AMY PORTERFIELD: “A business that has a foundation in digital courses is what allowed me to be there for Hobie, a business where my courses sell themselves every single day—because I have courses on evergreen—so that I could step away from the business and not worry about making money but know that my business is working for me even when I can't be fully present in the business. It allowed me to shut my laptop and say, ‘None of it matters more than Hobie and his family at this time.’ And while I was off for an entire week, a little bit more than a week, preparing for her funeral and being with Hobie and being with his family, again, I was making money every single day without even thinking about it. And I can promise you, I didn't think about it.”
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: Hey, there, friend. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy.
I hope you are having a wonderful week. Today's episode is a Shorty one, so it will go by fast, but I think it’s one that is very important for you to listen to.
Here's the thing. I'm never one to shy away from talking about making money. I love money, and I want to help you make more money. Heck, on this podcast, I share my own experiences with how I make money, and I teach strategies on how you can make more money, specifically with creating and launching a digital course.
However, what I don't talk about enough and what I want to make very clear in this episode is the freedom that a digital course can give you. That's why I love digital courses so much. The freedom. I've talked about it before. Financial freedom, of course; creativity freedom; location freedom; but most importantly, time freedom. And that's what I'm talking about in today's episode and how having time freedom has allowed me and my students to spend time where it matters most: with loved ones and family. Because everyone I talk to who has a successful digital course, if I were to ask them, “What do you love most about your time freedom? every single one of them would tell me, “The time I get to spend with my loved ones.” Family, friends, hands down, that's what I hear the most. So I wanted to talk about this.
Having come from working a nine-to-five that most definitely spilled into nights and weekends all the time, and then starting a business fourteen years ago and not knowing how to break that habit, so I continued to work every night and every weekend. Fast forward to today and having the ability to spend more time with the people I love, it's been a game changer, because to me I feel as though how I spend my time matters more than anything, no matter how much money in the bank.
And if you've been listening for a while, you probably already know that I lost my mother-in-law during my book launch earlier this year. I recorded a podcast episode about it, which you may have heard. My book came out on a Tuesday, and my mother-in-law died on a Saturday morning, when I was on location doing my live book virtual event. When that was over, I got on a plane and went right to Pittsburgh, where I spent an entire week with my husband, literally off the grid, meaning I was not working at all. I canceled all of my meetings, all of my launch events. And because I was able to fully step away from my business in that way, I got to be present with my husband during the hardest time of his entire life. I can't even tell you—and it makes me want to cry. I can't talk about this without getting emotional—but I can't tell you how many times Hobie has looked at me since that day, and he said, “Thank you so much for being there for me. I couldn't have done it without you. The way you showed up for me means the world to me.” Like, he has brought it up over and over again because he needed somebody. He was all alone there. It was important that I showed up and I was right by his side. And that meant everything to him. And it meant everything to me.
My sweet friend, a business that has a foundation in digital courses is what allowed me to be there for Hobie, a business where my courses sell themselves every single day—because I have courses on evergreen—so that I could step away from the business and not worry about making money but know that my business is working for me even when I can't be fully present in the business. It allowed me to shut my laptop and say, “None of it matters more than Hobie and his family at this time.” And while I was off for an entire week, a little bit more than a week, preparing for her funeral and being with Hobie and being with his family, again, I was making money every single day without even thinking about it. And I can promise you, I didn't think about it.
But when you have digital courses, especially those on evergreen, which is something I teach in my program, it does create a sense of calm when there is chaos. And sure, there are other business models that can allow you to do this, but this is the business model I know best, and the business model where I have seen proof over and over again, not just with me and my family, but with my students’ families as well, that ability to step in fully, be fully on when you're launching your courses, and the ability to step out fully, either just to take a much-needed rest or to take care of something that is very important, like the death of a family member. And that is why I love digital courses so much.
You know, a lot of people will say, “Launching is so stressful. I don't want to launch a digital course. There's so many things that are involved with it.” And yeah, when you're doing your first launch and not sure what you're doing, that can be very stressful, whether it's an evergreen automated launch or if it's a live launch. But I can promise you, as the years go by, it does get easier. You know what you're doing. It's not as chaotic. You have a blueprint. You can always make it better, but there's a lot of rinse-and-repeating opportunities. And again, that allows for more freedom. Plus, I've invested some of my digital-course profits into building a team. So I had a whole support system behind me.
That's another thing. When you stay in your lane, you put your head down, you do the work, and you get to a point that your course is successful, whether it be evergreen or live launching, now you have money to reinvest and get the support you need so that you can step back when you need to. My team literally carried me through that week, and I felt so reassured that I could focus my attention on my family because they had my back.
So after the experience with my mother-in-law, it really made me appreciate more than ever that I have a business where I can completely step away if needed. And again, it doesn't need to be a death of a family member. It could be, I want a vacation. There's many of you who haven't been on a real vacation, like, I'm talking, like, fourteen-day, off-the-grid, somewhere-tropical, or whatever, vacation. And I really do think that you deserve that, and I want you to create a business that will allow you to step into that.
Let me tell you a quick story. One of my students, her name is Lindsay Williams, she's a wedding-professional educator. Now, Lindsay actually had a baby while she was in my program Digital Course Academy a few years ago. Like, during the program, she had a baby. Now, her son was recently diagnosed as autistic. And since then, she has shared many times with the team how thankful she is that she chose to create a digital course, because her son needs extra therapy, and she constantly has people in and out of her house. And having that flexibility with her time and a business that can work on autopilot for much of the year is crucial for her. Not to mention, she has the finances available to provide him with anything that he needs.
Another great example of someone who's created time freedom through a digital course is my student, Kelly Nolan. So Kelly is an attorney turned time-management specialist and, most importantly, the mom of two little girls, ages four and one. So she's got her hands full. But it's all possible because she runs her business in a way that works for her family and the phase of life that she's in.
That's another thing. Let's remember, as entrepreneurs, we make the rules. We get to work when we want and how we want. We get to structure our business in a way that works for us.
So this is what Kelly does. She answers e-mails and does calls during nap time and only schedules her group programs at times in the year that work the best for her family. She was even able to take five months off for maternity leave with her second daughter.
That's the amazing thing about digital courses. You are the one that's in control of your time. And if you're thinking, “But Amy, what about live launching? Doesn't that require you to be in front of the camera and on at all times?” Well, at specific times, yes. But you get to decide when you schedule your launches and how frequently you have them.
One of the things we talk about in my Digital Course Academy community is making sure that when you live launch, which I think is absolutely important for the growth of your business—I think having a combination of live launching and evergreen is a perfect combination—but when you do live launch, you've got to decide when you are going to launch so that the schedule works for you. And then, you have to make sure that you plan accordingly, that you have the support you need, that your family is aware that this is coming. And it goes by really quickly. It's a moment in time. Let's say you do a ten-day launch. It's ten full days on, and then you get to step back.
So, for instance, I live launch right now just once a year with Digital Course Academy, and the money I make from that single launch sustains me throughout the rest of the year. It didn't always, not from the get-go. You know, I've been doing this for a long time. But that one launch could take care of our entire year.
Now, I've got a team of twenty people. We do a whole lot more than just one live launch a year. But it has gotten to a point that it's very lucrative.
Now, I might change that up and launch a few different times throughout the year next year. But if I were to do that, one, I'd make sure I have the support I need. And two, I would, of course, be talking to my family in advance and making sure that everyone was on board to support this dream of mine.
But my digital-course business has allowed me to take time for my family when needed; take sabbaticals—last year, I took a whole month off, which was wild. I don't know if I'll do that again. I didn't necessarily love every minute of it. My personality wasn’t perfect for a whole month off—I enjoy three-day weekends every single week. And yeah, there are ups and downs in all of this, but there's literally no other job in the world where I believe that you get those amazing rewards from all of your hard work.
So please know, my sweet friend, that having a business that's based on digital courses can be an absolute game changer in your life, especially if you have a family. I know it has been for me and so many of my students. So for those of you who have already started your digital course, I want to hear from you. What freedom are you looking for, or what freedom has it already brought you? You know, I'm just @amyporterfield on Instagram. I live for your DMs. So let me know, like, if you're starting Digital Course Academy and you have dreams of more freedom, what kind of freedom are you looking for? What is it that you want? And if you've already felt that freedom, please let me know. I think it would be really fun if I shared some of these on social media to inspire other people as well.
Okay. So I hope that you loved this Shorty episode. Just to be clear, it wasn't really about, “You should create a digital course,” although I think you should. It was more about reminding ourselves how lucky we are to get to create a business on our terms and how important it is to get clear on what matters most to you and protect that no matter what. And if courses are a vehicle to get you there, I'm your girl. But if it's something else, I support that all day long. But make sure that you create a business that allows you to spend time with those that matter most, because we never know how long we have with them.
Thank you so much for tuning in. I love you all to the moon and back. And I will be back on Thursday for more entrepreneurial goodness. Remember, Thursdays I get more into, either I interview an expert or I get more into the step-by-step strategy how-to of online marketing. Tuesdays are a little bit more personal, behind the scenes. Thursdays are a little bit more tactical. So you get the best of both worlds. So I'll see you Thursday. Make it a great week, and I can't wait to chat soon. Bye for now.
