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Online business: From my first sale to a $12,000 product

In this post, you’ll learn how I went from a $4.95 e-book to launching a $12,000 flagship course.

This isn’t the same sort of tactical minutiae you’ll find on other “online business” sites. I don’t tell you that you NEED to get on Pinterest, or Twitter, or FB, or else you’ll DIE!!!!

Instead, I methodically show you some critical, strategic decisions I made that let me go from charging less than $5 to successfully selling a $12,000 course.

Notice how at the highest levels of success, you don’t have to make outlandish claims. You can simply show people — deliberately and methodically — why you made the decisions you made, and the right people will get it. As someone once said, “You hear screaming used-car salesmen…but you never hear anyone screaming in a Mercedes commercial.”

Question for you: If you wanted to learn how to create an online business, would you learn it from someone who’s sold 1 or 2 products, then just kept milking that cow for years…or would you want to learn from someone who’s sold over 15 different products ranging from $4.95 to $12,000?

In my upcoming course, Zero to Launch, I’ll show you the insights I learned at every price point — including how to choose an idea that pays, how much to charge, and how to package a $50 product vs. a $5,000 one.

For now, check this picture out. This is the first sale I ever made from an online product.


My first sale! I should print this out and hang it up on the wall. If only that wouldn’t ruin my NYC bachelor-pad decor.

WOW!

By the way, it’s not about the amount of money. The coolest part is that somebody who I didn’t know thought my knowledge was valuable enough to PAY for!

Can you imagine that feeling? The feeling of taking something you know and love — maybe it’s how to lose weight, or how to get to inbox zero, or even how to train your dog not to bark! — packaging it up, and seeing someone actually pay to learn what you know?

It didn’t matter that it was only $4.95. I knew that if someone would pay 5 bucks, I could figure out how to create even more valuable material and make more.

Do you know when I realized this could be BIG?

It was later that weekend, when I was out with friends. I kept seeing sales come in, even while I was away from the computer.

The numbers were still small — a few sales here and there — but I suddenly realized what people meant by “recurring revenue” and “multiple streams of income.”

Wait a second, mister. I can be out with friends…or eating dinner…or even traveling…and this little online business will continue generating revenue for me?

INTERESTING.

Now let’s fast forward. Take a look at the number of successful payments I had for just one of my products last month:

What do you notice?

Revenue continues to roll in for this product, day after day after day. (Notice how revenue keeps rolling in even on the weekends…when I’m not working at all.)

My business generates money while I’m doing all of these things:

Learning inflatable dolphin water polo, hanging with Elmo/Abby Cadabby, and eating Coney Island pizza at 10:30am. Oh, you thought I’d put a picture of me in front of a private jet?

This is pretty cool.

But in today’s video, I’ll also tell you what most other people won’t:

  • YES — there are very specific reasons you choose certain prices. (In the full course, I’ll tell you exactly how much to charge, based on testing)
  • NO — you cannot jump to launching a $2,000 course your first time, no matter what some scammy internet marketer tells you. You might sell 1 or 2 units, but I’ll show you a much more effective way. It takes a little longer, but you’ll actually help more people and end up making more than 10x the profits
  • YES — you can “shortcut” your way to a successful online business using the testing/insights I learned along the way

Check it out:

Here’s what to do next.

Join the Zero to Launch private list, so you can review my favorite case studies and other course material. You’ll also get priority access to Zero To Launch when I unlock the course again. Nothing to sell here — I just want you to know more than anyone else about starting an online business. Click here to join the Zero to Launch private list.

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P.S. Hey, let’s also do a fun little thing. I know it’s a little early to know what your online business idea is — and we’ll cover that next week, and in exhaustive detail in the course — but for now, post your 3 craziest, most fun ideas.

If you could teach ANYTHING through an online business, what would it be? Don’t worry about costs or competition or the profit side yet. Just leave a comment with the 1-3 ideas that make you sit up straight and say, “YES! I WOULD LOVE TO DO THAT!!”

UPDATE — New Zero to Launch course reviews!

Check this out, several Zero to Launch beta students have posted detailed reviews of the Zero to Launch course on their own blogs. You can hear all about their experiences — including pros and cons, and who the course is right for — in their own words. I’ll keep updating this list as more reviews come out:

I’ve collected more Zero to Launch reviews, direct from students, here. Check them out.

Want to learn more about Zero to Launch and get instant access to more case studies? Just join the Zero to Launch waitlist (takes 20 seconds).

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