• Who: Meggan Larson
• Website: megganlarson.com
• Course Topic: Self Publishing
• Interesting Stats: Went from 0 to 6-figures in a year

Who are you and what course have you created?

My name is Meggan Larson and I am a best-selling published author four times over (so far). I’ve created several courses but the one I love the most is my How to Self-Publish From A-Z course.

What market does your online course serve?

The market this course serves is mainly entrepreneurs who have an amazing story but aren’t sure how to get it out there. Publishing a book can feel like a massive undertaking (and it is!) but it doesn’t have to be so complicated that you can’t figure it out.

What’s the biggest benefit of taking your course?

Honestly, the biggest benefit to taking my course is that I have a gift of being able to explain things in a very simple way so that literally anyone can do what I’m teaching. You’ll be able to self-publish your book AND get a #1 ranking on Amazon because I have a foolproof way of ensuring that happens.

How did you get into the market?

I got into the market back in 2020 after I finally wrote my first book and went through the publishing process. I saw that there was a need and I decided to fill it.

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

Honestly, the publishing process was so infuriating and complicated that I wanted to throw my laptop out the window on several occasions. I knew that if I was frustrated with the process, others would be too, so I decided to create a course in order to pave the way for others coming up behind me. Online courses are so accessible to basically everyone, so it’s been my chosen method for delivering content.

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

I would be lying if I said I have full confidence in myself whenever I launch a course. With every course, I’ve launched (eight so far) I have been hit with massive imposter syndrome. Questions like – will anyone want this? Will this help anyone? What if I don’t sell a single course? What if I actually have no idea what I’m talking about? The good news is that this happens to basically everyone.

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

I have an amazing mentor (Martha Krejci) and she gave me some incredible advice in this area. She told me to take screenshots of messages I’ve received from people I’ve helped to remind me that I bring value to others whenever I’m doubting myself. I look through those messages anytime I’m struggling to push forward in an area, and I just go for it.

I also choose to focus on the positive side of any situation.

Regardless of how many courses I sell, the fact is I created something. I started a project, finished it, and put it out there. That’s worth celebrating no matter what the outcome is. -Meggan Larson Click To Tweet

What’s your online course like?

My course has videos of me teaching, screen sharing videos of me walking people through exactly what I’m talking about so they can see what buttons to click, etc., PDF attachments of checklists so that the client can make sure they have everything they need in order to succeed with their book.

How long did it take you to create your course?

It took me several weeks to create this course and I’ve continued to add to it as I learn new skills or find new ways of doing things. Just today I added a walk-through video of how to prevent anyone from stealing the rights to your audiobook because that’s been a real issue lately. I stay up to date on what’s happening in the field so that my clients are prepared for anything.

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

My first course still makes me chuckle. It started with a 45-minute screen share video of how to do something which is astronomically long in the world of online courses. I launched it to a few friends to make sure it brought value and then through word of mouth it really exploded.

I must confess though that I have a secret weapon. My mentor has a course that taught me absolutely everything I know about creating courses, cultivating an entire community of people to who I bring value for free which then creates a community of people I can promote my courses to.

I haven’t had to pay for ads or anything like that. I’ve just promoted my course to my community and through word of mouth and that’s how I’ve achieved all of my success.

Do you have a lead magnet?

I do have lead magnets! Again, I learned how to create them from my mentor. The point of them is not to sell my courses but actually to provide value to people and build trust with them. I invite them into my community and then continue to bring value to them. For me, I don’t just want to sell a course. I want to build trust and loyalty.

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

As I mentioned above, my strategy is providing value and building trust and loyalty with people. In the online course world that is crucial because there are a lot of people that will take a course and try to recreate the content to sell it as their own. If you haven’t built trust and loyalty with someone then they’ll just go buy the copycat course even if it’s not as good. Trust and loyalty are ev-uh-ree-thing when it comes to online courses. I’ve built a six-figure business in under a year so it’s working out pretty well.

What online course platform are you using?

I use a platform called Get Oiling (they also operate as AttractWell).

Do you like it?

I LOVE it! It has everything from a CRM to vaults to house my courses, email campaigns, the ability to customize my website, etc. It’s literally a business in a box at a super affordable price.

Are there any features you wish it had?

Honestly no not really. It really does everything and if it doesn’t yet, I just have to email them and they are so responsive at adding what we need.

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

I needed a platform that was affordable and relatively easy to use. Actually, I had a hard time figuring it out at first and so my first three courses are all about how to navigate it and customize your website and create courses within it. I really like to make things easy for other people and turn my frustrations into profits.

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

I don’t need to use a whole lot but I do utilize Canva Pro, Vimeo, Epidemic Sound, and Acuity. Canva Pro is amazingly user-friendly and I even create my paperback book covers on it. It’s so versatile.

Vimeo houses all of my videos and the reason I use it over YouTube is that there are no ads. I want to show up professionally for my people so I choose to invest a small amount in order to do so.

I use Epidemic Sound to add royalty-free background music to some of my course videos and trailers that I make for my courses and books (and yes I teach people how to do that in my course).

And finally, Acuity is my favorite scheduling software ever. It’s really easy to use, I can give people coupons, and clients pay for their coaching session when they book it so I never have to have that awkward “hey could you please pay me” conversation. For $29/month – you had me at hello.

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

There is one training program I would recommend hands down and it’s the one I mentioned above. It’s called HBR and stands for Home Business Revolution. I don’t have a degree of any kind and honestly, I failed as an entrepreneur for 13 years before stumbling upon Martha Krejci.

She teaches people how to create multiple streams of income from home with a 90-95% profit ratio. So not only have I been able to create a six-figure business from home, but I’ve also been able to keep 90% of it.

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

The biggest mistake I’ve made was letting myself get distracted by what other people are doing or what they’re saying about me. When you reach a certain level of success, you’ll notice that a bunch of your relationships are ambivalent and it’s really hard to tell if someone is genuinely happy for you or not. The times my income tanked were when I listened to gossip or compared my success to someone else’s.

Just keep your head down, focus, and learn from someone who has what you want in the way that you want it. Pivot as needed and be willing to get constructive feedback from people you trust. -Meggan Larson Click To Tweet

Please share some idea of revenue.

I average $10k/month and my best month to date has been over $25k which is CRAZY to me because in April 2020 I was making $3.45/hour.

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

Thanks to the income I’ve been able to create from home, my husband is home full time and no longer has to do back-breaking manual labor. We are completely debt-free and spent a week at an epic cottage we would have never been able to afford before.

Most importantly to me, we’ve been able to pay for all the needs of our sponsor child Enock who developed cerebral malaria last year and almost died. We were able to step up and commit to paying hundreds of dollars each month for his life-saving medication for the next three years. In 2019 we were so broke that we had to sell basically everything we had just to pay for the paint to finish getting our house ready for sale. This has been absolutely life-changing.

What has creating your course done for you personally?

Creating courses has meant freedom for my family.

Being able to pick and choose who we work with and finishing what I start has meant the world to me. -Meggan Larson Click To Tweet

I am a thousand percent more confident in my abilities than I was last year. The best part is that this is just the beginning.

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

My self-publishing course has helped over fifty people become best-selling authors. I mean, how amazing is that?? Writing a book is a massive accomplishment in and of itself but there’s no guarantee that anyone will buy it.

Having the ability to walk my clients through exactly how to position themselves in order to get those #1 spots on Amazon has been incredible. I get just as excited as they do about it. Whenever a client publishes a book, I’m sitting on my laptop refreshing my screen like Michael Jackson with a bowl of popcorn. Their wins are my wins, and it means everything to me.

What advice do you have for people just starting out?

Thankfully I connected with my mentor before getting started so I never had to unlearn anything. I will say this though – I watched someone spend over $100,000 trying to piece everything together in order to do what Martha Krejci teaches in her HBR course and it still didn’t work.

Do yourself a favor and invest in your success with someone who has a proven track record of success. Don’t compare yourself to others either.

As I mentioned I spent 13 years trying to succeed as an entrepreneur. I spent over $50,000 on my business education with very little to show for it.

I needed that time of preparation to grow as a person because who I was before those 13 years was someone who hated other people and didn’t trust anyone. It’s kind of hard to build a successful business teaching others when you aren’t able to build trust with anyone.

People saw me take off in 2020 and some of them were so frustrated with their lack of success and assumed that I was someone special who just knew exactly how to build a successful business from home. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I am teachable and humble and can follow directions. You might be comparing your journey to someone whose been at this for 20 years. We have no clue where someone is at on their journey, so you do you and stay teachable and coachable. I’m proof that anyone can succeed in this industry.

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