The truth behind making “money while I sleep” as a coach

Well friends, it’s finally happening. THE DREAM.

After $30K in coaching and business debt, struggling to even make one sale, and watching it all crumble -

Courses that I am not even actively launching are selling - while I sleep, while I camp with my family, while I am out enjoying a Sunday drive with my husband… 

I'm in my harvest era.

And I have built my gross all time profit to nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

It’s finally a reality and there’s fewer feelings greater than making money while you’re just living your best life. That Stripe or PayPal notification is such a dopamine hit!

These have been ranging from $88 to $1800 coming in "out of the blue" and this is on top of payment plan income, which is nice passive income but already expected and planned for.

Beyond the dopamine hit which my ADHD brain very much appreciates and relies on, the sales of course help a ton with my financial, personal and impact goals.

It feels like my FIVE YEARS of hard work is now finally paying off. 

But before I go bragging to the internet about how I am “making money in my sleep” as we see so many coaches and money teachers do - 

I want to share some truths behind this phenomenon. 

1.This did not happen overnight. 

I’ve had my coaching business officially since 2019, and it took over three years to find my voice and what was truly in alignment for my ancestors and Spirit to speak through me. I went through a Saturn return that involved completely losing myself, what I stood for, and a brutal journey to learning how to trust myself again. In 2021, I watched my business completely crumble. I wasn’t making active sales let alone passive sales, no matter how hard I tried. But I had to go through that and learn the lessons I learned to get to where I am today. 

2. I’m still working on believing that I’m worthy of passive sales

Every time I receive that endorphin-inducing email notification “Congratulations! There’s a new student in your course!” I have to fight the urge to pick up my phone or laptop and work harder. I know, it seems strange that success would make me think I have more work to do - but something deep in my bones tells me “you have to make this last” and “you should capitalize on this momentum.” I call these voices my inner capitalist or inner colonizer. As I always say, unlearning colonialism and capitalism is a daily and likely life-long journey. Just because I teach about decolonization, doesn’t mean I don’t have my own inner colonizer and unlearning that I need to do every single day.

Let’s affirm together: I am worthy of passive sales. I am worthy of a business that feels easy and fun. I am worthy of seasons of rest and receivership. I am worthy of abundance without hustle. 

3. What passive sales actually requires 

The other thing I want you to know in case you’re seeing the digital CEOs bragging of passive sales and wondering why this isn’t happening for you… is what it actually takes to create this.

It’s not as simple as opening up your laptop on a beach while sipping a cocktail and then skipping off to Bali while the sales roll in because you bought a $2222 “money codes" manifestation course and now you have all you need to tap into wealth, despite what @RichBabeee888 would have you think. 😜

In addition to the actions listed below it should be noted that many of these also require money! Not all of them cost money, but like any business we do need to be realistic about operating costs plus money you might like to invest in coaches or mentors, collaborators, virtual assistants, guest speakers, etc. My advice is to keep a good eye on your profit and loss and make sure you aren't investing too far above your means. Take calculated risks, as I talk about in my mini course Down to Earth Money Lessons. 

What it actually requires is at least all of the following, ideally in the following order: 

1. Clarity on and consistent sharing of your message and expertise/niche/core topic
2. Seriously, talk about that thing for at least a year straight - this becomes your body of work and builds your audience who thinks of you and talks about you when your niche/topic comes up 
3. A signature offer that aligns with your niche
4. An upsell and a downsell that makes sense with your signature offer 
5. Launch the offer(s)
6. Get feedback/data and tweak the offers, messaging and strategy
7. Launch the offer(s) again 
8. Get feedback/data and tweak the offers, messaging and strategy
9. Launch the offer(s) again
10. If seeing results, consider making the offers automated or “evergreen” 
11. Let your body of work continue to sell your evergreen offers
12. Create a free or low ticket offer that demonstrates your expertise and leads to your signature offer(s) 
13. Test this free or low ticket offer and make sure people are actually using it 
14. Get feedback/data and tweak the free or low ticket offers, messaging and strategy 
15. Make sure people are moving on from the free or low ticket offer to your paid offer(s)
16. If and only if ithe free or low ticket offer is converting and performing well (and of course getting people the desired results/experience/value) consider running ads to it
17. Watch the passive sales magic happen from there (from ads or your existing body of work which could be on Instagram, a blog, podcast, Linked In, or even in person lectures and speaking engagements)

Note: I realize this list is very prescriptive and colonial in the "step by step" approach but I had to be honest about what is tried and true about the many business trainings and programs I took over the years. A lot of the tactics specifically on how to sell and market did not resonate with me and therefore are not listed here. It's difficult to go into the "how" of marketing and sales in a blog post. If you'd like to work on that plus these foundations in a feel-good way that operates from a lens of anti-oppression, consider joining me in January for Steward of Wealth: a 4 month hive mind/live program hybrid for socially conscious entrepreneurs ready to scale beyond $5K months -ethically. 

As you can see, completing all of the steps above takes real time and dedication.

Where I think most people get frustrated or impatient and give up is around step five if the first launch of a program or offer doesn’t go the way they’d hoped. I have done this many times; my old pattern was to work up to step five, experience mediocre or less than mediocre results, then go back to the drawing board AKA step one. And sometimes, going back to step one is the right move if you are not in total alignment with your core message… but you don’t necessarily have to think of it as ‘starting over’ because getting clarity on your voice is a big part of the work.

You're always exactly where you are meant to be. Trust in that! 

On having a niche/core topic:

I want to be clear too that I am not saying you need to stick to one super specific micro-niche and stay in that box. I get it - we are multi-passionate and multifaceted beings! I teach about decolonizing coaching and personal development but I also teach on business expansion and wealth creation. There is, however, one thread that ties everything I do together and that is the lens of decolonization, anti-oppression and indigenization.

Having this “special twist” on everything I do is what makes people say “I thought of you right away” when a speaking or coaching opportunity on this topic comes up. This also contributes to my passive sales, which often come from people finding my Instagram account and then immediately joining my signature program, The Decolonized Coach Community because they’ve been searching for exactly what I am offering and then they find my page and it’s clear that I’m just the person to guide them. 

When I first started coaching, I knew there were so many people I could help and so many things I could help with. I hated the idea of picking a niche and was terrified of boxing myself in. But once I realized that the industry needed the lens of decolonization and this “niche” sort of chose me… basically because I couldn’t shut up about it, so that naturally became my body of work. As I consistently kept with this topic, I started to see why all of the business courses I had taken were urging us to pick a niche.

I’ve now launched my signature program and it’s “downsell” my most popular class The Round Table: Decolonize Your Coaching Business four times, since 2022. I’m about to run The Round Table for the fifth time this year and have never stuck with one offer or anything so consistently in my life. That’s saying a lot considering #ADHD but hey when it's aligned it's aligned *and* I am always going to be open to growth and evolution. 

I will also add, if you are ADHD or have a brain that requires constant stimulation and creating something new, perhaps you can find new ways to run your core offer (if you still feel aligned with it and it's working AKA at least one person has signed up). For example, having new guest panelists every time I launch The Round Table keeps it fresh and exciting - for both me and my audience. This November, I'll also be adding new tiered tickets where you can extend to a 4 day experience or even upgrade for 1:1 support. 

But because I did the work to explore and really “use my voice to find my voice” as one of my mentors Simone Seol says, I have found true alignment in what I am sharing. And because of my willingness to follow steps 5-17 I am now experiencing those sweet passive sales. 

One last tip: 

Steps 5-17, especially collecting data so you can analyze, tweak and optimize after each launch really requires a non-attached, almost scientific lens. Since I started looking at my email open rates, click rates, unsubscribe rates, as well as launch numbers from a data-lens, everything got easier.

Learning to be less emotionally attached (i.e. stop taking it personally when someone clicks ‘unsubscribe’ even though I know - it stings) as you collect the data and feedback is absolutely game changing. To approach your business this way doesn’t mean you’re taking the heart and soul out of it - it just means you’re operating like a real business now and looking at the cold, hard numbers to see what’s working and what’s not. This is also one of the best ways to truly understand what your people want and need and to best serve them!

I'd love to hear if this was helpful and any questions you may have.

Happy harvesting,

🍂 Emily

PS: RichBabeee888 is not a real account - this is just satire.