202 Here’s How I 6X'd My Course Pass Rate From 10% to 60%

Send us a text🔥 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youAndrew Stotz went from a 10% pass rate to 60% by doing something most course creators are terrified to do - kicking students out with no refund.In this episode, Andrew shares how he transformed his Valuation Masterclass from an on-demand course that barely anyone finished into a cohort-based bootcamp where students write 20-30 page research reports on four different companies.His secret? "The valuation masterclass is about transformation, not information." And he means it - students who don't keep up get kicked out on Monday morning, no questions asked.We dive into how Andrew built this intense accountability system, why he dresses up in military uniform for graduation ceremonies, and how one student from Nigeria who didn't even own a computer ended up working for Bank of America.If you're tired of students buying your course and never finishing it, this one's for you.🔗 Connect with Andrew:- Website: https://academy.astotz.com/- Podcast: https://myworstinvestmentever.com/

Send us a text🔥 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youIn this episode, you'll hear how Hugo Ortega transformed from a burned out materials engineer in Houston to a world-traveling superyacht captain who now runs a $20,000 per month coaching business.Hugo reveals why he chose to build a high-ticket one-on-one coaching model instead of traditional online courses, charging over $2,000 per student while maintaining a 90% job placement rate. He explains his contrarian approach to course creation and why he believes you need to work harder on your course business than you ever did at your day job.You'll discover how Hugo used Russell Brunson's Perfect Webinar formula to transform his sales process, spending six months crafting a webinar that now consistently converts prospects into high-paying clients. He breaks down his exact pricing strategy, starting at $500 and scaling to $2,500, and shares how he built his "concierge model" that creates premium value for students.🔗 Connect with Hugo at https://www.superyachtsundayschool.com/ or 🔗 Follow @superyachtsundayschool on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/superyachtsundayschool/#OnlineCourses #CourseCreation #Entrepreneurship #DigitalNomad #Yachting #CoachingBusiness #RussellBrunson #PerfectWebinar #OnlineBusiness #CourseCreator

Send us a text🔥 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youYou know exactly what you should be doing to grow your online course business. You've listened to hundreds of podcast episodes, read all the blog posts, maybe even bought a few courses on marketing. You KNOW you should be sending email promotions every month. You KNOW you should be optimizing your sales pages. Yet somehow, you find yourself building just one more course instead.Sound familiar?In this episode, I sit down with Itamar Marani, a former Israeli special forces operative turned elite performance coach. Itamar has coached hundreds of six to nine-figure entrepreneurs to break through their mental barriers, and he's here to explain exactly why your brain sabotages your best business moves.We dive deep into what Itamar calls "the war within" - the battle between the business owner in you who knows what needs to be done, and the hobbyist who keeps retreating to their comfort zone. Itamar breaks down the three "success killers" that are hardwired into our brains from 100,000 years of evolution: avoiding uncertainty, optimizing for approval, and seeking validation.What makes this conversation different is that we don't just identify the problem - we walk through the exact process to overcome it. Itamar shares his framework for identifying your mental blocks, challenging false beliefs, and most importantly, understanding what emotional payoff you're getting from NOT doing what you know you should do.We also discuss performance anchors - the people and habits in your life that drain your energy and keep you stuck. Itamar shares a powerful story about a client who went from $5-10k months to building a company with a nine-figure valuation, all because he had the courage to cut out a heavy performance anchor that was keeping him small.If you've ever caught yourself saying "I know I should be doing this, but..." then this episode is going to hit home. Hard. Itamar doesn't do motivational fluff - this is practical, actionable advice forged in Israeli counterterrorism and refined through years of coaching high performers.📖 Itamar's book "Elite Performance" is available on Amazon and at https://itamarmarani.com/book. 🔗 Check out Itamar's website: https://itamarmarani.com/

Send us a text Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youWhen Wendy Solganik spent months building out a sales funnel for her art courses, she was following all the conventional wisdom. She'd already seen the Jeff Walker launch formula work in other industries. She knew the playbook. But after investing significant time, energy, and money, the funnel simply didn't convert.Instead of doubling down on what the gurus were teaching, Wendy made a counterintuitive decision. She went back to simple email marketing and built her online art school into a thriving business that now features courses from 40 different creators.In this episode, Wendy shares her journey from law school dropout to successful course creator. After developing irritable bowel syndrome from the stress of law school, she took a year off and followed her urge to learn pottery. That decision eventually led to running a stationery company for 15 years, followed by a stint in the online diet industry where she first learned about course marketing.Today, Wendy runs a unique online art platform where she positions herself as "the primary student in my own school." Rather than trying to be the star, she curates courses from artists she's genuinely excited to learn from. Her approach challenges many assumptions about online course businesses - she deliberately keeps prices low ($27-$147) despite seeing competitors charge $2,000, and she's built her success on passion rather than psychological marketing tactics.We discuss why organic Instagram is now "very very little of the effective marketing" she does, despite having a large following. How she's become "partners with Meta" through paid ads, spending significant money daily. Why she has "no idea where my sales are coming from" due to tracking challenges. And how email marketing became her most effective channel after abandoning complex funnels.Wendy's story offers a refreshing perspective for course creators who feel overwhelmed by complicated marketing systems. Sometimes the simpler path, driven by genuine passion for your subject matter, leads to better results than following someone else's formula.Check Wendy's work out: https://www.willawanders.com/

Send us a text🔥 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youMeet Alexandra Fintova - the Skillshare Top Teacher who built 60 courses, taught 90,000+ students worldwide, and did it all while raising two kids as a single mom with ADHD.In this episode, Alexandra (The Art Mother) shares her unconventional journey from art teacher to course creator, why she refuses to do "guerrilla marketing," and how being authentic is her secret weapon.Alexandra reveals why her "overly salesy" approach failed and what actually works instead. She explains how to sell courses without being pushy or aggressive, and why students are now "collecting her classes like Pokemon cards." We dig into the power of confirmation page offers and why Alexandra's currently leaving money on the table with this simple strategy. She also shares the truth about managing a course business with ADHD and how to use platforms like Skillshare and Udemy to build passive income.📥 Free Download: Tripwire Product Ideas Guide at https://datadrivenmarketing.co/tripwireConnect with Alexandra:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theartmother/Subscribe for weekly interviews with successful course creators. Drop a comment: What's your biggest challenge with selling courses?🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.

Send us a text🚀 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youEmma Jakobi built mmmEnglish to 6 million YouTube subscribers. Then she stopped posting and walked away to build Hey Lady instead.In this episode, Emma and Shah Turner break down what's actually working for them: how they're getting their CAC down to 1/10th of LTV, why their webinars stopped working (and what they did instead), and how they package the same offer differently each month without burning out their audience.Shah also talks about the consistency problem every course creator faces: "We'd run a campaign and bring in 50 grand. Do it again, pretty good. Third time? Not so much."If you're running a membership or selling courses, this one's packed with real numbers and tactics you can use.Check out Hey Lady:  https://www.heylady.io/Connect with Emma and Shah:Emma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmajakobi/Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahturner/🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.

Send us a text🚀 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youMost people build audiences that just consume content. They get thousands of followers but barely make any sales. Sinem Günel does it differently. She's built a six-figure writing business by focusing on one simple principle: get people to buy something small first, then they're 20 times more likely to buy again.In this episode, Sinem breaks down how she helps coaches and consultants turn their expertise into courses and high-ticket programs - starting with offers as low as $50.We dive into why your past buyers are your most valuable asset and how to nurture them properly. Sinem shares the confidence issue that stops most people from selling high-ticket offers, and why some clients explicitly DON'T want your course and will actually pay more for less content. She also explains how to get inbound leads through content instead of cold outreach, and the strategy behind building a multi-tier business from low-ticket to $5k+ coaching.If you're creating content but struggling to convert your audience into paying customers, this one's for you.🔗 https://writebuildscale.com Want help building your sales funnel and email marketing? Book a free strategy session: https://datadrivenmarketing.co/survey🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.

Send us a text🚀 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youIn this episode, Josip Belina, our head of funnel strategy, reveals why September is the make-or-break month for Black Friday success and what happens when you wait until October (spoiler: it's not good). We dive deep into a counterintuitive email strategy that has our clients sending way more emails than you'd expect on the final day, and why that actually increases revenue without destroying your list.You'll discover the bundle strategy that consistently outperforms the lazy "50% off everything" approach that most people default to, plus how to handle your best customers who've already bought everything you've offered before. Josip also shares the two-promotion framework that maximizes Q4 revenue and why this quarter is absolutely critical for your business.This isn't about sending a few discount emails and hoping for the best. This is about systematically planning and executing a Black Friday strategy that turns November into your biggest revenue month of the year. If you've been treating Black Friday as an afterthought, this episode will completely change how you approach it.🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.

Send us a text🚀 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/done-for-youWhat happens when you lose all your clients overnight and decide to start writing about Java programming instead of playing terrible golf? You end up building one of the longest-running tech newsletters in the world.Dr. Heinz Kabutz survived the dot com crash of 2000 by doing something counterintuitive - he started giving away his absolute best content for free. 25 years later, his newsletter reaches every corner of the globe (except the Vatican), his courses help students double their salaries, and he makes sales while sitting at Greek tavernas.This conversation reveals why bad video and audio quality can actually sell better than perfect production, and the psychological reason most course creators sabotage their own success. You'll also discover how giving everything away for free became a premium pricing strategy, why humor matters more than you think in technical content, and the surprising relationship between passive income and satisfaction.Heinz shares stories about getting recognized by strangers on the streets of Romania, why he feels guilty about making money while relaxing with friends, and his approach to building genuine connections with readers across 156 countries. He also explains why he avoids running the webinars that work so well for him, and how fear of rejection holds back most course creators from the success they deserve.📧 Java Specialists Newsletter: https://javaspecialists.eu🔥 Our FREE resources: https://datadrivenmarketing.co/resources🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.

Send us a text🚀 Work With Me - https://datadrivenmarketing.co/surveyJason Stephenson has over 4.5 million subscribers and 1+ billion views across his meditation channels - and he literally works just one hour per week now.But here's what shocked me most: Jason had no idea how massive his channel actually was. When I had him check his real numbers after our conversation, his jaw dropped. We're talking about a scale that most YouTubers can only dream of.This isn't your typical "how I grew on YouTube" story either. Jason's journey includes a devastating moment that would have destroyed most creators, an insane content strategy that paid off big time, and a business partnership that completely transformed his life.Plus, there's a fascinating challenge with his course sales that we dive into. With an audience this size, the numbers should be working very differently.If you're building a YouTube channel or selling online courses, you need to hear this story.🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.