Hi, badass. Let's have a conversation about something pretty phenomenal, which is the fact that I made over 200k in my business with less than a thousand followers and with no website. Not only that, but I didn't even have any testimonials at the time.
How did this come to be? Let's break it down and extract the lessons and the learnings, because our journeys, you and I our journeys will look very different in terms of business, right? You probably have a different niche to me, or a different personality to me, or a different style to me, or, all of those good things, okay?
No one's journey is going to look the same as another person's. Which is wonderful. However, lessons can be so transferable. And these are the things that I wish I knew at the beginning of my journey, because I would have doubled down on them and experienced more success sooner. I hate it when people just throw out big numbers.
I made 5 million in two weeks with working one hour per day and things like that. That's not useful information to me. I want to know how did that happen? Why did that happen? Where, how, when, what, why? If you made 5 million in two weeks, but you spent 4. 8 million on ads, like I want to know about that, right?
So in understanding milestones or achievements like this, it's not just to throw it out there and say, look at me, I'm so shiny, but to say, wow, like this is really powerful. Crazy things can happen when you double down on these things. And let's unpack how this came to be. So I launched Badass Empires in February of this year, and by the time I had officially made over 200, 000 in revenue in my business, I had less than a thousand followers.
I had no website and I had zero testimonials, no public testimonials. Now I had kind words and testimonials from people from coaching them, from time to time on side hustling and things like that, but to be honest, I just hadn't pulled them together. And so I wasn't a known business coach as such, right?
I had my story.
The Power of Beta Clients
So I had made this money through signing what we call beta clients. So our sort of first round clients who pay a very reasonable price to be able to test drive things with you. In exchange for their feedback and their testimonials and stuff like that. So through beta coaching, basically backend beta coaching and then starting to sign private coaching clients.
When I did officially quote unquote launch my business and put it out there to the public, actually activate my Instagram and press play. Just through signing beta coaching clients and private coaching clients in the back end, I made over 200 grand. I did no sales calls, no launches, literally just a few WhatsApp messages and voice notes to see if people were the right fit, and would just close clients that way.
So to get to that point seems pretty wild, right? Like I find that wild. I find that crazy that I can generate 200, 000 without much of a social media presence, without a website, without sales calls, without paid ads, without any of that kind of thing. How did this come to be? Let's reverse engineer what happened here.
Because yes, I am six years into my journey, but like also I'm only six years into my journey, and this can happen for other people a lot faster than it did for me. And not that's a measure of success, how quickly it happens, but again, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool that amount of wealth and overflow can be generated doing something you absolutely love.
The Thousand Raving Fans Principle
So the first principle or lesson that I want to share with you around making this happen is the concept of a thousand raving fans. So back in 2008, Kevin Kelly laid this out beautifully in his essay, you only need a thousand followers to be successful. And This created a big buzz in the entrepreneurial world.
Like I wasn't there. I wasn't an entrepreneur at that point in time, but I learned about it later. And essentially he says to be a successful creator, you don't need millions. You don't need millions of dollars or millions of customers or millions of clients or millions of fans to make a living as a craftsperson, a photographer, a musician, a designer, an author, an animator, an app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor.
You need only a thousand true fans, and the logic here is pretty simple, right? To make a six figure income the holy grail, the six figure income, my first 100k, right? You just the math you just need a thousand people to purchase 100 worth of product from you annually. Just a thousand people who care, a thousand fans.
And the idea being that these thousand fans are loyal to you, connected to you, have direct and have been directly and significantly impacted by your work, and therefore they endorse you, they recommend you, when they're, that word of mouth, when they're chatting to friends and family. They share your profile with other people.
They really appreciate you. And these fans, therefore, are not only your buyers, they're your most effective marketing strategy because they're amplifying and getting the word out there about you as well, leading to more and more of them over time. So that's the idea. Only a thousand people who really care, who are really into what you're doing and how you do it, to spend a hundred dollars.
Each and every year, for example. Now of course, if your price point is a lot higher than 100, you need far fewer fans.
Navigating Niche Changes
The reason we're talking about this is because I've actually changed niche three times now, which is pretty detrimental for business generally. Burning something to the ground, hop, jumping ship, doing something different there's a lot of starting again.
The tools are there, the skills are there, the strategies are there but at the end of the day, in terms of the community and the audience build, you're starting pretty much over. My first business, Not Even French, it was my side hustle for my corporate job, and then it helped to bridge the gap between starting up Badass Careers and that becoming really profitable and paying for my lifestyle.
Obviously, a YouTube channel about the French language and culture. And then I changed to Badass Careers, career coaching, and then Badass Empires, business coaching. And while you may be able to say Oh, you're so lucky you already had an audience before each of those ventures. Actually not really, because the fact of the matter is that only a few hundred people max decided to come over each time, which is why I really wanted to specify that I had less than a thousand followers on Instagram.
And I had zero other audience for Badass Empires when I hit over 200K. Because not even French, even though I might've had a hundred thousand followers when I created Badass Careers. It was just a very different niche. And the only people who came over, I remember promoting it on Not Even French, like several times and thinking, gosh, if I've got a hundred thousand followers, I'm going to get like 20, 000 off the bat, right?
No, it doesn't work like that. People will go where the value is to their lives. And if they weren't really into career coaching, spending time, money, energy, into a fulfilling career and career purpose, it just wasn't their thing. However, the 500 people who did come over. They cared, right? Like they really cared.
And I do remember it being around 500 people after about a month of promotion and not even French. I was like, okay, so here we are. But the people who know and trust you enough to be like, yeah, cool. I'll follow you in your next venture. Like I'm here with you. Those people were heavily present in my coaching programs.
For the first few years I would disproportionately have a lot of people who lived in France, wanted to move to France were Francophiles, and I knew that they had come from not even French. And, if you think about your income goals if my program was two thousand US dollars, and I worked with fifty people per year, that's a hundred K per year.
Just 50 people. If 500 people came over because they appreciated me, because I added value to their life, because I was a presence in their life that they enjoyed that's huge for your business. That's huge. Because they'd spent time with me and there was trust there. Okay? Then from Badass Careers to Badass Empires, again, I was like, cool, actually, this audience is there's a lot of overlap, right?
High flying corporate people, hard workers, goal getters, surely a huge chunk of people from Badass Careers are going to be interested in starting a business. Not really, right? I put the feelers out there, I sent lots of emails, I posted on social media. The percentage of your followers who sees your stuff.
There's probably heaps of followers who just still don't even know what I'm doing over in Badass Empires. But my point being again, like a couple, a hundred people came on over, but it's about quality, not quantity. Because again, interestingly in my programs, I'm having a lot of people who are clients from Badass Careers, who are Francophiles.
They've probably been following since not even French, they've been with me this whole time.
Building Genuine Relationships
And the big lesson here is really about caring about people, connecting with people, and just focusing on treating the people that you already have like gold. Because over time, that trust builds. And by being yourself and genuinely caring, this goes a really long way.
And it means that you can be, less efficient, like I am, and change niche three times and still be okay. Transcribed You're like a cat that always lands on its feet. Committing to genuine relationships and loving on the people you do have, serving them. It will serve you well today and in the future, rather than just chasing more traffic, more audience.
Making a thousand people feel like you are there for them, you are showing up for them, like making them feel special, that's what's more important. Because it's always going to be that core of your audience. Even if you have an audience of 100, 000 people, it's always just going to be that core of just a few hundred people, or a thousand people, say, that, that really care, that are really in it, that are really there.
And so create that connection. Message people. Reply to every comment. Engage with people on your story. Genuinely connect and exchange with them because they'll remember you and they'll remember you over time as well. And that's why there can be people who have very small audiences of 500, 1000, 1500 people and be making just as much money as people who have 200, 000.
Because it's about that connection and that trust. So even though I have changed many times, I have consistently always been me and that has created trust. The second big lesson is to make sure wherever you are, get people results because a lot of my beta clients from Badass Empires, in fact, exclusively came from the career glow up.
So I was running the career glow up and I was just mentioning just casually that I was starting up this new thing and going to do side hustle and business coaching and that kind of thing. And it was. People who are actively inside the career glow up who had already paid like 3, 000 to be there to work on their corporate career, who were like, Oh my gosh, can I be a beta client?
And beta coaching it's, it wasn't cheap. It was 3, 500 USD. It was cheap in the grand scheme of things because it was less than half of my launch prices publicly when I went public for badass empires, but still it's a lot of money, especially when you've done Already dropped that kind of money on a coaching program, but because They enjoyed the experience because they saw that I knew my shit and I was a good coach and they were getting results with my materials.
They trusted me and maybe been thinking about side hustling and business coaching for a while, but they wanted the bad ass way. So make sure that quality and reputation and word of mouth is a big deal for you. Cause again, I see so many people focused on the front end. I see so many people focused on the content and the public facing window and just.
The client experience being an afterthought. Never, ever neglect the client experience because It's that business asset that's intangible, but works for you for many years. The third big lesson is to celebrate everyone along the way and how you made that win. People have been following me over the years.
They followed me on my journey and I've seen my growth. They've seen my testimonials, even if it's in a different space, even if it's in the career space by constantly sharing social proof wins, testimonials that my programs work. That. That my work is high quality, that people win with me. It means that my brand reputation is associated with quality and success.
I'm also very vocal about my values and my way of doing things. I will never say, Hey, this is the one and only way. I want to be very clear that this is the way I get results. Like I don't speak to paid ads and business coaching because I believe in getting your leads organically for free. Via personal branding, via content marketing.
So if you don't want to show up on social media, if you don't want to create any form of content, whether that be a podcast, a LinkedIn post, an Instagram post, like anything, if you don't want to do that, then I'm absolutely not the coach for you because we are creating human centered, personal brand based businesses.
And so I'm very vocal about that, about how we get the wins. And so people are watching my story, even though it was in different niches and they've seen how far I've come. They've seen what I've achieved. They've seen how I've grown. They've seen how I've evolved. And I've been very clear about my values and my way of achieving it.
And that creates a sense of yeah, I want in, I want to do it that way. I want to do it the rosy way. I want to do it the bad ass way.
Listening to Your Audience
The next lesson is about listening deeply to what people want. You don't need a 2000 word sales page. When you know people from the inside out, you have their words, you take the words out of their mouth.
You know that their desires, what's holding them back. You see their blind spots. You are already calling them out and you haven't even met yet. They're like, how did you know you're in my head? And I think one of the things I've always done really well in business is I Is chat to people, have strategy calls, do market research, ask a specific suite of questions in my DMS, understand the psyche, understand where people are at.
And I have a client words bank as well, both for, just public facing and my actual clients that I work with. How do they describe it? I'm using the words lost and fulfilled, but do they actually use those words? How do they describe that? And what does it feel like to be lost?
Take the words they use, the metaphors they use, the analogies they use, the stories they tell. Get obsessed with understanding their mindset, their behaviors, the way they view the world. Because when you can reflect back to them exactly where they're at and what's going on for them, they're like, yep, you get it.
I'm in. I want to work with you. I'm in. And because I was so good over it, doing that, with badass careers, that's our thing, like our whole thing inside our empire era program is empathy marketing. It's being able to market to people with them at the center and just have that. Holy shit.
They're in my head effect. Being able to do that is just such a lucrative skill. And it's also a really enjoyable human centered skill to have to make sure that you design your programs and your client experience, and you really add value to people's lives. Like it's just win, win listening deeply.
So when I was able to connect with people and just send a few voice notes to say, Hey, I'm doing this thing. Are you in? It's because I was able to. Make them really feel something, when I explained what it was about. This is for people who are feeling like this. Who are experiencing this. Who are sick of this shit.
And what they want instead, is this, and this. And you're able to paint that vision and say, Oh my gosh, how did you know my deepest dreams? Because I know this person, because I listen to people like you, I've been listening, and I've been theming your words, the patterns, the examples you use, and now I'm able to mirror things back to better describe what it's like to work with me on this topic.
Obviously, at the core of all of the success is a brand, right? It's a personal brand. It's being able to connect with a human, not an anonymous logo with one product or app or something like that, but actually a human being and build that trust. And part of having a strong brand is getting really clear on your disruptors.
What makes you different? And that's something I think I've done well as well over the years, and I did it with Badass Careers, I was fresh, I was new, like, when I launched at the time, I did career coaching really differently to the other people out there, and so when I launched Badass Empires, it was the same thing, it was like, okay Yes, business coaches exist dime a dozen, but how is this going to be done the bad ass way, the rosy way, right?
And when I say get clear on your disruptors, it could be disruptors pertaining to your mission, your why? So a lot of people are career coaching, but Some are doing it for different reasons than others. Is there a big mission? Is there a why? Are you advocating for something? Is there something you won't stand for?
I will not stand for watching top tier talent be trapped in mediocre roles where all of this human potential is going to waste. I just, I can't stand that. Getting clear on that mission and that movement and that why, that creates a lot of raving fans. Disruptors. Another thing around disruptors can be your human disruptors.
It's incredible how many people will work with you because there's that like me bias. They see something of themselves. It could be their values. It could be their living situation. It could be absolutely anything. It's reflected in you or something that they want to become or want to achieve. Part of their identity or future identity is wanting to be in your presence because they're like, yep, you get me.
And examples of human disruptors could be that you are, from Hawaii, or you're a single mom, or you're some sort of super fan of some football club, or you're a part time personal stylist on top of your other main mission, or you're a lover of K pop, or you're a crazy cat lady. It could be literally anything.
It's usually the most boring things about you, or what you think are the boring things about you. That make you more relatable and make people want to work with you. I know that I have made some of the most significant business investments of all time into coaches, not because of their strategy, not because I didn't already know what they were sharing, but because of the way that they were able to, for example, manage their time.
There are real. Productivity gurus or the fact that they were Moms with a couple of kids and like juggling it all or like it's crazy How much those factors come to play other kind of disruptors can be knowledge disruptors. So specific knowledge or qualifications or expertise that you have due to your lived experiences or just because of your The work that you've done in the past.
Yeah. It could be the fact that you have international experience. Like I'm one of the only career coaches that has actually lived and worked abroad in several different countries and is able to speak to a global recruitment standpoint. It could be the fact that you are a language geek, that you are really big into neuroscience.
And so you've got a lot of neuroscience or research or academic research backing your tips and advice. It could be that you've won. Sort of certain awards or accolades or you have a really rare combination of skills that you're both a lawyer and you build tiny Homes, and so you've got these two ways of thinking and seeing things it could be so many things Okay, but there will be personal strengths and traits and knowledge disruptors that you want to highlight in your brand It could be your deep sense of empathy the fact that you're super organized And sometimes it can be the absence of a qualification that can give you your credibility, right?
Bit of a mindfuck, but stay with me. For example, career coaches who have never worked in human resources, like the biggest career coach in the world in terms of followers, has never ever worked in recruitment, HR, I don't even know if she's hired anyone before, even as a team manager, right? And it's interesting because career coaches who have never worked in HR can have an advantage because it's like, Hey, I get it.
Like I, I know that sometimes HR don't make the right decisions or recruiters aren't fair. And I've been on the other side and I'm a. An ambitious employee that wanted to, get promoted and rise to the ranks. And I managed to figure out the system. And now I teach you how to like the fact that they didn't work in HR plays to their advantage, or it could be like hormone coaches who have never worked in the medical field.
That might be very appealing for people. So when I come to say knowledge disruptors, it's not, I'm not just talking about degrees and qualifications and certificates. Sometimes it's other things. And in fact, that's most of the time what people actually care about. One example could be a child safety expert, an educator who empowers parents to have conversations with their children around consent and things like that.
And it says it's super powerful in her Instagram bio X child abuse, detective, now child abuse prevention educator. So she's come from a career around it, around, she was a detective on the force looking into child abuse. So that positions her in a really unique way. But if you look at one of her competitors.
Quote, unquote, there's no competition if you have a strong brand for this exact reason, another account I'm looking at is saying adult childhood sexual abuse survivor helping parents learn how to educate their children on body safety and consent. So Two very successful, valid entrepreneurs, one from a career lens and the other from having lived it and been through it both very valid.
So you will have knowledge disruptors that you're like other people in your niche just don't have. And for Badass Empires, I came out the gate just saying very quickly, like I've already built a real, highly successful business and a different niche to business coaching. A lot of business coaches have only ever coach people how to start a business.
And when they do all the income claims, it's the money they've made from their business coaching. It's just like a bit of a, cycle. Like it's giving a bit like MLM right. Like it's it's a bit pyramid scheming. Versus actually having proven that your methodologies work in any niche. I also called out that I am an audience builder, right?
Between 180, 000 subscribers on my personal YouTube 200 K on Instagram for badass careers, like all of that kind of stuff. thing. One of my zones of genius is obviously community and audience build. I'm also a global expert in career clarity and career design. And it's actually this exact methodology, for example, that helps you to find your business niche.
There are just so many things like about me that made me different and valid in the business coaching arena. And there are so many disruptors I could call out, but another one that I want to call out on top of the knowledge disruptors are your method disruptors, the way you help people get results, right?
If you're a puppy trainer, it might be about using safe, positive, humane methods versus intimidation and fear. Or if you're into home decluttering, maybe it's the fact that you always start with self awareness and the root cause of why you're attached to certain items and your value system so that you can create your own.
And then you've got your own definition of what good and bad clutter feels like. It's not just about getting rid of everything, or maybe you're a weightless coach, but you've got a huge focus on optimal brain and gut health, because you know that at the core, if they can work on that, then the weight's just going to come off.
And yeah, I could go on, but there'll be disruptors pertaining to your way of getting results and doing things that are really important as well.
Articulating Return on Investment
And another thing that Has led to this point is just getting really damn good at articulating the return on investment. So there's always people like, I don't teach people how to make money or how to invest or how to I can't say to them, you're going to make X amount of money.
Same. I don't promise that. I don't promise do my program and you're definitely going to make this amount of money. Of course I talk about the potential of. Of, of the kind of money that you can make for sure and the business coaching side of things, but I didn't do that in careers. Some career coaches will say like, average pay raise in my program is 30k and things like that.
To be honest, I wasn't great at collecting that kind of data. Like we had so many salary wins and huge pay raises, but like that just wasn't like a marketing thing that I ever did. But it's not just about money. Everything has a cost. Time has a cost. So getting really good at understanding and the work you do, like why would someone invest in working with a coach?
It's usually because you help them to facilitate their results and you get them results faster or simpler or with less heartache somehow. And there's a difference between. Saying, Hey, work with me. There's 15 videos and lots of workbooks and saying, Hey, work with me. This is what it's costing you not doing this work.
So the cost of inaction, what's it truly costing them? For example, if you hate your job and you're miserable, what's it truly costing you? Because I know from experience, it's costing you your Sundays. Because you're already dreading work for the week. It's costing you relationships because all you're doing is bitching about work all the time and venting and you're moody and snapping grumpy to your partner.
It's costing you your weekends generally because you're so exhausted and run down that, by the time you sleep in and run a few essential errands, it's almost and then there's Sunday, it's almost like you, you just feel like you have no life anymore. It's all consuming. It's costing you your mental health and your wellbeing.
It's costing you a lot It's drinking binge eating like an emotional response. Like it can be costing you a lot, it can be costing you a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of heartache, hating your job. So I think because I've got that empathy, I can really paint a good picture of the cost of not doing the work and helping people realize that if this is something that you want, like this, you do matter.
And this is a question of this is important for you and it will have a ripple effect when you. Work on yourself. And when you achieve your goals and you're winning, it's actually not a selfish investment. It's a really selfless investment because there's a ripple effect on everything that you touch your family, your partner, your friends, your community, your society, let alone your clients.
And I think being very good at helping people see that big picture and painting that vision has always helped me as well. Kick off with a bang. But overall, just zooming out a differentiated brand. Getting really good at knowing your person, really good at articulating what they need to hear, and how to frame things so that they understand how important they are and how important their goals and their vision are.
And it just comes back down to creating that community of people who care for you, creating that community of people you care about, and doing everything you can to listen to them, understand them, be of service to them, and create really cool things that they need. And over time, That reputation will speak to that so that anything you touch, if you change, if you pivot, if you go again, you'll be able to carry that with you.
And that's part of the reason that not even French was successful, badass Krez was successful, badass Empires is successful, and anything else that I want to do will be successful.
Final Thoughts and Reflections
So those are a few of my lessons and that's how really the real how behind how I was able to make over 200k in just a few months really with less than a thousand followers and no website.
So I would love to hear your reflections and thoughts on this episode. Come and send me a DM on Instagram we'll have a chat. I love hearing your insights and your aha moments and the little light bulbs going on when you're like, okay, I get it now. Love having these conversations with you. And as always stay badass, keep building that empire. It's going to change your life.
