How I Made £36,800 In 2 weeks Without Launching

In July 2020 I made £36,800 in just under 2 weeks without launching. The strategies I used were super simple and that’s what we’re talking about today.

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for some time, because I learnt so much from the process I went through to make this amount. It was the easiest it’s ever felt to bring in money to my business. So here’s everything you need to know about how I did this - and how you can do it too. 

The offer I was selling

I was selling the next round of my signature group programme The 5K Experience. It’s for service-based business owners who are making between £1-3k a month and want to grow to £5k consistent months. They’ve got that initial traction with their audience - but they’ve plateau’d and are ready for the next level. We uplevel their offer, marketing and sales systems so they attract more clients.

I sold all 13 places (one more than the 12 I’d planned) in two weeks. 

The three actions I took 

The 5k Experience is a 12-week programme, and I knew I wanted to finish the next round before Christmas 2020. This meant starting in September, but by the time I realised this, we were already at the end of July and I always take August off. I was faced with launching the offer then and there, or waiting ‘til September and having a very short lead-up. 

I chose to go with the flow and start marketing in July. I wanted to test out some marketing strategies that didn’t require a lot of time and effort. So I did three things. 

1: I put out an excited FB post about my business, and mentioned that I’d be enrolling for the next round soon.

I’d been one of the lucky few who were able to go on holiday to Spain in between Corona waves. I’d been able to take my business with me (and delivered my group coaching from our apartment) and was feeling absolutely awesome. 

At the end of the post, I included a super casual call to action. It’s important to note here that I didn’t really ‘plan’ this post. I didn’t think ‘Oooo I’ll write a post exuding excitement and mention The 5K Experience’. What I did was feel into my energy at the time - whenever I do that, awesome things happen.

Anyone in my hot audience looking for a chance to work with me pricked their ears up. I booked 9 sales calls off of this post.

Learning: confidence sells. Clarity also sells - the ‘if you’re making 1-3k’ line made it super simple for my audience to identify if this was relevant to them or not.

As well as this post, I’d reached out to a bunch of people individually who I thought would be a great fit for the programme with a simple, ‘Hey, I’m running the next round of The 5K Experience in September and thought it could be a great fit for you. Are you interested in chatting about it?’

I knew I needed 12 people for the programme. Based on my past results, my conversion rate on the calls would be about 60-70%. That meant I needed to book a minimum of 15 calls in total. So what else did I do to get there?

2: I put a very explicit sales post in my paid membership. We were doing some sales training that month, so I used it as an opportunity to talk the members through the structure and strategy of a sales post. I made it clear that my example post was a real sales post. Here it is:

I made sure I was very clear about who the programme was for, what we’d be working on, and the results it delivered. The call to action was much more direct this time - DM me today.

I was totally honest about the fact that 3 spots had already sold since my first post about it. You can use scarcity in a dickish way, or you can genuinely let people know the number of spots you have left. Scarcity sells and I knew the rest of the spots would fill up quickly.  

This post got me the rest of the sales calls I needed, but I used one additional lead generation strategy. 

3: I set up a funnel on the thank you page of my newest freebie. There, I mentioned that I was enrolling for the programme and included a form to request a sales call with me. 

I left this funnel running in the background and promoted the freebie in my Facebook group Mummy’s Got Clients. This strategy generated me around 10 additional leads in 2 weeks. These were generally less qualified leads but two of them did sign up for the programme.

So that’s what I did - but why did it work?

The answer to this lies in the strategies I have sworn by since I started my business. Here are the ones that really paid off in these two weeks. 

1. Build a community

In an often sleazy online world, community means everything. And the wonderful thing about community - it can thrive and exist without you.

My free Facebook Group Mummy’s Got Clients has grown (on writing this in April 2021) to 2.2k incredible women who support and celebrate each other. I get messages from business owners to tell me that the group kickstarted their business, that they get most of their clients from there and that the community has always been there for them.

It’s ace. Community rules. We crave connection (even as an introvert), so creating a community of like-minded souls is an awesome heart-led marketing strategy.

2. Create true fans

True fans are people who really buy into what you do and why you do it. They like and comment on your posts, they respond to your emails and they look out for your content.

These are the sorts of people who will buy from you again and again because they are truly your people.

It’s not all about attracting new clients all the time. It is way easier to sell more stuff to the people you’ve already worked with because they trust you and want to work with you again.

I’ve created an audience of true fans by creating experiences for my audience. Things like live workshops, the Mummy’s Got Client Christmas party, challenges, my membership, weekly awesome emails and my free Facebook community. I make sure these deliver time and time again so that people see the value I create and feel part of the community.

And I’m consistent - I’ve consistently showed up as a leader for my audience for 2 1/2 years (so far).

3. Focus on serving

Since I started my business, everything I have put out to my audience has been focused on serving. I’m always asking myself “How can I serve more deeply? How can I help people get results for free?”. 

Because of this, I regularly receive messages from people who have been able to get a new client just from watching the videos in my free group. Even my email nurture sequence is designed to help subscribers solve problems and move forward. 

Having this catalogue of helpful content has meant that my audience sees just how much value I can provide. Since I don’t tend to work with people right at the beginning of their biz journey, it means they can start building the foundations of their business purely by bingeing my content. Then, when they are ready to step up to the next level, who better to help them do that than the person who got them to where they are now, right?

4. Allow your audience to get to know you.

I am shockingly honest with my audience. If you’ve watched any of my Facebook lives - or been on a coaching call with me - you’ll probably have witnessed my never-ending wifi problems (actually now solved), my son interrupting or my dog incessantly barking.

I’m not a polished Insta Business Coach with glossy pictures. It’s just not my style. I’m a no-frills business coach talking to you about my real life, occasionally swearing (a lot). 

By letting go of the worry that I’ll be judged for that, I’ve been able to attract the people who are just like me. People who love to drink gin, who know that motherhood is fucking hard, and who want to be the best they can be - but without completely throwing off the cloak of reality while doing it. 

Sharing my wins is another part of this transparency. My audience knows all of my goals and dreams. When I achieved one of them recently (I retired my husband from a job he hated), they all celebrated with me. When you allow your audience into your world on a deeper level, they will be with you every step of the way. 

5. Validate your offers before you do the work

Before I sold these 13 spots, I ran a beta test of the programme with 8 incredible women. I talked about it a lot because it was such an exciting time. The women I worked with were celebrating win after win after win. And they were talking about it too, generating excitement about the programme. 

I’ve found that when you’re focused on helping your clients win, your marketing exudes the excitement about this. The more you can ride that wave, the more people in your audience can sense that energy. 

Let’s be clear - that beta test was not perfect. As well as the wins, there were also things that didn’t go quite to plan, and I changed a lot when I ran the second round. But I was so excited about the offer, that when I came to market it a second time, I had total confidence in it. I knew it was going to help people because I’d seen the results from the beta test. I couldn’t wait to bring my offer to the world. 

And that’s exactly what you want for every offer that you sell: excitement, confidence, and conviction. Not worries about whether people will buy it, or what people will think. And this is why I teach all of my clients to validate before they sell. 

The truth about making this amount of money. 

Sometimes, people come to me saying “I just need a client - can you help me get one?” My response: yes, if you’re willing to put in the work. It’s not realistic to set out to just make this amount of money from two posts and a thank you page. 

Because I didn’t make this money in 2 weeks. I made it in 2 years, because that’s how long I’ve been consistently marketing my business and refining my process. That’s how long I’ve focused on serving - through challenges, workshops, facebook groups, and my email list - instead of on income.

Being an entrepreneur and creating consistent income in your business takes grit, time and commitment. Generally speaking, it takes around 90 days from the day you start using a process until you start to see any results from it. 

That’s not to say that being an entrepreneur can’t feel good, but it’s not an easy path to choose. 

So if you want to be successful in growing your business, focus on your processes, not the end result. How can you create an offer that delivers incredible results? What energy do you choose to bring to your marketing? How can you create conversations with your ideal client every day?

When you come at it from that perspective, making money becomes easy. 

Ready to learn all the processes you need to get there?

My membership is designed to walk you through every process you need to master so that you can run your business like a well-oiled machine. Learn how to craft an offer that sells, how to generate leads, how to nail your sales calls, and how to upgrade your mindset so that you’re resilient AF. 

All that plus the support and love of a community of women all doing exactly what you’re doing. 

You can join us here and get started today: www.gemmagilbert.com/membership