Okay guys, going to be real here on the blog.
This type of post is a major deviation from my normal posts {at least on this site} where I really keep it all about the how-to.
You may have noticed, I’ve opened enrollment for a new course in January called From Blog to Business – Get #TechnInspired! and I’ve been running some Facebook ads and promos to advertise it.
This email showed up in my inbox this morning…
Hi there,
I just saw your ad on Facebook and, being a blogger, I naturally checked you out.
Some of your clients are “bloggy friends” of mine and I’d love to understand how you’ve helped them in terms of monetizing their blogs since it doesn’t appear that they actually sell anything on their blogs – or even have ads.
Thanks in advance,
_________________
PS. Love the friendly approach to your blog 🙂
I realized at that moment, that people who don’t know me, work with me, or subscribe to me – really have no idea if I’m the kind of person who can deliver on what I’m offering!
I wrote her back and explained my services, my experience, a few case studies, etc. and rather than be insulted that someone would call me into account for my “social proof” – I felt so grateful because it forced me to write out why I believe in my course and myself.
She has every right to ask me why I think I can sell a course on blog to business transformation!
The biggest social proof I have is right here…on this blog. A blog that is making me a full-time income, and one that has opened doors for other opportunities like media interviews for the Washington Post and New York Times.
But other than that, this blogger wanted to know where were all my “blogger turned business gurus” that I could show off as reason why I’m able to teach this course.
I don’t have any.
What I do have are people who come to me with nothing. Not a blog (or a bad one), not an idea in the world about what a Tweet is, or how to grow an email list. Many of them don’t even want to monetize!
I have people who still say e-blast.
These are people who have little income, zero momentum, and no skills….but they have a passion for writing, and an expertise in something.
I take these people and design websites for them. I show them how to use all sorts of tools to help grow their following. I take people with no fans on Facebook and bring them into the thousands.
I once taught a guy on the phone who was almost deaf and had to speak so painfully slow you can’t even imagine how long it took to show him how to log into his WordPress dashboard.
And I’ve done this kind of work for years.
Years of teaching the unteachable {or so they thought}.
The course I’m developing is in competition with other courses that are listed for thousands. THOUSANDS. And quite honestly, I could probably go head to head with a lot of these experts on various platforms and hold my own just fine.
And in some cases, I’m far more “expert” than some of the marketing gurus who haven’t had to slug through years of content marketing, SEO, and the ins and outs of web design.
My course is very heavy on the how-to’s, and light on the philosophy. After all, this is how I built my business. I learned enough to act, and then I acted. And quite honestly, I feel like the difference between a successful businessperson and a not-yet successful businessperson?
It’s simply knowing when to stop learning and act on your knowledge, vs. when to stop doing stuff and learn.
This course is a BETA launch. Which means, at $497 – it’s STEEPLY discounted from where it should be {and will be in future editions}. On top of that, I’m offering a payment plan, a discount to email subscribers, and soon – a referral program {which by the way, if you want in on that, subscribing to my blog is the best way to stay in touch}.
In other words, I’m launching this program so I can show you – the world – that I’m a force to be reckoned with on the tech and marketing scene. I’m giving all those people who are at ground zero, the chance to learn a serious set of marketing and tech skills that they would find in similar $2000 + courses.
I did have another program I tried out a few years ago. It was a social media bootcamp. I had 60 beta testers who did it for free. Once that was done, I sold it for awhile at $50.00, but I felt like with social media – it was too hard to constantly update the course material to reflect the changing trends and I wanted to make sure anything people were paying for was really up to date. So you know what I did? I made it free. I gave it away. A 76 page e-book that is a gift when you subscribe to my blog.
And here are some of the reviews from my beta testers.
“I just had to say thanks. My husband and I have a small business that we are working to build. I haven’t done a lot of the social networking for that yet. I thought I would get a better grip on it through my blog. However, I do have the business attached to my G+ profile. And since I really delved into that platform today, people have been checking out my profile and have contacted me (through our business email) and are asking questions about our products and ordering product! Holy cow! I can’t wait to apply everything that I am learning to our business account once we have completed this bootcamp! I was just so excited I had to share!” –Diann From Thrifty Groove
“In the last fifteen days, I have more than doubled my Google plus following and steadily gained followers on the other platforms. Regardless, even if I didn’t experience ANY growth this bootcamp is well worth the money. “Finding my Niche” made organizing my Pinterest boards a breeze. I’ve fallen in love with Google Plus, which is perfect for finding blogs in my niche to read! Julie’s lessons make sense and are easy to understand. This boot camp has taught me how to work smarter in the blogging world so I have more time to spend with my kids.” –Herchel Scruggs from Scruggbug Corner
“I can’t recommend this enough!! Julie Stoian is amazing and she’s right, we’re all delirious from the challenge, but in a really good way. Go for it! You won’t regret the positive results and you will learn SO MUCH!” –Meredith Henning from Sweetness & Light
“I’m 2 weeks into the bootcamp and I am seeing amazing results. My social media numbers have doubled. My skills with using social media have vastly improved. I am building a better blog! Julie Stoian’s social media bootcamp is the best thing that has happened to me with respect to social media.”-Carrie-Anne Foster from That Dizzy Chick
“I have learned so much from Fabulous Blogging’s Bootcamp, especially about Google+ and Pinterest. In two weeks, I have almost doubled my Pinterest and Google+ followers, and added 100’s of Twitter followers. I also have a lot more engagement with my followers on all platforms. Beyond the numbers and reach, the lessons have been valuable because they have made me think more deeply about the purpose of my blog, my niche, and the online presence that I want to cultivate. I love that the emphasis is always on meaningful and authentic engagement on social media; it’s not just about numbers and traffic.” -Sarah from LeftBrainBuddha
“I’ve always found social media to be intimidating– it’s difficult to know where to start or what approach to take when looking to connect with others and grow your following. Julie’s #SocialMediaBootCamp has removed the guesswork and saved me from wasting loads of time trying to figure it all out. Each lesson is packed with tips that helped me to not only understand the culture behind each platform, but the practices necessary to conquer them. Beyond the ins and outs of social media, Julie also offers a ton of help with design, content creation, time management, and organization. Going through this boot camp is like learning the language before you travel to a foreign country– it opens you up to an entire world of experience you would not have otherwise had. You don’t want to pass this up!” -Aussa Lorens Hacker Ninja Hooker Spy
“Julie Stoian has somehow managed to make sense of all the social media mayhem that I can hardly wrap my head around! She is methodological in how she clearly takes you on a step-by-step process in understanding every aspect of creating an online presence and expanding your reach in social media. I love her videos and tutorials, because they give me a screenshot, which allows me to get a better idea of her instructions as I follow along. She has such an amazing, comprehensive knowledge of everything in this vast and ever growing world of the web. Both the bootcamp and her fabulous blogging site are incredible resources that reveal how she has truly mastered every aspect of each social media platform and everything imaginable in the blogging industry. It’s incredibly complicated to me, as I am truly incompetent when it comes to the technical side of things. Julie patiently engages with her clients and guides them through difficult concepts and tasks with the purpose of helping them gain insight and understanding of it all. I am so grateful to have one person who is so efficient in providing everything one might need to grow an online business of any kind. I am learning how to build, manage, and develop a stronger network. I have a good year of work to do, as I refer back to all her assignments over and over again. It’s an ongoing education, and everything she advises will lay the foundation and set the groundwork for success. -Chris Carter from the Mom Cafe
“I am so grateful to Julie Stoian for her Fabulous Blogging Bootcamp. I am a new blogger who was blindly stumbling around the interwebs trying to understand the complexities of social media. Julie’s straightforward modules and specific assignments broke it all down for me in a way I could understand. And the fact that she’s created a Google plus community for those of us who are working through all this?! That makes it even better. We’re all in it together, helping each other everyday.” – Stephanie Palmer from Late Night Quilter
“Helpful not just for Bloggers, but for all writers. I have learned so much from doing Julie’s Social Media Bootcamp! Until recently Hootsuite baffled me, Pinterest eluded me and Google+ had me running away. Now I am getting to grips with all of them and so much more, and as a result I’m getting new followers across Social Media, particularly on Twitter. However for me, the most valuable lessons have been those on defining niche. I see myself as a novelist first and blogger second, but in learning to define my blog, I also became able to more clearly define my fiction. I now see where I fit in and have begun reaching out to the natural audience for my writing. I’m also now following people whose posts are of genuine interest to me and finding useful information for developing my career as a novelist. For me, the benefits so far haven’t come as huge increases in blog views, but as inner confidence that comes from knowing my writing has a place in the world! That’s something that can’t be measured, but that is way more valuable than numbers.” -Yvonne Spence
“I am so grateful to have gone through the Social Media Bootcamp. I have a much deeper and well rounded understanding of both social media and blogging after participating. There is so much information that I am going to be able to cycle through repeatedly and implement new things over time. I saw immediate improvement in engagement on several platforms. The technical posts were teamed with etiquette lessons, which I find priceless! I feel empowered with so many tools at my disposal and notes to reference. I have a lifestyle blog, but it was so varied I couldn’t figure out what my purpose was; Julie helped me focus in on my driving force and really opened my eyes to a new way of approaching it. The support from other boot campers has been immensely helpful. Those times I wanted to rip my hair out? I could go to the group and find both help and someone with fists full of hair to laugh with. I work full time, am a single mom of a special needs child and trying to start an online venture was beginning to drown me. Social Media Boot Camp has given me a life raft and hope.” -Samantha Ryan from The Marble Jar
“I took Julie’s Fabulous Blogging course for the same reason most bloggers probably do; to increase my numbers on the various social media platforms. My numbers did go up in direct relation to the amount of work I put in on each platform, but during the month long course I learned something far more important from Julie– how to communicate. As odd as it may sound for a blogger, I have a few anxiety issues when it comes to “speaking” to strangers, even online. This course introduced me to tools that took a lot of the anxiety out of social media and taught me ways to communicate more effectively. My numbers may not have gone up as much as I initially thought they would, but my social interactions, number of likes, and shares more than doubled! Thanks in to the lessons in this course, I learned how to consolidate my time, how to make my online time truly count, drastically improved the quality of graphics used on my site, and was invited to guest post by a blogger I admired. For all this, I can’t even thank her enough! I can’t recommend this course highly enough to anyone who already blogs, has any intention of starting one, or who struggles with their nerves over socializing online. If you follow the lesson plans, it’ll not only help you grow your numbers, but help cut-down on the sweaty palms while you’re doing it.” -Chris Dean from PixieCD
“When Julie Stoian presented her idea of a Social Network Bootcamp, I jumped at the opportunity, even though I knew that it was going to be tough to be a Beta guinea pig, with a new assignment every day. Nevertheless, I was eager for the opportunity to learn new ways to reach more people. But above all it was an opportunity to work closely with Julie for the next month because she’s such a marvelous teacher. She has the innate ability to be at the cutting edge of a rapidly changing environment of old and new technologies. Yet what makes working with her so delightful is her ability to pass her knowledge on to us, while making the process fun. Julie is one of a kind and anyone joining her group will be well served, finding the cost minimal in relation to the experience and knowledge gained – plus you’ll meet a lot of really nice and helpful people within Julie’s groups.” -Pete Vanlaw from For the Life of Me
Sarah from Left Brain Buddha up there? She went on to transform her blog into a business, and is now launching a course for mindful mama’s with over 90 people. I don’t take credit for her success, but I know that my blog and my bootcamp were part of her skill set development in those early years.
So you see, this course may be in BETA, and I may not have any blog to businesspeople millionaires, but I know what I know. And I know what I don’t. And I’m honest, fair, and a hell of a good {and patient} teacher.
Anyway, my course enrollment will be open from now until it begins on January 11th. I realize that’s not the way “marketers” tell you to do it – after all – you need to create scarcity and urgency and all that. But I like to march to the beat of my own drum here.
I make no promises about your success. But I do promise that I will bring it – tools, videos, help, my brain and expertise, and my passion for teaching…even for the little guys.
See you there.
