validate & build product + Promo
$3,000 → $5,000
We absolutely HAVE to start this lesson off with a big disclaimer:
The reason we give you this disclaimer is NOT to discourage you, it’s just to be HONEST with you.
The reality of online business is that it’s much harder, more stressful, and takes a ton more trial and error than you’re led to believe. We know you CAN do it, we just like to be 100% real about what it takes so that when you hit obstacles, you don't think there's something inherently wrong with you.
β‘οΈ Tip #1: Create and validate your product idea.
Now that your client business is humming along, you’re probably at max capacity and can’t grow your revenue much further because you don’t have any extra time in your day/weeks to take on any more clients. This is why building a digital product is sooooooo helpful, because it’s a scalable asset that can generate revenue well beyond what you could ever make with clients and the limitations of your time.
In our experience, we’ve found some of our most successful digital product ideas have been born out of our existing client service offerings.
For example, π©π»π¦° Caroline’s brand design business could only take on so many branding clients. As she got more and more requests, she realized she might be able to teach all her branding processes in an online course that anyone could take at their own leisure. Thus, Better Branding Course was born, a digital product that eventually replaced Caroline’s brand design business completely!
How do you find a digital product idea?
How do you validate that idea?
How do you make sure it fits within your current biz?
π±We have an entire coaching session for this, you awesome WAIMer!
Identifying Your Offerπ‘will help you come up with a digital product idea that can be the foundation of your business revenue.
β‘οΈTip #2: Once you have a validated digital product idea it’s time to build it and make it available for purchase!
You came up with a digital product idea, happy dance for you ππ. Now, let’s build that sucker and give strangers on the Internet a way to purchase it from you. Whether you’re creating an e-book, online course, or paid membership community, these next tips should apply.
Building a digital product, boiled down into 10 not-easy-but-totally-doable steps:
Annnnnnnnnd BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! π₯ You have a digital product in your business-arsenal! It’s a thing people can purchase from you that doesn't require additional time investment the way your client service offers do. Hurrrrray! π
β‘οΈ Tip #3: Create a monthly promotion schedule for your digital product.
And here’s where the train goes off the rails for most folks who are trying to make the client-to-product leap. They 1) find their product idea, 2) make their product, and 3) sell it (ONLY) one time. And then… π¦π¦π¦.
Life gets busy, clients pick back up, maybe the first launch doesn’t quite go very well (we’ve all been there!)
That’s where this tip comes into play and should absolutely help you generate ongoing consistent digital product revenue!
Your (new) digital product NEEDS a monthly promotion schedule. To create that consistent, gradual π¦ revenue bump you’re looking for, it takes ongoing effort - especially early on.
Here are some ideas to try:
π» Monthly free live workshops (aka webinars) - Hosting a free monthly workshop is a fantastic way to generate attention and potential buyers of your digital product. The idea is to solve a problem with the workshop topic, that people can attend for free, and then at the end of the workshop sell the digital product (which further solves the problem of the workshop).
π₯ In-depth tutorials videos on YouTube - Creating in-depth tutorial videos is akin to writing those foundation articles we talked about last month! You want to identify topics your ideal customer is searching for and create helpful videos that educate them on that topic. Then, in every video, make sure there’s a call to action to get more helpful info via the digital product.
If you want more marketing ideas, we have an in-depth article with 13 marketing blueprints you can steal and implement for your biz.
No matter which content/marketing idea you use, the key is to do it consistently to build trust and authority around your digital product topic.
**
And just a friendly reminder: We started with client businesses, gradually transitioned into digital products, and now a few years later we only have digital product businesses that afford us the freedom we always dreamed of (both in time and in enough revenue).
It is absolutely possible for you as well it just may take longer than you’re being told by the “experts” out there.
The stage of your business where you transition from clients (trading time for money) to digital products (more scalable offers) is a lot harder than most people would want you to believe.*
*Maybe those people are trying to sell you a product that makes it look “easy?” Remember that the next time you get sucked into a “how to grow your digital product biz to $X,000s in just 4 weeks” rabbit hole π.The reason we give you this disclaimer is NOT to discourage you, it’s just to be HONEST with you.
The reality of online business is that it’s much harder, more stressful, and takes a ton more trial and error than you’re led to believe. We know you CAN do it, we just like to be 100% real about what it takes so that when you hit obstacles, you don't think there's something inherently wrong with you.
Now that your client business is humming along, you’re probably at max capacity and can’t grow your revenue much further because you don’t have any extra time in your day/weeks to take on any more clients. This is why building a digital product is sooooooo helpful, because it’s a scalable asset that can generate revenue well beyond what you could ever make with clients and the limitations of your time.
In our experience, we’ve found some of our most successful digital product ideas have been born out of our existing client service offerings.
For example, π©π»π¦° Caroline’s brand design business could only take on so many branding clients. As she got more and more requests, she realized she might be able to teach all her branding processes in an online course that anyone could take at their own leisure. Thus, Better Branding Course was born, a digital product that eventually replaced Caroline’s brand design business completely!
How do you find a digital product idea?
How do you validate that idea?
How do you make sure it fits within your current biz?
π±We have an entire coaching session for this, you awesome WAIMer!
Identifying Your Offerπ‘will help you come up with a digital product idea that can be the foundation of your business revenue.
You came up with a digital product idea, happy dance for you ππ. Now, let’s build that sucker and give strangers on the Internet a way to purchase it from you. Whether you’re creating an e-book, online course, or paid membership community, these next tips should apply.
Building a digital product, boiled down into 10 not-easy-but-totally-doable steps:
- Write a down and dirty outline of what will be included in your product (start ugly!)
- Refine your outline into a cohesive structure (chapters, lessons, videos, etc)
- Build a creation schedule for each part of your product (put this creation time on your calendar and then DOUBLE the amount of time you think you’ll need!)
- Be okay with an imperfect first version of your product - NO ONE builds a great, first digital product
- Send your digital product to a few industry-friends who can give you feedback or thoughts (try to avoid sending to friends and family who don’t have experience in what you’re trying to do)
- Find beta testers from your social channels or email list to go through your digital product (this can be a huuuuge discounted price or free - your goal is more feedback and to ensure it delivers value)
- Take all feedback and give yourself X amount of hours to implement the feedback (but stop when you hit the constrained timeline)
- Build a sales page for your digital product on your website! If your website doesn’t have a built-in e-commerce option to sell things, consider using Gumroad.com or similar to create a buy button.
- Write 3-5 sales emails and create a handful of social media posts to promote your new digital product
- Do a small “launch” of your product to your email and social audience (feel free to do a discount code for the first week of your product launch)
Annnnnnnnnd BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! π₯ You have a digital product in your business-arsenal! It’s a thing people can purchase from you that doesn't require additional time investment the way your client service offers do. Hurrrrray! π
Bringing back our ongoing example company, Oodles of Poodles π©π¨, a Squarespace design company for yoga instructors, the digital product they’ve decided on is: Squarespace website creation course for non-designers. This course will be targeted at folks who don’t have thousands of dollars to pay for their site to be done for themselves but they also don’t want to create a Squarespace site entirely on their own.
And here’s where the train goes off the rails for most folks who are trying to make the client-to-product leap. They 1) find their product idea, 2) make their product, and 3) sell it (ONLY) one time. And then… π¦π¦π¦.
Life gets busy, clients pick back up, maybe the first launch doesn’t quite go very well (we’ve all been there!)
That’s where this tip comes into play and should absolutely help you generate ongoing consistent digital product revenue!
Your (new) digital product NEEDS a monthly promotion schedule. To create that consistent, gradual π¦ revenue bump you’re looking for, it takes ongoing effort - especially early on.
Here are some ideas to try:
π» Monthly free live workshops (aka webinars) - Hosting a free monthly workshop is a fantastic way to generate attention and potential buyers of your digital product. The idea is to solve a problem with the workshop topic, that people can attend for free, and then at the end of the workshop sell the digital product (which further solves the problem of the workshop).
- Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ is going to create 12 workshops based on 12 Squarespace website creation tips! This is the perfect lead-in to their course: Squarespace website creation course for non-designers.
- π Don't forget, as a WAIMer you have access to an entire coaching session about creating live workshops: Using Live Workshops Effectively πΉπ΄
π₯ In-depth tutorials videos on YouTube - Creating in-depth tutorial videos is akin to writing those foundation articles we talked about last month! You want to identify topics your ideal customer is searching for and create helpful videos that educate them on that topic. Then, in every video, make sure there’s a call to action to get more helpful info via the digital product.
- Oodles of Poodles π©π¨ could take a similar approach as used in the workshop example above and publish video tutorials on each Squarespace feature they want to highlight!
If you want more marketing ideas, we have an in-depth article with 13 marketing blueprints you can steal and implement for your biz.
No matter which content/marketing idea you use, the key is to do it consistently to build trust and authority around your digital product topic.
**
And just a friendly reminder: We started with client businesses, gradually transitioned into digital products, and now a few years later we only have digital product businesses that afford us the freedom we always dreamed of (both in time and in enough revenue).
It is absolutely possible for you as well it just may take longer than you’re being told by the “experts” out there.