From Pain into a Product, a Real Live Coaching Session

Five years ago, we launched the very first class that would become 30x500.

For the last 3 three years, Alex and I have played the role of heartless gatekeepers: Wanna take 30x500? Great, you have to apply. Not a designer, or a developer? Sorry, friend, but we can’t accept your application at this time.

We turned away so many people. We didn’t want to… but I knew we had to. We spent the first 2 years running the class open enrollment and learning the hard way: To increase our students’ success rate, we needed to limit which students we took in the first place.

I didn’t like it. I want to help everyone. And I know that the processes & thinking we teach in 30x500 can help everyone.

But Alex and I practice what we preach: A product ‘for everyone’ is often a product for no one. It’s a huge risk to try to jump straight into a broad, vaguely defined audience. It cuts your impact and pulls you in a million directions.

It’s much easier and less risky to work with a narrower audience you already know & understand best. It’s choosing a difficulty setting that’s in your favor, while you work to make a product that delivers results. This is true of ALL kinds of products.

That was then. This is now.

Today, 30x500’s fundamental systems are all battle-tested and student ready. We’ve rewritten the class twice, and changed formats 3 times (coming up on version 4!) We’ve gotten to the point where every class delivers excellent student outcomes. Our students get more, bigger & faster results than ever before.

Now we’re about to launch the first ever 30x500 you can learn & use any time. Alex and I are crazy excited to bring the 30x500 process to you, no matter what your skill set.

And to pave the way? We’re bringing you live, unscripted coaching sessions from newbie biz owners across a variety of industries.

You can kill pain & make money in your audience

In 30x500, we teach by example. And we no longer limit those examples to the designers / developers audiences. We teach the core 30x500 principles through examples of successful products for pet owners, home renovators, cooks, freelancers, and more.

Fact: As long as there’s people in your audience who will spend money to kill pain, save money, or make money… the 30x500 process will help you kick ass at serving them. No matter the “niche.”

Listen & learn from: The publishing industry

First up in our recorded coaching sessions: Amanda Thomas, co-creator of Lantern Fish Press. She and her business partner Christine launched their boutique fiction imprint with a Kickstarter. They’ve since published a second book, by their first outside author.

Along the way, Amanda has learned from first-hand experience how terrible the ebook-making process can be.

Now she’s using our guidance to move beyond fiction, to create & sell her first infoproduct.

You can listen in on our first coaching session together right now:

Funnily enough, in our coaching session, we teach Amanda the same lesson we learned with 30x500: Start narrower — with the people easiest to serve — before you branch out. But Amanda isn’t a programmer or designer. Click “Play” to find out why (and where) we steer her.

If you wanna listen to this on your phone, you can listen to Episode 8 of our Stacking Bricks podcast from iTunes or wherever you like listening to podcasts.

Enjoy!

There’s more where that came from

For starters, our podcast feed is chock full of more insider dirt. And stay tuned, because every week we’re publishing more discussions like this one as we build out brand new lessons for 30x500 Academy.

Wanna stay a part of this story as it develops? Want more real dirt as it’s dished, not the post-facto narrative?

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