I’d never even heard of anyone making over $1m in one year from selling their courses when I asked my coach YEARS ago if that would even be possible. It seemed like a wild idea at the time, but I really wanted to go for it and if I knew just ONE person had done it before me – then I knew I could, too.
Since then, I’ve not only done it myself, but I’ve met so many incredible course creators doing that and MORE on topics including dog training, pilates, guitar playing, parenting, dating, business building, and more.
But, crossing the million dollar mark isn’t easy. It takes hard work and a commitment to keep moving forward no matter what – even if you make mistakes, even if you encounter unexpected challenges, and even when you’re not moving as fast as you’d like to be moving.
Today I’m sharing two things I did that helped me reach my first million from selling my course in less than a year.
My name is Caitlin Bacher, CEO of Scale With Success®, and I’m on a mission to help course creators all over the world grow their business in a way that is profitable and scalable. I’m sharing revealing insights about what it really takes to scale an online course business to millions of dollars per year. Join me here to discover the tough decisions I’ve had to make, the biggest failures I’ve had to bounce back from, and the learnings that emerged every step of the way. I’m so grateful that I have the chance to tell you everything right here on Scale With Success®: The Podcast. Let’s get started.
Alright, two things I did that helped me make $1m in less than a year (and over $10m after that) while selling my course on auto-pilot
1. I Created A “Home Run” Offer
The reason why someone buys a course is because they want to solve a specific problem they are actively experiencing. Not a problem they might have at some point in the future, a problem they are struggling to solve right now.
Now, they may have been struggling with this problem for a day, a month, or a decade – but TODAY is the day they are ready to solve their problem for good.
So, these people are looking everywhere for a place where they can learn HOW to solve their problem – I mean they are literally thinking about their big problem day and night.
What kind of problems are people looking to solve? Well, there are four main categories of problems that people are actively looking to solve – which is why they’re super profitable course topics.
I dive into the four main categories in detail inside Episode 115: Top 3 Reasons Why Nobody’s Buying Your Evergreen Course, so if you haven’t listened to that one yet – make sure to go and do that.
The issue for most course creators is that their course may solve a specific problem that provides a tangible result like, helping your baby sleep through the night, invest in real estate, decorate your home, start dating after divorce, or make your first quilt – but nobody knows it.
Meaning, YOU know the specific, tangible result your course provides – but, your audience does not. Whether your course teaches people how to backpack through Europe or plan a wedding in 30 days, you’d be surprised at how many people have trouble clearly stating what their course is all about.
Their message is either too vague, or so complex that it’s impossible to understand.
Another issue I see course creators struggle with is that their course may offer a number of different benefits, but they don’t know which one to lead with. They’re highlighting the benefit that THEY like the most, not the one that their audience values the most.
So, they’re wasting all their time and energy trying to convince their audience why this one particular benefit is awesome and amazing – instead of focusing on promoting the benefit that their audience DOES care about.
One of the things I love the most about selling your course on auto-pilot is that you get to refine your marketing message over time – eventually creating a golden thread that runs through your product, marketing, sales and delivery. So, the better it gets – the better it gets.
You become more clear on the value your course provides and your marketing message begins to reflect that, helping your audience understand exactly how your course can help them and why NOW is the best time to start. And because they’re more clear on the value of your course they get better results once they join your program because they don’t waste time “resisting” your teaching. They’re completely sold on the value and are just ready to implement.
2. I Built An Automated Sales Mechanism
My absolute favorite way to sell an online course on auto-pilot is with a Profitable Sales Engine™. This is the method I developed after years of being stuck in a launch cycle that prevented me from reaching my income goals.
It wasn’t until I quit launching and started selling my course on auto-pilot that I was finally able to cross my big million dollar goal. I shudder to think where my business would be if I never made the switch.
But, by no means did my success selling on auto-pilot happen overnight because I made every mistake in the book. IF you want to learn more about the mistakes I made that caused my first attempt at creating an evergreen funnel to be a major flop, then make sure to listen to Episode 116: Why My First Evergreen Funnel Was A Big Flop.
A Profitable Sales Engine™ works because it has a high conversion rate, which means it works well even if you have a tiny audience and because it prioritizes Genuine Connection between your audience and your brand.
I think this is what’s lacking in so many funnels these days that are simply trying to repurpose live launch content into an automated funnel – it’s such a stale approach and your low conversion rate will reflect that.
In contrast, a Profitable Sales Engine™ includes content that is specifically designed to perform well inside automation. It has a short sales cycle which means people don’t need months of nurturing in order to buy whether you sell a $200 or $2,000 course.
Your conversion rate is a direct reflection of the quality of your content inside the funnel itself. Is it educating your audience about the specific problem they’re experiencing? Is it helping them understand why their current approach to solving their problem is NOT working and what makes your approach different?
So many course creators blame their audience for the failure of their old-fashioned automated funnels, saying things like “my audience just needs months of nurturing – there’s no way around it.”
But, that makes no sense. I mean, why would your audience PREFER to sit in the pain of not solving their problem as opposed to experiencing the joy of solving it once and for all? Are you saying they DON’T want to solve their problem? If that’s the case, then why are they following you and consuming all your free content?
Nobody PREFERS to struggle – they want a solution. If someone has a problem that your course can help them solve, but they aren’t buying – isn’t it more likely that perhaps your funnel is the problem?
I don’t care whether you sell a course on how to paint a watercolor portrait of your cat or how to manifest a new house – there are people out there who are actively trying to learn HOW to make that happen, and they can’t figure it out on their own. Don’t they deserve your help today? Not weeks or months from now, but right now?
I know you want to help as many people as you can and the great thing about running an online course business is that as your business grows, so does your impact.
I appreciate you being here and make sure to tune in next week for another episode of Scale With Success® The Podcast.
Are you sick and tired of launching and looking for a proven method to generate consistent revenue from your online course on auto-pilot?
Sign up for my free masterclass, “How To Generate Launch-Sized Revenue Without Launching” and I’ll show you how our clients are making MORE money in LESS time than they ever did while launching.
If making sales everyday in a way that is completely automated and doesn’t require paid advertising sounds good to you, then click the link around this episode and sign up for my free masterclass today.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Scale With Success® Accelerator — an online course designed to help you generate launch-sized revenue without lanching. If you want to learn MORE about our proven method for success, click here to watch my free masterclass. See you in there!
