The 1-3-3-1 Workshop Method
A paid live workshop is the best balance of prep & profit to validate an idea then deliver value as an expert. This works for attendees too. They are able to learn something new or helpful without the commitment of a course or coaching series.
From all the product launches I've personally & professionally run the past 5 years — one product that outshines them all...
A Paid Live Workshop
It's the best balance of prep & profit to validate an idea then deliver value. Here is the simple outline of how to format the workshop.
🏅 1 Clear Outcome for the customer
✅ 3 Steps to achieve the outcome
📖 3 Lessons for each step
👩🏫 1 Q&A session to help implement
Live workshops allow you—the expert—a defined space to share a specific idea. This works for attendees too. They are able to learn something new or helpful without the commitment of a course or coaching series.
Price it at $50 and find 20 people to sign up = $1,000 side hustle.
If it resonates with both sides, a course is the natural next step. Or you can continue to host it live, with minimal setup or upkeep, and sell the replays with an evergreen series.
My friend Jay Clouse is a master at this, routinely hosting paid live workshops to validate a product or service before expanding it as a course. The added benefit of these is they act as a clear value-add for his membership, Creator Science.
Jay's Newsletter Masterclass was priced at $49 and he sold over 200 seats for a two hour session. With upgrades to his community and coaching upsells, we're talking a minimum of $10,000 and probably double that in the next 3-6 months after people continue to upgrade.
Another good example I've seen recently is Nate Kadlac's YouTube Thumbnail Masterclass. And his sales page for the replay is amazing! Note on the page that he sells the replay for $25 (a steal) but with an upsell to a 1-1 consult for $250 and to hire Nate for $999/month.
Positioning a Workshop vs a Course
Here's the other benefit to a workshop if you haven't launched a product before. Workshops are low-cost enough and low-effort enough (in a good way) that subscribers don't think of live workshops—even paid—in the same way as a full-blown course launch.
This matters because the first couple course launches are often your best opportunity to go BIG on sales. The longer you can hold off and grow your subscriber list, the more people are going to be excited when you "finally" have a specific course to share with them.
So if you go big early, it may cannibalize your next launch because your biggest fans have already bought at a lower price (lots of caveats and exceptions to this statement though).
This is why workshops are great validation techniques for course and coaching offers. You make sales, understand what sticks, and literally SEE what resonates with customers as you personally walk them through each step.
To make the workshop more exclusive, put a hard cap on attendees too. Limiting it to 25-50 people ramps up the scarcity of your time and creates more interest in the next version of the workshop, i.e. a course, when you create and promote it.
Main Takeaways
🤔 Think of one topic you could talk about for 60ish minutes
📝 Outline it with the 1-3-3-1 Method to develop content
💰 Create a checkout page with any payment processor
I think ConvertKit Commerce works really well here
📧 Email your subscribers to indicate interest in the workshop