• Who: Dan Farrant
• Website: hellomusictheory.com
• Course Topic: Music
• Interesting Stats: Ebook downloaded over 50,000 times

Who are you and what course have you created?

I’m Dan, and I run HelloMusicTheory.com. Our goal is to help people learn music. We’ve put a few courses together all around learning to read and write music.

What market does your online course serve?

Our courses are all centered around learning to read music. They are ideal for music students young and old, parents looking for some extra help for their kids, and also teachers looking for resources for their students.

What’s the biggest benefit of taking your course?

Our aim is that reading music won’t be as overwhelming and that it will unlock more music for the student to play on their instrument!

How did you get into the market?

I was teaching music and created a lot of resources for my 1 to 1 students. I then started posting those worksheets and guides online and it slowly grew from there!

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

I got a lot of emails from students asking the same questions over and over again so it was mainly to save me time answering all those! I’m also a teacher at heart so it was fun to do!

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

Absolutely! There were so many obstacles. The first was the outline. With such a complicated subject like reading music, there are so many things they need to know, and coming up with an outline that makes sense was one of the hardest parts.

Then you’ve got the actual filming and making of the course. Even though my wife is an actress I’m terrible in front of the camera and constantly mess up my words. It took forever to film and I’m a bit of a perfectionist so had to do countless reshoots.

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

I love making things so it was actually fun to do, even though it’s not my skill set. Also, covid was a big reason that I finally got it together.

What’s your online course like?

I have one video course so far and then about 20 different PDF products like worksheets, study guides, and practice exams.

How long did it take you to create your course?

I ended up making my course as a book first. This let me really get to grips with the content, the order that I was presenting it, and work everything out. I then actually started selling it and getting feedback from real students.

Then, when it came to making my first video course, I had all the material ready to go and just had to turn it into video format which probably took 3 weeks.

But, writing the book and all the editing, updates and changes took probably around a year before I was really happy with it.

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

I had an email list of about 8,000 people at the time. I give away a little eBook full of loads of resources for people learning to read music. Emailing those people gave me my first sales but it wasn’t many at all. Probably only 9 or 10.

I then worked on the sales copy and started promoting it in my email autoresponder which now works on autopilot to sell it every month!

Do you have a lead magnet?

Yes, I have a little eBook which is a round-up of loads of different resources for people learning music. It’s got my courses and products in as well as loads of other people around the internet (and offline) doing stuff to help people learn music. It must have had over 50,000 downloads at this point! Pretty cool!

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

So far I haven’t done any paid advertising. My focus is writing free guides on all the different topics to do with learning music and then offering a lead magnet which then upsells my products. I would like to try some paid marketing but at the moment this strategy is working really well and I get over 400,000 visitors a month coming to the site so I’m doubling down on it!

What online course platform are you using?

I’m currently using Podia to sell and host all my products. It’s great because I have over 20 resources that are just PDFs and it lets you sell them as stand-alone digital products.

Do you like it?

Yeah, it’s pretty good. It does lack some key features but they are constantly releasing new features and it’s very easy to use.

Are there any features you wish it had?

The reporting of sales sucks. That couldn’t definitely be better. Also, customizing the sales pages is a bit clunky but it’s definitely good enough!

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

It was mainly the fact that I could sell digital products that weren’t video courses. That was the deal breaker for me.

What other tools do you use to run your online course business?

So many, here are a few. WordPress, Canva, Photoshop, CovertBox, ConvertKit.

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

Again, so many. As I’m focused on organic traffic I’ve taken some really good SEO courses like Matt Diggity’s Affiliate Lab which have been very helpful.

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

Not doing it sooner!  Also, once I started making some money I should have outsourced more tasks to virtual assistants and contractors sooner. I’m just starting to do that now and it’s a game changer.

Please share some idea of revenue.

Over $10k a month which includes other revenue from ads and affiliates etc too.

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

It got us through covid which was a big one – I was working as a magician doing corporate events before that which stopped almost overnight.

We also managed to buy a house in 2020.

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

The site gets around 450k visits a month at the moment.

What has creating your course done for you personally?

I sleep a lot better at night knowing that my site is busy earning me money. That’s the great thing about the internet is that you have a shop that never closes and works for you 24 hours a day, every day of the year. - Dan Farrant Click To Tweet

It’s wonderful!

Do you have a story of a transformation from any of your clients?

I get a lot of emails from students but one of the common ones is from older, retired students who learned as a child but never had time to keep up as they began working and had families. They’re now coming back to music in retirement and it’s been great hearing how site and resources have helped them back into it!

What advice do you have for people just starting out?

Just start and start right now. I can’t remember the exact quote but it’s something along the lines of “the best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago, the next best time is right now.”

Get a website up and start sharing your knowledge for free. No one will find it at first but keep sharing your work and don’t stop. - Dan Farrant Click To Tweet

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