Latest / Productive and Paid with Jamila Payne / How to Host a Virtual Summit That Makes Money (Real Numbers + Pricing Strategy)
Transcript
- 0:01(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome back to the Productive and Paid Podcast.
- 0:05I am your host, Jamila Payne, and today
- 0:08we have a special guest that I'd like
- 0:11to introduce to you.
- 0:14Gemma Bonham Carter is a trusted voice for
- 0:18ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build lifestyle-first
- 0:23online course businesses to lead a more balanced
- 0:27life.
- 0:28Gemma founded her online education company in 2017
- 0:32and has since grown it to a sustainable
- 0:34seven-figure business.
- 0:37Renowned for her expertise in online courses, email
- 0:40marketing, and now AI, Gemma has guided over
- 0:4415,000 students through her programs and is
- 0:48the host of the popular podcast, The Course
- 0:50Creator Show, and founder of the popular AI
- 0:55Unlock Summit.
- 0:56Her insights have been featured in Entrepreneur, Inc.,
- 1:00Best Company, and I'm really excited to have
- 1:03her on the show today.
- 1:05So without further ado, let's get into this
- 1:10episode.
- 1:11I am so excited today to be with
- 1:14my friend and peer and amazing business owner,
- 1:18Gemma Bonham Carter, who is going to, get
- 1:21ready, get your notebooks out, okay, because you
- 1:23can only expect that she is going to
- 1:27drop some gems today.
- 1:28So welcome to the show, Gemma.
- 1:30Gemma, I'm so excited to be here.
- 1:32Thank you for having me.
- 1:33It's been a while since we've like caught
- 1:34up and your energy is so infectious and
- 1:38bubbly and happy and it's nice to be
- 1:41like in the Zoom room with you again.
- 1:43Yeah, same here.
- 1:45I'm super pumped.
- 1:46Okay, so first let's just kind of set
- 1:48the stage and share what your business is
- 1:52and who you help.
- 1:54Sure, so for many years now, I've been
- 1:57helping digital course creators through the creation of
- 2:01their online courses, but then also through the
- 2:04marketing and growing and scaling of their courses
- 2:07as their business model.
- 2:09It's the business model I've used since 2016
- 2:11to really help me build like a lifestyle
- 2:13first business that really works within the boundaries
- 2:16of motherhood and life and wanting to travel
- 2:21and all those things.
- 2:22And at the time of this recording, I'm
- 2:24also kind of shifting a little bit.
- 2:27You've caught me sort of mid pivot into
- 2:29really teaching more now also about AI.
- 2:33So not giving up where I've been for
- 2:36the last sort of five years, but integrating
- 2:39this into the mix.
- 2:40I've really become interested in AI since I've
- 2:43been an early adopter.
- 2:45We're coming up on our third year of
- 2:47hosting the AI Unlocked Summit.
- 2:50And I am keen now to really like
- 2:52teach people how I have been able to
- 2:55leverage AI to run the backend of my
- 2:58business so much more efficiently and seamlessly and
- 3:03cheaply.
- 3:04Is that a word?
- 3:05Than ever before, so.
- 3:08Okay, so let's talk about that.
- 3:10What actually, because you know, AI has become
- 3:14significantly more popular over the last, let's say
- 3:18year or two.
- 3:20And a lot of people kind of took
- 3:22the camp of like the doom and gloom,
- 3:24like, oh my goodness, this is going to
- 3:26be a disaster.
- 3:28And you know, there's other people like you
- 3:30and I that have been like, okay, let's
- 3:33get into it.
- 3:34Like what, you know, how do we leverage
- 3:35this?
- 3:36So I maybe first speak to kind of
- 3:39what inspired you to kind of be on
- 3:42that side of the camp that was like,
- 3:43I'm going to go for this.
- 3:46And how did you get started in the
- 3:48process?
- 3:49Yeah, well, I think you and I are
- 3:50really similar in the way that we think
- 3:52about like systems and operations.
- 3:54So when a new tool comes available to
- 3:57help you do that better or do that
- 3:59more efficiently, it feels like a no brainer
- 4:02to jump in and see what you can
- 4:03do with it, right?
- 4:04So I literally can remember lying in a
- 4:07hotel room bed.
- 4:08My kids, like we're all family, whole family
- 4:11in one room.
- 4:12My kids are already sleeping.
- 4:13My husband's like reading a book.
- 4:15I'm on my phone.
- 4:16I've just read for the first time about
- 4:17this thing called Chat GPT.
- 4:19And I like signed up for an account.
- 4:22It was when they were still limiting the
- 4:23numbers.
- 4:24Do you remember at the beginning?
- 4:25And I asked it a question.
- 4:27I said something like, I went immediately to
- 4:30business things.
- 4:30I was like, write me, I think I
- 4:32said something like write me an Instagram caption
- 4:34and talk to me about evergreen funnels.
- 4:37And the caption it wrote me, I was
- 4:39like, stop, you know, like as if there's
- 4:43this thing doing this for me in a
- 4:46matter of seconds.
- 4:47So mind was blown immediately.
- 4:49And while I absolutely can understand the nervousness
- 4:53and sort of the ethical considerations of AI
- 4:56and you know, all of the other things
- 4:58that come along with that, I definitely jumped
- 5:01in to trying to understand how best to
- 5:04use the tools.
- 5:04So at first, I feel like that first
- 5:06year was like figuring out prompt engineering.
- 5:09Like how do you ask it to do
- 5:11what you want it to do?
- 5:12And how do you ask it in the
- 5:13right way so you get the output that
- 5:15you want?
- 5:16In the last eight to 10 months, that
- 5:20has gone to another level of now utilizing
- 5:24what Chat GPT would call custom GPTs.
- 5:27If you're using Clode, you would call them
- 5:28projects.
- 5:29If you're using Gemini, they're gems, but essentially
- 5:31they're AI assistants, right?
- 5:33And building these little assistants, let's call them
- 5:35my bot squad, where I have trained each
- 5:39bot on doing very specific things in my
- 5:42business.
- 5:42So now instead of it just being like
- 5:43Gemma and her VA, it's like Gemma and
- 5:46her VA and like her 25 little bots
- 5:49in her squad who can do all of
- 5:52these things.
- 5:53And while I think it is still so
- 5:55important to be, you know, I think we'll
- 5:59see even more so in the coming years
- 6:01that your own voice and your thought leadership
- 6:04and your originality and your ideas will become
- 6:07more and more important through the like noise
- 6:09of same, same echo chamber AI produced stuff.
- 6:13There's still a way to utilize AI to
- 6:16help you get your message further, faster out
- 6:20into the world.
- 6:21And that's really how I'm using it.
- 6:23Yeah.
- 6:23And I love that you said your bot
- 6:26squad.
- 6:26So do you think of AI almost as
- 6:31having different positions in your business?
- 6:35A hundred percent, because what I found was
- 6:38when I was testing these, the very first
- 6:40AI assistant I tried to build, I gave
- 6:43her a lot of credit, okay?
- 6:44I was like, she is gonna be able
- 6:45to do this and that, and we're gonna
- 6:47train her on all the things.
- 6:49And I gave her like everything in the
- 6:51kitchen sink and asked her to do everything
- 6:53in the kitchen sink.
- 6:54And she got confused.
- 6:55She hallucinated a little.
- 6:57She was like, not really on point.
- 7:00And at first that can make you feel
- 7:02like, okay, this is kind of garbagey.
- 7:04I'm not gonna bother with this.
- 7:05But then I thought, okay, let me make
- 7:07it really simple and like have one task
- 7:10for this one bot and make sure that
- 7:13she is totally informed.
- 7:16Like imagine bringing on a team member who
- 7:18is so specialized in one thing and what
- 7:20you would need that person to be trained
- 7:21on and what they would need to know
- 7:22about you or your team.
- 7:25Or your brand or whatever it might be.
- 7:28And when I realized like, if I got
- 7:30laser specific in what I was training it
- 7:33on, whoa, the outcome was amazing.
- 7:37So then that like flourished into more, right?
- 7:40I was like, okay, if I can do
- 7:40this for this one thing, like, let me
- 7:42see the other things I can do it
- 7:44for.
- 7:44So I do want me to tell you
- 7:45the one that kind of blew me away.
- 7:46The first one I did that like, I
- 7:48kind of got it.
- 7:49So it was a podcast assistant and I
- 7:52called her pod pal.
- 7:54And what pod pal did was I love
- 7:58podcasting.
- 7:59I love hopping on the mic, talking about
- 8:00something.
- 8:01What I hated was afterwards being like, okay,
- 8:05I got to write the show notes.
- 8:06Then I got to think about my title.
- 8:08And then I need to think about the
- 8:10SEO description and put all these pieces together
- 8:13so we can actually publish the show.
- 8:16So pod pal, I built her to, oh,
- 8:19and I should say, I use AI to
- 8:21try and do these things, right?
- 8:23I was like, hey, ChachiPT, here's my podcast.
- 8:26Give me some show notes.
- 8:27And the show notes were so generic.
- 8:29They sounded not at all like me.
- 8:31They didn't vibe with my style of brand
- 8:34voice.
- 8:34And even when I told it some stuff,
- 8:36still didn't do an excellent job.
- 8:37But when I trained this AI assistant to
- 8:39be bang on and went through a little
- 8:43bit of optimization and iterations, now in pod
- 8:45pal, I literally will take the, I'll record.
- 8:48I have a free little tool for transcriptions.
- 8:51Then I copy paste the transcription.
- 8:53I don't even have to give it instruction.
- 8:55I just paste and drop the transcription in.
- 8:58And within seconds, it gives me back my
- 9:01show notes that are exactly tailored to me,
- 9:03including like, Jamila, if I had you on
- 9:05the show, it'd be like, here's the links
- 9:07for all of her things.
- 9:09And I don't even need to ask you
- 9:10for them anymore.
- 9:10As long as you've mentioned it in the
- 9:12show, it knows to go and pull it,
- 9:14right?
- 9:14So I don't even need an intake form
- 9:16anymore because it's all, it's doing it for
- 9:18me.
- 9:19It would give me like 10 titles based
- 9:22on the titles that I, you know, that
- 9:24sound like me.
- 9:25It would give me my SEO blurb, like
- 9:27all the things in one spot.
- 9:29I could send that to my VA and
- 9:32she publishes and it's like done and dusted.
- 9:34There's probably something I could even automate.
- 9:36So she wouldn't even have to put it
- 9:38into WordPress or whatever anymore, right?
- 9:40Like there's probably another automation level that I
- 9:42haven't untapped there, but just pod pal on
- 9:45her own, I was like, this is it.
- 9:48Nice, nice.
- 9:49Now, is it ChatGPT, the tool that you're
- 9:52using to create your pod pal?
- 9:54Well, I use both.
- 9:56I was very loyal to ChatGPT for a
- 9:58long time, but I heard all these people
- 10:01talking about Claude.
- 10:02So I went over and I tried Claude
- 10:04and I think they're both great.
- 10:06I think some things do better in one
- 10:09versus the other.
- 10:11I can't say I have a particular favorite
- 10:12at this point.
- 10:13And I also feel like they're always changing,
- 10:15right?
- 10:15Like I have found Claude to be better
- 10:18for long form writing and like maybe more
- 10:22like deeper thought, deeper research and ChatGPT better
- 10:27for succinct, quick tasks.
- 10:30And also better for being a little like
- 10:32sassy and bold for like social media captions
- 10:35or things of that nature.
- 10:37Like she's a little spicier.
- 10:40And so, but who knows, right?
- 10:42Maybe in six months, they'll be, the playing
- 10:45field will have leveled.
- 10:46I think both are great.
- 10:48And it's sometimes it's just like user preference.
- 10:51Okay.
- 10:52And for someone who's kind of new to
- 10:53this whole AI world, will you give a
- 10:56little bit of insight when you say training
- 10:58the tool to be able to, training your
- 11:02pod pal can help them to understand kind
- 11:04of what you're doing to train?
- 11:06Yeah, so the idea with any of these
- 11:09assistants that you wanna build is the more
- 11:12concrete, specific stuff you can give it, the
- 11:16better the output will be.
- 11:18So imagine it's like a person, right?
- 11:20So if you've hired, let's say it's a
- 11:21copywriting thing that you're trying to build.
- 11:23If you've hired a copywriter, you likely need
- 11:26to give that copywriter maybe samples of your
- 11:29past work.
- 11:30You maybe need to give it words that
- 11:33you do say and don't say.
- 11:35The don't say is almost more important.
- 11:37Like I'm like, I will never say these
- 11:39words and here's the list.
- 11:43And then very clear instruction.
- 11:46And I will say like my instruction files
- 11:49for my different AI assistants, like they're pretty
- 11:52thorough.
- 11:53ChatGPT gives you an 8,000 character limit.
- 11:56I pretty much use all 8,000 like
- 11:59every time.
- 12:00And then I add in what they allow
- 12:02you to do, both Clo, ChatGPT, they allow
- 12:05you to add in supplemental, like they call
- 12:07them knowledge files, but it's basically like, let
- 12:10me give you extra things so you can
- 12:12do this job really well.
- 12:13So it's almost like if you had like
- 12:14a training manual for a new staff person,
- 12:17it's like putting that on.
- 12:19So I will give you one like hot
- 12:21tip.
- 12:23I created for my own business, like a
- 12:26brand book and that brand book has not
- 12:29only what are my offers and that kind
- 12:31of thing, but it has pages on my
- 12:33target audience, like the most in-depth stuff
- 12:36about who they are and has writing samples
- 12:40of mine, stuff about my tone of voice,
- 12:42all the things and stuff about me, my
- 12:45personality, things like that.
- 12:48And that brand book, I can attach it
- 12:50as a knowledge file to every AI assistant
- 12:53I build.
- 12:53So I don't need to recreate the wheel.
- 12:55I have it in this one document and
- 12:58I put it in all the places.
- 12:59Yeah, love that.
- 13:00That's super awesome.
- 13:02And I totally agree with you that it
- 13:03is important to tell it what not to
- 13:06say.
- 13:07I found myself telling a chat GPT that
- 13:12I do not use the words work-life
- 13:13balance.
- 13:14It does not exist.
- 13:16Do not put that in anything.
- 13:19Same.
- 13:19There's like the jargony stuff like that.
- 13:22And we're like, no, we're not gonna be
- 13:23using that.
- 13:24And then there are words that probably also
- 13:26won't align with your own, like your values
- 13:30and how your values come through your writing.
- 13:32So for me, like I would never use
- 13:34the word tribe and chat GPT likes to
- 13:37use the word tribe and that's not for
- 13:39me, right?
- 13:39So I have that very clear in my
- 13:41thing.
- 13:42Even like sometimes gendered stuff, like I try
- 13:45and stay away from that.
- 13:47So things of that nature, I just think
- 13:49you can be really clear about that in
- 13:50the beginning.
- 13:51And the more effort you put into that
- 13:54work, the better and closer your results are
- 13:57to being perfect.
- 13:58And then you don't need to go with
- 13:59this like back and forth thing.
- 14:01Okay.
- 14:02Now I know Gemma, you are an epic
- 14:05email writer.
- 14:06Have you been able to get any of
- 14:09these tools to a point where you feel
- 14:11like it can start writing some of your
- 14:14emails?
- 14:15Yes.
- 14:15Yeah.
- 14:16Like I have an AI assistant that is
- 14:18built out on, so I gave it my
- 14:20brand book.
- 14:20I also gave it a ton of my
- 14:23emails to show like, hey, here's what this
- 14:26should sound like.
- 14:27This is the type of, this is my
- 14:28style.
- 14:30And then gave it instructions and trained it
- 14:33on sort of best practices to do with
- 14:35email marketing.
- 14:37And, but here's the thing.
- 14:38I come to that AI assistant always with
- 14:41my idea.
- 14:43So I'm always like, hey, I already know
- 14:46what I want you to write something about.
- 14:48And usually what I'll do these days is
- 14:50take my phone and I tell it.
- 14:52Like I voice, I, you know, get my
- 14:54AI assistant up and like, here's what I
- 14:57want to write an email about.
- 14:58And I will brain dump for, sometimes they're
- 15:00like two and a half, three minutes of
- 15:02just like me rambling on about something, send
- 15:06it into my, you know, assistant.
- 15:10And then it pulls out for me a
- 15:12really good email that sounds like me.
- 15:14And sure, there might be little things I
- 15:16edit, but if it's like 90% of
- 15:18the way there, and it was from my
- 15:20original idea, right?
- 15:22And so I can layer in, that's why
- 15:24it's like I can layer in a funny
- 15:26story or an anecdote or whatever it might
- 15:28be that's going to make it like a
- 15:30Gemma email.
- 15:31Yeah, yeah.
- 15:32I love that.
- 15:33So good.
- 15:34I'm like, if Gemma can get her emails
- 15:36to sound like her, listen, there's hope for
- 15:39me yet, because I'm still writing my emails
- 15:45and I will use, you know, a little
- 15:47AI to kind of tweak or clean it
- 15:49up.
- 15:50But I definitely, you know, got to do
- 15:53some more training to really get it to
- 15:56sound like me.
- 15:56And some people feel really strongly that they
- 15:58don't want to use AI in their email
- 16:00or at their copy.
- 16:01And that's cool too.
- 16:02Like you do whatever works for you, right?
- 16:05Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- 16:07Okay, but you didn't just stop there with
- 16:08creating these AI assistants and all of that.
- 16:11You took it to the whole next level
- 16:13and launched a summit around AI and helping
- 16:18other people, you know, in the industry to
- 16:21learn the skill of AI and how they
- 16:24can utilize it in their business.
- 16:26And I just think, number one, not only
- 16:29is that brilliant to help yourself kind of
- 16:32stand out as a leader in this new,
- 16:35you know, industry and new modality that's being
- 16:38brought up, but it also is a great
- 16:42opportunity.
- 16:43Hosting a summit is a great opportunity for
- 16:46business owners in general, and there's so many
- 16:48ways that it can impact your business.
- 16:50So for those that are, you know, interested
- 16:53in the strategy of summits, you know, for
- 16:56their business, could you share a little bit
- 16:58about why this is a good strategy for
- 17:02business owners?
- 17:04Absolutely.
- 17:04So I had been really hesitant to host
- 17:06a summit for a few reasons.
- 17:08Like I never felt like I had a
- 17:10specific enough idea.
- 17:12And you know, summits have become so popular.
- 17:14And so if they're very broad, I think
- 17:16it's hard to attract in both speakers and
- 17:19audience members, unless you happen to be tapping
- 17:21into a niche where summits aren't a thing,
- 17:25right?
- 17:25Like, I don't know, maybe your niche is
- 17:27like dog training and maybe there are no
- 17:29summits on dog training.
- 17:30Like that's amazing, make it broad, right?
- 17:32But in my world and in your world,
- 17:35in B2B and in marketing and online business,
- 17:36there's like a summit every other day, right?
- 17:39So I was always kind of waiting, not
- 17:42really sure that I was going to use
- 17:43this strategy.
- 17:44And then when this stuff with AI happened
- 17:47and I was seeing already, like not only
- 17:49was I personally really excited about it, but
- 17:51I was seeing already events happening and they
- 17:54were either all for e-commerce or they
- 17:58were very much in the bro space.
- 18:01And I was like, okay, where are the
- 18:03women?
- 18:04Where are the women?
- 18:05And also like, let's talk about it for
- 18:09course creators and coaches, because we're a specific
- 18:12demographic who are going to use AI in
- 18:14a very specific way.
- 18:17So I went ahead, honestly, I conceptualized and
- 18:21then went live with that summit, like within
- 18:24eight weeks because I was just, when I
- 18:26get an idea and I want to go
- 18:27for it, like, I don't know if you
- 18:28do human design, but I'm a manifesting generator.
- 18:31So it's like, when I got an idea,
- 18:32I'm like, okay, everybody ditch what we were
- 18:34doing, this is the new thing.
- 18:36Yeah, I'm just a manifesting generator.
- 18:38Totally.
- 18:39I had to really tap into my network
- 18:41that first year because I had an unproven
- 18:45summit, right?
- 18:46So I couldn't like just put a call
- 18:48out for speakers and expect that I was
- 18:49going to get a lot of speakers.
- 18:51And so this is something that your listeners,
- 18:53if they're thinking about doing a summit, you
- 18:54know, you really need to think about like,
- 18:56if this is the first time you're hosting
- 18:57something of that nature, you are going to
- 19:00need to do the legwork of like inviting
- 19:02people and creating like that personal touch and
- 19:06really making sure it's going to be a
- 19:07win-win for them, not just a win
- 19:09for you.
- 19:10And so that was also, and has remained
- 19:13true.
- 19:14Part of that summit is like, I, you
- 19:17know, want my speakers to, sure, maybe it's
- 19:19a visibility win for them because I have
- 19:21an existing audience, but I also want them
- 19:25to feel like, like we have a very
- 19:27generous affiliate commission.
- 19:28So if they send any people over to
- 19:30the summit and those people make sales, or
- 19:33those people purchase the All Access Pass, like
- 19:35they're winning in terms of like, they get
- 19:36a paycheck at the end of that event,
- 19:38right?
- 19:39So I also didn't do any, you know
- 19:43how summits often, it's like, you have to
- 19:44send two emails and you have to do
- 19:46four social posts, especially for that first year.
- 19:49I was like, I'm just going to be
- 19:50happy if I get people speaking.
- 19:51So like, I'm not going to put requirements
- 19:53on you.
- 19:54If you're going to like participate and show
- 19:56up with a talk, we're good.
- 19:58Like, I'm excited about that.
- 20:00So I think that really helped get it
- 20:02off the ground.
- 20:03And then after the, we had a raving
- 20:06success after that first year, like great feedback
- 20:09from the speakers in terms of like the
- 20:10organization and the, how it went, but also
- 20:15incredible testimonials from the participants.
- 20:17And like, it showed in the numbers, you
- 20:19know, we just, we felt like we really
- 20:21knocked it out of the park.
- 20:22So then when year two came, I was
- 20:25able to just say, call, you know, I
- 20:27just put the call out for speakers and
- 20:29we filled it.
- 20:30Like, I was astounded at how many applications
- 20:34we got within a week and we had
- 20:36to close it down.
- 20:37So yeah, so, and to get back to
- 20:40your question of like, why is it a
- 20:41good strategy?
- 20:42Like, it's a great strategy because A, it
- 20:44is expanding your network.
- 20:46And I really do believe that your network
- 20:48is your net worth.
- 20:49And I went through years of not sort
- 20:53of pouring into networking.
- 20:56And the, ever since I've sort of made
- 20:58a conscious decision of doing more of that,
- 21:00it has always come back to me in
- 21:01spades.
- 21:02So it's really nice from that point of
- 21:04view, but then it's also really nice to,
- 21:06you have the opportunity to get in front
- 21:08of all of your speakers, audiences, if they
- 21:10do share about it, right?
- 21:12There's just like a really collaborative thing that
- 21:14happens.
- 21:15You can really grow your email list with
- 21:17a strategy like that.
- 21:19And I also personally loved that I, it
- 21:22wasn't like the Gemma show.
- 21:23You know, like I loved it being a
- 21:26stage for many minds, not just mine.
- 21:29It really, I don't know, somehow like reduce
- 21:31the pressure.
- 21:33Yeah.
- 21:34Okay, so much to unpack there.
- 21:35So first let me just tackle that little
- 21:38piece about the not being the Gemma show,
- 21:40because I think sometimes people can feel like,
- 21:44if I'm not interviewing the person, if I'm
- 21:48not being seen, they're not gonna see me
- 21:51as the expert.
- 21:52So help us with the thinking behind that.
- 21:55Like, how do you still benefit if you're
- 21:57not the center of attention in every interview?
- 22:00Yeah, that is such a good question.
- 22:03And I think it, part of my answer
- 22:05is in the way in which I saw
- 22:08this summit as a product was not as
- 22:13a, you know how people often use summits
- 22:15as like a launch event.
- 22:16It's like, we're gonna run this summit and
- 22:18then I'm opening the doors to my offer
- 22:19on the backend.
- 22:20And that's fine.
- 22:21But that wasn't my goal here.
- 22:23My goal was the summit is the product.
- 22:26And so I didn't need to be the
- 22:29center of it because I wasn't trying to
- 22:31warm people up to buying something from me
- 22:33at the end of the day.
- 22:33I was warming them up to buying the
- 22:35summit.
- 22:36And so the, and it's also when it
- 22:39came to like AI, and this might be
- 22:42different for different niches, but for AI, it's
- 22:45like, I wanted tutorials, right?
- 22:47I wanted like very, you know me, you
- 22:49know, I'm like strategy, I'm nitty gritty.
- 22:52I want you to show me the how
- 22:54to, I don't just want interviews.
- 22:57And so that also was part of the
- 23:01decision-making there of like, yeah, this summit,
- 23:04it's not a bunch of interviews, me interviewing
- 23:06people, it's them coming in and sharing their
- 23:08expertise and brilliance.
- 23:10And what we make money from with the
- 23:13summit is people buying it for the all
- 23:16access pass because they're like, wow, there's like
- 23:1850 tutorials in here.
- 23:19It's like an AI course.
- 23:21And I'm gonna buy that so that I
- 23:23can go back and watch these things and
- 23:26use it in that way.
- 23:28Does that make sense?
- 23:29Yeah, absolutely.
- 23:30Totally makes sense.
- 23:31So instead of the summit being a vehicle
- 23:37for launching into a program like a high
- 23:40ticket program or something like that, the summit
- 23:42itself was actually the product that people were
- 23:45purchasing.
- 23:46So there was no need for you to
- 23:48be center stage because you weren't leading them
- 23:51directly into a specific offer.
- 23:54Now, do you think that makes a difference?
- 23:55Like, do you think if a person is
- 23:56actually using it as a launching tool for
- 24:01something that they're offering that they should be
- 24:03more centered in the content?
- 24:06I mean, maybe, yeah, maybe they should be.
- 24:08And so maybe each day you want to
- 24:11like, depending on how many days your summit
- 24:12is, maybe there's something that where you're involved.
- 24:15So it doesn't necessarily have to be that
- 24:17it automatically means it's interview style, but maybe
- 24:20it means that you are giving talks and
- 24:24tutorials or hosting live things on the days
- 24:28of your summit more than I did.
- 24:31Yeah, yeah, okay.
- 24:32Just integrating yourself essentially into the content, whether
- 24:35you're doing a kickoff session each day or
- 24:38something like that, totally makes sense.
- 24:40So let's talk about some of the numbers
- 24:42behind your first year versus your second year.
- 24:45So if you think about year one, you'd
- 24:49say you launched it in eight weeks.
- 24:52But now I also want to preface this
- 24:54for anyone who's new to this, Gemma already
- 24:57has an existing audience that she's been building
- 25:01over the years.
- 25:03So she had an established online brand and
- 25:05business and an email list to go with
- 25:08that.
- 25:08So just want to kind of make that
- 25:11clear, she wasn't starting from scratch, building a
- 25:14summit.
- 25:15Yeah, yeah.
- 25:16So numbers wise, like it shocked me in
- 25:20the first year, from a gross revenue perspective,
- 25:22we did 90K in year one.
- 25:26So, and that largely came from these all
- 25:30access pass purchases.
- 25:31That was the main monetization channel in year
- 25:35one.
- 25:36And we had, so we would sell the
- 25:38all access pass and then we also had
- 25:40a little bump and an upsell offer.
- 25:42So it was, it could be the average
- 25:45cart value went up kind of thing from
- 25:47what the baseline cost was.
- 25:51Now, interestingly in 2024, so our second year,
- 25:55that actually went down to 78K.
- 25:58And here's where I think, and our numbers
- 26:00were almost the same in terms of participant
- 26:03numbers.
- 26:03So we had like 5,000 participants year
- 26:05one and around 5,000 participants year two.
- 26:08I think one of the things, and this
- 26:10is why I'm a big believer in like
- 26:12testing things in your business and then learning
- 26:16from those tests, is we, I shifted the
- 26:20pricing model.
- 26:21And I, because year two, we had more
- 26:23speakers.
- 26:24It was a more established event at that
- 26:26point.
- 26:26I thought, okay, I'm gonna put the price
- 26:28of the all access pass up.
- 26:30And it actually decreased our conversion rate.
- 26:34So what I did was I increased the
- 26:36front end price, but I decreased the bump
- 26:40price.
- 26:41And first year I had a lower initial
- 26:44all access price and a higher bump price,
- 26:47and it grossed more revenue.
- 26:50So that was interesting to me.
- 26:51So like this year, we will go back
- 26:53to the year one model of having like,
- 26:55it be quite low on the front end
- 26:57to get the all access pass, and then
- 26:59be a little higher for the bump and
- 27:00upsell to bring up the cart value.
- 27:03So that was, that's an interesting test.
- 27:05But I think that generally speaking, having your
- 27:08all access pass be like under $100 makes
- 27:10it like an easy buy for people.
- 27:14And then the other thing, the other way
- 27:16that we monetized in year two, which I'm
- 27:19excited to explore again this year is through
- 27:22sponsorships.
- 27:23And so I had never done that before.
- 27:25And I was actually having lunch with a
- 27:28friend who is, some of you might listen
- 27:30to her podcast actually.
- 27:31Her name is Ellen Yin of Cubicle to
- 27:33CEO.
- 27:34And she was like, Gemma, you're having a
- 27:37virtual summit with 5,000 participants and you're
- 27:40not getting sponsorship.
- 27:41Like that's crazy.
- 27:43She was, she does that a lot and
- 27:45she gets brand sponsorships for events of all
- 27:49sizes.
- 27:50So I really took that on board and
- 27:53opened up a couple of options for sponsorships.
- 27:55And I think we made, I'm just looking
- 27:57here.
- 27:58Yeah, we made about 8,500 bucks on
- 28:00that first year of doing sponsorship.
- 28:02So that was like an interesting new angle
- 28:04that I think has the potential to even
- 28:06eclipse like the all access pass numbers.
- 28:10Do you know what I mean?
- 28:10Like if I were to really double down
- 28:12on sponsorships, I feel like I could make
- 28:14that a much bigger play.
- 28:16Yeah, so those were the two main monetization
- 28:19angles.
- 28:20Nothing sold sort of on the backend in
- 28:22terms of my programs.
- 28:24Yeah.
- 28:24Okay, so just to clarify, you could attend
- 28:28the summit for free, right?
- 28:30Like it was a free option to attend
- 28:33the summit but then the all access pass
- 28:36basically gave them the replays, right?
- 28:38So if you couldn't watch everything, you'd get
- 28:40the replays with the all access pass.
- 28:43Yeah, and we kept the free versions of
- 28:46the videos.
- 28:46They were, they timed out, right?
- 28:48Like you only had less than a day
- 28:51to watch them before it ticked over to
- 28:53the next day.
- 28:54So yeah, if you wanted to watch ones
- 28:57you missed or I knew a lot of
- 28:59people who bought it to share with their
- 29:01VA or to share with their team, right?
- 29:03To have their team implement some of these
- 29:04things.
- 29:05So that was a big driver as well.
- 29:07And there were a few other things like
- 29:09we would add additional worksheets or things like
- 29:12that in the all access pass offer.
- 29:15And this year I'm kind of, I haven't
- 29:17sort of made up my mind yet but
- 29:18I'm thinking about like, is there an opportunity
- 29:20for like a, you know, maybe a VIP
- 29:23track or something that has maybe some more
- 29:26accountability built into it.
- 29:28I may not leave the videos up for
- 29:30a full 24 hours this time.
- 29:32The window might be shorter.
- 29:33So TBD on all of those things.
- 29:36But this is, I mean, this is the
- 29:38advantage of like doing an event or a
- 29:41launch or whatever it might be in your
- 29:43business over and over and over again is
- 29:45that you can try new things.
- 29:47Yeah, yeah.
- 29:48Kind of tweak.
- 29:49And what did you use for the expiration?
- 29:51Was that like a deadline funnel link or
- 29:53something like that?
- 29:54No, we manual over here.
- 29:57We just, we illiterate.