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I've made $34,200 in a week after giving, giving, giving for 4 years (13 lessons learned)

I've made $34,200 two weeks ago with the launch of my 8-week program Stand The F*ck Out.

This is the highest amount I've ever made online by a long, long margin.

13 lessons:

  • This is NOT an overnight success. I gave, gave, gave for FOUR YEARS without expecting anything in return before launching my first product publicly. Everyone Hates Marketers, my podcast, just reached 200 episodes and 1M+ downloads.
  • Email address ≠ Buying intent. Only 7% of the people on the waiting list applied (24 applied/325). The one caveat: most folks who signed up to the waiting did so without knowing the price or the exact dates. I'm hoping that numbers will be higher for the next cohort (in September).
  • My landing page + application did a good to qualify the right people. All but 1 application were accepted.
  • The pre-launch emails to the waiting list worked well to "raise the heat." 50% of applications came within the first 24 hours (and the rest during the 4 days after).
  • Most students paid in full ($1,900). 5 chose the 3-month installment plan (which is $200 more expensive).
  • It's ok to send multiple emails in a week for a launch. I've sent 4 to my entire email list and the unsub rate has been lower than usual (less than 0,4%).
  • Launching is both a short-term and long-term game. It helps to generate $ right now and but it also builds awareness for the next cohort. Many people reached out to let me know they'll join the next one.
  • I ran pre-roll segments on my podcast but I don't really know their impact. It's difficult to know where leads come from. I've set up a survey this time around.
  • I received very few questions/concerns throughout. My 4,500-word landing page full of very in-depth testimonials seemed to have answered most objections.
  • Trust is THE most powerful thing to build over time. Some of the students who got accepted and paid straight away never got in touch with me before.
  • You don't need a LARGE email list to sell online (I have 2,600 emails). You "just" need a clean list of people who actually read your stuff. Yes, that's the hard part.
  • Launching is such an emotional process that un-earthes all your insecurities. It's been (very) challenging NOT to check my launch numbers every minute of every day. And my anxiety flared up, big time.
  • You need a support network. I know I needed one... Thank you all for your support, you've been immense.

And AMA, I guess, I'm an open book!

  1. 3

    Ey! Louis Grenier back on IH. Love to see it. Congrats. Enjoyed this.

    PS: Any marketers in the comments. Check out the podcast. It's great.

  2. 2

    Congrats! I have some questions:

    1. Did you run the course on beta for a small list of folks first? How did you solicit beta users?
    2. What made you wait this long to launch a product? Were you waiting to reach a certain subscriber size, or perhaps experimenting with different types of products?

    Thanks for sharing :)

    Luthfur

    1. 2
      1. Yes, I ran an early version of the program to 14 folks who paid $500 each. I had taken 4 weeks off prior to this to develop the curriculum and structure, when I was still working full-time for Hotjar.
      2. I was working full-time at Hotjar, and wanted to take as much time as possible to build credibility and to decide on what I would specialize in. My podcast covers marketing in a no-bullshit way, but I didn't want to just become a marketing consultant. When I had clarity about the fact that I would specialize in radical differentiation and a big enough network, I knew it was time.
      1. 1

        Thanks, I am looking forward to checking out your podcast. Looks great!

  3. 1

    Hi Louis! Very inspiring, thanks!

    What is your tech stack, just curious?

    1. 1

      You're welcome.

      • Webflow for my site and landing pages
      • Castos for my podcast hosting
      • ConvertKit for my emails
      • Circle.so for the private community inside the program
      • Zoom for the weekly calls
      • Google Slides + Loom to record the courses
      • Podia to host the course and get paid
      • Stripe to process payments
  4. 1

    Thanks for sharing!

  5. 1

    Wow. You must be pinching yourself. Congratulations! 👍

    1. 3

      It was part of the plan for a long time, after an early-access run of the program a few months ago. But yeah it feels great when objectives are met :)

  6. 1

    Thanks for sharing your story. Very helpful. I need to work on testimonials on my landing page. Good luck wit your next steps 😃

    1. 2

      You're welcome. The key to good testimonials is to cover both the objections they had before buying from you and then what they liked about you. Too many testimonials focus ONLY on the good which makes them seem too good to be true. I like to interview customers, transcribe the conversations, and focus on objections head on.

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