Dan Go, is a high performance coach for entrepreneurs and the CEO of High Performance Founder. After the early death of his mother, Go left a cushy corporate job to become a personal trainer and eventually brought his message of taking health seriously to entrepreneurs. Go’s theory is that taking care of your health is a way to transform your life — and your business.
And although Dan enjoys live coaching, like many entrepreneurs he needed a solution for scaling his time, revenue and impact.
In response he created his online course, The Lean Body 90. And although he initially saw some success, sales began to dwindle over time. Unfortunately this is common for many course creators and this is why Dan chose to partner with my agency, HeyCreator, to create a sustainable process for monetizing his courses.
I’ll share the playbook below and provide tips on how you can do the same.
Nurture: The High Performance Journal
Dan produces a weekly newsletter that teaches subscribers how to build your body and increase performance, and it takes just four minutes to read.
He builds his list by posting on social media, doing live events, and participating in ConverKit’s Creator network; a platform that enables you to grow your email list by partnering with other creators.
But, building your email list is just the beginning. It’s also important to consistently nurture your audience with valuable content that helps them make progress towards a specific goal.
Far too many course creators have unsuccessful launches because they focus way too much on selling to their audience as opposed to providing engaging content in exchange for their attention.
Dan spends about several hours per week writing his newsletter which has been endorsed by other creator-entrepreneurs including Mark Manson, Dan Koe, Gia Macool, and Ali Abdaal.
How you can apply this to your course:
Practice strategic patience. Hold off on launching your course until you’ve built and nurtured your email list. Sure, you may have a bunch of social media followers, but email has consistently proven to be one of the most effective ways to sell courses to your audience. And if you want to reduce the risk, consider offering a pre-sale, and only build the course once you’ve generated enough revenue from early supporters. If you don’t meet your threshold, you can refund their money and try again from a different angle.
Related: 7 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Must Workout
Educate: The Lean Body 90 Course
Dan’s course is designed to help high performers build muscle, increase energy, and burn fat without extensive time commitments.
Instead of overwhelming his audience with too much information, which can easily be interpreted as fluff content, Dan focuses on impact and shares a streamlined approach to getting fit.
Key features include:
- 3×30 Workout System: Short, effective 30-minute workouts three times a week.
- Easy Eating Nutrition Plan: Simplifies healthy eating and fat loss.
- High Performance Sleep System: Improves sleep quality to boost energy and focus.
- Comprehensive Video Library: Demonstrates over 20 movements.
- Bonus Materials: Includes recommended supplements, travel workouts, and meal recipes.
Another best practice, you can complete the course in about a few hours, making it much easier to apply what you’ve learned.
How you can apply this to your course:
Take a “less, but better” approach. Too often course creators assume they have to cram as much information as possible into their online course in order to make it a “good deal” for their audience. However, the completion rates for online courses is around 10-15%. And since people recommend courses they got great outcomes from, not courses they got a good deal on, this low completion rate makes it harder to grow through referrals and testimonials. Instead, keep it simple and focus on impact. In most cases, it’s beneficial to design your course so that it can be completed over the weekend.
Related: 3 Ways Founders Can Connect With Their Customers to Drive Sales
Monetize: The Course Launch Strategy
Dan partners with my agency, HeyCreator, to produce and optimize promotional webinars where he highlights the benefits of his program and encourages attendees to join in.
To avoid coming off as too salesy, these promotions typically only run to new subscribers to new subscribers that signed up within the last three months (usually 10-15K are eligible).
And, here’s the exact playbook for you to leverage.
Before:
You can’t run a success webinar if you don’t have enough attendees. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs mistakenly believe sending one email announcing your event is enough. To increase registrations, we typically send three or four invites to his audience. And, these invitations don’t just ask subscribers to attend, we highlight what they can expect and the outcomes Dan has already delivered to thousands of students. We then create a conversion optimized landing page to turn visitors into registered attendees.
During:
The live webinar is largely focused on educating his audience, with the last 10 minutes set aside for promoting his course. This focus on education increases audience retention and allows Dan to highlight the transformation they can achieve by following his guidance.
My agency handles all aspects of producing the webinar so Dan can focus on delivering an amazing experience. He also saves plenty of time to answer questions, which increases clarity and trust.
After:
Once the webinar has concluded, attendees will receive a series of emails over the next five days which further highlight the benefits of Dan’s program and encourage them to join. On the sales page we include a short video of Dan explaining the program and include testimonials from previous students who share their transformation.
To increase conversions, Dan also includes a 24 hour fast action bonus. Attendees who make a purchase within that time period will also be eligible to join a free group coaching call.
How you can apply this to your course:
Realize hope is not a strategy. Sure, you worked hard on your course and nurtured your audience. It’s tempting to assume they’ll just “get it” and make a purchase. They won’t, not without more effort on your end. But the key is to highlight the outcomes they can experience and share stories they can relate to. It’s also easy to feel uncomfortable asking your email subscribers to make a purchase, especially when you’ve already asked them more than once. You may be concerned that they’ll get turned off or unsubscribe. Fortunately, you can set up automations that allow your audience to opt out of further promotions without unsubscribing to your entire list.
The Results: Significant earnings from digital course sales
Dan isn’t one to brag, but his promotions perform extremely well and he runs four of them per year. He also upsells into another product after purchase, further increasing the revenue generated.
A portion of this revenue is reinvested back into his business to pay for assets and resources needed to keep his course business running on autopilot.
Are these results typical? No. Dan is an example of extraordinary success and he’s worked hard to achieve those results.
But fortunately, success leaves clues and you can follow his blueprint to generating revenue from your courses as well.