Salome Schillack (00:00):

Welcome to episode number 108 of The Shine Show. Today you're going to meet my friend and my student, Lauren Marie. Lauren is a self-professed non-mom mom. She's a mom who wants to stay at home, be with the kids, but she also wants to work and earn a living. And she shares her story from going from account shut down, no more playing for you from Facebook, to building a six figure business. So stay tuned.

Giving up your time and freedom to make money is so 2009. Hi, I'm your host, Salome Schillack, and I help online course creators launch, grow, and scale their businesses with Facebook and Instagram ads so that they can make more money and have an even bigger impact in the world. If you're ready to be inspired, to dream bigger, launch sooner, and grow your online business faster, then tune in, because you are ready to shine and this is The Shine Show.

Lauren, thank you so much for joining me.

Lauren Marie (01:10):

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to talk to you on this podcast. It's one of my favorite podcasts and I am just honored to be a guest on it.

Salome Schillack (01:18):

Oh, well welcome. You are one of my favorite students and one of my favorite humans and I just thought everyone is going to benefit from hearing your story. And I've had a front row seat to seeing you and your business grow over the last year. I feel very lucky that I've had this front row seat to your life. And I just wanted to bring you on because I know that there will be a lot of listeners who is going to hear your story and it's going to inspire them so much. And that is all I want for everyone is to be inspired and know that they can do anything you have done.

Lauren Marie (01:54):

Well, I would just say there's one correction to what you just said, which is not that you had a front row seat. You were instrumental on the stage with me creating that growth. So you were definitely not in the audience. But yes. I'm so lucky to have found you and that you are my mentor and my Facebook ads coach, but so much more and so many of the pieces of advice that you've given me along the way have made such a huge difference in my business. So...

Salome Schillack (02:23):

Oh, well, thank you. Well, I just love seeing the work that you put in and you guys should go and check out Lauren's Instagram because she makes the funniest, funniest videos. And we will link that up. What's your Instagram account?

Lauren Marie (02:35):

laurenmarieglobal.

Salome Schillack (02:37):

There you go. She makes the funniest videos, but more about that later. Okay. So just tell us a little bit about, why did you start an online courses business in the first place?

Lauren Marie (02:48):

Well, I came from... I was an acupuncturist and I had a wellness center many years ago, and then I became a facilitator, which is like a life coach. And I was traveling around doing sessions for people and classes and things like that. And then I fell pregnant with twins and moved to Australia, which is where their dad was living. And we started a family here and that put a grinding halt to the whole travel and live classes and all the things.

So I knew I needed to take my business online and actually have a way to scale it beyond the one-on-one clients and doing backend systems for another business. So I was just doing whatever I could to bring in money and literally juggle two babies and all of that. So, like many of you guys listening probably have, if you have kids, you're just doing whatever it takes to make it work.

Salome Schillack (03:51):

Yeah. Yeah. I can associate with that. Just doing whatever it takes to make it work in between juggling the kids. All right. So a year ago, about a year ago you joined the Launch Lounge. Can you tell me a little bit, tell me where were you at when you were joining? Had you launched anything yet? Did you have a course? Where were you at with that?

Lauren Marie (04:11):

So I had taken Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy the previous year and couldn't figure out what course to create. So I started a membership and I just basically was like, "Hey, do you want to work with me? Let's do this free form thing." And I created a very loose group coaching membership where I learned what kind of course that I could create. So inside Amy's, her membership, someone mentioned and I had met you through her Facebook trainings and things like that. So I knew of you from Amy's world and I was waiting for whatever it is that you had to offer for a chance to work with you, because I knew that I wanted to get, I would say better at Facebook ads, but that would be misleading because I was actually a complete disaster at Facebook ads and had gotten my first ads account shut down. Like handing a bazooka to a toddler just thing. Like, "What does this button do? Oops."

Salome Schillack (05:12):

And you got your account shut down?

Lauren Marie (05:14):

I did. Yeah. So that's where I was at. When I met you, I had gotten the second account started up, but I knew enough to know what I didn't want to mess around with again, because that's no fun.

Salome Schillack (05:26):

No, that's no fun. Did you spend a lot of money?

Lauren Marie (05:30):

I spent not a lot of money, but I don't think I saw great return on what I spent because it was so hit or miss. I didn't know really... I didn't know what I was doing. So I just thought I would create a promotion to spend money to bring people to that thing and it would just make me money. Meanwhile, I didn't know anything about policy or strategy or anything really. So it was just like shooting in the dark.

And my second ads account got up and running. I had my membership running and I knew I wanted to work with you. And then the Launch Lounge opened up and I didn't even read. I was just like, "Salome's doing something." Click.

Salome Schillack (06:09):

I love that. I do that all the time. I love what you said about this sort of doing ads and not really knowing if it worked or knowing if it didn't work or knowing how to repeat what did work and what didn't work. Because for so many of the listeners and for so many of our students, I hear this frustration of, "Well, I know which buttons to press inside the ads manager, I've already figured out," like you said, "the bazooka part, but now how do I control this thing? How do I know what to do again? How do I know what not to do?" So when you joined the Launch Lounge, you call this a little membership, just your membership is pretty successful, wasn't it?

Lauren Marie (06:56):

Well, the first time I opened doors, like I said, I was just like, "Hey, does anyone want to work with me?" I didn't know what it was going to be or anything. I had about 110 people sign up. So, some people wanted to work with me clearly and so I was really lucky to get that many people in to play with and learn from and figure out what the heck am I going to create a course about?

Salome Schillack (07:21):

Okay. So back this up a little bit. How many? 110 people?

Lauren Marie (07:25):

Yeah, I think around that. Yeah.

Salome Schillack (07:26):

What was the price point?

Lauren Marie (07:28):

I started at 35 for my counting members. So it was over 100 people, maybe 130, something like that joined at the first price point. And then we opened up again for 47, and now it's 67. So I've just been raising it incrementally.

Salome Schillack (07:44):

So this is that point where we insert the record screeching, that, "Oh, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. You need to back this up," because this is so typical of you, right? Is you have this phenomenal success and then you just gloss over it. And you're like, "What? I sold 110." Okay. So back this up. So you had 110 people in your first launch. So what did you do to build your audience to get 110 people to say yes to paying you $37 a month for a thing you had no idea what you were going to give them? Tell me about that.

Lauren Marie (08:20):

Well, I guess that goes to the number of years that I've been coaching and facilitating people in other ways. So I've just been in their world in a different way. And this was a really cheap price point compared to, the live classes that I would do would be like $1,600, $2,000. So for them it was like, "$35 a month? Yes." It was an easy yes. And it was a way to work ongoing on an ongoing basis with me. Because of my other work and my family and the kids, I don't really offer one-on-one sessions or private coaching or group coaching or anything like that. So I think it was a matter of people wanting something with me and not having the access, and also the price. Yeah.

Salome Schillack (09:06):

Great. Okay. What I want to highlight here, because it can be pretty frustrating if someone starts a business and goes, "Well, I'm just going to open the door and see who comes," and then nobody comes. So I just want to point out a few things here is that you already knew exactly who your ideal customer is and you knew this customer inside and out because you had worked with her or him for so long. Right?

Lauren Marie (09:31):

In theory, I think sort of. I mean, it's interesting because even now I feel like I'm learning, does it ever stop? I guess I had an idea and when I asked them, because another great advice you gave me was, because I'm like, "I don't know what the promise is. I don't know what the..." And you were just like, "Ask them. What do I do for you? And why are you here?" Which I did. But what I got back was very much like, "You just inspire me and I like being in your world and you're funny and you're inspirational." And I was like, "Okay."

So I don't know that I completely 100% know who they are, but I guess I show up and I provide value consistently. I've been doing that every week doing Facebook lives and now I have a podcast and I'm doing all the non-glamorous consistent things to show up that eventually pay off.

Salome Schillack (10:24):

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that is very important, what you said, is you do the work, you show up, you do show up for them. And hey, if they want to pay you because you're an inspirational comedian, that's great. Did you have an email list when you launched this online course?

Lauren Marie (10:42):

I had a small email list. When I started this iteration of the business was now a year and a half ago, I had zero. And so I think by that time it was under 1,000. So it was-

Salome Schillack (10:54):

Were you emailing them regularly? Because if you have, because I tell the A-lister students that they need to get to 1,000 people on their email list as soon as possible, because then you have something you can work with. So while you were building your list to this around 1,000, did you email them regularly?

Lauren Marie (11:12):

When I made the commitment to myself to create this regular content and email it out every week. So I started that in January of 2020. So yeah, I think probably maybe, what? Six months later when we opened. So I had been emailing regularly and I had tried different lead magnets, because I was kind of like, "Maybe they want this. Maybe they want that." And I was doing stuff working from home with kids, that's what got my ad shut down. The whole-

Salome Schillack (11:45):

[inaudible 00:11:45].

Lauren Marie (11:45):

Yeah. Work from home with kids and-

Salome Schillack (11:47):

Make money in your pajamas without leaving the couch.

Lauren Marie (11:51):

Exactly. Yeah. They don't like that. So that's what the lead magnets and original ideas for pulling people in were centered around. And then I realized, I don't actually need to work just with moms, nor do I only have moms. I have a lot of men and people without kids and all ages. So it was like, "That's not really it. So what is it?" So I realized it was a combination of who I am and where my background with the alternative health and wellness and coaching.

So people that fall in one of those areas. And I started shifting my target to people that are in the health and wellness industry, like yoga instructors, pilates instructors, massage therapists, acupuncturists like myself, and coaches. And so that being my target now is those people who want to create online business.

Salome Schillack (12:44):

I love it. Online courses and memberships.

Lauren Marie (12:46):

Yep. Yep.

Salome Schillack (12:47):

I love it. So, because we've had this conversation about your niches so many times that you didn't end up going, "No, it's just coaches or it's just acupuncturists," but instead you niche down in terms of what they're creating or a business model that they're following. And it just goes to show that there are different ways to niche down, but niching down is ultimately the key. And I want to highlight also the fact that what you said that you committed to emailing your list every week in January and six months later, you opened the doors to 110 people.

And I wish, that there is the recipe. That there is the recipe to getting started. It's build your list, email them consistently, and make them an offer. And so you've done that really, really well. So congrats on that. So, what came next for you after that? So you joined the Launch Lounge around August last year and you've done a few launches since then. So just tell us a little bit about how this membership has grown, how you've launched other things, just said about how you've discovered who your actual niche is, but tell us what you've launched to them and how that's grown your business.

So I'll tell you about three launches. So the first one, because this is something you told me after the first one that really opened the doors for me, the first one I did was, of course, it was basically to help them launch whatever they're doing. And I put it all in one big basket like, "Take your hands-on business online." That was the whole theme of what I was trying to get. So I did a challenge and a course off the back of the challenge and it did pretty well. I mean, I think we brought in around 17,000 off of that course, I didn't spend a ton on ads at that point, but I was still learning.

And what you said to me was, "Are they going to bed at night thinking, how do I bring my hands-on business online?" And I just laugh because I'm like, "No, who goes to bed thinking those thoughts?" And then I realized, I need to get more specific on what it is that they actually want to do, which was the two things, courses and memberships. And there's a whole lot of other things I guess they could do to bring their business online that I don't teach.

So, just clarifying that one for the next launch, and I just did memberships, how to create and launch your membership. And that was the big blast off one that I had last year. So...

Lauren Marie (15:27):

The big blast off one. Yes. Do you want to share the numbers? The revenue?

Salome Schillack (15:33):

Sure. So it was over, in AUD, was around $70,000. In US dollars, it was 50 something thousand dollars from that launch. So we were pretty excited about that. I think we had 47 students. And yeah, that was a big-

Lauren Marie (15:52):

That's phenomenal. That is fantastic. Congratulations. That's wonderful. And I want to add to that is because we know revenue is one thing, but then you have to look at, well, how much did you spend to get that 70K? And your return on ad spend if I remember right, it was about six or seven, was it? Six or seven?

Salome Schillack (16:10):

Expense $1,600 AUD and we made 72,000.

Lauren Marie (16:15):

Hold up. I need to work this out. So 1,600 AUD.

Salome Schillack (16:21):

So 70 AUD over 16, that's 4.3. Return on ad spend, 4.3. So that means for every dollar you put in, you got $4 and 30 cents in. So that means you should do this all day long.

Lauren Marie (16:21):

Right.

Salome Schillack (16:42):

Right. So that was a massive success. That was just a massive success. And where did you go from there then?

Lauren Marie (16:49):

So from there I did a different, we're planning on launching that one again in a few weeks, but I shifted gears and went to create a challenge and sell off the back of that, just the course side. So how to create your online course and launch and sell your online course. And that one was last month. So we welcomed 25, let's call it, and we got... Now my numbers are jumbling in my head.

Salome Schillack (17:17):

That's all right.

Lauren Marie (17:17):

$30,000, I think $30,000 in. So it was a smaller, a two week, there's a three week course versus an eight week course. And so kind of like apples and oranges. And it was a cold audience that I launched that one to, which I've learned from you is, there's a big difference between a warm launch and a cold launch. And not that I even knew what launch was when I met you, now I know there's cold and there's warm.

Salome Schillack (17:48):

I love that, because that's part of how you launch without wasting money is you launch it to a warm audience first, you get a phenomenal result. Great. You're ready to move to cold. So, you've done well. So it was two different launches. The price points were the same, one brought in around 70,000, the other one brought in around 30,000. So I'm sure, was there a level of disappointment for you in the second one?

Lauren Marie (18:13):

There was. So leading up to that, we were filling up the challenge, right? So I had a paid challenge and you were helping me run ads to that and I had a sticker shock moment where we made this choice. You were like, "Just go balls to the walls." I'm like, "What does that even mean?" Because the test phase, if you will, went so well, you were like, "Put as much money as you can to this. Fill up that challenge." And so I was like, "Okay."

So I went from spending where I started spending, like, I don't know, $10, $20 a day. And then I'm during this challenge spending $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 a day. I'm like, "Oh my God, this is scary." So, because we spent $11,000 or so on ad spend, but we recouped that straight back, I even made a little bit by just the cost of the challenge paying for itself. I actually entered my sales event for this with breaking even, having spent nothing.

Salome Schillack (19:18):

Which is great.

Lauren Marie (19:20):

Yeah. So that's cool. You always like to have your ads pay for themselves. And then I think we spent a few more hundred just at the end to get the course in front of those people. And then we made all the money off the back. But it was disappointing in that the lead up was so amazing, we were expecting this massive return, and the conversion wasn't as high on this one as it was on the other one. But now I know, "Okay, it's different with warm and cold." Those conversion rates are not going to be the same, plus it was a totally different course, totally different... I went from webinars to challenge. So there's so many differences. And the actual course that I'm selling is only three weeks versus eight weeks.

And so there's so many factors in it that also, you don't know when you're entering this world what's good, what's not good, and you hear stories of $250,000 launches and million dollar launches, and then you have like 30 and you go like, "I don't know." So it all depends where your expectations are, whether you end up disappointed or excited.

Salome Schillack (20:29):

I love that you say that because it's so true and it's all so relative. I've had a client do an $800,000 launch and call it the biggest failure of her life. So I mean, it's just mind blowing, but I love that you can look at it and go, "It's apples and pears. We did the big one. This one wasn't as big, but the circumstances were different." And what I love to do with you guys and what you and I have done is to then unpack that data and to go, "Okay. What does the data tell us about the story as it unfolded during this launch and during this interaction you had with your ideal clients?" So that we can learn from that story and do it differently next time, make the important changes we want to make so that you learn and grow and next time have better conversions.

Lauren Marie (21:26):

Yeah, exactly. And learning that you can actually scale, because now I have a few things going for me that I didn't have, which is testing different cold audiences and figuring out what they are responding to and what offers they really like and what kind of messaging they like. And as you said, I do crazy videos and they seem to like that. And so I've learned so much. And then now it's just like, "Okay, if I did it again, what would I do different? What would I change?" And now I have data to back up, rather than just shooting in the dark and guessing and gambling my ad dollars and my time and all of that. It's like, you have some education and data to go off of.

Salome Schillack (22:13):

I mean, I must be a really big nerd because I just get really excited about that data and that being able to unpack it and go, "Now we have a plan." And it's like you say, now we're not playing roulette with your money. Now, when I tell you to go balls to the walls with your ad spend, we have numbers to back that up to say, "Yeah, we know that when we put in even more, we get out even more." But we also have numbers that go, "Ah, hold on. We shouldn't be putting in more, unless we first fix this or fix that." So that puts you in the driver's seat of actually scaling your business, which is what makes me wake up in the morning and come to work.

Lauren Marie (22:53):

It's huge and just knowing that you can have a strategy that makes sense, and you never know exactly what's going to happen, but you do your best guess, and you have data to back it up. It gives you that peace of mind so you don't feel like, "I have no idea what's going to happen."

Salome Schillack (23:11):

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And especially if that feeling of no idea what's going to happen involves your hard earned savings or the money that has to pay for your kid's daycare or the money that has to go in when it's the ballet lesson or the Facebook ad. It can be hard. Well, you are just an inspiration. What is next for Lauren Marie Global?

Lauren Marie (23:37):

Well, we're doing the membership launch course again in a couple of weeks. So, it's very exciting. We also have created an evergreen funnel that I'm excited about because it's a way to bring in people all the time into the business that it's just running in the background and your amazing team is reviewing all of our numbers so we can figure out what we do with all the different courses that are coming. So I'm just looking forward to having some things going, like the evergreen piece, the launches laid out, having a plan, knowing like, "Okay, we're going to do this this many times this year and have this running in the background, have the challenge, have the webinars."

All of this is like learning a new language. So when you learn the language and then you can speak it and now you can have fun having conversations. So, just growing and being able to not do all this startup. I feel like when you start, the first time you do a course, there's so much investment that you're putting in, creating the course and all the upfront time that you're spending, creating that, knowing that I can use all of that and not have to redo it again and use it again to create more. I'm hoping that the next half, the second half of this year is going to be a bit more relaxed. And-

Salome Schillack (25:04):

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I can tell you that from an outsider's perspective, you've put in the work, you've put in the sweat equity, you've built the blocks, and the foundations are there. And it is, like you say, now you're starting to see the snowball effect. And the one launch is going to start paying off for the next one, which pays off for the next one. You're having your evergreen low dollar offer on all the time is going to bring in quality leads for you. I love that you have all these little systems that are now working together as a cohesive machine that is allowing you to make informed decisions to scale this.

And now you're at this point where it's becoming a snowball and the snowball is about to take off. And I think the second half of 2021 is going to be a really good period for you in your business as you implement what you already know is working and then scale the rest. And I'm very excited to see what you get up to and how you scale it.

Lauren Marie (26:10):

Me too.

Salome Schillack (26:11):

So where can anyone go to learn more about you and your business?

Lauren Marie (26:16):

You can go to Lauren Marie Global on everything, on Facebook, Instagram, and our website everywhere is laurenmarieglobal.

Salome Schillack (26:24):

Fantastic. Lauren, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for being such a star student that makes me leap out of bed in the morning to hear all about what you've been up to. And I wish you so much success for the rest of year.

Lauren Marie (26:40):

Thank you so much, Salome, and I can't to see what the Launch Lounge is going to create for all these new people.

Salome Schillack (26:48):

Fantastic. Take care.

Lauren Marie is one of my star students inside the Launch Lounge and we are opening the Launch Lounge up for enrollment on the 29th of July. So mark your calendar. The Launch Lounge is the fastest way to create profitable online course launches, hire the right team, and scale to seven figures without wasting any time not knowing what to do next, or wasting money hiring the wrong people who bring you the wrong audience. And if you want to get on the wait list for the Launch Lounge, then just head to shineandsucceed.com/tllwaitlist. That's shineandsucceed.com/tllwaitlist. I'll see you again next week.

Thank you so much for listening. If you had fun, please come back next week and remember to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a thing.