How I made $100k in 10 days

I realize that this is a clickbait title, but hey, I'm a Youtuber. That's what we do. 😉

Now that I have your attention, let me be clear…I indeed made $100k in 10 days, together with my business partner... several times. We successfully launched my new German course to my audience.

However, what you should remember is that I built my fan base over years. It was a lot of hard work and I needed a lot of dedication.

Some people can promise you "get rich quick" schemes, but let me be completely honest, nothing happens overnight. The key for me was:

1) finding the thing that I love to do
2) building up a fan base around that, and then...
3) launching a great course

Some people think that money stinks. Those are usually the people who don't have it. 

Like it or not, in capitalism this is the rough truth: money buys you freedom. At least materialistic freedom. Freedom in your thinking? That's a whole other topic.

Would I have been able to keep traveling with little money? Sure. But would I be able to travel comfortably with little money? Definitely not. I started out with barely anything - bouncing around countless hostels before my Youtube channel really took off - and I was determined to have more than that. 

Looking back, just the thought of sleeping in hostels again makes me grind my teeth. Sharing a room with 4 or even 8 people, climbing up to a bunk bed, hearing people snore, having people turn on the light in the middle of the night when coming back drunk from a party which was “SO EPIC!”…No, thank you very much!

Whether you like it or not, money equals freedom. And financial independence is exactly what I wanted when I started my Youtube channel.

"Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Making $100k: How Did It Start?

So now let's get to the core of it. 

It all started because I signed up for Remote Year and I got super nervous about not having enough money. I got super nervous and thought, "I need more money!". Sometimes, pushing yourself over the edge (not literally), is something which will make you reach your goals.

So for me, signing up for something that was expensive was a way to think outside of the box and let my perfectionism lose its power. One often hears about stories of people who achieved extraordinary results because they HAD to. Maybe they got unexpected children and HAD to figure out a way to make more money or they met the women/man of their dreams and realized "Oh I better change now"...We often just need a strong enough reason or our back against the wall to finally change.

So, there I was, I just signed up for a program which was actually too expensive for me. What do to in such a situation? Of course, you turn to your friends. As I was just at LangFest, I was still hanging out with my friend Lukas, and asked him about what we could do about "my situation". Funnily enough, he already had a German (also Spanish and French) course ready and had already launched it several times successfully. The only thing he didn't have was a big audience. And that is exactly what this blonde German girl had: about 300k subscribers on YouTube. 

Launching Our Course: One Video at a Time

We used the strategy of Jeff Walker for our launch. It's a pretty simple strategy actually, and it usually works well. It consists of 4 steps: 

1. Pre-prelaunch: During this sequence, you test your product idea and build anticipation among your fans, with a short survey for example.
2. Prelaunch: During this phase, you offer free content. You usually give your audience 3 great pieces of content, in the form of a workshop for example.
3. Launch: This is the day you "open-cart". So now you start selling. The trick is to sell only for a few days, so that there is some type of scarcity. In fact, we made over 40% of our sales on the last day.
4. Post-launch: After your launch, it is critical that you strengthen your relationship with those who bought from you, for example by giving bonuses, having a welcome call etc.
   
   

What Tools Did We Use for Our Launch?

• For the first few launches, we used a crazy mix of WordPress, Thrivecart, and  ActiveCampaign
• Now, I've moved over to Kajabi and love it. It gives you the complete package with email, automation, course creation, and great support.

This Partnership Was Meant To Be

As I am writing this post, Lukas and I are not working together anymore, but I am still convinced that our partnership was meant to be and that I wouldn't be where I am today without Lukas.

Lukas has certain characteristics that I have never had and probably won't ever have:

• He is super rational. I am super emotional. In one of our Youtube videos together, one student commented this: 

Haha! So true! 

• Also, Lukas knows how to market products and how to create successful launches. I know a bit of Marketing, but simply don't like doing it.
• He is also very strategic and likes planning, whereas I am all over the place.

But, on the other hand: 

• I am creative and detail-oriented, which Lukas is not. 
• I love teaching and explaining and taking care of an audience, whereas Lukas never wanted to.
• I love creating content and writing dialogs. Lukas doesn't care about learning materials that much.

So the bottom-line is that we were a pretty good fit and we trusted each other. 

All in all, I think these were the key ingredients to our $100k launch:

• My audience and knowledge of teaching and Lukas' passion for Marketing
• Jeff Walker's product launch formula
• Persistence and a clear plan

Since Lukas and I stopped working together (we wanted different things in the company), I did several other launches guided by my business coaches which went just as well.

Now, some of you might be thinking, "Wow, $100k is so much money". Yes it is, but remember that I also have a lot of expenses (I currently have 10 people working for me) and it wasn't always easy. In the first years with my Youtube Channel, I hardly made any money from it, but with dedication and the right people, I was able to turn things around financially. Finding a good partner and building a team, hiring a business coach...these are all things I'd recommend if you want to achieve similar financial success.

Ultimately, I think one of the most important factors in my financial success is that I truly care about my students and the work I create for them. I thrive when my students tell me how much they enjoy my videos and courses. If they weren't happy, the money wouldn't be worth it for me.