In 2019-2020, I spent 1 million USD.

I rarely talked about my past life before running Small School because it was a very different world. I wasn't sure how to connect the dots for you.

I was building a SaaS startup. I had angel investors (so yup, I didn't spend my own money). I had a team of talented people. I was working 14-15 hours a day trying to make it work.

Obviously it didn't work out. Otherwise I wouldn't be on this new path and get this amazing chance to connect with you (ha!), but it was a hell of an experience.

One that got me to discover what I am truly fit for. Let me tell you.

There was this one moment I remember fondly.

I went to a meeting with one of the largest venture capitalists in Hong Kong. At first I was just meeting and pitching someone on their team who looked at the growth potential of startups.

As I wrapped up and made my way to leave their office, I had the biggest moment of my life:

The boss (founder & CEO) of the fund saw my investor who was standing next to me. They made eye contact. They clearly heard of each other but never met. So they said hi.

Then the boss asked me "I have 10 minutes, do you want to give me an elevator pitch?"

Holy moly. I was shaking.

Deep down, I was s**ting my pants. Not literally.

I didn't do a good job. It was easily one of the worst presentations I've ever given.

But that experience reminded me that — I am not made for live pitching but I'm excellent at connecting with someone over some time.

The sales pitch way of selling might not be for me, but internet marketing/digital marketing/email marketing where you use content and stories to form a series of touchpoints and build trust? Totally a good fit for me!

So when I look at how I've been growing Small School as a nobody in this space back at the end of 2020, I am leveraging what I'm good at:

1. I have a signature email course that keeps bringing new people into my world every day because it is easy for someone to recommend it to others
2. I keep a steady email communication. I share good learnings, I show my personal side, I connect with you
3. I talk about my new offer when it is the right time

That's it.

And many people go from the email course to buying my products, from self-paced courses to books, to coaching sessions, to my premium program.

I am a curious person (I like to think so), so I like to look at how long they've been on my email list before they buy. Not to my surprise, sometimes it is 6 months, sometimes it is 1 month.

But on average, it takes months! There is no shortcut.

Funny how simple the flow seems, right? Attract → stay in touch → present offers.

Of course, we all know that the theory is simple but to make it work, you have to master the strategies for each step and do it repeatedly.

Here are a couple of my major learnings in the last 4 years:

• Especially at the beginning, you want to have one thing that people remember you for. Don't even think about business models or offer suites or whatever. They are pointless until you are remembered and you are recommended
• Build trust as quickly as possible when someone new comes into your world. They might not buy right away, but surely they'd have a good impression of you
• As long as people stay subscribed, you should communicate. You are always allowed to take breaks but you should never disappear. Trust is built that way. Big parts of the buying decision come from the brand/reputation/trust, not your sales page and incentives

Right now, you might feel like you have a lot of things to work on. Don't worry. Take baby steps.

The most important step is to figure out a steady way of attracting people into your world so then you can optimize what comes after — the communication and offers.

If you are someone who has built freebies or lead magnets in the past but never quite had the success you wanted, it is time for you to consider investing in a signature free email course. Make it so good that it is the one thing you can be known for.

The good news is that I'm running a 4-week cohort to not just teach you, but work closely with you to get your email course built.

You'll get structures and templates to help you through it.

Oh and just to let you know, we are closing enrollment in 2 days!

​Click here to learn more​

Cheers,
Kevon

P.S. This is a launch week for the email course cohort. If you don't want to receive the next few launch emails, click here to be excluded.​