How to Generate 6-Figures with Your Course in Less than a Year with Amy Porterfield

0:01Light that spark fire nation, a JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like The Goal Digger Podcast. Today, we'll be breaking down how to generate six figures with your course in less than a year. To drop these value bombs, I brought Amy Porterfield into EO Fire Studios. Amy is an ex-corporate girl turned online marketing expert, author of the New York Times bestselling book, Two Weeks Notice, and CEO of a multi-million dollar business. Her action-by-action teaching style provides aspiring business owners the tools they need to bypass the overwhelm and build a business they love.

0:42Learn more at amyporterfield.com. And today, Fire Nation, we're going to talk about a method to help you decide what topic you should choose for your course. We're going to talk about dollar-dollar bills, y 'all. We have a formula to help you figure out how much revenue your course could generate and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Amy and our sponsors. Online Marketing Made Easy podcast, hosted by Amy Porterfield, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with a focus on online business, including digital courses, list building content, and more.

1:16Online Marketing Made Easy breaks down big ideas and strategies into actionable step-by-step processes. A recent episode that will help you get more results with a whole lot less stress is on four ways to avoid burnout. Listen to Online Marketing Made Easy wherever you get your podcasts. Leveraging fractional staffing might just be the key to unlocking growth for you and your business. Get started today with an exclusive offer from Belay. Download their latest resource, The Power of Productivity, for free. Just text FIRE to 55123. That's F-I-R-E to 55123 to get started. Amy, say what's up to FIRE Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with?

2:01Well, hey there, Fire Nation. I'm so happy to be here. So here's what I believe to my core. I believe that to be an entrepreneur, you have to be uncomfortable for the majority of this journey. You've got to do things that make you uncomfortable, step outside of that comfort zone. But on a regular basis, I am uncomfortable, but I'm still charging forward. So if you're willing to get uncomfortable, you cannot lose. Fire Nation, not some of the magic, but all of the magic happens outside of your comfort zone. So get out there, test the envelope, push it, make it happen. And Amy, this is not your sixth, but your seventh time on Entrepreneurs on Fire.

2:44So Fire Nation knows you are a flipping rock star. So I just want to dive into the content today because we have a lot of cool things to talk about. Specifically, let's just assume that a lot of people within Fire Nation have a successful business. What exactly are the benefits of adding a digital course as an additional revenue generator? I love this question because if you already have a successful business, and especially if you are doing one-on-one coaching, consulting, or service work, or if you have a type of business that you feel as though you can't really step away from it without losing revenue, then that is a perfect time to think about creating a digital course.

3:24The reason I teach people how to take their knowledge, know-how, and skill set and turn that into a profitable digital course is so that you can have more freedom. So here's an example. One of my students, Adia, she is a psychologist. She meets with people one-on-one. She is very successful, makes good money, and she loves her job. But she'd also like to reach more people. And when she's not in the office, she wants to be making money. So she created a digital course and she was able to take what she does in the chair and she can do it to the masses through her digital course. And so now she has an extra stream of revenue and she gets the best of both worlds.

4:01Amy, I love frameworks. I love methodologies. And you actually have a method to teach people how to decide what topic that we should choose when it comes time to create this course. So let's chat about that now. Yes. So when you're thinking about creating a digital course, one of the first questions that comes up is, well, what am I going to create this course on? And so I take people through what I call the sweet spot formula, which is essentially your first big validation exercise to get the idea out of your head and to get things rolling. So here's what you do. First, you think about, well, there's four quadrants.

4:37And the first quadrant is, what is your expertise, your knowledge, your know-how? What are you good at? And the real question is, where have you seen results for yourself or for somebody else like a client or a customer? So we're going to look at where you've gotten results. And it might be in your personal life and not professionally what you're doing now. One of my students, she worked at a bank. And she worked at this bank for many, many years. But she also had a hobby on the side, which was boudoir photography, kind of sexy photography. And she thought, that's what I love the most. So she created a course that had nothing to do with her professional life.

5:10and it skyrocketed because she loved it so much. You gotta have a joy in it. So start to think about what are you good at and where have you gotten results? And if you get stuck here, text a few friends and family members, they will absolutely tell you where you shine. The second quadrant is the people that you want to serve. What are their struggles, their pain points, or their desires? What do they want and how is that aligned with what you can offer? Because we need to marry the two. So think about who you want to serve, their struggles, their challenges, their pain points, their desires. What can you do to help them in that area?

5:45The third quadrant is money potential. Where are people spending money? So when you think of this topic that you might want to create a course around, are there books about it, podcasts about it, other digital courses about it, memberships, masterminds, trainings of some sort about this topic? If people are spending money in this area, that is a great validator. You do not need to be first to market. In fact, I don't want you to be. And so the fact that it's already out there is a great sign that this is a viable product idea. And then the fourth quadrant is what brings you joy. Again, you're going to be talking about it a lot.

6:21You're going to be showing up. You're going to be teaching about it. It doesn't have to be your end all be all passion, but you do need to enjoy teaching on this topic. So those are the four quadrants of the sweet spot. Start to journal about those. Think about those because that will help you come up with your initial idea. I want to circle back, Fire Nation, to the third quadrant. Where are people already spending money? I love all the quadrants, but this one is especially important because, listen, if you are going to spend the time to create an amazing solution, it's also pretty awesome if there are people already spending money on similar solutions that you can come in and say, hey, I have a better one or I'm offering it for a different niche or whatever it might be.

7:02this quadrant's a big one. We're going to dive some more specifics after the break on this one. And Amy, despite all of this great advice you've already given, there may be some within Fire Nation who are still scared because they're wondering, how can I be sure my course will actually be successful? What would you say to them? This comes up a lot. What if nobody buys? How can I be sure that this is actually going to be a viable idea? Well, through what I teach my students, we go through a few different validation exercises. One of the things we do is we get on course calls with our potential students.

7:40So I teach my students like a list of things that you could ask somebody just to make sure you're really understanding what it is they need and what it is they want. So taking this sweet spot formula and doing a few zoom calls with potential clients is a really great idea to help you validate even further. But here's another thing that I teach. You can sell this before you create it. And I see this happen over and over again with my students where their goal is just to get the first 10 people into their course before they actually start to create it. The first 10 gives you that ultimate validator.

8:13People have spent money on it. It's as simple as, hey, guys, I've got this course that I'm creating. It's all about X, Y, Z. It's going to help you do whatever it is. And I'm also offering it to the first 10 people at a 50 % discount. so you'll have to wait till the course is created a month or two from now but you get to be my founding member 50 % off and you can help me shape it so it is exactly what you want it to be so you're going to put it out there through email social media just to get your first 10 clients before you actually create it ultimate validator now let's say somebody nobody buys and it's happened to a few of my students Amy nobody bought this we go back to the drawing board we rework the messaging, we figure out where we missed the mark, and we go back out there.

8:58So there's nothing wrong with re-engineering your messaging to make sure you get it right. Value bombs are raining down upon you, Fire Nation. And if you think we're even close to being done, you're wrong. So much more coming up after we thank our sponsors. If you're a sales leader, then you know that expectations are at an all-time high these days. You've got cold calls to make, relationships to maintain, and deals to close. and that's not even the full picture, you're also expected to leverage a slew of different tech to-dos like digging into the numbers, monitoring the best strategies, and switching it up when things aren't working and collaborate across other teams within your company.

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10:12Successful entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to maximize efficiency and increase productivity, especially in a startup environment. Maybe you've taken a few steps towards this goal by automating tasks with AI or finally nailing down a morning routine that gives you energy to crush your day. While these things definitely help, the best way to increase efficiency and productivity is to work on what you're best at and delegate the rest. Belay has been helping entrepreneurs increase productivity and scale their businesses for over a decade. Leveraging fractional staffing might just be the key to unlocking growth for you and your business.

10:42Belay has the help you need in so many areas, including virtual assistants, bookkeepers, social media managers, and more. stop wasting time on tedious tasks that are better done by someone else. Delegate with Belay and watch your productivity soar. To help get you started, Belay is exclusively offering Fire Nation their latest resource, The Power of Productivity, for free. It's full of practical tips and tools to help you increase your productivity and make the most of your time to grow your business. Text FIRE to 55123. That's F-I-R-E to 55123 to get started. Amy, Amy, we're back and I want to talk dollar, dollar bills, y 'all, because I want to talk about what's possible in terms of actual revenue for a digital course.

11:28Yes. Okay. I want to do some course math, but if you're thinking, okay, Amy, I want to create a digital course, but how much money could I actually make? That's what we're going to get into right now. The first thing is when you think about creating a digital course, let's say you already have a thriving business, but you'd like some more freedom. You want to take some vacation, step away and still make money. So how much money do you want to make, let's say, on your very first course launch? How much money would be good? How much money would be great? How much money would be fire? You'd be so excited like you wouldn't even believe it.

12:00I love to have three different goals. Every single launch I do, we create three different goals. And I teach this to all my students as well. So let's just go, if it's your first launch, let's go with a good goal. And let's keep it really simple in the beginning. Let's say you want to make$5 ,000 with your first course launch and you want to make this in a very short period of time. The first thing you have to do once you've got that goal is to say, well, how much am I going to charge for my course? So pay close attention because there's three types of courses you can create based on the type of course you create.

12:32This will help you with pricing. The first course is a starter course. This is where you're going to do a 101 basic type of course. You're just going to help people get momentum, get started because it's a starter course. It doesn't promise huge transformations, but it does help people get started where they're stuck. A starter course ranges anywhere from$100 to$200. The second type of course you can create is a spotlight course, where you take one area of your expertise and you drill down on that one area. Because it's more detailed, you can charge more. One of my students, Rob Green, he's a photographer.

13:05He created a digital course all about how to make flash photography look like natural light. He had 100 people on his email list. He'd never launched anything online. He made$12 ,000 his first time out because he was so specific about what he was teaching and that's what his audience wanted, a spotlight course. You can charge anywhere from$200 to$500. The third type of course is a signature course. This is the Mac daddy of all courses where you are promising a big transformation from start to finish. You're going to take them through a journey. You're going to get them really big results. because the results are bigger, you can charge more anywhere from$500 to$3 ,000.

13:46So once you start to figure out what you want to charge, that's when you start plugging it into your goals. So let's go back to the$5 ,000 goal. That's your good goal. You want more, but that's where you're going to start. You're going to be conservative. $5 ,000. Let's say that your course is going to be$250. You only need 20 people to raise their hand and say, I want that in order for you to hit your first month's goal with your digital course. $5 ,000 makes a big difference in someone's business. So that's 20 sales. Let's say you're going for something bigger. You wanna make$20 ,000. It's not worth it to you unless you make$20 ,000.

14:23So you're gonna price your course, let's just say it's gonna be$500 a unit. That's only 40 people. 40 people saying, yes, I want this. And if you do a good job of marketing it and building it up, That is not difficult whatsoever. Now let's go to the Mac Daddy. Let's say you're thinking, Amy, I'm going for the fire goal. I want$100 ,000 in my first launch. But let's say you're going to only charge$250 a course. You don't want a really expensive course. That's 400 units. You might be like, whoa, that's a lot of units I need to sell. Well, there's something I teach in my program, Digital Course Academy, where you could have an upsell after they buy.

15:03So let's say that you said, okay, I'm going to charge$250. But for the first 100 people that want the VIP package, they spend$500 and they get special coaching from me in a group coaching program for a short period of time. So you're saying 100 people are going to spend 500, but there's a max. So it's going to be exclusive. And then the rest will pay the$250. So now you need 100 people to pay$500. That's$50 ,000. And you only need 200 people to pay the$250. You've made$100 ,000. And so there's different ways you can play with these numbers to get to the goals you want. My point in all of this is that it's less units than you think, depending on how you kind of play with the numbers.

15:46And that's how you start to think, wait, this is actually very doable. And Fire Nation, that is math. You are welcome. And Amy, you've been at this for a long time. I mean, especially for somebody in their mid-20s, you've really been doing this for a significant time. That's why I love JLD. A significant amount of years. And you've seen a lot of changes along the way. So let's talk about what's working right now and what's no longer working that maybe used to. You know, a while ago, I used to teach this and I only teach what I do. And so I used to do this as well. And a lot of my live launching was on Facebook Live.

16:27I'd get on Facebook Live. I would teach for many days in a row leading up to opening my cart and selling my course. and this would get tons of people on and we would get a lot of engagement. So these Facebook Lives worked like gangbusters. They are dead. They do not work. They haven't worked for me for many years and they haven't been working for my students. And so instead, we've been doing surprise Lives on Zoom. And so what we do is we email our list during a launch and we say, okay, today in two hours, we're doing a surprise Live all about XYZ. Here's the link, meet me there. They have a short period of time to get there, but the show up rate is incredible.

17:08And because it's on Zoom and everyone and their mother now knows how to use Zoom, it's really easy to get the engagement up and to get people to show up. And we use this really cool tool where it actually lands on their calendar. And so they'll see it on their calendar and they're more likely to show up. So that's one thing. And then another thing that's working really well, webinars still are my go to. I teach how to do webinars slide by slide by slide. But sometimes you need a little extra with the webinar. So we've been doing these boot camps where we teach for five days about a topic for either for free or for really a small amount, like 37 bucks.

17:46And then from there, we do a webinar. And we've seen a 25 % conversion with a boot camp and a webinar combined. So that's something I talk to my students about a lot as well. Fire Nation, you are learning from somebody in the trenches, doing the thing and having fantastic results. And speaking of webinars, you, Amy, have an amazing masterclass experience that's coming up in September. Give us the details on this. Okay, I'm so excited. JLD, I didn't tell you this, but I'm doing it different this year. So we're doing a masterclass experience. So typically, if you've ever been on one of my masterclasses, I'm at my home office, I'm sitting at my computer and I teach you a lot for free, but it's not that exciting.

18:33Well, you just wait because we are actually going to be in a studio where we're doing prizes and giveaways and tons of engagement. I'm doing Q &A live so people can ask me questions in the moment and we're just going to blow people away with how to get started with a digital course. If you've ever been on one of my masterclasses, you know I have this motto, which is no matter if you ever buy from me or not, you walk away from my masterclass feeling excited, energized and ready to get started. So I'm going to deliver everything I've got to help you understand why a digital course would fit in your business, how to actually get started with a digital course and what are the action items you need to take right away to get the ball rolling so you could create a course this year if that's something that you want to do.

19:18Very actionable. In the first five minutes, I'll give you an exercise that's going to blow your mind. And what is the dates of this masterclass experience? The first one is going to be September 21st, but I have several of them. And so you can choose different dates and times. Fire Nation, what you are going to want to do is head over to eofire.com slash Amy. That's A-M-Y, eofire.com slash Amy. that's going to take you to the place where you can sign up for one of these amazing masterclass experiences. And I just want to throw in here, because it's a podcast, no matter when you're listening to this and this content is interesting to you, head to that URL because I can guarantee you Amy's going to have something amazing for you.

20:04Even if this masterclass experience is over, there might be a replay, there might be some kind of bonus or next steps, or she might be doing something really cool, you know, 15 years in the future, who knows? I mean, so let's just say if you're getting value out of this, make that happen. eofire.com slash Amy. Amy, take us home. What's the one thing you want to make sure our listeners get from our conversation today? I believe that everybody has a digital course in them. And the only thing that might stop you from getting started is thinking that your idea isn't good enough, or you're not ready, or you need more time and all of that is an excuse.

20:42And I say that lovingly. It's a lot of fear saying I've never done this before and I don't know where to start. I'm your girl. I'll help you get started. I've got so much free content to get you going. So I hope you'll join us because I would love to show you the way. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And hello, you've been hanging out with AP and JLD today. So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com slash Amy. And by the way, her other six interviews will pop up as well. Go on a little Amy Porterfield binge session.

21:16You won't regret it. And this episode will pop up and the URL directly if you want to jump on that amazing masterclass experience, eofire.com slash Amy. Amy, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, for being a friend to both myself and Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Amy for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days. And we're talking step-by-step.

21:55Visit thefreedomjournal.com and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Online Marketing Made Easy podcast hosted by Amy Porterfield is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with a focus on online business, including digital courses, list building content, and more. Online Marketing Made Easy breaks down big ideas and strategies into actionable step-by-step processes. A recent episode that will help you get more results with a whole lot less stress is on four ways to avoid burnout. Listen to Online Marketing Made Easy wherever you get your podcasts.

22:26Leveraging fractional staffing might just be the key to unlocking growth for you and your business. Get started today with an exclusive offer from Belay. Download their latest resource, The Power of Productivity, for free. Just text FIRE to 55123. That's F-I-R-E to 55123 to get started.