Designers, developers: Read closely, because the course is an opportunity to dramatically change your life!
The Formula You Need: 30×500
Do you want to break out of working by the hour? Do you want to create your own products and really be your own boss? How about crafting an independent income you can live on — and never have to freelance again?
You absolutely can. I know, because in 2009, I did it.
Look at that beautiful growth! My projection for our 2011 income is SIMPLY our current income, extrapolated over the months & with (conservative) expected growth. Doesn’t even include 2 products that we are launching in 2011!
In 2008, I had a career crisis. I was charging upwards of $300+ an hour for interaction design… but I hated every minute of it. I knew there had to be a better way, and I threw myself into making it happen.
I researched. I strategized. I screamed. I planned, and then my husband & I implemented my plan:
We went from earning $0 from products in 2008, to $85,000 in 2009, to $240,000 in 2010. Our estimate for 2011 is nearly $650,000 — and that doesn’t even include 2 new products we’re launching this summer & fall. (Learn more about my numbers from 2010).
And we started it all on the side.
Want to write your own success story? Learn how, with my 30×500 Launch Class.
The 30×500 Launch Class is here to Pump You Up!
Yup, 30×500. What’s with the weird tongue-twister of a name? Simple: It’s a formula.
The way to success is aiming small. Those numbers — 30 by 500 — are magical numbers that multiply up to $180,000 a year. All you need is $30 a month from 500 customers — just 500 customers, from anywhere in the world. (Or $500 a month from 30 customers, natch.)
Seems pretty damn achievable when you look at it that way, doesn’t it? That’s the power of thinking systematically.
And: You’ve gotta agree, $180,000 a year ain’t too shabby. Just think what you could do from there, what opportunities & freedoms that kind of money could open up.
You don’t have to invent the next Twitter to have a blast building products you believe in.
Getting There
“Okay, Amy,” I hear you thinking, “it all sounds nice and easy when you put it that way. But how do you ensure that you can create a product that will bring in even 500 customers? How do you know what to build? How do you know which of your many ideas to build, or how to have those ideas in the first place? How do you reach your customers? How do you sell to them? How do you manage to actually build something on the side without going absolutely batshit crazy?
How do you finish and ship something when you’re terrified, or at best, chronically disorganized?”
Well, I’m glad you asked, because that’s exactly what the class is about.
You know the 30×500 formula now. The Launch Class will get you to the point where you can implement it.
What’s this class exactly?
It’s an online class, lasting about 3 months (plus a break to get your research on), starting June 27.
Just like a university-level class, you’ll get weekly lessons, and homework — and, unlike at university, you’ll get lots of hands-on support from someone with real-world experience. (Chiefly, yours truly.)
Each lesson week, you’ll receive the lesson by email, about:
- how to have only profitable ideas
- how to escape the depressing cycle of Idea Quicksand
- crafting a business model that’ll play to your strengths (even if you can only work part-time)
- why you should never bother making an iPhone app
- how to come up with a plan for your very first version — and stick to it
- how to break a large project down into easy bites
- how to build a product by yourself, without making yourself miserable
- how to beat procrastination
- how to keep on track even when you’ve got a day job
- how to find your customers
- how to get in contact with your customers
- how to write sales copy so your customers will listen — with no previous copywriting experience
- how to launch your product to immediate sales
- (and more)
These lessons include practical workbooks full of guiding questions and formulas that help you decide what to do, and for whom, and how, and when.
This class isn’t about high-level conceptual hand-waving, this is down-n-dirty work that gets the job done.
We’ll talk about the lesson on the mailing list (where you also have access to alumni from previous classes!). You will be prodded to contribute and talk about what you’ve been doing. There will even be some – gasp! – accountability, or at least its party-friendly cousin, kicks in the ass.
The lessons are boiled down to their very essence, pithy and funny, and easy to read. You will learn philosophies, strategies, and yes, tips & tricks to ensure you can start earning money from your product as soon as humanly possible.
And regular group chats (on Campfire, with transcripts).
You’ll be able to email if you have problems or questions, or just need a reassuring hug (or kick in the pants).
Is the class right for YOU?
Are you a developer or a designer with developer-y skills? Or are you a tech-savvy, creative designer/writer who’s excited to make a non-software product, like ebooks, templates, or screencasts? The class is for you!
(NOTE: It is not for you, however, if you are in love with & committed to serving a consumer audience, such as hobbyists, yoga teachers, musicians, etc! That way danger lies, and 30×500 is about skirting around the danger & ensuring your success!)
Who am I to teach such a thing?
Well, for starters, I’m an interaction designer who started as a web developer, and who evolved into the total product nut you see before you today. I’m a great teacher. I’ve been teaching people how to code (in a totally novel visual kinda way) for years and years. I’m totally obsessed with systems thinking, and business systems especially and, thanks to my other obsession with teaching, the ability to turn it into valuable, insightful, action-packed lessons.
And to follow it up, I have the real-world experience — I’ve repeatedly been able to create winning products. Here’s a growth chart of my first software as a service — planned, researched, designed, and managed by moi:
We launched in Dec 2008, had our first round of billing in Jan 2009 (just over $1,500), and this month, May 2011, our estimates show we’ll bill about $17,500. That’s $210,000 a year run rate (projected), and more than 10x growth over our first month.
Wondering if I’m just lucky?
You might be wondering if I got lucky — or if I’m a one-hit wonder. You might also think that it’s because I’m “internet famous,” and this isn’t something anyone can do.
How’s that saying go? Once is luck, twice is skill? I’ve got more than one hit under my belt.
I came up with a system to create products that sell from the very first day. With my husband, I cowrote the best-selling JavaScript Performance Rocks! ebook (over $60,000 in sales). I also led the creation of one of our two training workshops, which consistently sell out.
That is the system I teach in this class. (And this very class has sold out both of the previous times I’ve offered it!)
Wondering if YOU can duplicate my success?
You can. It will take time, and sweat, and effort, but I’ve dedicated over a year of my life to learning how to teach these tools & strategies to smart people just like you. And my marketing strategies — which you’ll learn — don’t rely on fame of any kind. You just have to be willing to put in the effort, consistently, to make a product that pleases your customers, and to ship.
All of which you’ll learn about when you attend 30×500.
More info coming soon!
I’m currently in talks with several of my students who have changed their lives (and launched products!) thanks to my course. But preparing this kind of case study takes extra time, so it’s not ready just yet. Watch this space, because they will be coming soon.
Here are some quotes from the case studies in progress…
… The proof is in the pudding ! I had a lot of half-hassed-never-launched products under my belt coming in ;) It’s now painfully obvious to me why some of my past projects didn’t work out. I stopped “hoping” for users. It’s a lot easier to make progress on a project when people are showing an interest for it… And personally, wow, beside the huge motivation boost I got every time we talked about TheBusinessPart, your advice almost systematically led to some of the most liberating changes I made to the app and the business.
— Etienne Segonzac, TheBusinessPart
And another:
[Using what I learned in 30×500,] I built Freelance Funnel, a service to help freelancers land better gigs by delivering hot leads every day. I learned that I can build something of value, that helps people and that people will respond to that value with dollars.
Right now, I’m at 7 paying customers — that may sound like nothing to write home about but it’s infinitely more than 0.
More importantly, I know I’m on to something, whether it’s this or another idea. Now I know I can stop trading my time for money.
— Jeff Schoolcraft, Freelance Funnel
And one more!
30×500 purged me of [my] fears. Now that I am close to shipping a paid product, I realize that all of those fears are irrational. There is absolutely no reason I can’t build a product with the tools and skills I already have… The homework and feedback was instrumental in helping me develop a relationship with potential customers and knowing what kind of product to build. I would recommend the course to anyone that wants to get over their fears, stop making excuses, and bootstrap a paid product.
— Moe Burney
Yup — this class is a lifechanger.
Don’t Miss Out!
To keep quality high, and ensure lots of hands-on support, I’m closing the doors at just 75 students. (And as of today (May 23), 22 tickets have been presold to folks on my email list.)
The entire class, including personal attention to your questions, is priced at less than half a single class at a good business school — just $1,350 up to June 6th, and $1,450 if you book from June 6th up to the day the class starts (June 27th)… though I doubt the tickets will last that long!
In case that seems a little pricey, think about this: If you follow the class, and do the homework, you’re pretty much guaranteed to make that much in the first two or three months with your product. My ebook launch paid $5,000 the first week and Freckle earned nearly $1,600 after its first round of free trials ended.
But that’s not just because I’m special: One of my students from the very first version of this class created an ebook (from content he already had!) that made him nearly $5,000, and he’s currently working on his next product. And that’s just ONE success story!
That’s a pretty kickass return on investment. Better than half a class, anywhere… even at ye olde ivy-covered Harvard Business School.
No Risk. Seriously.
My product creation system is all about eliminating risk. Heck, think about it — you already have a job, or you already have clients. It’s not like you can just take a year off and waltz around inventing The Next Big Thing. Your pockets aren’t bottomless, either. You have limited time, energy, and money — so you need to make sure every single thing you do will get you closer to your goal of a product-based income.
That’s why I’m glad to offer you a 100% money back guarantee. Yup, if at any point during the class, you feel like you’re not learning how to create predictably profitable products that sell, I’ll be glad to refund your entire ticket price. All I ask is that you show me that you’ve been doing the homework up til that point.
(If you’re not serious about committing to the homework — which is 3-5 hours a week, on average — then please, don’t join this class! The #1 bit of advice that the 30×500 alumni offer is: “Do the homework. The homework is critical to your success.” And it’s true.)
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