Meet Tom
“My online business is fully built on the Zero to Launch system to this day.” — Tom Miller
His first online business failed miserably
Before joining Zero to Launch, Tom toyed with the idea of starting an online business. He even cut his full-time engineering job down to part-time so he could spend more time blogging.
But with no system to follow, he quickly felt lost.
“I wasted a good amount of time looking for articles online about marketing strategies and tactics and reading what other people were doing.”
Without a roadmap, Tom’s business went nowhere. Hear him describe his struggle and how humiliating it was.
“I had all this stuff in my head that I knew would benefit other people”
Back in college, Tom had developed study techniques to help him get good grades while spending less time studying. Combining those skills with the knowledge he learned from my Earn1K course, he made good side money as a tutor.
But he could only help so many students one-on-one. He wanted to reach more people, but didn’t know how.
See how Zero to Launch gave Tom a roadmap to develop his idea and find an audience desperate for the knowledge he had.
“It was completely different than my first attempt”
Now that Tom had a system to follow, things changed completely.
Four months after launching his site, he had 500 subscribers. He then went deeper into the Zero to Launch framework and learned how to write posts that resonated strongly with his audience. These helped him build relationships with leaders in the industry and rapidly grow his email list.
“Growth is more of a steady grind than ‘Oh, I got featured in Lifehacker and got a million pageviews.’”
Automatic income
In April 2015, Tom created his first online product — a course that helped engineer students get better grades in less time. It brought in solid revenue to supplement his earnings as a tutor.
Soon non-engineering students started emailing Tom, begging him to create something for them.
Following the Zero to Launch principles, he created a new product called Study Hero that helps math and science students as well.
“Study Hero has been very successful. It helps students with study habits, time management, and exam prep. It’s helpful no matter where they are in college or graduate school.”
He then followed the Zero to Launch system to build a sales funnel that would sell the program for him, day and night, 24/7. Now he’s able to make earn money even while he’s sleeping.
How being goofy makes Tom sales
With Tom’s automatic sales machine set up, he started experimenting with fun new ways to get traffic. He saw a friend having success with YouTube videos and decided to try it himself.
“I’ve never expressed creativity in my work before. But now I record these videos where I’m goofy and answer questions, and it translates into making sales and getting hundreds of new subscribers.”
Why he loves working 60-70 hours a week
You’d think Tom would sit back, content with his “passive income.” But he’s grinding harder than he ever did as a full-time engineer. Why? Something shifted when he started working for himself.
“The reason people don’t enjoy working is they don’t feel connected to what they’re doing. When you work for a company, you could put in 80 hours and make them millions of dollars, but the impact that has on your paycheck is small.”
Now that Tom works for himself, the results are all his. And this has a huge impact on his motivation.
“Working for myself has unlocked more energy, focus, and motivation than I thought I had. I’ll sit down and crank away at one project for 10 hours straight. I’ve never experienced that before in my life. It’s pretty awesome.”
He now spends each day with his daughter
Even though he works a lot, Tom has freedom and complete control over his schedule. So after his baby was born, he got to spend every single day with her.
“Now that I have a baby girl, I can’t imagine going back to an office for 8 hours a day. Just the thought of being away from her makes me angry.”
If you’re serious about online business, Tom has some advice
Yes, you can try to figure things out for yourself, but Tom says Zero to Launch has taken years and years out of his business timeline by compiling proven strategies and tactics to create a comprehensive system that works.
