Summer Coaching Series: How to Design Successful Low-Touch Offers
Let’s talk about low-touch offers…
So many of my students choose low-touch offers because it suits their personality, values, and lifestyle.
But if you want to be successful with your lower-touch offer, you’re going to need to know the right strategy to execute and promote it.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in for your online business, listen to the latest podcast episode where I sit down with Side Hustle student Andrea to explore all her low-touch options.
CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN!
Show Notes:
Hey, risers. We are back with another Summer Coaching Series episode. This time we are back with Andrea who is a social worker in New York. So again, another one of your peers who has questions about moving into her side hustle.
So today, on episode 162, you are going to hear us chatting about consulting and low-touch offers. So really the gamut of different offers that you can provide, as well as this piece that Andrea bought into the conversation that I thought was really juicy and something we could dive into which was the concept of ownership.
You'll hear in Andrea's episode that she has been in a supportive role for other people or brought on other people's teams or an employee of other people or other organizations, and she's so ready to step out of that and into the ownership position. And so we dive into that and we explore that quite a bit. Another thing that Andrea was concerned about was sustainability because she has so many hands and so many different fires she wanted to make sure that as she started something new she wasn't taking on too much.
So we absolutely talk about trading time for money. And we talk about creating offers that have the appropriate level of touch for you. So I really hope that you get a lot out of Andrea and I's conversation. And remember if you want coaching for yourself, we offer monthly coaching meetings inside of my Space Holder program. So let's dive into the conversation with Andrea.
Marissa (M): Hey, risers. We are back with another episode in the Summer Coaching Series today. I'm here with Andrea Murano, and we are gonna just dive into some of the things that she's been working on with her side hustle, some of the questions she has, and some of the concerns she might have and hopefully get her some clarity today.
And you guys get to listen along, and it's always lovely when you get to hear somebody else ask the question that you might have and get some insight yourself. So that's why I wanted to offer this summer series to you guys. So hopefully listening to Andrea and I today will spark something for you guys.
Andrea, do you wanna go ahead and introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about where you are, what you do clinically, and then what your ideas for your side hustle are or what you're thinking about.
Andrea (A): Yeah. Awesome. So I'm Andrea, I'm based outta New York. And right now I primarily am a school social worker, but I also do some consulting work for different nonprofits. So I'm building programming, therapeutic programming, and also doing some direct work for non-profits and then supervising some of their social work interns.
So as far as the side hustle piece goes, I've definitely always felt drawn to doing a variety of different things within social work but really looking towards building my own side hustle that I'm really able to take ownership of and scale in a way that makes sense. And also building in some more low-touch options within that. I do a lot of trading time for money at this point. And I love the work I do, but I'm definitely looking to scale beyond what I can do in a day.
M: Yeah. I can hear that. You already have your hand in a lot of different fires. Are you somebody who likes to be busy or is that something that you're trying to get away from?
A: So I thought I was someone who likes to be busy. But I'm realizing now that in order for me to keep this as a sustainable thing, I'm gonna need to be able to find some things where I'm not trading so much of my time.
M: Yeah, for sure. And so when you think about solving problems, do you think about solving problems for the teachers or the school administration or some of these things that you're already consulting for? Or do you think about talking maybe more directly to the consumers directly to the people themselves?
A: Yeah. So a little bit of both. I really like supporting individuals who support other people. So I like supporting teachers, clinicians, and things like that. I'm also very interested in supporting caregivers. I really like that work as well. But I also like direct practice so I like being able to just deliver something directly to someone who would benefit from it.
M: Yeah. And when you say lower touch, have you given thought to the different types of lower touch offers that are out there? Or is that something that you need to talk through?
A: So I've definitely given it some thought. I think that I'm exploring. So my thing is I've really been exploring the idea of digital downloads and resources and eBooks, courses, all of that stuff, but I'm having trouble figuring out which one makes sense for me because I'm somebody who like... I don't have a private practice or like a following or a brand or things like that. So I'm wondering what would make sense to implement into what I have now.
M: You don't have to have a private practice to start your side hustle. Some of my students in Side Hustle, they're like brand new licensed, but they see the writing on the wall and they're trying to have another income stream before they burn out or before they get so far down one road—as the better (probably) way of saying that.
So you don't have to have a practice before you can start building a brand. What I hear from you is this ownership piece is exciting for you. And you are doing a lot of work for other people, or at least being brought on other people's teams or something like that. And you're being the supportive role, but I heard you just a moment ago: "I wanna support the supporters. I wanna help the helpers."
So you can start a brand, you can start a business before you go into practice. If you even decide to go into practice and you can start it on a micro-level, it doesn't have to be this huge thing. It could turn into a huge thing over time, maybe, but it doesn't have to start that way.
A: I'm glad you said that because that was a concern of mine, of like, where I don't know if like where I'm at right now would... because I don't have all of that if this is something that would work for me, but it's great to hear that that's something that people have been able to build.
M: I never had a practice because it didn't make sense for me because I was a military spouse. And if I was gonna build a practice by myself or like on my own, and then move, it never made sense for me until I moved into an online business that could travel with me now.
Like just yesterday, cause I'm an LPC just yesterday, Nebraska ratified the cross-state practice and stuff like that. And if that stuff had been happening 10 years ago, when I needed it, maybe I would've started a practice. But it just wasn't feasible for me. So my first entrepreneurship journey was not into private practice. It was into the online space. So it's totally doable.
A: Yeah. Awesome. So yeah, I think I have a lot of different ideas of things that I want to be able to build in things that I wanna be able to make for myself. But I think at this point like where I'm at, it makes sense for me to build something that I can create that's a little bit more low-touch. Not fully passive because nothing's ever fully passive, but something that I can be one and done so that I can eventually move out of trading so much of my time.
M: Totally. And I love that you have that understanding because, like, to look at it like a basket of time, right? Call it 10 hours a week. You're gonna spend that 10 hours a week regardless. It's just where do you want that time to go? Do you want it to go to behind-the-scenes stuff and marketing stuff? Then you can have an offer that has zero to lower touch, but you're still spending 10 hours getting people in your funnel.
Or you might have a higher-touch program that requires less marketing so you're spending two-three hours of your 10 hours marketing and then seven hours of your time delivering and with the people. It's still 10 hours. So you just have to get over the hump or get over the idea that it will not take any time from you unless you have a shit ton of money to invest in it right away, which most people don't.
Cause yeah, if you can hire a VA and you can pay for ads and you can do all of that. And then of course you can do, you can have a no-touch offer and not spend the time, but the majority of us are, we're not, I was not, and are not in that position to start that way.
A: Absolutely.
M: And when you're talking about lower touch, that's the trade-off. Lower touch always is going to require higher volume because the price is lower. So if that is fine for you, then we're in that kind of 10 hours a week bucket where all of it's going into just driving traffic. It's your whole goal.
And you could do that in a multitude of ways. You can do that with marketing that requires visibility from you. You can do that with marketing that is all behind the scenes, like SEO or other things. But that's the name of the game when you're in the high volume category is just drive as much traffic to your funnel as you can because of your low price, and I don't wanna say this is a guarantee, but a low price—especially to a cold audience or people who don't know you—a low price kind of makes no-brainer purchases, right?
Yeah, it's a hundred bucks, and granted the low price is relative, but oh, it's a hundred bucks. If it sucks, whatever. But that's your opportunity to really provide value, and they're like, oh, that was a hundred bucks well spent. But when we're in that low-price category, we don't have to do so much convincing. People are more willing to spend the money because it's in that low-price category.
A: Okay. Yeah. Interesting.
M: You still wanna have good marketing. You still wanna have a well-written sales page. You still wanna have well-written emails that talk to an ideal customer and that are in the right people are in the right place at the right time. Like that still has to happen. That's what we call setting up your funnel once that's built.
It's a matter of just pouring people into that funnel. In the low price category, especially digital downloads or something that are like under 50 bucks, even lower-priced then you're not pouring so much time into the nurturing of that audience, cuz you're not trying to get them to buy higher price.
You're not trying to get them to commit weeks or months of their time. You're really just trying to get them to buy a digital download or a product or a course. And so your emphasis is on acquiring new leads rather than nurturing those leads.
A: Okay. Yeah. Interesting.
M: So what questions are coming up for you when we're talking about low-price, high-volume, driving traffic?
A: So within, like, this whole realm of lower price, like digital options there's, downloads, info products, courses, things like that. From your experience, what do you think as far as the medium would make sense? As far as, like, launching this piece of my business.
M: So what do you mean medium price, or what do you...
A: Like which sort of type of digital product would it make sense to start out with?
M: Yeah, it's totally up to you. What I would say because this is something that can be up quickly. What can you create quickly that provides value, right? We're not here to just sell bullshit. We can put a workbook together and we can be like, oh, sell it. A lot of people do that. I believe that you have a level of wanting to help people. You've expressed you have an impact goal here. And of course, probably a money goal, but you also have an impact goal.
The work that you're doing in the world matters. So it's what type of asset can you create quickly and deliver value through? So that might be a workbook. It might be journal prompts. It might be—I was gonna say a CD collection (dating myself)—a collection of MP3 files, audio like meditations, or something like that.
Whatever you can get together that feels like it's easy for you to create and provides value. Beyond the fact that of course, we wanna actually help people with what we're doing when you provide value in low-price offers. It's like this under-promise over-deliver. People aren't expecting a lot, cause it doesn't cost a lot.
But if they open it up and they're like, whoa, this was fantastic. I would've spent twice as much, three times as much for this. This was really good. We have created a bond with those people. So if we do eventually want to add a higher price or a higher-touch program, we have proven that we provide value even in a low-touch offer that we could have just written off as oh, whatever, it's 20 bucks. I'm not gonna pour any time into it. So making sure that there's value there is valuable to you as the business owner in multiple ways.
A: Yeah. Yeah, that's really great. That makes a lot of sense. And then as far as creating freebies and like other ways of a sales funnel, would it make sense to like building content, releasing digital downloads, and then focus on a freebie or should I, like, focus more on, on acquiring those new leads first? Does that make sense?
M: Yes. Okay. So we have two different approaches here. One is a funnel that starts with an opt-in, like a freebie, like you're mentioning. And another type of funnel is called a self-liquidating offer funnel. These are where you start with the low-paid offer, usually around $27, sometimes up to $47. The reason they call it self-liquidating is because typically, especially in bigger businesses, they're running ads straight to this $27 thing.
So if they spend $500 in ads but they're making $500 on the paid product, then it liquidates it's a zero. Like it, it balances out. But even if you're not running ads, you can certainly promote a low-price offer. If you're always gonna be in the digital product realm, nothing that you make is over a hundred bucks.
Most of it's under 50 bucks. Doesn't really make sense to start with it doesn't, what was I gonna say? Having a freebie and then it's oh, get this free workbook, but then now buy my workbook. It doesn't really work. So when you're talking about medium, that's when you wanna switch those up.
So if you are gonna have a freebie and it's a PDF, you don't then wanna sell a PDF cuz there's not enough value differential in the customer's head. I got this one for free, but I'm supposed to pay for this one. So you're actually cannibalizing your sales that way.
But if it's oh, I got this download for free, this PDF for free, and now I'm buying this one-hour workshop or this one-hour master class or this training that's video that has... because there's a different format in their mind. It's different. Then they're like, oh, of course, I'll buy that. So you could play around with this. You could play around with Just starting out the gate with a low price offer, like a low ticket, $27 ebook, or something like that.
I honestly probably wouldn't even go through the effort of launching something like that. Like n terms of oh, we have the 12-week runway of pre-launch and we're doing this at week six and this at week eight and all of these things that go into when you're launching like a bigger program. I would just say, hey, I made this thing who wants to buy it? And I would just, like I said, just continually just be driving traffic to that sales page for $27-$37.
A: Okay.
M: If you're talking about a course, we're in a little bit of a different category, cause courses are more than just one asset. There are lessons inside of modules that make up a course. And so, therefore, they're usually priced... $100 to $500 is a good price range for maybe a course. There are courses that are, of course, more than that, but for keeping it in that low price category. A course, you would wanna go through the effort of building an audience for and launching the actual course, especially if it's closer to the $500 mark.
A: Okay. So from what you're saying, I guess, it makes sense for me to start with more of like those lower-cost eBooks, digital downloads, things like that, and just start making them, and then just once they're out there just to sell them and just tell as many people as I can about it. And then as I start to have more repeat customers and start building relationships I can then start to build on things like courses and more higher, like, higher-cost items.
M: You certainly could because every time you make a sale, you're gonna collect someone's email address. They didn't have to opt-in for a freebie. They bought something from you. So you still get their email that way.
You're still building your audience that way that you can then email and say, hey, I saw you bought—I'm just making this up—I saw you bought trauma level one workbook. I just wanted to let you know that the trauma level two workbook is coming out in a couple of weeks. And if you're interested you can get early access to it for 50% off or something like that.
But you've collected their email address when they purchased from you, so you still are getting an audience that way for future, right? The other option too is if you like this digital product land, if it's fun for you to create something new, what you could start working towards is building a shop.
So then you just promote your shop and people can go in there and buy a la carte whatever they want. You could start to bundle things together. That kind of stuff is possible as well. But that's something that I suggest for people who like this is their thing. Like, they really like to make digital assets and stuff like that.
A: Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And so there's a lot of like platforms for these kinds of things. Do you think it makes sense for me to utilize, like, cross-post on a lot of platforms or to really build my own, like everything off of my website and then drive traffic to my website?
M: Always your website because that's traffic that you own. So you could certainly like I'm most familiar with Squarespace. It's what is on, like, my website's on and it's what we use inside of Side Hustle and teach all the students on is Squarespace.
But Squarespace for digital products, you can just set them up as a product, and then Squarespace emails it out right to the people when they buy it. So you don't have to worry about delivery or anything like that. And on Squarespace, you can create a shop. So you could sell individual products on the website or you could accumulate them into their own little boutique, like a little shop, right?
So that's what I would recommend for where you sell from you could put 'em inside, like, teachable, if you're gonna do a course or something bigger.I use the third-party platform because I don't wanna bog down my website. So there are two schools of thought on that. You can keep it on your own website or you can use a third-party platform.
A: Okay.
M: But for the products, I would have them straight from your site, and I don't know about Wix or Weeble or any of those, but WordPress does this too, where you would just have a plugin that would deliver your digital products too. So on the big, like those two bigger platforms, Squarespace and WordPress, possible right through your own website.
A: That's actually really… I wouldn't have thought of that because whenever I think of digital downloads, I think of Etsy teachers like all of this stuff. Yeah. But I guess it doesn't... But then you're also like they're making so much money off of it too.
M: And I don't think that those are a bad way to get started, to list on Etsy and to list on Teachers Pay Teachers. There's one in the therapist space called Practicat, which is like an Etsy for like therapist-type documentation like scripts and informed consent templates, and like those types of things that a lot of therapists need.
So I don't think those marketplaces are a bad idea, but I'd always want you to have your own web presence. Cause we don't know what's gonna happen to Etsy tomorrow. Like they could go out of business, which is very unlikely, but what's more likely is their server could be down for 48 hours.
And then we lose out on sales for 48 hours because we're dependent on somebody else. So always having your own hub first, and then you can certainly have other marketplaces. One resource that I like for this is called the Product Boss. They're more about physical products.
And they talk to makers a lot, artists, and things like that. But you can always take their advice and apply it to digital products as well. So that's a podcast that I love. I've worked with Mina in different masterminds throughout the seven years that I've been in the online space. So they're really cool. The Product Boss is their podcast and I think that's their website as well.
A: Oh, wow. Yeah, that's great. I'll definitely check them out. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And as far as I know, I'm talking so much about starting and now I'm gonna ask a question about scaling. But so I think it, based off of what we're talking about, it makes sense to start with smaller size digital downloads, then eventually moving into courses. Is it typical to like then launch like time per, like then to go into time portrayed services from this? I feel like I'm doing it backwards.
M: It depends on what your goal is, right? When students come to Side Hustle with me, a lot of them are like, oh, I want a course. And then we talk about this and then they end up usually picking one of two things. Most of my students launch group programs or membership sites which are still low touch, but they're recurring revenue over time and they're really scalable.
And so that's one of the factors that people like about them or group programs. The reason people choose group programs is because they're premium priced. We're talking like two, three, $5,000 plus, and you only need three people paying you three grand, that's nine grand. And it's whoa, that was worth my time.
And they make the money that they paid for Side Hustle back, which is always a bonus and always great. A lot of people who are more money-driven or have a bigger money goal want to go with the premium price offers. The benefit of that is you need a smaller audience to make decent money.
But if you have more of an impact goal, or if you have more of a time freedom goal, which is what I'm picking up from you, going the high volume, low price route is totally fine. It just really is what is your primary motivator? If time freedom is your primary motivator.
I would have you go the route that we're talking here. If money goals are your primary motivator, I'd say let's switch ideas into something group program style where you can charge a couple of grand to four people and start making that substantial cash right away.
A: Okay.
M: So when I mentioned that, what comes up for you? Do you feel more money motivated or do you feel more time motivated?
A: I think at this point, right now I'm more time motivated. But I know that as I start building that, that is definitely... like the money is definitely a goal. So I guess it also makes sense for me to start with these digital products because then it's almost built-in market research of like what kind of stuff are people really looking for. And then I can build a program based off of that. Or would you say that isn't like an accurate way to build a program?
M: I think that's totally an accurate way to build a program. It's the longer way to build a program. We could just launch the program first. But what you are doing... let's say you make, let's say you set up the shop and you've got 10 downloads in them across. Five different categories, two in each category, and you start to see like these three categories sell a lot and these two categories don't sell or haven't hardly sold anything.
Then you're starting to like narrow in on okay, the people that I'm attracting or the people that I'm talking to are really into this stuff. I wouldn't just take that at face value though. What I would do is start sending surveys or start like, hey, I'd love to invite you to, I'm hosting a free focus group.
Or I'm hoping I'm hosting a focus group where I'm gonna send everybody a $10 gift card to Starbucks or something like that. Or maybe Dunkin if you're up in New York, and it's I'm gonna send this to you. Grab your coffee, and meet me on zoom. I wanna have a little focus group.
And then you can just say, Hey I know everybody who's been invited to this event has bought one of these assets. I'm thinking about building something a little bit bigger. I'd love to workshop this idea with you. I'd love to pick your brain, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I would want you to have not only the buying like history, I'd want you to hear from the people.
What are they looking for? What are they wanting? Then perhaps you have what you need to go and build a course. I do think that's a longer way. So if you were telling me "I know I want a big program", then I would say, let's just start with a big program. But what I'm hearing from you, and correct me if I'm wrong, is more like "I wanna play around with these digital downloads, and perhaps I have a program in me down the road." Then I think the road that you're talking about is totally fine. Totally legit.
A: Okay. Yeah. That's really good to hear. And I like that you brought up the focus group as well, and not just using what the buying history is, but really soliciting that feedback from the buyers. A hundred percent. That's really good. Is there a major from—based on what I've shared—is there any major thing that I should steer clear from, or a big don't that I'm not seeing?
M: Yeah, so typically I say don't build a big audience without having the course idea in mind first. And so that's why we're doing this backward, but what you're not just building this random audience or what I would not want you to do is just build this random audience. The first thing you're doing is you're qualifying this audience because they're gonna be an audience of buyers.
M: So that's a big deal, but even before you start this, if it turns into a collection or a shop, or if it's just digital downloads or whatever, we still need that to be branded. We still need that to be centered around an ideal customer with a set of problems, instead of one problem, you're probably gonna have a set of problems because these different products are probably gonna address each different product problem.
So we're still gonna have a niche. We're still gonna have a brand even though you're building the audience first. You are qualifying that audience by seeing what they buy. And so that's not a red flag to me.
If you were like, oh, I'm just like putting a bunch of these freebies out there and I'm just seeing like collecting people and then I'm gonna survey them and ask them what they wanna buy, and then I'm gonna go make that course before they've even put any money down. Then I'd be like, okay no, none of that is okay. I would wanna intervene in all of that. But that's not what I'm hearing.
A: Okay. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And I'm glad that you brought up the whole cohesive brand and all of that because I think that's important for me to remember too of even though I'm creating all these individual products, there needs to be some sort of overarching cohesiveness to it.
M: The way that I would start with that is like still doing the person, the problem, the promise, and the price. And you're almost gonna have... the way I see it is like you're gonna have a bigger concentric circle. You're gonna have a big concentric or big circle with a bunch of smaller circles inside it almost. And that big circle is the person and the big problem and the big promise, right? When the person buys these types of assets to help them with their overarching problem, they will have this overarching outcome.
And then the little circles inside are the products themselves that solve this small problem with this small promise and this other small problem with this other small promise, but they're still all in. They're still all within the big circle. If that makes sense.
A: Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that's really good. And so then theoretically, like, somebody who really identifies with that overarching big promise, it would make sense for them to buy multiple products.
M: And like other stores and shops, if you buy clothes online at 11 at night, like I often do, they'll be like, oh, we see you bought this white t-shirt. Maybe you like this white t-shirt, or whatever. Like they'll suggest other products to you.
Amazon does a really good job of this. Like other customers bought this with, and then they also combined it with this and this. So if you do go the store way, or even if you just sell one, like a carte type of thing, you could still have what we call order bumps or suggested cells and things that come off the back end. I've just started using order bumps. They've always existed in my business, but I switched to a different software that made them more obvious and they've been incredible.
So you take my quiz, which is my free opt-in, and then you're introduced to a $27 training, and then you're introduced to Side Hustle Schedule for $47. Then you're introduced to Space Holder. And then I don't have them go up to Side Hustle yet because that's a totally different thing. You need to have a relationship with me before you invest in Side Hustle and all of that stuff. But these three can sell on their own and they've all had their own individual funnels.
And now I have them all on one streamlined funnel. So that's something that you could do too. Like you bought this workbook, perhaps you might like this training, and you also bought this training, now you might like this. And so you can certainly set it up to where you're introducing things, additional purchases
A: Yeah, that's really good. Yeah, this is awesome. I feel like I'm getting so much clarity here. So I really, yeah. This is great.
M: When you think about—and you asked me this question and I don't think I answered it very well—but what types of assets speak to you most? Is it workbooks? Is it video trainings?
A: So that's kinda what I'm thinking something more… I have some ideas for an ebook. I have some ideas about it especially if I'm providing resources for clinicians and people who work with clients. Creating some resources about systems and assessment and intervention, like protocols and things like that.
Especially for school social workers. I feel like there's a big gap of just like the systems and kind of things like that. So I definitely wanna create some things in that route. So I don't know if that would make sense to create like an intervention, as a PDF to sell it, or if it would make sense to put it in like an ebook of this is the start to finish.
M: I can see that in a course too because you saying okay, module one is—I am making this up off the top of my head, I never worked in schools—but like module one is working with the administration or like workarounds with the administration or something like that. And then module two is interventions.
And then module three is the other thing that you said... I can't think of the word. Assessments or? Yes, that's it. Okay. So I'd have module two B assessments probably. And then module three B interventions. And so you could, that I think could be an ebook and expanded into other things.
That's the other thing too is don't think that just because the information was in an ebook here that you can't do the same information in a course format and just expand it and do videos and slideshow and trainings. The ebook could probably turn into the workbook for the course. So as you create these further assets down the road, always be thinking, what can I repurpose?
What have I already done that can be expanded rather than starting from scratch so that you're working smarter, not harder.
A: Yeah. So if I made an ebook of the general outline of this, could I then upsell the course? Or would that be too similar?
M: Oh no, it would make, that would be okay because they're buying different things. Well, an ebook and a course, they're buying the same thing. They're buying information, but the formatting is different.
When you have a, let's say... call it a 50-page ebook, right? And then you break that up into five, 10-minute videos each with exercises to complete or something like that. There's a different level of value in that format than there is in just the ebook format.
A: Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And so I can even, I can start with an ebook, build it into a course, and then I can have additional digital downloads, supplements like checklists and like other activities, things like that, that can all be in the shop. So everything is really cohesive. But they're all relating to one another that's yeah. That's awesome.
M: Yeah. I love that idea. I wouldn't do just like a direct copy and paste, you're taking it from a PDF and then you're putting it in teachable and you just copy and paste it. I would make sure you're switching formats. I would make sure that there's more juice or more meat in the course than in the ebook, but you wouldn't be like starting from scratch. I had a student do this in the 2021 round of Side Hustle where she made a membership site. And each month there were the meetings and the calls and stuff like that.
But there were also these digital assets. And then one of the things that she could do was also just pull out the digital assets from the membership site and sell that as like a library, right? So it's the same digital assets, but this has community around it. This has calls around it. This has monthly meetings, and this is just the digital assets over here.
So they both were subscriptions, but one was obviously like a low 10, $15 a month subscription. And one was like a $50, $60 a month subscription and you got to choose what you wanted.
A: Wow. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And it's providing different kinds of value depending on what people need.
M: And it empowers your customers too to make the choice that's right for them.
A: Yeah. And then, okay, this makes a lot of sense. Cool.
M: So we talked about a lot. yeah. What do you feel like... If you were to synthesize—cause you started doing that. I think you were saying like, okay, so I should do this first. I should do that.
If you were to synthesize what we've talked about today into kind of like action steps or kind of a plan, what do you think your first step is? What do you see as the vision going forward?
A: That's a great question. I think that as far as the vision, like we had talked about it, really does make sense for me to just start making things and selling them. And so I think I need to start really thinking about what things I can make quickly and what things I can put out quickly this way I can just get it going and then just see, what is selling, what's not, and then just keep moving it from there.
But really building this website where there's like this hub and just like kind of being able to drive traffic directly to that hub. But I think as far as step one, figuring out what I can make quick and like immediately put out there.
M: And that's what I would put on—I don't know if the teachers paying teachers have a mental health section or anything like that, or where the school psychologist or social workers can contribute. But if it does, or if you would fit there getting on those marketplaces while you're building your website out that way, you're gonna be making revenue.
And you can also fund the build of the website or whatever. If you end up buying anything for it, or even just paying for the hosting or paying for Squarespace, like if you've got these assets on the marketplaces bringing a little bit of revenue in, then you're self-funding the growth of your own.
A: That makes a lot of sense. But do you think in the event that my hub or shop would take off, would it make sense to no longer crosspost? Or should we like always be crossposting?
M: Eventually some people leave the other marketplaces. Just like how private practice therapists are like... a lot of them are leaving insurance panels and they might keep the one or the two that like are easy to use and pay. Same type of thing.
From what I've seen is people who start on Etsy or, and all the others, they usually might keep Amazon and they might keep like one other kind of all... You can look at 'em almost as different income streams, you're selling the same product, but the source of the income is different.
So I would take a look at which ones are you selling best on? Which ones take a high percentage, which ones take a lower percentage, that kind of thing. And if there's one that really feels okay, I'm willing to pay the fees for this because it brings in enough for me and it's easy, then you can totally keep it.
A: Okay. That makes sense. Cool. Wow. Yeah. I feel like I have an actual plan going into this. I was all over the place. That's good though.
M: What do you think is gonna be the first thing you make? Just cause I'm like all in this like creative energy of ooh, tell me more.
A: Yeah. No, this is a good question. I think the first thing I'm gonna make is probably some resources. I think I'm gonna start with what I know best. Cause as a school social worker, I'm gonna start with resources like for school social workers. Yeah, like checklist things that I am always looking for.
Checklist, tip sheets, things like scripts, like intervention guides, things like that. And then move towards a different audience, like things for caregivers, things for teachers, things like that.
M: That's super smart. Starting with kind of like the pinpoint niche. We call these MVPs: most viable products, and doing that you're gonna be able to crank out fast, but it's still gonna be really valuable to the people who haven't come up with their own systems.
I tell my husband this all the time. He makes these trackers for the military and all the other... like for sergeants, and all the other people are like can I get a copy of your spreadsheet? Because he makes it so well. And they don't know how to make those. So we think, oh, there's no value in that.
But other people are like, wow, that was really helpful. I think that's your MVP. What do you already have maybe that's running in your PR or in your job that is helping you, and how can you put a brand on it and then sell it to other people.
A: Awesome. Yeah. Okay, cool.
M: So you feel comfortable with the graphic design piece?
A: I definitely know my way around Canva, but it's definitely a growing edge for me and something that I think has been a big, mental block in pursuing it cause I don't feel like I'm good enough,
M: And there are some shortcuts around that too, cause you can always go where I go and where I send my students if they want to purchase anything beyond what's provided in the course is creativemarket.com, and it's like an Etsy. It's a marketplace, but it's for all graphic design stuff: Logos, fonts, photo bundles.
But what you could look for is ebook templates, workbook templates. They've been professionally designed, so it takes that kind of guesswork out of it, and then make sure you say ebook template Canva.
You don't end up with a Photoshop-type file that you can't use in Canva. But then you can still put your own colors on it. You can still swap the graphics. You can still change things out, but again, that whole idea of not starting from scratch and you can rely on it. It's like when a stylist dresses you, and it might not be an outfit that you pick yourself, but you're like, okay, you're obviously a stylist, so you know what you're talking about.
That's how I think about this. I'm just gonna trust that you know what you're doing and we're gonna rock it. So you can look for ebook templates that are made for Canada that fit your aesthetic, and then you can still put your own stamp on it. But that way you're working from a template, then you can have a little bit more of that confidence until, and then if you wanna start building 'em from scratch over time, you can, or you can just keep using templates.
A: I'm so glad that you told me that, cause that's always been a block. I'm like, okay, today's the day. And then I opened Canva and I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't know.
M: Canva's done a good job of getting their own templates in there, but sometimes they're still...
A: And then I'm like, everyone else is also using this. So am I gonna make products that look like everyone else's product? But something like this would make sense cause I can find something that feels a little bit more unique.
M: And you can type in if your brand is feminine, you could put feminine ebook template Canva, and then it'll pull up all the ones that are softer colors or softer fonts and that kind of stuff that you could play with. Or you could do bold, or any of these just different aesthetic words, neutral. That's the one I rely on a lot is like neutral stock photo bundle, neutral template Instagram, or whatever.
A: Yeah, I really like that. And also as far as should I be like researching or looking at trademarks or copywriting or things like that, or should I wait on that?
M: Yeah, those are always good questions. So what I have done—because I was at the same point—do I need this right now? Or do I not need this right now? What is there, what exists? You go to spto.gov, so US patent and trade office.gov. And you can file your own trademarks there and you can file your own copyrights and everything there, but there's also a thing called intent to use.
And so when you file an intent to use, it essentially back dates anything you do to the date of the intent to use. So if you file the intent to use today, April 2022, but you don't actually file your copyright till 2024, you get to backdate all the way back to 2022. So it's a little bit of protection. That way you can move forward and you can make those decisions later, but you've set up a base layer of protection for yourself.
A: That's really good. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Cool. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna do that.
M: So we've talked about first steps. What would you say has been your biggest takeaway?
A: I think my biggest takeaway is how much I can repurpose and ways that I can work smarter in this situation. That I don't really have to sit and do hours and hours of building all these different things. I can take a couple of things and just transform them.
M: Yeah. Hundred percent,
A: Which is really great. Yeah. I have, like, pages of notes. I'm trying to sort through them. But I think I also… from this I've really been able to develop a system. I think that was something I was really lacking was like, I have the idea, but I feel like now I have steps, which I needed, so that's really good.
M: Cool.
A: Awesome. I can't even tell you how valuable this has been.
M: Good. I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Yeah. Awesome. What I will ask you to do is to hop in the Facebook group once you've got your first one made and post a link, not only for accountability for you but also just so we can check it out. And I can be like, oh, this is—I can link your podcast episode and be like, go listen to the conversation. And here's what Andrea made. And that way you can share everything with us. So that'll be really fun.
A: Yeah, that would be really great. Amazing. I'm looking forward to that.
M: Cool. All right.
A: Awesome.
M: Any other final questions? Are you feeling good?
A: I'm feeling great. Yeah. Thank you so much.
M: Really? You're so welcome. Awesome.
A: Awesome. Have a good rest of your day.
M: You too. Bye-bye.
Alright. I think that was really special. What I think my biggest takeaway from the conversation was this idea of starting where you are. We don't have to wait until we're quote-unquote, ready to start. I think this is a human thing. Like not just a therapist thing. I think people get caught up in imposter syndrome, or just self-consciousness or whatever, whenever they're starting something new.
However, something I do think that is uniquely appropriate or uniquely applies to us as clinicians is this fact. We have a really long lead-up until our career. Some of us... I started finance in undergrad, so I wasn't even going in this direction in the first place, but some of us start with a Bachelor's in Psychology or whatever, and then we have to get our grad degree.
And then we have to take our national exams, and then we have to get our hours and all this stuff. And then we also somehow get programmed to believe that we need a bunch of certifications and certain things, so it takes us a long time to feel as if we are ready for our career. There are some great things about that and some not-so-great things about that, but this preparedness we'll call it often follows us whenever we try and do something new.
So what I hope you picked up from Andrea's conversation and what I would love for you to take away from this is start where you are, right? You might want a multimillion-dollar brand someday if that speaks to you. And if it does, that's awesome.
But even people who have those brands now, they started somewhere and they started small. So my key for you is to just get started. If you want help getting started. I really think that Space Holder is the perfect program for you. I call Space Holder a weekend course. It's something that you can knock out quickly.
So during the summer break, if you are traveling or whatever, maybe you're in the car for an hour and a half, two hours, you could knock out like a third of the course in that time. It fits into where your life is right now. If you're like me and have two children at home, maybe you give them an iPad and then you take an hour for yourself and you do a couple of lessons inside Space Holder.
I promise it is the perfect program for those of you who are looking to get started. Start before you're ready and Space Holder can be a great asset for you to do that. So to find more about Space Holder, it's just over at my website, marissalawton.com/space-holder.
Alright, we're still going with this summer coaching series. There's several colleagues of yours left to hear from over the next few weeks, and we will just keep going. So until the next one, keep on rising.
