of success finding people, Facebook groups are incredible resources. Go into Facebook,
search a specific topic, and you'll be able to find your ideal clients hanging out in these
groups and actually talking and being active where you can provide value to them. Any social
platform, and the big thing here is you want to focus on the platform where there's the least
friction for you. Where is the platform you're already using, you know how to use? Don't start
from scratch and reinvent the wheel. You want to start where you actually know the platform can
use the platform easily and find your folks. This could be LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok,
Facebook, whatever it may be, forums, Reddit, finding influencers online who have a following
of your ideal client and engage in the comment section, provide value in the comment section,
be a part of the conversation. That's how you attract eyeballs. Media. Are there media in your
industry or where your ideal clients would be following? Be a part of the conversation
there as well on their social platforms. Position yourself as an authority. Strategic partnerships,
this has been hugely successful for a lot of our clients. It means that you find people
who have a following because you don't, and you say to them, "Hey, I have this program,
this is what I'm providing to my clients. Would you be interested in partnering with me on it?"
You give them a cut of the sale and they promote it to their audience, which helps you build
your audience with a lot more efficiency. And offline. We've had clients find their
ideal clients at universities, at workshops, at conferences, at speaking engagements they may have
had or they're attending. You need to get creative and think about where your ideal client is hanging
out. Truly search for these people as if their lives dependent on it, because sometimes they do,
and then your job is to go and rescue them and actually start the conversation with them
and not sit back and hope the clients come to you. That really is step one. Step number two,
optimize four authority. Now, it's really important to understand we're not trying
to attract a massive audience here. You can't possibly fulfill or serve millions of people
so it doesn't make sense to try and go for vanity numbers. It makes sense to go for quality. Okay,
so important thing to note is that if you are using social media or using any online platform,
are you positioned or optimized for success? That means looking at the very fundamentals.
Do you have a bio that explains what you do and how you help people? Simply put,
you can just put your transformation statement there, which we just went over. Do you have an
image that reflects the kind of image that you want to portray? And it's not just some cartoon
avatar because I'm sorry, nobody's taking that seriously. Do you have a link? And this is not
a link to some sort of opt-in or freebie or guide or webinar or masterclass. Creating those things
before you have proof of concept and buyers in the door does not make sense because you don't have
your messaging dialed. The link is simply a link to get on a call with you. That is the easiest,
most frictionless way to convert strangers into clients. You can use a Calendly link.
There's other types of scheduling links that you can use, but that needs to be in there.
People need to know how they can contact you. The next thing is are you set up and optimized for the
algorithm? Anything on your bio or on your profile or that you're sharing on social media needs to
address two key things. Who and what? Because every single social media platform works the
same way. If you don't share content that directly speaks to your ideal client and what you want to
be known for and be the authority in, it confuses the crap out of the algorithm and it doesn't know
where to place you or use its internal traffic sources to serve you to more of those people. You
have to audit every piece of content that you're creating, even if you're starting from zero,
most importantly if you're starting from zero. You can start with a strong foundation and go,
is this speaking to my ideal client and is this positioning myself to be known
for the thing I would be known for? And if it isn't, don't create it and
don't share it. All right, now you know where to find your people. Now we actually need to build
a buyer's list. Now, don't let that fool you. You are not going out there and hard pitching what it
is that you have to sell. This is about research and listing. This is a process that we have proven
and tested with thousands of people, and it's called the 50 ICA process. And essentially what
it is you're actually going to get on a Zoom interview with people who fit the bill of being
your ideal client and ask them questions. I know, shocking, right? You're going to listen to them
and what they really want. It makes the process of creating a course that's going to sell a lot
easier. First and foremost, once you know where to find them, your first job is to provide value.
So when you're going into those forums or those offline spaces or using social platforms,
how can you be of service? Okay, how can you provide value? How can you answer questions,
provide support, provide guidance or feedback? That's step one. Once you provide value, then you
take the connection further and you follow them, you friend request them, et cetera. From there,
you build a relationship and rapport and that's when you can go into direct messages. From there,
you're going to go into a conversation, better understand what they need, ask specific questions,
and from there you're going to schedule a Zoom interview. And from there you're going
to ask what we call your ICA money questions. Now, these are a specific set of questions that
I am hand selected that our clients use and ask people when they get these on their Zoom
interviews and they provide absolute gold for you as the course creator. Essentially,
when you ask these questions to your ideal client, they hand deliver you what needs to go in your
curricula. You're just listening and researching at this point. From this place when you do connect
with these people and your goal is just 50, okay? Some people can do this in two weeks.
Some people it takes a little bit longer, but it's just 50 human beings. You're not trying
to build a massive audience, trying to build a small but super targeted audience. From there,
you're going to make sure you have a spreadsheet with their name, their contact information, are
they a good fit? And finally, have you scheduled the time to actually speak to them again when you
have a program to sell? Because you want to listen first, create an outline for the curriculum,
which I'm going to talk about in a second. Not build the whole thing, but create an outline
and let them know that you have it available to sell and they will be your first buyers.
Now this really becomes the foundation and basis of your email list, which is the most important
asset any online business owner can have. Building an email list from scratch in this way,
make sure you have a really healthy list of the people that are actually going to
want to work with you. I have a whole other video, which I'm going to add to the playlist
below on building an email list without an opt-in or a freebie from scratch, and you're
definitely going to want to check out that next. The fourth step is pre-selling your program. So
we have the list of buyers because we've done our research calls, we now have created an exchange of
value because we really understand what they need and now we can actually deliver it. You've created
your transformation statement. I help blank go from blank to blank so that they can blank,
so you know exactly what your positioning and your messaging is and your ideal client. You then
create your curriculum outline. You take your client from zero to hero, and this right here
is the curriculum that bridges the gap between the zero and hero state. That is what an online
program is. It needs to create a transformation. You're not building the whole thing, you're just
creating an outline, which doesn't take more than a few hours. From there, you have booked your
follow-up calls with the folks who are perfect ideal clients out of that list. Then finally,
you're going to do the math to make sure you hit your numbers. For example, the woman that
I mentioned earlier who's in our program, she built a list of 61 people doing this process. She
ended up converting 33 of them into clients. Her price point for her program was $6,500. She ended
up generating $214,000 with her online program launch by following this process. Like I said,
I've set up a whole pre-sale playlist where you can really better understand this process and
see this case study in real life. And this is exactly what we teach inside of our Authority
Accelerator program, obviously in much more depth with step-by-step instructions of how to do it.
So like I said, if you're interested in that, be sure to hit the link below and fill out an
application so we can see how we can best support you and if we're fit to work together. The final
piece of this is we haven't touched YouTube at this point. This is really important. I think
people have a misconception that you immediately started using YouTube to build your audience,
but if you don't start testing it in the way that I shared earlier with more on demand
platforms and offline and online resources, and you start with YouTube, you're going
to screw things up for yourself because you want to really have your messaging dialed.
And what's the best way to do that? To listen to potential clients. Those interviews are not just
good for getting a list of buyers. They're also amazing for creating high converting
content because exactly what they're looking for and exactly what they need. Who and what,
every piece of content on your YouTube channel as an entrepreneur needs to address those two things,
so the algorithm knows what to do with you. And how that works is it starts with you need to know
your ideal viewer, which is your ideal client, and then you make relevant content or that exact
viewer, not for everybody, for that exact viewer. And from there, the algorithm categorizes you and
your channel, which is hugely beneficial because you're feeding it with the right information and
then the algorithm starts to work for you. Then it starts to use its traffic sources to attract
and put your content in more of these places where these ideal viewers are hanging out.
So you start to build your audience organically without having to do any more work because you're
feeding the algorithm with the right information. I have a whole playlist on using YouTube to grow
your business, and I go in depth on all of this. You'll want to check that out next. That's also
listed in the description below. Paying for ads before you have any proof of concept or clarity
on your messaging is a huge waste of your time. My hope with this video is that it saves you time,
money, energy, and mental space on doing the wrong things. You don't need to have
a following. You don't need to have paid ads in order to make an online education business work.
We have so many examples of folks that have scaled without an audience at all, and none
of our clients at this point are using paid ads. And like I said, a lot of them have scaled to 10,
20, 30, 50, $300,000 a month organically using this process. And here's the thing,
if at some point you think I need to use paid advertising, Facebook ads,
YouTube ads, et cetera, you still need to have an organic traffic source. You still need to
understand this process because they both need to balance each other out and to truly create
consistency in your business. I speak with a lot of experience on this. Organic needs
to come first. Then if you feel like you need paid advertising, use it. But you still need
to use a blend of both. Okay, I hope this is helpful. Please comment below and let me know,
just with helpful, just say helpful in the comments, if this was helpful for you,
if you had a light bulb moment. I'd love to hear. Comments truly are my love language,
they mean a lot to me, and I do read them. Be sure to give this a like and subscribe for
new videos every single week. And like I said, I have two playlists below linked for you,
one on pre-selling, one on using YouTube to grow your business. The application is linked below.
If you're ready to take this seriously and truly build a business around your unique skillset and
your expertise with an online program. Fill that out thoroughly so that we know if it's
the right step for us to get on a conversation and potentially work together. Thank you so much
for watching. Check out the resources below and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.