Bonus: How to Transform Your Skills into Passive Income Featuring Amy Porterfield

Ever wondered if you could turn your unique skills into a stream of passive income? Join us for a special bonus episode of the E-commerce Made Easy podcast, where we promise to reveal the transformative power of digital courses with insights from the one and only Amy Porterfield. With over 15 years of experience under her belt, Amy believes that creating digital courses is the most strategic way to impact the world while enhancing your income and freedom. She tackles common roadblocks like overwhelm and self-doubt, offering real-world success stories such as Corinne Gerhart's shift from a dog-walking business to a successful doodle-focused digital course and Raya's journey from being an esthetician to a course creator. These stories will inspire you to take that first step despite your fears.

Don't miss out on these empowering stories that will encourage you to leverage your unique experiences and create thriving digital courses.


Mentioned Resources:

--> FREE LIVE MASTERCLASS: 5 No-Fuss Steps To Creating A Profitable Digital Course From Scratch with Amy Porterfield
https://ecommercemadeeasypodcast.com/masterclass/*

--> Digital Course Academy with Amy Portfield
https://ecommercemadeeasypodcast.com/dca/*

*Contains affiliate links.


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Join me and my business mentor, Amy Porterfield, as she teaches you LIVE how to create your first (or next) digital course to make real money. These trainings are always inspiring and world-class; I always come back from an training from her inspired and motivated. Go to ecommercemadeeasypodcast.com/masterclass to register. (affiliate link)

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Chapters

• 2:55 Creating Passive Income With Digital Courses
• 11:25 Overcoming Fears on Digital Courses
• 16:02 Embracing Your Digital Course Success

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 2:56

Welcome to our bonus episode of the e-commerce made easy podcast. We will be going over one of the many ways you can create passive income for your business. If you love teaching and helping others, then listen up. I think you enjoy this bonus episode with Amy Porterfield, who's been selling digital courses for over 15 years now. I found Amy three years ago, in 2021, when I was in need of having another way to create passive income for our business. I absolutely loved learning from Amy. She is so knowledgeable, gives action steps and really encourages you to blossom right where you are today. So, without further ado, here's Amy.

Amy Porterfield: 3:38

Well, hey there. Thanks so much for having me. So, like you said, I've spent the last 15 years creating and selling digital courses, which is now the number one revenue generator in my $100 million online business which feels wild for me to even say. But I've had the privilege of helping more than 90,000 entrepreneurs create and launch digital courses to grow their business, and I'm going to share a lot in this episode about digital courses who makes them, who's successful with them, what they teach, what they charge, and so much more. But if I could sum it all up in one statement, I believe to my core that a digital course is the single most powerful and strategic way to make an impact in the world, while growing your income and freedom to life-changing levels. But with all of my experience working with course creators literally tens of thousands of them I can tell you that there's one thing that stops people from getting started and seeing real, genuine success. Can you guess what it is? It's overwhelm. Overwhelm of not knowing where to start, Overwhelm of not knowing what to teach, Overwhelm about the technical areas of creating and launching your course and, especially, the overwhelm of that feeling I am not enough, I'm not expert enough, I'm not unique enough. I'm not prepared enough. The list goes on and on. If you've been even a little curious to know whether or not you could create a digital course, but you have some, or maybe all of these fears that I mentioned. If these fears are stopping you, stay with me. If you're okay with it.

Amy Porterfield: 5:34

I want to jump right into this first idea. I'm so overwhelmed by all the things I don't even know where to start that one. Let's talk about it. This is like quicksand for every entrepreneur a looming mountain of tasks between you, tasks you don't even know what they are, yet between you and that vision you have to create this profitable digital course. That overwhelming feeling will suck you right in and make sure you go nowhere. So here's what I want to encourage you to think about. You don't need to have all the answers. You just need to commit for yourself and your business and take the best next step. I'm going to share some examples of what it looks like to take the best next step. I'm gonna share some examples of what it looks like to take the next best step, one at a time in a second here. But again, I believe to my core that a digital course is the single most powerful and strategic way to make an impact in the world and grow your income without locking yourself into trading time for money. So please don't let the fear of not knowing where to start or what next step to take be the thing that stops you.

Amy Porterfield: 6:48

I want to tell you about one of my students, Corinne Gerhart. So this is a great example. So Corinne owned a dog walking and pet sitting company. Holidays and weekends were her busy times, which is no fun, right? She didn't get to participate in these holidays and weekends. She was working.

Amy Porterfield: 7:06

Through her business, she started earning a reputation as the doodle expert, and I love this because my dog Scout, he's a Labradoodle, so I'm loving this. She actually wondered if she could leverage this experience as the doodle expert to help solve her scalability and flexibility issues with her current company, but she didn't know exactly where to get started. So, despite her fears and I want to mention this, every single successful student I've worked with they all have the fears you have now. They all have the doubts, they all have the obstacles. I promise you, you're no different, I promise. So, despite her fears, she took her next best step and started the Doodle Pro Podcast, and it did really well and before long she ended up selling her dog walking business and went all in on just doodles, and that's when she decided to create a specific doodle course. The result $14,000 on her very first launch. Plus she made an additional $9,500 from a membership that she offered with her course launch. So she paired it with something else. Now Corinne wrote me soon after and this is what she said the money win is so great, but the best part for me is that I got my life back. This is the stuff I live for. My friend. Okay, here's another one If you're feeling stressed because the process itself feels like it's just way too much, Like you don't know exactly what to do. But you know it's a lot of steps, so that's just stressing you out.

Amy Porterfield: 8:47

So my student Raya she struggled with acne at a young age and she wanted to help people who faced her same struggles. So she became an esthetician and she started in a brick and mortar. She started a brick and mortar business. She was 23 years old and it was just a tiny little room in zero clients. But she quickly experienced success and she grew both her team and her business. So she did good. And then she started to hear about digital courses and she immediately saw an opportunity to help struggling and burned out estheticians build successful businesses like hers. She had success, so she wanted to teach other people how she got that success. But here's the thing she didn't know where to start. So Raya created a course and it was called the Six Figure Beauty Business Blueprint. Now, because she wasn't sure what to do with this course like how to get it out there she just showed up every day on Instagram and she started to promote her course. She started to tell everybody about it. She had 105 signups and $105,000 launch before her course was ever even made.

Amy Porterfield: 9:59

Because I teach my students to come up with your concept, outline your course, get really clear on what you're going to teach and what you're going to deliver, and then promote it before you ever create it, Because I never want you to create a course that no one wants to buy. So when you put it out into the world, it's validation that this thing is worth creating. Now I followed up with Rayette and she told me this is what she said. Quote making online courses doesn't have to be hard, it can be easy and you can tailor the strategy to your business however you'd like end quote, and she's totally right. The truth is, when I started 15 years ago, no one told me that it can be easy, and I really struggled in the beginning because I didn't have any guide to kind of show me how to get started. So I wish I had heard from Rhea way back when. Now here's the thing If you're listening and you start to feel overwhelmed because maybe you're thinking I don't even know what I would teach, or maybe you're afraid to put all this time and energy into creating a course without knowing if people will actually buy it, which I just mentioned, right? So I get that, and I want you to stay with me because I have a really great resource that I'm going to share at the end of this training. That will help with this. Okay, In the meantime, though, I've got to tell you about Bell Mills. Okay, this is such a good one.

Amy Porterfield: 11:26

So, after spending almost eight years at home with her kids, she decided to take an art class at her local university and she started creating handmade books using salvaged paper. Yeah, Handmade books using salvaged paper. One of her teachers asked her to take over one of her classes at the local studio and she started teaching in person in virtual workshops. It was like a great opportunity. She put herself out there, she got this great invite. She's like, yeah, I'll do that.

Amy Porterfield: 11:54

However, eventually Belle wanted to find a way to avoid teaching the same class over and over, and also this was a really manual type of thing and she just had to allow her hands to have the opportunity to rest. Like it was really taxing on her hands. So she wondered if she could turn her workshops into pre-recorded classes so she could teach a class once and offer it online all the time and beyond her local market. But in her mind it appeared that there were very few digital course students or creators that were actually artists and that kind of concerned her. I'm sure Bell wondered, like what if she put all this time and energy into creating a course? What if people don't buy it? What if all this work isn't worth it?

Amy Porterfield: 12:47

So she came across a successful fellow artist who was promoting digital courses for her work and she used that as inspiration to take her very own plunge into the digital course space. This is important. It's important to maybe see someone else do it. Now Belle could have said, wait, that person's doing something similar. There's no room for me. No, she thought that person's doing it with success, so that's proof that this could work. I'm going to be inspired by that. That's the right mindset, my friend. So she created an introductory class called Upcycled Bookbinding and offered it at an affordable price so that many people could access it. The result $6,000 from just the pre-sell of her course. 130 people signed up. Now the course was under $100, so it was really affordable, but she made $6,000. That is a lot of money. So she wrote me and this is what she said, quote that initial success has given me the confidence to continue pursuing my dream of being a successful online course creator. With just the pre-sell, I've already accomplished so much more than I thought was possible for online art classes. It's been life-changing for me and now I truly believe I can make a sustainable living as an artist.

Amy Porterfield: 14:09

So seeing other people in the space that you're looking to get into again great validation that there is an audience. But it can also lead again to that feeling of overwhelm that I mentioned earlier, that feeling that maybe you're not enough. That question of who am I to be doing this? You see other people doing it online and they look like they have it all together. They look like they're making millions of dollars even though you have no idea. They look like they're the biggest pro at it. So then you look at yourself just getting started and you're like who am I to be doing this? I absolutely felt that 15 years ago and I can promise you 99.9% of my students who get started from scratch, who fast forward, have had amazing success with courses. They, too, felt this way. They tell me this before they get started and then I get to see them shine.

Amy Porterfield: 15:06

Also, another thing that might come up for you because it did for me is that I was kind of embarrassed to put myself out there, start promoting myself in my course, because I was just worried about what people would think or say about me. Here's the truth. So back in the day I used to work for Tony Robbins and when I left there and started my own business, I launched my first digital course and I just did not want to put it out there. And my husband was saying, like, why aren't you putting content out there? Why aren't you promoting this course? And I said I'm really scared about like what will Tony think? What will Tony say? And he's like babe, I love you, but I'm sorry to break it to you. I think Tony is doing his own thing, building his own business. I don't think he's worried about what you're putting out online. And I laughed and I'm like, okay, you're so right. But what about my old coworkers? What are they going to say? He's like them too. Everyone's doing their own thing.

Amy Porterfield: 16:03

And also anyone who puts you down for going after your dreams, for putting yourself out there in this way, I can promise you that they are doing less. What I mean by that is no one doing more than you. No one that's going after their dreams. You know hustling to make it work. They will never stop and put you down. That's not how it works. So just consider the source, my friend. If they do talk, consider the source. Now back to you. Imposter syndrome. That's what this is all about, right? Imposter syndrome. It was such a regular for me.

Amy Porterfield: 16:42

But in the back of my head, even though I was thinking, who am I to be doing this, I kept thinking I think I can help people, though I actually think I can figure this out. There was this little faint voice. I just knew I can figure this out. There was this little faint voice. I just knew I had perspectives that were different from maybe other voices out there. I had different experiences and I really wanted it. I wanted freedom. I wanted to work when I wanted, where I wanted, how I wanted, and I knew digital courses would get me there. It wasn't that nine to five job and it wasn't doing consulting or coaching, because that's one-on-one work, trading time for dollars. I wanted something to give me more freedom and that's why I stuck with it.

Amy Porterfield: 17:17

So here's what I want to offer you when this fear starts to creep up you don't need to be an expert to have a successful digital course. Yeah, you heard me right. I'm going to say it one more time you do not need to be an expert on a subject matter like know everything about it to have a successful digital course. You just need to have a 10% edge a 10% edge over the students that you are going to be teaching. You need to be 10% ahead of those you're teaching and be willing to show them exactly what you did to get the results that you got. So the 10% edge is something that I teach my digital course academy students. It's meant to help you develop your skills and confidence to consistently show up when starting out, knowing you don't have to have everything figured out, just the 10% edge, so that you can teach people what it is that you did for yourself or for somebody else to get results.

Amy Porterfield: 18:18

And I think this is the important part. It's all about understanding that you don't need to be years ahead of those that you serve to make an impact. Instead, it's about leaning into the results that you've gotten and choosing to impact those who want to experience the same. So you've got to acknowledge your credibility and success. Like right now, my friend, you have the 10% edge. You probably have it in a few different ways in, like, the business sense and in a personal sense. Maybe you have an Airbnb that's just crushing it. You know exactly what it takes to have a successful Airbnb.

Amy Porterfield: 18:53

That's a digital course. Maybe you're a project manager and you created some really specific processes and systems that have worked for you and, like, really allowed you to climb the ladder as a project manager. That's a course you could teach that. So we don't need to overthink this and that's important. So what's something that you've accomplished that makes you feel proud, Like think about that, feel that, acknowledge that you did that. Or what's something that people always ask you, like how are you doing that or how did you do that? That might be a course.

Amy Porterfield: 19:29

The thing is, you've got to just keep showing up. You don't need to have confidence that this is going to crush it right now. You just need to have courage. Think of the first day at a new job. You didn't know the systems or softwares or even where the coffee was at. But six months into this new job you showed up, solved a problem, got the well done from your boss at maybe a meeting or something. You figured the things out in over a really short period of time. So that's no different. With this, you create your first digital course. You will figure it out as you go and if you let me guide you, we'll get there a whole lot faster. But I'm really here to say you can absolutely figure this out. You already have a successful track record of figuring many other things out before today.

Amy Porterfield: 20:20

Now I do want to share with you one final story Kevin. Kevin was a middle school vice principal who taught fitness on the side. He wasn't necessarily a fitness expert and, again, his day job was in education, but he wanted to help other dads like him in fitness, so he kept showing up. He started an Instagram account with just like short workout videos for busy dads. And then people started asking for virtual private coaching, for workouts that they could do at home. So he decided to turn his fitness coaching into a digital course. What Kevin did was lean into that 10% edge that I just talked about, into that 10% edge that I just talked about. And even then his first launch didn't go as planned. But he fine-tuned his content and he relaunched.

Amy Porterfield: 21:10

Did you hear that the first launch didn't go as planned? Mine didn't either. I made $267 and then cried for a week. But imagine if Kevin or I had just stopped there. No, we went back and we kind of changed a few things and we dusted ourselves off. After I cried and we got back out there and this is get ready for this. So he first launched didn't go as planned. Then he got back out there. He kind of fine-tuned what he was doing. He told himself I'm just gonna start simple and I can get fancy later. He told himself I'm just going to start simple and I can get fancy later. So the result he has now made over $300,000. His best month he brought in $40,000. So in less than a year after launching his course, he was able to leave his vice principal role and go all in on digital courses, and this is the best part, beyond all the money, he now stays home to care for his children while running his business.

Amy Porterfield: 22:09

Again, that's the stuff I live for, and I want to stop here and remind you of this one thing you have a digital course in you. I mean, I hope you've been listening to every single one of these stories. Maybe you're sitting in your work parking lot. Maybe you're commuting to of these stories. Maybe you're sitting in your work parking lot. Maybe you're commuting to and from work. Maybe you're cooking lunch or walking or on the elliptical, whatever it is, and you think, yeah, I can do this. I don't know how, but I can do this, Even if it's a nervous yes, or there's some doubt on the periphery of that. Yes, I hope you get that.

Amy Porterfield: 22:46

A digital course is doable, not just for them, it's doable for you. So before I hop off, I wanted to share that my signature program, Digital Course Academy, is open for enrollment, but only until September 26th. I only offer this course once a year and while you go through the course, I'm live in a community for 11 weeks answering your questions and supporting you. So remember, you only have until September 26th or you have to wait an entire year. So inside Digital Course Academy, I take you step by step by step through how to create, market and launch a digital course from scratch.

Amy Porterfield: 23:32

So it's a self-paced program. You get to go at your own pace. I'll cover it all, from coming up with your idea to mapping out your lessons, to recording your trainings. I'll teach you how to pre-sell your course to get some upfront cash, how to create a webinar that feels really good with zero ick. And how to put together a proven sales page and high converting sales email series that are simplest to do but really, really sell. And I'm going to teach you how to automate your digital course so you don't have to automate your digital course, so you don't have to live launch every year if you don't want to.

Amy Porterfield: 24:07

It's the program that tens of thousands of digital course creators have trusted, including our lovely host of this podcast, to uncomplicate the process of pulling this off. Even if you're a one man or one woman show, even if you've launched a digital course before where you've had less than thrilling results. Digital Course Academy closes enrollment on September 26th and it won't open again until next year. So if you want to learn every step of course creation and marketing with technology, how, to's and templates that will save you time and 15 years of digital course success backing you up, now's the time. All you need to do is go to the link in the show notes to grab your spot and here's the deal.

Amy Porterfield: 24:52

I want you to be the next Corinne or Raya or Belle or Kevin, or actually. I just want you to be the next you with a lot of digital course success, and here's the thing I want to brag about you the next time I do a. Here's the thing I want to brag about you the next time I do a podcast episode like this. I want to talk about everything you've done, the mindset hurdles you overcame to get started. I want to share your juicy revenue numbers, like everything.

Amy Porterfield: 25:16

So, friend, I want to talk about your digital course success, and that means you've got to get started. So thank you so much for tuning in. I've loved being here and thanks for letting me nerd out about digital courses. It's like my favorite topic and I really do. Hope I see you inside of Digital Course Academy and, if you need it one more time the link to join Digital Course Academy, which is everything you need to create and sell a highly successful digital course. It's in the show notes. All right, Thanks again for tuning in. I'll see you soon. Bye for now.

Carrie Saunders: 25:52

Isn't Amy Porterfield so fun and inspiring. If you're interested in learning more about Digital Course Academy, you can join me. My affiliate link at ecommercemadeeasy easy podcastcom forward slash D C a. Again. That's e-commerce made easy podcastcom forward. Slash D C a. All who joined through my link get a free one-on-one with me as well to help you be more successful with your business. We can talk digital courses or we can talk your website tech. Whichever will help you the most. See you in our next episode.