JESSICA BERK: “When it comes to the idea of making it, when I first started the course, I was thinking, like, ‘Okay, what are my goals? You know, what are my goals for this course?’ And I'm like, ‘I don't know. I mean, if I could do a hundred thousand dollars of sales of this course, that would be amazing. That would be, like, double my best year ever.’ And so as I'm working towards that goal, and I'm doing the live launches, and I'm going evergreen, and I’m testing all this stuff, it's like I saw that goal coming into clear focus, and I knew I was going to hit it. So by the time I hit it, I was already on to the next—I was already eyeing the two-hundred-thousand goal.
“So you're never at the finish line. Like, you have to enjoy the process. You have to embrace the trial and error and not be so scared of it and be able to handle the ebbs and the flows because that's the fun part.”
INTRO: I’m Amy Porterfield, ex-corporate girl turned CEO of a multi-seven-figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget, and the time to focus on growing my small-but-mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned, and you'll see the business I have today, one that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible, one that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step-by-step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur, or one in the making, who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started.
AMY PORTERFIELD: Real quick, I wanted to talk to you about another podcast that I think you might love. It's called Being Boss, and it's hosted by Emily Thompson, and it's really just an exploration of not only what it means but what it takes to be a boss as a creative business owner, freelancer, or side hustler. So Being Boss is an amazing resource for anyone interested in getting inspired and, more importantly, getting started as their own boss.
So, head to wherever you get your podcast to check out Being Boss. And I recommend starting with her episode on releasing the sense of urgency in business. Especially coming back from my sabbatical, this episode was a great reminder to slow down and be intentional. You're going to love it.
Well, hey, there. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy.
I’m so glad you’re here. And listen, I know you could be listening to so many other shows right now, so I'm so grateful that you tune in every Tuesday and every Thursday for another episode. It means the world to me.
If you've been here for a while, you know that I absolutely adore when I get to share stories from my students. They inspire me so much. They literally are the reason why I do what I do. And I know that they inspire many of you as well.
So, my lovely student, Jessica Berk, is joining me today to share her story of how she turned a pain point that she personally experienced into a multi-six-figure business in just one year, all while being a mom to two little girls. So, Jessica is a certified sleep consultant, specifically working with parents of toddlers and preschoolers battling sleep challenges.
I say this in the interview, but I feel like it was yesterday when Cade was about five years old, and he was sleeping in his big-boy bed, and almost every night he came into our room, and he wanted to get in bed with us. And Hobie or I would march him back into his bedroom, and we would do all the things to, hopefully, keep him there.
And then, another challenge we had is he would, like, wake us up at 5:00 a.m. I remember that very vividly. And at the time, we didn't have a lot of training—I wish we had Jessica—but we would get up with him. I remember playing checkers at, like, five thirty in the morning on a Saturday morning. I'm like, “What is wrong with this picture?” So yeah, we could have really used you, Jessica.
So, Jessica has an amazing digital course that she then moved into evergreen, so we're talking live launches and evergreen funnels today, and we're also talking about what it looked like for her to step away from her one-on-one coaching. Plus, we've got so much more to share.
So, you are going to fall in love with Jessica and her story, so let's dive in.
Welcome to the show, Jessica. I'm so glad you're here.
JESSICA: Well, thank you so much for having me. This is my honor. This is such a dream. I've just gotten so much inspiration from you, so it's such a wonderful opportunity to be here.
AMY: Oh, I’m so glad to hear it.
And here's the thing: you did some pretty amazing things as a digital-course creator and also as a mom and also as an entrepreneur, so things like generating two hundred thousand dollars in your business in your first year and then continuing to make around a hundred thousand dollars per month in the months following. And here's what I love most: you have one digital course and one evergreen funnel.
So we have a lot to dive into today, so let’s start at the top. What’s your story? What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
JESSICA: Okay. Well, this, I think, working for myself has kind of always been a dream. But then once I started having kids—I've got two daughters—and once I had my first daughter, that's when I really knew, like, I want that flexibility in my schedule that my nine to five really didn't offer me. And that's around the same time that I got really passionate about sleep, when I wasn't getting any, when I had a new baby, right?
AMY: Right.
JESSICA: And so I started to learn all about the importance of sleep and really got my daughter on a great sleep schedule. And that just helped my sanity so much. I was like, “Oh, if I'm getting sleep, I can actually do this mom thing and have patience and be the kind of mom I want to be.” So I got really passionate about sleep, and then I got certified as a certified child sleep coach, and that is when Awesome Little Sleepers was born.
And then, fast forward a few years to when my daughter was out of the crib, and she was sleeping in a big-girl bed. She'd been a great sleeper forever. And then all of a sudden—like, I feel like no one tells you about what happens when your kid moves into a big-kid bed—all of a sudden, she would not stay put. She wanted me to sit in her room with her. She needed me to read ten million books. She kept running out of the room. She started waking up in the middle of the night, trying to sleep in bed with me, which we'd never done, and things got crazy. And no one was talking about this. Like, there’s so many sleep coaches for babies, but no one talks about the chaos that can happen with three-, four-, and five-year-olds. And so once I kind of figured out my way through that problem, then I was like, “Wow, there's got to be a need out there that is not being tapped into.” And that's when I really knew this kind of niche was for me.
AMY: Oh, fantastic. I love that. It came from a very personal experience. And then from there, you took it to a next level to get certified. So, okay, I love that.
Now, I know you're a Digital Course Academy graduate, but you actually started with one of my other programs. So what was the journey like for you to get to where you are today?
JESSICA: I started listening to your podcast probably in, I don't know, 2018 or 2019. And you always give such actionable information, and you make the whole process of creating a digital course seem very feasible to people. And I loved hearing stories from your students, and it was always so inspiring, but it still somehow always felt like something I, like, probably couldn't do. It was great for other people.
So I decided to start with List Builders Society because I wanted to make sure that there were other tired, exhausted toddler parents out there, that I really could find this audience and make this niche work for me. So I started List Builders Society. This was back in 2019. And I kind of told myself, “Okay, if I can really find this audience, and if I can get consistent with my content development,” which is something you talk about all the time, which I hadn't been doing, “If I could really kind of get really consistent with that and find this audience, then I would invest in DCA.”
So, when I started List Builders, I think I had just a few hundred people on my list. And then over the course of about six months, I was able to grow my list to over three thousand people.
AMY: Wow! That's incredible.
JESSICA: Yeah. With a lead magnet, and I started a free Facebook group, and I started my Instagram handle, @awesomelittlsleepers. And so I had this audience of a few thousand people. So then, when the fall of 2020 rolled around, I knew it was time to invest in Digital Course Academy, which was the best thing I ever did.
AMY: Okay. And you are crushing it. We're going to talk about what that looks like in your business.
But before we get there, you're a busy mom, you're a wife, you're running a household, you're building a business, and then you joined DCA, and you had to make time for that. So how did you do all that? What was it like juggling all those different titles? And really, do you have any tips for parents who are wanting to build a digital course or even take a digital course and build their business from that? What kind of tips do you have?
JESSICA: Well, Digital Course Academy is such a great program because I think the way you've built it really addresses the issues that people have with getting through all the content. So the way that you set it up is you drip the content, which means one module comes out every week or so.
And there is so much great stuff in this program. I mean, I will tell you, I tell everybody that I feel like it's honestly underpriced for what you get. I mean, it's amazing.
So, what I did was I dedicated Tuesday mornings to go through the new module that was released that week. And then I dedicated probably between two to five hours a week to actually get the work done.
And you build in, like, catch-up weeks, too, which is great. So if there's a real content-heavy module that comes out, with a lot of kind of homework for us to do, you build in time for that, which is really helpful.
But when I was going through DCA, the whole process really lit me up. It was so inspiring. It didn't feel like, “Oh, I got to sit down and slog through all this stuff.” I mean, I was totally focused on all the families that I was going to be helping with my course, and I could see it coming together. It's like I could see the future of what my business was going to be. So it was always so inspiring to me. It never felt overwhelming.
But I think that you also, you do give great tips for time management. And I mean, no one really does time management better than moms, right?—
AMY: Right.
JESSICA: —so we all know how to do this. But you talk about decision deadlines. You talk about using timers for brainstorming, really some actionable things to really keep the process moving along, which I think is really helpful.
AMY: I love that you said that, because I really do believe—one of the things that you mentioned that I think is so important is that you were energized, and not just about the program that you were going through, but you were so excited about the people that you were going to serve. And one of the things we do really early on in Digital Course Academy is get really clear on why you want to create a course. What is it going to do for you and your family and your business? But what will it do for the people that you serve?
So you had connected with those potential clients really early on, and probably because partly you had the pain of having this little one come into your room every night and not want to stay there and reading all the books—and I remember that like it was yesterday with Cade. Oh, my goodness. So that brings back a lot of memories—so, you had that experience, and you were able to get really in touch with who you serve. And I think that part's incredibly important, so I appreciate you bringing that up.
So, I want to talk about this course that you've created and your live launches and evergreen. So walk us through what your live launches look like. Like, how often did you do them? What made them successful? How did you get that success that you had? Like, what did it look like?
JESSICA: Yeah. So it was definitely a process. And just to kind of add a comment to what you were just saying, I really do feel like in addition to all the families I was thinking about helping, I definitely felt like I could see the future of my business being inspiring to my own kids, too. So any time that I had to take time to work on my business, you know, I didn't really think of it as taking time away, because I know that what I'm doing is so inspiring to my kids. And I feel like as moms, whenever we do things that are benefiting ourselves, it's benefiting our kids, too.
AMY: Yes. Such a great point. It's a really nice mindset shift that anybody can make. You just have to choose to believe that. So I love that you brought that up.
JESSICA: Yes, yes.
So, okay, my live launches started in the beginning of 2021, and I started in January. And to be honest, the first live launch I did did not go that great.
AMY: Okay.
JESSICA: It was a little disappointing, but I knew this was going to be a process of kind of tweaking and figuring it out. And what I kind of learned in retrospect is I think the first webinar that I put together kind of gave away too much, and it's something that you do talk about in DCA, but I think I gave so much away that people were like, “Oh, thanks for the great ideas. You know, I don't need your course.”
And so I had to kind of readjust, readjust the webinar. So I readjusted everything, and now I call it my Toddler Sleep Masterclass. and I launched that in March. When I was doing the live launches, I was doing four to six live webinars as part of the launch. So I launched in March, and that month I made twenty thousand dollars.
AMY: And did that feel like a lot to you?
JESSICA: Oh, my gosh.
AMY: Okay, same. Yes, that's a lot of money.
JESSICA: Yes. Oh, my gosh, yes. My mind was blown. I was like, yes, this is happening. Like, the audience is here. The people need this. They're resonating with my message. Like, it is clicking. So it was a wonderful feeling. And so then I launched it. I did live launches again in April and then again in June.
And then I loved doing the live launches. They're a little bit nerve racking.
AMY: Very, yes. You grow as an entrepreneur every time you do a live launch. They can be very scary.
JESSICA: Yes. Oh, I’ve grown so much in the last year and a half, just through the live launches, just through this whole process of being an entrepreneur and going through growing a business. But—
AMY: People say that entrepreneurship is the best personal-development work you could ever do, and I agree with that one.
JESSICA: Oh, my gosh.
AMY: It's a lot of mental work.
JESSICA: Oh, it is a lot. It is an enormous amount of work.
AMY: For sure.
JESSICA: [unclear 15:20] understand. Yeah. Be prepared for how much you really have to grow as a person.
AMY: Yes.
JESSICA: So, what I really loved about the live launches was engaging with the people and kind of getting that real-time feedback.
So, you know, you'll remember back, but when you have a three-, four-, or five-year-old who isn't sleeping, who requires you to sit in their room for hours at bedtime, or is waking up in the middle of the night, your whole family is suffering.
AMY: Yes.
JESSICA: And I know what that feels like. I lived it.
So in my webinar, I'm really able to kind of paint the picture that people are experiencing. And again, no one's talking about this. So I think everybody feels very seen and understood when I'm explaining all this in the webinar.
And so it was hysterical. People would be typing in comments like, “Do you have a camera in my house?”
AMY: That's the best.
JESSICA: Are you stalking me? Are you looking in my window? And so many people saying that and laughing, and I'm like, “Basically, yes. I mean, I've lived it. That's why I know how to fix it.”
So that was just really—it's really validating to know how much my message was resonating with my audience.
AMY: Absolutely.
Now, tell me this: what would you say was your biggest list builder? What really worked for you in terms of building your email list?
JESSICA: Early on, after doing List Builders Society, I started with a lead magnet, just a PDF download. And it's called The One Thing That You Can Do Tonight to Improve Your Toddler’s Sleep.
AMY: Ooh, instant gratification. Love that.
JESSICA: Yes, love it. I still offer it on my website.
AMY: Cool.
JESSICA: Yeah. People love that because, yeah, exactly, they want something they can do right now to get results. And so that has been great, and it's still out there.
But, definitely, my biggest list builder has been the free webinar that I offer at toddlersleepmasterclass.com. So it's the free, it’s the evergreen webinar, and it's really what teaches families—it really explains to them what is going on with these sleep struggles, because when your kid all of a sudden starts not sleeping or waking up all the time, you're kind of like, “What's happening?”
AMY: Right.
JESSICA: “How do we get out of that?” It feels so confusing and overwhelming and kind of hopeless. I mean, people all the time will, you know, direct message me or email me with their specific situation and say, like, “Is this even solvable? Like, my five-year-old's been sleeping in my bed for two years. Like, is he ever going to go to his own room?” And yes, it's solvable. All of these things are solvable. And so I think really explaining to people why they're in the struggle that they're in is so important. And then, also, in the webinar, you learn all about my rest method, which is my methodology that helps families get their kids to go to bed happily before eight o’clock at night, sleep all the way through the night, ten to twelve hours straight, with no wake ups.
AMY: Whoa.
JESSICA: And so they learn all about this in the free webinar. And so that has been my biggest list builder, by far.
AMY: And does that webinar sell something?
JESSICA: Yeah. So that webinar is—that's the top of the funnel. That goes into selling my toddler sleep course.
AMY: Okay. So, question for you: you have done live launches, and it sounded like maybe you did, like, three in 2021. Is that right?
JESSICA: Yeah. I think it—well, January, and then I did three more. Yes.
AMY: Three more, okay.
JESSICA: So it was four, yeah.
AMY: And did you say you stopped doing live launches and you only do evergreen now?
JESSICA: Yes.
AMY: Okay. Gotcha.
JESSICA: Yeah. Do you want me tell you about that transition?
AMY: Yes, please.
JESSICA: Yeah. So, okay, so the last live launch I did was June of 2021.
AMY: Okay.
JESSICA: And then it was the summer. And so, like, you know, moms will get this. It's, like, the summer is different. Like, your schedule changes. Your kids are around more. That's when you typically travel. And at that point, I was doing everything myself. So I was, you know, doing the webinars myself. I was doing all the tech setup. I was writing my email nurture sequence, setting it up in ConvertKit. I was doing all my social media, all the content development, everything. And so it was a ton of work. So I'm looking at this July, August, and I'm like, “There’s no way I'm going to be able to do all of these live launches, with my kids around and all this stuff.” So I just thought, “Okay, I'll test evergreen just for a couple months, see what happens, and I'll get back to it in the fall.” And as I was kind of watching how everything was working, evergreen was actually doing better for me than the live launches.
AMY: Nice. Okay.
JESSICA: My show-up rates were higher, like, a lot higher. I think my show-up rate now for evergreen is, like, 42 percent—
AMY: What?
JESSICA: —and it was, like, 28 percent for the lives.
AMY: Usually, you do not see that. It's usually totally flip-flopped. But that just might be your personal audience.
And I want to stop you for a second, and you can tell me if you don't agree with this, but I would like to know if you do agree with it. I believe that everybody should have the experience of live launching a few times to figure out what works in real time with their audience, and then move to evergreen, where you're going to be a more strategic marketer for the live-launching experience. Would you agree with that?
JESSICA: 100 percent.
AMY: Okay. I think it's important to point that out.
JESSICA: It is. That is not a step to be skipped, at all. And you say this a lot in DCA, and it is totally true. So doing the live launches and getting all of that real-time feedback and hearing the questions and really knowing that your message is resonating or not resonating, you get that kind of feedback when you're doing the lives that you don't get in evergreen.
AMY: It's priceless. It really is. And the reason why in Digital Course Academy—I teach live launching and I teach how to move into evergreen—I teach both because I know that some people are only going to want to do evergreen long term. I'm going to support that all day long. I just don't want them to miss out on the growth that happens as an entrepreneur if you are willing to be courageous to put yourself out there during live launches. It's a whole different ballgame, and I think it's absolutely necessary. I don't know one amazing, stellar online marketer that I would say is a peer that hasn't experienced live launching before evergreen. So I'm really passionate about that.
But I love that you found that evergreen works better for you. And hallelujah, that's amazing. With having little kids and the schedule of the parents that are watching this webinar, they appreciate the evergreen because it's available every day. That's how your evergreen works, right? They can sign up for it at any time?
JESSICA: Yeah, absolutely. So I've got different time slots each day, or you can kind of watch it five minutes from now, whenever you happen to log on. So I think for my audience, you're exactly right. I think it's because of their schedule, because of being moms and being exhausted and having little kids running around, I think that's easier on them. That's kind of my guess as to why evergreen is performing.
AMY: Absolutely. So I love that. You took what worked, and you made it even better, turned it into evergreen, which is working even better for you. So I absolutely love to hear stories like that.
Now, one more question about that before I move into, I want to talk to you about your coaching one-on-one days and how you transitioned to digital course. But before we get there, do you run ads to evergreen?
JESSICA: I do. Yep, I do. I run ads. I run ads to the evergreen. I run ads to my lead magnet. I run ads to blogs. So I do kind of a mix of warming and all that.
AMY: And do you use Facebook, Instagram ads, any other kind of ads?
JESSICA: I use Facebook and Instagram primarily, and then I've kind of dabbled in Google ads, also.
AMY: That's something that we're starting to dabble in. I think it's important to diversify, especially right now when ads have gotten so freaking expensive. So looking at different ways to run paid ads, I think it's such a smart thing.
And then, there's one other question I was going to ask you. Oh, people might wonder, what's the price point of your product?
JESSICA: My course is four ninety-seven is the full price of the course.
AMY: Got it. Okay. And do you offer a payment plan?
JESSICA: I do not. I do not. But that's on my list of things to test.
AMY: Okay. All right. But you've made a lot of money without offering one, so I don't know if it's absolutely necessary, but something to maybe look into. But that's incredible. Congratulations on your success. I'm just so impressed beyond belief. So just wanted to put that out there.
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I want to talk to you about—I’m going to take you back to when you were coaching one on one and then you decided to create a digital course. So what was that like? Were you scared, or did you have any reservations about that transition?
JESSICA: So, yes, definitely. Definitely had reservations. I mean, it was a scary jump to make, but I knew it was time. So I have been a sleep coach for seven years. So in 2021 is really kind of when I had done List Builders, I was starting to focus heavily on these toddler- and preschool-age kids and not really work with babies anymore. And when I started speaking to this audience, I was booking out. My one on ones were booked. I was raising my prices, and I was still booked.
And you just did a podcast the other day—I think it was Jenna Kutcher—and you guys were saying, like, don't ditch the nine to five for 24/7.
AMY: Yes.
JESSICA: And that is totally what I was doing. I was working all the time, and I was still turning people away.
AMY: Wow.
JESSICA: And that feels horrible when you're in a business that you've gotten into to help people. I mean, people have problems. I know I can help you, but I just don't have time to help you. That felt horrible. So I was even more sure that this was definitely the next step for my business, because I've just been able to reach so many more families than I ever could have working one on one.
But I'd say my nervousness about moving to a digital course from one on one had to do with, I wanted to make sure I could still support families in the same way, not in the exact same way, but as much as I could, even though I wouldn't be working one on one with them. That was really important to me.
AMY: So let's talk about that for a second, because a lot of people who are hesitant to move from one-on-one work to a digital course, they'll say, “But Amy, when I worked one on one, they have unique experiences, unique problems that I need to hash out with them. It's a pitch-and-catch kind of experience. I need feedback from them in order to give direction.” And yes, that's how one on one works, but I believe—and you're a perfect example—there is a formula that you used in one on one that can be tweaked and manipulated to work into a digital course. And manipulated, I mean that in a very positive way. What did that look like for you? How did you do that?
JESSICA: Yeah. So what I have learned in the past seven years of working one on one so much is that while every family is unique, the sleep problems that everybody deals with are actually very similar.
And when you kind of think about it, it falls into, really, three categories. The first is kids who are struggling to fall asleep on their own, meaning they need Mom to sit in the room with them, mom or dad, or they need Mom or Dad to lay with them until they fall asleep or sleep in their bed. The second are kids who are waking up overnight and needing something from a parent, whether it's to be tucked in again or someone to come sleep with them. And then the third category is kids who are waking up super early, so four or five o’clock in the morning.
So I knew, I mean, I knew how to solve all those problems, so I knew if I could put that all into my course, if I could solve all of those problems in my course, that everybody would have the base of what they needed. And then in addition to that, I layered in, I actually have two different strategies that I teach families, because I've also learned that every family’s different, and everybody has different parenting styles. So I knew that this wasn't going to be, like, a one-size-fits-all kind of blanket approach. This is very adaptable to all different parenting styles. So it's really important to me.
AMY: That is so good. So for those of you who are listening that you do consulting, coaching, anything like that, look for the patterns, look for the themes, look for the overarching challenges that you see on a regular basis. And there will always be outliers, but you're not looking for those. You're looking for, like you said, there's three different types of kids that aren’t sleeping, and then you identified them. And identifying those different categories, that's where you start. It's so incredibly important. So I'm so glad you brought that up because there's a lot of people that want to make that transition. I'm going to tell you right now, if you're listening, it's absolutely doable to take what you teach on one on one and put it into a digital course. I teach how to do that in DCA, but just know right now it is absolutely doable for you. Okay—
JESSICA: Yes.
AMY: Do you want to add anything, because I have another question for you, but I want to give you a chance.
JESSICA: Yeah. Let me add something else about the support piece, if I could.
AMY: Yes.
JESSICA: So I do have, I call it my ever-expanding FAQ library.
AMY: Ah, yes. Talk about that.
JESSICA: Yeah. So I think it's very important because as I'm hearing stuff from people, I'm adding to it. So this is where you can kind of get into some of those nuances and some of those nuanced situations and questions that you're hearing from people that maybe don't belong in the core of your course, but you still want to give people access to it.
AMY: Oh, so smart.
JESSICA: And additionally, I tested, in the beginning, I tested even doing group Zoom calls I offered in the beginning. That quickly got to be too much to handle. But I tested, as a fast-action bonus, giving away a one-on-one phone call. So I've done trial and error. I've tested all kinds of things. And where I am now, I think is—we're in the perfect situation. So I’ve got a private Facebook group. So everybody who enrolls in the course is invited to join in that group. And I spend some time in there every day, kind of answering questions and giving people support. But then other families are in there, too, sharing ideas with each other. “Here's what I did,” you know. So it's become a great community, and it's such a great way for people to feel supported, even though it's a DIY course.
AMY: I was going to ask you if you had a private Facebook group. I don't think it's always necessary, but it always is valuable. And so I think that's fantastic that you've added that.
One thing we do with List Builders Society is, this has been for about a year now, we give people a monthly group-coaching call with me, a live Q&A call. And it's an hour every single month, and you get twelve of them, so for a full year. And I really actually enjoy them because people get stuck and they need to know that they can come to me. And I don't have a Facebook group for List Builders Society, so I do the monthly Q&A. So there's so many different ways you can show up and support your students.
What I teach in DCA is choose something that you're going to feel good about. Like, you were talking about those calls. You're like, “No, my bandwidth could not handle that. I stopped doing that.” That's all trial and error. You've got to try some things, and I give tons of examples of what to try in DCA. So I love that you have that private Facebook group and it's working for you, and I love that you experimented with a lot of different things.
Okay. So, the question I was going to ask you is you say that as an entrepreneur there's no such thing as “making it.” What do you mean by that?
JESSICA: It really ties into what you were just saying, and you talk about this all the time, this concept of perfectionist syndrome. And I think this is probably what has drawn me to your podcast over and over again, because I definitely have this perfectionist problem, where I much prefer to see the finish line before I get started.
AMY: Right? Yes.
JESSICA: I can give a million examples of situations in my life where that has been what I want. But being an entrepreneur, it just doesn't work that way. It just doesn't work that way. So you have to be open to the trial and error, so back to what we were talking about, about so much personal growth happens when you are an entrepreneur and a business owner and a course creator.
But when it comes to the idea of making it, when I first started the course, I was thinking, like, “Okay, what are my goals? You know, what are my goals for this course?” And I'm like, “I don't know. I mean, if I could do a hundred thousand dollars of sales of this course, that would be amazing. That would be, like, double my best year ever.” And so as I'm working towards that goal, and I'm doing the live launches, and I'm going evergreen, and I’m testing all this stuff, it's like I saw that goal coming into clear focus, and I knew I was going to hit it. So by the time I hit it, I was already on to the next—I was already eyeing the two-hundred-thousand goal.
So you're never at the finish line. Like, you have to enjoy the process. You have to embrace the trial and error and not be so scared of it, and be able to handle the ebbs and the flows because that's the fun part.
AMY: Yes. It's so true.
I've recently picked up this book, The Gap and the Gain. Have you ever heard of it?
JESSICA: No.
AMY: I'm brand new to it. I just started it. Michael Hyatt, my coach, introduced me to it. But it's this concept of, you know, when you are trying to reach a goal, whether you reach that goal or not, well, let's say if you don't reach the goal, let's say you got really close, and you're like, “But I didn't reach the goal,” but the gain that you had, how far you went, means something. It's part of your journey. It’s what matters most. And we tend to focus on the gap of, like, maybe we didn’t meet that goal. But what about the gain and so much growth in that? And the book talks about really valuing that gain. And I think what you just said, like, this process, this growth, this experience is very important to pay attention to that and to value that as well. So yeah, I love this idea that there's no such thing as making it. It totally makes sense, absolutely. So I'm glad you shared that.
Okay. So, I want to do some rapid-fire questions. Are you ready?
JESSICA: Okay.
AMY: All right. So the first one is, what's a piece of advice, some good advice, that you've gotten along your entrepreneurial journey?
JESSICA: Well, this kind of goes to what you were saying a second ago. I think part of the trial and error that we go through as entrepreneurs, you might end up making some investments, or you might try some ads, or you might hire a VA or do something that doesn't quite work out the way that you wanted it to, and someone told me to view that as an investment in your growth. So no matter what happens—let's say you hire someone. You work with them for a month. You paid them a thousand dollars, and it doesn't go as you expected. Well, that's a thousand dollars that you spent learning all those lessons that you learned through that process.
AMY: Yes.
JESSICA: So reflect on that. What did you learn about the hiring process? What did you learn about maybe your communication with that person as their boss? So you always learn something. So think of any financial situations that you get into as kind of an investment in your learning as an entrepreneur.
AMY: Fantastic. That's so good.
Another question I have for you is, what freedoms has being a digital-course creator allowed you to do more of in your personal life?
JESSICA: Oh, gosh. So much, I think. I am so much more present with my family. And that was the whole goal, right? That was the whole goal back when my kids were little. And now my kids are nine and eleven, so they're older. But still, being able to spend that time with them, I have my work day, and then I have my time with them.
Also, our family tends to move around a little bit, and that is a ton of work that always falls on me. And I can manage my schedule so that I can handle that. That's been great. We've been able to travel. We've been able to do all kinds of things. So it's provided me so much more freedom. But even more valuable, I think, is how much I've grown. And I love hearing my kids talk about my business.
AMY: Right? That is fun. What do they say?
JESSICA: It's so fun. Well, they love—so I started a YouTube channel this year. This is my big goal for 2022. So now I have all my content in this YouTube channel—
AMY: Nice.
JESSICA: —and they love to show their friends. Like, I'm not the cool YouTube star, like the kids’ YouTubers that they watch. But they still think it's so cool.
AMY: Okay, I think that's so cute. When Cade was about five or six years old, he would tell people, or maybe he was a little older, actually, he would tell people, I was famous, and he had no idea what I did. He just knew I made videos, so he just assumed I was famous, and he would tell people that all the time. And I would cringe each time, but it was kind of cute at the same time. So I love that. I love that they’re watching.
And that's another thing. I don't know if Cade will ever grow up to be an entrepreneur, but I sure know that I've always encouraged it, and he's seen me do my work, and he's seen the amount of impact I've been able to make and the life that we have because of it. I'm crossing my fingers one day it's going to rub off on him. We'll see. But it is cool that the kids are watching.
JESSICA: Yeah, very cool.
AMY: Yeah. I think it's very special.
Okay, final question. What is one piece of advice that you have that you would give to an aspiring digital-course creator, someone who has not yet taken the leap?
JESSICA: Just do it. Really. I mean, I can't tell you how long I talked about making a course. I outlined making a course. I thought about it. I mean, I'm talking probably a year or longer. And you just have to get started. You have to believe in yourself, and you have to get started.
AMY: Yes. I know so many people have talked about this forever and ever. And then they'll say to themselves, “Well, I missed the boat. It's too late. Digital courses, maybe they were more popular back then,” which is absolutely not true. The industry continues to grow year after year. It's not too late. But you will regret waiting if you sit on it again and again and again. So I'm so glad you said that.
JESSICA: Yeah. Even if there are courses out there that are similar to what you want to do, no one's doing it the way you're doing it.
AMY: Yes, amen. It’s so true. No one has your experiences, your knowledge, your insight precisely the way that you do. And Jessica, you bring something to the table around what you teach that no one else could because you had your own experiences with it. And that's huge. Or those of you who maybe you haven't had the pain that your clients have, you've dealt with other people who have, so you could pull from their experiences. So you are precisely right.
So, thank you so much for sitting down with us. I know so many people are going to resonate with your story, those that are parents, those that have worked one on one and they want to move into digital courses, those who have been talking about it forever but haven't yet taken the leap. So I appreciate you sharing everything.
And I know my listeners will want to know where they can check you out. So where do they go to learn more?
JESSICA: So I think the best place to find me is over on Instagram; @awesomelittlesleepers is my handle. Or on my website, awesomelittlesleepers.com. Or they can also visit toddlersleepmasterclass.com, and that's where they can find my free webinar and get some tips on how to get their family sleeping.
AMY: Awesome. And if you want to see a great webinar, watch that webinar, for sure.
Thank you so much, Jessica, for being here. I truly appreciate you taking the time.
JESSICA: Thank you, Amy. It's my pleasure.
AMY: I think that Jessica's story can show you the power of really finding your audience's pain point and delivering a solution. I mean, two hundred thousand dollars in her first year? So fantastic. I also love that she didn't use the excuse of being a busy mom to move forward with something that she knew to her core could be life changing for so many other parents.
I think my biggest takeaway from speaking with Jessica is this idea of figuring out and experimenting and really allowing yourself to go through that trial and error in order to figure out what you really need to do to make your business work. Like, don't be afraid to try things. She tried some things. They didn't work. Her first launch wasn't a huge success. Imagine if she launched that first launch that she did, she launched her course, and after it didn't work out as planned, she said, “This isn't for me,” and she went back to her one-on-one work. She would never be making the kind of money or impact that she makes today.
So, if you've had a launch that didn't go so well, get your butt into Digital Course Academy because I can help you turn that around. Do not give up.
And here's what I hope that you take away from this episode. If you have a dream in your heart, if you know you can lessen the burden other people carry, through a process or a method or a formula that you've created or that you can replicate, lean into that, even if you're a busy parent, even if you're juggling other responsibilities, even if you have a nine-to-five job. I promise you that life can look dramatically different a few short years from now if you take the leap, you take that risk, and you try something different. My really good girlfriend always says DSD, do something different. And that just might be what you need right now. And that DSD, that do something different, for you could be to finally learn how to create your digital course.
So, when you build a business that works for your schedule and the flow of your life, that's when you're going to be the happiest. That’s when you’ll continue to show up, even when things get hard, because at the end of the day, when you set yourself up by having a business that offers more time freedom, more location flexibility, more revenue, you're setting up your whole life for something that feels good to you and to those closest to you as well.
So, thank you so much for joining me for this extra-special interview today. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. And I'll see you again next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
