AMY PORTERFIELD: “So what's something you could create in about twenty to thirty hours max, like, over the next two weeks that you could sell for a lower price? And the cool thing about a lower-price offer is that it's a low barrier to entry, meaning that if you're just starting out and you're starting to build your audience, this is a great way for your audience members to dip their toe into working with you, similar to the low-ticket challenge. In fact, you can create this alongside the other offerings that we've talked about here, because this is something that you're already teaching. You're turning it into a guide or a PDF or a worksheet or some kind of template, whatever makes the most sense for you, but you could do this one and one of the other strategies I've talked about.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY: Work @ Life, hosted by Sanja Licina and Maddie Grant, is a new podcast to my weekly roundup, and I can't recommend it enough. Hosts Sanja and Maddie explore the gray areas between work and life as they share data on relevant workplace engagement and culture topics: topics like new ideas on how to impact diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging today, and vulnerability in the workplace. I love those topics so much, so be sure to download Work @ Life wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to another episode of Online Marketing Made Easy.
I have a funny story for you before we start out. I was recently at the New Kids on the Block concert. Now listen, I know I'm dating myself with that, but I was in their fan club when I was in junior high, and the arena was sold out. These guys, thirty-plus years later, have still got it. I danced so much that my feet were, like, black and blue at the end, but I don't care. Hobie and I had so much fun. Our friends invited us, and we said yes.
So while I was there, I ran into this woman that was part of the group we were with. I had never met her before, and we were walking down this corridor, going to our seats, and she said, “What do you do for business?” And I said, “Well, I help entrepreneurs take their knowledge, knowhow, and skill set and turn that into a profitable digital course.” And she said to me, “Oh, do you know Amy Porterfield?” And I was like, “Did she just say, ‘Do you know Amy Porterfield?’” And then I thought, “Have I been drinking too much?” I was only two glasses of wine in. I was so confused. And I said, “I'm Amy Porterfield.” She's like, “What?” And I thought, “What is happening here?”
Well, it turns out the night before, she had been to dinner with my new VP of marketing. I hired a brand-new VP of marketing. I’m so excited. She is amazing. But she was friends with my new VP of marketing, and she's not in this world. And so, Beth, my new VP, was telling her, “I work for this woman named Amy Porterfield, and she helps people create courses.” So this woman's like, “Oh, I know someone who does that.”
It was very weird timing, but I was cracking up. And in that moment I thought, how cool that I am known for something like that. Like, you say “digital courses,” and some people say “Amy Porterfield.” And I thought, I want that for you as well. You might already have that. But if you don't, keep going, my friend. You're listening to marketing podcasts. You're in it. You're doing the work. And one day if it's not already happening, someone will be talking about the industry you're in and the work you do, and then your name’s going to pop up. “Oh, do you know” fill in the blank. I want that to happen for you, because when you're known for something, it's easier to do business, quite honestly. People come to you, and you don't have to always attract new people into your world.
So, I don't know. I thought it was a funny story, but also kind of cool, right?
Okay. Moving on to today's topic. I don't quite recall when I first heard about this concept, but I just remember thinking, “Oh, my gosh. That's brilliant.” And the concept I'm referring to is creating a quick cash injection for your business. A quick cash injection. And as entrepreneurs, especially when we're still growing and scaling, there are often times we need a little extra cash. Am I right? Maybe you want to finally hire a virtual assistant to support you for a few hours a week, or maybe just to help cover the cost of your website, an email-service provider, or maybe to support you in enrolling in that digital course that you've had your eyes on, that you know is going to completely change the trajectory of your business.
I love this idea, and I knew I had to create something like this for my audience, which is exactly why I'm sharing it with you today. Now, I've shared a few of these strategies in various podcast episodes throughout the years, but never in this much depth. So if you're thinking you could really use a little cold, hard cash for something in your business, then I've got you covered.
Here's the deal: I know that these strategies work if you commit to them wholeheartedly. Just like creating anything of significance in your business, these strategies require some effort and commitment to get rolling, but it's worth it. And if you're willing to play full out, give it your all, and make the necessary temporary sacrifices to achieve big, bold things, then you'll have that cash boost in your bank account in no time, and you'll be able to invest in a little something for yourself and your business.
And before we get to strategy number one, I want to speak directly to those of you who have been thinking about enrolling in Digital Course Academy this September. These strategies are an excellent way to generate some extra income to put towards enrolling in Digital Course Academy without pulling from your savings. And that's a big reason I'm sharing this episode, because I want to give you the tools to help you move forward in your business. And for many of you, moving forward means creating a digital course that will give you time and location freedom and allow you to make a huge impact while also making a great income.
So, here's how I want you to use these strategies: listen to them. Decide which resonates with you the most. You do not need to do them all. In fact, one strategy will likely be good enough. Whether you decide to use one strategy, or maybe if you want to combine one or two, I want you to go all in and play full out. Commit, commit, and then commit some more, and watch that magic unfold for you. Keep in mind that these are jumping-off points. Adjust them and make them work for you and your business and your audience, whether big or small. So let's get to it and start out with strategy number one.
Strategy number one, offer limited one-on-one sessions. You have knowledge and knowhow in a specific area. And believe it or not, sweet friend, other people would love to learn from you. Maybe you've successfully trained your dog, designed websites, perfected Airbnb hosting, healed your gut with whole foods, reignited the fire in your marriage, started a nonprofit. The list goes on. You're really, really good at something. Yeah, I'm looking at you. And lucky for you, people are willing to pay for it. Trust me.
Now, if you're thinking, “Amy, I'm no expert,” I'm going to challenge you on that because you only need a 10% edge to actually teach what you know. If you haven't heard me speak about the 10% edge before, what I mean is that you only need to be 10% ahead of your students or clients on their journey. That means that in order to teach and to lead, you don't have to be a complete master. You just have to be slightly ahead of them. You need to have gotten results for yourself or for someone else before you teach it, but that doesn't mean you need to be the master of all masters in this.
So here's how we're going to use this unique gift to make money and serve others: you’re going to offer limited spots for one-on-one coaching. These can be done in person or online. Zoom is great for these sessions and super affordable.
Step one, let's get your process organized. Start by writing out every single step you've taken to achieve whatever you're going to teach or train in your one-on-one sessions. Are there techniques or practices or habits or tools or anything else that helped you on your journey to becoming the expert, this person that's gotten results, either for yourself or for someone else? So once you have your step-by-step process, fill it in with other details that are important. You want to get clear and organized in order for your one-on-one sessions to really help your customers.
Next, select your pricing. So if you know me, you know that I'm no mathematician, so let's keep this simple. I'm going to use two thousand dollars as an example for this because that's the price of Digital Course Academy, and I want to demonstrate that you don't have to sell a ton of sessions to make that amount of money.
So the goal is two thousand dollars. That means you're going to divide that number by how many customers and sessions you want to offer. For example, maybe you charge one hundred dollars for a one-on-one session, and you require each customer to go through four sessions for maximum results. That means that you have four forty-five-minute to one-hour sessions per customer, so they're each paying you four hundred dollars. That means you only need five customers. That feels a lot less overwhelming, doesn't it? Five customers. Play around and see what works best for you and what makes sense for what you're teaching or the transformation you're offering.
Remember that for one-on-one coaching you can charge significantly higher than group coaching. Heck, you can even make your goal with just two or three customers. And don't you dare undercharge for your services.
Now, it's time to share it with the world. Share that you're offering a limited amount of one-on-one coaching sessions. On all of your social-media platforms, you're going to share this, and to your email list. That urgency of offering a limited amount makes it super attractive. Also, don't forget to email friends and family and ask them to share this information with anyone they know who might be interested.
All right. Strategy number two is similar to strategy number one, with a simple tweak. Instead of offering one-on-one spots, offer limited group-coaching spots. Let's keep rolling with the coaching-session idea, and I'm personally a huge fan of the group-coaching approach.
By offering a group-coaching session, whether online or in person, you can make more bang for your buck in a shorter amount of time. You're going to follow the same steps in strategy number one, but tweak them just a little bit.
When it comes to pricing your offer, you'll want to figure out different numbers. For example, if you're aiming to hit two thousand dollars with your coaching, and you charge a hundred dollars per person per session, this turns out to be four sessions with five people. Now, the benefit here is that you're only having to do four hours of coaching versus twenty hours with your one-on-one options. That's why I suggest charging more for one-on-one work.
Now, once again, you know your audience, so play around with a price that works best for them while still making it worth your time and effort. And if you want to sell fewer coaching spots, consider offering an upsell of, let's say, a higher-priced one-on-one session, where you take a deep dive and work with them specifically on their goal.
So, for example, you could sell your group-coaching spots as suggested above, and then offer an upsell of a single one-on-one session for two hundred dollars. Kind of like an incubator session that's outside of the group coaching. See how that works?
Next step, strategy number three, audit your spending habits. I know, I know. You likely just groaned. But listen, if you're not a numbers person, that's okay. This strategy is easier than it sounds. I pinky promise. So I'm going to walk you through how to find hidden dollars here and there without having to do an entire bank-account overhaul. To be up front and honest, I'm going to ask you to cut back a little on the pleasure spending, but hold up. Before you fast forward to the next strategy, hear me out. Just because you're temporarily eliminating something that might be a leisurely expenditure, that doesn't mean you have to cut back forever. Once you have the money set aside for your business and maybe take the next step and create a digital course and share it with the world, the chances of having plenty of fun funds—that's hard to say on a podcast—fun funds will increase significantly.
So for this exercise, you're going to want to get your hands on the last two months of your bank or credit-card statements. I'm a pen-and-paper kind of girl, so I like to print them out in advance.
Okay, so step one is you're going to either open up a Google Doc—you can make a spreadsheet in there—or you could just do this on a pad of paper, but you're just making two columns. So in column one, label it Description, and then column two, label it Cost.
And then you're going to go through your bank account. So step two is go through your bank-account statements, and you’re going to use these categories to document the spending.
So category one would be Subscriptions, such as StitchFix or the Wondery app or Netflix. So Subscriptions is category one.
And then category two, Eating Out. So you're putting these under Description. Eating Out. Yes, this includes that bougie Starbucks drink that you order.
Category three, Scroll Purchases. Oh, yeah, I'm going there. You know these. I know these well. You're mindlessly scrolling through Amazon or Instagram or TikTok, and boom, you get served up something really good, and you just buy it on the spot. So that's another category.
And then the fourth category is Leisure Spending, such as pedis, manis, massages, all the stuff that we love. And remember, this is only temporary. And I didn't even say you had to stop those yet. We're just kind of getting clear on our spending.
So again, under the Description, you would write Subscription and then say what it is and then say the cost of it. Or Eating Out and then the cost of it. So you're just going through your bank-account statement, and you're documenting where you're spending.
Step three, add up your purchases and see how much you could save simply by temporarily eliminating or disabling some of your purchases. I said some, not all.
And then step four, let's say that you found an extra five hundred bucks hidden in the above categories. Keep the savings going and these costs eliminated for months, and you'll soon have a nice little cash injection for your business. Maybe you even open up a savings account where you put that extra money right away so it can't go anywhere and you don't spend it.
So, I know. Not as sexy as group coaching or one-on-one coaching, where you're just bringing money in. But for some of you, this actually, this exercise could make a big difference.
If you're listening to this when this episode goes live, I just returned from my first-ever sabbatical. My favorite part about taking some time away was catching up with friends and family. Making room in my schedule to connect with those I love most has allowed me to come back to my business with fresh ideas and new energy and excitement. I truly feel that when we take the time to connect, it helps us to understand the people in our lives, and that's relevant to our businesses, too.
A HubSpot CRM platform helps your business understand and anticipate customer needs, with easy-to-use hubs, apps, and payment tools designed to help your business stay connected. And when we stay connected to our customers, growth happens. Learn how your business can grow better at hubspot.com.
All right. Moving on to strategy number four, host a lower-ticket challenge. So are you ready to have some fun? I love this one. If you have a private Facebook group or some kind of online community, if you have an engaged social-media following or a loyal email list—even a list of a hundred people. It doesn't have to be huge—this idea I'm going to give you is a good one.
You're going to offer a low-ticket challenge. You can simply create a new private Facebook group and do everything there, or deliver it all via email and don't even have a group. Now, maybe it's five- or seven- or fourteen-day max challenge. I like five days to ten days max, but you can go a little longer, and you'll teach similar strategies or practices that you would teach in your group or in your one-on-one sessions.
You could even specialize this challenge to one specific practice or strategy. Like, for example, if you're an expert crochet coach, maybe you host a five-day challenge where you teach participants how to master crocheting mittens. I know, weird example, but it can be done. By the end of the challenge, your participants will have perfected their mitten-crocheting skills and have a new skill that they can use over and over again. Not to mention a stylish pair of mittens. Now talk about an awesome win-win, right? Or if you're a copywriter, you can teach entrepreneurs how to create a high-converting sales page. So something very specific. The more specific, the more likely it is to sell it, quite honestly. So maybe you do a ten-day challenge, and by the end of the ten days, each entrepreneur will walk away with a stellar sales page.
You can price this challenge anywhere from twenty-five dollars to a hundred dollars, depending on the length, what you're teaching, and who your audience is. And this is an excellent way to attract potential customers who want to dip their toes into the waters of your teaching style. Also, because it's a lower-ticket challenge, they may feel more comfortable inviting a friend or two to join them, and you should encourage them to do so.
So within the challenge, you can offer live videos and Q&A group sessions where you review their progress or give them live feedback, and create a great relationship with them. So, for example, if you're teaching how to write a sales page, maybe you review a few in front of everyone and offer guidance on how to tweak it and perfect those examples. You can also offer an upsell with your challenge so that people have the opportunity to do one-on-one or a more-intimate group-coaching experience with you.
Now, keep in mind that with a lower-price approach, you will have to sign more people up. So that's one thing to think about. However, because it's less expensive, it may be easier to attract more customers. Either way works well. It just depends on what's best for you and your teaching style and your audience.
I'm actually hosting one of these as I'm recording this, so I'll be sure to do an entire episode on what we did and how you can replicate the strategies that work best for you. So keep an eye out for that. But in the meantime, you can put together a simple one yourself.
All right. Strategy number five, create a PDF guide or worksheet. So take something that you already teach and that you know your audience loves, that they want it, and they need it, and put it into a PDF guide or a worksheet of some sort, and sell it for a low cost.
So, for example, I've had students who are attorneys create legal templates. I've seen artists create traceable worksheets for things like calligraphy.
One of my students created a twenty-one step-by-step guide that walked her audience members through organizing their closets. She sells it for twenty-seven dollars. She created the e-book content in Microsoft Word, and you could even do it in Google Docs. She, then, had her virtual assistant create the guide in Canva, which is something you could do even if you don't have a VA. All of this took her approximately fifteen hours to create the e-book content, and her VA four hours to get it designed in Canva, and maybe another hour for edits. So it took her about twenty hours total to create the product. She, then, promoted this through her social accounts, to her email list, and on her website. Also, this makes up about 6% of her business revenue. Pretty cool, right? Six percent, and it’s twenty-seven bucks.
So what's something you could create in about twenty to thirty hours max, like, over the next two weeks that you could sell for a lower price? And the cool thing about a lower-price offer is that it's a low barrier to entry, meaning that if you're just starting out and you're starting to build your audience, this is a great way for your audience members to dip their toe into working with you, similar to the low-ticket challenge. In fact, you can create this alongside the other offerings that we've talked about here, because this is something that you're already teaching. You're turning it into a guide or a PDF or a worksheet or some kind of template, whatever makes the most sense for you, but you could do this one and one of the other strategies I've talked about.
All right. So, this next strategy isn’t really related to your expertise or business, but it’s still a great way to make some money over time to support your business. Now, it's way different than the others, but I wanted to give somebody an option to do something that they didn't have to create or teach or anything like that. So, strategy number six is to offer your insight through market research.
So inside my Digital Course Academy program, I teach something called validation calls. These are calls that help my students make sure their course content and topic perfectly align with their ideal-customer avatar, or ICA. These calls are basically the course creator's version of market research. So just like those calls, other companies also have to do market research. In fact, many use online-survey companies to learn more about their ICA and what they like and don't like.
And it gets even better. Many pay to get this market research. So using these online-survey companies, which are actually legit, you can get some serious cash just by spending some time taking surveys.
So, I wanted to give you a few reputable online-survey companies. I’ll link to these in the show notes. So if you go to amyporterfield.com/479, I've linked to all of these. Or you could just Google “online survey for money.” So, number one, swagbucks.com; number two, surveyjunkie.com; and number three, userinterviews.com.
Now, I would love to see, if you like this idea, do this one and then maybe do one other one; maybe a low-price paid PDF that you create. You put those two together, and you could make two thousand dollars fairly quickly. I'm doing this episode now because I know that some of you want to spend your two thousand dollars on Digital Course Academy. And I've been in this business for a while, and I've been selling DCA for many years, and it breaks my heart when people say, “I just don't have the money to enroll,” because I know that if you enroll in Digital Course Academy when I open the doors, I know I can change your business, which will ultimately change your life. But I also need to give you some time to make that money if you need that extra time. So these strategies can help you do that.
So, there you have it, friend. Let's do a quick review of these six strategies, so, then, you can decide which one or two is best for you.
The first one, offer limited one-on-one coaching spots. Two, offer limited group-coaching spots. I personally love this one. Three, Audit your spending habits. You might find some hidden money that you didn't expect to find. Number four, host a low-ticket challenge. Number five, create a low-cost PDF or guide. And then, number six is to get paid for market research.
I also just want to take a moment to make a disclaimer and say that this episode doesn't guarantee that these will all work for you. Each one does take time, energy, and effort. But I've seen them work great for students coming into DCA, and I know you're going to be able to do great things with these strategies as well.
So, thanks for joining me for another episode of Online Marketing Made Easy. I'll see you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
