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- She taught herself this software and earned $200,000 😎
She taught herself this software and earned $200,000 😎
Welcome to a fresh edition of eBiz Insider, my free newsletter packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business.
Today...
$200K in 3 Years Helping People With Notion
Free 5 Day VA Challenge
His 77-Page PDF = $90,000 This Year
$12K Profit in 1 Month Making Ads for Social Media
Latest Momentos
Insights From His $1.3 Million Sales Page
From VA to $600K In Only 2 Years
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$200K in 3 Years Helping People With Notion
Molly Jones is a Notion consultant who recently tweeted…
As a Certified Consultant, I've earned over $200,000 working part-time, prioritizing flexibility over money.
She started in 2020, so that's $200K over ~3 years 🤑
In case you're unfamiliar, Notion is a popular productivity and note-taking app.
Sounds like Molly taught herself how to use Notion, then started picking up freelance work…
I came across my first client by accident. There were hardly any people doing Notion Consulting and a girl in a Facebook group just asked if anyone knew anything about Notion. We started talking and I made her an epic workspace for Pennie’s on the dollar and the rest was history!
💬 She also tweets…
within 5 months I made my first $10k/month on client work.
At some point Molly got certified as a Notion Consultant, and now most of her clients come via the Notion Consulting Partners directory…
When I first started I was all about niching to help me FIND clients (design and creative studios were my jam). Now I let the clients come to me (via the certified directory) and I choose not based on industry but who I feel most aligned with
You can see Molly's directory profile here.
It's worth noting that, as of this writing, there are only 66 partners listed in the entire directory. And apparently there are ~30 million Notion users, including ~4 million paid users.
So there's room for plenty more certified consultants methinks 🔥
Molly's advice for working as a Notion consultant…
Don’t take on more than you can handle. I had dreams of building the Notion Consulting empire, hiring loads of help and taking on more than I needed. It’s actually quite easy to run your consultancy with a small team (or by yourself) and easily take in $10k months.
And…
Avoid overcomplicating your build. While you might believe that the client wants all the fancy features & tricks you know, if they are new to @notionhq, it's best to keep things simple.
I like Molly's approach of learning how to use some complicated software and then offering to help others as a consultant 😎
Similar stories we've featured before…
Are you already a power-user of certain software?
Or is there software you'd enjoy mastering? 🤔
If so, you could try doing something similar to Molly and co.
Probably worth prioritizing software that has some kind of certification you can get, and a directory for certified consultants so clients can find you easily 🎯
🔎 freelancing | permalink
Free 5 Day VA Challenge
Today's email is brought to you by The 5 Day VA Challenge.
This is a free challenge by Hannah Dixon to help you get started as a virtual assistant 🚀
You'll learn…
What skills to focus on
How to find clients
How to sharpen your entrepreneurial mindset
It starts Monday, October 23.
One person who went through it before wrote…
I met super cool people and got a client by the end of the challenge!
His 77-Page PDF = $90,000 This Year
Kyle Asay is VP at MongoDB.
He also teaches sales skills via digital products and runs Sales Introverts, which earns him $20,000/month 💰
He recently tweeted…
My most popular product is a 77-page PDF.
It brought in over $90,000 this year and led to 10s of thousands more in upsell revenue.
The product he's referring to is Hit My Quota, which he describes as…
Frameworks that can transform you from bottom of the sales floor to #1 AE [Account Executive] in your company
(yes, even in a recession)
How he created it 👇
I looked at:
- Trainings I had given
- Questions I frequently answered
- Fundamentals I had used to create success
There was a lot of crossover in these three categories.
I created “mini-frameworks” off of those areas.
Then…
I shared the mini-frameworks with my small (but growing) LinkedIn audience.
Then, I documented the mini-frameworks that earned the most positive feedback.
So he used his LinkedIn as a testing ground, sharing bits and pieces and seeing what resonated with his audience 👂
(I bet sharing such material also helped grow his audience)
Later…
I took the top mini-frameworks and organized them into an eBook.
Only 77 pages, but 77 pages of my most proven, actionable, and replicable sales insights.
Initially, Kyle expected the product to earn around $10,000, enough to cover his expenses with some extra spending money.
But the PDF – which sells for $97 a pop – has instead become...
the pillar of a $20k/month internet business I can run while working full-time.
Simple business, real earnings.
And sure, Kyle sounds like a seasoned sales professional with lots of great info to share.
But you could replicate his approach without much experience in your field 👍
For example, as a freelancer with 2-3 years of experience, you could share all you’ve learned that you wish you knew starting out.
Test out your nuggets on social media, build an audience and learn what content is most helpful.
Then package your best tips into a PDF like Kyle did 📝
You probably won't earn $20k/month doing this, but it could easily bring in a few $100 per month in passive income, especially if you keep building your audience.
$12K Profit in 1 Month Making Ads for Social Media
🗂 From the archive, published April 2023…
Dave Giovacchini shares on Reddit that he's 50 years old and recently started a new side hustle…
I make UGC (user generated content) ads for advertisers on social media. Video ads.. short 15, 30 or 60s ads that most look done by an amateur.. (Because they are).
Most easily explained.. the ads you see while scrolling tiktok or Reels. That look like any joe schmo made an ad. The good ones you don't know IF they are an ad until you see the link...
He started back in October 📅
Then in February…
It grossed over $16k and i took home $12k and change in Feb. from it. My original start up cost was $0.
Apparently he spent 6 hours per day working on this in February, and he reckons you could earn up to $25k/month doing it full-time on your own, in your house and around your neighborhood.
Looks like Dave is mainly getting clients via Fiverr, and you can see some samples of his work on his main job listing here 👈
Back on Reddit, he says that being older than most people you see on social media can be an advantage in this line of work…
I also think there is a large market for people over the age of 30. Since the vast majority of 'influencers' trying to make UGC content are young females for beauty and home decor. While the big money advertisers like financial products, insurance, supplements, home improvement, software, apps etc need middle aged or at least over age 30 people as their creators.
Also, it's not like you need a big following on social media to do this…
I started with ZERO followers and advertisers do not care. They simply want video ads made by real people because they have a MUCH higher conversion rate than high polished ads. They are almost always just used in PAID ad campaigns and not for viral or tiktok account holders followers.
That said, Dave is building up his own following on TikTok, where he posts a lot about the business side of things.
Here's a behind-the-scenes video of him creating an ad for hot sauce.
🤣 Key quote from that…
This is part of the script, dance a weird dance, so here I am. I have no pride or shame.
🔎 freelancing | permalink
Latest Momentos
My latest batch of personal ramblings is here if you fancy a look 👀
From October 12, 2023…
When things are going well in my business, I start thinking this won't last forever, better work hard and make hay while the sun shines. When things are going poorly in my business, I start thinking I'd better work hard so I can turn things around. A friend tells me this way of thinking is akin to a gambling addict at a casino.
Insights From His $1.3 Million Sales Page
A chap called Theodore posted an interesting video last December 👇
Most of that income was from a course he was selling, though he doesn't reveal the sites or YouTube channels he used to sell it, or what even the niche he's operating in.
💬 He replied to one comment on the video…
The courses are related to the niche and without giving anything away, they basically teach a skill, and with skills you can earn money, so they are marketed that way. Think "how to use different types of software" like GA4 or Photoshop or Github, for example, but in my niche.
Theodore is also on Twitter as @sixdigitniche, where he recently shared…
I single-handedly built a 7 figure sales page for a digital infoproduct.
Most likely he's referring to the sales page for the same curse.
And his attached screenshot actually shows $1,362,268 in total sales 🤯
Again, he doesn't give too much away, but he does share…
10 quick ideas you can try that helped me get to an 8% conversion rate
Then he goes on to share 15 ideas, the last one being…
Bonuses: I said 10 tips, and you got 15, do this on your sales page. Some of our bonuses have links to their separate sales pages to prove we aren't just coming up with "Bonuses worth $1,999"... That we actually do sell them separately for $1,999. Ask current customers how they use your bonuses... Many people create useless bonuses that their customers don't even want. Double check they want them by asking if they even use them.
😍 Another couple of tips I liked…
Simple words. I don't understand how people think using jargon will close sales. People love clear and simple things to read. Keep sentences short. Remove everything that doesn't matter.
Include urgency. If your product never expires, find a way to give a bonus that will. "16 hours until you get a free consulting call with me" GREATLY improved conversions.
Reading through Theodore's advice, my main takeaway is the importance of experimentation.
Sounds like he has tested and tweaked every part of his sales funnel, including…
Paid ads vs. organic traffic
Color of CTA buttons
Low recurring price vs. one large price
White vs. black background
Order of headline, video, subheadline, etc.
He's also an advocate of purposely including mistakes in your copy…
Be creative in how you ensure they read the whole page. The more they read, the more they are "investing" in you and getting closer to making a decision. This is why #4 was blank. People love pointing out errors, and I suppose those who see the error will read all of these points to see if there are any more mistakes. I'd even bet there will be someone who immediately comments about how #4 was blank before reading the rest.
I've seen this a lot on YouTube, and heard one YouTuber admit that they intentionally have mistakes in their videos so people will comment 😜
More comments = more engagement = more exposure.
Btw, did you spot the mistake in this write-up? 😉
From VA to $600K In Only 2 Years
🗂 From the archive, published January 2023…
As I'm writing this, a company called Saenz Global has a broken website and a combined ~2000 followers on Instagram and TikTok.
And yet they apparently earned over $600,000 in revenue in their first 2 years of operations 💰
The company is essentially a small team that provides virtual assistant services for the roofing industry.
Founder Thais Saenz said in a recent interview that she left her corporate job to build the business 🏗
Her first clients were "anyone that is alive and breathing and has a business" and she would help manage their social media presence.
Thais' initial clients included…
🌮 A taco company
💊 A pharmacy
🪟 A window and door installer
🍕 A pizza shop
Thais started hiring help pretty quick. Then she landed a roofing client, learned how to do permitting for that industry, and decided to niche down and focus on roofers exclusively.
She says niching down "has been the best thing that ever happened to our company."
The hardest thing about starting the business?
It was all mental, the confidence, the battling the inner doubts… like is someone really going to pay for this? … it was the constant fear of rejection.
I was so afraid to post on Facebook that I had a company because, oh my gosh, what if I don't do a good job? What are people gonna think? What if my co-workers see all of these things?
To overcome all this, Thais' motto became, "do things scared."
In other words: she treated her fear like a pothole, not a dead end. She would see it, acknowledge it, and keep driving regardless 💪
Also a good reminder in that interview about the power of TikTok: when they had only 570 followers, Thais says the company was still getting about 10 discovery calls a week from the platform.
I believe that's because TikTok is amazing for showing your content to the exact audience it's made for. Saenz Global makes content for roofers, and TikTok ensures they see it 👀
Thanks to Fardeen Khan for helping me write and research today's newsletter.
Hasta la próxima, rock on with your legendary self 💪
Niall Doherty – Canillo, Andorra
eBiz Facts (follow on twitter)
P.S. If you'd like some help getting started as a virtual assistant, check out Hannah Dixon's free 5 Day VA Challenge.
It starts on Monday, and people say things like this about it…
The 5 day VA Challenge was the tipping point, that was the end of the old me and the beginning of my new life, literally.
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