Skip the Funnel: My Simpler Course Strategy

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.

Send us a text🔥 Need better results from your email campaigns? Get our FREE templates and see the difference with two proven email strategies! 👉🏼 https://datadrivenmarketing.co/templatesCharlotte Chaze went from making $28K working 60-hour weeks in a windowless basement lab to building a multi-seven figure online course business. She's made over $2.6 million helping thousands of people leave dead-end jobs for $76K+ data analyst careers.Here's what makes her story different: While most TikTok creators with massive followings struggle to monetize, Charlotte cracked the code with 460,000 followers and an "anti-capitalist" business philosophy that actually increased her profits.In this episode, we dive into how she transitioned from biomedical research to data analytics in under 4 years, why she prices her courses at $249 while competitors charge $1000+, and her TikTok strategy that actually converts when most creators make pennies. We also explore why focusing on product quality over profit maximization made her more money and her ambitious new $1.5 million crypto payment infrastructure startup.Charlotte's target audience consists of bartenders, servers, teachers, healthcare workers - people who "hate their jobs and don't get paid enough." She's helping them land entry-level data analyst jobs averaging $76K, which is life-changing for people making $20/hour.The biggest takeaway from Charlotte's story is that you can build a massive course business by genuinely caring about your students' success more than your profit margins. Sometimes the "wrong" way to run a business is actually the right way.Retry🙋‍♀️ Learn more about Charlotte: https://breakintotech.com/about🤝  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🔥 Get the complete guide that shows you exactly how to turn your checkout page into a conversion machine: https://datadrivenmarketing.co/orderpageDan Rosen expected maybe 200 people to join his free challenge. 10,000 people later, he accidentally launched a course business that would generate over $1.6 million - despite operating in one of the most censored industries on social media.In this episode, Dan reveals how he built his pole dancing course empire using strategies that go against conventional wisdom. While most course creators chase email subscribers, Dan's biggest revenue driver comes from an entirely different source. While others play it safe with content, Dan explains why you sometimes have to tell people what they don't want to hear.Most surprising? Dan admits he's been leaving massive money on the table with one marketing channel - and explains why that might actually be good news if you're making the same mistake.You'll discover why starting "for free" can be your biggest competitive advantage, the psychology behind why people abandon purchases at the last second and how to stop it, and how to build a profitable course business in a heavily censored niche. Dan also shares the counterintuitive reason word-of-mouth became his primary sales driver and why "pure intentions" aren't just nice to have but essential for long-term success.📍 Website: https://poldancewithdan.com🤝  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🔥 Grow your course revenue up to 30% in 7 days - no paid ads, no sales calls https://datadrivenmarketing.co/roadmapAustin Church makes $50,000+ a year from a $99/month community, but here's the thing - he's never properly promoted it to his 9,000 email subscribers. Not once.In this episode, Austin gets brutally honest about the mistakes that cost him money, why he initially refused to start a community (and how his own members basically forced him into it), and the LinkedIn strategy he's using to manually recruit new members one conversation at a time.We get into the real numbers - his revenue swings from $5k to $25k months, why it's just as hard to sell a $500 course as $6,000 coaching, and that first taste of PayPal notifications that you just can't un-taste. Austin reveals why most creators get the order completely wrong when building their business, and why it's shockingly easy to stop doing what actually works.This isn't your typical "here's my success story" interview. Austin admits where he's screwed up, what he'd do differently, and why sometimes the best business advice comes from just asking your audience what they want and giving it to them.If you've built an audience but struggle with the selling part, this one's for you.🤝  Get In TouchIf you'd like to talk more about how you can grow your course business, email me at john@datadrivenmarketing.