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 Fix This Next Chop Wood, Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great The 5 Love Languages Teachable New Zenler Jacques’ Courses: The Online Course Accelerator Next Level Courses Piano in 21 Days David’s Course - Wellness Program Expert