160: One Hour a Day to Run a $2 Million Online Course Business with 14 Employees (featuring Abbey Ashley)

It’s time to catch up with another course creator friend! Abbey Ashley is no stranger to this show, but it’s been a while since we’ve heard what she’s up to. And she does not disappoint: Abbey’s been killing it this year! We chatted about how her business is evolving, where she sees herself focusing her energy in the future, and much more. Enjoy! “You will pivot. Things will shift, and that’s totally okay.” -Abbey Ashley In This Episode, We Talked About: (0:39) Why I’m excited about today’s episode + a teaser for next week! (3:07) Thoughts on lead magnets and “getting to know” course creators (5:18) Working out in 2020 (8:36) Talking Facebook ads and group interaction (10:03) Setting the stage for today’s interview (11:09) Welcoming Abbey back and hearing her online course business update (14:07) Keeping the train rolling in 2020 (16:33) Abbey’s growing team (18:24) How she’s making an impact on students’ lives (including my own team) (21:17) Charting metrics and looking for areas to improve (26:41) Project management tools (28:38) “Extreme ownership” and applying common leadership principles (30:12) What it takes to succeed (31:55) The evolution of Abbey’s funnel and how learning from others has influenced it (38:46) The importance of finding your audience (42:00) Abbey’s Facebook groups and the importance of honesty (44:44) Thoughts on leaving Facebook - or not (47:39) Course platform decisions (49:54) The importance of listening to your audience (52:49) Why Abbey’s enjoying learning from a new mentor (55:55) Hiring and running a team (58:53) Thinking about team culture and efficiency (1:03:36) Making the transition from contractors to employees (1:07:55) Surprise, delight, and… shots? (1:12:45) Handling hiring in the U.S. (1:13:44) Delegating and getting out of day-to-day operations (1:17:12) Lynch-pin redundancy (1:20:56) What’s next for Abbey (1:26:13) Is a podcast in the works for Abbey? (1:27:42) Where to find her online and why it’s okay to copy (1:30:23) How much fun it would be to be on Abbey’s team? + How we first connected (1:33:04) Emotions and shareable moments (1:34:52) Updates and differences in teams (1:37:48) How things are going with my OBM + David’s singing solo :P (1:39:02) Upsells vs. downsells, tortoises vs. hares (1:41:41) A high-ticket program without a sales call? (1:44:10) Funnel hacking and evolving with the times (1:46:40) “There is no secret sauce” + Pinterest myth-busting (1:49:00) The importance of a learning mindset (1:50:54) Wrapping up with a plug for next week’s episode That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Show.   Links Offers and Tools: Bonjoro Free Trial ClickFunnels Free Trial Win of the Week Guest Links: The Virtual Savvy VA Checklist and Starter Kit Resources and Recommendations: Betty Rocker Dr. John Jaquish ClickUp Trello Asana Evolved Finance Extreme Ownership 2X Business Coaching Mariah Coz Teachable Kajabi SamCart Fix This Next The Pumpkin Plan Clockwork Good to Great Gusto Side Hustle Nation Consulting.com Episode 37 Episode 79 Jacques’ Courses: The Online Course Accelerator Next Level Courses Piano in 21 Days David’s Courses: Wellness Program Expert