I run a WordPress programmer education company at WPDevelopment.courses.
The business has been around for a bit more than 3 years. It's making money, but only around a 1/4 of what I'd need to make it a full time income.
And that is the goal.
What keeps my from scaling the course is marketing.
There is an established system, so I thought improving this and that part would help me get there. But I'm increasingly convinced that the offer is the problem.
And that I need to go from one-off courses to a subscription model.
Here's the background on my thinking.
Previous iterations
I got started in the education business by buying a course from a guru.
The advice was:
1. One high ticket offer.
2. One webinar funnel.
This did not work because of two reasons:
1. For high ticket price, customers expected high touch support. So running the business was like doing less profitable consulting work.
2. The Russel Brunson-style webinar structure wasn't appropriate for the audience, or the product.
Next I got a business coach in the space.
The advice was:
1. Start with one course, and get customers.
2. Rince and repeat, using cross-selling and upselling to existing customers as well as a bundling approach.
This is where I'm at.
Challenges
There are five key challenges that I face:
1. Unlike with other niches, these courses need constant updating (2-3 partial updates per year). Which makes it hard to find time for marketing.
2. Inspired by the $100M Offers book, I want to offer more done-for-you along with the education. Think code snippets, cheat sheets, starter projects,... These need less updating than the curriculum, but they still need maintenance.
3. With the topics that existing customers want to learn about, there will be overlap between the courses. This is because certain topics require foundational knowledge.
4. Every course needs a sales page, and email sales campaign associated. Customer tagging doesn't really work well, so existing customers can get offers for products they own, etc. All in all at this stage it's already a lot to keep on top of.
5. Not everything is worth a course. So there are small topics that I could cover in a few lessons. But I hesitate to do it, because of the overhead.
There are two key learnings form this year as well:
1. I have a community for students, but only intended it for support. Turns out having this gives me much better insights into the struggles of students. And the appreciate every piece of advice I give.
2. I get uncountable "what should I learn?" emails. So far I answer these as part of presales. But this could be a good onboarding as part of a paid offering. It's personalized advice, but can be streamlined with a questionnaire, so that I don't spend too much time on it.
Solution
So I'm considering switching to a membership option next year. I'm not so sure about the precise offer, it would be courses, community, and some form of live calls.
That way I have one offer, and can point all marketing funnels towards this one offer.
I'd still need to rotate through topics on my marketing material:
1. For blog posts and videos, the algorithms will ensure people see the right content.
2. For nurture emails, I could segment the list based on interest, if needed.
3. For the onboarding sequence, I can do small optimizations based on the lead magnet. Highlighting offerings in line with that.
Questions
1. Does anybody have experience with either creating a membership from scratch, or doing the switch from one-off courses?
2. How to encourage people to buy beyond discounts? With this there would be no launches, or optional bonuses to create urgency.
3. For the membership sales page, I assume I need a video sales letter?
The business has been around for a bit more than 3 years. It's making money, but only around a 1/4 of what I'd need to make it a full time income.
And that is the goal.
What keeps my from scaling the course is marketing.
There is an established system, so I thought improving this and that part would help me get there. But I'm increasingly convinced that the offer is the problem.
And that I need to go from one-off courses to a subscription model.
Here's the background on my thinking.
Previous iterations
I got started in the education business by buying a course from a guru.
The advice was:
1. One high ticket offer.
2. One webinar funnel.
This did not work because of two reasons:
1. For high ticket price, customers expected high touch support. So running the business was like doing less profitable consulting work.
2. The Russel Brunson-style webinar structure wasn't appropriate for the audience, or the product.
Next I got a business coach in the space.
The advice was:
1. Start with one course, and get customers.
2. Rince and repeat, using cross-selling and upselling to existing customers as well as a bundling approach.
This is where I'm at.
Challenges
There are five key challenges that I face:
1. Unlike with other niches, these courses need constant updating (2-3 partial updates per year). Which makes it hard to find time for marketing.
2. Inspired by the $100M Offers book, I want to offer more done-for-you along with the education. Think code snippets, cheat sheets, starter projects,... These need less updating than the curriculum, but they still need maintenance.
3. With the topics that existing customers want to learn about, there will be overlap between the courses. This is because certain topics require foundational knowledge.
4. Every course needs a sales page, and email sales campaign associated. Customer tagging doesn't really work well, so existing customers can get offers for products they own, etc. All in all at this stage it's already a lot to keep on top of.
5. Not everything is worth a course. So there are small topics that I could cover in a few lessons. But I hesitate to do it, because of the overhead.
There are two key learnings form this year as well:
1. I have a community for students, but only intended it for support. Turns out having this gives me much better insights into the struggles of students. And the appreciate every piece of advice I give.
2. I get uncountable "what should I learn?" emails. So far I answer these as part of presales. But this could be a good onboarding as part of a paid offering. It's personalized advice, but can be streamlined with a questionnaire, so that I don't spend too much time on it.
Solution
So I'm considering switching to a membership option next year. I'm not so sure about the precise offer, it would be courses, community, and some form of live calls.
That way I have one offer, and can point all marketing funnels towards this one offer.
I'd still need to rotate through topics on my marketing material:
1. For blog posts and videos, the algorithms will ensure people see the right content.
2. For nurture emails, I could segment the list based on interest, if needed.
3. For the onboarding sequence, I can do small optimizations based on the lead magnet. Highlighting offerings in line with that.
Questions
1. Does anybody have experience with either creating a membership from scratch, or doing the switch from one-off courses?
2. How to encourage people to buy beyond discounts? With this there would be no launches, or optional bonuses to create urgency.
3. For the membership sales page, I assume I need a video sales letter?
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
