Episode #323

How the Heck Did This Videographer’s First Online Product Do $6,000 in Sales in Its First Month?

Ready for this one?

Michael Gebben didn’t have a list of raving fans…or a passionate audience…or a celebrity following. But he did have one thing – a passion for videography and a really cool idea.

Guess what happened? He launched his online product and in the FIRST MONTH it did $6,000 in sales. Sa-weeeettttttttttttt.

How the HECK did he do that? Find out all the juicy details in today’s episode.

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categories: Interesting Entrepreneur, Interviews & Guests, Media Innovator 

Related articles:

  1. How He Did It: Lewis Howes Reveals Exactly How His Latest Product Generated $400,000 in Sales in One Month
  2. How Boogie Wipes Went From Idea To Product To 3.4 Million In Sales
  3. Big Lessons: How Jules Watkins Knocked It Out of the Park with His Second Digital Product
  4. Social Media Examiner’s Michael Stelzner Gives Away His Juicy Secrets to Profiting from LIVE Online Events
  5. How Babbaco Founder Jessica Kim Creatively Used Online Video To Launch A New Baby Product

Comments

  • Guest

    I listen mostly via Stitcher while working in my shop but I love to watch the show online when I have the opportunity. 

    • David Siteman Garland

       Got it!

    • Dee Copeland Patience

      Same here. I watch from my iPad if I can because I like seeing the guests, but otherwise, it’s going to be stitcher. The podcast app crashes and I think I’m supposed to sync it to my desktop to get the latest episodes or something. Pain.

  • http://www.therscproject.com Jason Ulsrud

    Loved this Interview a lot…  I’m getting ready to start a membership for the interviews I’m doing.  I’ll be offering one to two Insider Interviews every month for my membership.

    I’ve been doing RockStar Interviews for 2 years now and have a ton of free stuff on my RockStar Chiropractic website.  Yes, a ton of free stuff.  It’s really become a resource in the Chiropractic profession.

    Question:  Do you think I should create my membership on a different website and separate it from my current website?  or keep the membership on the current website along with all the free stuff?

    I’m curious if people will become members when they have all the free options vs. not having all the free options.

    Again, great interview and thanks so much…

    • David Siteman Garland

      I believe if you make a clear distinction as to the DIFFERENCE between the free and premium content, it can all go on one site. 

      Example:
      RockStar Interviews: Learn from successful chiropractors 
      RockStar Premium: How To Improve Your Chiropractic Business (or whatever) 

      • http://www.therscproject.com Jason Ulsrud

         Thanks David…  I think you’re right.  It can also be an advantage to have the traffic from the free stuff.  Hopefully some will convert organically to the membership.

        I’ll let you know how it goes…

  • http://lifestoked.com Deacon Bradley

    This is a great interview David & Michael! One of the things I love about your success is that it was borne out of something you’re already great at. You made a good point in the interview that I think is easy to forget: start with what you’re good at and where you have experience.

    It’s easy to get distracted with what other people are succeeding instead of your own unique experience and skills. Chris Guillebeau does a good job of driving this home in $100 Startup.

    Thanks for sharing your story! Inspired to keep at it now!

    • http://lifestoked.com Deacon Bradley

      Oh yea, and I ALWAYS prefer audio-only. I subscribe to podcasts on my phone and that makes it easy to just grab the latest episode and listen over lunch. It’s hard to find the time to watch an interview, and when I do I get distracted punching around on other things. 

      • David Siteman Garland

        Great to know and glad you enjoyed it! 

  • Dee Copeland Patience

    Hey David! I think a forum would waste your time. People say they ant them, but won’t use it. I’m not into getting info on Facebook, but I’d love to have a regular call maybe every 2 weeks.

    I have to be honest. I feel a little abandoned and by myself on creating this show and would probably use the call to mastermind with others and ask questions. For example, I’m freaking out a little about not having much content on the blog before launching my site. I’d love feedback on that from you and others. It would help me stay grounded since my friends and family have no clue sometimes.

    • David Siteman Garland

      Yah, I don’t have plans for a forum right now :)  

  • http://marketingbeforefunding.com/ Mike Abasov

    What a lot of people don’t understand is the basics of conversion. If your product converts well, the question of making more money simply becomes a question of scale. It’s ok not to make a lot of cash in the first month, because there is no way you can get the whole target market to see your site in that one month.

    Remember the story of OraBrush? They were told that 92% of people online won’t buy their product. And then they realized that 8% of people online is millions upon millions of people, and millions upon millions of dollars in revenue.

  • yourbabybooty

    Love this one. It’s easy to let so many variables mess with your mind upon site creation. Especially when you launch. Lots of things to do…ship, quality content, intuitive design, design for conversions, social media driving back towards site, figure out times to post content/social/email, comment on others sites, guest post, learning SEO basics, copywriting, learning “how to” sales pages & more….and ideally doing this after you’ve already figured out what people will be happy to open their wallet for.

    Who doesn’t want to BIG month outta the gates, but it’s great to hear you guys talk about the fallacy of expectations surrounding ‘monster big launches’. Not that it can’t happen or doesn’t happen, but more often than not….it’s good ole’ fashioned hard work after you’ve launched. Good reminder from this interview…at the end of the day, you don’t know much until you’re in the game sweating.

  • Dave

    Hey David thanks so much for asking the question ‘which do you prefer?’ and I prefer audio hands down. I love listening to podcasts as I go about my daily life (commuting, housework, even when eating) meaning I can maximise my time- not something that happens with video. Sitting down to watch interviews just isn’t something I do. Wish you had all your episodes as podcasts on iTunes!

  • Caroline

    Without a doubt, audio is the only way I ever even think about taking in information especially if it’s just a talking head or two. If I get visual information (like a yoga video or how to salsa) I of course watch it but only if it’s under thirty minutes, five minutes is a good amount of time. There is no way I would have heard anything you have ever said if you only had the video version available so thank you for asking and a billion thank you’s for giving us audio only!!!
    Oh and about the forum thing, I never thought about having a membership site without a forum but I love the idea and agree that they are generally time wasters, spam cesspools and seldom the community builders they claim to be. The exception being the size of the group. If it’s some small group class with let’s say less than 20 people it can be very valuable if moderated. I did a class like this and at the end of the month I was exhausted from being on that damn forum every single day multiple times. Forget the gossip forums and stick to expert advice.

    • David Siteman Garland

      Interesting thoughts, Caroline. Thanks for sharing!

  • http://www.facebook.com/lainehmann Lain Chroust Ehmann

    Great interview! Audio, 100%. If I’m at my computer I’m working. I listen to podcasts in the car and at the gym.

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