The Year was 2020...

I remember when I first started this business I was just cranking out a bunch of Excel models, working hourly.

Even though I was "working for myself," I pretty much felt like an Associate again.

During the rough days it felt like I had 7 bosses instead of one, and I was constantly getting burned out not knowing which projects to take on.

I’d always be somewhere between three projects all at once, or no projects at all, and stuck in a "feast or famine" business model that was unsustainable and stressful.

(I thought Entrepreneurship was supposed to be fun?!)

So that’s when I decided to explore a passive income product, because I needed something to cover me during the slow times and also diversify my revenue so I didn't have to say "yes" to everything.

So I Tried Building a Course

The truth is when I created my first course (in 2020) I did a lot of things backwards:

• I pretty much did zero research on the competition
• I didn’t ask anyone else what they wanted (I thought I knew)
• I said "what am I good at?" and just kind of went for it
• I had no idea how to market it (at all)
• GREAT STRATEGY CHRIS

When I was done, I posted about it on some Reddit forums and was lucky enough to get a little traction in the early days.

But by and large the course remained a dormant asset "sitting on my shelf" until 2022 (I'll get to that later).

Let's back up though and focus on the right way to do things so I can spare you the same mistakes.

Research the Right Way

Now that I'm older wiser, here's the way I would do it all over again (and this is what I do now for all new courses).

You want to explore this project using social media as your testing ground like I’ve talked about in earlier emails in the series.

Try to post for 30-60 days about content you know really well unrehearsed.

Then check the data -- what kind of feedback are you getting from your audience? Which posts are resonating?

Lastly, you want to think about how you can build a product around that message.

Specifically, think about how you can get somebody from Point A to Point B and as fast as humanly possible.

I can't overstate the importance of exploring your course idea on social media first. Because this helps you determine if there's inherent demand for your idea.

Don't build something you think people want, build something they actually want.

Aren't I too Senior for this Social Media Crap?

"I thought social media was just for entitled Millennials and Gen Z?"

So I hear you, and this is why my preferred network is LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is designed around being professional.

You don't have to post pictures of your dinner, your cat, or make ridiculous dance videos.

Seasoned, professional content is highly sought after on LinkedIn, and many junior professionals find it extremely helpful.

This may surprise you, but I've interacted with countless Business Owners, CFOs, and Law Partners that are actively creating content on LinkedIn.

So I encourage you to have an open mind.

Do you have to post? Nope. Totally up to you.

But don't let your pre-conceived bias prevent you from exploring an opportunity.

What If I Have a Corporate Job?

So, it's completely understandable that having a "corporate job" makes something like this more difficult.

Back in my PE and Consulting days I had no time to do something like this even during the "off hours."

And further, it's hard to say whether or not your employer would even be comfortable with you building your own brand when your full-time focus is supposed to be with them.

So a few thoughts here:

• I am friends with a few people who are simultaneously working full-time and also promoting themselves separately, but they have their employer's permission. So you might just have to feel this one out.
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• A lot of people will try to build something during their off hours, so early morning or late at night (the "side hustle"). At the end of the day it comes down to how much you want it. Again, this is why you test the idea first. Imagine dumping a bunch of hours into a product that no one wants (while also managing a job!).

So, I wish I had more sage advice here, but I feel like this is the kind of thing you have to just feel out on a case-by-case basis.

How To Actually Get Started

Okay, so let's say you've got an idea, social media seems to like it, and there's no pushback from your employer.

How the hell do you actually start??

This is where everyone gets stuck.

At its core, you only need 3 things:

1. A microphone (as you'll likely be talking)
2. A screen recorder (if you're making tutorial videos)
3. A website to host your course

Equipment:

With equipment everyone tends to go nuts and you don't need that at all.

I created my first course using a $50 screen recorder and an old Xbox headset that was lying around. That course has now done over six figures in revenue.

When I upgraded (slightly), I got this cheap microphone from Amazon and built three other courses with it.

For screen recording, I really like Loom because they offer a free plan that lets you record videos so long as they are less than 5 minutes long. Super easy to use and you can be recording in just a few minutes.

What you don't need: green screens, fancy lighting, or those obnoxiously large microphones I see in all the YouTube videos.

Your equipment budget can be $30 and you can call it a day.

Hosting:

As far as hosting goes, you probably know from the series that I prefer Thinkific, but there are several platforms out there.

Another popular one is Teachable, and yet another is Udemy, but I believe Udemy doesn't give you control over your data like Thinkific or Teachable does (so check that first).

Mostly importantly, nearly all of them will allow you to (1) upload course content and (2) create a "landing page" (the website you'll tell people to visit).

Course Pro Tips:

Remember Point A to Point B? Here's a few tactical things I'd recommend:

• A course that's no more than two hours in length
• Keep your videos short (5 mins max if you can)
• Build a MVP or "Minimum Viable Product" and launch. If you try to make it perfect you will never finish. Get something out there and tweak it later.

Keep this in mind: You don't have to be the preeminent expert. You just need to know more than someone a few years behind you. A 6th grader can teach a 4th grader fractions without a PhD in Mathematics.

Getting the Word Out

So like I mentioned earlier, this was my huge blind spot back in the day when I made my first course.

At the end of the day, marketing is the hard part, not the course itself. And effectively this is why my course sat on the shelf for almost 2 years.

Okay so you probably know where I'm going with this...

If you’ve started posting on social media, even a little bit, you can probably appreciate the scalability that exists there.

And since you’ve already done some preliminary testing with your audience, you know that your new course will resonate.

So all you have to do is start weaving that course offering into your social media content after you’ve begun to build up a small following.

Which by the way, you will need at least a little bit of a following for people to take you seriously.

And just to give an initial range I would target 1,000 - 3,000 followers (at least on LinkedIn) before you promote anything too heavily.

It doesn’t mean you’re not an expert, you're just navigating the human perception that comes with seeing a small number of followers versus a large number. I don't like it either, it's just life.

So, once you've reached a "critical mass" in terms of audience, keep weaving your course content into your regular posting schedule, and that will start driving traffic towards the website.

Before you know it you'll have a couple passive income sales, and there’s honestly nothing quite like making your first dollar from a passive product.

It’s highly motivating and you will want to double down on your content creation.

Getting Away from "Hour In, Dollar Out"

As you keep going and slowly build up the passive sales you can start to backfill some of the gaps in your hourly consulting work and de-stress the client work.

(or provide a hedge against your W-2 income)

And then all the sudden your time becomes scalable.

Effectively you’re using the active income from your clients (or job) to finance your longer-term passive income project.

By the way, this doesn’t have to make you millions of dollars.

You can attract just enough visitors to your website on a daily or monthly basis at some kind of conversion rate, and slowly start to backfill your income.

This is the math you want to start thinking about in your head:

• Goal: $20,000
• Price: $100
• Sales needed: ($20,000 / $100) = 200
• Website conversion rate: 1.5% (the percent of people who buy something when they visit your website)
• Website traffic: (200 / 0.15) = 13,333 website visitors per year, or 1,111 visitors per month

I know it feels like a big number, but it's doable. Here's the data from my first year:

Just from posting on social media (no paid ads or SEO) I was able to generate nearly 24,000 website visits in the first year.

And you can see as your "brand recognition" grows, the traffic gets easier to obtain for the same amount of work (aka scalable time).

First, maybe you're just covering one meal at Chick-fil-A, then maybe it's a car payment, then several car payments, and before you know it, you just might be covering your mortgage (or even replacing your full-time income!) through passive income sales.

This is the power and scalability of building something on the Internet.

Getting People to Your Website

Okay so "yeah yeah yeah post on social media," I get it.

But how do you get people off social media and onto your website?

You have to include CTAs or "Calls to Action" as they say in the Marketing world.

In other words, literally just tell people to visit your website and give them a way to do so (like a link).

Just take a look at some of my posts. You’ll see on most days I "soft sell" my products and put a link in the comments, and some days I just straight up "hard sell" where my entire post is dedicated to generating website traffic.

Example of a "soft sell":

This "soft sell" appears at the very bottom of a post after I've put out longer content related to the topic as a whole.

Example of a "hard sell":

I know you can't see the whole post in this image, but the entirety of the content is telling people to go to the website and buy something.

Does it feel a little bit "salesy" or icky at times? Yeah for sure. It does.

It’s not my favorite in the world if I’m being honest, but you know what? It drives traffic to the website and it converts.

(and fun fact, the hard sells drive more traffic than the soft sells)

So I think you just have to promote in a tasteful way where you are giving value 90% of the time and then asking for something 10% of the time.

LinkedIn Pro Tip: LinkedIn hates to be "Linked Out," so its algorithm kills posts that have a link directly inside them. That's why you often see people (myself included) referencing links in the comments. Alternatively, sometimes a direct link in the post can actually generate more clicks despite fewer impressions (views) because it's less work for people to do. So, you just have to experiment.

Action Items

It's funny, I write these emails wanting to make them short, but then there's always something else I want to add to cover the topic completely.

Well anyway, thanks for reading this far.

The Action Items:

Post post post post post. You can use Shield to keep track of the data automatically if you want, or just punch it manually into a spreadsheet. Totally up to you.

Follow the data, see what resonates, and see if you can build a quick-to-the-point product that solves your audience's problem.

Once you've got the idea, give yourself 4 weeks to go from start to launch. Set a deadline and get it done.

There is a $100,000+ idea sitting in your head. You just have to act on it.

That's it for today. See you next time.

—Chris

How I Can Help Further...

If and when the time is right, I offer Advanced Financial Modeling Courses for FP&A and Private Equity Professionals. Check them out if you're interested.