Update: Blog Mastermind is now closed forever. The links below no longer work.
It’s the end of a journey. It’s also a final opportunity for you.
In 2007 I created the first course about how to make money blogging. It was called Blog Mastermind (here is the original sales page from 2007) .
I wrote all the lessons and recorded audio versions of each lesson. This was before video was easy to do online.
Four years later I closed the program down.
A lot had changed in those four years. Many platforms I recommended were becoming far less effective, for example Digg, Stumbleupon and Slashdot – remember them?
Shortly after I closed down Blog Mastermind in 2011, my mother entered hospital after a stroke.
She spent two years in hospital, where I visited her almost every day. Unfortunately she didn’t make it out, passing away far too young at age 63.
As you can imagine this was a devastating experience for me (which I wrote about here). After it was over I decided to move away from Brisbane to Melbourne to get some space and perspective on what to do next.
What Business Comes Next?
Initially I wasn’t sure what to do next.
At the time I felt like the world of teaching how to make money online with a content business was becoming far too crowded. I wasn’t sure if I could still compete.
You might think this is crazy considering 2011 was far less crowded compared to today in 2022, but for me, 2011 was far more crowded with experts than 2005 when I first started my blog and email newsletter.
I realized in order to stand out I needed to follow my own advice and have a clear niche, a speciality to focus on that I felt congruent teaching.
It had to be something I really understood, had practiced and achieved outstanding results with. Something that would make me stand out as different from others who were teaching how to earn an income blogging or podcasting or producing YouTube videos (which at the time was just emerging as a dominant force).
I made an assessment of what my strengths were and what strategy I could teach that would be different from others. The answer was I knew how to use a blog and email autoresponder lists (email sequences) to create what you would call a ‘funnel’ – an automated marketing experience to sell a product or service. My strength was storytelling content and using articles and emails to build trust and sell.
I felt confident I could teach what I decided to call the ‘The Blog Sales Funnel‘, my system, but I still felt something was missing.
I realized what I needed was proof. I needed to find people who were success story examples of what I was teaching and planned to rebuild my business around.
I needed this not just as a marketing tool to promote my future products with, but also for my own sense of self confidence. It’s nice to know that something you created works for you, but when you see others apply your system and it works for them, that’s something else.
Then it dawned on me. The answer might already be hiding in my email list.
Asking For Case Studies
I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner — I could send an email to all the past customers of my Blog Mastermind course and ask to interview them on my podcast.
When I sent the email out to the 2,000 or so people who had taken the course over the 2007-2011 period, I asked for anyone who had gone on to make at least a full time income from their business.
When I sent this email it really felt like a moment that would decide my future. If no one replied, I’d be done with this business. I couldn’t go out and teach people knowing that no one had experienced any meaningful results from taking my previous course.
Much to my relief and joy, emails started to pour in from past students reporting back amazing results and accepting my invite for a podcast interview.
I can honestly say that conducting the 20 or so interviews I did back then and the many more podcasts I’ve done since then, that when I talk to someone who took my courses, it is one of the most joyous moments for me.
There’s nothing more satisfying as an educator than to see others get real tangible results from what you teach.
I won’t go into detail about all the people I interviewed back then because you can find all of those case studies ready to listen to on my Success Stories page. I’ve added new ones every year as new success stories emerge from people who have taken my courses.
The weeks I spent back then interviewing people as case studies fuelled me with energy. I felt ready to get back out there and create a new course, this time focused on my new speciality of blog sales funnels (blog content + email automation lists).
The Blog Mastermind 2.0 Era
In 2014 I started work on a brand new course, this time in video, and called it Blog Mastermind 2.0.
This course was completely different from the first. I wanted to avoid creating a program that quickly became obsolete because a certain tool or platform was no longer popular. Given how fast social media changes, it was a very smart decision.
My new course focused on teaching a strategy for using content on a website — a blog in my case — and a series of emails to sell a product or service. Instead of teaching specific tools, I taught how to sell using words.
This course was about marketing psychology, sales copywriting, and how to structure pieces of content like articles, videos and audio content, to flow together in order to build trust and thus make sales of your digital products.
It was a trust building SYSTEM, not just a bunch of techniques that quickly go out of date when a new social media platform emerges or existing ones change the rules.
I put in many months of work, started in Australia and wrapped up in Canada. I also conducted a full blown launch campaign for the new program, with affiliates promoting and an entirely new series of free introductory training videos and resources, including the new Blog Profits Blueprint 2.0, an in-depth free report.
I was nervous about this launch. Could I still succeed at selling courses in the new crowded internet marketing environment?
Thankfully the results of the launch campaign were solid, returning multiple six figures in revenue over the next 12 months.
Every year since I first launched Blog Mastermind 2.0, new people have joined. It’s been a constant best seller that I am very proud of.
I’ve run live coaching calls throughout the years (can you believe the first recording I have of a coaching call is from November 2007!). I continued to promote the course using live launch campaigns, but mostly using automated campaigns applying the concepts I teach in the course.
It’s been an amazing run, but as they say, all good things come to an end.
Blog Mastermind 2.0: The Final Class
As successful as the course is, over recent years fewer and fewer new people join.
This is mostly a reflection of my own attention. In 2017 I began work on a new company, InboxDone.com, and by 2018, it became my main focus where I spend most of my marketing time.
To put it simply, I haven’t done anything new to promote Blog Mastermind 2.0 in many years, nor have I done anything to grow my audience around the topics of blogging and email marketing.
I still love teaching these topics — and in fact as Web3 is gaining traction presently I’m finding myself back in learning mode, but this time focusing on new ways to make money with content.
Given my attention is heading in new directions, I feel the need to close some doors so I can open new ones and be fully focused there.
This is why I’ve decided that January 2022 will be your final chance to take the now legendary Blog Mastermind 2.0 program (if I do say so myself – hah!).
I’ll be doing coaching calls until at least June 2022 – once per month, so if you join in January, you can take part in any or all of those calls. Plus you will of course have lifetime access to the Blog Mastermind 2.0 program itself, even when the doors are closed to new members.
50% Discount For Final Blog Mastermind 2.0 Class
For the month of January 2022 I’m discounting Blog Mastermind 2.0 to the lowest price I sell it for – more than 50% off the full price of admission from previous years.
This discount ends when January 2022 ends. This is also when the doors close for good on Blog Mastermind 2.0. I won’t be re-launching it or re-opening it. This is it. Done and dusted!
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You might be thinking, why join a program that is old and closing down?
The answer is that Blog Mastermind 2.0 teaches the fundamentals of marketing using content. These fundamentals don’t change and are just as relevant as the day I first released the course — and even before then.
When I say fundamentals, I mean ideas like Pillar Content, Social Proof, Expectation Management, Get Published (my core marketing concept), the Theory Of Constraints, 80/20 Rule, Niche Marketing, True Empathy, Sales Triggers, and Features + Benefits + Results.
These concepts are used as the building blocks to then put together the core structure of an online content business.
Blog Mastermind 2.0 takes you through the process step-by-step to build an online business based on you selling your knowledge — you teaching others what you know.
It’s a structure backed up by principals, which is why I call it the fundamentals.
If you feel lost about how to sell something online, you must learn how to use these concepts and content structures, so the words you write and sell become powerful tools for making money.
This is a skillset that will benefit you far in the future, no matter what kind of online business you build. Every online business uses content to sell, so you can’t avoid learning these skills if you want to succeed.
This is your last change to be a part of this program. After January, that’s it, Blog Mastermind 2.0 will be closed to new members forever.
What’s Next For Yaro?
Although I am ending the Blog Mastermind 2.0 era, I am not leaving the industry.
I’ve always loved the idea of using content to create financial freedom. I love to support the educators and the creators, and that’s what I intend to keep doing.
I’m working on a Web3 project right now specifically for creators and educators. This tool will help you make money using the skills you develop from Blog Mastermind 2.0.
I’ll reveal more about this hopefully later in the year.
Although I’m not going away, Blog Mastermind 2.0 is. This is your last chance to participate and gain these skills.
Yaro
P.S. I am conduct live coaching calls for all members in February through to June. This gives you half a year of coaching with me in 2022 to ask me as many questions as you like as you build your online business.
I hope to see you on the next call in February after you sign up for the final Blog Mastermind 2.0 class.
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