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314: The Simple Way to Finally Set up and Sell Your Online Course (And Scale to $40k a Month and Beyond)

By Nick Loper / September 25, 2020

Nate Dodson

Note: Click here to download Nate’s top tips for selling an online course from this episode.

After sitting in on a free webinar and seeing dozens of people buying a course about urban farming, Nate knew he could also create and sell his own course.

Nate Dodson of MicroGreensFarmer.com began urban farming initially to take greater control over the food he was eating and to combat Crohn’s disease.

But he soon found himself growing more than he could reasonably consume, so like any good entrepreneur, he started selling his produce – and specifically microgreens.

With a little bit of effort, he was selling $400 a week worth of microgreens to farmer’s market vendors, local restaurants, and home delivery in his town.

But Nate’s little side project has absolutely exploded in the last 2 years, and it hasn’t come from selling more produce. Instead, it’s come from teaching other people how to do what he did.

Because somewhere out there someone wants to know what you already did.

Today Nate is selling $40-50k worth of his microgreens business course a month, mostly on autopilot, and he’s followed a very straightforward path to get there that anyone can apply to their own business.

Tune in to hear how he created his product, how he drives consistent traffic, the simple sales funnel he uses to convert browsers into buyers, and the changes he’s made in his business to increase his revenue to $50k+ a month.

Download the Free PDF Highlight Reel:

Click here to download Nate’s top tips for selling an online course from this episode.

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Learn:

  • Why Nate decided to create an online course.
  • The tools he uses to automate his course sales.
  • What’s driving traffic to his landing page.
  • How he reached out to a past guest of The Side Hustle Show and tripled his revenue.
  • Nate’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.

Where Are They Now?

In late 2018, Nate was selling $40,000-50,000 a month of his online course on how to start a microgreens farming business.

Business is still going great for Nate, and he’s had most of his processes on autopilot for the last year or so:

How’s Business Been Going Since We Last Spoke?

“The business looks very similar to what it did back then. Not a lot has actually changed,” Nate told me.

Nate actually took some time off and allowed the business to coast. The core of his business is still his Microgreens Business Course, which has continued to sell well.

He has added one new product since we last spoke, called the MBA Microgreens Business Accelerator Course. This course is aimed at microgreens sellers already doing good business and helps them dial in all of their processes.

This is the first product Nate outsourced most of the work for. He said that was a big milestone for him, and he’s happy with how it went.

What Impact Has the Pandemic Had on Your Business?

When the pandemic first hit, Nate saw a sharp drop in sales by about half for the first 4 weeks or so.

To combat this, he put out a webinar explaining how microgreens sellers could shift their model to home delivery – which helped a lot of people boost their sales.

He also knocked $100 off the price of his course which normally sells for $497. This drove a bunch of new sales.

“It’s recovered wonderfully since then,” Nate told me.

How Are New Customers Finding You?

Nate said there are three main ways people are finding him and signing up for his course.

These are through:

  • His YouTube videos
  • His Facebook group
  • A small amount of paid advertising

Whichever way they find out about his course, Nate said people land on his site and go through the same automated webinar and email responder series he’s had since 2017.

Nate said he’s noticed more competition popping up, and he’s sure there are some things he could do to improve his funnels. But as one of the first people in the space to offer Microgreens courses, he has authority in the space and business hasn’t slowed down.

For example, his Facebook group was the second Microgreens group at the time he started it. He’s now up to around 50k members, and like other areas of his business, he’s allowing it to run on autopilot for the most part.

Joining the Click Funnels “Two Comma Club”

One huge milestone Nate achieved since we last spoke was joining the Two Comma Club.

The Two Comma Club is an award Click Funnels hands out when someone using their software grows their business to the 7-figure mark.

That means Nate has now driven more than a million in sales through his Click Funnels sales funnel he’s had set up since 2017!

What’s Your Time Investment?

“Over the last year or so it’s averaged probably 15 hours a week or so,” Nate told me.

What Are You Working on Now?

What’s exciting Nate right now is buying and rehabbing real estate. He bought 6 more houses last year, flipped 1, and kept 5 as rentals.

“I just love it,” Nate told me.

Nate felt like he needed to get away from the computer and do something with his hands after running Microgreens Farmer for several years.

He has a team handling the day-to-day running of his Microgreens business. This has enabled him to pretty much remove himself from the business, and free up time to work on his properties.

For anyone interested, Nate recommends reading a book called Landlording on Autopilot. He found it extremely helpful in building systems around his property ventures.

Any Tips/Advice for 2020?

In 2018, Nate’s #1 tip was to “think of how you can create a new category/opportunity.”

This is still one of the two most important things Nate has done. The other important thing he recommends is to, “find someone that is doing what you want to do, and hire them to be your mentor,” Nate told me.

Which is exactly what Nate did. He hired Jacques Hopkins from TheOnlineCourseGuy.com and did exactly what Jacques told him to do.

Nate attributes Jacques in contributing to 80%-90% of all his success.

Links / Next Steps

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Nick Loper

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