Does the idea of selling your course on auto-pilot sound easy?
Well, it’s not – BUT, not for the reasons that you think.
You see, we humans are an interesting bunch. We SAY we want to keep things simple, but keeping things simple is not always easy.
…and when it comes to sales funnels – keeping things simple is REALLY hard to do.
When I think back to the first sales funnel I created – my brain goes numb. It was a tangled mess of triggers, tags, timers, and copy that produced exactly zero sales.
Well, on today’s episode we are saying GOOD-BYE to 5 popular myths that are holding you back from creating a funnel that is simple AND profitable.
Let’s get started.
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.
Today I’m busting 5 popular myths about selling your course on auto-pilot that are costing you major profits and I want to get right to it, so here we go.
Myth #1: Your course has to be “ready” – aka perfect – before you start selling your course on auto-pilot.
“Ready” is a moving target and a waste of your time because your course will NEVER be “ready”. There will always be something to update, to change, or to make better – but that doesn’t mean you need to make all those updates and changes at once. Why? Because there will ALWAYS be more to make.
The first course I ever sold was a few videos that I recorded using the free version of screencast, so there was a giant “screencast” watermark on each of my videos. I didn’t have any workbooks – I just typed out what I needed people to know right underneath the video and you know what???
…People LOVED it. The content wasn’t fancy, but it was good and everything I taught worked.
When I look back on that course (the very first one that I sold on auto-pilot), I can see 11 million mistakes I never fixed – but, I also see thousands of lives I forever changed…and $11 million I never would have made if I “waited” for my course to be ready.
Sure, NOW my courses have fancy videos, worksheets, and a hosting platform – but NONE of that was necessary to get started.
Myth #2: You need to have a big email list before you start selling your course on auto-pilot.
When I started selling my course on auto-pilot, do you know how many people I had on my list? Zero. The whole point of selling your course with an automated funnel is to build your email list AND sell your course all at the same time.
This means as soon as you turn your funnel on, you’ll be able to start collecting leads and a portion of those leads will turn into a customer. We’ve had many clients join our Accelerator program and like me, they’re also starting with zero people on their list. Day by day, their list begins to grow and people begin to buy.
No big, fancy launches required. Just consistent revenue on auto-pilot that builds over time.
Myth #3: You need to have sold 57 courses before you start selling it on auto-pilot.
Ok, so I did make up the number “57”, but the reality is you DON’T need to sell ANY courses before you get your automated funnel up and running.
This is a little embarrassing, but when I first started selling my course, I didn’t even know what a “launch” was – so I actually started selling it on auto-pilot right away WITHOUT ads and I made $7k my very first month.
It was later on that I got distracted by all the internet heroes yelling at me to start launching and it didn’t take me long to realize that launching was the pits and I never wanted to do it again.
Now, not ALL automated funnels are created equally. Take my client Sandra for example. When she came to us, she was selling her course on auto-pilot, but only selling 1 or 2 per month IF she was lucky. She felt like she was doing all the right things and worried that maybe she’d NEVER be able to make an automated funnel work for her.
So, what happened next? Well the very first WEEK she turned on her Profitable Sales Engine™ she sold 52 courses. Same person selling the same course at the same price – the only thing she changed was the WAY she was marketing and selling her program.
That’s the power of a Profitable Sales Engine™ and that’s why I get so fired up when people think an automated sales funnel won’t work for them.
Myth #4: You need to spend a ton of money on ads if you want to sell your course on auto-pilot.
You do NOT need to spend a dime on ads if you’re looking to create an automated sales funnel that makes six figures per year. Heck, I’ve even got clients who are making six figures per MONTH without spending any money on paid traffic.
While I spent $0 on ads to reach my first six figure year, I definitely used them to reach my first seven figure year.
But, this is where people go wrong. They get antsy and feel like ads are the easy way to scale, so they don’t bother with any organic strategies, spend loads of money on ads, and it goes straight down the toilet because they haven’t figured out how to create CONTENT that connects AND converts.
If you don’t know how to create organic content that builds demand for your program and sends traffic to your funnel – how in the world are you going to create content that does the same with paid traffic.
Ads are CONTENT, so they’re GREAT if you’ve nailed your content strategy, but if you haven’t then they will just amplify what isn’t working.
Again, you do NOT need ads at all to reach your first six figures in online course revenue. So, putting off your sales funnel because you think the only way to make it work – is just plain wrong.
Myth #5: You need to get really good at live launching BEFORE you start selling your course on auto-pilot.
If that’s true then why are my DMs filled with course creators who have live launched for years, but are STILL stuck on the struggle bus when it comes to making their automated funnels profitable?
What worked well in a live launch will oftentimes NOT WORK in an automated funnel because they are completely different sales experiences for the prospect and the sales cycle for an automated funnel is MUCH shorter – and more profitable.
That’s why one of our scalers was able to sell 300% more courses the first week she turned on her Profitable Sales Engine™ without ads than she made after an entire MONTH of launching with ads.
Her Profitable Sales Engine™ provided an intimate, focused sales experience that turns cold leads into paying customers in a matter of days – not months. It’s better for your prospect, because they get a ton of value out of the whole process (whether they buy or not) and it’s better for YOU because your Profitable Sales Engine™ is running day after day, doing all the heavy lifting of converting leads into customers for you.
So, let’s recap today’s episode because we covered a lot today.
You CAN start selling your course on auto-pilot…
…even if you course isn’t “ready”
…even if you have a tiny list (or no list at all!)
…even if you haven’t sold your course before
…even if you don’t want to spend money on ads
…even if you’ve never had a successful live launch
➡️ If you have ANY questions about whether now is the right time for you to build a Profitable Sales Engine™ for your course so that you can start selling your online course on auto-pilot, then send me a DM on Instagram that says READY and I’ll send you a link to my free class that shows you the exact method that hundreds of my clients have used to sell their course on auto-pilot, simply and profitably. DM me “Ready” on Instagram and let’s go.
I appreciate you being here and join me 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!
