How to Earn Financial Freedom through Digital Courses

Amy Porterfield

Entrepreneur, New York Times Bestseller, and Host of The Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast

Amy Porterfield is an online marketing expert and the host of the top-ranked podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy. Through her bestselling courses, book and popular podcast, Amy’s action-by-action approach proves that even the newest online entrepreneurs can bypass the overwhelm, and instead generate exciting momentum as they build a business they love.

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SHOW NOTES

Amy Porterfield really wanted freedom, flexibility, and autonomy in her career.

She entered the digital course industry, which allowed her to work from home while still making money. Starting small, her first course made just $267, but she pulled in over $100 million in revenue through tweaks and relaunches.

How did she do it? How can you leverage digital courses to balance work and family life and generate income while being present for your family?

Let’s find out!

(00:03:14) Flexible Online Courses: Redefining Women’s Empowerment
(00:04:13) “Freedom is whatever it is that you want in terms of how to design your life. That is your freedom.”
(00:07:56) Power of Inspiring Examples for Motivation
(00:15:52) “Less is more here. Get someone from point a to point b as fast as humanly possible. Take all the fluff out.”
(00:22:41) You just need the 10% edge
(00:26:53) “They started and you didn’t. That’s the only difference, my friend. So just get started.”

—

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Amplify with Jess is produced by Earfluence, and brought to you by Mic Drop Workshop.

TRANSCRIPT

Amy – 00:00:04:

I really, really wanted freedom. So I got very clear on what I wanted. And I told myself, I’m willing to do what it takes to get what I want. So that means crash and burn, maybe try to figure it out as I go. It’s not always going to come together. But again, I want to say that I was willing to do what it takes to get what I want because I was very clear on what I wanted. So that kind of pulled me forward.

Jess – 00:00:33:

Welcome to Amplify with Jess Ekstrom, a show designed to help women get out of their head and into their zone of influence. Okay, today’s guest, I’m not going to lie, is kind of a pinch me moment. I remember when I first got the idea for Mic Drop Workshop to start my online course, I binged Amy Porterfield’s podcast. I followed her everywhere. I would implement anything she said into building my course. And guess what? It paid off. Mic Drop Workshop has helped thousands of women become paid keynote speakers. And it’s also been a way that I can make money and make a living and make a difference at the same time without having to physically be present. With that said, here’s my conversation with Amy. You know, when I started Mic Drop Workshop in 2018, I didn’t realize that it was something that would afford me the flexibility that it did today. And it started by my husband and I got this. I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but my husband and I got this idea to travel in an Airstream trailer. Have I told you this? So my parents had a company that they sold and moved into an RV, which they lived in for 13 years, it became Park Rangers. My sister and her husband lived in a van for three years. They’re like outdoor educational, like wilderness people. And so my husband and I were like, this is a rite of passage. We have to live in an RV, you know, and see how it goes. But that was like the first time that I realized I could still, if Mic Drop Workshop was running, that didn’t mean that I had to be in one place at one time. And that was when Jake started working for me when we were on the road because he couldn’t, there wasn’t a job at that time, that was like, conducive to that. And multiple people came up to me on this trip. And I know this is going to like light a fire under you like it did me. And they said, oh, what does your husband do that allows you to travel?

Amy – 00:02:33:

Stop. That kills me. One day that is going to change. And we’re going to be a part of that change. But yeah, it happens a lot.

Jess – 00:02:42:

Yeah. Do you still get that with everything that you’ve amounted to?

Amy – 00:02:45:

You know, I don’t get it anymore, but probably because I like lead with, oh yeah, I have a business. My husband’s retired. I wonder if I kind of didn’t lead with that in those social settings, if they think that my husband is the breadwinner. I think it’s a normal thing. I grew up with my dad being the breadwinner and my mom staying home. That was a very traditional, very normal situation. So we are definitely busting through those stereotypes and those norms.

Jess – 00:03:14:

Well, and I think too, and one of the reasons why my drop workshop focuses on women is to be able to have a role at home, because right now I’m a mom of two under two. I think the last time we spoke, I was pregnant, which I want to talk about as well. And to be able to have a career or some sort of income and be able to be at home, is that, you know, I feel like having an online course allows women to have that overlap. Is that what you’ve seen so far?

Amy – 00:03:49:

Absolutely. I have so many moms in my community, moms and dads, but the moms are really vocal about what a digital course affords them in terms of freedom and also allows them, if they have a business and then they start a family, allows them to keep making revenue when they take a step back and are with their family. And I think that is the ultimate freedom. Freedom to me is whatever it is that you want in terms of how to design your life, that is your freedom. So a lot of moms, that’s what they say their freedom is.

Jess – 00:04:23:

And I love how you said, whatever it is that you want. I think we originally bonded over Harrison Butker’s graduation speech.

Amy – 00:04:33:

Yes, we did.

Jess – 00:04:33:

And I love that it, sparked a conversation because I agree with you where I don’t think that women’s rights and women’s empowerment means that women have to work. It means that they should be able to choose what they do and when they do it and not be forced to do anything. And I think having an online course like Mic Drop Workshop has allowed me to do that. I told you the last time we spoke that I’m going on maternity leave. And I’m going to get like emotional talking about this, but I’m like, I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have this course that allows me to take the time to spend with my family and be home and also know that things are still running. And it breaks my heart that a lot of women have to choose or have to figure out childcare right off the bat because they have to physically be at their place of work. I mean, this partnership came at such divine timing because I was so grateful for having my online course that it has allowed me to do this and hopefully teaching other people to do the same.

Amy – 00:05:52:

Absolutely. I think that’s what I love about it. And the fact that you get to pour your expertise, your skill set, your knowledge into something, and you get to call the shots. For me, so I’ve never had a baby of my own when my son, I call him my son. He’s my stepson was four. He came into my life. So I’ve gotten to experience being a stepmom and it’s a wonderful experience. Hasn’t always been. It was a little tough in the beginning figuring out my place. But over the years, I’ve really stepped into it, and love it. However, I’ve never had a child on my own. So for me, I just wanted to be able to call the shots. 15 years ago, I was in a corporate job and I did not call the shots whatsoever. And I had this huge desire. I wanted to work when I wanted, where I wanted, how I wanted. And I wasn’t seeing a lot of women 15 years ago doing that. But there were some. And I thought, I don’t know how they’re doing that, but I want to figure it out. That was my freedom. No one telling me what to do. And all my life, I’ve had a man tell me what to do. My dad was really strict and he was the big boss and it was his way or the highway. That’s how I was raised. And then I get into all these jobs and I let these bosses, usually men, take that role that my dad did. I know this is a little weird, but I think some women can relate to that. So I got to a point that I thought, ah, I think I can do this. I think I can call the shots. So that’s how my journey began. And now when I wake up in the morning, I just think of the women that want more freedom and I do it for them now. But it started out with, I did it for me.

Jess – 00:07:32:

What did you have to tell yourself mentally in order to take that step 15 years ago? Because I think a lot of us feel, I see this a lot with speakers, is like, I know I have something to say. I know I’m destined for more. But it’s like you feel that cement feet stuck in the ground of, well, who’s going to listen? Who’s going to care? Or am I good enough? So what did you tell yourself?

Amy – 00:07:56:

First of all, it was really scary. And I really did think, holy cow, if this doesn’t work, I’m going to have to go beg for my job back. So I had all the fears. I had the imposter syndrome. I thought, who is going to listen to me? At the time, I was working for Tony Robbins. So he was a big, literally and figuratively. And I was behind the curtain. No one knew who I was. So I also had an example of someone big and dynamic. How am I going to measure up? However, two things. Number one, I really, really wanted freedom. So I got very clear on what I wanted. And I told myself, I’m willing to do what it takes to get what I want. So that means crash and burn, maybe try to figure it out as I go. It’s not always going to come together. But again, I want to say that I was willing to do what it takes to get what I want because I was very clear on what I wanted. So that kind of pulled me forward. But also the second thing is I started to look for examples. I said that 15 years ago, there weren’t a lot of women having the freedom I wanted, but there were some of them. I studied them. I looked at what they were doing. I got into their community because I wanted an example of what was possible. And they were my example. And I really genuinely thought, maybe naively, if they can do it, so can I. And that thought served me as well. If they can do it, so can I.

Jess – 00:09:17:

And that’s why representation matters so much. I look at my daughter who’s only 18 months now, and I think about, well, would it be better if I wasn’t getting on planes and speaking and doing these things? And I’m like, no. For me and my parenting style, I want her to see me trying. And I want her to see me succeeding and failing. And, one of the things I’ve loved about you is you’ve done over $100 million in revenue. You’re Inc.’s best places to work, which I’ll be sending you my resume eventually. But your first launch was, what was it? You made $267 or something like that.

Amy – 00:09:59:

Yes.

Jess – 00:10:00:

Tell us about that first launch and maybe help us fill in the blank of how you get to $100 million from $267.

Amy – 00:10:07:

Okay. The worst part about that launch is the product, the program was $297. I didn’t even make enough to cover one unit. And so what happened was I put together this course, and I’ll tell you the mistake I made in a moment. And I put it out into the world thinking I didn’t really have an email list. I didn’t have a big social, and I did not nurture any of them. So I don’t know where I thought I was going to get my audience, but I put it out into the world and it was practically crickets. I sold a few, but when you take a little bit out for expenses, I really didn’t even make enough to cover one unit. So what happened there? And then I’ll tell you how I got to the hundred million. I created a course where I didn’t have a 10% edge. So this is important. If you’re thinking about creating a course, especially if I’m talking to a lot of speakers or women that want to be speakers, you have a skillset, knowledge, techniques that you use in order to get yourself results or somebody else. Like what you say on stage, what you teach or what you plan to teach on stage, that is a knowledge and a skillset that gives you a 10% edge. You’re at least 10% ahead of those that want to know how to get to where you’re at or how you got your clients there. So you just need a 10% edge. Everyone listening has it. But at the time, I didn’t understand that. So I created a course where I didn’t have any results in. I was teaching people how to launch a book with social media. I was a social media expert. I had no idea how to launch a book. I don’t know why I did that. I call it desperate energy. I just wanted to get something out there, but I wish I would have stayed in my wheelhouse, and it would have worked. The second thing is I had a tiny email list in small social, which is very doable. You can have a successful course with a very small audience, but I didn’t even nurture them. I wasn’t really posting. I never sent emails. So they weren’t paying attention. So if I just had engaged with that audience a little more, I would have had more success. So these are some lessons learned. But imagine if I said after that first very big failure, imagine if I said, I’m not meant to be an entrepreneur. I’m not meant to teach in courses. I just crashed and burned very big. I got to go back to my job or go back to something safe that I know. I wouldn’t be sitting here today telling you I employ 24 people and 22 of them are women. Most of them are moms showing their daughters and sons what they can do in business. And I wouldn’t be sitting here saying I’ve served 90,000 students and a hundred million dollars in revenue. So how did I get there? I just kept going. After that first launch, I was embarrassed. I cried for an entire week. And then my husband kind of pushed me back out there and I tried it again. The second launch, I made $10,000. I figured out a new topic. I got better at marketing. And so I launched again. Now here’s the secret. This is how I got there. That $10,000 launch, that course worked. I did have the 10% edge. I was teaching Facebook marketing. So with that, I launched the same course again months later. And then after that, the next year, I launched the same course again. The way I teach digital courses is we create one course and then we launch it over and over again. And every time you launch it, you can tweak the course to make it better based on feedback and you can tweak your marketing and you get better at marketing. You get better at writing copy, doing webinars, posting on social. Plus, every time you launch your email list and social grows. So you have more people to launch to. So one course that you promote year after year. I’ve promoted the same course since 2019. And every year it’s gotten bigger. So that’s how I’ve gotten to where I am. I stay in my lane. I don’t start from scratch every single time. I want to make money in my business. I just get better at what I already created.

Jess – 00:14:01:

People listening are like, did you and Jess swap scripts? Because in Mic Drop Workshop, we build one signature talk.

Amy – 00:14:10:

Amen.

Jess – 00:14:10:

And, I’m like, don’t do more work than you have to. And also people want, this person had. It’s like reading a book and going to see the movie. You want to see, oh, I want what she watched or what she saw. And so having that one signature talk allows you to get more reps in, get better at it and have something that’s proven too. If you get a great testimonial on your course, you want to be able to keep using it. But I’ll tell you one of the mistakes that I made when I started Mic Drop Workshop, since we’re in the spirit of sharing what we did wrong.

Amy – 00:14:42:

Yeah.

Jess – 00:14:42:

And I’m curious if you had a similar experience was I thought that the value of the course came from the amount of information that I shared. So I was like, if I can just shove water hose, like fire hydrant down people’s throats of everything I know about speaking, then that will be, you know, $1,000 or $2,000 course. And what I learned is that almost everything I share in my course, people can find on Google, which is, you know, we have unlimited access to information. So what people are paying for is not the access to the information. It’s the catered approach. It’s like, what do I need to know? When do I do this? How do I do that? Give me the steps. Don’t give me the kitchen sink. And so I had to totally redo my course after the first year because I saw people were buying it, but they weren’t finishing it. Did you ever have that?

Amy – 00:15:38:

Oh, absolutely. I think in the beginning, you think that to prove your worth and to charge for something, you better put everything you know.

Jess – 00:15:48:

Everything.

Amy – 00:15:48:

Everything.

Jess – 00:15:49:

Yeah.

Amy – 00:15:49:

And not what we want to do. Less is more here. Get someone from point A to point B as fast as humanly possible. Take all the fluff out. So over the years, as I’ve gotten better at creating my own courses, I strip it all away and only give them exactly what they need. And this takes some trial and error for sure, but you’re exactly right. Also, people tend to think that the price of the course is dependent on how much content you have in there. So you were talking about the value, how much content. A lot of people will say, okay, I can charge a thousand if I’ve got 10 modules with 20 lessons underneath. No, no, no. The way you determine the price of a course, and I teach this in one of my bootcamps, is that you first think about the results you’re promising. The bigger the results, the higher the price tag of that course. And so that’s one of the areas we look at right away. It has nothing to do with how much content or how long it takes someone to get through.

Jess – 00:16:44:

And what is the earning potential that you see with the course?

Amy – 00:16:48:

Love it.

Jess – 00:16:48:

I think, women need to talk about money more. We don’t know. So many women in the speaking industry don’t know what to charge to speak. I didn’t know what to charge to speak. That’s how I got Mic Drop Workshop started because I charged $8,500. And the event told me that the male keynote got $50,000 for the same event. And I didn’t know that. And so we need to talk about money. What’s the earning potential for a course, whether you’re a beginner or you have something more seasoned?

Amy – 00:17:18:

Love this question. So I always like to look at course math and I do it in a really simple way just to show you what’s possible. So let’s say that you have a course and you want to charge $500 for your course, which is a really good price point for a digital course. You want to charge $500. And let’s say that only 20 people bought your course the first time you launch. Only 20. That word only, we got to scratch it out because you just made $10,000. $10,000 with your first launch. Now, remember what I talked about, that we’re taking that exact same course, maybe some tiny tweaks and launching it again. The next time you launch it, you’re better at your marketing. You know how to talk about it and your audience just got bigger. So the next launch could easily double. You could easily make 20,000. And then the next time you launch easily make 40,000. When you really put your heart and soul into this, I’ve seen it done so many times. And so with that, now you’ve got a year. Where let’s say you’re making $60-$70,000 with one course. That is what is possible. Now, my students, their launches range from $2,000 to 200, $300,000. So really runs a range there. But I just like to show what is possible. Also, a lot of people come to me, Jess, and they say, you know, I don’t have a big email list. I just have a few hundred on my email list, small social. I probably should focus on building an audience before I ever think about creating a course. Don’t do that. Creating and launching a course will grow your email list. It’s exactly how I grew such a big email list. Also, putting yourself out there, you just get better and better with each launch. So one of my students launched a course. She had 500 people on her email list. She made $30,000 with her very first course. Another one of my students, he had a hundred people on his email list. He made $12,000. It is possible. If you create that connection with your audience.

Jess – 00:19:22:

And, you know, when it comes to audience connection, I think about with speaking, when you’re up on stage, and I know you do speaking as well, Amy, like. People are never going to be more excited about you than they are in that 60 minutes of you on stage. And when you’re done, they’re like, where do I get more Amy? How do I do this? And so being able to… What I do is I have a QR code in my presentation that sends the slide deck because everyone always wants the slide deck. And a lot of people get weird about, oh, I don’t want to sell from the stage. You don’t have to. Have something that is of value to them. I think sending over the slide deck is the easiest because you say, hey, don’t worry about taking notes. I’m going to send you the slide deck after this. And then once you send them a slide deck and you have their email, in that first email, oh, by the way, I have Mic Drop Workshop or I have this course. And it is a great way to capitalize off of that moment where they’re like, how do I get more from you? How do I learn from you? By having something to offer after you get off stage. And so you already have their attention. You already know they’re interested in the subject that you’re talking about. It’s a great way to use speaking as a lead gen for courses. Can you kind of qualify? I think that some of the people who are listening are like, yeah, this is interesting to me, the idea of the freedom of flexibility, but maybe some of the doubts they have are, I don’t know if I know enough to build a course. And I don’t know, we’ve talked about audience size, but that’s a big one that I hear a lot in speaking is like, but I don’t have a platform.

Amy – 00:21:04:

Yeah. That’s a big one.

Jess – 00:21:06:

Yeah, how do you qualify someone and say, yeah, you’re a good fit to do an online course?

Amy – 00:21:10:

Okay, I wanted to touch on something you said, because I think some people, that question, like, I don’t know enough or I don’t have enough content for a course. So when you get on stage, Jess, what do you teach that’s different, or maybe it’s not, than in your course? Can you kind of help me understand that?

Jess – 00:21:25:

Yeah, so in my keynote, I talk about how to say self-motivated and how to find what you care about and connect to your purpose. And then the course is how to amplify that and use that as a speaking opportunity.

Amy – 00:21:42:

Okay, brilliant. So I wanted to point out that whatever you do on stage, you don’t have to take that exact thing and put it into a course. You could, but you don’t need to. So I love what Jess does, where you’ve got this signature talk, and it makes perfect sense. It’s an alignment of the course you will eventually put in front of them. And so when you start to- If you want to build a really robust speaking career, and I think it’s absolutely essential to also have a digital course for many reasons, but one of them is to have that recurring revenue. Life happens, and maybe at one point, you can’t get on the road and speak as much as you want. Something in your life kind of has slowed that down. You will always have the course to rely on. And then when you ramp back up, now you have both streams of revenue. So I love that security with a digital course, just to kind of be your plan B, if need be. But also just putting them together and building a thriving business from there. So do you have enough knowledge, content, skill to put in a course? The answer is yes. Remember, you just need the 10% edge. And I want you to think about where you’ve gotten results for yourself or for somebody else, and think about what you want to teach on stage. What would be a really great companion to that? What would extend? Their learning from what you just taught them on stage or what would kickstart their action from what you just taught them on stage. So we’re looking for some alignment. So the two go hand in hand. It’s exactly what Jess is doing. So I think that’s really cool in and of itself. So that’s one that comes up a lot. You already have the content. I promise you, you already have enough. When I teach courses, one thing I do, I have a bootcamp coming up. And one thing I do is I talk about four different types of courses. You can have a workshop course, which is like just a one hour course that you charge for. It’s on one very specific topic. A starter course where it’s a course just to get them started. It’s the fundamentals, the basics. Or a spotlight course where you take one area of your expertise and you go deep on that one area. So it’s not like the one hour training. It’s like maybe five hours, but you’re going deep in one topic. Or a signature course. This is the big Mac daddy. Or where you’re teaching a full transformation from start to finish. So you’ve got options. So if you’re a little bit worried, I don’t have enough. You’re going to do a workshop course or a starter course. Right there is a great place to start. So. You have enough content. You have enough knowledge. I promise you. And then, of course, we talked about it’s okay to have a small audience. You can have great success with a small audience. And every time you launch, your audience gets bigger.

Jess – 00:24:29:

And you learn more about what your audience needs to do. And I think one of the things I want to point out, too, is if you’ve already done some of the work to be a speaker, like, for example, one of the things we do in Mic Drop Workshop is you create a speaker statement, which is, you know, hi, my name is Amy, and I help people build profitable online businesses. And once you have done even just that part, creating your speaker statement, that’ll be that’ll transfer over to your course. And so so much of the work that you’ve already done as a speaker transfers to being a course creator and vice versa. So if you’ve already weighed in the shallow end, like, just keep going. We’re all here with you. And I’m going to put more information about the bootcamp as well at micdropworkshop.com and in the show notes. So you all will have that. But Amy, what is like one parting piece of advice for someone who, whether they want to start an online course, become a speaker, write a book, who maybe is feeling a little bit of pause about sharing their knowledge or their story? What do you have to say to them?

Amy – 00:25:37:

There are people out there in the world that genuinely would learn best from you. Because one of the things that comes up when people want to create a course is they look around and they say, Amy, the idea for my course, it’s already been, it’s done. It’s being done by 10 people. And one of the people, they’re huge. They have a huge audience. How could I ever compete in that? And you don’t need to compete. You just need a tiny sliver of the internet to pay attention. And that tiny sliver, they are looking for you. They want to learn from you. They feel a connection with you and your journey resonates with them other than all those other people. So when you start to hesitate, I don’t know, coming out from behind my computer, putting myself out there, teaching what I know. I don’t know if I’m ready. You are doing a disservice for the people that genuinely need to learn from you. And I promise you, they’re absolutely out there. And also look around. I know sometimes people think this way. They look at someone online and they’re like, how are they killing it? How are they crushing it? I know more than they do, I’m stronger. Like we don’t say that publicly, but we’ve all had that moment.

Jess – 00:26:48:

Yes.

Amy – 00:26:49:

I want you to get a little snappy with that. I want you to say, wait a second, if they can do that, I can blow them out of the water. But they started and you didn’t. That’s the only difference, my friend. So just get started.

Jess – 00:27:02:

I love it. And sometimes I get to say, create the cringe. Your first lunch might be cringy. You might look back. I look back at Mic Drop Workshop. I’m like, what was I thinking? But I started and I wouldn’t have been able to be in Chapter 7 unless I started Chapter 1. And so-

Amy – 00:27:24:

Yes, I’m going to steal that from you. I’ll give you credit. But you’re exactly right. Create the cringe. Oh, that’s so good. We all do. I played this video when I launched my big program of how I started. And I literally want to crawl under my desk showing those videos. But I want to show people everyone starts messy. That’s how we keep going. So start messy.

Jess – 00:27:45:

If I showed you my first… Some early demo of my speaking. I’m like, did I go through puberty? Did my voice change? My voice was like 10 decibels higher than it should be.

Amy – 00:27:57:

I was trying to sound sexy or something because every video is like, hi, Amy Porterfield here. I’m like, what was I doing?

Jess – 00:28:03:

Oh my gosh. I’m like miniature mouse. Yeah. I’m just going to create the cringe. Well, Amy, I have to say like… I credit so much of the freedom and flexibility I have now to you. And you are so generous with the information that you give on your podcast in these bootcamps. It is the real deal. You have paved the way for people like me to have that. And so I’m just so thrilled to be partnering with you to hopefully do what you did for me for others. So thank you.

Amy – 00:28:33:

Thank you, my friend. I feel like this is such a great alignment between our two audiences and what we do. So thanks for having me. I so appreciate it.

Jess – 00:28:41:

Thanks, Amy. Thanks for listening to Amplify. If you are a fan of the show, show us some podcast love by giving us a rating and review. And give us a follow @micdropworkshop and @jessekstrom. This episode was edited and produced by Earfluence and I’m Jess Ekstrom, your host. Remember that you deserve the biggest stage. So let’s find out how to get you there. I’ll see you again soon.