The “Double down on what’s working” advice has a major flaw.
It can make you overlook obvious gaps in your business.

Example #1
 • Who: A content creator with tons of traffic
 • What worked: Creating content
 • Usual advice: Create more content
 • Real bottleneck: Nothing to sell
 • Better advice: Create a product

Example #2
 • Who: A language learning app
 • What worked: Facebook ads
 • Usual advice: Run more ads
 • Real bottleneck: High churn
 • Better advice: Improve the product

A better question to ask (in my opinion) is:
 “What is the ONE thing that, if you had it, would make everything else easier?”
Tim Ferriss calls it the “big domino.”

For many creator businesses, it's most of the time a matter of:
- Better video ideas
- More promotion
- Creating more products to sell 
- Or simply repackage them

Join our events: creatorempires.com


188. The Problem With 'Double Down On What's Working'

The power of niche

A ‘Langpreneur’ I know spent $35K on an event ran by a world class entrepreneur that you know from social.

Someone I also look up to.

And yes, loved the event.

They studied his business. Their key insight; his conversion rates were too low.

Then he came to our event for creators in the language space.

And so he asked us how to increase his conversion rates.

And then he told us what his conversion rates were.

We were surprised!

They were high… for a business in our niche..

We could tell, because we’ve been working with language businesses for over a decade.

Suddenly, the conversation changed.
It wasn’t about conversion rates anymore.

After some digging, we discovered another way for him to grow his business.

Something only someone with a deep understanding of our niche would have noticed.

Now it’s still too early to say wheter these insights will actually grow his business. 

But the point is clear.

There is a lot of power in creating solutions for a very specific customer avatar. Online language entrepreneurs in our case.

That’s the power of picking a niche. 

Join our events: www.creatorempires.com

187. General Advice vs. Niche advice

Here’s how to promote the same product to your audience every month - without exhausting your audience.

First, remember: the product and the offer are two different things.

You can sell the same product using:
- Different offers  
- Different sales angles  

Here’s how to keep your promotions fresh and interesting throughout the year:

Month 1: Buy now get free bonus
Month 2: Offer a payment plan
Month 3: Offer a small discount (20-30%)
Month 4: Make the promotion all about the guarantee
Month 5: Align the offer with a seasonal theme
Month 6: Feature case studies 
Month 7: Offer exclusive content that leads to the offer
Month 8: Donate 10% to charity
Month 9: Talk about your journey and why you created the course
Month 10: Last chance to buy before the price goes up
Month 11: Black Friday promotion
Month 12: Offer a free trial

Join our events: www.creatorempires.com

189. Same Product, Different Offers

‘’I want to scale, but I don’t have enough time’’

I have to write newsletters, post on six platforms, redesign my website, move to another CRM system, and launch a new $5-per-month membership.

- And I also want to start a podcast.
- And create another course.
- And redo my funnels.

But I don’t have enough time.

How do I scale my business?

This is something we often hear from creators.

The thing is, you can’t scale when you can’t breathe.

You need stability first.

You need to be able to breathe first.

How?

By stopping all the stuff that doesn’t matter.

Sometimes, you need to do less…

Only focus on the tasks you know will bring revenue

Build systems that help you do those tasks better and faster

Once you have a fine-tuned process to consistently make sales and pay the bills, that’s when you can start thinking about adding new stuff.


190. Stop Doing All The Stuff That Doesn’t Matter

His business never grew exponentially.

He never built any marketing funnels.

But guess what?

Out of 20 language businesses in the room, HIS business was the biggest.

How?

- He was one of the first movers to teach on YouTube.
- He’s been doing it for 15+ years.
- He's published over 100 books, courses, and apps.

He started early... and just kept going.

Simple, but not easy. 

Join our events: www.creatorempires.com

191. The Power Of 'World Building'

The most successful creator businesses I’ve seen have one thing in common:

They all have tons of traffic.

Because if you have traffic and trust, you can sell almost anything — even with bad marketing.

So before thinking about your next product or marketing trick, ask yourself…

Am I really doing all I can to get more views?

How obsessed are you with:

Nailing your video ideas

Perfecting your video packaging

Creating genuinely great videos

Would you give yourself less than an 8/10?

Maybe it’s time to take a step back and nail YouTube first.

---

Notion page on how to research winning video ideas: https://www.notion.so/A-Simple-Way-to-Research-Winning-YouTube-Ideas-1dd42b2379138065932bd9c20432da3c

192. The ONE Thing All Successful Creator Businesses Have in Common

Your creator business is worth nothing…

To most investors, at least.
Because when you leave the business, it goes to zero.
But they’re often great for cash flow.
Creators can invest that cash into product-first businesses that fill a real gap in the market.

Something that can outgrow their personal brand.
Software is just one example.

That’s what we’re doing with Teacher AI

Check out our events: www.creatorempires.com

193. Your Creator Business is Worth Nothing

You’re a content creator selling education, but your conversion rates are too low…

Maybe because you have a big following in low-income countries.
Or you’ve just managed to attract lots of freeloaders.

Now what do you do?

–
First, we need to make sure:

1. You’re offering something that people actually want
2. You have proper sales systems in place
3. Are your conversion rates really that low? (Compare with peers in your niche)

Still not solved?
Try changing the sales vehicle.

Instead of selling through an automated email sequence, try:
- Offering a free course that sells your flagship course
- Promoting your product through regular live streams
- Running webinars

Your audience might not feel comfortable buying through emails, especially if your emails are in a language they’re still learning.

Go from text → video.

Let us know if it works.

Learn more about our events: www.creatorempires.com


194. My Conversion Rates Are Too Low

There are only 3 ways to grow your creator business:
Get more views (traffic)

1. Turn more viewers into customers (conversion)
2. Get customers to spend more (product/offer)
3. The hard part? Knowing what to fix right now.

Here’s a simple guide:

1. Optimize TRAFFIC first if:
You’re not getting top views in your niche
You haven’t fully committed to a YouTube strategy

2. Build a PRODUCT if:
You’ve got significant traffic but nothing to sell
You’ve maxed out short-term growth tactics

3. Optimize CONVERSION if:
You have solid traffic and a product that people actually want
But you don’t have proper sales systems in place


195. Simple Framework for Growing your Creator Business

5 ways to keep your creator-led education business future-proof:

1. Your fans want to learn from YOU. Make your products as personal as possible.

2. People will always be happy to pay for transformation, not for information. Position your offer that way.

3. Sell access. Build a community, offer live co-horts, of offer one-on-one access to yourself.

4. Consider running in-person events. The need for belonging is higher than ever. It will strengthen your brand too.

5. Build software. This requires a new skillset, but launching software that fills a gap in the market can out grow your personal brand.

I’m personally doubling down on our events and software (Teacher AI).

196. Will AI Destroy Your Course Business?

In this episode, Jan shares his experience of learning Chinese and shares his tips and methods on how to learn a new language from scratch. 

This is a fragment of an interview that Jan did with Lýdia Machová for one of her video courses.

How To Quickly Learn A New Language From Scratch - (with Lýdia Machová)

Your podcast for language learning tips, tricks and motivation hosted by Jan van der Aa and Lucas Bighetti.

How To Quickly Learn A New Language From Scratch - (with Lýdia Machová)

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