How I went from £0-£12,000/month in 59 days (Full Blueprint)
In June I made my first ever sale online. This post will give you the exact steps I followed to go from £0-£12k/month in 2 months. I have held nothing back in this.
I've attached some of my results at the bottom.
I have created a 5-step full guide that you can follow. It is very long, and detailed, but it will give you everything you need to make winning easy.
It has taken me over 19 hours to write (and trim down) this post.
My business model is the same as what most people are doing (synthesising/consulting).
There is a new way to make an obscene amount of money doing this. This is what I used to get here. It is a model that you may not be aware of, because it goes against a lot of what we've been taught in the 'make money online' space.
A note: This method has put me on track to get to £100k/month in December of this year. I don't say this to brag, but just to show you the sheer power of the thing that finally worked for me.
If you read this post from start to finish without switching tasks, I cannot see a reality where you do not get to at least £10k/month.
Let’s begin.
1. Attain Mastery
A lot of gurus will tell you that you can make money for being you.
Horse shit. They want to sell you a course.
Business does not work like that. You must be exceptional at something.
People will not give you heinous amounts of money just because they like you. It may be a contributing factor, but it will not be the deciding one.
(Think about this from your perspective, you likely invested in a program, because you wanted to get a result AND you liked the person you bought it from.)
Humans are constantly in pain, think not getting women, being broke, back pain, etc. People will pay (a lot of) money to get out of this pain, if they believe that you can help them.
Take a look at the top of Hormozi's value equation: Dream Outcome x PERCEIVED LIKELIHOOD OF ACHIEVEMENT (PLOA)
You increase PLOA by having authority in the problem you claim to be able to solve.
You get authority from a few things:
Vocal tonality - 3C’s: Conviction (most important), Clarity, Confidence
Quality of your FREE content (people make purchasing decisions based on the value they’ve ALREADY received, not what they’re GOING to receive - more on this later)
Your own results
Student results (testimonials)
Note: I didn't show any of my own results or any student results. You do not need testimonials to make a lot of money.
You get authority by simply being very good at what you do. That comes from attaining mastery.
How do we attain mastery?
By putting in the hours to become good at what you do. You do that by reading. By taking other people’s ideas and expanding on them. Going a level above everyone else.
An example: let’s say you're a dating coach.
Instead of just repeating the same old dross of having ‘good game’.
Go one level above everyone else.
Learn the psychology behind it. Look at research. Learn from professors. Test your stuff. Find out what works and what doesn’t.
Iterate your method. Keep improving until no one else can compete with you.
If you can do that for your audience, they will follow you forever.
2. YouTube is the way
YouTube is the only platform I focus on.
Why?
Because I believe it is the best platform for our type of business.
Put 100% of your focus into one thing and you will get disproportionate returns in it.
A word of warning. A lot of the YouTube advice we have received is garbage.
I’ll talk about the strategy I'm using to blow up my YouTube channel in the next point.
3. Create Blockbuster content
NOTE: I got to £12k/month when I was getting 300 views a video.
This is the strategy all of the top YouTubers use.
It has taken me a long time to research YouTube. This is some of the knowledge I’ve gained. I use these as guiding principles.
First, I’m going to give you a potent mindset reframe that has served me well.
When thinking about the algorithm, think about it from YouTube’s perspective.
What does YouTube want?
It wants people to stay on the platform for as long as possible, and in turn, consume as many ads as possible.
How do you think YouTube would achieve this?
By serving people shit videos on their homepage that make people want to watch Netflix Instead?
No. Of course not.
It will only promote videos that are performing well.
So how do we define performing well?
YouTube looks at the audience's behaviour.
Let me explain.
Virality comes down to two things:
Click Through Rate x Average View Duration
This is what YouTube looks at to tell if the audience likes it.
If you have a high CTR and AVD, YouTube will promote your video.
I've linked the resources I used to learn everything below. Bear in mind I am not a YouTube expert. This is just what has worked well for me.
So what has worked well for me to grow on YouTube?
The answer is not sexy. It is hard. This is what differentiates men like you and I from every other 'entrepreneur' out there.
Put 100 times the effort into your videos from now on.
Upload less. Only make incredible content.
If every video you upload is a banger, you positively reinforce the viewer every time they click.
You’re training them to click when they see your name.
This is how you get a high number of returning viewers.
Humans are exceptionally good at sniffing out intention. People will come back if they can tell you’ve put in high effort.
98% of the men reading will not do that.
And that explains why none of them will ever become rich.
This is the harsh truth that no one wants to hear, or say.
I would rather you hate me, but it causes you to wake up and win. There are no participation trophies in this world.
Fuck second place, I want it all, and so should you.
This is what I did to learn YouTube:
I read this article and made notes on it.
I exclusively studied MrBeast. I did this by watching every podcast he’s been on.
Make religious notes from these.
Something that’s served me well: I do not make a video unless I believe it will get me one million views. That’s my standard.
It does not mean that every video I upload hits that level. I just find setting the intention is the important thing.
You might be feeling some self doubt now.
“I could never get that many views”
Of course you can.
The YouTube algorithm will promote videos that people like.
If you make a good video, the video will get promoted. It's cause and effect.
What I’m about to tell you is something everyone overlooks when starting out on YouTube.
This is MrBeast’s most given advice.
“Everything comes from the quality of your ideas”
He suggests spending 1 hour a day just coming up with ideas. Because the amount of views a video gets is directly correlated to the quality of the idea.
Think about it, you could make the best video ever, best thumbnail, best title, best editing, but shit idea.
What do you think is going to happen?
The video will get no more than 10k views.
Why?
No one cares. It’s a shit, boring idea.
4. Reputation is Everything (Goodwill, Word of Mouth & Reciprocity)
Reciprocity is a lever of influence that you may be aware of.
You give to your audience, and they like you a lot more for doing so. It's that simple. Ultimately, they’re more likely to say yes to buying your thing in the future.
We can use this to make a lot of money on YouTube, while maintaining an incredible reputation.
I’ll detail the strategies that have worked well for me: (you’ll see how this all links together in step 5)
a) Give Away Your Best Stuff For Free.
If you make shit content people will not give you obscene amounts of money. Same goes with giving shit, boring, repeated advice.
b) Deposit Goodwill, Withdraw it Rarely.
You build goodwill by making high effort content and releasing it for free, with no expectation of getting anything back.
It is goodwill that will grow you a raving audience who want to give you money. They will also spread your message for free.
When you ask your audience to buy from you, you decrease goodwill. You're effectively ‘taking’ from the audience.
However, there is a way we can stop this from happening.
We can make a shit ton of money (ethically), have an incredible reputation, and help a lot of people.
The new strategy focuses on this (this is covered in step 5).
c) Word of Mouth
People now want to spread positive word of mouth about you.
They feel the need to give back to you.
This is reciprocity is working in our favour.
This is how you get exponential growth.
1 person tells 2 → 2 people tell 4 → 4 people tell 8, and so on. This is how we scale up, fast.
d) Have Your Audience's Best Interests at Heart. Regardless if They Give You Money or Not.
You may be wondering how this links into us making obscene amounts of money.
I’m now going to show you how I do it.
This final point is in excruciating detail. I hope you find some value in this.
5. Sell in Private
I have researched a lot of different business models, and I have tried a lot of different methods.
Webinars, sales pages, lead magnets, SMMA. None of them worked (for me).
For 98% of the men reading this, following ‘Russell Brunson's’ approach, in my opinion, is a catastrophic mistake (I’ll explain why in a minute).
The method I chose, which preserves (and enhances) your reputation, is to ONLY sell to the top 1% of your audience, in private.
How do you do this?
In short; cut your supply. 100x your prices. Serve fewer, higher quality clients. Get incredible results for the men you serve. Have the best reputation in your niche.
This point will show you exactly how I do that (and how you can too).
Let’s do this.
If you follow the steps above, people will be begging to buy from you (quite literally). And you’ll still have an incredible reputation.
(Look at Alex Hormozi, he is effectively selling info, just for a percentage of your business)
In your YouTube description do not have a fucking lead magnet.
And do not have a ‘free training’.
People know what this leads to.
It’s a boring, washed out tactic.
This causes negative word of mouth. People will call you a ‘scammer’ before they even watch your content. Just because of what they've heard other people say about you. You may be thinking, "I don't give a fuck. I just want to make money. Who cares what these 14 year olds think." That's fine. I just believe you are doing your future self a disservice.
Consider this point:
Would you consider buying something from Tai Lopez?
Have you watched any of his content at length?
That’s why we want to steer clear of coming across as a ‘scammer’.
Am I saying you can’t make money by having a free training or by having a link to your course in the description?
Of course not. Plenty of people have, and plenty of people still do.
I just don’t believe it’s the optimum strategy if you want to make a shit ton of money long term.
Your audience will think the only reason you make videos is to sell them something. No loyal fans were ever born out of that.
This method I’m about to detail is not for everyone.
If you want to build out a 45 step value ladder, with a $1 product and a $2.95 product etc, and then write a 153 step email sequence to get them to buy your $47 product, this strategy is not for you.
I’m talking about having one or two expensive, but incredible products and actually getting your clients results. Best on the market type thing.
I’m in the business of getting results and actually helping people, regardless if they want to give me money or not.
This is the method I use to make my money. I'll be as brief, but as detailed as I can in describing this to you.
To start, I’m going to explain the strategy and my thinking that underpins everything I do here:
I do not want to work with low-quality clients who are not committed to winning, and who moan and complain.
I cannot be bothered to try and convince someone to buy from me.
I only, and exclusively, work with people who are already sold on me.
Why does this mindset work so well?
This makes up the top 0.1% of your audience. And guess what? They are willing to give you a lot of money for your services.
Whether you have a £99 product, a £499 product, or a £10,000 product, chances are, they’ll buy it.
Let me tell you something.
When I made my first big sale, I had a lot of doubts.
“No one will pay me £499 a month for my services”
For some reason I decided to change my pricing.
I increased it to £999 per month. Same thought.
Then £3k upfront, and £999 per month. Same again.
After a few iterations, I landed on my current price point:
£10k upfront, and £5k a month.
Guess what? If I had stayed at the first price point, I would be charging 10x less per month, but still offering the same service.
Why do I tell you this?
To show you that the top 0.1% don’t care what you charge, they’ll still buy from you.
Look at it this way: If I charged $50 a month for my services, I would need 100 guys to sign up to my thing, just to make what I get from one client every month.
What do you think is more likely? 100 different guys signing up to your thing, or just 1 loyal fan who really likes your stuff?
There are a few massive benefits that come with just serving a few clients.
First, supply goes down, demand goes up. Since you charge so much, you don’t have many spots. Scarcity. This is the biggest driver of price. People want what they cannot have.
Second, and more important, you deliver an incredible service to the few clients you have. With just a few guys, paying you a shit ton of money, you can go above and beyond to overdeliver.
Now what happens? He can’t keep his mouth shut about your service, because it’s so good.
He tells even more people. Word of mouth is the only compounding acquisition channel. You now have even more demand.
And guess what that means? You increase your prices again.
It’s a win-win for both you and your client. Look up, "Hormozi virtuous cycle of price". This explains it better than I could.
Now we understand the principles behind this, how do we do it?
The rest of this post will give you the exact tactics I use.
I’m going to give you two tactical options. I suggest you run with both. Start with option A. Eventually transition to option B.
Option A) I sell nothing publicly. I have my email in the description. It is open for questions from my audience. I tell them that in my videos.
Some people will then email me and ask to work with me. I’ll send them a form to fill out. This filters out the men I cannot help. I would be doing them a disservice if they gave me money.
Next, I’ll jump on a call with them. This is not a sales call. We are NOT convincing them to buy from us. It is designed to help them make an optimum long term decision that serves their interests, not ours.
Be kind, not nice. Genuinely have their best interests at heart. Look at the call through this lens.
These are the most potent tips you need for operating these calls:
Conviction is key.
Selling is a transference of belief over a bridge of trust.
Always put your clients best interests first when you make decisions.
Your clients want authoritative leadership with empathy.
That’s all you need for these calls.
For context, my first ever ‘sales’ call was for £10k upfront and £5k/month, recurring forever. Stripe.
That was a few weeks ago. I had a grand total of 0 practice and 0 experience. That was how I got my first client.
Following the steps in this guide means you don’t have to “sell” people.
Option B) - this is why I’m on track to get to £100k/month in December.
Start a free Skool group.
I've added a slight twist to how everyone does this. From experience, I've found this is better for guys like us.
It is completely free, but guys from my audience have to apply to get in.
I use a few tactics, including member caps and waitlists for a very specific reason. Because the group is free, if anyone could join, it would go to shit very quickly.
This way, making them fill out an extensive application form, letting them know that there are only 100 spots, that there is a waitlist, and if they’re not contributing to the group, they get removed.
This incentivises people to ‘earn their keep’. It creates a compounding loop of people joining, and making the group better. I learnt this by studying Network Effects.
Make posts sharing high-level insights, put your paid courses in there for free. Really work hard to make it incredible.
An important note: the aim of this Skool group is not to sell everyone in it. It is a place where you just keep giving value. Them joining your inner circle (what we will talk about next) is a natural progression, but people will leave if they think it only exists to syphon their money.
Now that you know the underlying strategy, I’m going to show you exactly how we make heinous amounts of money using this model.
Remember what I said earlier: “people make purchasing decisions based on the value they’ve already received, not what they’re going to receive.” They will use the value you give them now (for free), as a predictor for how valuable your paid thing is. This is why giving so much value for free is so potent.
It is a high leverage activity to spend a lot of time continuously making your free group excellent.
To start, have one product. Your Inner Circle.
Mine is priced at £10k upfront, then £5k per month recurring.
This pricing model has worked well for me. One big upfront fee, then a monthly subscription.
The big joining fee creates commitment. Basically, they're less likely to cancel.
How do we get people to join your inner circle?
Wait. People will reach out to you directly via DM. They will already be sold on you. Follow the call system I gave you above. You will have a very, very high close rate when people reach out to you.
Let your community know that you’re starting an inner circle. Make it very clear that you will continue to give everything you’ve got to the free group. Tell them this is just for the most committed men here, and you only have a few spots. This creates competition between the men inside, and an identity they feel the need to live up to (being a committed man). Launch this at least 1 month after starting your Skool group.
Make a post inside the community. Let people know you've just opened up a few spots. Do this very rarely. Once every few months at most.
Your reputation is the best in your niche, your audience is growing like wildfire, and you print money. Following these steps got me here, and the tools and knowledge you’re now armed with will get you there as well.
There is so much more I wanted to write in this post but it is already too long. Referrals, flywheels, compounding loops, waitlists, 1-in-1-out, service delivery, etc etc. If some people find this valuable I might make some follow up posts sharing the things that are working for me as I do them.
Finite.
MY AIM WITH THESE: Pour as much value as humanly possible into you so you can become uber successful and if the stars align, one day work with us to take your business into the stratosphere.
On that note; if you're interested in working with Lukas, and the rest of the team at Strongholds.com to scale your business, we're always happy to consider working with you. If you have an online business, doing at least £10k/mo and want to scale to £100k/mo and beyond, apply here to find out if we can help you get there: https://strongholds.com