Most people understand fundamentally that they can convert followers into leads by offering some sort of lead magnet. But that’s where it usually ends.
They do not go further to continue to nurture these leads or even convert them to buyers.
This is why implementing a simple lead generation funnel to do the work for you is key.
If you have the money to burn, paid advertising could prove profitable for generating leads for your business. Most people, however, do not have a budget for advertising.
If you are already creating consistent content online, all you need to do is have one working Lead-generation funnel in place. Your content is your investment. But you must always be sending the traffic from your content to your funnel.
This means every time you post on social media, you make a call to action to have people follow through on your funnel.
This could be as simple as pointing people to your deeper content such as a blog, YouTube video, or podcast. Then your deeper content will have links or further calls to action directing people to your landing page.
Even better, you can simply point people to your lead magnet straight from social media and they get added to your funnel.
A lead generation funnel is a simple automated process for capturing, nurturing, and converting leads into prospects and buyers. You simply create the funnel, set it, and forget it.
With a funnel in place to do the heavy lifting, all you focus on every day is driving traffic to your funnel. This is a crucial part of your lead generation process because you do not want to do things manually if they can be automated.
The funnel will interact with your audience from the point of awareness until the purchase.
Each point of the funnel is crucial but only a small part will require your involvement.
But every funnel is different from business to business and would depend completely on your offer, your audience, and oftentimes, your price point.
So the first step is to understand your own unique process for acquiring customers.
How a Lead Generation Funnel Works to Grow Your Business
Let’s say for example you are a business coach who offers coaching services with a $2000 price point. At $2000 you are possibly going to need to speak with prospects on a call.
Your process could look like this:
Post free content on social media
Make a call to action to download a lead magnet. Your lead magnet could be a downloadable guide, a video sales letter, a masterclass
Followers take you up on your lead magnet offer and give your their email address
Your funnel is immediately activated and the nurture emails begin to send automatically
The Lead is directed to book a call with you
Once booked, you get on a call at the appointed date
The emails in the nurture sequence continue to go out on autopilot.
All you are doing in this entire process is creating content online and getting on the calls.
Lead generation can be free, or it can cost a lot if you have the money to invest in hiring a Lead Generation specialist. Be prepared to invest anywhere from $3000 to $20,000 or more to hire a lead generation specialist.
Think of it this way, if someone can build you a system for generating quality leads in your business day in, and day out, this is a worthy investment.
Oftentimes, a lead generation specialist will access your business, build out a custom lead generation strategy, and plan and build a lead generation for your business.
Once done, all you have to do is follow your process for acquiring as much traffic as you can.
If your traffic plan is organic traffic through content on social media, then you must have a clear content strategy in place.
This can be as simple as committing yourself to post content consistently on social media. Once set up, your lead generation funnel will continue to nurture leads for your business on autopilot.
But as soon as I began to charge people for my knowledge and services, I was in business. Being in business means you have to have the right tools to grow your online business.
The beautiful part of running an online business is that it costs way less to run your business than what you actually earn.
If you have set up your business correctly and you are working with the right strategy, paying for your tools and software will be no hassle.
My online business saved me when I was broke and depressed. Today, it costs me less than $100 per month to run it.
Here are 7 tools that help me make money online right now
1. My All-in-one Must-Have Business Tool – Kobocourse
I use Kobocourse for selling everything in my business: eBooks, Classes, Courses, Coaching, Tickets, and even my Membership sites. This is my all-in-one platform and my business will not exist without this tool.
As an African creator, it was important for me to have a course hosting platform that enabled me to earn easily online.
Kobocourse makes secure payments easy and helps me manage my students, files, videos, and content all in one easy-to-use platform. Start with a Free account on Kobocourse
Price – $20/ N10,000 / month
2. For Unlimited Email Marketing to Unlimited Subscribers – Flodesk
Email marketing is one of the most important parts of my online business. I have tried Mailchimp, and Convertkit and ended up moving to Flodesk because of their unlimited subscriber offer.
With Flodesk, you only need a one-time subscription monthly that does not increase in price as you grow your list.
For many beginners just starting with email marketing, the price is always the drawback.
Email sending and Funnel integration on Flodesk are smooth and easy.
If you already have Kobocourse and do not want to invest in another email marketing software just yet, Kobocourse makes it easy for you to send emails to your students and subscribers directly from your dashboard.
As a Writer, I decided to take Twitter seriously and the results have been phenomenal. Handling so many different social media accounts can be tasking, especially on the mind.
This is where automation and scheduling tools really shine.
Hypefury has completely changed the game for me, especially as a Twitter creator.
Not only are you able to schedule your tweets in advance, but you also get access to high-level AI tools with ideas, topics, and templates to make your content creation easy.
The best part is I can schedule all of my Tweets, Instagram, and LinkedIn all inside one easy-to-use dashboard. For a tiny monthly fee, I cannot recommend this enough.
This is probably one of my favorite tools as a blogger. Ubersuggest is one of the simplest tools for keyword research and SEO for blogs.
If you intend to take blogging for business seriously, you cannot skip the most important part -which is learning how to write blogs for Search.
Millions of people search on Google every single hour. Ubersuggest makes it easy to research and analyze keywords, plan my blog content, and optimize my blogs overall. I cannot recommend it enough.
Start using Ubersuggest for Free, and definitely upgrade to a Pro account to unlock even more features and capabilities.
Price – $12 /month
5. Keyword Research and Youtube Optimization – Tubebuddy
Most people do not realize that Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world. If you want to become successful on Youtube, you must begin to think of the platform as a ‘Search Engine‘.
As a Youtuber, I am very glad to continue to pay for a Pro account on Tubebuddy. It makes all of my Youtube keyword research and content planning easy.
TubeBuddy is a FREE browser extension & mobile app that integrates directly into YouTube to help you run your channel with ease. With Tubebuddy, you will generate the right topics, titles, and keywords for your Youtube channel, every time.
6. Hosting my Website and Blogs – WordPress + Elementor
I always wanted to have a blog and home base for my online business.
When I started, I started with the intention to have blogs. As a writer, this was a no-brainer. With WordPress, I am able to build out my own website, blogs, and sales funnels all in place.
I use a strategic combination of Kobocourse + my WordPress sites to power my funnels.
Although you can use Kobocourse completely on its own without needing WordPress, I found I wanted a separation.
I am able to build sales funnels and sales pages easily using WordPress and this is what powers my entire site.
Price – $30/ year hosting on Namecheap
7. For Meetings, Live Classes, and Training – Zoom
I am in the business of selling my knowledge online and monetizing with digital products. Zoom is absolutely my favorite tool for hosting my Coaching meetings, Masterclasses, and Live courses. I have been using Zoom since I started my business and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I also love that I can record all my meetings inside of Zoom, and download the videos later to be sold as Classes or courses on Kobocourse.com
Price – $15/ month
8. For DM Chat Automation and DM Funnels – ManyChat
Right now, my Instagram communications and lead generation are almost fully automated thanks to Manychat. I still enjoy chatting and directing with my audience but when it comes to lead generation and sales, Manychat makes connections easy.
You can also use ManyChat to automate your WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, and Emails.
I currently only use it for my Instagram automation but will be activating Telegram soon!
As a writer, Medium has become a big hub of ideas for me. I love spending several minutes every day consuming content from incredible writers on Medium. This is also a separate place for me to document my ideas as well.
Right now, reading and posting on Medium is the benefit I get from being a paid subscriber. I do envision I can earn money on medium as a Writer over there but it is not my priority at the moment. For now, let’s just say this is a wonderful business tool for me to build my idea bank.
Price: $5 /month
And, that’s a wrap!
If you are just getting started with your online business and monetizing your knowledge, I hope this shows you that you don’t need a lot to make it work. As a beginner content creator looking to monetize easily, the most important tool for you would be a hosting tool that helps you sell your knowledge with ease.
Start selling your knowledge the easy way today on Kobocourse.com
If you are wondering whether you can sell your knowledge, the short answer is yes you can.
Thanks to the Internet, it has become increasingly easy for anyone to monetize their skills.
In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through:
The most common questions people ask about Monetizing their knowledge
How to package your knowledge into a profitable digital product
How to sell your expertise
The step-by-step process of monetization
Plus mistakes you must avoid when you want to monetize your know
and so much more.
Let’s jump in.
Can knowledge be sold?
Yes, your knowledge can be sold, and very easily too if you do it right. Every day, people are online asking questions and needing help in just about any area of life.
It doesn’t matter what knowledge you have right now, there is someone somewhere in the world looking for you. The question is what are you doing to ensure when people search for you they find you?
Your knowledge can be sold in many different formats online.
You can package your knowledge into eBooks, digital courses, classes, workshops, coaching, group coaching, webinars, audio presentation, and even in-person classes.
If people are asking for your help with something specific, it may be because they are convinced you to have the knowledge and expertise.
This is the sign you need to start asking people to pay you for your knowledge.
This is why more and more people are beginning to monetize their knowledge.
What does it mean to monetize a skill?
To monetize a skill means to charge money for that skill and get paid for it.
No matter what skills you have right now, if someone needs your help and you can help them, then you can monetize that skill.
For example, if you know how to manage and grow a social media account, that is a skill you can charge for.
A skill is essentially anything you have mastered for yourself that can bring value and utility to others.
You have to understand what people are asking for and position yourself to provide the value they need. Skills can be obvious like selling, marketing, singing, baking, etc. Or they can be a little less obvious like communication, empathy, listening, and intuitive guidance.
Oftentimes a skill is something you have taught yourself through self-imposed practice, repetition, and experience.
So do not underestimate the power of what you have learned and the value in what you know right now. You can easily monetize your skills online by asking people to pay you for them.
How do I sell my expertise?
If you are ready to sell your expertise, you are embarking on one of the most lucrative forms of business online today.
First, you have to consider how you enjoy sharing your expertise.
Do you love to teach? Speak? Write? To sell your expertise you’ll need to package it into an offer or product that people can easily pay for.
If you are someone who loves to speak, you can create audio classes that people can have access to.
Selling your expertise online is easier when you have an engaged audience listening to you.
This is why social media platforms are so powerful for business. On social media, you can attract a group of people who are interested in what you teach.
Imagine having an Instagram page with 5000 engaged followers.
The process to monetize your knowledge is simple, but you have to be willing to do the work to make it work. To monetize your knowledge means getting people to pay you for what you know.
And if you want people to pay for your knowledge, you have to know how to sell.
This means you need people you can sell to if you want to monetize your knowledge. Selling is easier when you are selling to people who already know you, listen to you, like you and trust what you are saying.
Once that is in place, you can then begin to make offers to your audience and ask them to pay you.
Let’s go through the most important steps to monetize your knowledge online.
1. Grow an online audience
If you want to monetize your knowledge online, you need an audience you can sell to.
Having your audience means that you have the opportunity to earn money for a long time to come.
Pick a Platform you prefer.
The platform of choice will depend on how you like to create content online.
If you enjoy being on video, you may want to consider starting a Youtube channel. If you enjoy writing, you may want to start a blog or write on platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
I recommend starting an Instagram page because it can be generally easier to grow on Instagram. But don’t focus on the money in the beginning.
Instead, focus on creating consistent content on your platform of choice. If you choose Instagram, you can grow your first 5000 followers fast in the first three months.
It will take longer to grow a blog or a Youtube channel. This is why most people start on social media and transition to more long-form content after a while.
Now that you know what your audience is asking about, the next step is to align your skills with the problems people are having. Which of your skills is most needed in the marketplace?
Creators get it wrong most times because they want to create what they feel like.
If you want to make money online, however, you must create what people need. So which of your skills, or what aspect of your knowledge will be most profitable?
Once you decide what you want to teach and get paid for, the next step is to ensure people know you have this skill.
And the way you do that is with your content.
5. Drive demand for your skills with your content
Your content is what you’d use to let people know that you can help them. You want to make sure you are creating content in a way that drives demand for your skills and expertise. If you want to create content that drives demand, your content must make people feel:
Understood
Educated /Informed
Inspired
Ready to take action
You must also let people know that you can help them and make an invitation to have them work with you.
How do you know you are ready to Monetize Your Knowledge?
Imagine this for a moment.
Imagine that right now there is a simple money-generating idea sitting in your head.
Or you are sitting on it.
All this time you’ve been wondering how to improve your life, earn more money, and have more freedom, yet there is so much wealth potential in your head just waiting to be unleashed into the world.
But you are sitting on it!
Long before I started monetizing my knowledge with digital products, I was broke and depressed and unhappy with my life.
My unhappiness at the time was also compounded by the fact that I knew I was good for it. I knew I was gifted, I knew I had the brains and potential, I just didn’t know how to turn all this into money.
Is that you?
Do you feel like you are so good at a certain skill that you wish others will pay you for?
Have you imagined the possibility of teaching others your information and getting paid for it?
We live in the most exciting time of our lives and the opportunities to earn are endless. Selling digital products online was the key to unlocking the shackles of poverty and despair that I experienced.
Read this carefully, you might stumble upon the very tiny idea that will unlock the money you already have in your mind. Let’s dive in.
STEP 1: Uncover Your Gift, Chase Your Curiosity
The very first step is finding out what you already naturally love and aspire towards. You don’t want to become somebody else. One of my fav quotes by Alan Watts says “Find a way to get paid for playing.”
Think about the freedom in that.
Imagine doing what you already enjoy and getting people to pay you to keep on enjoying and having fun. This is the future of work. This is the present reality of making money and how it should be.
You do not have to slave away at a nine-to-five that you detest. You do not have to exchange your valuable time and hours for peanuts.
So my question to you is what do you currently enjoy doing? Best believe, there are millions of people just like you who enjoy what you enjoy.
When I started creating content online, my curiosity was content.
Specifically how to create content and grow communities on Instagram. I started a new Instagram page to teach others how to create content and grow on Instagram.
That single curiosity has led me to other curiosities and now I have added a fleet of high-value skills to my arsenal, one of them being an expert Sales Funnel Builder.
So what’s your present-day curiosity?
Don’t wait to know more than you know now. Start with what you know and love now.
STEP 2: Share Your Knowledge, Grow Your Audience
Now that you’ve uncovered what you are wildly curious about, the next step is to share your knowledge about this subject.
Yes, we have Google to answer our questions but we are still humans and humans are still social animals.
Social media thrives because of our inherent nature to be social and connect.
People can find the answers from Google if they want, but they also love to follow someone.
We all need someone to show us the way.
Sharing your knowledge through content online will immediately position you as a leader in that space and you can begin to grow your tribe.
Seth Godin says we are all leaders in today’s digital world.
The minute you start sharing your thoughts and ideas on the internet, you slowly start carving out your own little country of people who look to you to guide them and support them.
You don’t need to be an expert either. You just need to be one step ahead of us and lead us through what you have done to get to where you are now.
The good part is the more you share and teach the stuff you already know, the better you know and the more your audience grows. It’s a win-win however you look at it.
Choose any two platforms and start spreading your message!
STEP 3: Invite Your Audience, Grow Your Community
Now you have a nice little group of people following you on your platform.
You are creating content consistently just sharing your ideas, knowledge, and opinions on your topic of choice. More people are beginning to listen to you. They are leaving questions in your comments and DMs, they have begun to ask you for more.
Your following on social media is growing and you are having fun with it. This step is very crucial. You have to begin to invite your audience into your private communities.
This means asking them to join your email list, your Whatsapp groups, Telegram channels, Discord, or wherever else you want to serve your audience privately.
Think of it this way, social media gives you the platform to reach a lot of people. When this people notice you, you have to take them off social media and grow your platforms.
STEP 4: Ask Your Audience, Give them What They Want
Business is really simple. Find a problem in a hungry market, provide the solution and ask to get paid.
Problem + Market + Solution = Money
You already have a passion and acquired knowledge in a specific market, but people do not necessarily just throw money at what you know. They throw money at the solutions your knowledge can provide for them.
Now you have an audience listening to you and engaging with your content. You want to start paying attention to the questions they are asking and the content they are interacting with the most.
You also want to consistently ask your audience directly what they need help with so you can uncover the most profitable ideas for your offers and digital products.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming you know what your audience wants. This is the fastest way to create digital products and offers no one wants to buy.
Start finding out how people need your help.
STEP 5: Get Paid For Helping 1:1
You make money when you ask to get paid.
Do not let fear stop you from putting a price on your knowledge and expertise. This is where a lot of people get hung up, the money part.
Once you are clear on what people most need help with, it doesn’t matter how basic it is, offer help and get paid. You’ll be surprised to find out that what your audience need help with are the simplest things.
I used to make the mistake of sitting in my ego, knowing too much, and wanting to show that I knew a lot.
I got my audience overwhelmed and confused and it cost me money.
No matter how far ahead you get in your journey, you must always come back to the basics and provide help where it is most needed.
The easiest way to make money with your knowledge is to offer one-to-one support. Start with one person, then two, and grow from there.
Once you encounter a problem that comes up a lot for most people, then you know you have a potential winning digital product in your hands.
STEP 6: Create a Digital Product, Get Paid While You Sleep
I love digital products because they help you reach people at scale. There is only one of you and you can only go so far with helping people one-to-one.
The goal is to eventually create a digital product that many people can buy at once.
Doing this one-to-one soon got increasingly frustrating because I was answering the same questions to different people.
So I did what any smarty pants would do and I created an eBook. That eBook earned me my first $5,000 on Instagram.
If many people are asking you for help with the same problem, then it may be time to expand by creating a digital product to solve that problem.
Making money with what you already know and have is as simple as following these six steps. If you already have step one which I am sure you do, all you have to do is follow through.
Do not get hung up on any step either.
Don’t wait to get to 10,000 followers before you start asking to get paid for your knowledge and support.
You can start right now even with 200 followers.
If people are already following you, it is a sign that they like you and want more of you. It is also proof that they need your help.
If you want to make money, you have to focus on generating Leads, no matter how small your audience is. I teach you the surefire way to generate high-quality leads here, using a lead generation funnel.
If you are serious about doing business online, then you must know that business is more than just posting content.
Just to be clear, I love Reels and have nothing against any kind of short-form content.
But when it comes to making money online, getting clients, and selling your digital products, simply posting Reels is not the whole game.
So before the gurus snatch your attention from you this week and bombard you with why you should spend all day creating Reels, here are 7 things that will actually move the needle in your business and deserve your attention this week.
I hear people tell me all the time how they don’t have time for email marketing and they think it is not important.
Let’s be clear, if you don’t have emails from your followers, you don’t have an online business. This week, ensure that you have your Freebie funnel set up so you can attract your ideal clients, grow your list and make money every time someone joins.
I cannot tell you enough how powerful connecting with your audience in a live class is. Every time I go Live, I make money.
That’s facts and it’s no surprise.
People buy from people they know. People are drawn to your energy when they can hear you, see you, and feel your essence.
Plan a Livestream this week and create a real connection with your tribe. It could be IG Live, Facebook, Clubhouse, a Webinar, whatever. Teach Live!
Pro-tip: Send an email with the title – NAME is this you? And in the content: Tell your audience something like:
“Hey NAME, I’m planning an intensive class this week to teach you [HOT TOPIC IN YOUR NICHE]. This is for people who are [YOUR IDEAL CLIENT AVATAR]. Is this you? Is this a class that will help you right now? If yes, please hit reply to this email and I’ll send you the link to the class.
There are only 15 Spots open. Hit reply now if you want it.
If you haven’t sent out an email in a long time, this is a perfect way to break the ice. Not sure what topics or ideas to offer in your classes or digital products?
If you want to make money this week, FOLLOW UP. Get back in your DMs and wake the conversations up!
I had a client once who complained that her followers just liked to pick her brain for free and never bought anything. She had a problem with converting Followers into paying clients.
So I had a 1:1 consultation with her and taught her How to Sell in the DMs. Just two days after she sent me this ??
There is so much money you have been leaving on the table. Get back in your DMs and get them out this week.
Pro Tip:Don’t be boring when you start the conversation. Wake a dead conversation with phrases like —
“Hey NAME, I was wondering if you gave some thought to this? What’s your decision “Hey NAME, before I get way too swamped with work, I wanted to make sure to give you some feedback today —
..then proceed to help them with a quick tip and ask for a call)
Learn a New Skill
I have successfully improved my skills and my value in a very short time because I invest in coaches, buy courses that help me, and actually commit the time to watch the courses I buy.
This week, replace Netflix with a course or some form of learning.
You will be surprised just how much time you waste that could be used to upgrade yourself and your skills.
I went from $45 per client to now charging over $10,000 in less than two years because of this one thing.
You only need 30 minutes a day to learn a new skill. Dig out all the online courses you have invested in. Get on Youtube. Read more books. Do something that forces you to learn a new thing every single day.
Why?
Because committing time to your own self-improvement is how you knock out the competition.
Ask for the Sale, hunnie!
Selling is important. You must learn how to sell. You must learn how to communicate so that people want to buy.
Stop saying “You don’t know how to sell,” —that’s a lie.
You do. You just haven’t practiced enough times and you give up before you see results.
You are already doing the work, posting content, connecting with your audience, always make sure to Ask for the Sale
Pro Tip: Break the ice with phrases like- “When would you like to start? “Do you want me to lock this in for you at the discount price right now? “Can you share with me how you believe your life will be transformed when you finally have this?
Update your Online Course
We love digital products and online courses because it is the set it and forget it life.
You make a digital product once and don’t have to create it again.
However, updating your courses and ebooks from time to time is the best way to continue to help your students and keep them happy.
New information comes in all the time, and as a coach, you are constantly learning and improving yourself as well.
So, do you think your online course is long overdue for an update?
Is there something different and valuable your students can gain from your new knowledge and experience?
Take some time out this week to check for places where your courses can do with some improvement and update your course.
If you haven’t created a digital course yet and you are ready to make 2022 the year you finally earn passive income with courses, Join me for the Course Creation Workshop.
Digital courses changed my life and I am committed to helping as many Creators as I can do the same. Seats are Limited.
Just two years ago, out of the blue, I decided I wanted to grow a new Instagram page from scratch.
My motivation was to grow a niche audience on Instagram fast and learn how to monetize online with digital products and coaching.
I wanted to earn money online teaching what I know.
And I did!
In that time, I have sold hundreds of courses, grown a student base of over 4500 students, earned $30,000+ in my first year, and now offer $10,000+ services.
But I started with exactly $0.
In the beginning, all I wanted to do to monetize online was sell eBooks and maybe a digital course. I wasn’t even sure how to sell courses, how to price my products, or even what exactly I was going to sell. But I was tired of reading and hearing about how people made money online with digital products and I was committed to testing my own theories.
I knew if I wanted to monetize I’d need an audience that listened to me.
5000 followers before monetizing was a personal challenge for me. It was a milestone I wanted to hit before thinking about money.
But forget 5000 followers, you don’t even have to think that far.
Here are 7 Steps to Monetize Online with $0 and Less than 500 Followers.
1 | Having an Audience Online is the First Step.
Except you want to shell out thousands of dollars in ad spend, you’d need an audience.
Having your own audience is a digital asset that pays dividends over time.
If you are a serious creator, you already know the value of having your audience, a group of people who listen to you and look to you to be their guide.
The good news is you do not need more than 10 people to begin to monetize online.
All you need is one person to say yes to your offer and you are literally in business.
Personally, I ask that my students hit a milestone of 500 – 1000 followers first. Understanding how a platform works and knowing how to grow your audience on that platform is key.
I chose Instagram and I mastered how it worked with seven different Instagram pages in different niches. But just because you are growing your audience doesn’t mean you cannot begin to make money.
A lot of money is made right inside your DMs this is why the next tip is important.
When you are just getting started, it will be unwise to distract yourself with thoughts of how to make money. This is how a lot of people fail. Making money alone cannot be your immediate concern.
Making money is a by-product of helping people.
This is why you always want to start with the question – “How can I help?”
This one question will lead you down the paths that will unravel other connected paths for you. Starting with “How can I help,” will eventually lead you to see the opportunities to help you earn money.
The money you are currently seeking is in the pockets of other people who have problems.
Your job is to identify the problems people have and match your products and services as a solution.
This is why you need to start with the people.
Even if you had less than 100 followers right now, you can begin to ask -” What do you need help with?”
That’s why it is very possible to start monetizing online with less than 500 followers on any platform. This is where the power of the DMs comes into play.
3 | Learn How to Chat and Sell in the DMs
Your content positions you as the trusted source, the go-to expert, the one who knows the most in a specific subject area. But you must use your content to invite people to chat with you in the DMs.
Do not underestimate the power of your DMs to get clients and make sales.
You always want to make sure you use the Call-to-action “DM me” or offer some type of Freebie in a Sales Funnel that does the selling for you.
In the beginning, when you still have a small audience it is very easy to chat with people in your DMs and you must keep this line of communication open.
People want to talk to people and people pay people they have access to.
Many people stop themselves from monetizing at all because they think they have to prove a point by having more followers.
Yes having more followers is a great look and it’s nice as a vanity metric, but there are lots of people with many followers who are not even making a penny.
That’s because people pay you for solving their problems, not just because you have many followers.
When it comes down to monetizing and making money, your focus is on the one person you can help right now. Get them in your DMs and start selling in your DMs
4 | Offer Paid 1:1 Help and Support
Please do not be the person who answers every question in the DMs and offers free advice.
Believe me when I tell you, if anyone has the audacity to pick your brains in the DMs, they are often ready to pay you.
Your job always is to uncover the deeper desires of your followers and see where your products or services shine as the right solution. Then you must position yourself to offer that solution to your prospects.
And the easiest way I have found to do this is in a 1:1 capacity.
That’s it. Start offering to help people 1:1 time with you in exchange for a fee.
Most of this conversation will start with that very awkward chat in the DMs, this is why I stress the importance of knowing how to sell in the DMs.
When I started monetizing online, I focused on chatting with people directly in the DMs and inviting them to a phone or Zoom meeting.
Once in a meeting, I was able to upsell myself and my higher-paid services as well.
I remember initially charging $45 for an hour of consultation and feeling all kinds of euphoria the first time I got paid. It was unbelievable to me at the time, that I could sit at home, talk to someone on the phone, solve their problem, and get paid.
Over time, as I learned more about how to price my offers and how to deliver more value to my clients, I began to bring more to the table and inevitably charge more.
I raised my consultation from $45 per hour to $100 and later on to $350 and so on.
If you are in the beginning phases of your monetization journey, you are in the phase I call the Researcher Phase.
Throughout your business and career, you will always be in this research phase but especially in the very beginning, you need to take this 1:1 research opportunity seriously.
What’s even better is you are getting paid to do your research. By talking with people 1:1 and helping them solve their problems, you’ll better understand:
Who you really want to help
How you really like to help
What services or products are winners
How much effort is required on your part
How to set your prices in relation to the value you offer
What to offer next
..and so on.
6 | Always Have an Upsell to the Next Offer
Charging for an hourly consult is great, but it is only the very first offer. You need to have a higher-priced offer as an upsell and you need to know how to sell this next offer.
It is very easy to sell someone on an hourly meeting or phone call for say $100. But once on the phone, you want to ensure that they are not only satisfied with your service, but you open a loop for them to continue to work with you on a deeper level.
You never want to end your conversation with this prospect, without letting them know how else you can help them. You must show them the possibilities available to them were they to continue working with you, and even let them know the cost implication of that.
You can offer single coaching / consulting calls – e.g $100 per hour
And on your coaching call, pitch to continue to help your client through a deeper level of coaching – e.g $1000 upfront fee for 2-Months of weekly coaching.
You must make this offer on the call, you don’t have to seal the deal just yet.
Say goodbye, end the call and let them go back to marinate on the possible idea of working with you. In your follow-ups and check-in with them, you can continue to try the seal the next offer.
This way, a single $100 per hour phone call can become a $1000 per month coaching with you!
7 | Go From 1:1 to One-to-Many
A lot of people begin monetizing by charging people by the hour. Unfortunately, this is where they stop and they never go on to doing much else.
Soon your 1:1 consults begin to tire you out and you wonder if this is all life is about, selling your time for money. Even worse, you realize that you do not have enough hours in the day to sell and even if you did, it begins to drain you and you lose all love for the thing.
I started doing 1:1 coaching until I realized I didn’t enjoy it and I preferred to coach many people at a time.
So I started offering group classes and paid workshops, group coaching, memberships as well as offering digital courses. These are great ways to take the material that helps one person at a time to offer it to more people. Now you can earn more in much less time than it would take to help just one person.
But getting your material to the point where you can prove results really comes from that 1:1 engagement you have with your clients.
So start now and fail fast.
Begin inviting people into your DMs, make your DMs work for you by learning how to sell in the DMs, and begin to offer your solution to the many people who need your help right now.
