Business Growth Archives - Page 9 of 13

One of my biggest mistakes as an entrepreneur

February 11, 2022 by Jason Van Orden

2016 was a rough year for me, even more so than 2020, and dealing with the pandemic. It was the beginning of a couple of years of deep physical and emotional anxiety.

As my inner turmoil increased, my connection to the world diminished.

Go to that networking event? No way, too exhausted. Meet that friend for check-in and chat? I’d just feel inadequate. Put me out there on social media? No. Thank. You.

Unfortunately, this is common when someone deals with mental health challenges: they isolate themselves. Perhaps it’s due to shame. Perhaps it’s because of a lack of energy. Maybe it’s both and more.

As time went on, I isolated myself both personally and professionally more and more. Work opportunities started to dwindle (increasing my anxiety and continuing the cycle). Engagements and invitations stopped coming in. Fresh ideas and inspiration withered.

Bit by bit, my inner chatter told me I was getting less relevant than ever, which fed my sense of fatigue and self-doubt.

Know your revenue capacity to reach your income goal faster

March 11, 2022January 24, 2022 by Jason Van Orden

Knowing your revenue capacity reveals what’s needed to reach your income goal (or if it’s even possible to reach with your current business model).

“How much money do you want to make in 2022?”

I recently opened a client coaching session with this question.

She gave me an ambitious but doable revenue goal.

“Great! What ideas do you have so far for reaching that goal?” I asked in response.

She came back with the usual answers.

“Grow my email list.”

“Fill my classes with more people.”

“Maybe raise some of my prices.”

I nodded my head, then asked.

“Do you know your revenue capacity?”

She looked confused.

I looked back at her reassuringly. “Don’t worry; most people don’t know their revenue capacity. That’s why they’ll struggle to meet their income goals. But we’re not going to make that mistake. “

I continued.

“Let’s do a little thought experiment. If you woke up with twice as many people asking to work with you tomorrow, could you serve them all? What about 3x or 5x?”*

She replied, “I’d have to turn a lot of them away.”

This is the same answer many coaches and consultants give in response to this question.

Filling your courses without being sales-y

November 19, 2021 by Jason Van Orden

Today, I want to share some tips for promoting your online course in a way that inspires people to buy without resorting to annoying sales tactics.

First, I’d like to share a quote from my client, Alexandra, that illustrates what happens when you craft a campaign that truly resonates with your intended audience.

“In the beginning, it felt daunting to write so many emails. I worried I was going to overwhelm people or they would get sick of me. But with your guidance, it felt effortless.

The response to my marketing campaigns has been amazing. I fill my courses easier than ever before, and people actually reply to thank me for the emails. They even respond to share very personal things, which moves me so much. You showed me how to make my marketing campaigns feel like a gift.

These campaigns generate $10,000 and up while also building a relationship with my audience that feels very meaningful. It’s brought me more one-on-one clients and professional opportunities. Thanks to your approach, I now enjoy promoting my online courses.”

Filling your courses requires a proper marketing campaign. But that doesn’t mean you have to do a pushy, complicated product launch.

10 Ways an Online Course Transforms Your Business

November 12, 2021 by Jason Van Orden

“Launching an online course has increased my income and transformed my business in ways I’d never imagined.” I’ve been sharing a peek into the transformational experience of my client Alexandra when she started creating online courses during the pandemic. You can read the first two parts of the case study at the links below. Pt … Read more

How to Launch a New Online Course in 3 Weeks

November 8, 2021 by Jason Van Orden

In this post, I’ll continue the case study about my client, Alexandra, to show you how we launched a new online course in just three weeks without tech headaches, time-consuming production, a fancy sales funnel, or a course website.

When we last left Alexandra’s story, she’d lost half of her income due to COVID, so we decided she’d launch a course for stage performers.

That’s when I stunned her, saying we’d launch the course in three weeks.

Alexandra looked at me in disbelief. “But how am I going to record all of the videos in that time? Don’t I need to set up some kind of course website? I keep hearing I need a sales funnel, too.”

I reassured her, “You’re not going to do any of that. We’ll use my Lean Launch Method to sell your course quickly and easily with as little cost and risk as possible.”

“How do I do that?” she asked.

“You don’t need to create any videos because you’ll teach the course as a live pilot via Zoom the first time. You have six modules. That’s six weekly calls.”

Her look of disbelief softened a little.