I Made $2.5M Selling A Digital Product

Starter Story
18 Apr 202415:29

Summary

TLDRIn this inspiring interview, Thomas Frank reveals how he built a multi-million dollar business selling digital products on Notion, a free platform. With a niche focus and strategic marketing, Frank's templates have reached over 30,000 customers, generating $2.5 million in sales. He shares his journey from YouTuber to entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of studying successful founders, providing valuable insights on creating and selling Notion templates, and the power of niche marketing strategies.

Takeaways

  • πŸ˜€ Thomas Frank made over $2.5 million by selling digital products, specifically Notion templates, using a free platform.
  • πŸ“ˆ He launched a product and achieved $90,000 in revenue within 30 days through an email launch to a 3,000-person waitlist.
  • πŸ”΄ Thomas transitioned from running a YouTube channel with 3 million subscribers to starting a new channel from scratch, finding a strategy that made him over $100,000 a month.
  • πŸ’‘ His marketing strategy revolves around niche marketing, which he considers the gold standard, and he shares blueprints on how to find million-dollar niches on YouTube.
  • πŸ“š Thomas's main channels are 'Thomas Frank' with nearly 3 million subscribers and 'Thomas Frank explains' with 230,000 subscribers, focusing on teaching Notion.
  • πŸ”‘ He offers two premium Notion templates: 'Ultimate Brain' for personal productivity and 'Creators Companion' for social media and content management.
  • 🎯 Thomas emphasizes the importance of studying successful founders to learn from their strategies and growth channels.
  • πŸ“ˆ He experienced burnout from his main YouTube channel and started a new, niche channel, which reignited his passion and led to significant revenue growth.
  • πŸ› οΈ Thomas's business model includes offering free templates to build an email list and driving sales through direct purchases of premium templates.
  • πŸ’Ό He discusses the importance of active support for customers, which helps in understanding their needs and improving the product.
  • πŸ’‘ The power of a niche channel lies in catering to an audience already interested in a specific topic, such as Notion, which can lead to higher revenue despite a smaller audience.

Q & A

  • How did Thomas Frank generate over $2.5 million in sales with digital products?

    -Thomas Frank created and sold digital products using the free platform Notion, focusing on templates that enhance personal productivity and social media management for creators.

  • What was the initial success of Thomas Frank's email launch for his templates?

    -Thomas Frank made $90,000 within 30 days from an email launch to 3,000 people on a wait list.

  • How did Thomas transition from running a YouTube channel with millions of views to creating a new one?

    -Thomas started to feel burnout from his main channel with 3 million subscribers and millions of views, so he decided to start a new channel focused on Notion tutorials, which rekindled his passion.

  • What are the two premium Notion templates that Thomas Frank sells?

    -The two premium templates are 'Ultimate Brain,' a personal productivity template, and 'Creators Companion,' a template for social media and content management.

  • How does Thomas Frank's strategy of studying successful founders benefit his business?

    -By observing and learning from successful founders, Thomas has been able to implement effective products, launch strategies, and growth channels in his own business.

  • What is the role of 'Thomas Frank explains' in his business model?

    -'Thomas Frank explains' is a side channel that focuses on teaching Notion, which helps attract viewers and potential customers to his premium templates.

  • How does Thomas Frank's business utilize the concept of a niche market?

    -Thomas targets specific niches within the Notion user community, such as individual creators and professional students, to sell his tailored templates.

  • What advice does Thomas give for creating a successful Notion template?

    -Thomas suggests making something useful for oneself, a client, or an audience, and then making the Notion page public with the 'able to be duplicated' option checked.

  • What is the customer journey or funnel for Thomas Frank's Notion templates business?

    -The customer journey involves attracting viewers through free Notion tutorials on YouTube, offering free templates, and then upselling to premium templates through email marketing and direct purchases.

  • How did Thomas decide on the pricing for his Notion templates?

    -Thomas considered the value provided by his templates in managing a creator's entire business and initially priced 'Creators Companion' at $99 and 'Ultimate Brain' at $49, with adjustments made over time based on market response.

  • What tools and software does Thomas use to run his business?

    -Thomas uses Notion for its templates, Circle.so for customer logins and support, Lemon Squeezy for point of sale, ConvertKit for email marketing, and Pipedream for automation.

  • What advice does Thomas have for someone starting on YouTube?

    -Thomas advises to publish on a schedule, get feedback, and improve a little bit with each video to compound skills over time.

  • What is the advantage of having a niche channel like Thomas's 'Thomas Frank explains'?

    -A niche channel can attract a dedicated audience already interested in the topic, such as Notion users, and can fulfill a demand that's already present.

  • How can the business model Thomas uses be replicated for other software or channels?

    -The model can be adapted to any niche where there is a growing interest or 'ground swell,' offering products or services that cater to the needs of users within that niche.

  • What does a typical day look like for Thomas Frank as a Notion entrepreneur?

    -A day for Thomas might involve morning routines, gym time, and then variable work depending on the day's demands, such as filming videos, working on templates, or doing CEO tasks.

  • What personal challenges has Thomas faced in building his business?

    -Thomas has struggled with self-doubt and perfectionism, which can hinder the process of publishing content and receiving feedback.

  • What advice would Thomas give to his younger self or to someone just starting out in business?

    -Thomas would advise building friendships with ambitious people, becoming a fan of others' work, and leveraging these relationships for mutual support and growth.

Outlines

00:00

πŸ“ˆ Million-Dollar Digital Products with Notion

This paragraph introduces a successful entrepreneur who made over $2.5 million by selling digital products, specifically templates, using the free platform Notion. The entrepreneur, Thomas Frank, shares his journey from running a popular YouTube channel to discovering a profitable niche marketing strategy. He emphasizes the importance of studying successful founders and leveraging free platforms to create and distribute products. Thomas also highlights his two premium Notion templates, 'Ultimate Brain' for personal productivity and 'Creators Companion' for social media management, which have attracted thousands of customers and significant revenue.

05:02

πŸš€ Scaling a Niche Business with Notion Templates

This section delves into Thomas Frank's business model, focusing on how he scaled his Notion templates to generate substantial monthly revenue. He discusses the process of creating and selling Notion templates, the importance of active customer support, and the strategies he used to grow his business. Thomas also shares insights on pricing strategies, the customer journey, and the tools he uses to run his business efficiently. He emphasizes the low cost of entry for a similar business and the power of a niche channel on YouTube to attract a dedicated audience and generate sales.

10:02

πŸŽ₯ Leveraging YouTube for Business Growth

In this paragraph, Thomas Frank discusses his experience with YouTube and offers advice for aspiring content creators. He stresses the importance of consistency, feedback, and continuous improvement to build skills and an audience over time. Thomas also highlights the power of a niche channel, explaining how it can attract a highly engaged audience even with fewer subscribers, leading to higher revenue. He provides tips on how to create content that fulfills existing demand and how to monetize a niche channel effectively.

15:03

πŸ›  Overcoming Challenges in Entrepreneurship

The final paragraph focuses on the personal challenges Thomas faced in his entrepreneurial journey, particularly self-doubt and perfectionism. He shares his struggle with wanting to create the perfect product before launching it and how this mindset can hinder progress. Thomas advises overcoming this by embracing feedback and learning from it to improve future products. He also emphasizes the importance of building a network of ambitious individuals who can provide support, advice, and inspiration, as success in business is often a collective effort.

πŸ’‘ Final Thoughts on Digital Product Success

This concluding paragraph summarizes Thomas's business approach and offers a final piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. It reiterates the low cost of creating digital products and encourages viewers to explore digital product ideas that are currently successful in the market. The paragraph ends with a call to action, directing viewers to a free resource for digital product ideas and highlighting the potential for success in the digital product space.

Mindmap

Keywords

πŸ’‘Digital Products

Digital products refer to goods that are distributed and consumed in a digital format, such as software, templates, or online courses. In the video's context, the creator has made significant earnings by selling digital templates through a free platform called Notion. The script mentions that these products 'sell like hot cakes,' indicating their high demand and popularity.

πŸ’‘Notion

Notion is a free platform that serves as a note-taking and project management tool, which can be used to create various templates for personal productivity and business management. The video's subject has capitalized on Notion's capabilities to create and sell templates, which are central to his business model and success.

πŸ’‘Launch Strategy

A launch strategy in the context of the video refers to the methods and tactics used to introduce a new product or service to the market. The script discusses a simple yet effective launch strategy that helped the creator generate substantial revenue in a short period, highlighting the importance of strategic planning in business growth.

πŸ’‘Million-Dollar Business

A million-dollar business is a company or venture that generates at least one million dollars in revenue. The video showcases how the creator built a million-dollar business 'essentially overnight,' emphasizing the potential for rapid growth in digital product sales.

πŸ’‘YouTube Channel

A YouTube channel is a platform where content creators can upload and share videos. The video's subject initially had a YouTube channel with millions of subscribers but decided to start a new one focused on niche content. This decision led to the discovery of a profitable marketing strategy and the creation of a successful business.

πŸ’‘Niche Marketing

Niche marketing is a targeted marketing strategy that focuses on a specific segment of the market with specialized needs or interests. The creator in the video adopted a niche marketing strategy by focusing on Notion users, which helped him find a lucrative market and grow his business.

πŸ’‘Creator Funnel

A creator funnel refers to the process or system that creators use to attract, engage, and convert their audience into customers. The video discusses building a 'million-dollar creator funnel,' which is a strategy that the creator used to effectively monetize his audience and generate significant income.

πŸ’‘Email List

An email list is a collection of subscribers' contact information used for sending out newsletters, promotions, or updates. In the video, the creator mentions having a core email list and a full email list, which he uses to distribute free templates and promote his premium products, playing a crucial role in his marketing efforts.

πŸ’‘Productivity Template

A productivity template is a pre-designed layout or system intended to help users organize and manage their tasks, notes, and projects more efficiently. The video's subject sells templates like 'Ultimate Brain,' which combines various productivity features, demonstrating the demand for organized systems in personal and professional settings.

πŸ’‘Content Repurposing

Content repurposing is the process of reformatting or reusing existing content to reach new audiences or platforms. The creator mentions adding a 'Content repurposing dashboard' to one of his templates, indicating a strategic approach to maximizing the value of his digital products.

πŸ’‘Customer Support

Customer support refers to the assistance provided to customers in relation to products or services. The video emphasizes the importance of active customer support, as the creator offered it for 8 hours a day for a full month, which helped him understand customer needs and improve his product.

πŸ’‘SaaS (Software as a Service)

SaaS stands for Software as a Service, a software licensing and delivery model in which software is provided on a subscription basis over the internet. Although not explicitly mentioned in the script, the creator's business model of selling access to Notion templates can be seen as a form of SaaS, where customers pay for ongoing access to the templates.

πŸ’‘Pricing Strategy

A pricing strategy is the method used to set the price of a product or service. The creator in the video initially priced his 'Creators Companion' at $99 and later adjusted the pricing, which affected sales volume but increased overall revenue, illustrating the dynamic nature of pricing in business.

πŸ’‘YouTube Growth

YouTube growth refers to the process of increasing a channel's visibility, subscribers, and views. The video's subject discusses the importance of consistent publishing and learning from feedback to improve skills over time, which contributed to the growth of his YouTube channel and business.

πŸ’‘Niche Channel

A niche channel is a YouTube channel that focuses on a specific, specialized topic or interest. The video highlights the power of a niche channel, where the creator's smaller channel, focused on Notion, generates more revenue than his larger channel, showcasing the potential of targeted content.

πŸ’‘Self-Doubt

Self-doubt is the lack of confidence in one's own abilities or decisions. The creator in the video mentions self-doubt as a significant challenge, particularly the tendency to seek perfection before releasing content, which can hinder progress and growth.

Highlights

An individual made over $2.5 million selling digital products using the free platform Notion.

Launched a template and made $90,000 within 30 days via email to a 3,000-person waitlist.

Thomas, with nearly 3 million subscribers on YouTube, experienced burnout and started a new channel from scratch.

A marketing strategy focused on niche markets is considered the gold standard for success.

Thomas teaches people how to be organized and productive through his YouTube channels.

Two premium Notion templates sold are 'Ultimate Brain' for personal productivity and 'Creators Companion' for social media management.

Thomas Frank explains channel garners a few hundred views a month, often converting to free or premium template purchases.

Studying successful founders and their strategies is a key approach to business growth.

Starter Story provides over 4,000 case studies and business idea breakdowns with real revenue data.

Thomas's initial foray into blogging and YouTube was driven by a desire to share life hacks and learn from admired figures.

The transition to creating niche videos on a new channel rekindled Thomas's passion and led to business growth.

Active support and understanding customer needs through direct engagement is vital for product improvement.

Notion templates are created by making a page public and allowing duplication, facilitating easy online sales.

The customer journey involves free educational content leading to potential purchases of premium templates.

Pricing strategy started with a minimum of $100, considering the comprehensive utility of the product.

Thomas uses a variety of tools including Notion, Circle.so, Lemon Squeezy, ConvertKit, and Pipedream for business operations.

The cost to run a business like this can be as low as a few hundred dollars a month, including content creation tools.

Consistent publishing and incremental improvement are key to growing skills and audience on YouTube.

A niche channel can be more profitable due to targeted content fulfilling existing demand.

The business model could be replicated with different software or niches, not limited to templates.

A day in the life of a Notion entrepreneur involves a mix of deep work, content creation, and business development.

Overcoming self-doubt and the tendency towards perfectionism is a personal challenge in the business journey.

Building friendships with ambitious individuals and being part of a supportive network is crucial for business success.

Transcripts

play00:00

this guy made over $2.5 million selling

play00:03

digital products and the crazy part is

play00:06

he creates them using a free platform

play00:09

notion I flew out to Denver Colorado to

play00:12

ask him more about these products why

play00:14

they sell like hot cakes and the simple

play00:16

launch strategy that created a

play00:18

million-dollar business essentially

play00:20

overnight I had made a template for

play00:23

myself launched it and I think we did

play00:26

$90,000 within 30 days just from an

play00:28

email launch to 3,00 people on a wait

play00:31

list a few years ago Thomas was running

play00:33

a YouTube channel with almost 3 million

play00:36

subscribers he was getting millions of

play00:38

views but he was starting to burn out so

play00:42

he decides to start a brand new channel

play00:43

from scratch and along the way finds a

play00:46

strategy that makes him over $100,000 a

play00:49

month without having millions of

play00:51

subscribers marketing strategy around

play00:54

Niche is what I sort of model my own

play00:56

after and what I look towards as the

play00:58

gold standard for it in this video

play01:00

Thomas will share his blueprints on how

play01:02

to find million dooll niches on YouTube

play01:05

how to build a million dooll Creator

play01:07

funnel and how he would start a

play01:09

million-dollar business from scratch on

play01:11

a budget distribute for free on

play01:14

distribute for free on whatever you want

play01:16

I'm Pat walls and this is starter

play01:20

story how's it going thank you for

play01:21

having me Thomas thank you for letting

play01:23

me be on your show yeah man tell me

play01:26

about this amazing business you Bel yeah

play01:28

so for the most part I make videos

play01:30

teaching people how to be more organized

play01:32

get more done the main Channel which is

play01:34

just called Thomas Frank is coming close

play01:36

to 3 million subscribers I think it's

play01:38

around 180 million views Lifetime and

play01:40

then I have a side Channel called Thomas

play01:42

frck explains that does nothing but

play01:44

teach notion I think we're up to 230,000

play01:47

subscribers about 60 or 70,000 on our

play01:50

core notion email list and 200,000 on

play01:53

our full email list we've sold about

play01:55

$2.5 Million worth of templates at this

play01:57

point for about 30,000 customers all

play01:59

right break down your business a little

play02:00

bit more for me okay so we have two

play02:03

premium notion templates that we sell

play02:04

one is called ultimate brain which is a

play02:06

personal productivity template so it

play02:08

combines task management note taking uh

play02:10

project management it's got useful

play02:11

dashboards for daily planning GTD stuff

play02:13

like that and then we have creators

play02:14

companion which is just our exact social

play02:17

media and YouTube and blog management

play02:19

template basically productized creators

play02:22

obviously use creators companion we have

play02:23

creators who have actual teams using it

play02:25

all the way down to solo creators just

play02:27

getting started on YouTube and then all

play02:29

kinds of people ultimate brain

play02:30

professional students just people from

play02:32

all walks of life use that template now

play02:34

with Thomas Frank explains we do a few

play02:36

hundred, views a month those funnel into

play02:38

a lot of times free templates to our

play02:40

email list in many cases just direct

play02:42

purchases of our our premium templates

play02:44

as well in our previous interview our

play02:45

written interview on starter story you

play02:47

talked about the power of studying

play02:49

successful Founders and studying how

play02:50

they built their business can you tell

play02:51

me more about that yeah this is

play02:53

something that I've been doing ever

play02:54

since I started the blog all the way

play02:56

back in 2010 I've never been a course

play02:58

learner when I want to learn something I

play03:00

just go and deeply observe somebody who

play03:01

I admire and usually that's not like a

play03:04

strategic decision on my part it's what

play03:06

seems like the most fun decision on my

play03:08

part and when you do that over time you

play03:10

just kind of observe what people are

play03:13

actually doing at a world class level

play03:15

instead of going through course material

play03:18

I think in many cases you can learn the

play03:20

exact same things yeah as you just heard

play03:22

from Thomas he grew his business by

play03:24

studying worldclass Founders and seeing

play03:26

what they're actually doing the products

play03:28

they sell they're launch strategies and

play03:31

the growth channels they use now imagine

play03:33

there was a place that gave you access

play03:34

to all of this a place where you can see

play03:36

exactly how simple ideas turn into

play03:38

million-dollar online businesses that is

play03:41

the power of starter story over 4,000

play03:44

case studies in business idea breakdowns

play03:46

all backed by real Revenue data from

play03:49

real entrepreneurs so if you're serious

play03:52

about building a million-dollar business

play03:54

like Thomas head to the first link in

play03:56

the description and you're going to get

play03:58

our free database of 102 digital product

play04:01

ideas that are making millions right now

play04:04

just like Thomas's and if you're serious

play04:06

about building a million online business

play04:09

consider joining us at starter story

play04:11

much love and I hope you guys enjoy the

play04:13

rest of the video with Thomas peace so

play04:16

tell me about your backstory how do you

play04:19

get to this place where you built this

play04:20

business going into college my thought

play04:22

was I have to be as competitive as

play04:25

possible just to get a job what this led

play04:27

me to do was start reading blogs like

play04:29

Life Hacker and crucially there was

play04:31

another one called hack College which

play04:33

was life hacker for college students I

play04:34

thought it might be fun to write for

play04:36

them when they put out a call for new

play04:37

writers so I spent a whole night writing

play04:40

a guest blog post I thought would knock

play04:41

their socks off and they rejected me I'm

play04:43

glad they did though because I took that

play04:44

blog post I wrote for them and I started

play04:46

up my own website College inb.com I just

play04:48

started writing throughout a lot of my

play04:50

college Years it was purely for fun just

play04:53

I was like building up stuff I wanted to

play04:54

share all the little life hacks I was

play04:56

kind of implementing myself and then um

play04:59

we started YouTube in 2014 again a lot

play05:01

of just like I'm imitating the people I

play05:03

admire I was posting videos every single

play05:05

week the channel eventually grew up to a

play05:07

million subscribers every video was

play05:08

sponsored I felt pressure to get 100,000

play05:11

200,000 views on every single video it

play05:13

became the job and it sort of had sucked

play05:16

a little bit of the creative freedom out

play05:17

of it for that reason in 2020 I had made

play05:20

a couple of notion videos for the main

play05:21

channel that did well and I was getting

play05:23

so into the software that I wanted to

play05:25

make more Niche videos but I'm like it

play05:26

just doesn't fit on the main Channel

play05:28

super Niche tutorials it just isn't a

play05:30

good branding play so I decided to start

play05:32

a brand new channel and I started having

play05:35

fun again you got this bigger Channel

play05:37

but now you're getting excited about

play05:38

notion and something else tell me about

play05:40

that transition for you yeah so we

play05:42

launched Creator companion within the

play05:43

first couple of months I think it was

play05:44

about $3,000 per month eventually scaled

play05:47

up to $155,000 a month within the first

play05:49

6 months of launch then when we launched

play05:51

ultimate brain I think that was 90 grand

play05:53

from a weight list of 3200 people and

play05:56

then we made a video on Thomas FR

play05:58

explains just going going through the

play06:00

template it was a 45-minute video like

play06:02

the whole video is an ad but I'm showing

play06:03

so much of it that I feel like it's

play06:04

still educational because people will be

play06:06

able to replicate parts of it if they

play06:08

want to without buying it the video did

play06:10

so well that it goes up to 100 Grand a

play06:12

month another thing that I had set up

play06:14

from the very beginning with creators

play06:15

companion was active support if anyone

play06:17

comes in number one if it's just not for

play06:19

them they can get a refund but if

play06:20

they're stuck or they want to customize

play06:22

or whatever it is they should be able to

play06:23

get support so I was doing that support

play06:26

for 8 hours a day for at least a full

play06:28

month I actually think this is something

play06:30

that Founders should do because you just

play06:32

get really in tune with how people

play06:34

perceive your product and how easy it is

play06:36

for them what their pain points and

play06:37

sticking points are but at that point

play06:39

it's like now we're making between 100

play06:41

and 120 Grand a month and now there are

play06:43

all these new opportunities that just

play06:45

sort of put the main channel on the back

play06:46

burner every month for almost two years

play06:48

yeah let's talk about how notion

play06:50

templates work what's your process for

play06:52

creating A Great Notion template that

play06:54

you can sell online uh yeah notion

play06:56

template is a page of notion that you

play06:58

make public and and you tick the little

play07:00

box that says able to be duplicated and

play07:03

that's it so to create an ocean template

play07:05

you just make something useful either

play07:06

for yourself or for a client or for an

play07:08

audience put the link out there sell

play07:10

access to the link Creator companion was

play07:12

just an evolution from 2018 all the way

play07:14

to 2021 of everything we needed to make

play07:17

our YouTube videos and then we just went

play07:19

to the process of polishing it up adding

play07:21

a few more features like a Content

play07:22

repurposing dashboard and stuff like

play07:23

that packaging it up and selling it for

play07:25

ultimate brain it was a similar thing

play07:26

where I had made a task management

play07:28

template for myself and I'm just like

play07:30

let's build on top of that so

play07:31

note-taking getting things done

play07:33

workflows project management goal

play07:35

tracking all kinds of stuff like that

play07:37

packaging it up can you break down what

play07:38

the customer Journey or the funnel looks

play07:40

like for a million dooll notion

play07:42

templates business uh yeah so Thomas

play07:44

Frank explains is the main way that

play07:47

people find us right now especially for

play07:48

notion templates because we just have

play07:50

all these videos teaching people how to

play07:51

use notion for free so we have build

play07:53

guides this is literally I'm going to

play07:54

teach you how to build a habit tracker

play07:56

or task manager those build guides

play07:58

always include a free template as as

play07:59

well we also have notion new feature

play08:01

releases because people are searching

play08:03

for Content about new features

play08:05

fundamentals content so we have like a

play08:06

whole sort of free beginners course on

play08:09

how to learn notion from scratch and

play08:10

then we have listicle kind of like fun

play08:13

popcorn content like 10 ways that you're

play08:14

using notion wrong things like that our

play08:16

videos will do one of three things they

play08:18

will pitch a paid template they'll pitch

play08:20

a free template that's for the build

play08:21

guides or they'll just say like hey

play08:22

we've got a resource page here with all

play08:24

of our notion fundamentals content cheat

play08:26

sheets we have all kinds of like cool

play08:28

resources you're going to want so get on

play08:29

our email list and then from there first

play08:31

thing I do is send them an autoresponder

play08:33

saying like hey enjoy your free

play08:35

templates here's a link to all my other

play08:36

free templates but if you want to

play08:38

upgrade to full productivity and notion

play08:40

you can get ultimate brain here's a

play08:41

discount code for being a subscriber

play08:43

yeah how about pricing did you decide on

play08:45

the pricing for your products my thought

play08:47

was if you could run your entire Creator

play08:49

business from idea capture to publishing

play08:51

have like a full Archive of all your

play08:52

scripts everything in one tool people

play08:54

will probably pay tens hundreds of

play08:56

dollars a month for that so let's at

play08:58

least charge over $100 initially price

play09:00

creaters companion at 99 and $49 for the

play09:03

higher addition at launch right now

play09:05

we're at I think it's $19 for ultimate

play09:07

brain alone $229 for the full bundle

play09:09

Edition and that's what most people buy

play09:11

if they are getting creators companion

play09:12

sales do pretty well we did a price

play09:14

increase last year and we saw volume dip

play09:18

a little bit but overall Revenue went up

play09:20

all right so let's talk about tools what

play09:22

kind of software and tools do you use to

play09:24

run this business well notion for one we

play09:26

definitely dog food our own software and

play09:28

we use our own temp templates notion

play09:30

templates can be easily pired since

play09:31

they're just a link so what I am

play09:33

concerned about is maintaining paid

play09:35

access to our support so we use circle.

play09:37

Soo and we have actual customer logins

play09:39

for that for uh point of sale we use

play09:41

lemon squeezy I like them because they

play09:42

actually act as merchant of record so

play09:45

they completely handle taxes for you we

play09:47

use convertkit for email marketing we've

play09:50

got a lot of actual funnels and

play09:51

automations and autoresponders as well

play09:53

as our newsletter we use a lot of pipe

play09:55

dream actually so pipe dream is

play09:57

automation software kind of like zappier

play09:59

but sort of built for developers that's

play10:01

all JavaScript and no JS all right let's

play10:03

talk about what does it cost to run a

play10:05

business like this so if you were

play10:07

building this it would really just come

play10:08

down to some camera gear some video gear

play10:10

and then you could build a framer

play10:12

website for 15 to 30 bucks a month

play10:14

depending on how content heavy needs to

play10:16

be distribute for free on YouTube

play10:18

distribute for free on Twitter LinkedIn

play10:19

whatever you want and that would be kind

play10:21

of it for the actual SAS cost to run a

play10:24

business like this you could get it

play10:25

under a few hundred bucks a month let's

play10:27

talk about YouTube You're an experienced

play10:28

YouTuber you've used YouTube to grow

play10:30

this business what kind of advice would

play10:33

you have for other people looking to

play10:34

start on YouTube essentially when you're

play10:36

starting out you need to get reps you

play10:38

need to go through a feedback cycle

play10:40

where you learn you try stuff out and

play10:42

then you publish so you get feedback

play10:44

what you basically gain when you do this

play10:46

when you go through this process of

play10:47

publishing on a schedule and trying to

play10:49

improve something small every time is

play10:51

you get a body of work that just slowly

play10:54

compounds your skills over time and you

play10:56

wake up 3 years later and you're like wo

play10:57

I know color grading I Know audio I know

play10:59

how to build a set I know animation I

play11:01

can speak to the camera a lot better and

play11:03

I got to learn all that while I

play11:05

published content that got to grow my

play11:07

business and build an audience and all

play11:08

that kind of stuff so do whatever you

play11:09

have to do to make sure you publish on

play11:11

the schedule and try to get just a

play11:12

little bit better at something

play11:13

interesting every single time you

play11:15

publish okay let's talk about the power

play11:18

of a niche Channel this new channel that

play11:20

you created is a lot smaller than your

play11:22

bigger Channel but it makes more money

play11:23

can you tell me more about that so the

play11:25

power of a niche channel is you're not

play11:27

necessarily trying to interest people in

play11:28

you You're Building content about

play11:31

something that they're probably already

play11:32

interested in notion already has a ton

play11:34

of people who are trying to do things

play11:36

they're looking for answers so I'm

play11:38

fulfilling demand that's already there

play11:40

zapier's marketing strategy around Niche

play11:42

is what I sort of model my own my own

play11:45

after and what I look towards as the

play11:47

gold standard for it so zapier is

play11:49

automation software that's a very small

play11:51

Niche really small but there's a wider

play11:54

group of people who are interested in

play11:56

the top calendar apps the top

play11:58

productivity software so when you look

play11:59

at zapier's marketing they cast this a

play12:01

little bit wider net that's still very

play12:03

focused on workflow and productivity

play12:05

software and there's going to be a

play12:07

smaller proportion of people in that

play12:09

group who are like oh I wanted to

play12:11

connect up these two apps and oh your

play12:13

tool can do that for me you need to

play12:14

figure out what are people looking for

play12:16

so you bring them in and then you show

play12:17

them we can do this thing that some of

play12:19

you want yeah all right let's talk about

play12:21

how this business can be replicated

play12:23

across potentially other software or

play12:25

other channels uh what would be your

play12:27

advice for someone trying to start

play12:28

something similar so don't assume that

play12:31

uh Niche software plus templates is the

play12:33

only way you can kind of monetize this

play12:34

it could be any kind of Niche where

play12:36

there is ground swell and if it's a

play12:37

smaller Niche is that Niche businesses

play12:40

is it Enterprise would onet of the views

play12:42

bring in the same amount of Revenue and

play12:44

then the business model could be

play12:46

Consulting could be courses could be

play12:48

templates could be any kind of thing

play12:50

could be SAS you build on top of all

play12:51

kinds of stuff that helps people who are

play12:53

already using that software let's talk

play12:55

about Day in the Life what is a day in

play12:56

the life for a notion entrepreneur

play12:59

typically up at 6:30 make coffee do a

play13:03

bit of deep work in the morning kind of

play13:04

like you yeah go to the gym usually at

play13:06

the gym for an hour or two come back

play13:07

here and then from there my days are

play13:09

very variable because some days I'm

play13:12

doing CEO kind of stuff some days I'm

play13:14

filming videos some days I'm working on

play13:16

templates just depends on what my

play13:18

schedule demands in your journey is

play13:20

there anything that uh you've personally

play13:22

struggled with or has anything that's

play13:23

been a challenge in your journey

play13:25

building a business I would say the the

play13:27

biggest challenge that comes to mind

play13:28

right now is self-doubt and how that

play13:31

combines with wanting things to be

play13:33

perfect before I put them out of the

play13:34

world when I got started with videos I

play13:36

had this feeling that I could make the

play13:38

perfect video and put it out so I spent

play13:40

like weeks working on it and then never

play13:41

ended up publishing it I have like this

play13:43

perfectionist tendency and it's just at

play13:45

odds with the truth that you have to

play13:47

actually publish and get feedback and go

play13:49

through that cycle make it as tight as

play13:51

possible so I guess my biggest piece of

play13:52

advice for people who feel the same is

play13:54

it doesn't matter if you get harsh

play13:56

feedback because it's you're going to

play13:58

learn from it and it's going to make the

play13:59

thing you publish next better yeah what

play14:02

advice would you have if you could sit

play14:03

on young Thomas's shoulder or advice for

play14:06

someone who's just getting started out

play14:08

and who wants to build a business that

play14:09

changes their life the main thing I

play14:10

would say is start building friendships

play14:14

with other people who are ambitious and

play14:16

who also want to build businesses I have

play14:18

this uh this term that I used a long

play14:20

time ago called fan first where just

play14:21

like become a fan of people that you're

play14:23

interested in share their stuff be

play14:25

commenting because eventually you paying

play14:27

attention to them often leads to

play14:29

conversations me leads to meetings at

play14:31

conferences leads to friendships and

play14:32

then you have this network of people who

play14:34

inspire you you can help each other out

play14:36

that's how you succeed in business I

play14:37

think even if you are building your own

play14:38

business solo it's not done alone

play14:41

because anyone who's successful I think

play14:42

is surrounded by other people in their

play14:44

Network in their their friend group who

play14:46

are constantly giving them advice giving

play14:48

them feedback giving them everything

play14:49

they need to succeed all right thanks

play14:51

for having me Thomas absolutely follow

play14:53

this advice and you will be a

play14:55

millionaire with notion all right guys

play14:57

that's it I hope you like the video

play14:59

personally what I love about Thomas's

play15:01

business is that he's selling a digital

play15:03

product and for the most part these

play15:05

products cost nearly 0 to create if

play15:08

you're also curious about this head to

play15:10

the first link in the description and

play15:12

you're going to get our free database

play15:14

of2 digital product ideas that are

play15:16

making millions right now just like

play15:19

Thomas's all right guys I'll see you in

play15:21

the next one peace

Rate This
β˜…
β˜…
β˜…
β˜…
β˜…

5.0 / 5 (0 votes)

Related Tags
Digital ProductsMillion-Dollar BusinessNotion TemplatesYouTube MarketingProductivity ToolsEmail LaunchContent CreationEntrepreneurshipNiche StrategyOnline Success