• Who: Arantxa Mateo
• Website: 32mondays.com and eattoloseweight.teachable.com
• Course Topic: Weight loss
• Interesting Stats: 19,000 Facebook subscribers

Who are you and what course have you created?

I’m the founder of 32 Mondays Weight Management Program and the creator of the online course What to Eat to Lose Weight.

What market does your online course serve?

My course serves anybody who wants to learn the right way to lose weight for the rest of their life.

No matter if you have been trying to lose weight for many years or if it’s the first time you’ve thought about it, my course teaches you how to eat to lose weight. That way you can be in control with a system that you can apply for life. It will allow you to be free from your unstoppable cravings and tiredness. You’ll learn exactly what, when, and how to eat to be in control of your weight without being hungry, cutting your favorite foods, or killing yourself in the gym.

What’s the biggest benefit of taking your course?

Most of the programs out there are based on strict diets that are difficult to follow and maintain for life. When you follow them, you often feel hungry, low-energy, and sad (because let’s be honest, life without tasty food is so very sad!).

These programs don’t educate. They simply give you a set of (strict) rules to follow, without telling you why. So as soon as you finish that program or diet, you are back to where you’ve started – with no control over your weight.

Also, these programs focus excessively on a strict diet, exhausting exercise routine, or both, forgetting that mind plays an important role here, too.

My philosophy is nothing like that.

I believe food is a pleasure and that no one deserves to be on a diet.

How did you get into the market?

My parents divorced when I was only 6 years old and I went to live with my grandmother in another city. That’s where I learned how food could help me overcome my feelings and make me feel good.

Food cravings came to me very early in life. I was overweight until my teenage years and I hated it every single day. After finally losing weight I decided that I was going to learn everything about weight management so I would never be overweight again.

I studied Biological Sciences to learn as much as possible about human metabolism and biochemistry. I became a weight management specialist and decided to help others learn what they needed to know.

That’s when I developed my own program with everything people need to know to have a healthy weight and lifestyle. It leaves aside all the misconceptions and the misleading information out there that makes people confused and left feeling that a healthy weight and lifestyle is almost an impossible task. It is not!

Why did you decide to create an online course in the first place?

Creating an online course just came naturally. It was clearly the next step for me. After teaching in individual one-on-one formats, I started teaching in group settings, both in-person and via videoconference.

Did you have any moments of doubt before you created/launched it?

I was perfectly fine developing all the content for the course. My main concern was if the course was going to be good enough technically speaking. I am not very good at IT, computers, video making, editing, etc. so I was concern that I wasn’t going to make it right or that I would have to spend too much money hiring somebody else to do it.

If so what made you turn it around and do it anyway?

I realized I had nothing to lose trying so I developed a pilot course to test interest. People were interested in how I could help, not in how perfect the videos are.

What’s your online course like?

My course has 5 Modules. Each module has an average of 4-6 lessons. Each lesson has a live video to introduce the lesson, a PowerPoint video presentation with the lesson and a printable PDF along with the lesson.

How long did it take you to create your course?

Since I already had most of the content developed, the online course per se only took me 3-4 months. I started by developing each lesson. Then I created the PowerPoint presentations, and finally, I filmed it.

Tell us a little about the process of launching your course and getting your first sale(s).

I have had a mailing list for a long time, so I first offered the pilot course to my email subscribers. Once I had the final online course ready I offered it to my email subscribers again. I also ran some Facebook ads.

Do you have a lead magnet?

Doing some research with my students, I realized that the question I was being asked, again and again, was “Are Beans Fattening?”. People are very confused about it, and couldn’t understand the concepts of Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL), and how those can help them determine if a food is fattening or not.

So I created a post explaining how to use GI and GL to determine how “fattening” a food is, which ended being very successful.

I created a free e-book and a free online course called “Are Beans Fattening?” to use as a Lead Magnet.

What’s the traffic strategy that works best for you?

The strategies that work best for me is word of mouth, networking events, and speaking opportunities.

I automated the course selling with a series of emails after a webinar that I gain visitors from Facebook ads. It didn’t work very well for me because I can’t keep up with the way Facebook always changes its Advertising rules.

What online course platform are you using?

I use Teachable. I’m happy with it as an online course platform.

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Are there any features you wish it had?

I haven’t tried anything else so I am not aware that I’m missing anything. Also, I am not very good at technology, so there may be things I’m missing that I don’t really realize.

What made you decide to use your chosen platform over others?

Honestly, they gave me a free 1-year trial! So, after that, I stayed with them.

What books or training programs have you found useful on your journey to a successful business owner that others might find valuable too?

Most important to me was understanding how to teach people to learn the best. There is a book called Design to Learn which was an eye-opening book for me and I used it to design and develop my course.

Do you have any big mistakes you’ve made along the way that you’d be willing to share?

The most important thing was to try to develop Facebook Ad campaigns not really knowing how to do it. It was frustrating not to see results after spending good money.

Please share some idea of revenue.

I launched my Pilot Course before developing the whole final course to make sure that people were interested in what I was doing. I was scared to death that nobody would be interested, but I sold the whole 10 spots of the pilot in one week for $99 each!

Please tell us a little about what the money you’ve earned from your course business has done for you.

The most important thing I’m able to do with the money I get from the online course sales is to keep my business running from home. I am able to work when it’s more convenient for me and from whenever I am. That allows me to spend a lot of time with my family, raise my kids the way I want to, and travel to visit my mom in Spain twice a year.

In addition to revenue are there any numbers you would like to share?

I happily reached 19,000 Facebook subscribers!

What has creating your course done for you personally?

Creating a good online course is a big accomplishment! Not only for me but to help people all over the world.

What advice do you have for people just starting out?

You don’t need the best equipment to film your videos or the best videos. People are more interested in learning, not in your videos.

Learn more about Arantxa Mateo of 32Mondays.com:

• Website: 32mondays.com
• Facebook