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Jamie Gruber Blog/Newsletter/I’m Dropping $30,000 in December AND How Kim Kardashian is Killing People!

Wednesday, March 08, 2023

I’m Dropping $30,000 in December AND How Kim Kardashian is Killing People!

November 29, 2022 Newsletter.

If you need the quick version this week, skip to the ‘Key Takeaways’ and ‘Six Bullet Summary’ below.

Emerge Supercharged is the souped up, turbo relaunch of Emerge and Ascend that I am SO excited to launch January 2. We consolidated into one community with an 8 week Millionaire Accelerator on the front, concierge level support and service and an annual subscription model. We opened up sales this past week and had a very successful launch. This week’s newsletter is a business breakdown on scaling a business and investing in its success. It’s beefy but packed with metrics and data that you don’t get from the influencer class as you consider your transition to being a mid-life entrepreneur. Whether you’re looking to enter the course/online education space or not.

THE BACK STORY

Emerge was launched 2 years ago as a 12 week course and community with three objectives.

-Create transformation by guiding members to set a goal they want to achieve in 12 weeks and providing accountability along the way

- Provide proximity to other like-minded members and my millionaire Gobundance friends

- Establish a proving ground for members to graduate to Ascend (a full scale mastermind community) if and only if THEY finish the Emerge course and complete all assignments

We’ve had 500+ members go through Emerge, nearly 200 are in Ascend. We’ve seen dozens quit their job, more than 40 have become millionaires (most having joined Gobundance or Gobundance Women). The impact has been incredible and rewarding.

EMERGE IS WHY I QUIT MY JOB

I was an insurance executive asked by the Gobundance founders if I could build a course and mastermind in partnership with them. ‘Sure’ I said - never having done either before! That was September 2020. I put pen to paper, scheduled some meetings and recording sessions and by November 2020, we had a product with 30 paid participants in our first 12 week run of Emerge.

In January 2021, they graduated and the feedback started coming in. I remember the internal hollowness I felt with my day job being filled up with fulfillment for the impact we made on these first 30 participants.

I quit my job in March 2021. I needed to lean in. This was the bet I was willing to take.

THE RELAUNCH

After two years, I looked at what we had done and the lives impacted by these two amazing products. Plenty of good, but I knew inside that there’s another level we could take this to, and given the changing economic times, I felt a duty to step it up for our current and future members. I ran through the objectives:

1. We still need to create transformation - but we can do it in 8 weeks instead of 12

2. We still need to provide proximity - but we can give more options for members to engage with each other and hold each other accountable

3. We still need to establish a proving ground - but here’s the key difference. I don’t want our members to prove to me they’re committed as much as I want to prove to the members that I/we are committed to their success

This third objective was the biggest shift I wanted to make in relaunching.

Rather than have Emerge here and Ascend there, the first thing I’m doing is combining the groups into one community and we’re calling it Emerge Supercharged. Then, I’m making what was the 12 week Emerge program an 8 week ‘Millionaire Accelerator’ course that launches at specific times throughout the year. Next, I want to white glove this experience for our members. A concierge will complete a 1-on-1 onboarding, homework assignments around vision and goals will be reviewed with individualized feedback provided, multiple check-ins throughout the Accelerator and a menu of options for members to fit accountability calls and other content into their schedule.

We also went from lifetime to annualized pricing. The first year in Emerge Supercharged is $7,500 and a TBD renewal annually after. To align with the mantra of ‘let me prove it’, we decided to offer the 8 week Accelerator for $1500 to include the full onboarding and concierge experience, gift pack AND access to EVERYTHING that was Ascend. Our trainings, our microtribes, the community of almost and actual millionaires, the Gobundance Partner Portal.

The key is EXCELLENT FULFILLMENT of what we deliver, build raving fans, and almost dare people to say they’re going to leave after 8 weeks.

PAST MARKETING PERFORMANCE

Our core strategy has been a webinar funnel. I teach a topic and then offer the product with bonus features and benefits to those that attend or watch the replay in the following few days. We’ve had up and down success with this model - more down recently than up. Here’s what our results in the past few months looked like:

- Cost per lead (CPL): $10-20 (for every webinar registrant we paid $20 in ad spend)

- Show up rate: 2-3%

- Purchase rate: 0-5% (of those that showed up)

After tweaking the topic and timeline of the webinar a bit, we got down as low as $2 CPL which is a MAJOR improvement. So we know what topic resonates for the audience I’m looking to serve. We’ve always had text and email reminders about the webinar but still our show up rate never moved.

Then we implemented 3 changes - 1 each over 3 webinars:

1. We moved the webinar to 11am EST on a weekday instead of 6pm-9pm EST

2. We included a link to the webinar in the final couple of text reminders for ease

3. We created an automation to nurture those that registered with videos of me talking about topics relevant to the webinar

The webinars we were doing had no sales component. We simply would nurture and teach and then offer the waitlist for Emerge Supercharged. I feared that when I took language out of the ad that said ‘I’m not selling you anything’ that we’d see our engagement back slide since each change improved show up rate slightly.

Then we did our first sales webinar for Emerge Supercharged to a cold audience we secured through ads only (not our waitlist)

THE RESULTS

- Cost per lead (CPL): $2.50

- Show up rate: 10-12%

- Purchase rate: 20% (of those that showed up)


We’ll run the same webinar again to a cold audience in mid-December to pressure test the results. We did a $600 spend to get 250 people to enroll. 26-27 showed up and we had 5 purchases. 4 right away and one the next day. After writing this, we may have more - but I won’t get too excited. I think a 20% buy rate is a good benchmark.

IT’S JUST A MATH EQUATION

My purpose in life is to inspire and motivate others to live their best lives. The vehicle is Emerge Supercharged and the benchmark I’ve set for my team is $2m in annual revenue. We can get 70+ people a month into our program, serve them very well, change their lives with them and I can take care of the needs of my team.

As an aside, I make it a point to know what each member of my team wants. For one it’s maximizing income to invest on the side. For another it’s a specific airbnb property. For yet another it’s to quit their day job and live into their gifts. And another simply wants to secure her family financially because she didn’t have that. This mission that I’m on is not only to serve the members, and to serve my business needs - but as importantly is to serve my team!! That’s next level leadership and I want to exemplify it.

Assuming we are able to hit a $3/CPL, a 10% show up rate and conservatively 10% buy - all that needs to happen next is to ramp up the spend.

Example: If I spend $30,000 in ads and that generates 10,000 signups for the webinar. We execute our pre-webinar strategy noted above and hit 10% show up that’s 1000 people on the webinar. Then, if 10% buy that’s 100 sign ups.

$150,000 in revenue on a $30,000 spend.

Over a 12 month period if duplicated, that’s $1.8 million in revenue annually (not including other sales, affiliate income and events).

OMG I want to spend $30k!!!

(update - we are now at 7 sales on that webinar!)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

#1: Hurry Up and Get Two Years In

Here’s what I mean…

I’ve been testing and tweaking our webinar strategy with my team since I left my day job. Only now do I feel like we have all of the elements coming together. A catchy ad, a great webinar title, excellent content in the webinar, a compelling offer, the right message to the audience I’m serving, understanding and overcoming their biggest objections and fears, the timing of the webinar, the duration, distilling the message, etc etc etc. If you think you’re going to leave your job and avoid turbulence, you’re nuts! But while doing all of that, I also made more than I ever have, moved to the Dominican Republic, have interviewed mega-stars live (up next is my stage interview with Jesse Itzler) and have led a fruitful and fulfilling life. So the longer your toil at a job you don’t like, the longer the 2 years will take. Had I waited until now to quit to increase my success chances by 10% (save more, acquire more, etc), I would be JUST starting the 2 year journey.

#2: You’re Capable of ANYTHING Outside of Your Job

Not long ago I was 20 years into an insurance claims career. I handled and oversaw catastrophic losses suffered by people - from loss of property to life - and had a hand in establishing the value of it all. And I did that as an adjuster, a Supervisor, a Manager, a Senior Manager, a Director, an Executive. NOWHERE in my experience was anything resembling cost per lead, opt-in rates and ad spend. And I quit a $400,000 job - let go of hundreds of thousands in unvested equity, passed on a $80-$100k bonus and $60k in stock awards annually … to build an online course to change people’s lives!!! As you read this, you may be very clear on your post-W2 entrepreneurial career. You may already be doing it on the side! Or … you may be unclear and have no idea of what you’d do. The point of this takeaway is if you’re closer to clarity, you’re ahead of me. If you have no idea and feel far removed from what you would be doing, you’re just like me. And from the point that I committed to leaving and actually left was under 2 years.

#3: Forget Knowledge - Get People

Find the right people to surround yourself with. One of the first things I did was hire someone who knew what she was doing in the online education space. She understood automations, webinar strategies, offer stacks, and so on. Then, I integrated myself in communities that speak this language. Now, I’m investing BIG money in brand experts that work directly with the likes of Kyle Jenner, Floyd Mayweather, Jordan Belford, Ed Mylett and others. If you’re an engineer who wants to open a flower shop, source the people you need to be around, not the information to do it.

CALL TO ACTION: Screenshot the key takeaway that landed for you and tag me in a story on Instagram so I can see what’s working for you.

SIX BULLET SUMMARY

(If you’re thinking ‘too long, didn’t read’ - TLDR -here’s a quick summary. You should check out the key takeaways too!)

  • ​Emerge was created 2 years ago to help people get unstuck and find fulfillment - and 500 people have gone through it! 200 of those people have graduated to Ascend and are rolling forward!
  • This community and the results it has created were the reason I said ‘fuck it’ and walked from $400,000/year
  • I’ve assessed what we do and am relaunching the two communities as one in 2023 calling it Emerge Supercharged! It will have a concierge, white glove experience for members starting with an 8 week Millionaire Accelerator with full access to the entire community (currently $1500 for the 8 weeks) and then I dare members to leave after 8 weeks!!! It changes our objective from ‘you prove it to me’ to ‘I’m going to prove to you that this is where you need to be for your development’
  • We’ve executed a webinar strategy for the past 2 years and are just now getting our metrics in line (see that section for the detailed data)
  • ​Just now, we’re seeing traction with our most recent webinar hitting a 10% show up rate and a 20% purchase rate of those that attended - so a $500 ad spend has equated to $7500 in revenue
  • If I spend $30,000 and duplicate these metrics, we hit $2m in revenue which is my stated business goal. The more we generate in revenue the more support we can offer which means the more lives we can change. THAT’S fucking fulfillment!!!!!!!!!!!

QUICK HITS

Tribe of Millionaires Podcast Episode
✯ I give him a lot of shit because he’s a friend (and when you’re from the northeast, loving someone means you break their balls constantly) but the episode with Grant Warrington speaks to taking chances on yourself and making the decision to change your life. It’s too good not to recommend. Check it out and drop a comment with your takeaways on YouTube.

A Podcast/Book I Love
✯ I’m going back to Benjamin Hardy here and recommending Who Not How. I softly mentioned it last week, but given the key takeaways above, it feels appropriate to give a full throated endorsement and recommend it. Pick it up if you haven’t already. It’ll change your life.

Lesson from Living Abroad
✯ If you’ve ever brought your 4-8 year old kid to a trampoline park or busy playground, you see them run haphazardly into the mass of other kids and just zig zag around with no plan or awareness of anyone around them. They just see one thing they want to go play with and uncontrollably maneuver their way there. They may even smack into other kids or go the wrong way in a line for a particular attraction. Chaos!! That is the MOST APPROPRIATE comparison I can make to Dominican drivers. They blaze into a parking lot that’s packed with other cars. They enter the exit, stop in the middle blocking everyone and then just make their own way through somehow. But there’s no yelling, screaming, or animosity. They’re the kids running toward the jungle gym (or whatever the appropriate name for that thing is now). Don’t believe me? Check this out!!!

Shit I Find Funny
✯ Admittedly this is fucked up - but in researching topics that I plan to talk about on YouTube (subscribe if you haven’t already), I’m doing a segment on medical tourism in the DR. I’ve learned that in the Dominican, 1/3000 women DIE every year … from the Brazilian Butt Lift!!! Kim Kardashian is literally killing people with her ass! As the kids say, that’s cray cray!

If you’re not already in Emerge and Ascend and want to be part of our Emerge Supercharged relaunch in 2023, join the waitlist here!! The objective is to get you unstuck, clear on vision and goals, and provide a concierge level experience to introduce you to your future self!


Until next week
-Jamie

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