The beginning

We lived in Connecticut and we were moving back to San Diego.

It was a big crazy situation and we just wanted to start over.

For the first 2 months we stayed with my dad, and while it was cool, we decided to launch a live membership.

They would watch me edit flyers and stuff live, and it was messy.

It was just a Facebook group, and it wasn’t focused on graphic ensign, it was more  just lifestyle and general info.

I think starting and having it be messy is more important than not starting at all.

We were using a $70 video camera, and I would record like that. People were paying through not even a real website, but through a paypal link.

A lot of people signed up at the same time.

We eventually grew up and found kartra, and it basically gave us a hub. All my clients were able to do was look at my videos in this Facebook group, and it was really easy to share.

There was no protection and kartra helped with that, because we were able to set up a membership platform.

It was great because we were able to set up a monthly as well as a one-time, and people would own vs rent my content.

A lot of the girls who would watch the live one-time courses would pay like $150 for 8 hours of content. 

That is great because if you get like 10 people, you’ve made a decent amount for one 8 hour period.

Jesse and I agree that passive income is more our thing, but if you have a one time class, people don’t want to miss out on that.

It is important to have both memberships and one time courses.

I like the idea of being like Wal-Mart, I want to have everything.

It all just depends on what you want, but in my opinion it’s better to have both.

Another thing I’ve heard a lot is Shopify shut them down because they don’t support that type of content.

You shouldn’t put your whole business, and whole livelihood into one website that has the authority to shut you down, that’s why we have been working so hard on our website and expanding to lots of platforms.

Take up space, own your space.

It also depends on your personality. If I knew I was going to make 1-2 grand for 8 hours of work, I would be really excited about the money, but not excited about having to talk for 88 hours, and not knowing what kind of technical issues will come up.

If you have a personality and can handle that, then go for it.

Life is very stressful because no matter how much money you spend, there can still be issues that mess up content, or mess up a sale.

I like doing prerecorded things, and getting it all set up first.

Promotion

Let’s say now you have all your stuff prerecorded and set up on kartra, how do you make your money back?

I think having success in what you are teaching is super helpful.

Everyone knew we were an up and coming designer, and then we announced our classes. 

It was a super powerful transition.

We were running Facebook ads and email lists, and a lead magnet.

Anyone who tells you email lists are out-dated doesn’t know what they are talking about.

The people who were taking my classes live in my Facebook groups knew I was someone to listen to because I did design.

Everyone likes to get free stuff, so posting some free stuff on YouTube, and running the courses on our website, kind of proves to people that we know what we are talking about.

I had to prove that I could teach it as well as do the designing well.

At the end of the free training, you can ask them to buy more info, or sign up for your email list to hear about different training or discounts in the future.

Promotion is super important, and you want to test different things.

This is something that people always chokes them up and they say they can’t do it because they are barely living, or they are just going over the top and spending a ton of money, and that’s investing.

I waited until black Friday to buy my software.

I would recommend getting screen flow, we still use it today, that was a great investment.

If you invest like $300 it can help a lot. 

Don’t feel like you need to buy a bunch of expensive stuff, you can make it work with just doing Facebook live but once you can, invest in upgrading and you will make your money back even quicker.

So yeah, if you want to start a course, or live seminars, it is a great way to make passive income.

If you are interested in my courses, check them out on the website. 

Our junior varsity course is only $20 a month! 

Have a great day and hopefully we will see you for the next podcast, or in junior varsity!