Val Geisler was kind enough to share her secret sauce on how to validate a digital product idea before going all in. If you are thinking of creating a digital product or adding one to an existing business, this is for you!

Val is an email conversion strategist & marketer, creator of a sold out copywriting incubator, and founder of fixmychurn.com.

Connect with Val on ValGeisler.com or Twitter @lovevalgeisler

I've had a string of consulting projects this year that have helped existing, high touch service businesses – predominately well established coaches and consultancies – expand their reach and revenue by creating a digital product like a course, membership, or subscription.

In short, this has looked like taking the methodology of the business owner, consultant, or coach, and packaging up their IP, or intellectual property, into a self serve format that they can sell at a lower price point to their prospects without as much 1 on 1 interaction.

Digital products like this give new clients the opportunity to see your expertise in action without the high touch price point and often serve as a way to feed a consulting or coaching pipeline.

Since I've been working with a lot of these types of clients, I'm doing a short interview series to unpack the decision making process and actual steps that business owners have taken who are moving toward digital products.

In episode 26 had the pleasure of interviewing Cindy Skalicky about how she has started to expand the reach of her consultancy by adding her first digital product.

She provides excellent advice for anyone taking their first steps toward a digital product!

With 25 years of experience under her belt, Cindy provides expert public speaking, coaching and brand consulting to business owners and professionals seeking to master their message on stage, online and in publications.

Her passion for crafting, analyzing and presenting messages developed through over 25 years in the corporate, academic and entrepreneurial worlds. She provides theory-based coaching to clients who want to enhance pitch decks, TED talks, storytelling, presentation presence, brand messaging, PR strategy and more. Contact Cindy at [email protected] or call 970-290-4684.

Ask yourself the questions posed is this show if you are considering adding a digital service offering to your business. This is short and sweet episode, but don't let the brevity fool you, the content is exactly what you need to hear if you're thinking of making this kind of move!

In episode 23, Travis and I broke down from a bird's eye view the differences between online courses, membership, and subscription products. Today we take a deep dive in to the decision making process of how to determine which one is right for your business.

I have the distinct pleasure of chatting with Janelle Allen, founder of Zen Courses, about the DNA an existing high touch service business needs to have in order to successfully add a digital product like a course, membership, or subscription to their existing business model.

Janelle is a Learning Designer and serial entrepreneur who believes that every company is in the education business. For the past ten years, she's worked with corporations such as Pearson Education, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Starbucks and Apple to create training and online courses, using principles of adult learning and design. In 2015, she changed her focus in order to help small businesses create profitable courses that change lives. She lives in the great city of Chicago with her partner.

Check out Janelle's podcast: Level Up Your Course and sign up for her weekly newsletter on online learning & business, or connect with her on Twitter at @janelleallen.

Listen up and learn what you need to know to make the right digital product choice for your business!

It all begins with marketing, but doesn't stop there. Proper expectation setting is necessary through every step in your customers' journey. Be proactive and position yourself to truly delight your customers and build a highly profitable business based on reliable recurring revenue. Listen up and we'll show you how!

This is the ninth episode in a series on how to create systems and automations that will help you run your membership site more efficiently and effectively. We've broken everything it takes to run your site into 8 categories. In episode 21 we continue our conversation on how to create effective systems and automations for the general management of your site.

System 1: Lead generation
System 2: lead nurturing
System 3: onboarding
System 4: engagement tracking 
System 5: content creation
System 6: community management
System 7: Customer service & Success financial, tech, staff management, KPI tracking
System 8: General Management: KPI tracking, your tech stack, finances, and management of staff

Crossing your "t"s and dotting your "i"s on the back end of your site will save you hundreds of hours a year and give you the peace of mind you need to run your site smoothly and efficiently. Listen as we break down some of the nitty gritty parts of running a successful membership site. 

This is technically episode 8b in our series on the 8 systems you need to run a successful membership site. Today we dive into your tech stack, finances, and staff management. Happy listening!

This is the eighth episode in a series on how to create systems and automations that will help you run your membership site more efficiently and effectively. We've broken everything it takes to run your site into 8 categories and episode 20 will teach you how to create effective systems and automations for the general management of your site.

System 1: Lead generation

System 2: lead nurturing

System 3: onboarding

System 4: engagement tracking

System 5: content creation

System 6: community management

System 7: Customer service & Success financial, tech, staff management, KPI tracking

System 8: General Management: KPI tracking, your tech stack, finances, and management of staff

This is the seventh episode in a series on how to create systems and automations that will help your membership site more efficiently and effectively. We've broken everything it takes to run your site into 8 categories and episode 19 will teach you how to create effective systems for customer service & success.

System 1: Lead generation
System 2: lead nurturing

System 3: onboarding
System 4: engagement tracking

System 5: content creation

System 6: community management

System 7: Customer service & Success

System 8: General Management: KPI tracking, tech stack, finances, and management of staff

Creating a culture of honest feedback will help you curate the best member experience possible on your site. Listen as we break down how to create that culture and systematize and automate the majority of your customer service & success. Happy listening!

Resources:

The Membership Guys article: 5 Things to consider when adding gamification to your membership site.

This is the sixth episode in a series on how to create systems and automations that will help your membership site more efficiently and effectively. We've broken everything it takes to run your site into 8 categories and episode 18 will teach you how to create effective systems for managing your online membership community.