Making money online through Niche Marketing

Is the One Funnel Away Challenge Worth Investing in?

May 29, 2020 by Leave a Comment

After it’s relaunch in January 2019, the One Funnel Away Challenge from Russell Brunson is gaining new traction. And, digital marketers are asking if this is simply a bunch of hype or if the challenge is worth undertaking. As a three-time veteran of the course, I’d like to thoroughly answer that question for you. 

So, if you’re on the fence about the system and want to find out if it’s for you before you commit, read on. 

First, What is the One Funnel Away Challenge? 

The One Funnel Away Challenge is a 30-day challenge, created by Russell Brunson that is meant to teach digital marketers how to launch a successful online business. 

What is the one funnel away challenge?
  • First, the “challenge” (not course) focuses on mindset transformation. 
  • Next, it teaches through action on how to research competitors. 
  • Then, marketers learn how to create hooks, effective messaging, and converting calls to action (CTAs). 
  • After that, students discover how to identify and understand key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine which parts of their funnel are broken and the elements that need to be fixed. 

The challenge is led by Russell Brunson who delivers the central concepts. And, it includes powerful Q&A sessions that move learners through the strategies and concepts. Deep dives on each idea are delivered by Julie Stoian and Steve Larsen.

And, What do These “Gurus” Know About Digital Marketing?  

I noticed that one of my all-time favorite marketers, Miles Beckler, doesn’t have nice things to say about the challenge. If you’re researching whether or not this system is right for you, you’ve likely come across his opinion. 

One Funnel Away Objections

In full disclosure, I am a client of Beckler’s and I believe in 90% of what he says. But, on this topic, he and I wholeheartedly disagree.

Beckler’s core message seems to be that it will take years to build a following and online marketers should put out a video a day for six months, then continue this for over a year. He says you must be willing to make a significant time investment in your marketing. And, by following this system, he claims you will be successful. In saying this, he is 100% correct. 

However, there is another way to find success: you can build a self-liquidating offer (SLO) that covers the cost of ads (for free / break even on the front end) and any revenue generated after that is profit. Within days, new leads will break into your funnel on higher-ticket transactions. And, this is what you learn with the challenge. 

For such an intelligent and detail-oriented person, I think Beckler chose the wrong point to argue because he was literally one funnel away from success before he found success. He continually tests his sales funnels to find the one that will generate consistent revenue. And, the point he stated above doesn’t line up with what I’ve learned from him. 

If you already know and love Beckler, but you’re not familiar with Brunson, Larsen, and Stoian, it’s important for you to learn more about them before you take this particular opinion as gospel. 

Who is Russell Brunson? 

Russell Brunson, “The Strategist” is the co-founder of ClickFunnels. He has a following of over a million entrepreneurs and he popularized the concept of sales funnels. Russell’s training, teaching, and software have helped 728 people (members of the Two Comma Club) become millionaires. 

Who is Julie Stoian? 

Julie Stoian, “The Transformer” is a digital marketer, funnel builder, and business strategist. She built a six-figure freelance business and a million-dollar brand business in under three years. Now, she helps Russell Brunson teach the masses how to change the world. 

Who is Steve Larsen? 

Steve Larsen, “The Executioner” is a Funnelologist who used to be the lead funnel builder at ClickFunnels. After he joined the Two Comma Club, he left the company. He now hosts a digital marketing podcast and helps coach the One Funnel Away Challenge. 

So, What do I Know About the Challenge? 

I’ve participated in the One Funnel Away Challenge three times throughout the course of my career. Each time, I take away something new and valuable to enhance my funnels and redirect my business trajectory. 

In Winter 2019, I completed the One Funnel Away Challenge for my current business and was able to skyrocket my success almost immediately. 

Before this, I tried to sell my offer as something that I, myself would purchase. As an analytical buyer, I am obsessed with technical features. So, I was listing tons of technical offer features. Later, I realized what I should be selling instead to attract the type of customers that I want. 

I used offline networking and Facebook groups (basically old school mixers) to attract new clientele to my offer. And, while I had success with these channels, I didn’t know how much easier and scalable my company could be until I completed the challenge. 

It only took a couple of weeks for me to see measurable, positive results. After finishing the challenge, what we spent on advertising we earned in revenue on the same day. I had to work through the materials a few times to understand an SLO. But once I did, it made all the difference in the world. 

The first twelve months after completing the challenge resulted in 4,052 new opt-ins to my funnel with a 50.96% opt-in rate. Within a year, I am now making $15K per month and on-track for growth. I can attest to the fact that this system works if you work it (and the results are tremendous). 

Read More: How to Make $10K+ Online… Without Losing Money on Ad Spend

Now, What Can You Take Away From the One Funnel Away Challenge? 

If you’ve landed on the One Funnel website, you’ve seen the massive list of what you get for the $100 cost of the training. The pre-loaded MP3 player alone is worth more than the cost of the entire package. But, what will this mean for your business, exactly? 

What does the one funnel away challenge teach you?

In real terms, here are some of the key concepts you can take away from the challenge. 

1. You are NOT Your Best Customer

I mentioned this above, but want to dig a bit deeper on this point (and, if you complete the challenge you will be able to delve into it fully): your ideal audience is not you. So, something that you would buy yourself probably will not become a successful business for you. On the contrary, you need to define your best audience and learn to appeal to them. 

The best market to target is the market you want to work with. So, it is crucial to determine who this is. Who do you want your customers or clients to be? 

Furthermore, your target market likely falls into one of two categories: 

  1. A niche that is being ignored. For example, a computer keyboard is just a computer keyboard. But, someone had the idea to split it in half for ergonomic support. This offer was created for a specific demographic that was being ignored: people suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. 
  2. An audience that does not love your competitors’ product (but is still paying for them). To find out who these people are and what they really want, look at your competitors’ three-star reviews. You’ll find people likely to buy from you and what they’re missing (which will factor into how you can create an irresistible offer). 

So, stop selling to yourself and learn how you can get in front of and sell to your ideal audience. 

2. Features Don’t Sell an Offer (& What to Showcase Instead)

I don’t know about you, but I am hyper-analytical. As a buyer, I want to learn about technical features. So, before the challenge, I was highlighting offer features. Then, I had a total mind shift. 

While you do need to list the features of your offer, this is not how you will sell it. Instead, the results of your offer are what will make people want to buy it. 

For example, imagine that you have a sponge to sell. And, as a bonus, you offer a free sponge as a bonus to anyone who buys it. So, in your messaging, you say, “Use it on your boat, in the bathroom, or give it to your friend.” An analytical buyer like myself doesn’t like this – I can figure out what to do with an extra sponge on my own. But, an emotional buyer (like the ones I want to sell to) respond when you spell-out results.

Another hypothetical example would be a cure for cancer. If you have a cure for cancer, you tell people your offer can cure their cancer. Your audience isn’t going to be as moved by the fact that your pill is soft-coated and easy to swallow because they want the end result, and that is what will sell the offer. 

So, tell people that you’re fixing their problem. And, you don’t necessarily need to bother with the technical aspects of how you’re going to fix it. 

3. It is Easier Than You Think to Create an Irresistible Offer

The most helpful concept I learned from the challenge is how to analyze existing offers to create my own irresistible offer. If you complete the challenge, you will learn to find gaps in the marketplace. In some cases, this will be a niche that your competitors are missing or a void that needs to be filled. 

This concept is called “offer hacking” and is a lot like funnel hacking. To hack an offer, you study competing offers and look for gaps in the market. A lot of times, your ideal market is already screaming for what they want. And, the best market consists of people that already use a product like yours, but don’t love it yet. Product reviews come in handy here. 

As a shopper, five-star and one-star reviews aren’t very helpful because these come from people who either love or hate the product. But, if you read three-star reviews, you get a true idea of what might be wrong with a product from someone who mostly likes it. As an offer achiever, the same three-star reviews will help you. 

For example, my wife and I purchased a pool vacuum on Amazon recently. While shopping, we read all of the three-star reviews and found a Dolphin pool cleaner with apparent problems we are pretty sure we can live with. And, this is the one we purchased. 

How to optimize your sales funnel

If you were an offer achiever looking to bring a new pool vacuum to the market, you would go through a similar process, highlighting the gaps in your niche. Then, you could start with an existing product design that works, add a larger bag for collecting leaves, make sure all power supplies are waterproof (not just water-resistant), and voila! You have created something irresistible that an existing market already wants to buy. 

If you’re interested, check out a deeper dive into becoming an offer achiever. 

4. How to Strengthen Your Offer With a Value Ladder

Once you have your offer, you will do well to strengthen it with a value ascension ladder, which gives you the potential to upsell and down-sell as you nurture your audience. For every product and service, this will look a bit different. 

But, a value ascension ladder is essentially a range of products that ascend from the lowest price to the highest price. Clients and customers ideally ascend from the bottom of the ladder to the top on their journey with your business.  

When I added a value ladder to my offer, it remarkably increased my success. And, in my case, it started out fairly simple. 

  1. Free ebook for lead generation 
  2. Paid course as a low-value offer
  3. Higher-ticket coaching as a high-value offer (where almost all profit is made)

Now, my leads enter my funnel through the free ebook and start receiving emails. Those looking to take the next step are directed to a paid course. And, when they love the paid course they eventually upgrade to coaching. 

5. How to Implement a Self-Liquidating Offer (SLO)

It took me a few passes through the challenge to absorb why this is imperative because, at first, an SLO seemed counter-intuitive to me. But, I found that this is the glue that holds the entire system together. With an SLO, I was able to create a positive return on ad spend (ROAS) with FB ads, grow my list essentially for free, and boost my monthly income. 

How a Self-Liquidating Offer Works

I learned how to spend $75 per day on ads and earn $85 per day. On the surface, it looks like I’m only earning $10 per day. But, down the funnel is where the profits happen. All of this is done with ad spend, but my list building is essentially free — it’s as if I didn’t spend it. 

And, $75 per day is not all that much. It only comes to $2,250 per month. But, you don’t have to start at $75 — you can start at $10 or $25 per day and scale-up. 

Start with an SLO to break people into your funnel, and don’t give away all the keys to the palace. Give more than anyone else, but leave your market wanting more. Then, on day two or three on their journey with your brand, ask leads to take the next step on your value ladder and give them a few more keys. If they want all the keys, offer your high-value item around day seven or ten. 

6. What it Truly Means to Niche-Down

If I could only share one thing from the challenge with people, it would be to create an offer that blows your competitors out of the water and speaks to your target audience. To make this happen, you have to niche-down.  

And, you need to like your target niche (and they need to like you) if you want to be happy in business. Otherwise, you will build animosity over time. If you want your offer to convert, you must speak to your target niche. 

And, to speak to your dream customer, you need to define who that is. 

  • If you’re already in business, who do you currently sell to that you just love? 
  • If you’re just starting out, what markets are being ignored?
    • Can you take an existing model and bring it to a new niche? 
  • What do these people have in common? 

This will tell you about your dream customers. And, the more niched-down you are, the better equipped you can be to sell to the right market. You can put messaging in front of people that they are likely to respond to. For example, if you want to sell to cat lovers, you have to share pictures of cats. 

Finally, Should You Complete the One Funnel Away Challenge? 

What’s mentioned here barely scratches the surface of what you will learn when you pencil out 30 days of your time to launch an online business with the One Funnel Away Challenge. If you liked this and you want to learn more, the challenge is probably right for you. And, if you’re still not sure, here are a few more points I would like to make: 

  • This is not a traditional course, it is a hands-on challenge that delivers more substantial results than your typical business training. 
  • $100 is extremely underpriced for what you get. Coming from someone who has purchased nearly every digital marketing course out there, I would expect to pay between $3-5K for everything you get with Clickfunnels’ One Funnel Away Challenge. 
  • This is simultaneously one of the most powerful online marketing trainings around and still one of the most inexpensive (the company banks on the fact that you’ll pay for ClickFunnels after you take the course). 
  • You will have to block off a lot of time over the month-long span it takes to complete the challenge. And, I almost guarantee it’s worth canceling anything you have going on during that time. 

Everyone thinks their product is worth clearing your schedule for. But, most of them are not. Nobody else out there will provide you with this much information and action steps for just $100. So take the leap and complete the challengeASAP — it will transform your business and your life!

Filed Under: Case Studies Tagged With: , , , ,

Here’s the Only Funnel Hacking Guide You Ever Need to Read

May 14, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Funnel hacking hat

No matter what stage you’re at in business, idea/prototype, startup, or growth, you’ve got the mindset of an entrepreneur, not a nine-to-fiver. So, of course you want to learn as much as you can about every tactic that can break through the barriers that keep you from living the life you want. Enter funnel hacking, a system that could change your business forever. 

Learn how to blow your competition out of the water and create a sales funnel that generates long-term revenue. Here’s what’s in store: 

What is Funnel Hacking? 

To master funnel hacking, you first need to understand marketing funnels. 

The most common framework for building a marketing funnel is AIDA, which is an acronym for Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. Another system, which is, in essence, the same, is the Buyer’s Journey. The latter assumes that consumers go through three rather than four stages before making a purchase choice: 

  1. Awareness
  2. Consideration
  3. Decision

Either way you look at it, your target audience will first become aware of your offer and eventually become a customer or client through your marketing funnel where you will (hopefully) attract, engage, convert, and retain them. 

What is a funnel in marketing

Essentially, a marketing funnel is a guided path that you send people through to lead them to the eventual purchase of your product, service, or other paid offer. And, for each niche, funnels work a bit differently because each offer solves a different consumer problem. 

A marketing funnel is crucial because 96% of the people who land on your website aren’t ready to buy anything yet. And, without capturing visitors, nurturing leads, and delighting (and up-selling) customers, all of that traffic is wasted. Yet, 68% of brands have not identified or measured their sales funnels. 

Do funnels really work?

Without a strategic, measured sales funnel, you miss out on a ton of sales. And, you need to come up with a plan to close the gap and generate more revenue from your products or service. 

Now, funnel hacking is a strategy (coined by Russell Brunson) wherein you study your competitors’ marketing funnels and apply your findings to your own sales strategy. 

So, How Does Funnel Hacking Work?

In a nutshell, funnel hacking works by taking all of the guesswork out of creating your initial sales funnel. You simply enter your competitors’ funnels (ideally those that are generating a lot of traffic) and move all the way through the conversion process. You buy their products and even reach out to customer service and see how they handle customer interaction. 

  1. Make a list of your competitors that have offers that are doing well (you can also pick a different market completely than the market you want to go in and still study what is working for them and then just apply it to your niche)
    1. You can use free tools like alexa traffic competitive analysis to see how much traffic a site is getting
  2. Move through each of your competitors’ sales funnels and study their offers
    1. Price points, what they are offering, who their target market is, sales messages, pain points they focus on, how they “hook” their audience
    2. Study what is missing
      1. Sub market / niche that isn’t being served
      2. Pain points that customers have that is being ignored
      3. Technical pieces missing from the offer like templates, e-book, video training, webinars, seminars, audio training
  3. Buy the competing offers
    1. Get a feel for the product/service first hand if you need to
  4. Record your findings
    1. Write it all out on paper!
  5. Reverse engineer a funnel based on your discoveries
    1. Write out different ideas as far as working sales messages, ads, offers, the actual delivery of the product/service
    2. Put it all on paper and start to circle pieces from different funnels you’ve studied so that you can model (not copy) the frameworks into your own unique offer
    3. One of the  most common conclusions is to fill the gaps that others are not serving
      1. This gap could be a missing component or an underserved sub market

Essentially, funnel hacking is deep competitive research used to create a digital marketing funnel. And, this type of intelligence is vital for business success. 

(Almost Legitimate) Objections to Funnel Hacking 

Is funnel hacking legal? Is it moral? Is it an MLM scheme? What if… 

Okay, stop right there. Not only is funnel hacking perfectly legal, but it is also precisely how businesses have made their way amongst competitors as far back as they’ve had competitors. There’s a crucial reason why business plans contain a competitive analysis: you need to know what is happening in your market at all times if you want to succeed. 

Competitive intelligence puts you on the map. It provides insights about what’s working and not working in your industry. And, in the case of funnel hacking, the intelligence you receive provides a framework for your marketing and sales path and cuts initial guesswork out of the equation. 

So, what are some of the more legitimate objections people have to funnel hacking? 

Objection #1: It Can Be a Financial Risk 

In addition to the costs and/or energy you put into tools, content, and testing to create a sales funnel, reverse engineering requires that you invest in your competitors’ products. And, depending on what those products are, this can be a high-ticket investment. So, this is certainly a legitimate objection. 

But, if you educate yourself on the principles and methods that marketers have trusted for decades, you’re likely to see a huge payout. 

Your biggest risk is not taking any risks - Mark Zuckerberg

So, if you’re willing to take risks and you know how to intelligently weigh the rewards, this objection is null. 

Objection #2: It’s Not Cool to Copy Other Brands

You are not actually copying your competitor’s funnels when funnel hacking. Rather you are looking for what their offer is and what works and what does not work. Most importantly you want to see what is missing from their offer. This can be something as simple as a template or video training module that your client would benefit from or more importantly a pain point that your competitor has not touched on. Remember clients buy because they need a solution to their problem. So don’t ignore their pain points.

Further, if you funnel hack a shady competitor and you mimic their processes, you can end up in with a disaster on your hands — this is true. Competitor A may have terrible customer service and Competitor B might have awful website UX. So, if you copy them, you’ll end up with dissatisfied website visitors and customers. But, this point is moot if you know what you’re doing.

Just because you analyze and take notes on what a competitor has done doesn’t mean that you will make the same mistakes. In fact, it’s pretty easy to read customer reviews and find out about the most common complaints so that you can determine what not to do. 

As with all things in life, when it comes to funnel hacking, you get to take what you like and leave the rest. And, you absolutely must add your own spin to the final product. 

And did you know you can build a final product modeled off a completely different industry? For example, you don’t just have to funnel hack competitors but funnel hack any working business model. Let’s say you sell a life coaching program but you’re having trouble scaling. You could look at what some of the top coaching programs do to scale their business. The industry you are “hacking” doesn’t have to be your own. You could look at what is working in the real estate coaching industry and model their frameworks from there (IE – weekly zoom calls, account manager, group training in the field, live seminars, etc).

Funnel Hacking Tips to Skyrocket Your Success 

If you’ve made it this far, you’re ready to move forward with the process. So, it’s time to get into the meat and potatoes of this system. Here’s what you need to know before you hack your competitors’ funnels. 

Funnel hacking secrets | Funnel hacker shirt

1. Look at Both Direct and Indirect Competitors

A complete funnel hacking project will examine your competitors, both direct and indirect, under a microscope. And, while you want to look at those who have a comparable offer, you also want to look at brands that provide a different solution to the same problem. 

For example, you may sell weight loss supplements. If so, you naturally want to know how other weight loss supplement brands move website visitors to their offer. In addition, you would do well to know what other top weight loss nutrition and/or exercise programs do. 

Look at direct and indirect competition

The most successful companies solve problems, they don’t just sell products and services. So, it’s important to look at your indirect competitors in an attempt to learn more about messaging, objections to your offer vs theirs, and how multiple solutions might be used in tandem. 

2. Don’t Limit Research to Websites and Newsletters

Of course, you should check out your competitors’ websites and subscribe to their newsletters. But, there’s typically more to a sales funnel than email nurturing and competitive pricing. And, you want to find out more like where website traffic comes from and where sales primarily happen. 

  • What social media platforms are your competitors on? 
  • How much engagement do they get from which types of posts? 
  • Can products and services be ordered on multiple platforms or marketplaces? 
  • How well do they do on these platforms/ 
  • Do they follow up with marketplace buyers and invite them to their website? 
  • Are reviews accessible? 

If your offer happens to be consumer packaged goods, you may compete with brands that sell on larger marketplaces like Walmart, Amazon, Etsy, or eBay. And, if you offer a professional service, rivals may provide their on niche marketplaces or directories. Remember that these sites are part of the funnel as well. 

3. Pay Attention to Retargeting Ads & Backlinks

Many people miss this detail, but you can’t really afford to. After you visit your competitor’s website, it’s helpful to see which sites they advertise on and how they get traffic to come back to their website. 

So, here what to do: 

  1. Don’t browse the web incognito. Instead, when prompted, allow cookies on your competitors’ websites then pay close attention to retargeting ads that show up as you go about your business. Screenshot the ads and note where they appeared. 
Modern Mint Retargeting Ad
  1. Conduct backlink research. Run a competitor backlink audit (consider a tool like ahrefs) for each of your competitor’s websites and find out which external sites your competitors might be getting traffic from. Also, which type of content do they have links from? Are they blog posts, directories, or something else? 
Modern Mint Backlinks
  1. Set a Google Alert for new mentions of your competitors on the web. This way, you’re first in line when a new mention is published.  
Modern Mint Google Alerts

By doing so, you get an idea of all potential traffic sources you might be able to leverage for your own funnel. 

Bonus Tip: Don’t Hide From Your Competitors’ Salespeople

While email, mobile, and digital marketing make up a huge portion of sales, phone calls aren’t dead. In fact, according to one study, 57% of C-level buyers still prefer that salespeople call them. So, if you have a chance to study the phone sales process and learn some tricks, don’t pass it up. 

4. Stay Relevant to Your Target Demographic

While you’re in the process of reverse-engineering a working funnel to create an optimized customer journey, you MUST stay relevant to your target audience. Customer delight is the true name of the game. 

Make a customer, not a sale - Kathering Barchetti

So, while moving through competitor funnels, note whether or not their target audience matches yours — this is super important because the same tactics don’t appeal to a 60-year-old male in Boston as a 20-year-old female in rural Idaho. You need to know your audience so that you can work to solve their most common problems through your offer and your content. 

5. Keep Track of Everything

Create a folder in your GDrive or Dropbox and fill it with screenshots of your competitors’ funnels and notes about your thoughts. Organize your findings by brand or by element (home page, landing page, about page, email sequence, etc.). And, you want to keep track of everything you find because you may come back to a retargeting ad or a popup later and notice something that you didn’t see before. 

Record all stages of the funnel with plenty of notes and screenshots: 

  • Advertisements on facebook, youtube, google, websites and other platforms
  • Website page layouts
  • Calls to action, copywriting, sales messages, offers
  • Product descriptions 
  • Videos & graphics
  • Popups & forms
  • Blog topics 
  • Retargeting ads & landing pages
  • Social media profiles and groups
  • Forum communications
  • Relevant customer reviews
  • Emails (both welcome & nurture)
  • Affiliate program details 
  • Website traffic stats
  • Backlinks from external websites
  • Forum communications
  • Customer service conversations
  • Marketing tools & resources
  • *Upsells, down-sells, & cross-sells

Watch for holes in these funnels and keep notes about trends.


Look for the hooks that grab your attention, sales messages & stories that you connect to, and offers being made that are irresistible.

And keep your eye out for other things like page layout, color, copywriting, communication frequency. Keeping your research organized will make it easier to recreate a single, honed funnel built from scratch that completely surpasses the others in your niche. 

Furthermore, it’s crucial to understand that upsells, down-sells, and cross-sells are central to nearly every successful sales funnel. So, if your competitors aren’t offering these things, you can rise to the top by learning how to effectively implement sales and increase cart value. This will result in allowing you to spend more (if needed) to acquire a customer and having this ability allows you to really scale up advertising.

Tools to Streamline the Funnel Hacking Processes

Advanced competitive intelligence tools and sales funnel software will make your funnel hacking work so much easier. If you start out with a typical WordPress website and tons of plugins, it will be more difficult to streamline your internal processes. Take it from me: get in on technology where it is today by using higher-level tools instead of an outdated system. 

Here are some of the tools I recommend: 

Click Funnels 

Click Funnels

ClickFunnels is a merchant platform designed specifically for marketing funnels. It was co-founded by Russell Brunson, who originally coined the term, “funnel hacking.” And, to this day, it’s my platform of choice, though I do have a second favorite. 

Kartra

Kartra

I use Kartra in addition to ClickFunnels because I don’t like to put all of my eggs in one basket, so to speak. For more information about pricing, plans, and comparisons, read my full Kartra review. 

Active Campaign

Active Campaign

My favorite email marketing platform is definitely Active Campaign. It provides much more than just email marketing and has a truly intuitive interface.  

Drip

Drip

In place of Active Campaign, you might prefer Drip as an up-to-date, full-featured email marketing platform (many people do). Try them both out for yourself before you choose. 

Recommended Reading: Active Campaign vs Drip

Stripe

Stripe

Stripe is a leading online payment platform. But, it gives you much more than just transaction processing. Invoice, get business credit offers, and more. 

Chrome Extensions

In addition to the standalone tools above. You can enhance your research experience in Google Chrome with the following extensions. 

  • MozBar – Get a quick look at page metrics for SEO and traffic research. 
  • ColorZilla – Find out which exact colors/color schemes are used on a page.
  • FontNinja – Discover what font is being used on a page. 
  • Full Page Screen Capture – Take a screenshot of entire web pages when you want more than a section of a page. 

Leverage the tools above for an optimized funnel hacking process. 

Final Thoughts

Funnel hacking is a competitive intelligence method that enables you to reverse engineer your rivals’ sales funnels. Use the advice above to create optimized funnels in no time. With the right tools and the right data, hack your way to building a superior offer that’ll bring you more revenue and long term sales!

Filed Under: Growth Hacks Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Make $10K+ Per Month Online… Without Losing Money on Ad Spend

April 23, 2020 by Leave a Comment

There’s a ton of advice out there about making money online. And, the promise of getting rich from blogging, affiliate marketing, eCommerce, or coaching is enticing.

You’ve put in the effort to earn your first dollar from digital marketing and you know that you can earn a six-figure income if you make the right moves. But, what should you do after you’ve earned that first buck to make a consistent $10,000+ per month?

If you’ve made some money online, and you’re looking for a way to start earning upwards of $10K+ per month (residually), this guide is for you! 

Here’s what’s in-store: 

What Do I Know About Making Money Online?

When I was in my early 20s, I was still living at home with my parents and wanted to learn how to make some serious money and buy a home. So, I sought out all the different ways to make money and become “financially independent” and I came across real estate as a way to build cash-flow residually and build my net worth.

As a self-starter, I taught myself about the real estate market. In my quest for investment knowledge, I ended up subscribing to a handful of email lists to learn about the latest and greatest systems, and techniques  (you’ve done this too right?). This would eventually introduce me to internet marketing.

I am so happy this was the path I took because not only do I now own many rental properties but after much sweat, tears and frustration, I am finally making a consistent healthy income from internet marketing (well over $10k/mo).

And speaking from experience, internet marketing is a lot more fun and stress free than being a real estate investor.

At first, I was learning some of the old school techniques from guys like Russell Brunson and Armand Morin and Ryan Deiss.  And, in 2006, I decided to implement some of the systems I had learned from a handful of experts. The one system that really stuck out to me was Ryan’s Million Dollar Napkin.


Ryan Deiss – Million Dollar Napkin

I knew this model could work well and create a snowball effect because of how scalable it would be but I only had the idea. I didn’t have the fundamentals of how to put it all together despite buying numerous courses on this (we will come back to this a little later)…

My first online commission was earned from Google Ads via affiliate marketing. I paid for ads on Google that sent leads to a squeeze page using one of the funnel platforms (from over a decade ago). I was promoting some gas rebates MLM (don’t ask) and was hooked on the idea of turning a dollar from ads into two or three dollars from revenue.

The first commission I saw was probably only a few dollars, which didn’t even cover the amount I’d spent on the ads. Still, it proved to me that internet marketing wasn’t just a fantasy. Someone actually saw my offer and bought something! It made it real for me.

But, I’d have to learn how to perfect my processes. And, at this point, I believed that you had to be an advertising expert to generate any real money from digital ads. I thought that for me to figure out how to make a profit on cold advertising, I needed to consume everything I could on being an “ads expert” (boy, was I wrong!).

Fast forward many moons later and I’ve figured something out. A process that works. The “missing link” if you will.

I’ve also created an ad-friendly offer, an offer that does well to cold traffic but also can handle scaling. I run ads to my offer and it doesn’t stress me out because fulfillment is no longer overwhelming. With this new offer, I don’t run one-on-one coaching sessions anymore because fulfillment for a one-on-one service can’t be scaled (there is only one of me).

I’ve changed my offer from something that could only help a few people to something that could help many people. To be more specific I changed it to video training modules, group coaching, and other digital assets as part of the fulfillment.

With this new offer and the consistent Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) it brings, I’ve stopped worrying about finances, debt and I have more time to spend with my family. I can finally take my kids to the bouncy houses on weekends without worrying so much about client calls and late night texts running my life. And, I want to share my system so that you can duplicate it for yourself. 

The Greatest Challenge You’ll Face Against Earning Six-Figures per Year Online

I stumbled through the world of making money online and it took nearly 10 years before my online earnings were consistent and significant. During this time, I invested in real estate as my primary source of revenue, leaving internet marketing on the backburner as a side project or a system to master later (but I always knew it was my true calling).

All that time, I was wasting cash on ad spend and this prevented me from making any real money online and building a second source of monthly recurring revenue (MRR).

To this day, according to research from Forrester, losing money ad spend is still the greatest challenge online marketers face, followed closely by inaccurate targeting and lost customers. 

The Greatest Challenges Online Marketers Face

When I realized how simple it is to overcome this problem, I was amazed. As it turns out, my beliefs about advertising were all wrong (plus, I was using an outdated funnel with systems from the days of dial-up, so that didn’t help). After letting go of a couple of false beliefs, I was able to turn things around exponentially and fast. 

Today, I’m able to generate five-figures of recurring revenue each month and on track to 3X this number within the next 12 months. Now, I want to share how you can duplicate these results. 

What are the Secrets to Turning $1 Earned Into Earning $10,000 Every Month?

Here, I’m going to reveal the secrets that will turn your side hustle into a lucrative source of income. So, let’s explore how you need to change your mindset and I’ll share actionable advice that will skyrocket your MRR. 

2 Common Myths That Sabotage Your Digital Marketing Success

If you follow suit with false paradigms, you will never achieve the results you want. So, before you do anything else, make sure you don’t believe these myths that will only stand in your way. 

Myths That Sabotage Success

The first myth that will sabotage your ability to earn consistent and lucrative MRR with online marketing is that you must be an advertising expert to turn ad spend into positive cash flow. Yes, you need to understand the basics of PPC. And, with knowledge in this area, you will have a slight edge over competitors. 

But, there’s one invaluable ingredient in a successful digital marketing recipe that has nothing to do with advertising expertise. And, once you learn and implement it, the difference you see in your revenue will blow your mind.

Now, the second myth that you need to leave behind is that the harder you work, the more likely you are to achieve the results you want. Yes, if you work 72 hours per week at a specific hourly rate, you can earn more than you would if you were working 40 hours. So, logically, this makes sense to most people.

But, hours and hours of hard work each week is not the most reliable path to wealth. Plus, if you walk this trail, you’ll miss the point of being wealthy in the first place — you give up quality time spent with your family, travel, and basically kiss your personal life goodbye. So, if you still believe that the more you work, the more you’ll make, let go of this rubbish right now. 

Read on to learn how you can replace these false ideas with a new mindset that will set you on a path to earn a significant MRR for years to come.

Learn the Truth and Replace Your False Beliefs – Beyond a “Wealth Mindset”

You’ve learned the greatest challenge digital marketers face and two of the false beliefs that hold people back. Right about now, you’re probably expecting a motivational “wealth mindset” rant about how you need to believe that you are worthy. And, while that is true, you wouldn’t be here if that’s what you needed to hear (plus, you can find inspirational quotes anywhere). 

Beliefs That Fuel Success

Here, I want you to fully-absorb a couple of truths to replace your pre-existing false beliefs with: 

  1. Being an “offer achiever” trumps advertising knowledge
  2. Wealthy people actually work less to earn more money

Advertising knowledge, while helpful, is nothing compared to creating an offer that is so irresistible that people feel silly not to take advantage of it. So, that’s what you need to create. 

And, wealthy people don’t work more to achieve success. Instead, they learn how to do less to achieve more. For example, I used to spend all-hours trying to solve any problem that came up in my digital marketing business. Now, I ask somebody who knows what they’re doing to help me (hire the best people on web platforms, facebook groups and through referrals). And, I now work less and earn more than ever before.

Now, learn the foundational skills you need to become an offer achiever, work less, and earn a significant MRR. 

Why a Self-Liquidating Offer is Crucial in Digital Marketing

A self-liquidating offer (SLO) is essentially an offer you’ve created that pays for itself. When you implement a self-liquidating offer, you break even. In digital marketing, it is essential to learn mastery over this because once you understand how to break even, it is easy to learn how to scale. Remember that napkin from before? This is what Ryan was trying to teach me.

I sell coaching, information products like ebooks and video training modules to generate income. My sales are almost completely fueled using SLOs from cold Facebook ads. 

How a Self-Liquidating Offer Works

Leads are funneled from Facebook through an ad to an offer for a free report. Then, immediately, my funnel upsells a $47 information product (the free report is sent via email but the viewer sees a special offer that can immediately help them even further).

After that, I immediately try to upsell again to $197 training (Using 1 Click Upsell Feature where the client does not have to re-enter their credit card information). And, if the new customer declines, I have a training version with fewer features that I attempt to down-sell for just $97. 

What really made this magical is that once I mastered self-liquidating offers, making sure that my ads paid for themselves from immediate sales (I broke even), all of my leads (subscribers) essentially became free. But if I had only sold a $47 product, the average cart value would have been lower (meaning I could not spend as much on acquiring that customer), but thanks to the upsells enormous cart value is added. 

Making multiple offers made it possible to spend more to acquire a customer. Plus, both buyers and non-buyers pour into the funnel daily. Non buyers are nurtured through an email series and brought back to the $47 offer. Buyers are nurtured as well and offered a much higher ticket offer (HTO). The high ticket offer is group coaching and this is where the profit and serious income comes into play.

So, if your ad spend is $75 daily, you need to make sure that you earn $75 per day from at least one lead that you funnel to your offer. This is a self-liquidating offer, and it sets the stage for what comes next.

When you scale-out and increase your average daily profit from new, incoming leads to $85, you see an immediate daily profit of $10. In a month, that adds up to around $300. And, when you increase ad spend to $150 daily, your immediate profit for the month doubles to $600. Immediate profit on $300 daily ad spend would be around $1,200 monthly, and so on.  

Now, it doesn’t end there because, when subscribers move through an automated email sequence and as you build rapport with them, (as mentioned previously) you can get some of them to convert on a higher-ticket backend offer.

So, in addition to the immediate value of a customer, sales happen later through our nurturing sequence. You can then make more offers to anyone on the list. This, again, enables you to pay more per customer acquisition, cover the cost of ads, and see real profits start to roll in. 

What is an Offer Achiever and How Can You Become One? 

An offer achiever is someone who creates a product or service that is so compelling and helpful that someone would be foolish to ignore it. And, an offer achiever will generate more success in digital marketing than all the PPC training in the world.

So, what goes into becoming an offer achiever? Offer hacking is a system I learned from Russell Brunson’s One Funnel Away Challenge. Fortunately, it’s not as complicated as you might think. You simply find out what is currently being offered in your market, buy all of your competitor’s products or services and study them. 

  • What are the costs? 
  • What are the benefits? 
  • What are the best features? 
  • Are there any problems with the existing offers? 

Then, you create something that provides significantly more value. 

The odds that you can create something that hasn’t already been thought of are slim. While not impossible to disrupt your industry with a brand new product, it’s not likely. But, using this system, you can instead compile the best parts of the best offers with outstanding results. 

When I was in high school, I had a friend who went around town and asked how much people were paying to have their lawns mowed. If they said they were paying $30, he offered the service for $25 and got the job. He won an entrepreneurial award for this and made quite a bit of money. At that point, this was impressive. But, this is not offer hacking.

If my friend were to have implemented offer hacking, he would have looked at what all the other landscapers were offering in the area as part of their $25 package and made an offer that would seem silly for the clients to turn down.

Look at these two offers for example:

  • Offer A (Regular Boring Offer)
    • Cut Lawn (Value: $25) Price: $25/cut
  • Offer B (Awesome “Offer Stack”)
    • Cut Lawn (Value: $25)
    • Weed Whack (Value: $20)
    • Blow off the grass (Value: $5)
    • Close your gates so your dog doesn’t run away (Value: Priceless)
    • One free spring cleaning (Value: $150)
    • One free fertilization (Value: $150)
    • Total Value: $350 Price: $35/cut

If he stacked offers and provided $350 worth of yard maintenance and charged $35 per cut, he would blow the competitors out of the water. He could have first seen where his neighbors were having challenges with their current landscaper and make an offer that blows his competitors away (the art of offer hacking). It’s not about the price at this point but about the value.

With this example, he would have created an offer with more services like weed whacking, yard debris clean up, fertilization, or other comparable services that provided tremendous value to the customer. Then, he would have been able to give the most value and as a result charge more. In fact, he could have charged even more than $35 a cut and been the highest price in town. But with his customers seeing the value in his offer, they are not as focused on the price.

Even with the spring cleaning and the fertilization costing him a little more per season he is still way ahead for the year with his revenue and profit compared to Offer A.

Here is another quick example. A Ferrari 488 GTB (my dream car) retails for about $330,000. That’s expensive right? But what if it came with a free house? Lifetime house cleaning service? Free gas? Suddenly, your eyes are off the price and you are considering the value.

In the physical product world, it is costly to provide value when offer stacking. We’ve only been discussing tangible items in order to offer stack. A house and free gas and spring cleaning all cost money and are tangible.

But let’s think about the digital world. In the digital world, what does it cost to share a video course and e-book outlining the 5 secrets to getting a perfect credit score? Definitely less than $0.10. But what is the perceived value of such a thing? I mean your credit score directly impacts you financially and influences the interest rate on credit cards, utilities and your mortgage! A video course and e-book like this could easily sell for $47, especially with a good offer stack behind it. But it only costs a few cents to fulfill! So by offer stacking with digital products, you can provide tremendous value to your audience without it costing you much at all! Get it?

Offer hacking works in nearly any product or service niche. One of the key highlights of an offer achiever is that there is no need to worry about competitive pricing because your product or service is so much more valuable than anything else on the market. You don’t have to be the cheapest — you get to be the best. 

For example, Apple did this with the iPhone — cell phones had already been invented and the company simply improved them and fixed issues people were having in the market place (like having to carry one device for music plus one device for phone calls).

In digital marketing, you won’t have to manually clean up anyone’s yard. Instead, you can create a course or informational product one time and profit from it repeatedly. Or, you can go out and ask someone in an adjacent niche for an insider interview that you offer only to your paid members. You might even be able to partner with another brand to offer a free trial of their product or service. This is all part of creating an irresistible offer.

What if You Aren’t Aware of the Problems Your Target Audience Faces? 

Knowing the problems your dream customers face is a key element in becoming an offer achiever. I’ve found that he who can best describe the problem you are having is also assumed to have the solution. Once people hear you spell-out their challenges, they connect with you. Then, they want to know you, like you, trust you, and buy from you. And if you can describe their pain, they assume you can also provide the solution.

And, the best way I’ve found to define a problem is through an ask campaign, a way to find out what your customers want before you create it. Essentially, you simply ask your tribe, “What are your greatest challenges/most pressing questions/top problems with [insert topic here]?” And, you can launch an ask campaign at any stage of the funnel. 

For example, if you’re just getting started creating a new offer to an audience, you might ask on social media or in forums. Then, if you’re trying to upsell non-buyers on your list, ask them via email or on your Facebook page. And, finally, when you want to upsell buyers to a higher-ticket backend offer, ask those on your email list tagged as buyers.

If you want to know the answer, you have to ask the question.

Note: An ask campaign is not the same as a poll, and here’s why — a poll can limit answers to a handful of preset values. When your audience is forced to select A, B, C, or D, you miss out on the opportunity to blow your competitors out of the water. It may turn out that answer E, something you never thought of before, ends up being the top challenge people face. In that case, you would want to create an offer that solves problem E better than anyone else has.  

Where Are Your Dream Customers Hanging Out?

I know you’ve heard this before, but it is imperative. So I want to remind you: get in front of your dream customers! 

I run a coaching business and when I wanted to get more eyeballs on my offer, I had to discover where my dream clients hang out. When you find out where your target audience is, you need to be there so you can interact with them. 

Some of my ideal clients hang out on Facebook. Other dream clients conduct online searches to find answers to their questions. And, the final segment is on YouTube searching for “how to” do this and “how to” do that. 

When I found where my people were and knew I had a working funnel, I increased my presence dramatically. And increased my Facebook ad spend from $25 per day to $75 (3x). I was able to use a combination of Facebook ads and Facebook groups to move traffic to my offer. I posted more videos on YouTube. I put additional effort into SEO for my blog. And, these actions have boosted my business tremendously. 

Tip: If you find yourself in an online group or forum that’s relevant to your offer, join, interact, and provide value by sharing your expertise, but never spam. 

Recommended Reading: This is How to Make Money on Facebook (A+ Tested Strategies)

Are You Getting Optimized Value From Your Digital Marketing Tools?

Remember when I told you that I was using outdated systems? Well, don’t make the same mistake I did. If you use tools that don’t fully optimize your processes, you end up with unnecessary holes in your operations. 

And, when there are holes in your operations, you spend way too much time trying to plug them. The alternative is to enable fully-automated, streamlined processes that decrease your workload and help you achieve results faster. 

Imagine that you want to build a bookshelf with your grandfather and he shows up at your house with a screwdriver in his hand. Well, you already have an electric drill. So, you tell him, “Hey, look, here is a way to get this done more quickly and easily.” Yes, an electric drill costs more, but it provides more value and is worthwhile. 

The same applies to the online tools and systems that you use. 

Previously, I was managing my website in WordPress with Optimize Press for my squeeze pages and One Shopping Cart for my shopping cart / merchant processor. It was difficult to communicate and nearly impossible to implement one-click upsells. 

Now, I use four key tools that I couldn’t work without and one that deserves an honorable mention: 

  1. ClickFunnels – This platform handles the sales funnels, merchant setup, membership fulfilment and is designed to create streamlined lead funnels. It generates about 90% of my business. The rest comes in via Kartra. It is a all in one platform.
  2. Stripe – ClickFunnels work together seamlessly. So, together, they create a really nice system that makes it easy to implement one-click upsells.
  3. ActiveCampaign – This is my favorite autoresponder. I’ve compared it to Drip, and find that it works well for me. Still, I recommend that you try a few to see which works best for you.
  4. Kartra – This merchant platform is really nice and presently generates about 10% of my business. It is also an all on one platform.

And, the honorable mention goes to Zapier. If not for the Zap, Connect ActiveCampaign to Google Sheets,  I wouldn’t be able to achieve the results that I have. I send out ask campaigns to people who join my Facebook group asking, “What is your biggest problem with X?” When they respond, the answers go into a Google Sheet. Then, the data is automatically sent to ActiveCampaign.

We have about 10 to 20 people per day request to join our Facebook group and thanks to this setup, we know their #1 problem and we gather their name and email into our nurture campaign. So how about that? We’re building a list, providing value, and doing an ask campaign all at once.

Zapier ActiveCampaign to Google Sheets

So, with the help of this Zap, when I talk to someone on my list, I know exactly what to say to them and how to help them. 

When I first implemented the tools here, I wasn’t dialed-in all the way. But, what was great is that these modern platforms make things like split testing easy. And, when you optimize one feature at a time, you can find out what works and what doesn’t work about your funnel. If you’re running ads, you must run a/b split tests to optimize. 

In digital marketing, an opt-in conversion rate above 30% is pretty good (and this varies by industry). Using the split testing that the above tools offer, I was able to get my conversion rate to 52%. I tested headlines, hooks, and CTAs (calls to action) to discover what works for my audience. 

As my system became more effective, it was rewarding. Each time a sale came through, I started to get push notifications on my phone, “You’ve received $47.” Then, 30 seconds later, “You’ve received $197.” My mouth watered like Pavlov’s dog and I wanted to keep working at it. 

You have to do all this work with the belief things are going to work out. But, until it happens, you don’t really know how exciting it’s going to be. Once these sales started to come in, something “clicked” and with that excitement I doubled down on what was working. 

Why I Use More Than One Merchant Platform

As you can see in the above list, I use both ClickFunnels and Kartra, which basically serve the same purpose. And, people ask me why all the time. I have more than one house (I still like to invest in real estate), more than one car (I actually still have the first car I ever bought when I turned 18), and more than one income stream. While this might seem excessive to some, it just makes sense to me. 

There’s a method to my madness. In general, I don’t like to have all of my eggs in one basket. If one of these systems were to crash temporarily or go out of business completely, I don’t want to have to hustle to move my databases to a new platform or lose all of my income in the interim. 

If your river runs dry, you need to find another water source. And, if it takes long to get to your destination, you might completely dehydrate yourself. 

I run my business through more than one  merchant platform. I’m not necessarily recommending that you do this because I believe it’s a personal preference. But, I do want you to think about it. I heard of too many people complaining that their merchant account got frozen (due to sudden growth or too many chargebacks, etc) and i wanted to have more than one seasoned merchant account in the unlikely event this ever happens.

Should You Hire Staff or Stick With the Solopreneur Workstyle?

Some people prefer to work alone. They like to learn every system and solve every problem that they encounter. And, while this will create intelligence and aptitude, it won’t necessarily create wealth. 

I have a staff. About once a year, I spend money (maybe around $500) on help from developers hired through Codeable. I regularly work with a virtual assistant (overseas), an SEO, and a writer who are contractors and freelancers who work on a 1099 or through Upwork. 

Outsource Work to Freelancers

There will be a learning curve when you grow from a solopreneur to an employer. For example, at one point, I hired three writers who I thought were the very best writers on the Upwork platform. One was sort of flaky. Another ditched out and became unresponsive. But, the third is still working with me and delivers great results. 

Take my advice: don’t stay up until 3:00 am trying to solve problems and fix systems that don’t work, which is what I used to do. Instead, get on Upwork, pay $50, and get someone to help you. Your time is too valuable!

The Magic of Charging More for Your Offer

Some people have guilt about charging more for their products and services — I know I did. But, when I decided to bump up my prices for training and coaching, I found a surprising truth: when you charge more for your offer you can provide a better service to your clients, which brings them a better result from hiring you.

After my prices increased and I was able to find a working formula, I put a lot more chips on the table. I hired a better writer, account managers, and higher-quality help. This led to enhanced support, production, and service. Everyone is happier when you provide superior value. 

Are You Ready to Take the Next Step? 

If you’re ready to take the next step, here’s your homework: 

  1. Let go of your sabotaging beliefs and understand that you can work less to earn more by becoming an offer-achiever. 
  2. Go buy your competitors’ products and study them. 
  3. Create a product or service that blows everyone else out of the water. 
  4. Learn to implement a self-liquidating offer. 
  5. Scale your efforts. 

And, if you want a bit more support, sign up for our free training about how to earn passive income online. 

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