The Online Course Show 146: How Just $10 in Startup Costs Led to a Ultra Successful Online Course Business (featuring Jono Petrohilos)
We’re back with another exciting interview from a successful online course creator! Guest Jono Petrohilos has an amazing story of bootstrapping his way from a tiny course investment to a thriving business in his fitness education niche. I loved hearing how Jono’s openness and drive made all the difference in his online course’s success, and we had a great chat on best practices for people at different stages in their own journey.
“‘Build it and they will come’... is just about the worst marketing strategy there is.”
- Jono Petrohilos
Without further ado, it’s time for a deep dive into what has worked for Jono and his online course business. Get your notebook and pen ready - there’s lots of great food for thought here!
In This Episode, We Talked About:
- (1:04) Why David is so excited about Next Level Courses
- (3:27) An epiphany I had on what platform to use for group coaching
- (6:04) Observations and feedback on how the podcast is evolving
- (10:15) My fanboy expectations being met and exceeded
- (13:51) Favorite takeaways from a recent learning opportunity
- (23:14) Setup for today’s interview
- (24:40) Getting to know Jono
- (27:10) How a learning mindset led Jono to success and prepared him for his online course journey
- (35:19) How he realized he could avoid a lot of upfront costs
- (39:56) Jono's very first launch
- (47:22) Building up a contact list
- (50:14) Going where your audience is
- (56:49) Course validation and pre-selling
- (1:01:36) What about course creators who don’t have an audience?
- (1:15:14) The power of giving value away for free
- (1:17:08) Having fun... and avoiding being called a stalker?
- (1:19:56) How Jono’s business is currently structured
- (1:24:02) Turning points that led to success
- (1:30:51) The theme throughout Jono’s journey
- (1:36:37) A favorite student success story
- (1:41:28) Jono’s platforms of choice
- (1:47:53) Dave’s thoughts on Jono’s story
- (1:52:26) What we assume our audience is vs. who they really are
- (1:53:42) Starting where you are
- (1:58:26) Am I too cool for David’s latest suggestion?
- (2:01:41) The Online Course Guy catchphrase… maybe
- (2:05:17) Wrapping up
That’s all for now, folks! See you on the next episode of The Online Course Show.
Links
Jacques’ Courses: