146: How Just $10 in Startup Costs Led to a Ultra Successful Online Course Business (featuring Jono Petrohilos)

We’re back with another exciting interview from a successful online course creator! Guest Jono Petrohilos has an amazing story of bootstrapping his way from a tiny course investment to a thriving business in his fitness education niche. I loved hearing how Jono’s openness and drive made all the difference in his online course’s success, and we had a great chat on best practices for people at different stages in their own journey.

“‘Build it and they will come’... is just about the worst marketing strategy there is.”

- Jono Petrohilos

Without further ado, it’s time for a deep dive into what has worked for Jono and his online course business. Get your notebook and pen ready - there’s lots of great food for thought here!

In This Episode, We Talked About:

(1:04) Why David is so excited about Next Level Courses

(3:27) An epiphany I had on what platform to use for group coaching

(6:04) Observations and feedback on how the podcast is evolving

(10:15) My fanboy expectations being met and exceeded

(13:51) Favorite takeaways from a recent learning opportunity

(23:14) Setup for today’s interview

(24:40) Getting to know Jono

(27:10) How a learning mindset led Jono to success and prepared him for his online course journey

(35:19) How he realized he could avoid a lot of upfront costs

(39:56) Jono's very first launch

(47:22) Building up a contact list

(50:14) Going where your audience is

(56:49) Course validation and pre-selling

(1:01:36) What about course creators who don’t have an audience?

(1:15:14) The power of giving value away for free

(1:17:08) Having fun... and avoiding being called a stalker?

(1:19:56) How Jono’s business is currently structured

(1:24:02) Turning points that led to success

(1:30:51) The theme throughout Jono’s journey

(1:36:37) A favorite student success story

(1:41:28) Jono’s platforms of choice

(1:47:53) Dave’s thoughts on Jono’s story

(1:52:26) What we assume our audience is vs. who they really are

(1:53:42) Starting where you are

(1:58:26) Am I too cool for David’s latest suggestion?

(2:01:41) The Online Course Guy catchphrase… maybe

(2:05:17) Wrapping up

That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Show.

Links

Bonjoro Free Trial

ClickFunnels Free Trial

Jono’s Course: Fitness Education Online

Jono’s Facebook Group

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