"I learned a lot in a short amount of time. I feel I have a lot of tools now to keep growing an online business"Your Graduation Story
I am one of those people who started from scratch. No product, no experience marketing or selling online and never offered an online course. I faithfully followed niche down profits up module and took to heart the ""get started project"" and picked the idea that came out on top of the fail proof business decision making model although I had some doubts (naturally). The project I picked was a class for other licensed massage therapists (LMTs). My first challenge was that training courses are often CEU based and hour based not value based. The first survey I did asked about CEUs and 90% of respondents said they were important or very important. From my research in the market, it looked like I would have to charge $97 and find 21 participants. I tried to make the course a little meatier by adding a workshop and marketing component, but it got confusing and unwieldy and in Marisa's words: a ""Frankenstein product"". So I stuck with the 21 at $97 after coach Paul said it was possible. The other factor that attracted me to the project was that I knew I could buy a list from the Oregon Massage Board of LMTs who agreed to receive information about classes offering CEUs. The list is 6,500 people and so the numbers were there. If I only got a conversion rate of .05% I could get the 21 people! It looked good on paper. This list proved to be the biggest challenge. I have a business. I am a solopreneur and so I do it all including sending out newsletters. I have a scheduling program that I use for email campaigns. I haven't had issues with ""deliverability"". In fact, I didn't know it was a thing until I started researching autoresponders to load my big list. Then the crushing news came that this was a ""cold"" list and that no one, absolutely no one, recommended sending out the volume of emails I would need to reach the number of people to get the conversion rate I needed to fill the class in the 4 remaining weeks. I talked at length to the people at a company called Woodpecker and they recommended I send no more than 50 a day. I did the math and that means I would have send out 2100 for a 1% conversion rate to get 21 people. At 50 emails a day that meant I would take 42 days or 6 weeks. Just to send the emails. Not to have them go through the whole process. It would also be staggered and not everyone going through the process at once. It was the first week of January when I realized this and I still had to learn activecampaign. That was a steep learning curve and took a week in itself. Coach Paul and a friend (who did the EPM and recommended it), said I should just start doing cold calls to some of the people on the list. I did about 30 calls and only got 2 people on the phone. They agreed to look at my course and give me feedback. I left messages, but only the two people responded. I also did the give them what they want campaign and that worked out better. I didn't have a huge response, but 12 people went through the funnel and 3 people bought the course! I have a few other follow up calls and maybe can get the numbers up 5 by Monday. So that is my journey of trails and tribulations.
When I do this again, I will do it very, very differently now that I have a ""birds eye view"" on the overall process. As I last ditch effort to make mission accomplished, I very quickly developed a program for $497 that included massage, yoga therapy and coaching to see if I could sell 4 of them from my already established clients. I had two people interested so far. No one had bought yet, but maybe next week I will find four people!
What is your biggest takeaway from EPM?
Here are the most important things I learned:
1. For these kinds of online courses, make them value based. I would say, don't even put ideas that aren't value based on the fail proof business decision making protocol.
2. don't buy cold lists if you only have 10 weeks to complete a project. I could have used the information about cold calls lists way earlier in the program. For people like me who ignorantly thought you did email marketing by buying a list and sending out thousands of emails in a day, this understanding would have influence my project choice considerably
3. people buy on value and belief and a money back guarantee can get them through door (it worked to get me through the door of EPM, although with the holes in my knowledge and the steep learning curve, it proved that I couldn't quite make the mission accomplished). but, it got me to do it.
How did EPM help you become successful?
I started creating an online business
How has EPM and your success impacted your life?
I learned a lot in a short amount of time. I feel I have a lot of tools now to keep growing an online business
What has been the biggest change in your business?
What are you most excited about moving forward with your Experience Product?
Taking time to develop a product that is value based and finishing my get started project